Matrix Games Forums

Hey everybody
After more than a month lurking and waiting for the game i couldnt resist to buy it immediatly and register to the forum.

I played too little to have a strong opinion about anything still but from what i can tell so far IF the AI is good i believe this game will have me hooked for a very long time.
I salute you Eliot for making your vision come true, for the first time in a very very long time i am seeing a space game simulation come to life and *so far* the automation seems decent enough

Now a little question while i am at it
I started with the default automation settings which leaves my military ships and fleets on automated settings (at first).
Is there a way to assign "targets" (like a pirate starbase in one of my systems) so that the AI will form the fleet and engage?

I found out about making fleets on my own but i was wondering if there is a sort of way to direct the automated AI to do your bidding.

If there isnt yet i then put it forward for my wishlist

acantoni

After reading the manual and playing the tutorials I am hyped.The graphics look better in motion too.

Thanks guys, very interested to hear your ongoing first impressions. So far, so good!

Man, you really worked hard on the AI.  It is impressive watching the AI assign escort ships to mining ships, explore the galaxy and repel enemy raids while I sit here underwhelmed by the 1400 star galaxy.

Did you mean "overwhelmed"? And yes, I love watching that too - I've had more than one instance where I'm still looking to see how to respond to a pirate attack when an escort I set to automated in the area warps right in and gets to work.

Oops, yes, I was overwhelmed.

DANGER POSSIBLE SPOILER BELOW




i just found a lost temple, teaching me about a long forgotten governing form, the "Way of Darkness"...and there i wanted to play nice for once

How can it be a spoiler if the galaxies are random?

I know this was discussed somewhere, but how do you "track" a ship as it's moving?

Well my first game has gone to pot the economy has spiralled out of control and I don't really know why. Hopefully some tips will appear to help with this.

Not sure if its the automation spending more than it should.

@Webbco - Select it and press L.

Question of my own now... is there any way to see progress bars of things being built? Ships, bases etc.

ORIGINAL: Tycow
@Webbco - Select it and press L.

Question of my own now... is there any way to see progress bars of things being built? Ships, bases etc.

In the Construction Yards screen select a space port or other construction yard at the top and then select the "Construction Yards" tab at the bottom. You'll see a list of all ships being constructed or waiting to be constructed along with their percentage progress towards completion.

ORIGINAL: Webbco
I know this was discussed somewhere, but how do you "track" a ship as it's moving?

Use the L key to "Lock" to it, or the Lock button in the bottom left.

ORIGINAL: Hyfrydle
Well my first game has gone to pot the economy has spiralled out of control and I don't really know why. Hopefully some tips will appear to help with this.
Not sure if its the automation spending more than it should.

It may take you a while to figure everything out. I regularly run pretty large surpluses at the normal settings now. Some suggestions:

1. Don't overbuild ships or bases, look at your empire summary and get an idea of what your upkeep and fuel costs are doing
2. Check your resource demand/supply in the Expansion planner periodically, resource shortages can drive prices way up and even stall construction projects if critical resources are missing
3. Automate, but manage - in other words, if you like automation you should still feel free to assign a particular colonization priority or resource priority based on how you want to direct your expansion or economy.

ORIGINAL: elliotg

ORIGINAL: Tycow
@Webbco - Select it and press L.

Question of my own now... is there any way to see progress bars of things being built? Ships, bases etc.

In the Construction Yards screen select a space port or other construction yard at the top and then select the "Construction Yards" tab at the bottom. You'll see a list of all ships being constructed or waiting to be constructed along with their percentage progress towards completion.

Cheers Elliot...

It would appear that all of my construction has come to a screeching halt... any ideas why?

ORIGINAL: Tycow
Question of my own now... is there any way to see progress bars of things being built? Ships, bases etc.

Not progress bars, but lots of progress percentages. Look in the construction yards to see how far along each ship is or if being built at a planet, click on the icon in the building queue on the planet display. For bases, click on the base under construction and it will tell you how many components are unbuilt. Double click on the under construction base name to see exactly what components it's still building.

ORIGINAL: Tycow
It would appear that all of my construction has come to a screeching halt... any ideas why?

Are you short on any resources? Is your economy out of money?

ORIGINAL: Hyfrydle
Well my first game has gone to pot the economy has spiralled out of control and I don't really know why. Hopefully some tips will appear to help with this.

Also, check out the topic "Economy Tips" in the Galactopedia, under Game Concepts. A lot of the time you just need to keep those pirates away from your trade routes and then everything is good.

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

ORIGINAL: Tycow
It would appear that all of my construction has come to a screeching halt... any ideas why?

Are you short on any resources? Is your economy out of money?

I've got plenty of cash... might be resources. How do I check what I'm short on?

First stop is the Expansion Planner, you can sort by Demand and Supply and see if there's a major difference in anything there.

Second stop is to pick something where construction has stalled. Double click on its name in the display, that should pop up a more detailed view of which components are still unbuilt. If you click on the component, you can see what resources it needs and correlate that to what you saw in the Expansion Planner.

You can also look at the construction summary for any given design to see the total resources required to build that ship or base.