Distant Worlds is a vast, pausable real-time, 4X space strategy game which models a "living galaxy" with incredible options for replayability and customizability. Experience the full depth and detail of large turn-based strategy games, but with the simplicity and ease of real-time, and on the scale of a massively-multiplayer online game. Now greatly enhanced with the new Universe release, which includes all four previous releases as well as the new Universe expansion!
I reckon this might paint a clearer picture? Before ending my session yesterday I kind of tried invading another empire's capital but I failed since I don't have even the basic bombardment weapons. I also managed to destroy a large and small spaceport of the pirates on the upper map and manage to snag myself a mortalu and dhayut indie though I don't have enough money to set up some spaceports. that troop maintenance is killing me and to think that I am not at war!. I only have around 2 refugee ships and 2 of my what remained from my initial fleet. I had to borrow 3 cruisers from the editor then just erased them just to defend my base since that pirate band still has a base somewhere. I don't know how I could turn this thing around.
ok if you are playing in prewarp drop your taxes as low as you can go this increases population growth. only build 1-3 mines 1 scout 1 construction ship en tell you get hyper drives, doing this will allow you to increase population growth very quickly and become an empire with a budget. taxing planet before it reaches max pop does 2 things, slow the population growth, encourages the population to resettle to different planet with lower taxes. taxing a planet before it has revenue which you can see in the colony screen is a bad idea you will never get postie money from it. DON'T BUILD SPACE PORTS EVERYWHERE i use 1 space port en tell i have 10 + systems just put extra cargo on in. this help keeps my resources from getting spread out. you have too many troops and ship and bases, 3 troops per planet will defend against raids effectively. build 10 research labs of each kind on your home worlds space port, this will speed up your research and make them easy to defend. Use defensive bases or star-bases instead of space ports at other planets i would put only bare min on them en tell the planet is + cash flow. make sure you put recreation,medical and the commerce center. When you take a colony that you can not defend you are giving the pirates money and resources, what i do is pay them en tell i have wrap stopper. to combat pirates get warp stopping tech. missiles and torpedoes on stand-off work great for destroying pirate bases.
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
-Mark Twain
I reckon this might paint a clearer picture? Before ending my session yesterday I kind of tried invading another empire's capital but I failed since I don't have even the basic bombardment weapons. I also managed to destroy a large and small spaceport of the pirates on the upper map and manage to snag myself a mortalu and dhayut indie though I don't have enough money to set up some spaceports. that troop maintenance is killing me and to think that I am not at war!. I only have around 2 refugee ships and 2 of my what remained from my initial fleet. I had to borrow 3 cruisers from the editor then just erased them just to defend my base since that pirate band still has a base somewhere. I don't know how I could turn this thing around.
ok if you are playing in prewarp drop your taxes as low as you can go this increases population growth. only build 1-3 mines 1 scout 1 construction ship en tell you get hyper drives, doing this will allow you to increase population growth very quickly and become an empire with a budget. taxing planet before it reaches max pop does 2 things, slow the population growth, encourages the population to resettle to different planet with lower taxes. taxing a planet before it has revenue which you can see in the colony screen is a bad idea you will never get postie money from it. DON'T BUILD SPACE PORTS EVERYWHERE i use 1 space port en tell i have 10 + systems just put extra cargo on in. this help keeps my resources from getting spread out. you have too many troops and ship and bases, 3 troops per planet will defend against raids effectively. build 10 research labs of each kind on your home worlds space port, this will speed up your research and make them easy to defend. Use defensive bases or star-bases instead of space ports at other planets i would put only bare min on them en tell the planet is + cash flow. make sure you put recreation,medical and the commerce center. When you take a colony that you can not defend you are giving the pirates money and resources, what i do is pay them en tell i have wrap stopper. to combat pirates get warp stopping tech. missiles and torpedoes on stand-off work great for destroying pirate bases.
I will try to restart in the morning and try to follow your starting advice. I thought that I absolutely have to build spaceports once I colonize something. It is my first time building a defense platform in a game I just started. I might play as the Ketarovs again and start on very expensive research to make espionage worth it.
Any advice on:
- When to start building a military ship (I usually do it when I have atleast Gerax/armour/shield/standard fuel/fission reactor and 300 ship size (stand off torpedo frigates)
- Which mines to priotise building? (Is prioritising Caslon early on then a bit of steel alright or I should be getting luxuries first?). I still haven't figured out how to really make mine building worth it and not just click each and every resource I would find and build a mine on it. I know I have to do it sooner or later but I just don't know which ones to prioritise and which ones I need.
-How do I efficiently use the information contained within the expansion planner?
- There are many resources to keep track of, how do I start keeping track of it and kind of identifying which ones I really need right now and which to prioritise?? (I started to learn resource importance since shadows and learning a bit more about checking components while doing ship designs.)
Build military when you feel like fighting. Do you want to protect your early mines? Or just research and wait? It is a slow game if doing nothing.
Caslon is a good first. I would built at anything close to the capital if I can't warp around... Look at the main designs. Spaceport, military, civilians. Press the construction summary button below the center part. This shows the resources used for it. That should tell you what is in demand beyond "a little".
Strategics first, but without warp you don't have a lot of choice.
I mostly use the expansion planner to count my number of sources (top table). It also tell about your stores, if you notice something not rising like the rest, you should get some more sources. You can use the lower part to book mines, filtered by resource. Or to colonize, or to see where your mines are.
I seem to have noticed that while pirate battles rage, a mine in the system of a new colony is not likely to survive. Stopping the raiders early on is hard. So I would try build mines outside colony systems, but close, at the start. And defend the capital system properly.
- When to start building a military ship (I usually do it when I have atleast Gerax/armour/shield/standard fuel/fission reactor and 300 ship size (stand off torpedo frigates)
- Which mines to priotise building? (Is prioritising Caslon early on then a bit of steel alright or I should be getting luxuries first?). I still haven't figured out how to really make mine building worth it and not just click each and every resource I would find and build a mine on it. I know I have to do it sooner or later but I just don't know which ones to prioritise and which ones I need.
-How do I efficiently use the information contained within the expansion planner?
- There are many resources to keep track of, how do I start keeping track of it and kind of identifying which ones I really need right now and which to prioritise?? (I started to learn resource importance since shadows and learning a bit more about checking components while doing ship designs.)
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nothing wrong with not staring it prewarp.
is tech trading on? This has huge implications on the game,much harder with no tech trading. the ai can also not trade techs.
turn pirates and space monster to your liking.
change the setting to your liking, one of many things that make this a great game.
your not going to win your first few games. if you feel you understand something better or whatever start over, if you want to.
at start of game check your leader if it sucks fire it.
again and again if you have to
pirates are going to show up and ask for $$$ pay it.
your starting space port should be small, so its up quick just basics, no weapons or defense. just quick and dirty, i retrofit after it's built to have more science, stoarge, docks. build 1 construction ship 1 explorer. tell explorer to explorer the planets with a icon above them. remember to drop tax rate. you will need energy collectors, recreation and medical center these techs give huge bonus to your empire.
assign merc resources missions for all resources.needed resources for most things steel gold lead aculon, iridum, chromium. caslon for reactor. look for planets with high % and multiple types. your prewarp construction ship is SLOOOOW, it will only get 1-3 mines built before warp. watch out for space monster.
If the pirates have a base close to you see how strong the faction is, by clicking on diplomacy click on the pirate faction in question check military ships, how much fire power do they have? above 1k will kill you at this stage. what type are they, raiding, smuggling, merc? raiding ones take huge amounts of your income avoid dealing with them if you can.
the expansion planner is full of a lot of information. as bingeling said, the EP(explanation planner) shows what is in transit and stores. i use it to see what resources i don't have and and how many sources i have. sorting the EP by unfilled is a good way to see what your empire is using a lot of, and needs more of. remember i takes time to saturate the economy with a resources.(building the mine the freighters getting to and form) i like the galaxy view better, to show where the resources are.
as for military its a judgment call. building the ships + the upkeep + the resources is a HUGE investment in both time and money. would it be cheaper to pay off attacker? this is not a feasible long term strategy though. to have a persistent military you need a + economy. patience is often the best course of action in this game, just slowly expand and secure your territory, grow the population. growing the population takes years in game at 0 taxes, governors and leader bonuses help a lot. military ships are useless if they cant catch there targets. focus on speed and warp stopping for defense fleets. for attacking go slower with more fore power.
invading is a pain in the a**. Bombing a population has diplomatic effects. for invading a home world you will need 20 ish infantry,5 tanks, 3 special forces. you may need less or way more check the strength of the planet your attacking. you should never try to invade a planet without space control. if you have spacial control there is no reason to invade until your ready, as you can blockade the planet.
resorts are good once you get your empire going not before as their income can be finicky. Go big with them build as many passenger spots as you can. they will need defenses though, depending on what your fighting.
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
-Mark Twain
I seem to have noticed that while pirate battles rage, a mine in the system of a new colony is not likely to survive. Stopping the raiders early on is hard. So I would try build mines outside colony systems, but close, at the start. And defend the capital system properly.
[:@] Pirates! Among my own tactics is to group mining stations as often as possible within a single system, even if there is more abundant sources for some particular resource at other locations. This makes it much easier to defend with a single patrol, and also encourages pirate ships to remain in the system long enough to allow me to take out a few ships. Hyper-deny is indispensable for managing the buggers.
Admittedly, I have not played a proper game since the AAR I did at Shadows launch...
What I noticed for sure was that pirates swarmed my minor colonies and did the odd visit to the capital system. Stopping them from raiding colonies (in space) was beyond hard.
Mines in other systems, however, were ignored. I think the AI plays a fair game. If it has explored a system it won't return at random, and won't discover the game. Also, with weak colonies the pirates seemed more eager to raid those. An attack on a mine in a non colony system happened years after the main pirate battle, when some respawned weaklings tried to get a snack.
The mine in a colony system? What do you think they will do after dropping their pods?
With more 0 tax and tech trading abuse, it could be more possible to keep the pirates at bay.
They do tend to pick on select, frontier colonies more than others. In my games, pirates tend become even more of a nuisance after those in my immediate, early-game proximity have been destroyed or suppressed. Often it's a combination of their isolation allowing them to build-up resources and forces, or a generally passive response from rivals in those sectors. I imagine different pirate roles will use different raiding strategies, some more likely to target mining systems, and this can be a problem when you need to protect against a half-a-dozen different factions simultaneously. Sometimes pirates will, either by AI template or emergent behavior, use diversion or multiple-front tactics. They might target nearby mining systems and lure my defensive forces away, while another force moves into the colonized system. This is not uncommon if the faction has been able to produce lots of ships.
Thanks for the tips everyone. I will apply this to a new game that I will be starting (sandbox as humans on largest map and making sure it is going to be a game I will play from start to finish). I may or may not do an AAR since I am inexperienced in writing one and I have trouble knowing when to take screenies of the game while thinking of some fancy way to narrate it. I might push through with it in order for people to critique the way I am playing the game and see whether I did something wrong or not.
sandbox as humans on largest map and making sure it is going to be a game I will play from start to finish
You should maybe continue with a smaller map. A Large map is very boring and very micromangment intensive at the end.
Not to speak from the duration of a saving game.
Set the victory condotions to 50% maybe, and just play to the victory.
Or maybe just enable the Race victory conditions and try to win with them.
And disable the storylines !
sandbox as humans on largest map and making sure it is going to be a game I will play from start to finish
You should maybe continue with a smaller map. A Large map is very boring and very micromangment intensive at the end.
Not to speak from the duration of a saving game.
Set the victory condotions to 50% maybe, and just play to the victory.
Or maybe just enable the Race victory conditions and try to win with them.
And disable the storylines !
Ok, I reckon I will be biting more than I can chew if I push through with it.
yea its probably a good idea to start on a smaller map. if you like to play the spy game, i would suggest trying the mod Distant world expanded it adds lots of races. 2 of those have bonus to spying.
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
-Mark Twain
yea its probably a good idea to start on a smaller map. if you like to play the spy game, i would suggest trying the mod Distant world expanded it adds lots of races. 2 of those have bonus to spying.
Got the mod installed. Great mod and the game feels like a new game. I like to roleplay and the best way to do it is to think like the race I am playing. Play it like a human being. Try to destroy all the other alien race and planets because of my greed. Bwahahahaha
About mining bases. Early game you can design them with some defenses - especially if not located in a 'secure' area of space. As your border moves out, and the mining operations region become safer, you can retrofit them to have fewer or no defenses. Yes, keep upgrading mines on manual, and have 'new' designs that are actually less expensive as they have fewer defensive components. Balance between security and economy is more finely tuned this way.
USA = Corporatist Serfdom of America: free range surf technology
About mining bases. Early game you can design them with some defenses - especially if not located in a 'secure' area of space. As your border moves out, and the mining operations region become safer, you can retrofit them to have fewer or no defenses. Yes, keep upgrading mines on manual, and have 'new' designs that are actually less expensive as they have fewer defensive components. Balance between security and economy is more finely tuned this way.
I know I could but I reckon that if it will just be destroyed then I let it be. I don't know how to stop the computer from retrofitting it while keeping selected ones as the "older" defenseless model while the others are the ones with defenses.
