DW2 FAQ/QnA megathread - Ask your question here!

[Deomrve]

If I remember correctly in DWU I could assign a construction ship to build something and it would wait until it could get all the necessary resources then start building. It would appear that you need the required resources before you can even assign the construction ship.

[lGSMl]

this is what is said in game manual:

The combination of War Score and War Weariness will determine
how willing an enemy Empire is to end a war once it has started and
how much they might want in order to end it. Generally speaking,
if you want a system that has been conquered to change hands
again, you’d best make sure you get it back before the war ends.
Contested space stations, captured characters and other sweeteners
like research or credits are the most likely to be exchanged in order
to secure a peace deal.

this is what I see when negotiating peace deal:



any reason for that? How do I actually request from enemy something in peace deal?

after some experiments I will answer my own question:

1. You can request money only if empire has some. You can not force them in debt.
2. You can request stations in your sphere of influence - e.g. after you capture colony you can request all stations around.
3. You can not request colonies.
4. Looks like you can not request research (at least I could not make it appear)
5. You can not request treaties.

This leads to conclusion that:
1. If some weak empire declared war on you - the best you can do, unless you do not want their systems, just wait and white peace.
2. The only viable reason to declare war is conquest. You are explicitly or implicitly restricted from any other benefits. (e.g. enemy will not have any feasible amount of free cash during war anyway)
---

And would have another question - do colonies shuffle troops with private or state (troop transport in Auto) ships? I do not see mine doing anything of that. If no - it makes little sense for troop templates and types for garrisons, as that would mean you either have to transport them manually which is a major pita, or keep all type of facilities in each colony - which is redundant after short time and big cost.

[ramnblam]

Is running just shields or just armour a viable method of ship design or should I be putting both on?

[lGSMl]

Is running just shields or just armour a viable method of ship design or should I be putting both on?

Usually both, unless enemy AI for some reason made full fleet of shield/armor penetration. Shields are good so your ships do not need to return to base for repair after every small encounter. Armor is important because if there any hits through shields with shield pen weapon - it can damage critical modules.

[Buio]

This happened to me. Not long after getting the research and being able to move out of my system I found something in a system very close. Of course I went there to explore and it released enemies that hate me and attack as soon as I enter system. They are not invincible, but quite a bit more powerful than my current techlevel. But the AI continously send Explorers and even miners to the system (the planet I explored had some goodies). Then they get attacked and try to flee, some get overtaken while some manage to jump out. This goes on and on, the AI never stops going there, ignoring the danger.

I don't think you can block a system from access? It would be nice to be able to tell the AI not to go there.

[Lymark]

Could someone please explain what 'Trace Scan' and 'Shield/Armor bypass' mean? Thank you

For details like these, you should look up the component in the galactopedia. It's usually explained there.

Shield and armor bypass is a measure of how likely it is for a weapon to ignore shields or armor, directly damaging the next layer of defense.

There's a ton of things that Galactopedia doesn't explain clearly, unfortunately.

Most space games don't seem to have a general consensus as to whether ballistic/energy weapons should deal better damage to armor or shield, and it usually confuses the heck outta me most of the time lol. In some games, ballistic weapons are better against armor(which I think is more logical), or vice versa. According to the galactopedia in DW2, Concussion missiles have Shield bypass +25% and Armor bypass -10%. Does it mean that these ballistic missiles are better against energy shields?

An extra question: What does armor's 'Rating' do? Galactopedia explains that armor completely ignores damage dealt that's lower than its 'Reactive Rating', but it says nothing about 'Rating'.

[vaiperu]

Hi, I am not sure if this is working as designed or not so I am posting it here:

I have 2 types of hyperdrive unlocked: "normal" one v3 and one of the other two variants as v1 (dead end on research tree)

Now I have my ships on autodesign and the AI picks the slower v1 drive for all ships. But if I use the "update" option then the faster v3 option is used. But if I do update the design the AI changes it back to the slower v1 one... should autodesign not use the best option ?

[Philoponus]

Is running just shields or just armour a viable method of ship design or should I be putting both on?

One of the Let's Players mentioned that early on "armor only" is better against pirates, because you get less damage to modules than with shields. I don't know if that's correct.

I go for armor first and wait for shields until I have a better reactor.

[BTAxis]

An extra question: What does armor's 'Rating' do? Galactopedia explains that armor completely ignores damage dealt that's lower than its 'Reactive Rating', but it says nothing about 'Rating'.

The nomenclature there is a little awkward. Rating is just base armor HP. The actual HP can be different depending on empire bonuses.

[zgrssd]

how much is 10% affecting popgrowth on democracy?
if natural number is 3.2% do i get like 3.3%? if i understand it right having democracy is basically worthless
i ran it in game and the numbers arent at 10% flat boost.

3.2 growthrate + 10% would be 3.52 for me.

Is running just shields or just armour a viable method of ship design or should I be putting both on?

All shields have a bleedthrough. But even a weak armor will easily catch that with it's ablative rating.
Additionally there are weapons taht skip shields or armor. With some doing both (Graviton Weapons).
T3 Armors are also the best source for 10 Ion defense to overcome storms.
So one armor - T3 Ion sheat ideally - is a must have I think.

Shields are better as they regenerate in combat. But armor is less space, no power and less manpower.

I pick 1 armor, rest shields. Shields recover in combat, so they are generally more usefull from a survivability standpoint.
I keep it to 1/1 if the design is not supposed to see combat, or I do not have a lot of room.
But I never run without at least one of both.

This happened to me. Not long after getting the research and being able to move out of my system I found something in a system very close. Of course I went there to explore and it released enemies that hate me and attack as soon as I enter system. They are not invincible, but quite a bit more powerful than my current techlevel. But the AI continously send Explorers and even miners to the system (the planet I explored had some goodies). Then they get attacked and try to flee, some get overtaken while some manage to jump out. This goes on and on, the AI never stops going there, ignoring the danger.

I don't think you can block a system from access? It would be nice to be able to tell the AI not to go there.

The game only considers dangerous sysems/planets when first planning the travel. Once the course is set, nothign will change it.

If the AI still sends ships there, you should report this as a bug.

Hi, I am not sure if this is working as designed or not so I am posting it here:

I have 2 types of hyperdrive unlocked: "normal" one v3 and one of the other two variants as v1 (dead end on research tree)

Now I have my ships on autodesign and the AI picks the slower v1 drive for all ships. But if I use the "update" option then the faster v3 option is used. But if I do update the design the AI changes it back to the slower v1 one... should autodesign not use the best option ?

Define "best"?
Are those civili ships or military?
Does one need much more power or manpower?

If you think it is wrong, your best course is to report a bug.

[Lymark]

How do I unlock more planetary government tech?

I'm playing with hidden and non-fixed research settings, mid-game now but the most advanced planetary government tech is still 'Planetary Governance(tier 2)'. What are some ways to discover it? I tried spy-stealing but none of them seem to have such tech.

[zgrssd]

How do I unlock more planetary government tech?

I'm playing with hidden and non-fixed research settings, mid-game now but the most advanced planetary government tech is still 'Planetary Governance(tier 2)'. What are some ways to discover it? I tried spy-stealing but none of them seem to have such tech.

There are 5 techs. All on the same line. Going all the way to a 70% treshold.
But T3+ sound like they should only be buildable once.

[vaiperu]

Hi, I am not sure if this is working as designed or not so I am posting it here:

I have 2 types of hyperdrive unlocked: "normal" one v3 and one of the other two variants as v1 (dead end on research tree)

Now I have my ships on autodesign and the AI picks the slower v1 drive for all ships. But if I use the "update" option then the faster v3 option is used. But if I do update the design the AI changes it back to the slower v1 one... should autodesign not use the best option ?

Define "best"?
Are those civili ships or military?
Does one need much more power or manpower?

If you think it is wrong, your best course is to report a bug.
[/quote]

I made a small mashup of the info for clarity:



So the one that the auto designer chooses for both state and civil ships is the Kaldos.
Update design uses the Gerax v3.

Is there maybe some logic to why the AI picks the Kaldos ? It is one tech level lower then the other two.

Thanks.

[zgrssd]

I made a small mashup of the info for clarity:



So the one that the auto designer chooses for both state and civil ships is the Kaldos.
Update design uses the Gerax v3.

Is there maybe some logic to why the AI picks the Kaldos ? It is one tech level lower then the other two.

Thanks.

The best for energy useage is the Kaldos.
That is the issue with a question like "Best". It always picks the wrong one.

I made a suggestion that we could set the Designer (and auto researcher) preference. Stuff like "Best speed" or "best fuel efficiency" as primary decider.

[Ranbir]

Am I nuts or is there no way to get a "sector grid" on the map anymore? I need to get some visualisation of how big a sector is for my engage ranges.

[BTAxis]

That's right, there is no sector overlay. There's no real way of knowing how far "sector range" is, exactly.

[Lymark]

How do I unlock more planetary government tech?

I'm playing with hidden and non-fixed research settings, mid-game now but the most advanced planetary government tech is still 'Planetary Governance(tier 2)'. What are some ways to discover it? I tried spy-stealing but none of them seem to have such tech.

There are 5 techs. All on the same line. Going all the way to a 70% treshold.
But T3+ sound like they should only be buildable once.

Sorry, but I don't think that answers my question. I'd provide a screenshot for better clarification.

I'm about to research T4 ships and weaponry, yet there's still no further upgrades for my governmental tech. I'm not sure whether it's a time-gated thing, story-related or whatever.

[Buio]

This happened to me. Not long after getting the research and being able to move out of my system I found something in a system very close. Of course I went there to explore and it released enemies that hate me and attack as soon as I enter system. They are not invincible, but quite a bit more powerful than my current techlevel. But the AI continously send Explorers and even miners to the system (the planet I explored had some goodies). Then they get attacked and try to flee, some get overtaken while some manage to jump out. This goes on and on, the AI never stops going there, ignoring the danger.

I don't think you can block a system from access? It would be nice to be able to tell the AI not to go there.

The game only considers dangerous sysems/planets when first planning the travel. Once the course is set, nothign will change it.

If the AI still sends ships there, you should report this as a bug.

Yeah, if it should avoid a dangerous system there is definitly a bug. The AI goes there on and on despite being attacked multiple times. It's still ongoing in my saved game so I will check a bit later and reporting it.

[zgrssd]

How do I unlock more planetary government tech?

I'm playing with hidden and non-fixed research settings, mid-game now but the most advanced planetary government tech is still 'Planetary Governance(tier 2)'. What are some ways to discover it? I tried spy-stealing but none of them seem to have such tech.

There are 5 techs. All on the same line. Going all the way to a 70% treshold.
But T3+ sound like they should only be buildable once.

Sorry, but I don't think that answers my question. I'd provide a screenshot for better clarification.

I'm about to research T4 ships and weaponry, yet there's still no further upgrades for my governmental tech. I'm not sure whether it's a time-gated thing, story-related or whatever.

According to that picture, you are on T1 for that building - not Tier 2.

There should be one directly under officer training (System Governance).

Better report this as a bug. My guess is that Randomisation cut the normal link and moved it elswhere. Meaning now you can not see it unless you develop...I have no idea what.

Visibility should propably be tied to the "normal" links, rather then the actuall ones.

[Lymark]

Will do, thanks for answering! Glad to know I ain't doing something wrong.