Distance to other races needs help.

[Janster]

Hello!

I have played this game quite a lot, and I have actually just 2 gripes left, one of which I can mod out, the alarm...but for the next expansion.

However, the biggest gripe is distance to other races...

I find it works like a-so now ..

Near = In my system, or neighbouring star...
Average = A few stars away
Distant = In the corner across the universe.

This makes it really hard for me, to get the breathing room I want, yet not leaving an empty galaxy with ALL the others in the corner..

We need a 4th option, even spread..That would be awesome tnx!

[Theluin]

Even spread is the random distance, it's not "a random choice from near, average or distant" but a random distance from you which results in all the empire being evenly spread across the galaxy [:)]

[jpwrunyan]

You forgot to mention that "same system" doesnt even work. Although perhaps it really shouldnt...

Now go read my thread!

[Cauldyth]

Yeah, I posted about this a while back:

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3101781

It drives me a bit batty, and I haven't had much luck, even with random.

[Janster]

I remember starting in the same system several times in the past, however I don't like it, so I never enable it.

If I start with empires at 'distant' they will be crowded in a corner of the map no matter where I am and how huge the map is..It just doesn't scale.

If I choose average, they will be near me, and as the other guy posted, it doesn't care where it places AI...
It really makes for messy games...and that's okay, but I want to impose order on the universe, please help.

[WoodMan]

I set them all to random and have always seen races spread evenly across the galaxy. Your complaint has however been said many times before by lots of other posters so maybe Eliott should look into changeing the way things work. But in general if you want things spread nicely like they should be just choose random.

[Janster]

Quick question, is random actually random, or just a random pick of the 3 starting location types?

If its the latter, then it isn't a good solution.

[Cauldyth]

I had assumed it just meant a random selection from the other 3 settings, but if it does make the races more evenly distributed, then perhaps I should give it another try.

[Tanaka]

Yes random is your best bet for this. For a lot of us this is our biggest pet peeve of the game and most requested change but has never been changed. It should be from each other and not from you. I have to keep restarting and reloading maps and looking in the editor to finally get what I want and it takes forever! [:(]

[jpinard]

Wait... so is random "random anywhere in space", or just one of the selections? I didn't see if anyone specifically stated the answer.

So is this aspect hardcoded and not moddable like Civ V?

Hiya Janster!

[Tanaka]

ORIGINAL: jpinard

Wait... so is random "random anywhere in space", or just one of the selections? I didn't see if anyone specifically stated the answer.

So is this aspect hardcoded and not moddable like Civ V?

Hiya Janster!

Its only one of the selections unfortunately [:(]

[feelotraveller]

ORIGINAL: Janster

Quick question, is random actually random, or just a random pick of the 3 starting location types?

If its the latter, then it isn't a good solution.

I'm certain it is 'random' (although that probably has some limits).

Having checked out 'random' distributions of many starts you nearly always get a pretty good spread. It's not 'even' but it is spread across the whole galaxy with random fluctuations. It does not clump up into three distinct distances.

The only use I've found for the other distance settings is if you want to specify the distance for a particular empire. Like you want someone nearby to trade with/invade early. But I always start with them all random.

[WoodMan]

I'm one of the rare few who has never experienced the problem regarding these settings and I've always used Random. The empires start spread all over the galaxy. It did always put empires of the same race together, I'm not sure but I think that got fixed a while ago. Even though from a lore point of view it did make sense, it just was a bit impractical, hehe.