First Impressions of Distant Worlds as a Newbie

[xNECROx]

I'll say I'm really intrigued by the game. I find it a step above most formulas and really reminds me of something like (love them or hate them) X3-series by Egosoft, Mount and Blade Warband and Spore..as in, they're outside the box. All games(besides Spore) have things in common such as incredible game-enhancing mods.. I've played a bit and really enjoy it. I dived in and bought the entire package wit all expansions.

My main observations are after a few hours :

1.) I find somethings slightly overwhelming and despite the AI assistances, I feel sometimes I'm letting the "computer play my game". It was hard to get used to my "workers" always being AI(privatized) but after a while, kind of enjoyed that idea. I wish creating a fleet or simply "patrolling" was easier to setup. Is there an easy way to select military ships right in front of me without selecting other ships? I can drag a box around them but it also selects constructors, explorers, etc.

2.) Tutorial is great. [:'(] Easy to understand and really easy to follow.

3.) TMI(too much information). Perhaps this can be toggled but with 30 other empires in the galaxy, I'm SWAMPED with messages most of which I don't really need to know. Is there a way to tone this down or shut it off?

4.) Resources don't feel valuable enough. I'm sure they are but it's hard to not see a simple "this is how much I have - this is how much I spend" type feel to my economy. Is there a mod or something that shows me in the UI how much Lead I have at any given time(for example)? Once in a while the AI tells me its low on something and I give in to a smuggling request but it feels like I don't have to thnk about it.

--Overall, LOVE the concept and still going to continue playing.

[Osito]

So far as 3 is concerned, you can toggle a lot of messages on and off from the options menu (press ESC, then Options, then uncheck what you don't want). Unfortunately I think there are still some messages that can't be toggled e.g., the one telling you that you lack the resources to do X.

Regarding 4, there is information, although I'm not sure whether you were looking for something more: you can get a list of all your resource from the screen that is opened by pushing one of the buttons at the top in the middle of the screen. You want the second one from the left (from memory, I think it's keyboard command F3). Note you can change the order of the display by double clicking the heading of the columns.

[xNECROx]

ORIGINAL: Osito

So far as 3 is concerned, you can toggle a lot of messages on and off from the options menu (press ESC, then Options, then uncheck what you don't want). Unfortunately I think there are still some messages that can't be toggled e.g., the one telling you that you lack the resources to do X.

Regarding 4, there is information, although I'm not sure whether you were looking for something more: you can get a list of all your resource from the screen that is opened by pushing one of the buttons at the top in the middle of the screen. You want the second one from the left (from memory, I think it's keyboard command F3). Note you can change the order of the display by double clicking the heading of the columns.

Hey thanks a lot! I turned off a lot of them - I believe that was what i was finding the most overwhelming was just a constant line of bleeps and text while I played.

#4 -You're right! I have been in the "expansion planner" before and silly enough, I didn't notice that!

[Plant]

How did you get 30 empires in your galaxy? I've only been able to get 20.

As for 1) I don't automate ship building or fleets or ship design so it's a little easier for me. I select construction yards (F10 or just double click on info screen) of a spaceport to build a ship, then goto open ship and bases screen (F11) and order by name and select the orange ones and choose the fleet for them.

[FerretStyle]

ORIGINAL: xNECROx

Is there an easy way to select military ships right in front of me without selecting other ships? I can drag a box around them but it also selects constructors, explorers, etc.

Holding CTRL will allow you to select individual ships and add them to your selection group (or to remove them). Though, as was mentioned, it's probably easier to use the ships/bases screen to assign the ships you want to a fleet, then use the fleets button on the left panel to select the fleet you created.

Once you have a group of ships (or a fleet) selected that you want to use often, you can then use CTRL + any number key to assign that group to that number. For example, you could have a fleet of invading troop ships on 1, a siege fleet to take out planet defenses on 2, and a resupply ship on 3. It makes it easy to quickly switch between desired groups of ships without fiddling with the UI.