Matrix Games Forums

I just purchased Distant Worlds with no expansions. I have been playing a game for a while and I have several questions:

1. How do I improve my economy? My income is 76K. 46K is going to ships and bases maintenance. 20K is going to troop maintenance. About 9k is going to all the other stuff. I have 1k in cash flow. I have 15 colonies. They appear to add 0 to my income. In fact my income has stayed about the same for the entire game.

2. How do I keep the AI from spending? I have pretty much everything on auto. I would like to keep my cash flow around 10k. The AI keeps spending until my cash flow drops to 1K. I get requests to build ships which i deny but the AI is still determined to bankrupt me.

3. How do I make my colonies grow or become profitable? In the colony summary screen I have the 2 coloinies I started with producing income. 4 of the 15 new colonies show income of 1k. one show income of 2k. I have had some of the colonies a long time but they are still basically worthless.

4. How do I get the other races to trade with me? I have met about 10 other races. 4 of those 10 actually seem to like me. I have been destroying pirate bases. The 4 that like me have relations of +8 to +16. None of them will form a free trade agreement.

Thats probably enough questions for now. Thank you in advance for your response. I am sure to have a few more questions later.

1. How do I improve my economy? My income is 76K. 46K is going to ships and bases maintenance. 20K is going to troop maintenance. About 9k is going to all the other stuff. I have 1k in cash flow. I have 15 colonies. They appear to add 0 to my income. In fact my income has stayed about the same for the entire game. Grow your colonies (zero tax to stimulate immigration), build resort bases, get trade agreements, and be sure to build at least a minimal Starbase at every colony

2. How do I keep the AI from spending? I have pretty much everything on auto. I would like to keep my cash flow around 10k. The AI keeps spending until my cash flow drops to 1K. I get requests to build ships which i deny but the AI is still determined to bankrupt me.If you want control over economy, why do you have it on auto?

3. How do I make my colonies grow or become profitable? In the colony summary screen I have the 2 coloinies I started with producing income. 4 of the 15 new colonies show income of 1k. one show income of 2k. I have had some of the colonies a long time but they are still basically worthless.Colonies grow by having luxury goods (10 diff ones is best), low taxes(zero is best), and if they are on a high quality planet.

4. How do I get the other races to trade with me? I have met about 10 other races. 4 of those 10 actually seem to like me. I have been destroying pirate bases. The 4 that like me have relations of +8 to +16. None of them will form a free trade agreement.I find that you need about +20 relations to get a trade agreement.

1. Get as many luxury resources to your colonies as you are able to. Getting ten of those would greatly benefit your colonies' growth and income. Expansion planner is your close mate on this one. Build explorers early on to locate valuable srtategic/luxury resources and que some construction ships to build respective stations. If you've got Legends then check for each race's special bonus resources that aid in colonies' happiness, growth and income.

2. Manually control some if not all of your construction ships. Those may build additional resort, research, ect stations that will drink from your maintenance budget and turn out to be useless. Having everything on auto is a good way to start learning how to play the game. If you don't 'appreciate' how the AI handles certain aspects then just turn those off one by one and experiment.

3. Gargoil's post. Learn how to effectively use your characters/leaders. Colony governors and ambassadors with decent stats will assist you.

4. You can improve relations further by sending some large gifts from time to time. Being a good boy/girl [:D] (I know it's quite hard) and getting your empire reputation to a decent level. Offering them some technology for a much lower price or for free[X(]. 20+ won't always get you a trade agreement. Bugs just wouldn't let me in despite my good relations. Send ambassadors and give them some fueling rights. [:'(]

Oh, I am sorry. Only DW. Ignore everything about legends friend. [:(]

Also, if you think that this game even has potential, let alone if you like it or better then purchase the expansions, they are soooooooo.... worth it.