Let's Preview Distant Worlds: Shadows

[Bingeling]

He has too few independents for pirates to thrive, I believe.

I wonder why the pirates are so eager for troop tech [:)]. He got colony control ambitions, this one.

[Erik Rutins]

I believe Das reduced the number of pirates and independents, which will mean that the pirates are a bit weaker overall, but I'd guess there are some pirates he hasn't discovered yet that are doing better than the ones he knows. The pirate game is definitely survival of the fittest, you can have say 20 pirate factions of which 4-5 will actually survive the early era in good shape and become strong enough to contest with the empires. Das' focus on Braugele and the construction of a pirate base and fortress there uninteruppted, thanks largely to his early attack on the Nispes Intruders, is a good strategy. He also ended up in what looks like a bit of a gap between empires, which is a very good place for a pirate to be.

[Mansen]

He changed it to Normal from Many - So unless "Many" in the preview will change to become the new "Normal", then he should be playing the game as "designed" as we're seeing it.

[Erik Rutins]

First, all settings are viable, they just result in a different experience.

Das reduced the pirates from Many (the Age of Shadows default) to Normal (the Classic Age default) and reduced independent and alien life from Plentiful (Age of Shadows default) to Normal (Classic Age default). He also chose the "Destroyed Pirates do not Respawn" option (normally off for all eras). In effect, this means he's playing in the Classic Age rather than the Age of Shadows as far as the settings that affect pirates, except that the empires did have the pre-Warp start which is better for pirates than the full Classic Age where empires start with Hyperspace capability.

This is all fine but I wanted to clarify that he's not playing with the Age of Shadows defaults and the settings he chose do make pirates weaker in all cases.

Regards,

- Erik

[Erik Rutins]

Actually, I should modify that statement - Many Pirates helps make sure there are more strong pirate factions, but it doesn't necessarily help any single pirate faction because it also gives them more competition especially in the early game. Pirates fight among themselves, so more pirates means more conflict in general, which tends to result in a few stronger factions surviving. The other settings help all pirates in general though.

Regards,

- Erik

[Mansen]

So what are "your" options a bit later on as the game progresses? Some of the independent colonies will break free of control and start exploring space on their own. Some pirate factions will become much stronger than others.

I believe the option to become an "empire" was mentioned? - Can you stay a pirate for the entire game or will the empires eventually get the upper hand (as is the case in Legends from what I can tell), or are you forced to adapt and conform? Can you become an empire as soon as you fully control a colony or are there more steps involved? [:)]

[Erik Rutins]

The Age of Shadows is basically an alternate history for the Distant Worlds universe... potentially. In the original game, the way things worked out was that the Planetary empires gained the upper hand and only the Legendary Pirates were a reminder of how things used to be. But it didn't have to work out that way.

Space-based Pirate Empires that become very successful can indeed transition to planetary empires where they actually own colonies along with their populations and can build ground troops and colony ships. They are not quite identical to planetary empires due to their different origin and goals, but they can become equally powerful. Victory-wise, you are playing against the other pirates and on the default victory conditions you'll win before you take over the galaxy. You can keep playing though or play in a more sandbox mode from the start and see if you can end up in complete control. It's doable - I've taken the pirates very far along the road to galactic domination and I've seen the AI do it as well. If played well, they can be absolutely fearsome.

You are always forced to adapt and conform. The planetary empires are the "NPCs" when playing as a pirate, but they are powerful and don't want you to win either. The longer you let them develop, the tougher they will be but you can keep ahead of them.

In the current AAR Das is doing, with the income he has, if he built more military ships and hit one of those early pre-warp transitioning to warp empires with everything he has, he would likely knock them back to their planets and end up taking control of their system. It would cost him, but given he currently doesn't have much competition he could absolutely pull it off. With repeated planetary raids to whittle them down, he could keep them under control for a long time.

Regards,

- Erik

[Mansen]

Interesting.

[DasTactic]

Distant Worlds Shadows ~ Preview Ep8 ~ Long Range Scanner Ships

[joeyeti]

I do wonder (if that has not been explained elsewhere), the red arrows, sometimes flashing on and back off for ships, are indicators of some shortage for that ship?

Just watching ep. 6 and noticed that in ep. 5 also...

EDIT:

Or, even better, does it mean that that ship is carrying critical resources???

[Bingeling]

I think that what you see may be red travel vectors. I am not sure if they are 100%, but it seems that if you got a base selected, the travel vectors for freighters heading towards it will be red.

I am not quite comfortable that I have found a pattern in the red ones, though.

[ASHBERY76]

Red arrows usually mean attacking fleet.Maybe a bug.

[Bingeling]

I believe your Snoop designs have some flaws.

1: They lack power to run the hyperdrive at full speed. This may or may not be important, depending on whether they are stationary or travelling scanners.

2: They lack energy collection to cover the static use. This means they will burn fuel while sitting passive (and scanning). Unless you plan to always run around in circles, this will be bad.

[DasTactic]

ORIGINAL: Bingeling

I believe your Snoop designs have some flaws.

1: They lack power to run the hyperdrive at full speed. This may or may not be important, depending on whether they are stationary or travelling scanners.

2: They lack energy collection to cover the static use. This means they will burn fuel while sitting passive (and scanning). Unless you plan to always run around in circles, this will be bad.

My thinking at the time was just to have a cheap craft that would allow me to track down constructors. They would move into position (no need to speed) and sit outside systems so they couldn't be intercepted (hence no collectors).

In hind sight they didn't have enough staying power as you pointed out.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Das123
My thinking at the time was just to have a cheap craft that would allow me to track down constructors. They would move into position (no need to speed) and sit outside systems so they couldn't be intercepted (hence no collectors).

That plan actually worked well - it's just that the policy setting messed things up for you.

[joeyeti]

That destruction of the "captured" construction ship in part 9 (not yet advertised but already available on Youtube) was nasty...

Can it then happen that you capture a ship (winning the onboard fight), but it gets destroyed? Or is it a bug?

[StarLab]

I believe the act of boarding ships does some damage on its own. I think both of those ships were very heavily damaged so the act of boarding provided just enough additional damage to finish them off.

[peddroelm]

ORIGINAL: joeyeti

That destruction of the "captured" construction ship in part 9 (not yet advertised but already available on Youtube) was nasty...

Can it then happen that you capture a ship (winning the onboard fight), but it gets destroyed? Or is it a bug?

08:12 Game log
We have boarded and captured ship BoldWhim (constructor) of the Sluken Conformity!
Inline with our empire policy we have immediately scrapped the captured ship BoldWhim in place for a money bonus of 888 credits.

EP 9

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: joeyeti
That destruction of the "captured" construction ship in part 9 (not yet advertised but already available on Youtube) was nasty...
Can it then happen that you capture a ship (winning the onboard fight), but it gets destroyed? Or is it a bug?

No, that's what I was saying, his empire policy was set to automatically scrap those ships for money once captured. Just requires a change to the empire policy setting to keep them once captured. Ships can also take damage during boarding and capture of course, but in this case he captured them but lost them (and gained money) due to the empire policy.

Unfortunately the preview build came without a manual, just with tutorials, so Das has had to figure things out as he goes along.

Regards,

- Erik

[Erik Rutins]

Here's Episode 9:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lNppGRPOtc

And Episode 10:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BK8gnXzOQd0