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What are the resources to pay attention to early-game? Polymer and steel, others?
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Jun 20, 2014 00:40
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Arghy posted:Is there a way to make it so i start in classic but dont have my stations scattered all over? It seems like a really stupid design, the best part of starting a space game up esp one this detailed is exploring the surrounding systems but they steal that from you! I love the slow start shadows gives me but i hate the stupid goddamn pirates. Start pre-warp with Shadows off, and pirates set to Few, Weak, and Distant. I was amazed at how few there were. If anything I went too far.
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Jun 20, 2014 01:00
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Yes, it's like a lava lamp.
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double nine posted:What are the resources to pay attention to early-game? Polymer and steel, others? The 3 big strategic resources I'm usually hurting for early on, roughly in order: Aculon Carbon Fiber Krypton Aculon comes from volcanic planets, so it's usually paired with Emeros / Nekros / Osalia, which are also moderately rare. Carbon fiber is continental and marshy (I think), can often pick it up alongside polymer and good luxuries. Usually I can find a gas giant somewhere that has all of the non-fuel gases (Krypton, Helium, Argon, Tyderios), so I'll claim one of those if my home system fuel gas giant doesn't already cover it. Krypton's a distant 3rd to the other 2 though.
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Jun 20, 2014 01:59
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Arghy posted:Is there a way to make it so i start in classic but dont have my stations scattered all over? It seems like a really stupid design, the best part of starting a space game up esp one this detailed is exploring the surrounding systems but they steal that from you! I love the slow start shadows gives me but i hate the stupid goddamn pirates. You could do a custom game that starts pre-warp but doesn't have pirates, if that's what you're going for. I think you always have a starting spaceport if you start any higher than pre-warp, though.
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Jun 20, 2014 02:08
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Fleet control went much better today, but I've got another weird issue. I set my offensive fleet to non-automated, attack stance, attack only target. But they still fly around their current sector attacking everything. Is there a way I can tell them to not do that, or tell them at least to ignore certain targets? For example if there is a research base, I want to capture it, not destroy it.
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Jun 20, 2014 06:37
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bobtheconqueror posted:You could do a custom game that starts pre-warp but doesn't have pirates, if that's what you're going for. I think you always have a starting spaceport if you start any higher than pre-warp, though. Yeah pre-warp, no pirates is where it's at.
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Jun 20, 2014 06:41
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PittTheElder posted:Start pre-warp with Shadows off, and pirates set to Few, Weak, and Distant. I was amazed at how few there were. If anything I went too far. Yeah this is loving awesome, i get to explore without constant pirate attacks and i get to enjoy designing my ships from the ground up. My economy is so goddamn stable now that i dont need 30 ships patrolling just for that 1 stupid pirate fleet attack.
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Jun 20, 2014 10:01
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Am I making a mistake building constructor ships to build gas and moon mines?
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Jun 20, 2014 12:02
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Can my ships use any kind of gas as fuel? i'm flung out way into the corner of the galaxy and i'm building a string of gas mining stations in nebulas to get closer to planets.
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Jun 20, 2014 12:39
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Arghy posted:Can my ships use any kind of gas as fuel? i'm flung out way into the corner of the galaxy and i'm building a string of gas mining stations in nebulas to get closer to planets. Depending on your reactor tech, you'll use either caslon or hydrogen for fuel. Most low level stuff uses caslon, then it switches to hydrogen later.
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Jun 20, 2014 14:07
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Arghy posted:Can my ships use any kind of gas as fuel? i'm flung out way into the corner of the galaxy and i'm building a string of gas mining stations in nebulas to get closer to planets. I believe that it depends on your engine Tech level and starts with Caslon and moves through Helium and Hydrogen. I could have that wrong. Stations that can fuel get the little blue oildrum icon. I've had a couple of game starts on 'clustered' universes that dropped me between clusters, so have to build fuelling stops. Comstar posted:Am I making a mistake building constructor ships to build gas and moon mines? I don't think so. I tend to rely on building a bunch of stations to kickstart the private economy by nicking all the planets with resources over 60% or so. I don't know the Math to be sure, but I believe the percentage is the yield per unit of mining done, so a 100% hydrogen planet is twice as good as a 50% hydrogen planet. Construction ships are kind expensive to run, so I tend to balance them out, according to the income indicator in the top right. The expansion planner is a great help, as well as the side menus. The expansion planner exposes what you're crying out for and where you could float a mine next, while the side menus can flag resorts and research locations pretty drat easy. If you've not played with the filter buttons above the radar, there are a couple of things there that work well.
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Jun 20, 2014 14:13
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Comstar posted:Am I making a mistake building constructor ships to build gas and moon mines? No, that's mostly what they're for. Just build a couple and let them do their own thing, they'll build stations according to your empire resource needs. The only mistake you can make is building too many of them, or ordering them to build too many things. If they auto-build the private sector pays the upkeep, if you order a station then you pay the upkeep. You want to reserve 'public' stations for research bases, resorts, important deep-space military facilities, or in rare cases where your construction ships simply aren't building in a spot that has a rare resource you desperately need. Or I guess if your private sector gets completely demolished and you need to reboot your economy you can pick up some of the tab I guess but in that case you're probably screwed also unless you're surviving on cash from diplomacy. If your constructors are heading off to do something dumb, order them to stop then reenable automation. At that point they'll re-check the list of important resources and make a new decision about what to do. If you're playing peaceful or economy especially, build resorts ASAP. Try to have a resort in every scenic location you can find. It's easy to overlook them because generally 4x games don't have a tourism mechanic but drat, resorts are gold mines. You get very high fees from your citizens as well as tourist fees from friendly/neutral empires. If you plop a resort in/near someone else's territory, you get a cut of their private sector as their people come pay shore fees and buy overpriced space drinks from your facility. Resorts are crucial. One of the really nice things about this game is that as Securans, for example, you can dominate the galaxy with your free love utopia. Through diplo and economic power you never even have to go to war, if you play your cards right. boner confessor fucked around with this message at 15:45 on Jun 20, 2014 |
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Jun 20, 2014 15:38
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Loving this game so far. I wish there was a way to quickly see a % completion for ships/bases. Also, it seems like once you find Way of the Ancients/Darkness there is no reason to ever run another government type. They're incredibly good with zero downsides.
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Jun 20, 2014 17:18
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Nostrum posted:Loving this game so far. I wish there was a way to quickly see a % completion for ships/bases. Also, it seems like once you find Way of the Ancients/Darkness there is no reason to ever run another government type. They're incredibly good with zero downsides. IF you find them. They're one-time, and other races can find them first.
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Jun 20, 2014 17:29
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Factions will also still love/hate you based on those government types, so there's always that to consider. Question about when to build bases. Someone mentioned earlier that building spaceports causes freighters to shuffle goods around more, so you're better off having less of them. But is there another way to provide the bonuses from trade/entertainment/medical modules without building a spaceport? Will it count if I slap those onto a Monitoring station or Defensive station?
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Jun 20, 2014 17:41
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For my disposable colonies, instead of space ports, I've just been building a custom starbases with the bare minimum of necessities to keep the costs down, and it's been working out pretty well for me. I've got a few docks in them, so I may be running into the same issue you're describing, but my empire is making mad bank anyway, so I haven't had a problem with it.
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Jun 20, 2014 18:25
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Gwyrgyn Blood posted:Question about when to build bases. Someone mentioned earlier that building spaceports causes freighters to shuffle goods around more, so you're better off having less of them. But is there another way to provide the bonuses from trade/entertainment/medical modules without building a spaceport? Will it count if I slap those onto a Monitoring station or Defensive station? If there's one thing to understand about Distant Worlds it's that it is a min-maxer's worst nightmare. This is incidentally why I think it's an incredible game. There are very few best-at-all-times strategies. The decisions you're making need to be evaluated against the context of your current situation, not an objective idea of optimal play. So with that in mind I'll say that yes if you wanted to limit the amount of freighters around you would probably start by having less spaceports. Realistically though this will have the effect of severely limiting the development of your private economy. It will also only slow the rate of freighter building, as they will try to build what's needed to fulfill transport orders, the limiting factor being number of Construction Yards available for them to be building in. In general though you probably don't want to limit the growth of your private economy unless you have an abysmal selection of resources nearby. Less freighters itself doesn't really get you anything positive itself, and more importantly it's the constant pace of the private economy that most effects your private sector growth. What I mean by this is that the private sector develops based upon demand for goods caused by construction. The more that is queued to build, the more transport orders you have open, and the more freighters needed to service them. What you're developing here building all of these mining stations and freighters is in reality the capacity and resilience of your construction infrastructure, the same infrastructure that supports the construction of your military ships. So if you limit that too much you're going to find yourself restricted in growing your military. Where I think people get ideas like "you want less freighters" is when they stop making use of that infrastructure. Your private ships and stations make money off of the movement of goods. If they do not have transport orders to fulfill they're going to stop making money, and all those freighters are going to start costing more in maintenance than they take in, tanking the private economy. The biggest causes for this are: Resource Shortages - Far and away the biggest danger. If not enough materials are available or making it to your spaceports in time, not only does production stall but the price of those materials will begin to skyrocket. If you're unable to fill the orders from your own infrastructure, foreign traders will have to bring the goods in costing you even more and none of that income will go to your economy. The worst case scenario is that you lack enough of a key resource like Steel or Helium used in making common components. If this happens when you are trying to construct stations and freighters, you can end up in a failure cascade as construction and freight movement grinds to a halt. You're basically hosed at that point, waiting for some nearby empire's traders to come bail you out at massive cost for you (profit for them). The solution here is to grow at the right pace, which you'll have to develop a feel for but in general you want to be looking at the Expansion Planner to monitor your resource availability and the cashflow/cash on hand for the private sector to figure out if you're set up well enough for more expansion. Military Construction Plateaus - This is probably one of the biggest gotchas for people who have played a lot of other 4X games. While a lot of construction (which drives economic growth) is in the private sector for bases and freighters, military ships use both larger amounts of basic materials and are the only places for the more rare strategic materials (Nekros Stone, Silicon, etc) used in weapons and the like. The point here is that unlike in most games where the replacement of destroyed military units is an objective economic loss, in Distant Worlds it is also a mechanism by which the private economy is stimulated. Long story short: get blown up early and often. Trade Sanctions - The underestimated killer of economies. If you're not trading with someone, neither your freighters or theirs are making money off of transport orders between empires. If either one of you were moving a lot of goods across that border, that's going to significantly effect your private income. You can use this as a weapon if you are otherwise economically stable, but you should be very careful. If you are sitting on a lot of resources, particularly the luxury resources, your private sector is probably making a mint off of transport orders to other empires. This is how the Teekan are often one of the power players in games despite being so poorly suited to warfare. If that income source is suddenly lost you could find your private economy in the red really fast.
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Jun 20, 2014 19:26
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A good and insightful post ^MagnumOpus posted:The point here is that unlike in most games where the replacement of destroyed military units is an objective economic loss, in Distant Worlds it is also a mechanism by which the private economy is stimulated. Long story short: get blown up early and often. That's beautiful, and I hadn't thought of it that way. My wars for profit are even more profitable than I could have imagined!
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Jun 20, 2014 19:39
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MagnumOpus posted:Good post I don't have Distant Worlds and only had a vague idea of how it was different from other 4x games. This post has basically convinced me that if the game pops up on daily deal I'm pulling the trigger.
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Jun 20, 2014 19:47
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Where exactly are the stockpiles of resources kept? Mining stations? Starports? Is it worth increasing the storage capacity of certain space stations so you don't run out during periods of military / colony expansion?
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Jun 20, 2014 19:47
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Chomp8645 posted:I don't have Distant Worlds and only had a vague idea of how it was different from other 4x games. This post has basically convinced me that if the game pops up on daily deal I'm pulling the trigger. This is probably the best Moo style 4x I've played since GalCiv 2. I think I prefer this to that, but need some more time with it. Definitely worth it either way.
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Jun 20, 2014 19:48
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For avoiding resource shortages, the expanison planner is your best friend. It'll tell you what resources you need more of and list where you can mine them.
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Jun 20, 2014 19:50
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I think the private economy makes way too many freighters. I fix this by manually designing all my ships, state and private, and make a 'default' tiny tiny freighter class that I use for all 3 sizes, about size 100-120 at the start of the game. I make my passenger ships as big as possible to start, but once my colonies peak, I design them lower -- for some reason they only can ferry 20k max people at a time to resorts. Rather annoying when my earlier design could hold 20-50m. Also, if you feel your state maintenance is too bloated, you can choose to give away state ships. I love Plasma Thunderbolts, and eschew nearly every other weapon. Fast ships kite so beautifully with them. And when using the expansion planner early on, sort first for empire unfulfilled demand, then by strategic resources you have 0 of.
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Jun 20, 2014 20:14
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Dryb posted:I think the private economy makes way too many freighters. I fix this by manually designing all my ships, state and private, and make a 'default' tiny tiny freighter class that I use for all 3 sizes, about size 100-120 at the start of the game. I'm curious to try this out. I tend to go the opposite direction with my freighter designs, making them more expensive.
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Jun 20, 2014 20:34
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I normally don't use mods in these types of games (too much of a PITA to keep up with) but the Das Chrome mod really helps. It's here: http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3616300 And thanks for that long post, all the information is so helpful!
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Jun 20, 2014 20:38
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Lot of good stuff in that post. Seems like there's a lot of balancing acts to worry about in this game.MagnumOpus posted:The point here is that unlike in most games where the replacement of destroyed military units is an objective economic loss, in Distant Worlds it is also a mechanism by which the private economy is stimulated. Long story short: get blown up early and often. That's funny, and also great. The private sector also handles foreign trade and tourism right? So helping them expand should also improve my bonus income over time as well then? BTW on the Diplomacy screen, what's the number next to each race, says 0K or some other value. Is that the current trade income from that race? Over the last year I guess?
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Jun 20, 2014 21:14
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Gwyrgyn Blood posted:The private sector also handles foreign trade and tourism right? So helping them expand should also improve my bonus income over time as well then? Yeah the private sector will run passenger ships to Resort Bases racking up tons of cash for whoever owns the base, though you have to build the bases yourself. And you should, because Resort Bases make a metric poo poo-ton of cash and as far as I've seen the AI won't build them for you. Gwyrgyn Blood posted:BTW on the Diplomacy screen, what's the number next to each race, says 0K or some other value. Is that the current trade income from that race? Over the last year I guess? I'm not sure how often it is adjusted but that number is trade income, yeah. Free Trade agreements increase the rate at which your freighters conduct foreign trade, result being that the total trade amount rises.
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Jun 20, 2014 21:38
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What constitutes a resort base? i never see any in the build menu so i thought i haven't researched them yet. Also wow private sector can build mining stations?! If theres no caslon how do i make a refueling base? is there a way to just make a storage station?
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Jun 20, 2014 21:58
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Arghy posted:What constitutes a resort base? i never see any in the build menu so i thought i haven't researched them yet. A base with passenger bays and an entertainment node. You probably haven't researched them yet. Look for a place with a scenery bonus, see if there's a button the bottom left for build resort base. Also if you're controlling a constructor and look at the orders menu at an acceptable location - if it's not there, you haven't researched them yet. It's basic tech but easy to skip. Arghy posted:Also wow private sector can build mining stations?! Yeah, automate your constructors and let them do their thing. 99% of your bases should be built and maintained privately. Well technically they are built by the state because you own the constructors, but it's like how starbases will build private ships. Constructors left on automate will build private stations. Arghy posted:If theres no caslon how do i make a refueling base? If there's no caslon or hydrogen, you can't. You can't make a 'gas station' base just hanging out at an arbitrary location dispensing fuel - not really sure why you'd want to except just to do it. All fuel has to either be mined on location or dispensed from a colony. Arghy posted:is there a way to just make a storage station? No, freighters won't take anything there because there's no reason to. You have infinite storage at your planets, I believe. boner confessor fucked around with this message at 22:36 on Jun 20, 2014 |
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Jun 20, 2014 22:33
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Wow, some pirates just canceled their 143 a month protection agreement and then wanted me to pay $1,135 (!!) a month. Uh no thanks. They changed some stuff in the new patch.
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Jun 21, 2014 00:08
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Lorini posted:Wow, some pirates just canceled their 143 a month protection agreement and then wanted me to pay $1,135 (!!) a month. Uh no thanks. They changed some stuff in the new patch. Nah, that's always happened. From time-to-time the pirates will get uppity and realize they can squeeze more out of you as your empire grows.
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Jun 21, 2014 00:14
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Never seen it before this early in the game, I'd been playing for about half hour. Guess I've been lucky then.
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Jun 21, 2014 00:47
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Popular Thug Drink posted:Yeah, automate your constructors and let them do their thing. 99% of your bases should be built and maintained privately. Well technically they are built by the state because you own the constructors, but it's like how starbases will build private ships. Constructors left on automate will build private stations.
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Jun 21, 2014 02:48
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I appreciate them being so quick on patching the game, most of the patches have been great, however, this last one: 1.) Made it seem like your saved games were gone, since they changed the file structure and the game wasn't smart enough to figure out where you old saves were. 2.) Reset your automation policies, leading to awesome things like the AI re-organizing all of your fleets in such a way that your ships were all mixed together and left your critical systems vulnerable for a year until you could reset everything. 3.) Changed the Ancient Guardian tech-stealing chances while your agents were mid-mission, leading to them getting caught, and the Ancient Guardians loving your poo poo up.
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Jun 21, 2014 07:22
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My main problem with the game right now is that there's about a 10% chance of it crashing every time it tries to autosave. I don't know what causes it, I thought maybe it was due to me being in the process of zooming in or clicking certain parts of the interface when it starts autosaving, but I honestly have no idea. I think I'm just going to turn it off.
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Jun 21, 2014 15:48
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Nostrum posted:1.) Made it seem like your saved games were gone, since they changed the file structure and the game wasn't smart enough to figure out where you old saves were. This happens almost every patch. Settings get reset, save file location gets moved. However, this time they moved the save game folder to a common one, so that shouldn't be a problem again in the future. As far as autopatching breaking saves and such, I wonder if you can just copy this game's install folder somewhere else so Steam will stop trying to autoupdate? That trick works with CK2, which is another game where they frequently break little things with patches.
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Jun 21, 2014 16:48
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Whoever made the Extend Worlds mod please update it so that I can play this weekend, as I now refuse to play without the full mod. Thanks in advance.
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Jun 21, 2014 18:51
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I am sad that this isn't discounted on steam. I don't like dropping 55 euros on games anymore but the person in me that spent 260 hours playing Europa Universalis IV and 130h on Crusader Kings II tries to tell me that it'd be worth it.
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Jun 21, 2014 19:12
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Do it. DO IT NOW!
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Jun 21, 2014 19:14
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Trogdos! posted:I am sad that this isn't discounted on steam. I don't like dropping 55 euros on games anymore but the person in me that spent 260 hours playing Europa Universalis IV and 130h on Crusader Kings II tries to tell me that it'd be worth it. I'd wait til the end of the sale, it's just started and the game may be discounted later.
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Jun 21, 2014 19:23
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