Matrix Games Forums

Relative noob here. From some of the insinuations I've read/seen ingame. We should be able to build bases and even found colonies in foreign territory (without permission/treaty) if desired (with a diplomatic penalty of course). The one time I tried this I couldn't seem to do it. Buttons for building on the planet I wished to place a mining station at were grayed out? I am playing a fully updated legends game with only a few minor graphics mods and distant worlds extended.

Thanks for any info, plus all that I've already absorbed from those of you posting tips/tactics in the forums. This game is massively awesome in its scope, can't believe I only just noticed it.

No, in Legends you can not build anything in the zone of influence of another empire. I don't think you can colonize an independent either, but you can invade it...

And of course this game is awesome

Thanks! I figured it was just a patch change somewhere along the way. Shame though, I liked the idea of balancing diplomacy/discretion/material needs...and I needed me some Silicon at that point in the game. >=)

There is always war. There is always trade too.

If the system is near a border, you could see if there is a colonizable planet (even crap one), just outside their border. That could shift the border a bit. Not that a tiny colony at the edge makes a massive impression on a capital circle.

Trying to shift the border was an idea. It was an odd situation because the system in question was within the sphere of both of our planets capitals. We started awfully close together. I imagine war would have been the likely outcome before any border shifting though. I moved onto another game where neighbors weren't so close to start while I'm learning.

You can declare war and build your own mine there if you cannot shift the border. This generally isn't worth it though, unless it's a resource you really need (Carbon fibre, Polymer and Chromium mainly) or the extremely rare luxury resources.

Don't worry though, if the AI player has built a mine over it, and neither of you have any trade trade sanctions you should be able to build ships even if youa re lacking in silicon.

I had some funny situations though, where 2 races had planets in the same system, so depending on how the planets rotate, certain mines would be under different zones of influences at different times.

ORIGINAL: Bingeling

I don't think you can colonize an independent either, but you can invade it...

Whoa, is that correct? I have only stated playing about an hour last night and I saved right before I saw an independent. Tonight I was going to send a colony ship over there. I am thinking you are saying that will not work?

I thought I read the update log, I do not remember seeing that important change in there.

Thanks

ORIGINAL: balto

Whoa, is that correct? I have only stated playing about an hour last night and I saved right before I saw an independent. Tonight I was going to send a colony ship over there. I am thinking you are saying that will not work?

I thought I read the update log, I do not remember seeing that important change in there.

Thanks

IMO you can colonize a world that is not in your neighbors sphere/system.

ORIGINAL: balto

ORIGINAL: Bingeling

I don't think you can colonize an independent either, but you can invade it...

Whoa, is that correct? I have only stated playing about an hour last night and I saved right before I saw an independent. Tonight I was going to send a colony ship over there. I am thinking you are saying that will not work?

I thought I read the update log, I do not remember seeing that important change in there.

Thanks

That was in the context of "An independent in the zone of influence of another empire". An independent not within those areas can be colonized, but probabilities of success depends on the races involved.

Some independent races are angry with you that leads to high failure rates at colonization - invasion is cheaper but damages reputation. At the moment my game has most independents from setup, which I will never try again because the AI handles them too well and my reputation was damaged early in the game by too many invasions of independents. This setting is a real jumpstart to all empires and is only limited by my colonize restriction at range 2,1 from the nearest colony.

Thank you for the clarification.

Selecting the independent colony tells you whether you have a good chance of owning the colony by colonising it or not, so you don't have to guess which races like your race or not.

ORIGINAL: acestealth
Thanks! I figured it was just a patch change somewhere along the way. Shame though, I liked the idea of balancing diplomacy/discretion/material needs...and I needed me some Silicon at that point in the game. >=)

You can always reduce the influence sphere using the slider in the galaxy setup to the point where it effectively only covers their own system, which will give you close to the same type of gameplay in that area as existed before Legends.

Regards,

- Erik