Matrix Games Forums

Hello everyone,
i'm an italian very new player of this amazing game.
Firstly i want to apologize for my bad english, as you can imagine is not my native language.

Finally after long time i've decided to buy and play DW:Universe. I readed tons of guides and watched lot of youtube tutorial before start to play, and i've decided to start with no automation. I like the immersion with no automation.

Now there is something that is not completely clear to me.
Probably is really intuitive for everyone but not for me (poor me...sigh...).

What is meaning of the size and role of the ship (or base design)?
I try to explain. Usually i start with a small starport, then after upgrade and adding new component i increase the size to transform a small station in a big station with the size of a Large starport. But, namely, remain a small starport base. Its ok or there is a reason for start with a Large starport with few component and then upgrade gradually later?
Same with ship, i usually start with cruiser and gradually increase the size with new component as soon as my reasearch reach the projects for upgrades. What is the difference from a crusier with the same size and components of a capital and a capital? Is just an example of course, i want understand if the role of a ship limit, for example, the maximum size reachable or the components addable.
Thank you in advance, and again sorry if i've not explained well my request.

Learned just recently that bases are bases and the name applied affect how the supply system supports them. Small/Medium/Large indicates how heavily to supply the base, while defensive bases, resorts etc. are treated accordingly. The actual base size is independent of the designation.

Ship roles affect how the AI uses ships (and builds them).It is also useful to use the different roles to keep your ships sorted out, and in some cases the ship role imposes certain component requirements (such as a Carrier).

The natural thing to do is to put a substantial starport on each colony, but that seems to be a costly mistake. There are some forum posts that go into detail on bases, but the general point is that the starting world should get a "large" and others can start out with a minimalist base having the essentials for colonial purposes and what construction and docking might be needed for military repairs (planets have lots of docks built in) and expanded from there. and very minimalist starports are enough for most planets (other than defense considerations). A commerce center is a commerce center - only need one to engage in profitable trade for a planet.

Defensive Bases don't suck up resources for storage like starports, so are a good way to defend a planet rather than overbuilding starports.

Hope this is helpful!

As Keston already said, the different ship types (escort, cruiser, capital) have absolutely nothing to do with sizes, they are ROLES. And roles are only important if you let the AI automate some aspects of the game. In short, a role tells the AI what to do with a ship.

If you design ships for yourself (I mean and you manage the fleets and patrol schedules) you can build whaever you want. Size 1200 escorts, size 400 capital ships, it matters not. I usually have 2 designs for the AI, (escorts and frigates, the AI uses tose to patrol outlying mines and such), one for sector defence (destroyers with fast jump hyperdirves and hyperdeny optimized to catch pirates) and 2-3 designs for my ofensive fleets (cruisers, capital, carrier) that vary depending on what I want to do with them.

For bases, I do not have much experience, I build a small stripped down starport that only contains medical, entertainment, trading, LR sensors and minimim construction facilities as soon as the colony can finish it within reasonable time and later larger bases as budget permits. But I am by no means a bases expert.

You see, size != role. Very important!

Thank you very much for your explanation, it really help me.
This game is really the best 4x i ever played.
I've readed also other thread about bases and seem that the discussions about role and size is still opened.
I think that the best thing i can do is to try different solutions and find the better for my gameplay style.
Of course any other suggestion will be really appreciated.

Welcome to the forums. Don't worry about your English. If we don't understand we'll ask you what you meant and we'll all get there together. I recently bought the game as well.

I watched Larry Monte's let's plays on youtube, well, the first 9 episodes and then jumped right in full manual. I kind of get confused as to what shi[s seem to be the same size, but have different classes.