|
|
Post by Dominion of Zabéara on Dec 20, 2013 3:03:55 GMT
In response to Rob's suggestion, I'm going to ask that all newbie questions about the game be posted in this thread. We (and other experienced players) will be happy to answer them!
|
|
rob
New Member
Posts: 13 
|
Post by rob on Dec 20, 2013 12:18:19 GMT
Newbies unite! (thx tmsus)
:-)
Played around a couple of minutes with the game, figured out how to create ships but couldn´t figure out how to colonize any planets nearby.
When I built a Colony Ship, the game required me to fit a huge colony "something" that didn´t fit in my ship.
¿Any tips on colonizing?
¿Am I doing it right?
|
|
|
|
Post by Tau Ceti Empire on Dec 20, 2013 15:00:35 GMT
The proportions mod has a bit of a quirk about it when it comes to new colony technology. At the start of the game you will have your native technology for colonization, but you will not have researched the actual colonization components. Say you start as a rock Race. You will have to research rock colony colonizers for 10 turns before you get the technology for the component for your ship.
In the stock game this is not an issue.
|
|
|
|
Post by Dominion of Zabéara on Dec 20, 2013 19:57:06 GMT
Yes, this is a weird thing in proportions mod. I promise its one of the only things like it! When you research or have a colonization technology, you get the "prototype", which is too big to put on a ship. You must research 10 levels of rock colonization tech to get a usable module.
You will notice that this module development tech is ridiculously cheap, like 50 research points a level. The sole reason this exists is to discourage people from trading ships to get someone else's alien technology. You see, in the game you can trade ships with other empires, and then reverse-engineer the tech onboard to discover new advances. People were using it to quickly develop colonization technology, so the mod developers introduced this little quirk to prevent people from developing it so fast. Yeah.
|
|
|
|
Post by The Kortl Rheus on Dec 21, 2013 0:42:04 GMT
Is there any detailed info posted on what each technology tree leads towards and unlocks, and when it unlocks? For example - better ship chassis. I suspect the ship types unlock in ship construction, but maybe not all of the types are kept there? I can't seem to find any detailed information.
|
|
|
|
Post by Tau Ceti Empire on Dec 21, 2013 1:27:15 GMT
If you right click on each tech it gives you a description of what it vaguely researches and what tech you can expect out of it. There is not flow chart tech tree as far as I know out there. My suggestion is to play through a 1 player without any AI players and research to try different paths. Some of us old vets are doing that now to shake off our rust.
|
|
|
|
Post by The Kortl Rheus on Dec 21, 2013 22:07:08 GMT
Is it possible to raise the maximum number of facilities on a planet?
Also, how do the mechanics of Planet Conditions work? I see there are facility upgrades (Climate Control Facility/Complex) that increase conditions by 1% a year, but where is this information provided (what % are the conditions at now?) and what effects does this have when it is lower or higher?
As well, other than size and production and cost, are there any differences between a complex and a facility? Or are all complexes just more expensive and productive versions of all facilities?
* Sub question to the above - is there a way to automatically upgrade a facility into a complex? Or do all facilities require destruction if one wants to upgrade into complexes?
Additionally, How do planet values work? I'm going to guess that these are roughly efficieny ratings for planetary resource extraction. Does this mean that a value of 125% means you yield 125% of whatever mining goes on there? Or is this metric a value that roughly represents how valuable (how much wealth) a planet has in total?
* Sub question to the above - what is the maximum value? What is 'good' when looking for a new planet? What is 'bad' ?
|
|
|
|
Post by Dominion of Zabéara on Dec 22, 2013 1:22:26 GMT
1. It is not REALLY possible to raise the max number of facilities on a planet, other than replacing a population that can't breath the atmosphere with one that can.
HOWEVER...there are certain tricks you can use to get more mileage out of your facility slots. One is the replace "smaller" facilities with larger ones, i.e. replace mineral miner facilities with mineral miner complexes. Some facilities can be built in combination; for instance, normally you need to build a separate facility for a distribution centre, and another one for your supply depot. But you can research a special facility to combine these two functions into one.
The condition indicator of a planet is listed right below its atmosphere type. Unfortunately, you only get a qualitative indicator (i.e. "unpleasant"). Improving its conditions will eventually make the people happier and increase their reproductive rate. Its nice for some larger, more important colonies in the long run, but is otherwise of secondary importance at best.
These are some great questions!
First of all on facilities, you got it. Complexes are just more productive, more expensive versions of facilities. Note that complexes in turn are superseded by "megaplexes."
Unfortunately, you can not upgrade a facility into a complex, you got to tear it down and rebuild it. Sucks. You can however upgrade older versions of facilities into newer ones without tearing them down.
On planetary values, the planet values are a straightforward multiplier. 125% minerals = 1.25(facility mineral production)
Obviously, the higher a resource value, the better. But even planets with low resource values are quite useful, because you can build research centres on them. Their research points production will not be affected by any planet resource value, so building them on low-resource planets provides a comparative advantage for your economy. Another example of a "bad" planet that can still have quite a bit of use are those tiny moons with no atmosphere. One facility, useless right? Well, if you build a ship yard on it, and put a couple dozen million people on it, you got yourself a first class ship yard far more productive than any of your orbital yards. Or perhaps this small planet has a really high resource value? Build an orbital mining station over it: You'll start getting valuable resources fast without any need of investment! If you were to put a colony on it, it would take years to build it up; big investment for marginal returns, while the orbital station gets you a quick buck right away for only slightly less (Hint: On a larger scale this can really make or break early expansion!)
What is the most important thing when looking at a planet depends on your situation, but the most important thing 90% of the time is...is the planet breathable for your race? Thats 5 times as many facilities, regardless of its resource production. A nice breathable planet is what many a war has been caused by. After that, size, resource values, and lets not forget location! The geographic position of a colony can have immense importance. It can be a key resupply base in your logistics train. It can give you a claim to a key region. A planet near a warpoint at a stellar chokepoint can be fortified to be a key gatekeeper.
So in short, make sure you grab those big breathable planets nearby, but after that, its all about adapting to your circumstances. Look around your empire, what are the colonization candidates? What does your Empire need? are you tight for space, or do you got some breathing room? How is your resource situation?
|
|
|
|
Post by Tau Ceti Empire on Dec 22, 2013 6:14:22 GMT
To Add to Tmsus,
To see what facilities you can upgrade at that time, go into the build queue for the planet and click on the upgrade tab. All the available upgrades will be displayed on the list for that planet and you can them to the queue.
Planet Values, My personal rule is a planet is "rich" in a resource when it has 100% or more in that particular resource. Everyone will have different thresholds.
For the Newbies, orbital mining stations are very important in this mod. Don't discount them.
|
|
|
|
Post by The Kortl Rheus on Dec 22, 2013 17:31:44 GMT
Another question. Towards the end of some tech trees there were no further developments - is this because the equipment requires more than one technology to unlock?
Fighter propulsion I,II and III gave lots of unlocks, but IV,V,VI,VII and VIII gave nothing.
|
|
|
|
Post by Tau Ceti Empire on Dec 22, 2013 17:55:26 GMT
Some Techs have dependencies and some just take a few levels to unlock a component. For the fighter propulsion, I believe you need to match it level by level with the propulsion tech tree.
Unfortunately, the UI is a little limited at showcasing this. The tech descriptions are usually pretty good at pointing this out, otherwise use your best logic.
|
|
|
|
Post by The Kortl Rheus on Dec 22, 2013 18:31:54 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by Tau Ceti Empire on Dec 22, 2013 18:37:31 GMT
yes, me fail english, that's unpossible.
Also I haven't played through the proportions mod enough to know all the paths and interdependecies. Most of us older players aren't that much farther ahead of you newbies.
|
|
|
|
Post by ileonu on Dec 22, 2013 21:44:30 GMT
Ok so...
When you build a Colony is there any difference between the different types? Developed word... mining colony... farming colony.. etc?
Sometimes there are little symbols under the planet in the UI... is there some sort of table to figure out whats the meaning/function of each?
|
|
|
|
Post by Tau Ceti Empire on Dec 22, 2013 21:54:36 GMT
When you colonize a planet, the label that the game makes you choose bears no relevance to what the colony can produce. It is just a category to organize your planets with.
The little symbols under the planet denotes the presence of various facilities on the planets. You can find the meaning and toggle the ones you want on and off in the following menu:
Empire Status(Crown looking icon)>Empire Options(upper right corner button)
I personally like to have the spaceyard, resupply depot and spaceport ones toggled on.
|
|
