A 4x simulation

[Thiosk (OP)]

I've always wanted a proper 4x space simulation.   Like so many others, nothing has satisfied the itch of 4x space gaming since Moo2, and everything just seemed empty and hollow.   What I wanted was a mix of realism and freedom.   One day I googled "4x space game thats like dwarven fortress"

Oh sheesh, what have I gotten myself into here.   

Most intimidating appears to make my own research projects for things like engines and guns.   I've never really been good at ship design, preferring economic exploitation.

Oh well, I'll give it a go!
See you all around

[Steve Walmsley]

Don't get discouraged if it all seems overwhelming at first . There is a lot to take in and most players need a few weeks to really get their head around the game.

Steve

[voknaar]

Don't get discouraged if it all seems overwhelming at first . There is a lot to take in and most players need a few weeks to really get their head around the game.

Steve

It would be nice to be able to learn it ALL in a few weeks

[Thiosk (OP)]

Question:

Are stellar constructions in game?  Dyson spheres and the like?
No one ever seems to do those right, but this seems like the game where you could sim it out semi-proper.

[voknaar]

There's nothing like that in game i'm aware of and i've sifted through the wiki and forums. I'm a little dissappointed but this game strives for the "semi-plausable theretical" type of space sim. So the Space Empires style of building planets, Wormholes, Dyson Spheres, Ring Worlds, Star building and destroying type of feats isn't part of this game. Largest scale operations I know of would be planet wide Terraforming.

[Thiosk (OP)]

Well, I am certainly happy with large scale terraforming.   I was reading a thread on the terraforming of venus, and noticed the complications of reducing gas pressure.   I've thought about that myself; its not an easy challenge to solve.

[voknaar]

You would need LOTS of moduals with fairly decent tech in terraforming to get anywhere in a realistic time frame. Almost all who don't SM values in this area stick to colony terraforming of  cost 3-4 and below. Everything else is just too time consuming and impractical especially since that next JP explored could yeld a colony of decent cost & value. Likely you will just end up with 1-3 manned colonies per system depending on what turns up, and the rest while colonisable would just be auto mining/ hab moduals.

[Thiosk (OP)]

OK I put in a full day.   Finally got off at 4am.   Been a long time since a 4x did that to me.

So how am I doing?

I did the tutorial start, followed that to the letter.   Now I'm all on my own.   I started at 2025 I guess, so I'm only 6. 8 years in.

Two delicious asteroids in system were quite accessible.   I've got 23 factories on one and a measly 6 on another.   
I have scouted~5 systems-- mostly empty binary and trinaries, but one or two worlds appear colonizable.

Mars is terraforming with 20 terraformers installed and a population of 2 milllion.   

Once earth gets its next batch of military academy and a couple more mass drivers up, I'm going to make another resource push as my duranium supplies won't last the decade.

I have only three military beam cruisers :/

[Erik L]

Initially, you can get by with minimal armed ships. A squadron or so (as however defined by you). You'll need survey, colony and freighters more at the beginning.

Don't forget that once a population hits 10 million (I think), it starts to want protection. Protection is calculated on a system-wide basis. So a couple of destroyers can provide protection for small out-system colonies.

[Narmio]

Initially, you can get by with minimal armed ships. A squadron or so (as however defined by you). You'll need survey, colony and freighters more at the beginning.

Don't forget that once a population hits 10 million (I think), it starts to want protection. Protection is calculated on a system-wide basis. So a couple of destroyers can provide protection for small out-system colonies.

In the very early game, when defence is less of a problem than the complaining colonies think it is, I tend to use Missile Defence Bases - Essentially PDCs with 20 AMM launchers, a magazine, a sensor and a bit of armour and that's it. They're cheap to research and build (although a big Res 1 sensor can be quite expensive at low techs), and they will remain useful later on in the game should there ever be an actual fight at that colony - extra AMM fire is always good. And a PDC only needs Launcher Reload 3 to get 5s RoF AMMs, so they'll actually be pretty effective if you remember update the missiles every now and then.

They're not going to kill anything bigger than a fighter, but they keep the riffraff happy.

[Thiosk (OP)]

I started fresh a few days ago and got Mars up and running in about half the time.  I'm in the 11th year.

I started surveying nearby jump points once things were hopping at home-- and once I realized I'd start running out of elements, with crappy rolls on my home system.  Hey, alpha centauri.  Colony cost 2, colony cost 3, Oh my god.  I found a colony cost zero world.  It appeared to be uncolonized.  Oh my god!  I flew my spanking new jumpship surveyor over to it to start the survey-- kaboom.

Never saw them coming.

Theres something there.  And their flag is a big red swastika. 

I've dubbed them the space ####s. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KEueJnsu80"[/youtube]]SPACE ####S!!!
I don't think they're living on the planets there, but whatever ship blew me up had 8 lasers to my mere 2 on Destroyers.  There were 4 or 5 other ships in the pack I detected.  Theres not much else in the other direction.... sadly-- few thousand units of this and that and a colony cost 4.  Mars is just now getting its CO2, so not a chance to start on that.

Oh god, I want that colony.  Talk about a game changer.

[Peter Rhodan]

damn - Space ####s - you have all the fun
All I get are wacko looking people who shoot first and talk never

[Waffles]

I find it kinda amusing that that's what he googled since that exactly what the Bay12 forums describe it as. Though even they had a hard time figuring it out