Matrix Games Forums

I was thinking this would make a game that has large individual areas instead of the spidery 'hand' spreads I have seen in game.

Do any or many of you play with the 2 or 3 sector colonization limitation in play or is it a burden?


Thanks!

I always play with a 2 sector limitation myself. I find it forces me not to spam the galaxy with my (and the AIs) colony ships [:D]

I would recommend if you set the limot to 2 sectors or less to make your Homeworld have Plentiful or Abundant resources in the game menu.

I've been using it on 2 because it seems "normal" Although I don't know what heck a "sector" is.

A sector is the distance of one square on the galaxy map.

ORIGINAL: xNECROx

I've been using it on 2 because it seems "normal" Although I don't know what heck a "sector" is.

A Sector is one of the grid squares on the map.

A Sector is equal to 2,000,000 pixels at full zoom . . . I believe at full zoom a System is about 50,000 pixels.

I play with 2 sectors usually and it does help keep empires (more) geospatially continuous.  I dabbled with 1 sector for a while; when I get past the early game I like this setting but I got 'stranded' once too often with it.
 
A system is 50,000?  Now I know why I read the forum.  [:)]  Thanks Spacecadet.

Yeah, I go for 2, too.
Then I regret it because I can't find good colonies at all within two sectors, so I have to either rely on that independent colony to colonize all the desert worlds (that somehow are plenty in my area, contrary to continental) or invade distant independents... And then it gets better.

I always play with it turned on too, but I set it to 5 [:D]

Me too. 4 or 5 range.

No. Useless feature.

i use it in every game, i just wish it was more restrictive, making it so like, you need a world with 100 million people on it before it can be considered capable of increasing your range, and independent worlds increase your ability to ignore the feature.

.. it seems it is useless, as CPU ignores it !
Was using 2 , next game I will try 1 to see if CPU is cheating.

ORIGINAL: xNECROx

I've been using it on 2 because it seems "normal" Although I don't know what heck a "sector" is.

On a 15x15 sector galaxy, if you're playing in our "milky way" galxy, a sector is about 7,000 x 7,000 light years [:)]

Going back to the OP, I always play 15x15 sector galaxies with 1,400 stars. When I first started playing, I originally set the range at 1 sector, and I always managed to expand, although it was quite tough. I now set the range at 2 sectors, and that seems much more comforable. I'd guess that the type of galaxy and your starting location will also effect this. For example, if you start in the outer rim or deep core of an elliptical galaxy, there are usually plenty of stars around, but if you start in the inner rim, there aren't many.

Hi.
I use 1.85 Sector Range. It works good, i like it when the Colonies are not so far away from each other. But Sometimes i think its buggy and the AI do not handle according to the Sector Range.

I'm pretty sure the AI (computer run players) ignore this limit. Would be nice to have clear evidence, or an authoritative word from eric.

The A.I does use it.You would see different alien colonies all over the place like the dark days of messy borders before the feature was added.

ORIGINAL: FlashXAron

.. it seems it is useless, as CPU ignores it !
Was using 2 , next game I will try 1 to see if CPU is cheating.

ORIGINAL: Umpa

Hi.
I use 1.85 Sector Range. It works good, i like it when the Colonies are not so far away from each other. But Sometimes i think its buggy and the AI do not handle according to the Sector Range.

Invasions ignore the range limit, so you could invade an independent or enemy planet farer than your colonization limit, and then colonize from there.

ORIGINAL: Osito

On a 15x15 sector galaxy, if you're playing in our "milky way" galxy, a sector is about 7,000 x 7,000 light years [:)]

No, just no.
My Milky Way has 100-400 billions stars, not 1400.

1400 15x15 irregular all the way.

ORIGINAL: Tree Dog

ORIGINAL: FlashXAron

.. it seems it is useless, as CPU ignores it !
Was using 2 , next game I will try 1 to see if CPU is cheating.

ORIGINAL: Umpa

Hi.
I use 1.85 Sector Range. It works good, i like it when the Colonies are not so far away from each other. But Sometimes i think its buggy and the AI do not handle according to the Sector Range.

Invasions ignore the range limit, so you could invade an independent or enemy planet farer than your colonization limit, and then colonize from there.

ORIGINAL: Osito

On a 15x15 sector galaxy, if you're playing in our "milky way" galxy, a sector is about 7,000 x 7,000 light years [:)]

No, just no.
My Milky Way has 100-400 billions stars, not 1400.

1400 15x15 irregular all the way.

Hehe, my Milky Way has up to 400 billion stars too, it's just that only 1400 of them are of any interest to explore. That't why I ignore all those stars in the background - just as well cos I can't click on them anyway. Where this does fall down, of course, is on the starship speed. The Milky Way galaxy might be up to 120,000 light years diameter, and there's no way you can reconcile the warp and sub-warp travel speeds with that.

Seriously, though I understand what you mean about irregular and have often thought it would be a better way to play, but I find it hard to come to terms with the arbitrariness of the border of the map. Why end there? At least with a proper galaxy shape, you can see a good reason for a boundary (like, it's a bloody long way to anywhere else).

I use 2 sectors. I tried larger but the empires ended up looking like computer wiring running all over the place. The two sectors make them more spacially centered. Although I have never tried the 1 sector approach and might do that.