How do you handle low resources?

[Bleek]

Hi all,

I hate restarting games but I'm on my 3rd attempt now and keep running out of carbon fiber and/or silicon.

0 resources under my control and can't see any around.

Build queues all stalled.

Loads of money that I can't spend.

Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

[Deleted by Admins]

[Bleek]

Thanks Larry.

You say "Research better tech that moves you away from those resources", is there a way to see what resources a future tech needs? I've played this game for hundreds of hours and don't know how to do that!

[Anonymous]

[Deleted by Admins]

[Anonymous]

[Deleted by Admins]

[Retreat1970]

Carbon fiber is one of those "pain" resources sometimes. It's on Continentals I believe. Dilithium was another I couldn't find, but I'm sure it's just me. Anyhoo, expansion is key. Especially minimalist expansion. Do what you gotta do, but just. You'll run across everything soon enough. Your homeworld supplies will last, but not if you're building 100 ships. If you still can't find it you could ask pirates to smuggle it. Alien empire encounter starts trade unless hostile. Or maybe it's just bad luck in which case I say work around the adversity. Great games have been won when all seems lost. Plus the editor I mean it's your game who cares.

[Yaourt]

For emergencies, you can create a state ship design with mining elements (often construction ship or ressupply) to manually mine. AFAIR if you dock it to a world, it will be transfered. Would need to check though.

Trying to increase trade with empires having said ressource (trade agreement) can also help.

Finally, try to minimize the use of said ressource in your designs. It is not always possible, but for some you can bypass alltogether. Usually the two most problematics are Carbin fiber and sillicon indeed, as they are used almost everywhere yet so rare, so you have no choice but to play large.

Ressource system in DW could use an improvement...

[Anonymous]

[Deleted by Admins]

[Bleek]

Thanks for the advice guys. I never use the editor.

Interestingly, after a research is complete - if you click the message, it takes you to the research screen with an overlay showing the component details in full, including resources required.

Oddly, I can't find a way to view the component detail dialogue box outside of this situation? You'd have though you could do this on the main research tree.

[Siddham]

I set pirate smuggling missions for whatever resources I have the least of; and that would very often be carbon fibre or silicon.
I also use the planner to locate sources of resources I have little of and prioritize them.
I keep an eye on the total supplies I have of all the resources and prioritize acquisition on than basis
All the info is there in the UI

[Bleek]

ORIGINAL: Siddham

I set pirate smuggling missions for whatever resources I have the least of; and that would very often be carbon fibre or silicon.
I also use the planner to locate sources of resources I have little of and prioritize them.
I keep an eye on the total supplies I have of all the resources and prioritize acquisition on than basis
All the info is there in the UI

Indeed it is and that's what I do, but...

Pirates smuggle 0 carbon or silicon for me.
Planner = 0 carbon fibre.

This happened on past 3 games after exploring for a few years. I think I've just been unlucky. [:(]

It might also be because I've been playing with random clusters! I just started another game in the centre of the ring, already looks stronger from a resource standpoint.

[Hattori Hanzo]

ORIGINAL: Bleek
Interestingly, after a research is complete - if you click the message, it takes you to the research screen with an overlay showing the component details in full, including resources required.

Oddly, I can't find a way to view the component detail dialogue box outside of this situation? You'd have though you could do this on the main research tree.

obviously is intended to work this way: how can someone know the resources required for something that has not already fully researched ? [:D]

for what regards resources in which you are low: Explore, Explore, Explore, Explore & Explore !!!!!
possibly before and with much more Scout Ships than the other Races and/or Pirates.

[Bleek]

ORIGINAL: Hattori Hanzo
obviously is intended to work this way: how can someone know the resources required for something that has not already fully researched ? [:D]

How dare you use logic! [:D]

But if you must, you could argue, in order to research something the scientists would have to use those resources to find their discovery. [:)]

They already know the resources exist. They are taking those resources and developing them.

[Aeson]

ORIGINAL: Bleek
Oddly, I can't find a way to view the component detail dialogue box outside of this situation? You'd have though you could do this on the main research tree.

For components which are used on any design you have ever had in service:
- Open the design that has the part you want (either find it in the Ship Designs menu, or select a ship of that design that you have in service and click the class name; note that you may need to change the list filters to find the design - designs of recovered derelicts and captured ships are to my recollection automatically flagged as obsolete and of course derelicts are often unbuildable for one reason or another)
- Select the component in the list of components on the ship
- Press the button that says "Show Component Guide," found between the list of components that can be added to the design and the detail for the selected component

For components which you have already developed:
- Open the Ship Designer
- Select the component in the list of components that can be added to a ship
- Press the button that says "Show Component Guide," found between the list of components that can be added to the design and the detail for the selected component

For components which you have in service:
- Find the ship in the ships list, or select the ship and double-click the selection details panel in the lower left corner of the main game screen somewhere that won't bring up the fleet or the design menu
- Select the "Components" tab
- Find the component you want in the list of components on the ship and look to the right of the components list

Failing all that, if you go into the Expansion Planner and click on the name of a resource, it will open a dialogue window that lists all the components which make use of that resource, though this method only tells you that a component uses that resource, not how many of that resource the component uses or what other resources are required (you can, of course, get the latter by cross-referencing against the lists for all the other resources, but that's a pain and for some of the resources the lists are big enough to easily overlook something).

[Bleek]

Really solid post and advice, thank you Aeson.