Which map preferences do you use?

[jadelith]

I usually go with spiral, but the problem is the game loves to place empires at the edges of the galaxy, who don't have access to good star systems (due to 0.5 sector colonization range I always use). So I feel spiral is quite unfair.

I also don't like having independents, but they're a necessary evil since I like having very strong pirates (I even increase their tech level every now and then).

I keep habitable planets at normal - any more and the game becomes simcity with colonies..

[Bingeling]

I enjoy the different galaxy types. Clusters, Spirals, Rings, whatever.

And to touch upon your feeling about independents.

- I enjoy strong pirates and a good fight.
- I dislike independents, but they are needed for strong pirates.
- I enjoy (very) slow research which makes the game being played at lower tech level. It also keeps the pirates strong for a longer time.
- I dislike Pre-Warp, it is boring. And slow research makes it last "forever".
- I need pre-warp to make pirates strong.

The start of the game is so boring that I struggle with starting games. I guess during my next game I will run not too hard difficulty, and have the pre-warp phase run fully automated. Then I can take control when the fun starts.

This does not work with the harder difficulties, though, as the AI will destroy itself spamming ships that is destroyed by pirates. I tried it on Icemania's AI Mod and extreme difficulty, and I had to save the AI from itself.

A learning from that game, was that my lazy "quite a bit of automation" way of playing does not play well with the Extreme AI mod...

[Aeson]

I personally like Varied Clusters as far as star distributions go, though I play on maps with the other distributions now and then for something different. I usually keep colonization range limits enforced, but I don't like anything less than 1.5 or maybe 1 sector as the limit, and usually have as many colonizable and independent worlds as possible.

I also like to have pirates as a reasonably strong obstacle for the early game, and like Bingeling I find it's a bit necessary to start in prewarp for the pirates to really manage that; pirates need the security of being the only FTL-capable faction and having a tech advantage to develop into an opponent that isn't easily brushed aside. Unfortunately, like Bingeling, I find the prewarp start a little boring until I get to at least Warp Bubble Generators; while I've done it on occasion, I don't really find developing the home system to be worth the bother without at least a basic hyperdrive. Kind of makes me wish there were an intermediate tech level between prewarp and starting where you have Warp Bubble Generators but are otherwise more or less in the same position you're in with a prewarp start.

[jadelith]

hm, I actually always played on pre-warp. I'll give tech level 1 a try, but I guess that massively decreases Quameno advantage?

which is actually fine - it's far too easy to dominate the galaxy that way. now that I think about it, I never was in a situation where I had any difficulty in this game . but then I only play on hard...

[Bingeling]

Better tech is always an advantage, but they miss the chance of getting out of Pre-Warp years ahead of the next race.

I would suggest to try different races, and to try to role play them a bit. Why would you always play with the most powerful ones?

[jadelith]

Because, unfortunately, I'm a min-max'er

I play teekan, wekkarus, quameno, xhuman and kiadian almost exclusively.

If you know of any other good races, let me know

[jacozilla]

I like all the maps except the varied clusters or even clusters.

I play with fairly tight colony range setting. Usually 1.0. The cluster leave huge between island space that the AI doesn't really have much chance at exploiting anywhere near as me / human, so it always feels like 1 level difficulty lower just by being easier to spread out while the AI kinda stays hemmed in.

[Aeson]

ORIGINAL: jadelith

Because, unfortunately, I'm a min-max'er

I play teekan, wekkarus, quameno, xhuman and kiadian almost exclusively.

If you know of any other good races, let me know

I cannot speak for modded species, but anything with a high population growth can be quite good. Haakonish and Ackdarians have a military ship size bonus, which can be a pretty big advantage (the Ackdarian size bonus especially). Ketarov espionage can be incredible, to the point that it can almost feel like there's no point in having your own researchers. Boskarans have an excellent bombardment weapon that works fairly well in ship-to-ship combat. Gizurean leader characters can become quite impressive since it's quite unlikely that they'll ever be replaced, especially if you can get some characters with Inspiring Presence to stay where the leader is.

[jacozilla]

I'm using DW extended mod so not sure if this was vanilla race or one added by DW-E, but I just had some AI race pull a jedi mind trick and had one of my most powerful fleets defect to them.

First time I had this happen, so not sure if that is racial skill or some spy stuff i dont know about yet.

Kinda sucked in that of my 20 fleets or so, it had to be one of my main 4 combat fleets.

So far i've mostly just picked what race to try next based on how cool they look in the pic.

[Bingeling]

That is just a reaction to either general unhappiness or high war weariness. They don't like you much.

Try playing very aggressive with no pirates in the game and a "good" race, and see what happens.

[Cauldyth]

Well, after many games, here are the settings that make the game I enjoy the most:

• Galaxy size of Huge with a Huge number of stars, and 19 races: I love epic games that take me ages to play, and where there are still unknown (to me) parts of the universe well into the game.
• Elliptical Galaxy: I just like the 'geography' of these maps - crowded center, arms separated by empty expanses, then the outer rim.
• Pre-Warp tech with Expensive Research: I find the pre-warp portion of the game to be very zen and peaceful, and I have a lot of time to contemplate what (and who) might be out there. And with expensive research, getting warp drives feels like a truly monumental event for your race. Additionally, the combination of pre-warp and expensive research results in a broader separation of the races due to circumstance. Some AI races will get a legitimate headstart on me due to circumstances, while other races will lag behind and become de-facto minor races.
• Normal Creatures and No Pirates: I know many people will cringe at that, but pirates don't interest me much. As noted above, I like the peaceful zen of the pre-warp era, and I want the universe to be a vast unpopulated expanse into which all the empires are launching themselves.
• Occasional Colonies, Rare Independents, 1.5 Sector Colonization Limit: I like colonies to be relatively rare and independent life to be a valuable discovery. In a Huge/Huge/Elliptical galaxy, I find the 1.5 sector limit to be about right for keeping compact empires while still not hamstringing the AI's expansion (1.0 resulted i too many crippled empires).

I've been using these settings almost exclusively for quite a while now.

[Uncle Lumpy]

I have been playing 700 stars in a 15x15 Elliptical galaxy for my last few games. Random starting position, 6 to 9 random races, and few space creatures. I have never considered playing pre-warp. I like seeing what I get for technology and going from there (if there's something I don't want/need, I can usually trade it to another empire later). Pirates are few. They're ok to play with, but I like bigger things.

My last vanilla game was epic. 15x15 Varied galaxy with 250 stars and three other races. Quite the struggle for resources and colonies. Didn't locate the third race until the early mid game, when they were pretty powerful. Big Fun! [:D]

Have played a bit of Expanded, and am in the middle of my first Starfall, which is an Awesome mod, if still somewhat uneven. I think with a bit of play testing, it would make a serious contender to be the basis of DW-U2!