Matrix Games Forums

elliotg wrote: Mon Sep 06, 2021 8:51 pm

ORIGINAL: Galaxy227
Another question... I promise, no more!

When showing off the ship designer, there was a button called "Generate Scene Fleet vs Fleet." I'm sure this button was a development tool, and I assume it was for testing ship combat. Would you be willing to implement this feature into the base game, allowing players to test their designs against other ships? And if not (I understand how that could feel like cheating), would you ever consider releasing it as a tool for modders? Being able to quickly test ship builds could go a long way with helping modders balance their modded ship components.

You're right, this is a development tool for us to test balance of various components and ship hulls in battle.

We had intended to remove this for release. But Erik and I have discussed this, noting that players might also find it useful.

The thing with this tool is that it generates the scene inside the game itself - there's no separate 'arena' for this test battle. This can actually be very handy if you also want to include lots of other elements in your test, because you can then also use the Game Editor to add other stuff.

So if we left it in, the player would have to understand that they are effectively 'polluting' their current game with this extra scene. I guess the process would be for the player to save their current game, generate the scene, do their testing, then reload their previous savegame to get back to their starting state.

Anyway, we'll see where we end up on this. I understand the desire to use it. The battles look pretty sweet too

Would be interesting to have it return, especially when the support for all hull levels is made available, if not sooner!
Also, it would be interesting to know what the thoughts were in the decision for removing the test scene UIX.

Why can't I research Long Range Sensors? Is this for real? I need to find more bonuses (and where?) before proceeding?

I'm confronted to the exact same thing in my current game (trying to research long range sensors). Since the main (and possibly the only) source of research bonuses are special locations (planets, ruins, etc.), exploration is of the utmost importance. I presume that higher exploration techs increase the chances of discovering new locations with research bonuses. Also, the ruins tab in the control center shows those that haven't yet been investigated. Their exploration should be prioritized.

The techs "High Tech Specialization" and "High Tech Mega-Labs" both increases sensor research. But I don't know it that counts as research "bonuses".

Looks like a bug, maybe. I don't even sensor bonuses in my list...

I do have a "Sensor Research" in my current game (v1.0.8.4 Beta). So it's probably more that either you haven't yet discovered location(s) with a sensor research bonus, or if you have, that you didn't yet built a research station there.

Look for any mention of "Sensor Research" in "New Research Stations" and in "Known Ruins". If you see any, check if you have a research station there. If not, build one. Also, as mentioned in my previous post, while in "Known Ruins", check for those that haven't been investigated yet (see green arrow in screenshot). They might have a sensor bonus. So send explorers there as soon as possible.

[EDIT: I changed the picture; it wasn't the right one before.]

Thanks. I DO have a planet with a ruin and "unknown items present" (and it's one of my colonies). When I manually assign exploration ships to survey/explore, they do one 'round' of that and then sit idle.

I haven't played DW2 since after release but don't remember any technologies requiring some bonus to actually research it. This is annoying... why can I research much more advanced item but sensors have this prerequisite?

scotten_usa wrote: Sat Nov 12, 2022 4:45 pm Thanks. I DO have a planet with a ruin and "unknown items present" (and it's one of my colonies). When I manually assign exploration ships to survey/explore, they do one 'round' of that and then sit idle.

I haven't played DW2 since after release but don't remember any technologies requiring some bonus to actually research it. This is annoying... why can I research much more advanced item but sensors have this prerequisite?

That has been in since release. Most technology has that prerequisite.

StormingKiwi wrote: Sat Nov 12, 2022 5:36 pm

scotten_usa wrote: Sat Nov 12, 2022 4:45 pm Thanks. I DO have a planet with a ruin and "unknown items present" (and it's one of my colonies). When I manually assign exploration ships to survey/explore, they do one 'round' of that and then sit idle.

I haven't played DW2 since after release but don't remember any technologies requiring some bonus to actually research it. This is annoying... why can I research much more advanced item but sensors have this prerequisite?

That has been in since release. Most technology has that prerequisite.

Ah, interesting. I did encounter that when I played but I also concluded that last campaign when another tech tree bug bit me.

scotten_usa wrote: Sat Nov 12, 2022 4:45 pm Thanks. I DO have a planet with a ruin and "unknown items present" (and it's one of my colonies). When I manually assign exploration ships to survey/explore, they do one 'round' of that and then sit idle.

It can be annoying, definitely.

For your colony with unknown items present, check if it's as fully explored / surveyed as your current exploration / survey techs level allow. To do so, select your colony, and then check its exploration level in the selection panel:


If it's yellow, that means it's not fully explored/surveyed for your current tech level. So I would order an exploration ship to survey the colony repeatedly until it's as fully surveyed as your tech level allows (it will become green in the selection panel). If it's already green, then your only option to further investigate that colony is to get higher levels exploration / survey techs, particularly the "Planetary Exploration" line.

As for the general approach to find research bonuses, what I did to solve my problem (I had the exact same problem), I've researched higher exploration / survey techs, and built more exploration ships. And I paid attention to any messages about new discoveries, looking for any mention of research bonuses or discovery of new ruins. It finally paid off: I did find new sources of sensor research bonuses, and I'm now researching "Long Range Sensors".

scotten_usa wrote: Sat Nov 12, 2022 4:45 pm Thanks. I DO have a planet with a ruin and "unknown items present" (and it's one of my colonies). When I manually assign exploration ships to survey/explore, they do one 'round' of that and then sit idle.

I haven't played DW2 since after release but don't remember any technologies requiring some bonus to actually research it. This is annoying... why can I research much more advanced item but sensors have this prerequisite?

That has been in since pre-release.
Pretty sure it was in the dev dairies, and there were like only 10 of them.
There is now way you missed that.
There is no way to miss read the UI into not understanding that.

Just a quick suggestion: For the Human add some female characters in various roles.

Majork wrote: Sat Nov 26, 2022 7:33 pm Just a quick suggestion: For the Human add some female characters in various roles.

I haven't played as Humans yet (Teekans!), but are there really no female characters?

If so, that's a pretty big oversight. Even if the lore justified a completely regressive return to male-dominated leadership (and if that's the case, the Shakturi should have just wiped us out), male-only portraits in today's market is just out of touch. I get the "small team, small assets" argument, but yeah. A spectrum of only male (and hopefully not only white?) human characters in a 2022 game of civilization is a big swing-and-miss.

Definitely add me to the +1 list for patching in female inclusion as soon as the art department can deliver some goods.

thegreybetween wrote: Mon Nov 28, 2022 11:56 pm

Majork wrote: Sat Nov 26, 2022 7:33 pm Just a quick suggestion: For the Human add some female characters in various roles.

I haven't played as Humans yet (Teekans!), but are there really no female characters?

If so, that's a pretty big oversight. Even if the lore justified a completely regressive return to male-dominated leadership (and if that's the case, the Shakturi should have just wiped us out), male-only portraits in today's market is just out of touch. I get the "small team, small assets" argument, but yeah. A spectrum of only male (and hopefully not only white?) human characters in a 2022 game of civilization is a big swing-and-miss.

Definitely add me to the +1 list for patching in female inclusion as soon as the art department can deliver some goods.

IIRC, the Art team was the bottleneck for adding new races before release.

So it was a decision between:
1. Female Portraits
2. Cutting it down to 5-6 races

zgrssd wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 11:29 am

thegreybetween wrote: Mon Nov 28, 2022 11:56 pm

Majork wrote: Sat Nov 26, 2022 7:33 pm Just a quick suggestion: For the Human add some female characters in various roles.

I haven't played as Humans yet (Teekans!), but are there really no female characters?

If so, that's a pretty big oversight. Even if the lore justified a completely regressive return to male-dominated leadership (and if that's the case, the Shakturi should have just wiped us out), male-only portraits in today's market is just out of touch. I get the "small team, small assets" argument, but yeah. A spectrum of only male (and hopefully not only white?) human characters in a 2022 game of civilization is a big swing-and-miss.

Definitely add me to the +1 list for patching in female inclusion as soon as the art department can deliver some goods.

IIRC, the Art team was the bottleneck for adding new races before release.

So it was a decision between:
1. Female Portraits
2. Cutting it down to 5-6 races

It wasn't a bad call, and I'm glad they released it as robustly as they did. That said, now that the bottleneck has passed and the stability issues are over, I'm hoping that the art team dedicated a little energy to this before they dive too deep into adding more races (which I know they are currently busily creating now).

Hey guys, is there a convenient way to manage multiple classes of ship within the same category? IE multiple concurrent classes of destroyer, frigate, etc.. Perhaps my small automated pirate squashing task forces could have frigates mounting mostly anti ship weaponry, whilst my fleet frigates (intended to escort/screen larger battle fleets) could mount more point defense weaponry.

I haven’t bothered to try making multiple sub classes like this since IIRC in DWU I would run into issues whereby refitting fleets tended to upgrade vessels to the “wrong” type. I am of course referring to the “upgrade fleet to latest design” button in the various fleet panels.

Thelonelychair wrote: Sun Dec 18, 2022 3:36 am Hey guys, is there a convenient way to manage multiple classes of ship within the same category? IE multiple concurrent classes of destroyer, frigate, etc.. Perhaps my small automated pirate squashing task forces could have frigates mounting mostly anti ship weaponry, whilst my fleet frigates (intended to escort/screen larger battle fleets) could mount more point defense weaponry.

I haven’t bothered to try making multiple sub classes like this since IIRC in DWU I would run into issues whereby refitting fleets tended to upgrade vessels to the “wrong” type. I am of course referring to the “upgrade fleet to latest design” button in the various fleet panels.

Not yet, but this is on the development road map, which last covered a roughly 6 month increment - I'd guess it'll be added in Q1.

Question: In the ship designer, it prompts me to build out the external ‘visible’ slots first, for defense and sensor modules. THEN fill out the internal slots offer that. I’m playing with the XL mod, so it’s possible that’s a mod feature. But are there any mechanical reasons for doing so? Or is it more of a house rule for balancing/realism?

I'd also like to have more information about this: what are the implications of doing or not doing what the message suggests. But I can tell you that it's not specific to the mod you're using: I don't use any (for now), and I do get the same message sometimes.

Thelonelychair wrote: Sat Dec 24, 2022 7:40 pm Question: In the ship designer, it prompts me to build out the external ‘visible’ slots first, for defense and sensor modules. THEN fill out the internal slots offer that. I’m playing with the XL mod, so it’s possible that’s a mod feature. But are there any mechanical reasons for doing so? Or is it more of a house rule for balancing/realism?

Word of Devs is that external Slots are purely to be visual on the model.
So putting them there first makes it look nicer.

Hi!

I'm not sure if this thread is still active, but I try one question:

If I have "known locations" of a specific resource in the resource list: Is there a way to find out where these locations are?

Thanks.