Questions from a new player regarding difficulty and performance!

Matrix Games Forums

Forums Register Login Photo Gallery Member List Search Calendars FAQ

My Profile Inbox Address Book My Subscription My Forums Log Out

Questions from a new player regarding difficulty and performance!

View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Logged in as: Guest

Users viewing this topic: none

Printable Version

All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> Distant Worlds 1 Series >> The War Room >> Questions from a new player regarding difficulty and performance!

Page: [1]

Message

<< Older Topic Newer Topic >>

Questions from a new player regarding difficulty and pe... - 11/9/2013 3:45:35 PM

ardonquen

Posts: 19
Joined: 11/9/2013
Status: offline

Hi!

I'm new to the game and I have a couple of questions. I've been reading these forums and replaying the tutorials for a while, and feel just about ready to start my first game!

First of all, what difficulty should I start with? What does difficulty even change? I want to play a game in the largest size galaxy with as many AI players as possible (restless aggression), all the storylines active and generally just lots and lots of stuff going on! I'll be playing as a human empire in 'Shadows' mode. Is it a better idea to set home system quality to 'excellent' rather than turn the difficulty down to easy? Or would it be a better idea to have them at 'easy', but a tech level above me so they have warp drives and I don't, so I have to get all Zefram Cochrane on their asses? :P Also note that I'll only have a few of the friendlier races set to 'nearby', and pirates set to many/average distance/weak/no respawn. Also with automation, the AI will only be suggesting things and will not get a say in research, ship design, fleet management or diplomacy.

Um, I guess what I'm asking is if it's a better idea to make it easier for myself by giving myself better starting conditions, friendlier neighbors and more room to expand instead of handicapping the AI.

The major problem I have with any game like this is that the early game is so stressful, but after a certain point I just start steamrolling everybody and it becomes boring. I notice there's scalable difficulty but... I dunno if that'd work out well for me. If you need some sort of yardstick, I play Civ 5 on 'Prince' and Sins of a Solar Empire on 'hard' if it's a large map, and 'normal' if it's more cramped. So I'm quite experienced with these games, just... not very good at them.

Also, what's the performance like late-game? Stardrive was kind of ruined for me by being totally unplayable late-game. I have an AMD FX 6100 and 8GB of RAM, if that's helpful in determining the answer to this.

I get very little time to myself, so it's conceivable that this might be the only full game of this I get to play-- ever. So obviously I want to see all the stuff it has to offer with as few hiccups as possible.

Thanks for helping me!

Post #: 1

RE: Questions from a new player regarding difficulty an... - 11/10/2013 8:40:09 PM

CyclopsSlayer

Posts: 583
Joined: 2/11/2012
Status: offline

Performance wise, Star Drive is a turkey compared to DW. SD would bog down for me with a i7-3770 and 16GB, running from an SSD. In DW I have rarely if ever noted performance hitches, even running fleet battles on screen while at 4x speed.

In addition to the default 'Difficulty' settings, there are many things you can adjust, Tech costs, Map size, Number of opponents, etc...

Initially I would say, small map, no pirates, cheap tech, few opponents (2-4), no independents. Play that a couple times to get a feel for the economy and controls. Then turn on things like Pirates, larger maps, expensive tech, etc...

(in reply to ardonquen)

Post #: 2

RE: Questions from a new player regarding difficulty an... - 11/11/2013 12:39:44 PM

Osito

Posts: 875
Joined: 5/9/2013
Status: offline

I would say just pick whichever of the options you like the look of, probably with a "medium" level difficulty. Personally, I like to give my homeworld some advantages, but I give the same ones to the other races. I like to choose plentiful planets, and I also like to choose a colonisation range of around 2.00 or below, as it helps to keep the empires a little more compact. I also like to go for the largest galaxy size, but it does result in a very long game.

Finally, without giving anything away, the Shakturi story option is challenging on a first playthrough. It's quite possible that choosing that option will cause you to lose the game. Consider playing without it for your first game, while you get used to the mechanics.

(in reply to CyclopsSlayer)

Post #: 3

RE: Questions from a new player regarding difficulty an... - 11/13/2013 2:18:20 AM

ardonquen

Posts: 19
Joined: 11/9/2013
Status: offline

Thanks for your replies! In regards to performance, the game is still running very smoothly, although we'll see how it looks when the map is a little more filled up!

Oh man. I started a game before reading you guys' messages. It's pretty overwhelming, and now I'm kind of fearing the Shakturi! I should have known from playing certain other videogames that ancient alien invaders are never a good thing. What determines when they show up, how can I stall their arrival, and how should I prepare? Reading the forums, some people seem to suggest it's tied to the tech level of the galaxy; at the moment I have a fairly decent research lead over the other major four or five powers... how can I maintain and extend this lead? I've noticed the other most technologically advanced empire getting antsy about some mining bases on our border... could I win big by trading a mining station for some technology?

Wait wait wait! I have more questions:

1) Are there any ship and base design tips I should know to give me a clear edge over the AI?

2) Should I gobble up weak neighbours? I've got the cat-looking dudes and Zoidberg-looking dudes struggling to my left and to my right, with two planets and one planet respectively. My reputation is +12 from destroying pirate bases. So should I, like, invade? Also, how many defending forces are provided per 1bn population? I practised on an independent Boskara colony of about 3bn and succeeded in taking it, repelling a pirate invasion and destroying a pirate base with 600k troops, mostly tanks supported by infantry.

3) What size garrison should I have on every planet? How long after an invasion until I can move my armies without risk of revolt? Moreover, what essential structures does every planet/system need?

4) When should space ports be upgraded? And... you only need one per system, right?

I... I have lots more questions, but I'll spare you them. FOR NOW. :P So far it's proving to be a pretty fantastic game, although I've clearly bitten off more than I can chew!

< Message edited by ardonquen -- 11/13/2013 3:23:34 AM >

(in reply to Osito)

Post #: 4

RE: Questions from a new player regarding difficulty an... - 11/24/2013 7:04:40 PM

ardonquen

Posts: 19
Joined: 11/9/2013
Status: offline

Okay, progress report!

In the end, by the time the 'Eruktah' turned up, everywhere had been more-or-less colonized, meaning that they spawned in to a system that I used to own, but that had recently been wiped out by a silvermist. Seeing as they were immediately blockaded by my ally, I simply invaded before they could cause trouble. After I captured their homeworld I got a massive income boost so I'm completely dominating everybody by this point. Myeah. :P

(in reply to ardonquen)

Post #: 5

Page: [1]

All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> Distant Worlds 1 Series >> The War Room >> Questions from a new player regarding difficulty and performance!

Page: [1]