Helping the newplayers to turn off the AI and take control

[Pipewrench]

Below, in parts, I will describe a general walk-thru on how to first start out with total control of your own fate. This is an opinion on early game setup and should not be taken as the only way to play.

Sorry, but no pics as my time is limited.

ran at first on return of the shakturi expansion 1.5.0.1 beta

update applied and now running on return of the shakturi expansion 1.5.0.2 beta
post 35 +

[Pipewrench]

Simple walkthrough to help new players take more control away from the AI.

Part 1 We are going to use the Sluken empire as the test case.
Select new game


We are going to make 4 changes to the start new game screens.

1st screen:

Select research cost slider to expensive

2nd screen
Select Republic as the Government type.
Select Sluken as race type

4th screen
Uncheck all victory conditions to make the game sandbox.

Start the Game.....

[Pipewrench]

Simple walkthrough to help new players take more control in the game away from the AI.

Part 2

Hit the start playing button and immediately hit the space bar to pause.

Save the game and  if you want call it beginnings

Hit esc or click on the monitor icon at the very top left of the screen.

Hit the options selection

In the automation category Uncheck research and ship design boxes

To the right change all the down menus to read control manually

You can change any of these options  at any time by the way.

We are done with this part so close the options screen.

Save the game again but MAKE SURE you use the "Save game as" option.

Use the same name as before but add an x. Example: beginningsx

This now creates a comparison you can run later on.

Hit resume playing and make sure you are still on pause as there is much more to come.

[Pipewrench]

Simple walkthrough to help new players take more control in the game away from the AI. Part 3.

Select the research screen F7

note:**My mouse could have right and left click opposite to yours.

Start by selecting the weapons tab at the top

This will bring up what is being researched at the moment...yellow glow.

Left Clicking on this glowing tab will force crash research but you should not have enough money.

Right clicking on the glowing tab will deselect and will make the weapons tab display “no project”

Now go to the energy and high tech tabs and De-select the projects that are glowing. We want to clear everything and start fresh.



Now click the weapons tab and prepare to plan.



Scroll down and click Energy torpedo weapons
Now click enhanced torpedo and Advanced torpedo in that order.

This tells us that research is being done now on Energy torpedoes and we want to follow with enhanced torpedoes and then advanced torpedo in that order


scroll up and select beam weapons

You should see that it is already complete so select enhanced and efficient beam weapons beside the completed beam project.

Weapons tech has been told to research 3 torpedo projects first and then research 2 beam projects in the order you clicked them.


Go back down to torpedoes and I want you to de-select enhanced torpedoes as we have just changed our minds.

You should immediately notice it also deselected advanced torpedoes as well.

The research will now only run 1 torpedo and 2 beam  projects.


A very important point to remember is that if you reselect the 2 torpedo projects you just stopped they will be researched after the beam projects.


Play around with the selection of other projects and keep in mind the project sizes.

One last note :
Go into energy and scroll down to star ship engines.
You will see a separate tech that is our special little bonus
and it will help you with speed.



Ok so here we go with your plan

Deselect everything you have done so far so all the tabs at the top show no project.


Select in order
Weapons tab

Enhanced beam, efficient blasters, Energy. Enhanced and advanced torpedoes Area weapons and enhanced area weapons.

7 Weapon projects.


Energy

Enhanced Hyper drive, Nuclear supercharging, Jump Sequence optimization, enhanced construction, enhanced shields, enhanced maneuvering.

6 Energy Projects.


High Tech

Proximity sensor, enhanced resource exploration, enhanced sensors, long range scanners, Continental colonization, countermeasures, target tracking, enhanced research

8 High tech projects



So, there is your start and the tabs tell you what you are currently
researching and the labs will follow each tech in the order they were
selected.

[Pipewrench]

Simple walk through to help new players take more control in the game away from the AI.
Part 4.

Designs F8


Make sure you are still paused as now we are going to modify our ships to Increase speed, firepower, range etc.


Select the destroyer so it his highlighted.

Now double click and the information on the ship will be displayed  in detail.

Notice the name is darkened so this is just an information page.
You can change what actions this ship takes by changing the top left drop down menus to suit abilities.
Play around with the ship component and construction summery fields and get a general idea of what each item does and what is need to build.

Hit cancel when done.



Back on the design screen.... With destroyer still Selected...

take note at the amount column.
That is how many ships are using this design.

hit edit with the destroyer still selected
We are brought back to the information page above with the ship name darkened again to tell us the ship cannot be modified.

Why?

It is because there is a ship with that design already active so the design cannot be changed by editing.
We only can change its actions as stated above.


Hit cancel again, Scroll down and select  defensive base


Note the amount column. With 0 bases we can edit this design.

Hit edit or double click the base to bring it up.

Notice the name is not dark so you are free to edit the design.

Remember that after you build the first of this design you will be
unable to edit a live design this way.

Cancel the base screen.

Go back up to highlight the destroyer

Now hit Upgrade selected.

Notice the highlight went to the top....and the amount column still says 1.

Nothing was accomplished because we have nothing to upgrade.
We are just starting to research and we have not found or traded for any new techs yet.

Select the destroyer again and this time  hit add new.

Do not save this design

Now we have a clean slate to create a brand new class of ship with graphics to boot.

Top left
Select the following

Role- destroyer
Invasion-do not invade

Click the ships picture and now you can select a graphic that suits
your style

Click on the name field and enter a name

Now enter components

Double clicking on the left will add to the new design. Double
clicking the design itself in the center will subtract from the new
design.

ADD
1 hyper drive 1 command center 2 reactors 3 shields 5 blasters
8 armor 5 star burner 2 thrust vector 4 standard fuel cell
1 energy collector 1 troop compartment
3 habitats and 3 life support

Now you should have no warnings left at the top so your design
good to go. Now with all that work hit cancel because there is an
easier way.


Select the destroyer again and take note that we still are working
with the old design with 1 ship active.Nothing was changed as we did not save.


Select copy as new

Notice the name is not darkened

You might also realize that all the components you entered before are
already present in this design. That was just to get you use to
creating a new ship from scratch, but now we are going to actually
improve on a design to suit our needs.

Remember  , double clicking the right adds and double clicking the
actual ship in the center subtracts.

Add a reactor
Notice the warning at the top, we have gone past our hull tech to build this size of ship

Delete the reactor
Delete the troop compartment and you will notice we have some room.

Look over at the movement graph and now delete another reactor and
see that our speed has dropped. We need the speed so add the
reactor back.

Add 1 star burner and 1 thrust vector to increase speed and turning

Add 1 fuel cell and 2 maxos blasters

Because you are over the limit delete 1 armor

Change the name of the ship to suit your needs and ignore the troops
warning because we will be building troop carriers.

We need firepower, speed and fuel at the start.

Hit save and now your design is current

we cannot delete the older design until we retrofit the 1 destroyer  we have.

Hope you have this down because we are going to change many things


Select explorer, copy as new

Change the name and add

1 reactor,7 star burner,3 thrust vector,1 life support,1 habitat,
5 armor,2 fuel cells

Save.

Medium space port, copy as new

Change the name

Weapons ,energy and high tech add 13 to each making totals =15
Add reactor, 2 docking bays and 2 construction yards

And finally add life support and habitat until warnings disappear.
Save

There is more we could do but that is good enough for now.

Exit out of designs and now save the work to the hard drive.

We now have fast explorers, New labs, and destroyers who can punch
harder.


We just now need to get our designs out in the field.

[elanaahova]

hi pipewrench,

excellent little walk through. Found it helpful. I kinda figured out this, finally, after many mistakes, and dead ends. I wish I had seen this 4 days ago when I started playing DW!

As a very new player, the one area I am finding most frustrating is learning how to give effective fleet orders, etc, and actually have fleets do helpful things. Assign ships to fleet and gave fleet 'protect' a colony system (or sys w multiple colonies?). Actually patrol important trade routes? Stay fueled up? Put together a fleet(s) to attack enemy colony, and land troop transports.

*** I find using the various windows VERY confusing when issuing orders, etc. because the visual link is gone. ***
Its easy for me to issue an order to a ship on the big map when i can see both the start and the intended ending location of the ship in a single 'view.' I get lost (disoriented / unsure ) using the 'windows.' Might you consider (please)putting together and posting a guide that address this kinds of questions / tasks (re: ship and fleet) management? Just how to use the interface (with the various to effectively and efficiently task ships, create effective fleets, and task and monitor the fleets.

I think many others, besides myself would find such a guide, an effective learning tool. Oh, and if you do, I will name my best design of Cruisers after you. (=bribe) Thank you for the walk thru you already wrote!

[Pipewrench]

elanaahova,



I'm going to try and cover many things and I will stick your problem with ship orientation on the burner.My posting will be off and on as work just picked up and we are now running 6 days a week.

[Pipewrench]

Simple walk through to help new players take more control in the game away from the AI.
Part 5.


Retrofitting ship bases and ships with basic tutorial on the selection panel and zooming.



Ok so first make sure you are on pause.

Note: If you are not sure where the buttons are just hover the cursor and help arrives in yellow.



Left click on the spaceport and the selection panel will show you information on our spaceport.

Click anywhere in space and the selection panel will go blank

Now move your cursor all the way to the left so the view changes and the port is not visible.

Look in the selection panel for the ship icon shaped like an x,  bottom left-3 down

Press it and you have the base selected again.

select the little lock in the selection panel. Bottom left.

what is selected is in centered view and remains locked until you

unlock the view or select another ship or empty space with the cursor

Press the zoom magnifier for the galaxy, bottom right

Hit zoom to 100% to bring you in close, bottom right

Hit the zoom in icon 3 times to give you a real close look, bottom
right ,red +, hint battles

Move back to normal view by clicking zoom to selected item,
above red +

Make sure you are locked by moving the view and getting
the locked warning again,if not, select the next spaceport button
in the selection panel, the space port should center ,now lock it.

In the main screen right click on the port
in the drop down menu hover over retrofit and then
right click on the new design you created.



Press space bar twice to start time and then again pause.

Look again at your spaceport in the selection panel and
you should see it is retrofitting and you have lost money.



Now the destroyer


Press the icon in the Selection panel below the bases icon,
it is military ships

Cycle forward by left clicking the military icon until you are
displaying the destroyer.

If you were locked the main display centers on each selection
you are viewing: escort,frigate,destroyer

Again, like the space port, upgrade the destroyer by right clicking
on the ship centered and hover over retrofit and finally
right click your new design.



Again hit the space bar twice and note the retrofit message and the loss of money.



That is all the upgrading we are going to do for now.

Save to hard drive.

[elanaahova]

Pipewrench, thank you. BTW, is your avatar a photo of General Hans Guderian? (spelling) or Irwin Rommel? Its been over 20 years since i ahve seen any photos of WWII generals, with or without an Iron Cross.

[moonraker65]

Printed this off Pipewrench. Excellent guide and shows how to get the best out of the game I feel. Now only have Colonies on suggest but everything else on manual. Far better. More control of what's going on.

[Pipewrench]

Simple walk through to help new players take more control in the game away from the AI.


Part 6.



Understanding how builds are preformed and what
freighters, miners and constructors are doing


Keep on pause


From part 5


Forgot about the explorer....lol


Now the Explorer


Press the icon in the Selection panel

2 below the military ships icon. Remember if it

does not center on the explorer hit the lock view

icon.



Right click on the ship and retrofit it by hovering

over retrofit and then right clicking our new

design.


OK before we un-pause , we should first look

at or spaceports inventory


Open the ships and bases screen

–top right 3rd from the end.


The spaceport should be highlighted so look down

at the cargo tab and left click to see what is

being stored. Scroll down to view what you have

in storage and understand that if you upgrade or

build something at this port and the material is

not on hand then the private sector will get it

for you but you will have to wait for freighters

or mining ships to deliver and a cost will be

incurred if it is with another empire.



The freighters stop for lunch breaks so be aware

your building limitations. Notice the reserved

column. That is our building inventory used or

what the ship has been asked to stock for the

planet below.



Look at gold and notice the reserved amount.

Now hit F3 Move the slide bar down until gold is

visable and select the underlined name Gold.

Notice what components need gold and how much is

needed to perform the build. Close that component

breakdown menu and now scroll to the top of the

resources menu. Questurian Skin is my top pick and

if not yours click it anyways to see what it is.



Notice it did not give you a component list but

brought you to a explanation of the resource
.
It is a luxury item that is not strategic in

building anything. Obviously my people want fashion

as a priority so we must try to keep them content.

The private sector will go after these resources

and bring them back but remember if it is owned by

another empire we pay the tariff.



For now building mining stations everywhere would

bankrupt us so those mining ships can do most of

the work while our constructor deal with key

resources . It will save us money.



You will see a drop down menu below resources so

first select resource targets by your empires

priority


You should see now what your empire wants soon and

if you do not see a constructor icon at the far

right your empire has other ideas on a destination

for a constructor.



Drop-down again, Select resource targets by galaxy priority.

Now look at what all the empires are after with

the 2 added facts that the constructors should be

targeting resources that you need and what are

trad-able.



You make money with a base mining a resource and

selling it to other empires. My constructors are

ignoring the luxury goods and going after resources

that are used in my shipbuilding. Now highlight

the resource that a constructors is targeting

–remember far right you should see a icon

of your constructor.


Now click go to resource target – bottom right.

The screen closed but you have the ships and bases

screen still open so close that as well. Now you

should see the destination target for the

constructor, it will pickup material from the

planet and lumber over and build a base. When

complete your freighters will go and pickup

supplies when needed and your mining ships will

move on to areas are not based and are asked for by

your empire. Left click the destination planet and

then cycle thru the constructors to find which one

is going to mine there



Hit the space bar to resume play



if you look at the selection panel you will see

arrows at the top

they give you a running history of what you

selected.


left arrow back until the constructors destination

planet is viable. Watch and you should see a

constructor showing up to build the base.



Pause again,


if you have run into pirates ,no worries as you

have an escort and frigate to take care of early

problems.



Enough for tonight,  should be able to post quite

a few adds by Monday so hang in there.



Note: if I am incorrect I would love feedback by

others who believe a contradiction is in order. I

am not using hot keys at they are displayed and not

going to cover every aspect so my apology’s if

things are overlooked.



If someone knows a workaround for the previous and

next selection arrows would love the hear from you.

the things I am wondering are

A clear key or command to wipe the history

A way when you cycle between things you have a way

to select the object your interested in

and save that as a history

instead of irrelevant searches etc.


Have a good night.

[Pipewrench]

ORIGINAL: elanaahova

Pipewrench, thank you. BTW, is your avatar a photo of General Hans Guderian? (spelling) or Irwin Rommel? Its been over 20 years since i ahve seen any photos of WWII generals, with or without an Iron Cross.

http://www.google.ca/images?um=1&hl=en& ... =&gs_rfai=

a tribute to a box-cover with a game inside that made a winter fly by.

http://www.amazon.com/Second-Front-Germ ... B000V1SS8Y

very good old game for that time in computing.

[elanaahova]

Pipewrench! Yes, i played a number of the old SSG titles. Before that i played the tabletop games, Ahalin Hill's 'third Reich,' and 'Squad leader,' SPI made much better games (pre PC). About 12 friends and I, over a long weekend (undergrad days0, put together SPI's 'war in Europe,' and 'war in the pacific,' and did the entire WWII across the globe. it was a LONG weekend. What a trip. I wish this type of game was ported to the PC, but it has never happened. SSG came close - just never went to the grand scale of SPI's war in Europe... in any case, thanks for the message. Oh, this is off topic... sorry all.

[Pipewrench]

Simple walk through to help new players take more control in the game away from the AI.


Part 7

Planning opening moves

7a



this will give you an idea on the controls ,menus and zooming features

that you will be sometime using in the game.

This is not necessarily the fastest way to do things

but it will cover many functions you might not of known about.


 

Fleets


Make sure your focus is locked


Select  the next military ship button in the selection panel
Bottom left 4 down


Cycle thru until you are at escort

Right click on the displayed ship and hover down to join fleet

Right click new fleet

Click again on next military ship button in the

selection panel to find your frigate

Again , Right click on the displayed ship and hover down to join fleet

Right click on the numbered fleet displayed to the right,

do not select new fleet again.

Click off into space to clear the selection panel


now Select the next fleet button in the selection panel

view the ships you have joined as a team

note the information on the fleet

Click the 1st ship to the left in the selection panel

you will see it is the escort

Note the star as this tells you it is a focus for the fleet

Open the fleets screen Top right 2nd over


Change the name to something you like and note the other buttons

we will use later on.


Select go to fleet and focus will center on our escort.

Cycle thru the fleet’s engagement stance by

clicking the button at the top of the selection panel

it has a icon with a ship firing a weapon.

We want the stance to be set at systems targets.


With the escort still displayed in the selection panel

hover around and you will see that a box will form when you

beside the name of the fleet,

don’t press this now as that will bring you back to the fleet screen,

just be aware.


In the selection panel


double click anywhere but the fleet name beside the star

Note we are back in the ships and bases screen and our escort is

highlighted.


Change the name of the escort to suit your tastes

Middle far right


Note we did not change the design name but that specific ship


Now click on view design

Set the flee when stance to never, top left drop down.


Hit save


Close the ships and bases screen


Click off into space so that the selection panel is blank





Project  Find and change your frigates name and set its stance to

never flee.

Help is at the end if you’re lost.



Make sure you selection panel is clear


Bring up your fleet again in the selection panel by

selecting next fleet – bottom right


To center on the lead ship click anywhere in the selection panel,

but not on the ship icons ,and the lead ship will be

displayed again and centered with a red circle


it does not really need fuel as you can see but we will send

it to a gas mining base for fun.



But what fuel does it need and where will the fleet go?



2 ways to find out the fuel needed.



1st


In the selection panel, bring up your fleet

Click on one the ship icons in the panel

Double click in the selection panel which will bring up

ships and bases

Click on view design button

Look top left of the ship design and you will see

fuel type which is casion.



2nd way


Open up the design screen

Top right

double click on escort

Look top left of the ship design

and you will see fuel type which is casion.





Close everything up and click into open space

to clear you selection panel.




Now we know what our ship needs for fuel

lets find out where our fuel points are located.



In the selections panel select next colony

This brings up information on our home world


Looking in the resources field we find that we

do not have a casion mine here


Click the blue name in the selection panel to center the planet


Zoom out to the sector view

Bottom right – beside the mini-map


You will see in blue in 2 systems that we control

Click on the blue ring around our home system


In the selection panel you will see general information

on what is in the system including resources.


Let’s look in the other system


Click the star that has just mines working

and if you need to use the red + zoom to get

a better view to select the star go ahead.


you should see the resources in the system and

the mines that are present with details on what they are mining.


now we know what is in each of the systems we control


we better make sure we are mining casion

otherwise our ships will be fuel starved.



In the selections panel in the resource field find casion.


If it is not shown it is in the home system. go there if needed.



Click on the casion graphic to bring up galactopedia


read the information on the resource.


it is a gas so it is found on gas planets.lol


Close the galactopedia.


Now that you know casion is in this system locate a base

that is mining the resource.


In the selection panel click on the gas planet

that is being mined


Now zoom in 100% -bottom right


You will see the planet and the mining station


If this is your only gas planet that has a mining station

then the fleet will go here so we need to move the fleet nearby.

as our star-base is busy with retrofit and shipbuilding



to send our fleet to this system do the following


with the gas planet with the casion selected

zoom out to the system view

left click on the star with the gas planet.


if the display shifts you are locked so you must unlock the view


now select the next fleet button in the selection panel

move the cursor over the star and you will see what

I call the patrol eye lol


we want the fleet to patrol a very specific area so

move the cursor to the gas planet itself and

the eye will appear again when you are on the mining base


use the red+ if need be to get in closer



right click to send the fleet there


now click to lock feature to lock the view on the fleet

and zoom in 100%


hit the space bar to unpause.


watch your fleet move away ,then jump and the decelerate

at the gas planets destination


the fleet is now patrolling so lets tell it to refuel now.


Right click your lead ship in the fleet , red circle,

and select refuel ships at nearest refueling point.


that fleet will then go to that port to fuel.


as a final note your freighters and other empires freighters

will go to this port as well when they need to

restock star-base cargo.




As an added note:


There is one more way to find where casion is and it is fast


Open the expansion planner top-left

Use the drop down menu in the middle to select

empires resource locations


Select the planet with the blue casion resource graphic

Press the go to resource location at the bottom




finally,



help for the project you did above.



select the next fleet in the selections panel

select the 2nd icon which is the frigate

double click


Change the name of the escort to suit your tastes

Middle far right


Now click on view design

Set the flee when stance to never, top left drop down.

Hit save


Close the ships and bases screen


Click off into space so that the selection panel is blank

[elanaahova]

Pipewrenh. This one is gold to me! Thank you! (cut and paste time again!)

[Pipewrench]

Simple walk through to help new players take more control in the game away from the AI.


edit

unless otherwise stated always pause at the start of a session and save the game with a unique name at the start and at the end of each session. Please also note that if you are zooming in focus must be set otherwise zoom will not work perfectly. Sorry for the late clarification.

also note that in a second dry run the starbase retrofitted faster and all the builds were able to be preformed with the added construction yards in the new design. note also that my 3nd run has only one system and no second mining system with mining ships. That is a first for me. LOL


results may be slightly different




Part 7



Planning opening moves



7b Building our first ships


Open the construction yards screen,

Our only spaceport is highlighted

Lets first change the name of the spaceport

to something you like, it’s below the map.



Now in the middle drop down underneath available funds

select the destroyer we designed, not the old design

click purchase, two times

note that the build query now shows these ships



Now pull the drop down menu again and select

explorer that we designed with our new name


Do not select the old explorer

it will be soon obsolete when we bring it in for retrofitting.


Build 3 explorers


Now close the construction yards screen

press quickly the space bar twice to start time and then pause again


Open the construction yard screen again,



Why is nothing being built?



Select the go to ship button –middle left


Look at the selection panel and you should see

that the base is retrofitting

Also note that all the builds we requested are now

waiting for coffee break to be over to start

Press the space bar again and wait until the selection panel

shows building -at the bottom.



Now open the construction yard screen again,


Notice that 4 units are being built and 1 is

waiting for a free space yard.


The new yards in the updated design are not ready yet.


Select the colony in the list of construction yards

Notice the planet has 1 yard and it is retrofitting the base

Look at the drop down menu to view what the planet can build

It builds colony, constructor and bases.


Close the construction yard screen


You can also access construction on bases by bringing

up the base in the selection panel and double clicking

near the blue name of the ship



We are going to leave the build order screen for now

but you can get an idea of its function

by selecting the hammer icon on the main screen, top right

look around and then exit.



Ok, so we are building ships, redesigning our bases

and now we need to explore and construct bases


In the selection panel find the next constructor button

and press it a couple of times


I have 2 and they are assigned to build 2 gas mining stations.


The blue part circle with the arrow at the bottom

tells us it is on auto.


When we assign it a task it will go off automatic

and do our bidding.


Leave them to auto build for now



In the selection panel find the next explorer/colony ship button

and press it a couple of times


note we should only have one operational and 3 building.



cycle thru until you are on the active explorer


lock the display and note that it is on automatic –blue arrow.


click on the magnifier for the sector map – right bottom


find the nearest star, right click and then

select explore, this system


now find another unexplored star close by

right click and then select query next mission, explore, this system


you should notice with the options provided that you can

set up a chain of actions that even include refueling.


Hit the space bar twice to start time and stop it.


Note that the explorers arrow is gone and it has the

first mission with a query displayed in the selection panel.



Now the destroyer,



In the selection panel find the next military ships button

and cycle thru the ships active and being built.


Now bring up the destroyer that is active


If it is still retrofitting unpause and let time go by

until the retrofit is complete.


at the very top of the screen a message will appear

telling you it has completed retrofit.



pause the game



click on the message or

click on the blue name of the destroyer in the selection panel


Zoom in to 100% if needed


right click on the destroyer and select join fleet,new fleet


Open the fleet screen, top right


Change the name of the fleet with the 1 destroyer to pirate killer


Close the fleet screen


Notice the name has not changed for the fleet yet

Cycle thru the fleets in the selection panel and

you will now see the updated name



select next colony in the selection panel and

focus the view


unlock the focus now and now

cycle thru the next fleets button in the

control panel to bring up our destroyer fleet


put the cursor on our home world

and you will see the magic eye

right click and the destroyer will patrol here



make sure the stance is set to system targets

top of selection panel, ship with laser



We want the destroyers being built to join the

pirate killer fleet when they are finished and

patrol around our home system.



save the game with a unique name

I am using start001 which i will refer to.



now you’re going to start time and react to problems

using the fleet with the escort and frigate only



To have that fleet with the escort and frigate

attack pirates or space creatures when they show up


Pause


Zoom out to sector view


use the next fleet button to bring up the escort and frigate


Hover the cursor over the attack message

at the top of the screen


Note the yellow pulse showing you where the problem is


keep your cursor centered in that pulse

and now use your scroll wheel to zoom in until you get

a red Cross hair or you actually see the problem


Right click on that area to attack



If by luck the pirates destroy your escort fleet

open the diplomacy screen, top center

and select the pirates

speak to them and pay a temporary protection fee.

[Data]

good stuff, pipewrench

[Pipewrench]

Simple walk through to help new players take more control in the game away from the AI.


Part 7

7c

Planning opening moves

Remember to save as a different file name so as we progress

in the tutorial we will be able to reload a previous save




read the whole post first before starting....

 

Load the last saved game


Let the game progress and watch your messages.

We do not care about anything else for now except

for building a military and exploration fleet and

reacting to attacks.



Watch your messages



if the explorer runs out things to do send it to

2 more stars that are not explored and are close.


If an attack is made use your fleet,

zoom out and select the problem for the escort and frigate to deal with.


We do not care if they are killed as we set them at a suicidal stance anyway.


Our destroyer fleet will stay at home and protect our key area.


If mining bases or frigates get destroyed, smile

and watch the battles,


note what the pirates are attacking, what the

space creaturs are protecting etc.



If our explorer runs into anything bad it has the

speed and Armour to usually escape so don’t

alter its missions until it has nothing to do

again a message will tell you when it is idle and if it is damaged

it will return if it has engines are repair itself.


any new contact with an empire will be met by either 

clicking on the notification at the top right of the screen

or selecting the diplomacy screen 

speak to the new empire and give a small gift


any new contact with a ruin should be explored but

do not upgrade if you have found a new tech.


As things start to hum your freighters will be

called to go to mining stations to get

supplies and your mining ships will go out when

explored systems that have resources we need

but do not have a constructed base for a freighter.

You will also note that contraction yards will

begin to build freighters and mining ships as the need arises.



When the 2 destroyers are built bring them into the pirate killer fleet

and make sure the fleet stance is set to system wide.



We should now have 1 fleet of 3 destroyers on manual


Build 2 more of the new destroyers.

When the 3 explorers are built send each one of

them to a different sector to explore


Keep these new explorers out of the sector that

our 1st explorer is working,unless damaged or destroyed.


to do this.

Pause

For each explorer built

Click on message that the explorer has been built

bring up the sector view and hover over a star

in the next sector

right click explore, all systems in sector

unpause


lastly if a destroyer, constructor or explorer gets destroyed

build another. keep the same levels.



again this is to watch how things work so do not

save the game with the old file name 

have fun looking around and controlling

the fleets and explorers.


slow time down or speed it up if you want
 




More to come

[WoodMan]

Great dedication, thumbs up for your contribution to the community.

[elanaahova]

Very helpful thread. may i ask how one gets a troop transport to actually invade an enemy colony? I have a transport, ;laoded with troops, in a fleet of just transports, and it won't land the troops. I tried so many orders, it just won't land the troops, sits there right next to the planet. We are at war, yada, yada, yada. I select transport, I rt click on planet. nada...

Maybe for a new instalment, a walk through on landing troops on an enemies colony? how to build, prepare, fleet, and individual ship orders / fleet orders, etc on (just a suggestion).