[Videos] Precursor Empire

[DasTactic]

I think that playing as a precursor empire in the age of shadows can be quite daunting because the hardest aspect is making sure you don't grow beyond what you can protect. So this series is one where we play as a precursor empire in the age of shadows. I've ramped the pirates up to max and tried to make it difficult. This series will hopefully demonstrate a good way to survive and thrive in the age of shadows. I'll also be playing this game with the Distant Worlds Extended mod because it looks so damned cool! (The mod doesn't impact the game mechanics).

Hope this helps people get a start in the game.

Episode 1: How to play the initial phase of the game

Episode 2: Early Warp Strategies

Episode 3: Explored Locations

Episode 4: Destroyer Fleet

Episode 5: Destroyers vs Capital Ship

Episode 6: Loros Fruit

Episode 7: Master of the Benarus Arm

Episode 8: Deploy you Bastard!

Episode 9: New Fleets

Episode 10: Monitor Ships

Episode 11: Silver Mist

Episode 12: Invasion Forces

Episode 13: Battle for Tuprawa

Episode 14: Preparing the Fleets

Episode 15: Final Victory

[tylertoo]

[:D] More Das videos is a good thing.

[sanderz]

thanks for the vids (have been enjoying your FE ones as well)

am interested to see how this goes - your start is very similar to mine except i have built construction ships and mines. On the downside i have to pay more pirates but i get more resources, and even then i always seem to be short, even with pirate smugglers.

[DasTactic]

ORIGINAL: sanderz

thanks for the vids (have been enjoying your FE ones as well)

am interested to see how this goes - your start is very similar to mine except i have built construction ships and mines. On the downside i have to pay more pirates but i get more resources, and even then i always seem to be short, even with pirate smugglers.

Ahh, but if you don't 'need' resources you can't run short. That's sort of the secret to this strategy. It also stops the pirates from getting free tech from you later on when they are raiding everything that isn't bolted down.

[Bingeling]

You have found my method of pre-warp. I would cancel the treaty and build a few frigates, though. And maybe, since you are on a moon, build even more frigates to entertain myself, and put a mine on the local gas giant and maybe other moon. But that is not needed.

My issue? I like slow research, and this phase is dead boring. The warp bubble phase is not quite as boring if you try to rule the system, but usually that is just another snore. It takes extra long time because it is not captivating at all, it just pushes me away and I partition my grinding (also known as watching the game do nothing) into short sessions. Lots of nice pausing...

The good thing about a long pre-warp is that the pirates have time to grow extra fat.

[Erik Rutins]

Good to see you trying a pre-warp Empire Das. I have to disagree with you and Bingeling though. I much prefer a more active pre-warp playstyle and it is also much more fun than the waiting game you guys have chosen. It is a perfectly valid strategy though, but I think I now know why Bingeling considers pre-warp "boring" while for me it is one of the more exciting parts of the game. I love building cheap sub-light fleets to guard the various mining and research stations in my solar system and I've beaten quite a few pirate fleets and raiders using those sub-light fleets and garrisons. [8D]

[henri51]

It is interesting that there is more than one viable strategy for this particular (pre-warp) version of the game. In all the 4X games I know, the only viable early strategy is to rush and take as much territory as possible. This may well also be true for other types of beginnings, but maybe not as starkly clear as in this case.

Henri

[DasTactic]

Episode 3 is up.

DW is a great game in that it can be played so many different ways. Each race has a unique feel as well. And I love how the game can throw you on your head at any time.

[Bingeling]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

Good to see you trying a pre-warp Empire Das. I have to disagree with you and Bingeling though. I much prefer a more active pre-warp playstyle and it is also much more fun than the waiting game you guys have chosen. It is a perfectly valid strategy though, but I think I now know why Bingeling considers pre-warp "boring" while for me it is one of the more exciting parts of the game. I love building cheap sub-light fleets to guard the various mining and research stations in my solar system and I've beaten quite a few pirate fleets and raiders using those sub-light fleets and garrisons. [8D]

It is of course a difference in what we think the aim of the game is. I have never enjoyed the early part of the game much, and having a new start does not really change that. The fun starts once I have grown a bit and some AI tries to attack me. The added fun in Shadows is the challenge pirates provides in making early colonies grow and prosper, not the first pre-warp phase.

My issue pre-warp is: What can I achieve? Very little, I need that first warp engine. I can try to build mines, but I don't really need them. And mines are not a goal by themselves. Research stations can hide under the spaceport if the spaceport itself is not retrofitted to host the labs.

I want to expand my empire, which means making a "safe zone" and getting colonies. Once I get the Gerax drive that game starts, and at this moment, having a good base of mines is a benefit, as the civilians will start burn a lot of resources, and new colonies should be defended. But the "warp" phase is long enough that there is all the time in the world to populate the home system with mines. Possibly I can jump to other systems, but then the challenge is: Is it worth it? It is much easier to keep presence there once a proper hyperdrive is available, since the warp bubble drive is so slow.

The mines or research stations in the system next doors could be a major pain to keep safe in the warp phase. I have the impression that once I got a new colony or two (independents) under my wings, though, pirates will be drawn to them, and mines in other systems will be quite safe.

If my goal is to "break out" as well as possible, doing anything more than defending my capital (and doing max research) pre-warp is counter productive. That is why the first episode of this series show what appears to be a good strategy. An added benefit is that a passive pre-warp phase also save some money that could be very handy when trying to fight the closest pirates.

[Erik Rutins]

I hear you, and understand why you prefer to play it that way and I agree that it is a viable strategy, I just disagree that it's the only optimal path. In my case it's partly for story reasons - the pre-warp era is the only time in the game when you can actually build an empire across a solar system strictly with sub-light ships and it's also the only time when you get to explore fighting hyperspace ships with sublight ships. To me, both of those are great reasons to expand and the fun to be had is tremendous. This continues to a degree with the first warp bubble generator, which barely allows you to leave your system. As a player, I find managing a sub-light empire and defending it against hyperspace pirates (or other empires) to be a fun challenge. It's a playstyle thing though - if you primarily enjoy the more developed empire with hyperspace stage, then getting there is something you want to do as quickly as possible.

With all that said, as usually I'm really enjoying watching Das play.

Regards,

- Erik

[Tree Dog]

What research cost setting are you playing with, Erik ? I've seen lots of people here playing with the highest default one (480K, IIRC ?) or 999K. I used the 480K when I gave pre-warp a first try after having a look at the tutorials. It took me a good 20 years to get my hands on the warp-bubble drives (which take 960K research to reach, but I admit I've researched other things on the way, trying to catch up to the old "level 0"), and the Gerax is still 3840K away ! I really can't see the Gerax itself not taking years to reach, even when I'm guaranteed to have a random event initiating a crash course.

Also, to make pre-warp more lively, maybe your actions and early contacts with other empires/pirates in the pre-warp era could shape what sort of empire you'll become once you reach the Gerax drive and join the galactic community for good ?
I'm not talking about letting this decide your government, but maybe some sort of hidden counters. And when you're done researching the Gerax drive, if you've been too nice to pirates, you'd get a bonus to ship boarding and a poor reputation. If you've been blowing them up, a bonus to the weapons you mostly used. Or if you were just peacefully expanding your mining bases, a bonus to mining production, that sort of things.
It would at least give us some sort of other goals to pursue while trying to get to the Gerax hyperdrive.

TBH, short of making DW another game entirely, I can't see another way to make pre-warp more interesting, the few times I played it, I had the game on x4 speed and read a book, glancing at the screen once in a while or when an alert sounded.

[Bingeling]

Exactly. On normal research, pre-warp is not that bad. But normal research is way too fast for my taste once pre-warp is over.

The issue is if you want to combine:

1: To allow the pirates to settle (which means pre-warp)

and

2: Much slower research to have more fun with limited ship ranges and "waiting for tech".

You also get

3: A pre-gerax stage that lasts a whole freaking lot of years.

Of course, for extra fun add some extra difficulty and a government with research penalties.

[invaderzim]

Hey Das, I just watched episode 8, Deploy you Bastard! today. Next time you have trouble with your ships running off to attack things instead of deploying, you may want to change the default engagement stances to "Engage when attacked". Other is usually the one that need changing since it covers deploying resupply ships, capturing, idle ships and a bunch of other things.

[DasTactic]

Thanks invaderzim. It certainly was giving me a headache.

I've finished uploading the videos and have now updated the OP with all the links.

[dougo33]

DAS I really like this series. I am a new owner of all 4 packages and have watched this series looking for direction. The style presented here of turtling up until you are ready to expand is counter to the way I tend to play other 4x games. I am trying it now, and need to keep telling myself to practice patience lol. Keep up the nice work.

[MisadventuresVG]

Oh man I didn't even know you could do that....

That will solve a lot of problems for me.