New Player Saying Hi

[CyclopsSlayer]

Welcome!
May the addiction treat you well!

[Spidey]

The only real issue now is eyeballing the potential mining locations and knowing instantly what resource the icons represent (as I am running out of stuff, as usual!). But that will come with time.

There are mods that make it easier to figure out what resources are what. Personally I ended up modifying one mod so that I now have very easily identifiable groups of strategic resources that look radically different from the luxuries. I've made four groups.

1: Common metals: Steel, Lead, Gold, Iridium, Aculon
2: Rare metals: Chromium, Carbon Fibre, Polymer, Silicon
3: Crystals: Dilithium, Emeros, Nekros, Osalia (or blue, green, red, and purple, if you want to keep it simple)
4: Gasses: Hydrogen, Caslon, Argon, Krypton, Helium, and Tyderios.

When scanning a system, instead of trying to figure out everything at once, I simply consider each of those groups. How many commons, how many rares, how many crystals, and how many gasses?

The sad thing is, I've become so dependant on my graphic groupings that I'm barely capable of playing the game with the original icons. Oh well.

[LordArkham]

Do you have a screen shot so I could see the difference? Also, would you be willing to share your "modded" mod?

[Spidey]

Sure, not a problem.

I'm pretty sure I started from Sirian's UI mod.

My slight alterations:
http://imgur.com/3nlkHbm

Strategics have a white edge, luxuries do not. Common strategics have a black background, rares blue, and crystals white. Gasses have a color with a letter. Fuel types are red-orange, ice gas (aka tyderios) is purple, and the remaining three are shades of green.

And since we're talking mods, you might also want to consider Das' Chrome UI mod and the options it provide.

Just to make it perfectly clear, I claim zero originality regarding "my" mod. I simply tweaked Sirian's great work slightly to make the groupings more pronouced.

[Blabsawaw22]

Make sure you tick that policy of "trade with empires" back to ON once you have enough resources stocked up.. or unless you are keeping all your goods yourself.. greedy.. ha..

and what is the latest good mod for Distant Worlds Universe? I have never used a single Mod at all.. Yet i've played this game for 1-2 years straight..

so what is the latest greatest mod to make things new for me? though I don't mind the vanilla game at all.. *uh.. minus the private sector..ha.

[LordArkham]

You guys are going to laugh - but I just opened up the Expansion Planner for the first time and figured out how to use it - gods... makes things so much easier. Now I know why I'm out of resources and where to get more

[Bingeling]

About where to get more:

Galaxy map, filter known resources. It helps in figuring out where you go to war to get another chromium source. Or where the ultra-rares are.

[RemoteLeg]

Yes, the Expansion Planner can be your best friend when deciding which resources to mine.

When filtering the list for "Resource Targets by Your Empire Priority", don't forget to check the little check-box that says "Show asteroids". I always forget & subsequently miss out on some sweet asteroid resources. [:(]

[LordArkham]

I'm 3/4 of the way through this campaign - and I am ashamed (should I be?) to say this is tough! I greatly respect this game. The logistics aspect of this game is what makes it difficult for me.

Of course I ignored the thread referring to new players and went with this for my first go around!

Normal Empire
Irregular galaxy, even spread
250 stars
Map - 15x15
Expansion - prewarp
Aggression - peaceful
Difficulty - easy
Research - normal costs
Space Creatures - few
Pirates Very low - no respawn, distant
Colony Prevalence - Occasional
Independent Alien Life - Scattered
Colony Influence Range - 100%
Colony Range - 2 sectors if I remember
Starting Race - Human
Government - Republic (and kept it Republic). I did replace the Leader quite a few times though
Victory Conditions - same as starting guide
Automation - started with all manual. I ended up letting the AI do colonization and its corresponding ship design. I also started letting the AI design mining rigs and bases as it seemed to do a pretty good job. I was letting it do Troop recruitment but man it got expensive!

[Bingeling]

I would suggest to run with fairly "normal" settings when new to a game, those settings ought to be pretty balanced.

You have a very weird galaxy setup going...

[PsyKoSnake]

ORIGINAL: Bingeling

I would suggest to run with fairly "normal" settings when new to a game, those settings ought to be pretty balanced.

You have a very weird galaxy setup going...

I approuve.

[Uncle Lumpy]

With that size of a galaxy, and so few stars, I can see how logistics can be a bit of a problem. There must be precious few resources available and you would have to go forever to get to them. Depending upon how many other empires you're up against, competition must be fierce. But then, if you only have a couple of other empires, it could be epic. Cool possibility!!

[LordArkham]

One more thing I just noticed! EACH asteroid in the field can yield a different resource! Lots of mining stations coming soon

[Bingeling]

You don't need _that_ many mines for the asteroid type resources, though.

[LordArkham]

ORIGINAL: Uncle Lumpy

With that size of a galaxy, and so few stars, I can see how logistics can be a bit of a problem. There must be precious few resources available and you would have to go forever to get to them. Depending upon how many other empires you're up against, competition must be fierce. But then, if you only have a couple of other empires, it could be epic. Cool possibility!!

It is pretty challenging and exciting! I see how the AI targets fueling stations first when you're at war with them. They harass pretty well! And with the void between star systems it keeps you on your toes as to where to keep your fleets so they can respond quickly. Hehe, I just found out why I don't want to nuke too many planets Empire split! Love it.