Matrix Games Forums

I’ve been excitedly waiting for Distant Worlds 2 to come out, I discovered DW:U a couple years ago and really enjoyed the level of detail. I haven’t done an AAR for a game in several years (work and going back to grad school took a lot of my time), but I thought this would be a great game to develop a story as I learn. I hope you can enjoy and learn along with me!
Also, a shout out to TortugaPower, his YouTube series previews over the past year got me excited for this game to come out. Also his obvious enthusiasm whenever he talked about it on the Single Malt Strategy podcast! I watched his first two videos on his pre-release series, but I didn’t want to spoil anything so I’m waiting to go back and finish.

And also Scot’s great guide here on the forums:
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 1&t=380441
Definitely helped me feel more comfortable diving into the game!

I created the game keeping most settings on default. Spiral Galaxy, 700 stars (6x6), and a Pre-Warp start for myself and the AI, Normal difficulty. I did select fixed tech tree (first time through I want to see how it is ‘supposed’ to look), and a Far Region start. I also followed Scot’s advice on most of the automation settings.

I’ve decided to play my first campaign as Humans, I tend to think of this as a ‘default’ playthrough to get a feel for the game, and then choose other races for more focused play styles. According to the description, Humans are ‘Adventurous, Curious, Explorers’ and that’s a perfect theme for my first entry into this galaxy. Our people have formed the Phoenix Republic, as we try to rebuild a civilization from the ashes of whatever great cataclysm befell the galaxy centuries ago.
As a Human Republic, several bonuses stack, so we get a combined +10% on all Research, +20 on Diplomacy, and +20% on Trade. My focus will be research and exploration, to discover as many of our neighbors as I can and hopefully set up peaceful trading relationships (at least in the early going).

Here is our humble home, nothing spectacular.


We are on continental moon orbiting Ilyseom 5, a gas giant with two other moons, a carbonic and a rocky desert. We have plenty of steel, and 6% polymer. We did find Ancient Ruins that give us +9% Development and 3% Scenery. At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of great planets in this system, although Ilyseom 6 has a mangrove forest moon, which should be habitable to us. I was surprised to see two ice moons on close-in orbits, I would assume they would be more common further from the central star. I started building a Small Space Port, but that’s it for now. With no asteroids nearby it will be a while before my exploration ship gets anywhere (and my construction ship that’s already building will sit idle), and hopefully I will have the skip drive researched before I build my second exploration ship. Apparently there’s no way to move the SSP up in the queue ahead of the construction ship (at least not that I can find).


My initial research obviously starts with getting the skip drive (which I crash-researched), then research labs to boost overall research. My third choice is Exploration Scanners, I want the Resource Scanner to improve my exploration ships before I send them out of my home system. We will see where we are by then.

I think we are ready to start our journey!

I send my first exploration ship off to the nearest neighbor, Heyssenet, a rocky desert moon. It’s slow, but I discover my first new resource, Osallia, as well as a great source of Nekros stone. By the time I arrived, I’m at 69% on my Hyperspace research, so I return my explorer back to get refitted, hopefully the research will be nearly complete by the time he gets back. I do order a new Mining Station for Heyssenet, to put my new constructor ship to use.



I’m a little over a year in, and my new Small Space Port completes, which more than doubles my research! This will also speed up construction of new ships, so I start another explorer that can be quickly upgraded once hyperdrive finishes. I also got a new scientist, Yuri, who originally had unknown traits. About a month of game-time later, I make the discovery our people have been waiting for – Hyperspace Technology!



Apparently this intense research broke Yuri, however, who is now a hopeless addict (-5% on all research). I did get another new scientist with the discovery (Obidar, who has no known traits), so I let Yuri go and wish him well in rehab. Time to refit my explorers (and build a couple more) and see what we can find!

Our first destination leads to several exciting discoveries! Ilyseom 5, the Gas Giant we are orbiting, is a source of Argon, Krypton, and most importantly Caslon, so we have a major fuel hub right here at home. Also, we discover some ‘hidden items’ that give a 15% boost to reactor research! I quickly dispatch our constructor ship to build a mining station and our first research station here.



We continue to explore the rest of our solar system, a couple rocky desert planets, rocky ice moons, an asteroid belt near Ilyseom 3. The most intriguing planet is a Mangrove Forest moon, Isoof, orbiting Ilyseom 6, this is the only planet that appears habitable initially. I also notice several planets have secrets that I can’t unlock just yet – I will definitely need to prioritize Planetary Exploration to get better exploration tech. I have at least 4 systems that are showing hidden items available through more research, including Isoof. And my homeworld continues to hold secrets – as my colony increases it’s own awareness, I discover a new luxury resource – Giraxian Nectar, which boosts development and population growth, and +2% plague curing – the fact I may need that someday sounds ominous…



Here's the state of my solar system as we begin 2758 – I have completed my work on Research Labs, and also completed the new research station at Ilyseom 5. As much as I want the new exploration technology, however, I have 5 exploration ships and I’m running out of things to explore in my home system. So I am going to move directly to researching Stable Warp fields (and crashing it as soon as I have the money). We will then go back to the planetary exploration tech for the next wave of explorers, and eventually get the initial ones upgraded.

I guess I didn't give Juran enough credit, he is turning into a fine leader for our Republic!

Well I should have known things were going too smoothly. Shortly after starting my research on Stable Warp, I got my first ‘visitors’…



Not the friendliest sort, but 125/month seems pretty reasonable when I have no navy.

Shortly afterward I had a second visitor, the Fire Ravagers, who also settled for taking my lunch money, but at least were friendlier about it (and sold me a map to a distant system).


**NOTE – Starting with the next post, there will be spoilers on the Human story arc – read at your own peril! **
Unfortunately I can’t just put it in spoiler tags, as there will be ongoing references from this point forward.

Always enjoy a good AAR, thank you & good luck.

This picture story is good, especially for us (or just me I guess) who don't have the game and want to see what it looks like.

You don't sound so confident in your leader's charisma. Are there options for what leader you choose?

The Azamol pirate page says they can become useful human allies later. Do you want them as allies?

I wonder about your cash flow. You had $344 income and now lose $125 plus the amount the second Fire pirates shook you down for. You must be near zero cash flow. Is that okay? How long do you have to pay the thugs? Maybe up until they either befriend you or you build a navy and give them a whipping.

eddieballgame wrote: Sat Mar 12, 2022 10:34 pm Always enjoy a good AAR, thank you & good luck.

Thanks! It's been a while since I did an AAR, I've done one for War in the Pacific on this forum, and used to do a lot on Civfanatics (Civ IV timeframe). But it feels good to get back into it!

GiveWarAchance wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 2:14 am This picture story is good, especially for us (or just me I guess) who don't have the game and want to see what it looks like.

You don't sound so confident in your leader's charisma. Are there options for what leader you choose?

The Azamol pirate page says they can become useful human allies later. Do you want them as allies?

I wonder about your cash flow. You had $344 income and now lose $125 plus the amount the second Fire pirates shook you down for. You must be near zero cash flow. Is that okay? How long do you have to pay the thugs? Maybe up until they either befriend you or you build a navy and give them a whipping.

Thanks! The leader is randomly assigned, you can keep him or dismiss him, skills and traits seem to accumulate based on in-game actions. He's doing much better now. My spies, on the other hand...

I have some more updates to post later tonight or tomorrow that will fill in some more info on the pirates. The Azamol pirates have remained in a stand-off, I'm still paying them, and due to some hapless spy attempts, they still don't like me. I found their home system, and eventually plan to grow my navy and take them. The Fire Ravagers got off on a better foot, after buying a couple system maps they eventually offered a non-aggression pact so I'm not paying them anymore.

Cash flow is strange - the 'official' cash flow is based on taxes and maintenance, and it's fluctuated in the hundreds range. However, you also get paid from the civilian economy when they build ships and trade, so my treasury is pretty healthy even with minimal cash flow. You still want to keep it positive, if you don't have enough positive cash flow it can affect your growth and research bonuses.

**This post contains spoilers for the Human story! You’ve been warned!**
**
**
**



Still reading? OK!

Like a Charles Dickens carol, I then received a third visitor – the Ghost of Fleets Past…
Unlike the first two, they didn’t demand any money. However, a couple minutes later, they approached with an offer I couldn’t refuse…



After agreeing (I assume they approved my credit, as the 25k took me negative 9k but it worked), they shared some interesting backstory. Apparently they have been hiding out since the great Shaktari war, but keeping an eye on us. Nice to have a guardian angel, but didn’t expect to get a bill for it! However, it was well worth it – I got tech boosts on Nuclear Fission and Proton engines, and a fleet! With ships with shields and weapons and things – including stable warp! After looking at the ships, they have 2nd level weapons (Rail Guns, Concussion missiles and the DD even has a fighter bay). Definitely more advanced than anything I can build at this time. Also their base joined me, a fairly sparse system to my south? (however you describe directions in space). I even got an artifact, which gives me +10% Colony Development.



At about the same time, I discovered an independent colony of Ackdarians, in a nearby system to my southeast (toward the galaxy edge), about half-way to the Ghost Fleet base. I definitely plan to build up diplomacy and trade, and hopefully sway them to my cause. Shortly afterward I received an ambassador and sent him there.



It was a busy rush of visitors, all three pirates and the Ackdarians were discovered in 15 minutes of real time!

We start a new decade – the Warping 60s! I decide to prioritize the two new tech boosts I got from the Ghost Fleet, the new Fission Reactors are much more fuel efficient and should greatly extend my range, and I can get them in 100 days if I crash-research them. The ionization engines will help in-system movement, and will also be quick.



I tried building a new exploration ship at the Ghost Fleet base (so it would have a head start exploring further south) but when it completed, it showed up at Phoenix. Maybe because the GF base is short of strategic materials? I guess I should have checked that it showed up in the build queue for that base, but I wish there was a pop-up or something so I would notice if the location changed on a build order. Anyway, I named it Calaan Traveler so I would remember that’s where I wanted to send him.

I send out the first wave of exploration ships to all the nearby systems. Ilukas in the north seems promising, with several gas giants, hopefully it can be a forward base for fueling and further exploration. Yothlis has a couple as well. I want to explore Sacreya to see what else is in the system with the Ackdarian colony, and I’m trying to get Calaan Traveler back on track, headed to refuel at the Ghost Fleet base and then explore outward from there. The Calaan system for some reason doesn’t show the ‘influence radius’ to connect to my borders like the other systems I’m exploring, not sure why. It doesn’t have a lot of resources, but there are some asteroids that might have more building resources to make it a more self-sufficient base, so I am sending a construction ship there as well.

** More Spoilers Ahead **
*
*
*
While I am waiting for my explorer ships to reach their far-flung destinations, I kept my original one (Ilyseom Traveller) in-system to explore some asteroids, and once I get the Planetary Exploration tech go back to the planets with hidden items and boost the exploration percentage. I had originally planned on going with Resource Scanners first, but too many planets that have ‘hidden items’ at 15%, and it takes too much time to get that last 5% anyway. Meanwhile, my mining stations generate some additional exploration on their own, leading to a couple of new discoveries!

What could go wrong?



Apparently, my miners delved too deep... wait, wrong story. Somehow, the ruins here on Isooff, the Nexus of Ilyseom, triggered an earthquake back on my homeworld! It caused 5% damage to the planet, but wasn’t all bad, as it revealed a large deposit of a new resource, Yarra Marble. And the Nexus itself has some nice benefits, 3% Concealment (empire-wide), and 6% development and 7% scenery here on Isooff. This was already targeted as my first colony (since it’s a forest moon), definitely need to prioritize colonization techs at some point.

I made another discovery at Rhemoode (in the Ilyseom 2 system), the Stone Citadel. This one has several bonuses as well, although the colony development and defense strength will have to wait until I can colonize an ice moon. However, the +3% Weapons Research lets me build another research station, and 7% Scenery means I really need to develop resort bases.

So here’s the state of our republic as of 2763. I continue to explore the Ilukas system, and detected some Unknown Creature located at the central star of the system. I have moved the Ghost Fleet into the system, but I don’t know if they are strong enough to take on an unknown threat. So they are just guarding my mining base/fuel station for now. Other explorers are reaching further out.

I discovered the home of the Fire Ravagers, who have mellowed over time. They have sold me several system maps (including Umiga up north, my next priority) and agreed to a non-aggression pact so I’m not paying protection money any more.
My relations with the Azamol haven’t gone as well. I haven’t seen them since the initial visit, but I sent my first spy to try and steal their system map, and he was captured. They want $30k to ransom him, and that’s a little steep for a spy with no skills (probably less after failing). I got a new spy, so he’s trying again.

I’ve built a mining/fuel station at Sacreya, hoping to develop the system for when I can get them to join my empire. Still no ‘influence border’ around the Calaan system, even after I built my own mining station there? ??



I am going to build another batch of explorers, it takes them longer than I expected to fully explore a system. Hopefully the advanced survey module will speed up the process, 4 of the explorers already have them, I have three that still need to retrofit, but they are going to finish surveying their current systems first. They still get bogged down if the system has asteroids, I really wanted the resource scanner to address that, but too many priorities and not enough time. That’s why I still end up controlling my explorers manually for the most part, at least until they’ve surveyed all the planets/moons.

I have 4 construction ships, and they have been keeping up with current demand. I have a couple of planets in new systems that will be getting mining bases to get unique luxuries (Ivory at Sacreya, Rhylig at Yothlis). My next focus will be Umiga, getting an explorer up there as well as a constructor is important.

My research is finally going to focus on those exploration scanners (remember, they were originally my third tech choice… so naïve back then). I will also spend the $15k to crash it. I then plan on getting expanded space stations and passenger compartments so I can set up some resort stations, I know Scot’s guide said they are a big boost on income, but my cash flow is doing well and I really want to speed up my exploration. Hopefully I can get the scanners done before I refit the older explorers. Oh yea, and I still need to pick up armor plating and energy deflectors.

I had planned to research Basic Colonization next, so I can get a colony planted on Isooff, but it still says it’s unsuitable. I thought since Forest was one of my preferred planet types, it would be a good candidate, but I guess because the quality is only 43% it’s insufficient (showing -7 suitability). The only current option is Ilyseom 4, a deep ocean planet, and it’s only 5% suitable, so colonization can wait.

So I mentioned in an earlier post, that my spies were not doing well. My first spy was sent to steal the territory map from the Azamol pirates, didn’t really have anything else for him to do. It was only a 27% success chance, and sure enough he got himself captured. They offered to ransom him back for $35K, but I didn’t want to spend that much cash for a character that I didn’t really have a good use for anyway. A couple years later, I got another spy, and since I still want to know where these pirates are from, I gave him the same mission… and unfortunately the same result.



Luckily, around the same time one of my explorer ships started surveying the aptly-named Azamol system, and sure enough they detected enemy ships! Turns out there is 4 Escorts as well as their base.
As I continued to explore, I found a few nice surprises, including a ‘Gaseous Flow Vortex’ for +19% scenery at a Brown Dwarf planet at Ilukas. Definitely need to focus on those Resort bases soon.
I also met another independent colony, the Atuuks of the Forest Moon of Endor… sorry Alleheed. Reading their Galactapedia entry, however, they definitely remind me of Ewoks.



The colony location itself is pretty far south east of Calaan. This would be a good base for future expansion once I can colonize there.

As I get closer to researching my Exploration Scanners, I started another batch of explorers. I want a couple new ones waiting to retrofit as soon as the tech completes, so they can retrofit and head out. I also reviewed the status of some of my explorers in the field. A couple are en route to new stars so I don’t want to interrupt them, but I find a couple that are wasting time in asteroid belts that I can order home to retrofit. Finally, over 10 years after the game start, I achieve my original 3rd tech priority!

My next research priority is to enable resort stations. I’ve found multiple resort locations, two in my home system and the new one in Ilukas. There are three techs needed to get resort bases, and of course I haven’t researched any yet, so I have some work to do, but luckily they are mostly cheap. So, two years later, I can start building my first resorts:



A couple other things I wanted to point out on this screen. First, you can see in the lower right my CST LR, the first custom ship design I made. When I tried to build a mining station at Umiga, it said no CSTs were in range. So I modified a CST design to take the missile launcher off and add an additional fuel pod (so 500 vs 400) which gives it enough range to reach Umiga (and the Atuuk colony as well).

Second, my next research goals are Armor and Deflector Shields, I have to get caught up on some military techs and build some ships. So for the first time, I am going to enable multiple concurrent research to research them both at once. I have read the discussion on the forums, and I understand there’s no research advantage to doing this vs doing one after the other. I also realize it’s true that getting one first would allow me to put it to use sooner, however I also know that the AI will attempt to upgrade each ship as soon as these come out, and I’d rather have them both complete together and just have one retrofit to interrupt any ships that are on auto. These two have the same research cost so it should work out, I will crash rush them both which means I should get both within a year.



And here they are. I reduce research back to a single tech, my next target is a Commerce Center for my starbase, for more cashflow. I want to start building up some ships, and that will increase maintenance.

If I wasn’t already planning to build more ships, here’s another reason – a new threat in the Azamol system.



I saw the danger signal earlier, but couldn’t see what was actually there until now. Luckily the Ghost Fleet has arrived in system. The total strength of the Ghost fleet is also about 380, so I’m not ready to try to take it on right now. But definitely adds some urgency to getting some ships of my own built. Here’s our current Escort design, about the best I can build for now.



I build 8 of these, that should supplement the Ghost Fleet nicely.
Completing the Deflector Shield also gave me the option for Advanced Deflector Shields. This is an ‘upgrade tech’, it enables Deflector Shields v2, meaning the shields will just operate more effectively on my ships without requiring a refit or any changes to the model. So I’m not worried that it will finish after my build of escorts, and It should improve my Ghost fleet ships as well (this pic was pasted in after I completed it).

Great work, something to read to while I head back from office today.

LordMM wrote: Mon Mar 14, 2022 10:37 am Great work, something to read to while I head back from office today.

Thanks! I appreciate it, glad you are enjoying the story.

The next couple of years pass with steady progress, exploring new systems and building my resort bases, while I wait for the escorts to complete. My home system continues to hold secrets – as the exploration level gradually ticks up due to the presence of bases, I find a new fungus at Isooff, and I get another notification of ‘hidden items’ on my homeworld – I’m at 55% exploration, but there are still secrets locked away.

However, the biggest discovery is far to the north, in the Taoros system (near Umiga). I find the wreckage of an Ancient Battleship!



I decide to investigate, and am given a choice – spend $20k to stabilize and explore now, or wait for natural stabilization. Of course I’m impatient so I pay the cost, and discover some lore as well as tech benefits! Turns out this was the flagship of the old 8th Fleet (the origin of the Ghost Fleet). I get research boosts on the next Hyperdrive tech (the Gerax drive, double the warp speed), and advanced long-range sensors (which I can’t research yet, it says I need a total 20% bonus to sensor research, and I’m only at 15%). The planet itself also now gives a 10% bonus to Construction research, so I order a new research station.

Here's the state of my territory as of 2768 – lots of exploration but no viable colonization sites.



I really wanted a good anchor base to the north, I wish you could build an SSP without having to be at a colony world. This definitely seems like the most promising direction for further expansion. My new escorts are moving to join up with the Ghost fleet, and I’m starting to think that I’d like to try to capture the Azamol pirate base to give me that hub.

My new escorts don’t have assault pods, but the Ghost Fleet ships do. I recently watched DasTactic’s primer video, and he used some of his ships to capture pirate ships. If I can draw the pirate ships away from the base, maybe I can capture their ships (which should also have assault pods), and then have enough to try to capture the base.

I also need to focus on improving relations with the Atuuks, to see if I can raise my chance of colonization (currently still at 0%). I am going to shift my diplomat there (he hasn’t seemed to do much with the Ackdarians so far), and focus on gifts, and maybe even research the language tech to boost my relations.

Once my 8 new escorts linked up with the Ghost Fleet in the Azamol system, I was ready to try to turn the tables on the pirates. My plan was to cancel the protection agreement, then intercept their fleet when they moved to raid, so I could fight them away from their base. I have a mining station in the system, so I hoped that would be an enticing target, and I moved my fleet to an empty planet in the system, where I could react back quickly. It was a gamble, if he decided to target a location in another system I would have problems. The Azamol ships already had the Gerax drives, so I wouldn’t be able to catch them in time.

Luckily, they took the bait, and attempted to raid my mining station. I tried to micro the battle to some extent, letting my newer escorts engage the nearest enemies while concentrating my Ghost Fleet ships on one at a time with orders to capture.



The battle was a learning experience, I almost lost a couple escorts when one of his (damaged) escorts retreated back to his base, and my brave escorts decided to follow, I had to quickly manually move them back to the mining station. I also had one ship that was disabled, and waiting for my Ghost Fleet ships to come over and capture, but a couple escorts (who I had given move orders to) decided to turn around and attack, blowing him up. But the net result was a success, I captured 3 of Azamol escorts, which had boarding bays and other advanced tech, and didn’t lose any of my original ships. I pulled a nearby constructor ship over to rebuild one of his that was disabled, the other two were able to repair themselves.

I was feeling pretty good, until I took a closer look at his base – still way stronger than my fleet (now a little over 900, while the base is 1200), and much more advanced tech. I’m gonna need more (and larger) ships to take that on.



I did use my fleet to go Gravillex hunting, since they were all gathered together, and destroyed the one hiding in the star. I saw the ‘Gravillex carcass’ floating along afterward, and so I sent my constructor to salvage, got a couple hundred Gravillex Crystals, which should be useful for something.

At around the same time, I was faced with another pirate threat, in the opposite direction. The Liberated pirates are Haakonish, my first non-human pirates, and they definitely don’t like me.



However, I was feeling confident, this was when I was preparing to fight the Azamol, and with another batch of escorts in the yards, I declined the protection agreement. Initially, it wasn’t too bad, I had a newer Caslon mining station, they raided (with just 2 escorts), the base held them off for a while, and when they finally won it said no loot was taken! Kudos to that base commander!

However, their next target was a resort base in the Gyndeni system, and this one was a little more expensive.



However, by now the cavalry was on the way, the 4 new escorts were headed toward that system. The pirates moved to attack a Caslon mining station in the same system, and the escorts arrived in time. I stuck close to the station, for the little bit of added firepower. I disabled one, and the other ran away. I didn’t have assault pods on my new escorts, so I sent the original Ghost Fleet ships to the system to try to capture the disabled ship, but that took quite a while, and meanwhile my nearby escorts got trigger-happy and destroyed it anyway (there needs to be a setting so ships on Manual don’t initiate attacks).