Matrix Games Forums

ORIGINAL: Mad Russian

I have a few questions about starting the game. From what I've seen you can pretty much set up the game as you like.

I have a need for a Neighborhood of 4 races in the galaxie starting pretty much equal distance from each other.

Can I set the starting locations and make up of a 4 Race Neighborhood?

Good Hunting.

MR

I want ask if it is possible to adjust level habitablity in universe(you know more or less colonizable planets)?

The computer empires will evaluate each situation and decide whether they'll attempt anything in your systems - they won't blindly do this. Each race roleplays their personality too, so more aggressive, less cautious races will be more willing to try it.

Establishing colonies in other empire's systems is a high-risk action: you could lose your new colony to the better-established empire (defects), and the other empire will take offense and may attack you. So computer players consider these factors. But if your empire has just established a new colony in a system, other empires won't feel so concerned about honoring your territory. Whereas they are quite unlikely to attempt colonization in your well-established home system.

Okay. Well that makes me feel a little better. I would definitely not have been happy about someone establishing a colony in my home system; anyone who did so would receive a very sharp "lesson", current treaties be damned.

If a player finds a planet rich in resources during an exploration mission, they might want to conquer it immediately despite it possibly being quite a distance away from the main growth of the empire . This of course could have a major strategic influence.


The AI will consider any defenses at a colony before deciding to invade (as long as it knows about them). Of course, they might decide they just need to send a bigger fleet and invade anyway...

There can be quite a few - I've seen new empires forming from independent worlds as well as "splinter factions" of existing empires. In my last test game, after I put a lot of military and other kinds pressure on an enemy faction, some of their systems split off into a new empire and quit the conflict (though they still didn't like me much). Destroying an existing economic and trade network combined with espionage and blockades can create a lot of disruption and unhappiness among outlying systems.

Similarly, I had colonized a new world towards the tail end of that conflict, out on the fringes of my empire. They decided that all in all they were tired of the wars I was getting into (testing a lot of combat as a Human Republic) and shortly after colonization, rebelled against me and formed their own independent government. This happened with two other recently colonized systems as the war dragged on and the burden became larger, so I have my own separate "outer rim colonies" to deal with now.

Finally, as you explore the galaxy you'll find independent worlds that are already populated. Some will want to join you, others will not. Some will stay independent and neutral but never rise to the level of their own "faction" while others will decide that it's time to take their place among the big empires and see what they can do.

The AI for other empires does not cheat. They play under the same restrictions/limitations that you do with no extra bonuses.

Pirates are a bit different, they do some cheating - but only a little They're pirates after all

There are a lot of little touches in DW. The other factions communicate quite often, whether to ask for a negotiation which are many, or to declare war. It is a very busy game with messages from the pirates, other races, your own citizens ticked off at high taxes, your advisers, and general information. Of course, you can filter which messages you want to view or not, but regardless, they all go through the message display at the top of the screen so you can always work with them.

That makes for a personable game, more so than any other I have played. Getting a game to have personality is hard, but this game has one. If I did not like this game, I would simply not post about it. However, the more I play it, the more I am impressed and I have played it since June of 2009. And I am still learning more every time I play.

Yes, the AI will take out your mining stations and do hit and run tactics. I've lost more mining stations then I care to admit because of poor planning on my part. It takes time for a fleet to arrive to defend your station, when I don't manage my defense very well the AI will destroy the station and be long gone before the fleet arrives.

Corruption is represented. The bigger your empire gets, the more tax income is lost due to corruption.

Other faction(s) actions [trade/diplomacy/military] are related to form of government (e.g. empire views democracy as weaklings, republics view empires as barbarians). This is one of many factors that influence other empires actions

Unhappy populations are bad because they won't tolerate very high taxes . If unhappy for along period they may rebel and refuse to pay any tax at all.

Also, very unhappy populations may decide to leave your empire, becoming independent or joining a nearby rival

Independent planets can already "ascend" to full-fledged empires over time. You can toggle this on or off on the game start dialogue.

When you declare war on a race, you better had taken defensive measures for your planets beforehand. They come at you thorough and hard. They also unite against you at times so keeping a good name really matters if you want to be liked by some. When I have declared war on a race with no good reason to, other races get mad and join in the fray. The AI keeps a good watch on your manners.

The AI is no sissy. It's smart. The races have distinct personalities too which really adds to the likability of this game.

Early expansion certainly helps. But there's lots of strategic options within expansion: selecting planets for colonization based on resources, other alien races present, ruins with bonuses, etc. Exploration is actually a very important aspect of the game, probably much more prominent than other 4x games. So expansion is important, but expanding to the *right locations* is even more important.

You can expand too fast, of course. You need ships and bases to support and defend all of those colonies. So if you have lots of new, undeveloped colonies, then you probably cannot afford enough ships and troops to defend your empire. You have to balance it out.

Making diplomatic alliances is another way to offset any advantage an early-expansion empire might have. Other empires will tend to be a bit envious of larger ones, especially if the larger empire has a poor reputation, because of their under-handed actions.

You also can set up the starting conditions for the game to have some empires larger, and others smaller, if you want. Thus you can select different challenges, e.g. small, high-tech empire vs large, low-tech empire.

Yes, you can certainly overstretch your bounds. Building an efficient infrastructure is a part of this game, and supporting that infrastructure is also a part. The more you have, the more dangers you open yourself up to - pirates, rivals, space monsters, etc. With a smaller empire, you might be able to hyperwarp a fleet to deal with that one pirate ship sniping your gas mine. With a large empire, you may be spread to thin and that one tiny pirate succeeds in destroying an expensive and important resource gather site. Further, you always have to make sure you can support, via taxes and income, the maintenance costs of your fleets.

If you enable allowing new empires to form at game setup (which is the default) then you can end up competing against empires you did not setup at game start - these other empires form out of independent colonies.

The factors that affect corruption and the resulting loss of tax revenue are government type and some racial characteristics. IIRC there's some bonus ruins that affect this too.

Revolutions and civil wars sometimes happen - especially when your reputation is poor. In this case part of your empire will split off and form a new empire.

Are there any other types of political events that you were thinking of? Not promising we can put them all in, but it's good to get ideas on the table.

I've seen new empires forming from independent worlds as well as "splinter factions" of existing empires. In my last test game, after I put a lot of military and other kinds pressure on an enemy faction, some of their systems split off into a new empire and quit the conflict (though they still didn't like me much). Destroying an existing economic and trade network combined with espionage and blockades can create a lot of disruption and unhappiness among outlying systems.

Independent worlds are "splinter worlds," as Erik stated, from races within the game. You encounter them, sometimes, when exploring - some of them haven't broken off from an empire, but exist on a planet as part of some colony from your race's ancient past (part of the game's backstory) or perhaps as... hmm... transplants. These planets can, if allowed by your game setup, leave their planets eventually and colonize.

ORIGINAL: Wade1000

I'll cut in here, but I'm not any of those you're asking. I read in a couple places, I think the facts thread http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2379285, that the AI's do "respect" territories depending on how well established the systems are, how protected they are, your military power(I think) and the according their race characteristic statistics.

Thus, your core systems are usually safe from unwelcome colonization(unless you are at war I suppose) while a newly founded fringe colony with little development may get alien neighboors in the system planets. If the alien planets in that fringe system outpace your new colony development, along with other factors, it may cause your colony to flip to their side. It could also go independent, if other factors are involved.

ORIGINAL: shinobu
OK- I can deal with that. The Fringe is the fringe- fair game for one and all. I just hated playing Gal Civ II and having someone stumble deep into what was clearly "my territory" and plant some two-bit colony. [:@]

ORIGINAL: martok
A question for elliotg or one of the beta-testers: Can empires establish separate colonies on both a planet *and* the same planet's moon (if it has any)? Or are moons essentially "attached" to their planets, and are thus considered part of the same colony?

ORIGINAL: elliotg

ORIGINAL: shinobu
OK- I can deal with that. The Fringe is the fringe- fair game for one and all. I just hated playing Gal Civ II and having someone stumble deep into what was clearly "my territory" and plant some two-bit colony. [:@]

Everyone else has answered it pretty well, but I'll just add that attempting to colonize a well-established system usually never works: your new colony will almost always flip to the other empire. So you can colonize, but you'll most likely lose that colony pretty quickly.

Everyone else has answered it pretty well, but I'll just add that attempting to colonize a well-established system usually never works: your new colony will almost always flip to the other empire. So you can colonize, but you'll most likely lose that colony pretty quickly.

ORIGINAL: Gertjan
Does the race type also affect the chances of flipping? I would think that some races would never flip over to a different empire as they are so different from each other.

ORIGINAL: Sarissofoi
BTW If strong army forces can keep your colonies with you?
I mean strong garnissons on flipabble or rebellike planets?

Simply can you use your army to make your system more loyal?

ORIGINAL: elliotg
Yes, races with higher loyalty are less inclined to defect.

Yes, having troops at your colonies makes them less likely to defect.

ORIGINAL: Okim
Is there a limit of troops that can be stationed on a planet?
What happens to troops if a planet that they are protecting flips to enemy? Will they fight the rebel planet`s militia or will they also flip to the enemy?

ORIGINAL: Mad Russian
Could they be evacuated or reinforced?

ORIGINAL: Okim
Will they fight the rebel planet`s militia...

ORIGINAL: hadberz

ORIGINAL: Mad Russian

I have a few questions about starting the game. From what I've seen you can pretty much set up the game as you like.

I have a need for a Neighborhood of 4 races in the galaxie starting pretty much equal distance from each other.

Can I set the starting locations and make up of a 4 Race Neighborhood?

Good Hunting.

MR

Yes you can have 4 empires and have them distant from each other. If you want to select the exact location, you'll have to use the in-game editor.