Cauldyth
Posts: 752
Joined: 6/27/2010
Status: offline
|
Whether or not Distant Worlds appeals to you in the end, it is nothing like MoO3.
Regarding the numbers of ships you see moving around, here are things to keep in mind about that:
- Many of those ships you see are civilian ships, and the civilian sector is 100% automated, all the time. You never have control over them. They go about their business, accomplishing their own goals. They aren't just cosmetic though. The freighters are shipping your resources to where they're needed to satisfy your construction projects, the passenger ships are busy ferrying people to your new colonies (the people themselves choose whether or not to go, you don't manually force them to move) or ferrying people to resort bases you've built (which generates you money). That aspect of the game is a lot like Settlers, and it can be fascinating just to watch in its own right. And of course, in time of war, all are fair targets for the enemy looking to cripple your economy.
- You military ships are generally grouped into fleets. Though you may see dozens of them in those videos, many of them will be grouped into fleets, which you can control with a single command.
- The level of automation available in the game is insane... absolutely insane. You can completely automate everything if you want, in which case you just sit back and watch your empire run itself.
- My typical play involves leaving the dozens of small escort ships on automation. In this case, they will go about their own business, deciding for themselves which of your civilian/construction/colony ships they should be escorting. I may also keep a few small defensive fleets on automation (Legends allows you to define Fleet Postures for them, which causes them to automatically respond to enemy incursions). Then I keep my large main fleets under manual control.
- The automation extends to all parts of the game. You generally have three choices: Fully Manual, Fully Automated, or Make Suggestions. The first two are obvious, while the third results in the game popping up dialogs making suggestions/requests as to what to do. Then there's typically an Approve button and a Deny button, and maybe a Show Me First button, which zips the camera to where the request is being made. As an example, with Ship Construction set to Make Suggestions, your advisor will come to you with a list of ships that they think the empire should build. You can either authorize the request, in which case orders for those ships are automatically sent to your construction yards, deny the request, or modify the list of ships to your liking and then authorize. If you have your empire policy set appropriately, those ships will be set to automated as soon as they come off the assembly lines, forming up into fleets and then going on patrol.
- Similarly with colonization, you can have the game recommend new colonies. In this case, you can either deny the request, ask the game to show you first, in which case it zips over to the planet for the proposed colony, or you can approve the request. If you approve, the colony ship gets queued up at the construction yard, and will automatically load up with colonists and colonize the planet once it's constructed.
In my mind, the "living world" aspect of the game where everyone's going about their business, combined with the automation options, does a better job of making it feel like I'm the leader of an empire than any other game I've played.
|
Printable Version
demo? - 
RE: demo? - 
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread