What did you do to learn how to play DW?

[bryanhbell]

Think back...when you first got Distant Worlds, what did you do to begin learning how to play the game? What worked? What didn't? Any horrendous blunders?

I'm especially interested in hearing what the "old timers" here did when they started out.

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Here's my story.

Prior 4x experience: had played the Civilization series for years, tried Galactic Civilizations 2 for a month just prior to picking up Distant Worlds: Legends about 2 months ago (yep, I'm still a relative DW newbie).

Here's what I did (more or less in the order I did them):

1. Played the tutorials. Figured out how to mod the tutorials to show a progress indicator.
2. Read (and posted to) these forums!
3. Read the Galactopedia.
4. Read the manual.
5. Played a sandbox game with no threats and no automation. As soon as the game started, I deleted every automatically created element (ships, stations, ports, characters, troops, designs, etc.) to start truly from scratch. This forced me to learn how to do every little thing to get anywhere at all. More details here.
6. Helped edit the new Distant Worlds Wiki. Putting what you're trying to learn into writing sure helps!
7. Watched Das24680's Let's Play videos.
8. Started a Distant Worlds area on reddit (/r/DistantWorlds) for more discussion.

[Bingeling]

I don't remember much about the very first plays. I figure I had most automated, and just grabbed some fleets.

I got more interested after reading Insecticide: A mid-game AAR, after putting the game down rather quickly at first.

I first got wind of the game reading a review at a Norwegian game site. The private/state split peaked my interest. Apart from that I am hardly much of a 4X player. I have played a few things that I guess may qualify as such.

[Haree78]

I played the tutorials and then jumped in to a big game with lots of Empires.
I set everything to automatic or suggest and then turned things down to manual/suggest as I wanted to control them.
In the first game I had most things on auto, by the second game I was controlling most things with quite a few parts set to suggestion, leaving taxes to auto.

[Modest]

Before DW I was playing a lot in Civ (from first part up to V with expansion I have played, with V), and I have played quite much Master of Orion 2 and 3 (ehhh...). Add to that Europa Universalis (I and II) and Heart of Iron (II with expansions). That means that I had some upper hand in learning how to play DW (at least this is what I think).

My first game in DW ended pretty bad for me - my economy turned red quite fast (few ears of gameplay). Also surprisingly wars were quite a problem for me. It was then difficult for me to fight an enemy which may strike me anywhere he wants - no front line, no defencive possisions, and no strong economy to build any kind of deffences. Both - I and enemy could just run away from combat whenever we wanted to... I still remember it. It was a real nightmare for me Hundreds enemy attacks on undefended bases and space ports, constant problems with fuel. But in this nightmare, there was one, single and most important message for me - despite all beating that I was geting I STILL LIKED TO TRY, TRY, AND TRY! I just loved private sector and fact that attacking civilian ships is actually good strategy for war. Eventually when I decided that DW is defienietly a game worth even hardest learning curve I started sandbox game, just like You did Bryanhbell - no threats, no automatization... With exeption of ships desighs. Actually designing a good ships was the last thing that I learned - mainly because this graph showing ship's speed and power usage during diffrent stages of flight looked so scary...

[Shark7]

Brute force usually works for me...

Which was the way, I just kept at it till I got the hang of it.

[StarLab]

I bought the game back in August when it was on sale so I'm not classed as an "old timer" by any means - even though I am "old." I played a bit at the time but the weather was still nice so I was out hiking and bike riding most of the time at that point.

I've spent the last few weeks on call from work and have had some major time to kill. So guess what I've been doing? (Go ahead... Guess!)

My overall story is the same as bryan's. I'm a 4x fan that came across a reference to DW at another forum. I was sold on the game immediately after watching one of Das' Let's Play videos.

I must say, the deeper I get into the game the more immersed I become. Did you know that little autosave thingie comes up every 1/2 hour even though it seems like every 2 minutes? After seeing that pop up a couple dozen times it meant 12 hours had slipped by. I kept wondering, "Why am I so hungry?" Then I realize I've missed 2 meals! lol

I started out with everything automated except fleets. After observing the AI for a while I slowly took more control until I found myself micromanaging everything. I'm now only left with a few things set to suggest, but everything else is controlled by me.

It was kind of interesting how I progressed to that stage. Controlling fleets led me to controlling ship building which let to me controlling ship design. Then I wanted specific tech for building ships so that brought controlling research which led to controlling characters. From there everything else just landed under my control. (Guess I'm just a control freak! hehe)

Next up? Increasing difficulty. To this point I've been playing "easy" games just to get the hang of the nuts and bolts of everything. I'm pulling off 50%/50%/50% @90% victories consistantly now. Time to step it up!

BTW, these forums are a valuable reference. All my questions had already been answered at some point or another. So I give a HUGE THANKS to the veteren players who post here.

Bottom line... AMAZINGLY GREAT GAME that I can still see myself playing many years from now. Thanks to all responsible for this great product!

[Grotius]

I think Das's "Let's Play" is what really made me sit up and say "ahhh, so that's how this game works." Very nicely done.

[Arcatus]

I chased hopelessly and frustratingly after an enemy fleet that wrecked havoc on my mining stations.

Enemy fleet popped up, destroyed the mining station and jumped out before I could intercept.

Almost made me throw the game out the window...

Then I discovered long range scanners.

And it got really run really fast

[Raventiger]

Thanks for this thread. I've just picked the game and expansion packs up and I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed by it all at the moment. This thread provides me with some ways to get started .

[BigWolfChris]

Tbh, I don't really remember a time I struggled other than perhaps keeping the economy going (before it was made easy in comparison)

[Texashawk]

I really wish they'd make the economy a challenge again. Some of the early DW builds were some of the best games I ever had, TBH.

[WiZz]

Actually I begin my acquaintance with DW-universe from original game. I didn't know about these forums. Much part of game I had studied myself through numerous mistakes and fails. Sure, I had read manual, galactopedia and played tutorial a few times. I had also noticed, that gaming with total manual control helps in studying of game very much.

I think, that addons bring many nice improvements into the game. But, unfortunately, struggle, hardcore and difficulties had gone from DW with these features. [:(]

[Mad Igor]

i just played and figure it out.
i do it with all the game,as most enjoyment i getting from learning the game from 0,then come boring soryline that have something to so with Evil Wizard,that threatens the world...or it was game b4 ?90% of stories all the same for me.
maybe i'm too old and hardcore for all this [>:]

[Hawawaa]

Yes thanks to Das24680 I discovered this game, if I remember right. (It might of been linked on another forum though...) Money well spent.

Ya watching other play helps and reading the forums for info too. Boarding the struggle bus at first, mostly automated the game and fail researched around for the first try. Then slowly turned off auto.

[Blueberry]

A mad fan of 4x space genre and the original game back in 2010 without any expansions attracted my attention on some forum and the usual google search for a newbie on the market began. Purchasing and playing the original, indeed, did plant a seed of what a great game this could become if the developers kept developing/polishing it. And so they did.

Without a shred of doubt, at the moment, this is the best 4x space strategy game. Sins and all the games they've been making just don't do the thing. This is ma fix. [:)] Anyways, off the topic a bit.

I started playing. Kept at it. Automated things first to see how the game works. Then started turning things on manual and controlling those myself to check the 'reaction to my action'.

[Buio]

Good tips in this thread. I'm learning the game currently, even though it's a slow process (not much time to play at the moment).

[Cpt Sherwood]

I just bought this game and the two expansions. There is a lot of detail and I feel overwhelmed, but I know if I just keep at it I will understand. I want to thank all above for the helpful hints.

[tjhkkr]

Gof my derriere kicked about 50 or 60 times... that helped me to learn... [:D]

[Antiscamp]

I'm a new player, but I've done pretty well in most of my games, and it's all thanks to Das24680's Let's Plays on YouTube. I actually knew how to play the game and I knew about its functions before I got it. And it's all thanks to Das.

He has done this with two more games of mine. I knew Crusader Kings II before I got it and Fallen Enchantress too. In the eighties we needed to read hundred-page manuals to learn the games we bought, now we got Das.

[Ralzakark]

Read the manual, started with a small game and most things on manual or suggest, saw what worked and what didn't. I got stomped on a few times learning, but that's half the fun.

I didn't find the game mechanics difficult, but I have been playing since the original game so didn't have to learn everything all at once.

35 years of wargaming experience probably also helped!