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I have to say that your guide really helped me, a newcomer to the franchise, so thank you !

I tried a quick look on lunch break to see what had changed in the latest version, and I didn't catch much apart for the colonisation chart that I had seen in another topic. Would it be too much to ask you what changed ?

Ingor wrote: Thu Mar 17, 2022 12:21 pm I have to say that your guide really helped me, a newcomer to the franchise, so thank you !

I tried a quick look on lunch break to see what had changed in the latest version, and I didn't catch much apart for the colonisation chart that I had seen in another topic. Would it be too much to ask you what changed ?

Thanks for the kind words! Glad you enjoyed it. The first slide where you downloaded the file from has a changelog between versions. The very last change from V1.9 to 1.91 added an index of tables and fixed the very last slide (which had an old version of the table by mistake).

Scott2933 wrote: Thu Mar 17, 2022 3:56 am

StormingKiwi wrote: Thu Mar 17, 2022 3:05 am I think there's a lot to be said for the player to learn to manage funding levels manually.

My rule of thumb is to set the reserved income to 0, then skew excess towards growth and gradually increase research as I can afford to.

e.g. right at the beginning, it doesn't matter what your research is because you have no research stations, so it should all be invested into growth as far as I can tell.

I'm all for manual funding - but once you've gotten the rest of the game down. Of course advanced or DWU (DW1) experienced players probably don't need my walk-thru.

However, I'm finding that manual funding is a lot simpler system than fleet and ship roles and automation. Both systems are consequential.

Which is more important to learn?

Very nice guide. It will certainly help beginners understand more certain choices.

Just two thoughts about the first chapters:

- Research Path: If this is your first game it doesn’t matter (fixed is random to you); not really, random can cause issues with new players who won't understand why some techs don't exist or suddenly lead to a dead-end. That setting was changed in 1021 to fixed, and I believe this is the right choice for new players.

- Research: Manual; actually, you should automatise Research. The AI will only pick a research if you forget to set one yourself. Fill your queue, and keep it filled, and it will be okay. In case you forget to fill the queue for some reason, at least the points won't go to waste; the AI will pick something for you until you decide to change it.

OzoneGrif_slith wrote: Sat Mar 19, 2022 9:11 am Very nice guide. It will certainly help beginners understand more certain choices.

Just two thoughts about the first chapters:

- Research Path: If this is your first game it doesn’t matter (fixed is random to you); not really, random can cause issues with new players who won't understand why some techs don't exist or suddenly lead to a dead-end. That setting was changed in 1021 to fixed, and I believe this is the right choice for new players.

- Research: Manual; actually, you should automatise Research. The AI will only pick a research if you forget to set one yourself. Fill your queue, and keep it filled, and it will be okay. In case you forget to fill the queue for some reason, at least the points won't go to waste; the AI will pick something for you until you decide to change it.

Thanks! Great points. for #2 is flashes now I believe - which I prefer - to remind me it's empty. But I will mention that as a good option (leaving in on auto). Thanks again!!

This is a great guide, and it helped me a lot getting into DW2. Thanks, Scott.

Would it be possible to add a weapon comparison at some point?

Friese wrote: Sat Mar 19, 2022 5:52 pm This is a great guide, and it helped me a lot getting into DW2. Thanks, Scott.

Would it be possible to add a weapon comparison at some point?

You're Welcome! Thanks for the note!

Not only possible - it will be in the next update. I've included a preview version here (note - I'm still checking numbers and there will be supporting text talking about ION, AREA, etc. in the actual guide).

Scott, you are doing yeoman's work! Thank you for your ongoing efforts with the Guide!

Great, looking forward to it.

Thanks Scott, this is really fantastic. One thing I might consider adding to the weapon comparison is the raw damage for each "hit" as that can matter when considering armor/shield resistance and chance to damage or destroy a component.

Erik Rutins wrote: Sun Mar 20, 2022 4:21 pm Thanks Scott, this is really fantastic. One thing I might consider adding to the weapon comparison is the raw damage for each "hit" as that can matter when considering armor/shield resistance and chance to damage or destroy a component.

Totally agree and I've been working on that. See below.

A couple of questions:

1) Only problem is the time between salvos (the stat is called "Fire rate") does not match at all with x1 speed in game. I've tested it over and over again. So I might be misunderstanding it. I had assumed it means delta-t between the first shot of each "volley" (even though some volley might take a few seconds to fully complete). The real numbers I've found with the stop watch are much quicker (e.g. Maxos Blaster M v2 I found to be 2.8 sec but the chart in game says 4.5 sec). Can you shed a light on what I might be missing here?

2) Also - I'm doing the math (my day job too) on damage reduction and I'm assuming it only protects armor and shields. Is that correct?

3) What is "intercept Fighter" and "intercept seeking"? Is that percent to intercept?

4) Lastly - how do you do the calculations for "damage rate" (net damage rate for comparison purposes). I get it probably ignores range - but how is it calculated?

THANKS!!

Scott2933 wrote: Sun Mar 20, 2022 4:32 pm 1) Only problem is the time between salvos (the stat is called "Fire rate") does not match at all with x1 speed in game. I've tested it over and over again. So I might be misunderstanding it. I had assumed it means delta-t between the first shot of each "volley" (even though some volley might take a few seconds to fully complete). The real numbers I've found with the stop watch are much quicker (e.g. Maxos Blaster M v2 I found to be 2.8 sec but the chart in game says 4.5 sec). Can you shed a light on what I might be missing here?

Regarding the fire rate not matching the system time, I know that in some cases when needed the multi-threaded simulation of the galaxy will wait on one or more other threads before it can move ahead. I suspect this could introduce "real time" lag while the internal time remains consistent. In any case, if you can show this in your tests it would be a question for Elliot to investigate to make sure nothing else is going on.

As far as volleys go, the way that is meant to work is that you have a "fire rate" for the delta-t between the first shots of the volleys and then a "volley fire rate" for the delta-t between shots within that volley.

2) Also - I'm doing the math (my day job too) on damage reduction and I'm assuming it only protects armor and shields. Is that correct?

Damage reduction as intended should protect armor, hull and components but not shield strength (though it will protect shield components). In short, any damage through shields that hits armor, hull or component should be reduced by damage reduction. For armor and other components, that should happen before the check to see if that component is damaged or destroyed by the shot.

3) What is "intercept Fighter" and "intercept seeking"? Is that percent to intercept?

That's the damaged caused by a hit to such targets when a weapon is firing in intercept mode. Non-PD and non-Fighter weapons are generally quite poor at Intercept mode, though most can do it to some degree.

4) Lastly - how do you do the calculations for "damage rate" (net damage rate for comparison purposes). I get it probably ignores range - but how is it calculated?

This is one for Elliot. I have my own calculations when all these were designed out of game, which I shared with Elliot for the in-game implementations, but I know he made some adjustments for the in-game strength/firepower/dps values. I believe the in-game dps is the base damage adjusted for range fall-off and accuracy at range and fire rate, but there may be more to it than that.

Thank you for your awesome guide.

Theres a way to deal with pirates without paying them protection money forever or taking care of them militarily. I havent seen this mentioned anywhere so i thought i would share.

When you first encounter pirates, take their protection treaty. Once relations have normalised at -2, gift them the largest amount possible. You can now sign a non aggression pact with them and will never have to worry about them again. Moreover they will even offer you stuff in exchange for money. I think they offer 5 different deals:

System survey (random location)
Ruin location
Independant colony location
Contact to an unknown empire
Tech

System survey cost around 3600, ruin location 5-10k, last 3 offers vary in cost but are in the 100-300k range.

If you take one of their deals they will like you even more and offer you a refuelment deal.

Enjoy

Gazzzz wrote: Mon Mar 21, 2022 12:14 am Thank you for your awesome guide.

Theres a way to deal with pirates without paying them protection money forever or taking care of them militarily. I havent seen this mentioned anywhere so i thought i would share.

When you first encounter pirates, take their protection treaty. Once relations have normalised at -2, gift them the largest amount possible. You can now sign a non aggression pact with them and will never have to worry about them again. Moreover they will even offer you stuff in exchange for money. I think they offer 5 different deals:

System survey (random location)
Ruin location
Independant colony location
Contact to an unknown empire
Tech

System survey cost around 3600, ruin location 5-10k, last 3 offers vary in cost but are in the 100-300k range.

If you take one of their deals they will like you even more and offer you a refuelment deal.

Enjoy

Thanks for the kind words! Yes - that is a very viable strategy after the initial protection agreement. I still personally prefer to kill them and build my own fuel mining station where their HQ used to be. Plus I get tech advancements, ships, and sometimes money after I wipe them out.

Awesome Guide, I nearly read all of it in one go,
and am now pouring over the weapon tables to decide which direction my Empire will go.

But, I still have a question, p.44. ,
in the table with planetary ressources, you color-coded the ressources, white, blue, green.

At first I read the colors as construction/luxury goods, but then it did not match,
so I am guess it's Diablo Rarity coding.
It would be great if you could specify that below the table.

Emperor0Akim wrote: Tue Mar 22, 2022 1:28 pm Awesome Guide, I nearly read all of it in one go,
and am now pouring over the weapon tables to decide which direction my Empire will go.

But, I still have a question, p.44. ,
in the table with planetary ressources, you color-coded the ressources, white, blue, green.

At first I read the colors as construction/luxury goods, but then it did not match,
so I am guess it's Diablo Rarity coding.
It would be great if you could specify that below the table.

Thanks for the kinds words. Glad you like it.
Great point - I forgot to add the key! So they are luxury v construction except for the special high value luxuries (K Spice, L Fruit, Z Fluid) which are green. If you see I got some wrong in those categories, let me know and I'll put it in the next update. Thanks for pointing this out!

Okay here is the list of white Luxury Goods, I am ashamed to admit, I had to recheck the new DW2 Ressources in the Galactopedia.


Continental - Yarras Marble
Mangrovian Forrest - Ekarus Meat
Sandy Desert - Dantha Fur,
Ice - Everything except Hexodronium and Tyderios
Volcanic - Tebraakian Granite


And I am guessing the Moons, Asteroids and Gas Planets are for the next update ?

Emperor0Akim wrote: Tue Mar 22, 2022 4:42 pm Okay here is the list of white Luxury Goods, I am ashamed to admit, I had to recheck the new DW2 Ressources in the Galactopedia.


Continental - Yarras Marble
Mangrovian Forrest - Ekarus Meat
Sandy Desert - Dantha Fur,
Ice - Everything except Hexodronium and Tyderios
Volcanic - Tebraakian Granite


And I am guessing the Moons, Asteroids and Gas Planets are for the next update ?

Awesome thank you!! Yes - I need another chart for the others and I didn't have time. Maybe next rev.

Glad to be of Service.

Scott2933 wrote: Tue Mar 22, 2022 2:09 am

Gazzzz wrote: Mon Mar 21, 2022 12:14 am Thank you for your awesome guide.

Theres a way to deal with pirates without paying them protection money forever or taking care of them militarily. I havent seen this mentioned anywhere so i thought i would share.

When you first encounter pirates, take their protection treaty. Once relations have normalised at -2, gift them the largest amount possible. You can now sign a non aggression pact with them and will never have to worry about them again. Moreover they will even offer you stuff in exchange for money. I think they offer 5 different deals:

System survey (random location)
Ruin location
Independant colony location
Contact to an unknown empire
Tech

System survey cost around 3600, ruin location 5-10k, last 3 offers vary in cost but are in the 100-300k range.

If you take one of their deals they will like you even more and offer you a refuelment deal.

Enjoy

Thanks for the kind words! Yes - that is a very viable strategy after the initial protection agreement. I still personally prefer to kill them and build my own fuel mining station where their HQ used to be. Plus I get tech advancements, ships, and sometimes money after I wipe them out.

I see. I find it much easier to befriend them.

On a side note. If you defeat a hive carrier, then all the pirates you are on good terms with will say thank you very much and join you. So you get a bunch of escorts and frigs (which are pretty useless at this point) and their bases, but more importantly, you get their admirals and scientists.

Thanks again for your guide.