Matrix Games Forums

There's been some research done on this sort of thing - how best to learn to perform complex tasks when you have many things to do.

It turns out that if you need to do many different tasks at once, it's better to learn them together rather than separately. And it's better to gain some skill with simple versions of the task before moving onto something more complicated (of course that's pretty obvious). You can learn them separately, but on average that's less efficient (though not necessarily less effective, it just might take longer).

What that means for DW, is that if you want to learn to micromanage everything, take on a few things at once, but keep it simple. That might mean playing in a small galaxy with few enemies. But turn off automation on everything you want to learn to manage yourself. And play the start a few times till it gets easier, then progress to the mid- and end-game. Of course that's kinda idealistic; not many people want to play that way, and that's fine too. It can be really challenging to try to learn everything at once, and that might make you give up in frustration. So DW is fantastic in that it can give you a degree of control by offering suggestions - you still get to learn what to do, but without having to figure it all out for yourself.

As for me, I like jumping right in and getting my butt kicked a few times as I learn from my mistakes.

ORIGINAL: Fenris99

ORIGINAL: Wenla



EU III and Vic II. Those are more difficult to learn (to play well) than DW. Vic II is worst (and most enjoyable) (IMHO of course).

You think EU III is harder? Hmm.....

No. Vic II is harder. Sorry if I worded it wrong way.

Fenris99,

Don't feel to bad, I'm right there with you. I'm going to give it a serious try today, after everyone goes home.

I'm gave it another shot today. Good thing I read this thread!

A big deal for me was setting the Advisors to "suggest". That way you can get a feel for how the AI plays the games, seeing how they might react in certain situations. I still automate troop recruitment, taxes, and ship design in the early game. Another great tool is the Empire Policy screen, you can shape how the AI runs things for you [:)]

Ok, so some follow up. I played for several hours on sunday. I basically set everything possible to "suggest", so I could get a feel for what the AI wanted to do and see how it was planning. I only got involved when I deemed it necessary. For example, one planet had some rare product, I forgot what. So I obviously built a mine. But I also built a gas mine for refueling in the system and a batch of defensive bases as well. There's a game here, all right.

 I was...entertained. Let's see where this goes.

ORIGINAL: Fenris99

Ok, so some follow up. I played for several hours on sunday. I basically set everything possible to "suggest", so I could get a feel for what the AI wanted to do and see how it was planning. I only got involved when I deemed it necessary. For example, one planet had some rare product, I forgot what. So I obviously built a mine. But I also built a gas mine for refueling in the system and a batch of defensive bases as well. There's a game here, all right.

I was...entertained. Let's see where this goes.

That is what I like best about this game. You can get involved with the empire to whatever degree you want, and automate the rest. You could look after a single fleet of the empire, worrying only about one front of the war, or you could focus only on spy missions and agents. It's up to you.

The same thing happened to me. The AI said to build something and I clicked okay. The problem is I like to build ships and deploy them like an armchair general but this game is so overwhelming. Space Empires IV is basic math compared to this advance intergration calculus. I'll continue to try to play.

ORIGINAL: forsaken1111
EU Games?

I got my wife to get me DW expansion for that and this, lol. What does that mean? The Europe Universalis III "Divine Wind" expansion and the "Distant Worlds" RotS exansion. So DW in both cases.

I play a lot of Matrix game and Paradox games. From Matrix - Distant Worlds, War in the Pacific:AE, Forge of Freedom, Birth of America, World at War, and some of the operational games (like Battles in Normandy). Paradox its Hearts of Iron and Europe Universalis.

Play with just another empire. Set initial empire location at edge of galaxy. Set normal pirate, few monster. AI control troop & agent recruitment and tax and exploration. Suggest everything else. Manually control your fleets. Leave single ship automated. Watch your money. You should be able to play it and don't expect to be good right away.