And then What.... Making sense of it all

[idjester]

Hey Everyone -- I am a new player (just picked up this game a week ago) so please bear with me. I have a lot to say and I need some help but this could take longer than most posts.

I have been reading as much as I can about this game and have read all of the guides I could find, but I'm having difficulty wrapping my head around this game (also watched all videos online and the tutorial videos several times). I know it’s a huge game and there is more to the game than I can even imagine right now and it’s overwhelming me right now to the point of frustration.

The problem I am having (and maybe others did as well) is that I need some kind of direction with a goal. I guess this is my wargaming background which is pretty much scenario based, with specific goals in mind that you need to achieve. Capture city X within 10 turns, destroy recon force Bravo, defend your capital against an attack, ect… These are all things that are finite, something that gives me direction.

A game like Distant World reminds me of something like Skyrim, where you’re free to do whatever you want, however you want and do it your way. Don’t get me wrong – that is a good thing but it’s very different then a game that gives you specific goals and a set bunch of pieces to work with. Open ended games are great for most people, but someone like myself has many difficulties in dealing with them. If there is no structure then there is chaos, without a path everyone goes their own way.

And unfortunately most, if not all, of what I found to read talks about how to do certain things to achieve your end goals. They talk about how piece X works and how to get the most out of piece Y, how piece X works with piece Y, and how to best use them together. Again, this is all great and most helpful BUT it doesn’t really move me forward down a path that I can see in front of me. For me there is no path, just a bunch of things that piece together.

Let me give you an example….
(I have Distant Worlds plus both expansions)

So I loaded up the game and configured a new universe with just about all of the normal (default settings). I setup the civilization automation to the default (with most everyone done for me) and I literally just sat there watching the game play for me for a half hour without even a clue as to what I need to do first.

My ships when out and explored part of the universe and setup some mining colonies. I clicked on and made decision from the messages that popped up, and even got involved in some Ancient and Shadow background stuff.

So I restarted, thinking that maybe I need to try something else – same results. And again…

For me and my puny brain there isn’t a path that says --- do this.

What I need is some kind of information that maybe breaks down the game into smaller sized scenarios, something that says – do this in the first hour of the game and then move on to scenario two and complete it. I understand that each game is setup differently with totally different environments, challenges, and outlook but there probably is something that is done in the beginning by everyone that starts them down --their path.

What I need is some way to break down the game into smaller chunks that said something like “Human civilization must build 5 mines on planets X,Y, and Z”, “Human civilization must colonize one other earth-like planet”, “Human civilization must build military ships” . These are all things that are probably done by every player as they start their game of Distant Worlds and these smaller, more structured, things could be accomplished in order, thereby giving the player a path that could lead him towards his goal.

I don’t even know if it’s possible or not to break this game down into sections (or little scenarios) but if there was a way to do it I figured this gaming community could find a way.

What I am looking for is something like this (The time parameters I put in are just guesses)….

If you leave your settings to “default automation” this gives you time to be working/thinking/trying other things, and those things are….

Startup Time – During the first 10-15 minutes of the game you should be doing this….
(What should we be going instead of just staring at the computer screen with fear in our faces….)

Introductory Moments – After your initial “Startup Time” for the next 10-15 minutes
(After the initial shock has gone away you next need to be doing this……)

Opening Stage – During your opening stage you should be spending 10-15 minutes making these important decisions.
(Once you finally get an idea of what is happening you should be doing this…)

Initial Exploration– During your Initial Exploration you have just completed your opening stage and are now ready to focus your attention for 10-15 minutes on.
(Now that you have built to this point you can focus your attention on this…)

Let’s just call this “Scenario 1” and it comprises all 4 parts of Startup Time, Introductory Moments, Opening Stage, and Initial Exploration. Scenario 1 –you should be able to be completed this scenario in about an hour maybe an hour and a half. We are talking about only a small portion of the game and only the very startup, once we get this done we can move on to scenario 2 which then leads us to the next part down another road.

If you feel the need to help a newbie and decide to reply to this post keep these things in mind…

1. We need to have an overall “goal” for Scenario 1 is --- to do this, this, this, and this. Given the short timeframe keep in mind what can be achieved and what is reasonable.
2. There needs to be a concrete road of objectives that should be accomplished. Do Y, and if you see or find this then do X. Once you have Y and/or X than make an attempt to use/do this.
3. Some things are done by you all each and every game in the beginning, what do you do and why. You might not realize it but you have an objective in your head, but maybe playing it enough makes it second nature. You do X, then Y and then Z for a reason.

I know this is hard to do in a game like Distant World and I appreciate any effort that is given but even in an open-ended world like Skyrim you can have an introduction plan and attack that plan in a certain way. The world, the environment, the characters, and even your starting character can all be different each and every game of Skyrim but you still go to the village, complete the local quests, and then travel on to Whiterim to meet up with the dragon. The “story” is not the same thing everytime, it changes based upon all of the outside effects but the PATH is still the same. The goals and the direction you take is always the same and I can’t imagine that a game like Distant Worlds is any different. Maybe the civilizations are different, the environment is different, and even the races are different but your path that you take is probably always the same.

[gargoil]

Okay, first off I am going to suggest something that may at first seem conterintuitive.  Take automation off EVERYWHERE.  Thats right.  Now nothing much is going to happen UNLESS YOU DO IT YOURSELF.  Don't worry about being perfect.  If you run into problems, try to identify why.  You low on fuel?  Maybe you don't have enough Caslon mining stations.  Not finding any colonizable worlds?  Have enough Explorers?  Did you research other Colonization techs?

You could use the race specific victory conditions (only) to be your "scenario".  In the end, this is a "monster" game, not a "battle of" game.  Its not take Paris in 6 weeks.  Its take all of Western and Eastern Europe, make Allies with the Balkans, set up supply routes, have enough resources, build you military, develop new weapons, etc, etc, all over so many years.

Edit: After you understand parts of the game, and you feel you do not need to micromanger, say, ship design, then turn the automation on for that part. I personally have all automation off all the time. I want to play the game, not watch the AI do it for me.

[2ndACR]

Well, I will give it a shot. I play Human.

1. Upon start pause the game. Check your leader, line out your research. Weapons, I go missile, blaster, laser and then torp, all first row fighters/bomber, point defense, then armor. Energy, I go for the Shipyard wonder right off the get go, then I go Quantum reactor, acceleros engine, high speed jump, vectors, shields. High tech, marsh world, first fuel, research advance, weapon wonder, back to top and work my way down.

Design first fleet. I build 8 destroyers as my first fleet. These are custom design. Copy exploration ship and add reactor, save, edit colony ship add reactor and save. This will speed things up, you want to go full speed in jump mode.

2. Hit start. I go 4x until things start popping.

3. Find new colony site, pause, check for critters in new system, if any 1st fleet goes to kill. Build colony ship and send.

Once your empire starts to spread out, think about another fleet to help cover the area. Decide what your "goal" will be. I go for exploration and colony, once I am pretty well locked in by other empires, I shift to a wartime footing and I pick my victim. Usually a bug.

[balto]

I agree with both above. But I would leave taxes and Troop Recruitment on AUTO. Everything else I would put it to SUGGEST, or whatever it is called. That leaves things on manual, but gives you tips that are frequently very helpful.., as a beginner, I think you should agree with every Tip and Suggestion.

[Dracus]

I also play human.

What I do is set my own rules: such as never use the enslave or never invade indepenent colonies with troops. I also manaually control my explorer ships cause I base my empire growth on a stairstep method where you can not explore more then a system or two beyond your supply chains. So you explore the closest systems around your world, build some mines and then move slowly outward until you meet aliens. I also kind of play out a story in my head as I play.

Since the humans rarely start out in sol, I tend to set my first goal to find that system and re-unite the humans with thier birth place.

[ehsumrell1]

It's amazing the myriad of ways one can play this game, isn't it? [:D]

[Despayre]

So it sounds like you've never played a more open ended 4x game like this before.  Let me try to break down some of the more identifiable phases and see if that helps.  It's a bit difficult to wrap your head around a massive game like this as you have noticed, especially since the game happens on multiple levels and there are an untold number of ways to react to each situation, but some general principles may help.  Note that I still leave most settings at the default as I'm still learning the specifics of DW gameplay, but I'm a veteran of just about every other 4x game ever made, and from what I've seen so far, DW seems to hold true to many of the general 4x philosophies and strategies, although it does seem to be more in depth than most.  

I'd actually recommend that you let the game mostly run itself for the first few games to get a sense of how the game plays and start turning off specific automation settings as you get more comfortable/curious about specific aspects.  The more you turn off, the more you have to deal with, but if you play at 2 or 4x speed most of the time you'll still have plenty to do with a mostly automated empire. Some things you definitely want to direct yourself to be more effective over time, like research and ship building.  The AI isnt the best research director or ship builder. It's not completely awful to the point of being worthless, but you'll do better than it can once you're comfortable with how the game works and you know how you want to direct your empire.

The first thing you need to do is realize that the only goals you have are the ones you set for yourself.  There are no specific goals like most wargame scenarios that it sounds like you are more familiar with. As an overall goal, you should be pursuing the victory goals but that doesn't really help you decide what to do moment to moment, it's more of a long term goal for your entire empire.  That's why breaking each part of the game down into phases can help.  If you are able to figure out what is more important TO YOU at that phase, that will help you decide what to do with your empire.

First phase, exploration and expansion.  So when you first start off the game, the first thing you should do is look for more planets, more places to mine, more everything! Build some exploration ships and send them off to the wild blue yonder.  Find any good potential colony sites? Colonize them NOW! Make sure you check your expansion advisor regularly (and especially after colonizing) to make sure that demand for strategic resources isn't much higher than 0.8 and that you have enough resouces to cover your demand.  If you dont, start looking for potential mining sites that give you a good rate of whatever resources you need. I usually prioritize sites that give multiple resources at a high rate first, then filter by need if I still have some extra construction ships around.

Build lots of explorer ships and as many construction ships as you need to keep up with building bases for your ever expanding empire, but not so many that the upkeep cripples your income.  This number will vary depending on the size of your game, but as a general rule, I usually tack on a couple of each whenever the ship advisor suggests an order.  Build space ports at every colony.  Smalls are usually good enough, but you'll want mediums or even larges at places you think are strategically important in terms of offense or defense.

Somewhere during exploration you'll discover other races.  This is what I call the first contact phase. This is a good chance to build trade relations with another empire or mark someone for death.  Depending on who you meet and your inital relationship, you'll probably want to get some trade deals going to increase your economic power.  If they're a smaller or weaker empire that's interfering with your expansion plans though, maybe it would be easier to put them out of their misery...under the heels of your boots and at the wrong end of a laser bolt.

Refit your ships and bases as much as necessary to keep up with tech developments.  If you find an empire you want to dispose of, you want the best and most effective weaponry on your side, not theirs!  Again, make sure you check your expansion planner whenever you refit a fleet or take over a new planet, as ship orders can put a heavy burden on your resource network, and you want to make sure you don't get bottlenecked by not having enough of a particular resource. 

Once most of the galaxy is settled, you start the mid game phase, where empires will jostle for position, tech up, and eliminate rivals when possible. Once you start cutting out the chaff and the weaker empires fall by the wayside, you are left with a few major superpowers, and you've entered the late game phase.  Once you hit late game, everything should be focused on your victory conditions as they should be within reach for you, and if they aren't, you either now have a bright target showing you who to attack or a good clue that maybe you should start a new game.

Hope this helps!