REXing

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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> Distant Worlds 1 Series >> The War Room >> REXing

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REXing - 3/30/2010 3:26:53 PM

Xmudder

Posts: 119
Joined: 2/15/2010
Status: offline

In my game against 19 AI opponents, I have 25% of all colonies... and only need 33% to win.

I was able to do this by having all my planets, including my new colonies, building colony ships continuously and playing a race that allows landing on oceans. By the time I ran out of oceans, I was able to colonize marshy swamps, and I just picked up the ability to colonize deserts.

Granted, some of my colonies are awfully far flung (musta swapped galaxy maps with someone), but I also make up 15% of all the galaxy's economy by now.

I think there needs to be someway to prevent 10million planets from building ships, or at least making them build very slowly. One tenth the building speed of a big planet may seem like a lot, but when you have 10+ colony worlds, it adds up quickly. Also, building speeds go up awfully fast, and hit 400 really soon. Should probably be closer to a billion for full speed colonial ship construction.

It's not even all the difficult to do, just remember to build another colony ship every time you settle a new planet or an older planet spits one out. The colonizer will usually dispatch them to new locations fairly soon after you start building, or you can do it yourself.

Doesn't work with humanoid races though, they only get Continental planets and there aren't many of them to go around. But a Desert race might even do better than an amphibian race, as desert planets have a larger population limit.

Post #: 1

RE: REXing - 3/30/2010 3:38:49 PM

Nemo84

Posts: 115
Joined: 3/29/2010
Status: offline

In my current human game I've found two derelict colony ships rather quickly, and only a few years in I can now colonize continental, marshy and volcanic worlds. I'm quickly outpacing my neighbours in colonies, with 12 colonies (11 with less than 300 million inhabitants) to their 3-4. There simply is no reason not to colonize everything as quickly as possible. Sure, the outlying ones are undefended, but there is almost nothing to threaten them either. Even if I somehow were to lose two and have to recolonize them, I'd still come out far ahead.

There should be some cost to colonization, a certain amount of upkeep money that needs to be constantly invested in a planet, and which needs a few hundred million taxpayers before it breaks even.

(in reply to Xmudder)

Post #: 2

RE: REXing - 3/30/2010 8:37:03 PM

Mark Weston

Posts: 188
Joined: 2/5/2005
Status: offline

My understanding is that each of those new colonies starts using luxuries from your existing supply. Mmore colonies trying to share the same luxuries, the fewer luxuries to go round, the lower the development levels of the colonies drop. Which means lower tax revenues and a potential economic crash if you're depending on one or two initial large colonies for income. Or, in other words, it does have a cost.

(in reply to Nemo84)

Post #: 3

RE: REXing - 3/30/2010 9:25:17 PM

malkuth74

Posts: 115
Joined: 3/27/2010
Status: offline

How far have you gotten into the game. Because beware of what you wish for. I have seen a mid game empire pass me without much trouble. Well at least almost pass me within just a few minutes it seems.

I have literally watched the AI gain like 6 colonies within minutes. Its the strangest thing. Usually inside my space on planets I can't yet take because of restrictions.

By end game empires space is so messed up it looks like someone took a dozen colors and spashed them all over a random painting.

Its actually very annoying to be honest. to go from a nice neat orderly borders, to the mess at the mid to end games is crazy!

(in reply to Mark Weston)

Post #: 4

RE: REXing - 3/30/2010 10:59:23 PM

ASHBERY76

Posts: 2136
Joined: 10/10/2001
From: England
Status: offline

I map gets very busy late game but the borders were pretty tight for the empires.I have only managed to have one full game granted.

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(in reply to malkuth74)

Post #: 5

RE: REXing - 3/30/2010 11:01:06 PM

Xmudder

Posts: 119
Joined: 2/15/2010
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Mark Weston

My understanding is that each of those new colonies starts using luxuries from your existing supply. Mmore colonies trying to share the same luxuries, the fewer luxuries to go round, the lower the development levels of the colonies drop. Which means lower tax revenues and a potential economic crash if you're depending on one or two initial large colonies for income. Or, in other words, it does have a cost.

They also produce luxuries, and being the main supplier for ocean based luxuries is kinda neat, in the 121k a year surplus I have. I've just started building AI suggest capital ships.

I'm not worried about the economic cost, I'm more worried about the AIs weakness to this strategy. I have 25% of all colonies, which means I have about 5-6 times as many colonies as average, and 3x the income, and probably 3x the tech base. I'm just surprised a 10 million pop planet can produce an infinite stream of 10 million pop colony ships, albiet at 1/10th the speed of my home colony. And that relatively small colonies of a few hundred million produce ships just as fast as an 8 billion strong homeworld. I think colonies building colony ships should be somehow nerfed to avoid exponential expansion.

(in reply to Mark Weston)

Post #: 6

RE: REXing - 3/31/2010 9:03:36 AM

Nemo84

Posts: 115
Joined: 3/29/2010
Status: offline

Right now it's just too easy to spam colonies. There are just no downsides to immediately colonizing all available worlds. In the game I mentioned above I now have 22 colonies, with only three having more than 1 billion inhabitants and half not even reaching 100 million. Another dozen colony vessels are under construction. The only economic problem I'm encountering is that it's becoming hard to keep up in military production to protect them. And that's not even a serious issue, because my military is already by far the most powerful in the galaxy.

Another problem I've noticed is that it's far too easy and common to find abandoned colony ships containing races with a different homeworld preference. In my current game, I'm not even close to researching the colony module upgrades that allow my humans to colonize more than continental worlds, and they've already been rendered obsolete because the 5 alien species I've peacefully integrated in my empire already allow me to colonize marsh worlds, desert worlds and volcanic worlds. And half the AI empires on the map are in a similar situation.

Integrating an entirely new race into your empire should be a massive undertaking. A new species should cause unhappiness, need careful monitoring and maybe the need for harsh oppression to keep them in line. It should take at least a decade or two before they really integrate and feel part of your empire. Right now you just drop their colony ships on a planet, and within weeks they're colonizing new worlds and raising armies for you.

< Message edited by Nemo84 -- 3/31/2010 9:09:02 AM >

(in reply to Xmudder)

Post #: 7