DW2 FAQ/QnA megathread - Ask your question here!

[StormingKiwi]

Mods are independent of the developers, so the question is unanswerable.

[RogalDorn]

Forgive me if this has been asked before, but I did not find anything when searching.
Will there be an option to host populations permanently in orbit?
O'neill cylinders, Starbases, that sort of thing as an alternative (or in addition) to planets? I'm a fan of Isaac Arthur and I would love a game that reflects the reality that building more habitable area is well within an interstellar civilization's capabilities.

[Key1001]

Will Sol be added?
If not, oh please add Sol.[&o]

[thegreybetween]

Will DW2 feature an in-game galactopedia? The video clips show that there are a lot of nice contextual pop-ups when new info is discovered, and that looks very helpful. But I've always quite enjoyed going down rabbit holes in the DW:U galactopedia and I'm hoping that DW2 includes a similar feature.

[ncc1701e]

Is it still possible to start the game pre-warp?

Will we have cloaking device for our ships?

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Galaxy227
As map sizes get larger, do you find DW2 stressing your CPU mostly, or does the application become more RAM-hungry? (I'm sure it's a bit of both, but I'm curious which one is especially the case).

As it is 64-bit, multi-threaded and using 3D graphics now, it's quite different from DW1. I tend to see the load shared pretty evenly between CPU and GPU and not maxing either out. It will use more memory for larger games and galaxies of course, but while system memory is no longer a limitation as it was with the old 32-bit engine, it's also more memory-efficient than it was, relatively speaking, but it is more hungry for video memory than the old engine, which really didn't care.

Edit 1: One more question! I just got done watching the second showcase frame-by-frame for the first time. I noticed tiny ships, no larger than fighters, which appeared to be moving back and forth between a mining base and its respective gas giant. Are these little vessels physicalized mining ships, or am I mistaken and they're actually fighters? (For reference, I'm referring to 3:30 in this video).

Those are drones, basically little shuttles that are used for various tasks. For example, in the new video you'll see assault shuttles heading out of those Mortalen Troop Transports to invade the planet. You'll see mining drones flying between a mining station and a planet. Boarding pods will board enemy ships, construction drones will be used to build/repair ships and stations, etc.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Handbanana
Is it possible to construct bases with multiple roles?
Like giving a starbase both tourism and mining capabilities at the same time?

You could theoretically do that. By default, you'd end up building a mining station and a resort base at that location, but it should be possible if the base can fit all the necessary components for it to be able to handle both. I'd need to check on whether the role logic would fully support that though.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Reed1981
Will colonies also consume resources for building cities, infrastructure and whatever else a colony needs? Considering all the resources we have already consumed on our planets, one can imagine what will be consumed in Distant Worlds 2 during the construction phase of colonies, or will this be brought into line with the private economy and offset? ok, on second reading I read that: Ensuring a good supply of construction and luxury resources for good development and happiness. Which resources are used there? Are they produced by the planet itself or do they have to be transported from other sources. thanks for your Time!

Yes, colonies require a certain amount of construction and luxury resources to be provided to ensure good development, growth and happiness. Some they can provide from their own resources, others need to be brought to them from other sources. Having a well functioning economy that can bring all the desired resources to all your colonies makes a huge difference in your economic output.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Tank Commander_MatrixForum
1. My fleet could arrive at an enemy base / planet yet none of my ships could attack almost as if they had no weapons or munitions of any kind
2. I could arrive an enemy base / station etc with troop transports with troops yet be unable to invade
Is this now resolved?

I'm not sure what caused the issue you are referring to, but the code has been completely rewritten from the ground up and I have not seen issue #1 or #2, as long as ships have fuel and valid designs and are loaded with troops.

Regards,

- Erik

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: RogalDorn
Forgive me if this has been asked before, but I did not find anything when searching.
Will there be an option to host populations permanently in orbit?
O'neill cylinders, Starbases, that sort of thing as an alternative (or in addition) to planets? I'm a fan of Isaac Arthur and I would love a game that reflects the reality that building more habitable area is well within an interstellar civilization's capabilities.

Not in this initial release, with the exception of space stations of various kinds, but those are not on the population scale you're discussing.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Key1001
Will Sol be added?
If not, oh please add Sol.[&o]

You should play through the Human faction story once DW2 is released. [8D]

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: thegreybetween
Will DW2 feature an in-game galactopedia? The video clips show that there are a lot of nice contextual pop-ups when new info is discovered, and that looks very helpful. But I've always quite enjoyed going down rabbit holes in the DW:U galactopedia and I'm hoping that DW2 includes a similar feature.

Yes, it will.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: ncc1701e
Is it still possible to start the game pre-warp?
Will we have cloaking device for our ships?

Yes to both, in fact the stealth tree is a bit expanded from DW1 and we also have more levels of fog of war than DW1 did. More on that in a future diary.

[USSAmerica]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

ORIGINAL: Key1001
Will Sol be added?
If not, oh please add Sol.[&o]

You should play through the Human faction story once DW2 is released. [8D]

[ncc1701e]

Sol, this is great. With all planets?

Thus another question: how many moons possible for a given planet?

[ncc1701e]

Also, the in-game musics of DW1 were quite nice. Did you keep some of them in DW2? Or did you rewrite everything?

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: ncc1701e
Also, the in-game musics of DW1 were quite nice. Did you keep some of them in DW2? Or did you rewrite everything?

DW2 has a completely new and original soundtrack.

[ncc1701e]

Thanks, on the galaxy map, we are seeing plenty of solar systems. But, is it not planned or maybe in a future DLC to have big nebulas that could disturb long range scanners? These nebulas could hide few solar systems on the galaxy map until explored.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: ncc1701e
Thanks, on the galaxy map, we are seeing plenty of solar systems. But, is it not planned or maybe in a future DLC to have big nebulas that could disturb long range scanners? These nebulas could hide few solar systems on the galaxy map until explored.

Actually, in DW2 at release we have four different kinds of nebula, with different effects and we also have the capability for systems to be hidden in nebulas. Some types not only interfere with your sensors but can actively damage your ships!

[ncc1701e]

Awesome Erik, one last question: guess what I will order my wife for Christmas? [;)]