More options for colonies?

Matrix Games Forums

Forums Register Login Photo Gallery Member List Search Calendars FAQ

My Profile Inbox Address Book My Subscription My Forums Log Out

More options for colonies?

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 >> More options for colonies?

Page: [1]

Message

<< Older Topic Newer Topic >>

More options for colonies? - 2/15/2014 11:20:21 PM

crusader2010

Posts: 7
Joined: 2/15/2014
Status: offline

Hi. I just started playing this awesome game and i got some questions:

1. Is there any way to disband a colony from a planet (i.e. make it empty again)? bombarding my own planet seems really stupid (i'm not even sure it works, haven't tried it yet).

2. Can the planet quality be increased by any means? (the terraforming facility seems to work only after disasters and beyond that there's nothing).

3. How can i retrofit the fleet that i have selected? (the retrofit could be done to the most recent design). I simply hate going to the ships and bases screen and selecting them from there.

4. More or less related to point 3, is there any mod that allows me to customize the UI? or can modding even change the UI at all? so many things would be much easier if there were several buttons(and keyboard shortcuts) for ordering ships around; like telling an explorer to explore the system it's currently in, without all the zooming out and clicking.

5. Suppose i queued the construction of some bases on a planet, where can i see these orders? how can i cancel them or change their priority? (i.e. where can i see/edit all the queued orders for the construction ships?). I hope there is some way to do it otherwise this is quite an important oversight.

6. Is there any way to set the exact number of pirate/independent factions at the start of a game? can a text box be modded in to simply input a number instead of choosing few/normal/etc? same for what exactly "average" and "distant" mean for pirate proximity. Good thing the "research cost" has this functionality and it's very strange that it wasn't extended! Playing the biggest possible map the "distant" pirates were less than 2 sectors away. Distant my a**...

7. How can i coordinate an attack from multiple fleets? i.e. to reach the target at the same time and wait for each other before the final warp-in.

8. What do space ports/defense bases/mining stations/etc need fuel for considering that the energy collected (by collectors) is more than the static consumption, and there is no combat happening?

thanks

< Message edited by crusader2010 -- 2/16/2014 12:24:47 AM >

Post #: 1

RE: More options for colonies? - 2/16/2014 12:13:11 AM

Henzington

Posts: 38
Joined: 12/29/2013
Status: offline

1. As far as I know no.

2. Sadly, no. Terraforming will help a planet recover from a negative random event but not improve.

5. You can select the planet as it is considered a construction yard in the ship select menu.

6. The number depends on the size of the galaxy and the number of other empires at the start.

(in reply to crusader2010)

Post #: 2

RE: More options for colonies? - 2/16/2014 12:18:50 AM

CyclopsSlayer

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

1. You can gift it to some one, but disband, No

2. No. And I personally think there should be some way, but no.

3. Under the Fleets button at the top. Select the Fleet and the the button Retrofit to latest

4. Not currently

5. Planet Screen > Construction Yard Tab. As to Construction ships, no, it just stacks the orders on the 'nearest' available construction ship. Yuk...

6. Pirates and Independents are random, but you could open the editor and add/remove them. BUT there are conditions that can cause new ones to appear.

7. Rally at a point out system, say an otherwise empty Gas Cloud or such. The once gathered Launch from there.

8. They only need Fuel for Weapons and Shields and such during combat. The Collectors handle all the rest outside of combat.

(in reply to crusader2010)

Post #: 3

RE: More options for colonies? - 2/16/2014 1:31:16 AM

Henzington

Posts: 38
Joined: 12/29/2013
Status: offline

I have to agree even if it was slow I wish you could improve the quality of colonies. I have had several games where ruins like the fortress of turak is on a low quality world.

(in reply to CyclopsSlayer)

Post #: 4

RE: More options for colonies? - 2/16/2014 6:29:25 AM

Canute0

Posts: 616
Joined: 4/30/2010
From: Germany
Status: offline

3. You should have this option at the right click menu too.

5. Base construction are directly sended to a construction ship, prolly the closest one. But you can't see the queued orders until it become the active one. Best way are to keep a few construction ships on manual control (hotkey them for fast access).

6. I think for every empire there are a pirate created too, but i am not sure. But excact numbers no. Maybe you should use the ingame editor and delete or add them after the creation.

(in reply to Henzington)

Post #: 5

RE: More options for colonies? - 2/16/2014 7:36:49 AM

Ralzakark

Posts: 225
Joined: 4/24/2012
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: CyclopsSlayer

1. You can gift it to some one, but disband, No

How do you gift someone a colony? I was wondering if you could use a Resettle population policy to get most of the people (bugs, etc) off and then pass it on to someone you don't like.

(in reply to CyclopsSlayer)

Post #: 6

RE: More options for colonies? - 2/16/2014 7:48:42 AM

crusader2010

Posts: 7
Joined: 2/15/2014
Status: offline

Thanks for the answers guys! It seems the game does need more expansions

quote:

How do you gift someone a colony?

It should be in the right click menu. "Give to.." or something like this.

But is there any way to bombard and exterminate my own colony?

(in reply to Ralzakark)

Post #: 7

RE: More options for colonies? - 2/17/2014 7:45:54 AM

crusader2010

Posts: 7
Joined: 2/15/2014
Status: offline

Just started a new game and something very strange happened. I could build Cruiser type ships right from the start... but after playing for a while (edited the design and such), the cruisers became unavailable again because i didn't have the construction size tech. Is this supposed to happen?

PS: the lack of information for a planetary system is very annoying. Having a whole system selected and clicking on a resource available in it should get me to any planet that has it. Asteroid fields are not shown either and are a pain to spot sometimes (let alone check for resources). Is there any way to cycle through planets that have bonuses to research/entertainment (i.e. in trying to see if I already built bases everywhere)?

Also, is there any way to be able to select my own structures (mining stations, ports etc) from a particular system (i.e. without having to name them specifically by planets and such, since it is useless - because I can't find a list of all the systems in which I already built something and I can't tell the positioning of each and every one of them on the galaxy map... and the planet names are not shown unless I zoom in a lot, by which time it already hampered the ability to quickly select a structure from a particular system without having to search for it for ages)?

How can i make scout ships to automatically explore ruins when i tell them to explore a system? the one for the hyper drives always has to be done manually for example and it seems really stupid.

< Message edited by crusader2010 -- 2/17/2014 9:01:24 AM >

(in reply to crusader2010)

Post #: 8

RE: More options for colonies? - 2/17/2014 8:13:54 AM

Bingeling

Posts: 5186
Joined: 8/12/2010
Status: offline

In very early game you could be able to build a cruiser because there is almost no tech available (hyperdrive, second weapon, energy collection, shields...) Once you research that tech the cruiser design becomes way too large to build. The AI will try to fit designs, but there are probably limits to what it can do.

Left menu has lists of various stuff. Among those are potential research and scenery locations.

I have never seen the problem with exploration. "Explore moon whatever", it explores the moon. I usually automate my explorers apart from the pre-warp ruins, though.

How to find mines? I would get the "systems overview", and the first 5 or so colonies/bases are shown there. Zoomed to a decent system level mines are quite visible. In expansion planner you can set the table to "my empire resource locations" or something similar. In ship list you can show mining bases and sort by system.

(in reply to crusader2010)

Post #: 9

RE: More options for colonies? - 2/17/2014 11:38:33 AM

crusader2010

Posts: 7
Joined: 2/15/2014
Status: offline

Thanks for the answer! So building the cruiser right from the start is not a bug... hmm.. could lead to interesting strategies on very small maps :)

The thing with moon exploration does seem to work except the first moon in the starting system, responsible for the warp speed tech. Ordering the scout to "explore system" simply refuses to explore that moon.

Regarding finding mining stations and such, what i want to be made much easier is, for example, to find all bases of a type i choose, like the ships/bases list, but filtered by systems too as a constraint. And also by the resources mined (i.e. i want to find all bases mining steel from a certain system). (to all of this I'd also add a range indicator from a colony i can choose (typically the starting planet)). And all of this from a zoomed out perspective; if i want to select the base to manually retrofit it or whatever, then i should be able to click it from this list and do it. Basically it would be just an improved ships/bases list

.

I'll check to see if in the system overview i can find all the planets with mining stations. I've recently ran into a little issue that i couldn't select the (small) planet because the mining base was overlapping it fully. Since it was a colony it wasn't a big deal due to the colony list window, but the downside was that otherwise i wouldn't have known (easily) the resources of that planet... I really wish modding will allow us to change the UI and add more things to it.

I'm finding something else rather annoying too: the "run away" condition for ships. Can different values be modded in for the shield percents (i.e. to be able to choose whatever value i want, including 0)?

Scout ships are also a bit silly when they see space creatures, because they are fast enough to outrun them, still do the scouting, and yet i can only choose either "run away when attacked" or "run away when enemy sighted"; the problem with this is that if the scouts get attacked they can't really escape. There's no option for something like "evade enemies yet carry out the order and/or stay out of their range if pirate/enemy empire ships".

< Message edited by crusader2010 -- 2/17/2014 12:41:15 PM >

(in reply to Bingeling)

Post #: 10

RE: More options for colonies? - 2/17/2014 12:24:04 PM

Bingeling

Posts: 5186
Joined: 8/12/2010
Status: offline

I tried "explore system" in a beta version. This explored both ruins, so it will probably work in the future.

There are some info that could be more accessible. For your mining bases, ship list and expansion planner are your best bets. Can you ask a mine to retrofit? I am not so sure since it is civilian.

You can indirectly find the resources on a planet by its mine. Look at the cargo, what is mined is pretty obvious as long as it has had some days to mine something. A shortcut to open any base in the ship list (to access components and cargo) is to double click the selection panel (lower left) with it selected. Of course, if you strip the design of luxury extractors, you won't find luxuries this way.

When to flee is a property of the design. See top left of the design screen, you can access a ships design from the selection panel. Keep in mind that these settings are shared by all ships of the same design.

Ships are wimpy and stupid, you have to live with it. In some cases you can micro manage them to do something they would not otherwise do.

(in reply to crusader2010)

Post #: 11

RE: More options for colonies? - 2/17/2014 1:00:14 PM

crusader2010

Posts: 7
Joined: 2/15/2014
Status: offline

Exactly my point

it's too cumbersome to do even some simple tasks (or to find some simple information). I know about the cargo of mining bases, but that's crude and I somehow also need to know that I "want" that specific planet/base from that specific system. There's no way to actually find something by some refined search parameters. Good thing they are not hard to implement. I just hope the developers do it in the near future.

I also saw that automated constructor ships go and build bases on their own in the middle of a cluster of systems 2-3 sectors away. This should really never happen without me telling them to do it. It seems that the automation part needs to be much more configurable (including a maximum range from the nearest colony OR base OR system with colony/base - by choice - in which it should carry its automated orders).

Is there a component that prevents ships from taking damage from galactic clouds? or some way to tell them to avoid those places?

(in reply to Bingeling)

Post #: 12

RE: More options for colonies? - 2/17/2014 7:24:50 PM

Ardilus

Posts: 53
Joined: 12/30/2012
Status: offline

Hello Crusader.

quote:

I also saw that automated constructor ships go and build bases on their own in the middle of a cluster of systems 2-3 sectors away.

This can be a pain to defend, but can be necessary at times. A couple of thing to keep in mind: You can limit range on constructors by reducing their fuel cells (maximum one-way range is shown just below the velocity table). However, mining stations by default have a commerce center, which allows them to make private transactions at location. This can be useful if you would like your private sector to do some business with distant rivals. Another thing to keep in mind is that it can take a long time to fill up the station cargo capacity, especially at the default 20 cargo bays, and as such will not hinder your economy having freighters travel long distances to transport goods given that the output from the station is the same either way. This would only be a problem if your freighters are too small to cover the mining rate, or the station gets maxed out for some other reason.

quote:

Is there a component that prevents ships from taking damage from galactic clouds? or some way to tell them to avoid those places?

Shields with higher recharge rates should work, achieved either by tech (talassos, etc.) or quantity. I usually keep 2 shields on constructors and at least 1 on large freighters.

quote:

Quote Bingeling
Can you ask a mine to retrofit? I am not so sure since it is civilian.

Yes, but like several assets this only seems to work when the order is issued from the selection details pane of the main view. If a constructor has enough cargo bays, all stations will be constructed with a small supply of 'spare' resources for retrofitting, and freighters will deliver if a retrofit command is given. It is usually only necessary to manually command a mining station to retrofit when there is some emergency that requires an immediate action, otherwise they will make the retrofit independently at some point.

quote:

Quote Crusader
Regarding finding mining stations and such, what i want to be made much easier is, for example, to find all bases of a type i choose, like the ships/bases list, but filtered by systems too as a constraint. And also by the resources mined (i.e. i want to find all bases mining steel from a certain system). (to all of this I'd also add a range indicator from a colony i can choose (typically the starting planet)). And all of this from a zoomed out perspective

You should be able to use the filter and sorting tools from the expansion planner to achieve some of this. You cannot select systems, but from the "empire resource locations" selection, you can filter by resource type and sort by distance from home-world which will group stations together that are near to one another.

**Also, from the main-view, any system selected will show what stations you have on what celestial bodies in the selection details pane, which can then be individually selected.

< Message edited by Ardilus -- 2/17/2014 8:26:12 PM >

(in reply to crusader2010)

Post #: 13

RE: More options for colonies? - 2/18/2014 5:15:26 AM

crusader2010

Posts: 7
Joined: 2/15/2014
Status: offline

Thank you for all the answers Ardilus!

I usually tend to put lots of fuel cells on constructors so that they don't have to constantly keep refueling when i queue up bases and stuff. The problem with them building bases far away is that they get very easily attacked, while my fleet takes a very long time to travel 3 sectors away.

Fewer fuel cells leads to another problem (as i have seen with exploration ships): i give them the order to explore a system that is right at the edge of their fuel range and yet they turn around to refuel just before reaching it, even though i simply wanted that system explored after which i'd have scrapped the ship. (although i think there was an option somewhere that made ships refuel at certain percents of the total fuel; can't remember where i saw it

).

I also hate the fact that constructors don't retain their previous build queues after ordering them manually to retrofit. Not sure if automating them(after the retrofit) does anything.

(in reply to Ardilus)

Post #: 14