All You new DW players satisifed? (Full Version)

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Zazen -> All You new DW players satisifed? (6/4/2014 5:45:24 PM)

I am curious because I devoted a fair bit of time over on the Steam forums answering questions and giving my own testimonials as to the awesome-ness of DW.

How satisfied are you new players from the Steam launch that DW is a fantastic 4x Game?




IceBeast -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/4/2014 6:14:38 PM)

As a new player who only learned about this game via RPS, I have to say I've missed out on a fantastic game. I'm enjoying this game more than I thought and find that I would rather play it over pretty much anything else at the moment. If it wasn't for my other LPs, I probably would :-). Some of the mechanics are a bit obtuse, but I find its not difficult to find out what I did wrong or how to fix something and the game is rather forgiving (at least on Normal).




Wizaerd -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/4/2014 8:58:21 PM)

I wasn't waiting for a Steam release to get this game, I was waiting on the all inclusive bundled version for 1 single price. But with that said, since it released on Steam I went ahead and purchased it there. I know I should've purchased here so Matrix would get more of the $$ but Steam was just so convenient for the purchase, the download, and the updates.

However, upon actually being able to play the game, and absolutely loving it, I'm considering purchasing another copy just so Matrix does get the full amount. This game is fantastic, and I'm glad I got it.




SirFinbar -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/4/2014 10:01:48 PM)

Having a blast, also rationing my playtime to the evenings. Game is absorbing!




dannyslag -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/4/2014 10:14:07 PM)

satisfied is an understatement.

I am a huge space 4x fan, it's my favorite genre. I've played every one. How did I never know about this game!?!?!? ok honestly I think i've seen it offhandedly mentioned on random internet places by people saying "no seriously this game is the best," googled it and thought wtf is this. but never gave it much thought because I didn't recognize the title, didn't really get it from what I read. I think that's part of it's problem, $70 for a game most people have never heard of, seemed like a joke. But it's worth every single penny. I'd pay twice that for it now having tried it.

Sword of the stars (1 not 2) has been my favorite game since it came out, yes it's better than MOO in every way.....that is until I played distant worlds which has completley unseated SotS as the best 4x game i've played.
This game is amazing.




Unforeseen -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/5/2014 2:02:33 AM)

I'm not new to the game, but i just wanted to say that aside from some minor things that i feel were over looked or under prioritized this game is imo by a large margin the best 4x game in existence.




Casinn -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/5/2014 3:48:15 AM)

I've eyed it for a long time, only bought because it popped up on steam... and haven't played any of my other games since. Should have gotten this a long time ago. :)




Wanabe -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/5/2014 4:26:38 AM)

Very satisfied.




Gregorovitch55 -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/5/2014 12:00:37 PM)

Thumbs up so far.

I watched quite a few of Das & Larry's LPs before Universe came out so I knew roughly what to expect. However the extent of the difference between DW and the rest really needs to be experienced first hand IMO. The standout for me is that in games like Endless Space, GalCiv, Sins etc the much more limited, "board game" like maps translate to a comparatively limited number of strategic situations and options whereas in DW the complexity of the map geography and geology, the much looser colonization patterns and the resultant myriads of different subtle strategic considerations and available options take things to another level.




jdavidw13 -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/6/2014 4:39:16 PM)

Bought this game last night and played for a few hours. I'm really loving it so far. My one complaint, big complaint, is the size of the font and the UI. It's too small, and there's no option to enlarge it!




ShadowB -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/6/2014 5:14:37 PM)

Overall I'm quite satisfied. I got the base game years ago, but performance issues turned me off. And the other day I decided to give DW another shot, buying Universe via Steam.

So far, it's been great, even if the game could run better at times, the interface's a bit clunky and the AI behaves dumbly every now and then. But now I know much more than I ever bothered to learn the last time I played it, and I'm having an excellent time.




elanaagain -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/6/2014 8:59:22 PM)

Very satisfied. Very, very satisfied. Oh and did I mention I am satisfied with DWU?




Fleshbits -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/6/2014 9:11:28 PM)

It is passing the time. It was worth the money. I don't think it is the greatest game ever, but it did satisfy my craving to activate a few brain cells while playing a game.




Inawordyes -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/6/2014 9:34:49 PM)

I'm enjoying it. I had never heard of the game until shortly before Universe released but I really like it now that I've had a chance to play and mess with it.




Thrake -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/7/2014 1:55:50 PM)

I'm really satisfied about it, though I was expecting more private/state relationships. As it stands, the private more feels like automated state ships doing stuff for me. I was expecting (hoping) it would be harder to effectively protect them, and perhaps them to miss a bit more rather than being nice little guys. A bit in a lemmings way (the old game), where you have to watch over them carefully to get the better out of it.

I also expected ressources management to be more complex; there are many for sure and it is important to find new sources of rare ones, but I never really find myself in serious ressources shortages. It could have been more interesting if failing to get a decent supply of a specic kind of ressource would have prevented me from seriously building one kind of weapon/shield or wathever, and thus adapt to the initial setup rather than always end up with the same designs.

I have a soft spot for conterintuitive victory conditions. Winning by having the lowest tech level in the universe is definately appealing to me. I just which there where more of those.




Stopple -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/7/2014 3:02:35 PM)

First 6 or so hours I was thrilled with the game.

Unfortunately the more I play, the more bugs I run into. I come onto the forums to report them, and see other players complaining about the same things.

It's getting to the point where immersion is broken, and have entered the "I guess I'll wait for the next patch" phase.




Pilcrow -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/7/2014 4:09:22 PM)

Since launch I have been playing it non-stop.

I have my quibbles and complains (I hate the ship auto naming system and I like my spreadsheets bigger and with more filtering options) but its the most fun I'm having with a SciFi 4x since I discoverer Sword of the Stars and with a game in general since Dwarf Fortress.




thefinn12345 -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/7/2014 4:18:13 PM)

Honestly as someone who has most (if not all) of the steam 4x games, this is by far the best one - some of the design is a little "iffy" and makes you just want to grab a developer and shake him sometimes, but overall it's really good.




ezzler -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/7/2014 9:44:01 PM)

Well - i wish i could return it. most unsatisfying.
I wonder what all the rave reviews were about?

I expect that same people that love Admirals Pacific love this.
To me its just a huge, boring automated spreadsheet.

i fully understand that says more about my own game tastes than DW. I shouldn't buy these games that need 10, four hour YouTubes to understand how to play and another ten to tell you why the first ten were a waste of time watching and THESE TEN tell you what you SHOULD be doing if you want to get anywhere.

I thought after 4 coats of paint on this game it would be a gleaming jewel. I don't find it so at all.




Dayblazer -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/7/2014 9:59:49 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: ezz

To me its just a huge, boring automated spreadsheet.




Why dont you just take Automation off? Or do you and you still find it that way.




vmxa_slith -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/8/2014 2:49:16 AM)

Well I was waiting for the bundle or some sort of deal to make it a better risk. Dropping 70 buck to see, if I like the game is risky and expensive. I was not sure how I would fare on a massive rts like this one. Long learning curves are also a bit of risk as I have been known to move on to the next game, if it does not grab me soon.

I kept watching some of the let's plays and decided it was worth the a shot. Regardless of how long I continue to play, I am glad I did take the chance. The learning curve was not as bad as I thought. It has been entertaining and worth the money and time.




pkoko -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/8/2014 4:37:11 AM)

Pretty satisfied; it reminds me a lot of Stars! & GalCiv II mixed together but in real time. Love the inclusion of a game editor to fix disastrous events.




Thrake -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/8/2014 12:53:57 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: ezz

Well - i wish i could return it. most unsatisfying.
I wonder what all the rave reviews were about?

I expect that same people that love Admirals Pacific love this.
To me its just a huge, boring automated spreadsheet.

i fully understand that says more about my own game tastes than DW. I shouldn't buy these games that need 10, four hour YouTubes to understand how to play and another ten to tell you why the first ten were a waste of time watching and THESE TEN tell you what you SHOULD be doing if you want to get anywhere.

I thought after 4 coats of paint on this game it would be a gleaming jewel. I don't find it so at all.


I have never bothered watching any youtube video for any game, and never understood what was mandatory about that. A few games were painful to learn (Supreme Ruler!!!) though Distant worlds was one of the easiest ones with automation. All I did is to set almost every automation setting to ask me before doing anything. Then, I started to understand what the automation was doing, and why ("shortage of steel is slowing construction on planet X: should we send a smugglng mission for steel?"). From there, it's all about removing automation step by step and getting a deeper understanding of mechanics.

Then, I guess it's a matter of point of view, but I love automation as it removes a lot of painful and useless micromanagement. In some games, you'd have to order each and every of your transport ship to act decently, and make sure they do nothing stupid; here, the AI does that for me. That's fine when you have 2 transports, but it often becomes an annoyance as you build more and more of those. I don't either have to bother with designing those transport ships, though you still have the possibility. You basically control anything you consider important, and the rest is left for the AI while you focus on what matters to you. That's probably one of the features I love the most about the game.




Buio -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/8/2014 2:46:51 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: ezz
Well - i wish i could return it. most unsatisfying.
I wonder what all the rave reviews were about?


I find it funny that some still question other peoples taste. Like or dislike the game, but don't question other peoples opinion. You can argue what you don't like of course.

Most people like the game. Sorry that you where in the minority that didn't. When it comes to the money buying something you didn't like, it is not a new problem has existed since forever. If you are uncertain, best way is to dig deep into let's plays and get information before buying. I've bought some duds, but very few.




kvob -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/8/2014 2:52:07 PM)

I wasn't sure when I first started playing but, after persevering somewhat, am I satisfied?
Early days yet but - yes, I think I am.




ShadowB -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/8/2014 7:50:07 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: ezz

i fully understand that says more about my own game tastes than DW. I shouldn't buy these games that need 10, four hour YouTubes to understand how to play and another ten to tell you why the first ten were a waste of time watching and THESE TEN tell you what you SHOULD be doing if you want to get anywhere.

Did you really just say Distant Worlds requires 120 hours worth of YouTube videos to get a good grasp of the game?

I don't presume to be some kind of super-learner, but I read Timotheus' New Guy Newbie Guide (focuses on playing the game with minimal automation), started a game, experimented some and I believe I've attained a reasonable understanding of how most everything works. It's really not that hard if you have any experience with space strategy games. You'll keep learning as you play, of course, but it doesn't take much effort to start enjoying the game.

I wouldn't recommend using automation heavily, however, given your lack of influence might make you feel you're spectating more than actually playing. Manual is the way to go for a deep, rewarding experience, and once you're familiar with how things work, you can automate the parts you find less entertaining, if any.




xatharas -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/8/2014 11:26:22 PM)

I'm very satisfied, I played +/-40 hours now and played a few games to a point where I had a couple of other colonies and met a lot of pirates/empires. Now I'm trying to grasp how to keep managing everything, early game (pre warp) it's easy to keep tabs on everything. With lot's of fleets and escorts and constructors and explorers and colonies and... I feel lost and as I don't want to automate things (I read Tim's guide and he said microing everything is the way of a man in spaaace (oops, now I said it)) I shudder to think what I'll do when there are dozens of colonies and hundreds of ships. How do you guys keep track of it all?




ezzler -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/9/2014 8:36:38 PM)

Thanks for response . Played again but didn't feel much better . Here are some why's.

1. the Ai keeps sending my fleets on million mile missions? Why? The pirates are here. Yet the main fleet sailed off 4 colonies away and so wasn't around when the bad guys showed up. Obviously needs a setting change. But fleet SHOULD NOT just run off.

2. Every new ship built went and attacked a monster that destroyed them. Not in a fleet but 1 by 1. Not very smart. So now I see this automation needs turning off.

3. Couldn't find the fleet. New ships were being built and the fleet, that was supposed to be defending home base had gone off somewhere and all the newly builts were traveling miles and miles to join the fleet that wasn't at home. Happened more than once.
And it was not intuitive to set fleets. No answering acknowledgement when you click map space. You have to watch the ships and see if they begin turning in vaguely the right direction.

4. My advisers said "cancel contract with privates. " OKey dokey - pirates attacked! Why advise to cancel contract when our fleet is not powerful to stop the pirate attack that will follow? Again, more than one time this happened.

5. Clunky interface. Not the worst i've used but not good either.
Added to the poor graphics and the uninspiring combat this one is unlikely to get fired up again.

i actually think the best bits are the civilian automation. Its a good idea. And works well. Good idea for a monster game.Take the headache out of the supply.

Anyway, I'm sure its just a matter of taste. Too many people love it for it be the game's fault. But I was disappointed seeing how old the game is now. I expected an updated DW. Something clean, easy to use interface and something better graphically.

Live and learn - Should have waited . My own fault.

Thank you for your replies.




pasty11 -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/10/2014 9:37:47 AM)

EZZ you have been told why you dont enjoy the game but seem to be willfully ignoring all advice. If you play with lots of auto on the game sucks yep it does, but geuss what happens when you turn the auto off, its brilliant which is why it gets the good reviews. You have paid the moneis now reap the benefits, turn of auto. Its no way as hard as you think.




Seraph86 -> RE: All You new DW players satisifed? (6/10/2014 10:18:32 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: ezz

Thanks for response . Played again but didn't feel much better . Here are some why's.

1. the Ai keeps sending my fleets on million mile missions? Why? The pirates are here. Yet the main fleet sailed off 4 colonies away and so wasn't around when the bad guys showed up. Obviously needs a setting change. But fleet SHOULD NOT just run off.

2. Every new ship built went and attacked a monster that destroyed them. Not in a fleet but 1 by 1. Not very smart. So now I see this automation needs turning off.

3. Couldn't find the fleet. New ships were being built and the fleet, that was supposed to be defending home base had gone off somewhere and all the newly builts were traveling miles and miles to join the fleet that wasn't at home. Happened more than once.
And it was not intuitive to set fleets. No answering acknowledgement when you click map space. You have to watch the ships and see if they begin turning in vaguely the right direction.

4. My advisers said "cancel contract with privates. " OKey dokey - pirates attacked! Why advise to cancel contract when our fleet is not powerful to stop the pirate attack that will follow? Again, more than one time this happened.

5. Clunky interface. Not the worst i've used but not good either.
Added to the poor graphics and the uninspiring combat this one is unlikely to get fired up again.

i actually think the best bits are the civilian automation. Its a good idea. And works well. Good idea for a monster game.Take the headache out of the supply.

Anyway, I'm sure its just a matter of taste. Too many people love it for it be the game's fault. But I was disappointed seeing how old the game is now. I expected an updated DW. Something clean, easy to use interface and something better graphically.

Live and learn - Should have waited . My own fault.

Thank you for your replies.



1. it depends on which mission the AI send the fleet, it could be trying to wage a war with it or attack some distant pirates to be able to farm some rare / needed resources. also the AI's act independantly, it won't create a fleet and let it sit at your base because it knows that the other AI has planned an attack, its if as you commanded the fleet, you also don't know when an attack happeneds.

2. it depends, in most cases it sends at least 2 ships to an enemy, look in the options menue (game options) and click on "empire settings", there is an "attack overmatch" which means you can tell the AI how many ships are usually wanted to attack one enemy. maybe you tinkered with this setting and that is the reason. another reason could've been that there wasn't enough ships around and the thread of the space creature was imminent and blocking civilian ships from doing their duties, so it send the available ship to it, got slaughtered and then tried to build another ship to fill the slot. it can't or rather won't so many ships if you don't have the cash for it.

3. there are several ways to find and form a fleet. if you want to select a fleet you can either use the fleet selection button on the right & left side of the detail screen (or press the corresponding hotkey), press the fleet number (if you did ctrl + #, # = number), or you can use the fleet overview screen which not only allows you do give fleets various commands like refuel, retrofit, load troops etc. ... it also allows you to select and "go to fleet". furthermore there is a minimap in this window which shows you where the fleet is.

regarding the (fleet) responsiveness of the ships, if you rightclick or give them a command in general then they won't respond, there is no huge soundasset which confirms your command (could maybe be added), but in the detail screen directly below the name it always shows the current mission! of course if you are paused (or in a menue, which pauses the game) then the command will only register and show up as the current mission if you unpause the game.

4. they might have advised you to cancel the contract because it was making you bankrupt and the AI wanted to stop you falling into the red deep end. also the AI doesn't know if the pirates will attack directly after that, they don't do that always, you are NOT the only target of the empire...in your case it was only bad luck that they immedeately attacked you. maybe because they didn't had anything else to do, were raiders and / or needed some money in general so they wanted to get something valuable from you. it also depends on which pirates you should have a protection agreement. you don't usually have to pay smugglers to protect you, they usuallyaren't made for raids or the likes. now mercaneries, raiders and balanced pirates are worth paying if they are near you. mercenaries might not always be behind your booty if no mission was ordered, so maybe not alwaysy pay them but raiders you should always pay the fee because they live from raiding others, including you!

5. yes the UI is clunky but if you get used to it then it becomes quite decent if you know your way around. and i LIKE / LOVE the graphics, the 2D art is nice and if you don't like some ship or planet graphics then use a mod. i modded my game heavily, haree87's extended mod is a must-have and i used DAS24680 chrome resource & UI mod, some parts of GEM UI mods. some sound mods, hd environments 1.2 and switched some weapon graphics from the kitchensink compilation where i selected myself the ones i wanted to use. it is REALLY easy to use mods, all the files are just .PNG files (well the graphic assets are) and so if you place the graphic files in a theme-folder (read mod-folder) like in M&B and it mirrors the games folder structure for its graphics then the game will automatically use your mod graphics (sounds more complicated than it actually is, the folder structure is quite intuitive like: images/ui/messages contains message graphics..who would've thought x'D). i personally love to play as the humans and take either shipset I or shipset II of kalthaniell's mod: http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2845072
<-- look at these and tell me they don't look great! and they are only .PNG files you have to paste into your game folder and its done. there is so much you can easily mod by just pasting some files or a folder into the game.

combat uninspiring? lol...well it isn't turn-based where you have to enter every command, it is more of a grand-strategy game and therefore doesn't have so many direct orders but there are some there. you can control your ships and how the act / react, you can predefine some general behaviors of you ships and then even select behaviors in the ship designs. if you want you can micromanage and control your ships / fleets, its quite enjoyable. what "inspiring" did you expect about the combat? it isn't tbs and it isn't total war like as you have it in sword of the stars which by the way has only its combat and the random tech tree and its unique engines per race as outstanding feature, everything else about this game is quite bad. there is no better 4x space game out there.

of course you won't see it with so many automations and when you are just a voyeur. as i started up distant worlds for the first time i automated almost everything, watched the whole spectacle 2-3 minutes and then uninstalled the game and i thought to myself "this crap looks like a space sim where i have no real control over it." <-- or at least it felt to me that way. i watched some videos about it and stumbled upon das24680 lets play of the game, i got hooked the first few videos and watched all of his lets play which went for hours. i didn't watch it because i had to force myself to play this again, i watched it because the prospect of playing in a truly VAST and LIVING galaxy was too sweet to just pass it on. after watching some of his lets plays i started / tried the game again and i deactivated most of the automations, things like fleet formation, research, diplomacy, treaties, ship construction and colonization i all disabled. sometimes i think this game has too much options to automate, sure you could automate all and play as a fleet admiral, the options are great for RP, but for new players which might try out the game first time might have too many automations, forcing them to play hands-off and not really enjoying this game.

for a beginner i think the only things which they should really automate are: ship design, taxes, population policies, intelligence missions, troop recruitment and maybe character locations. <-- this are the things i THINK new players should automate and leave the rest either on manually or some like pirate missions, treaties, sanctions and colony facility building on suggest. that's it...you can force players to dislike the game or feel detached by having them believe to be in need of too much automation. just disable the other auotmations, "colonization"...oh wow...i have never played an 4x game before what does that mean? !!!SARCASM!!! this game is NOT for casual players, period...it is too complex and the graphics aren't far cry / CoD like, the average casual gamer doesn't care about gameplay but pewpew -booom---*happy*. the people who usually buy this have experience in previous 4x (space) games and will know what to research and what to colonize and how much units to produce....will these decisions be optimal and efficient? NO! hell after 2.5 years i run my economy in the ground from time to time...sh*t happends...that's part of the fun. everyone who doesn't understand this should play dwarf fortress for once and experience what FUN means :P.

now the only things i automate are the population policies and the ship design, because i don't want to bother to design / upgrade every ship there is, and there are MANY. however the ship design automation is awesome, mid to lategame i pick me the destroyers, cruisers and capital ships and select them to manually upgrade. so the AI has still ship design automated but lets my destroyers, cruisers and capital ships alone and i can be creative. some automations are more intrusive and let your feel like more of a voyeur than a true player, but i wouldn't recommend having too many automations on.




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