I have encountered a few things that I am far from clear on:
1. Damage Control Technology. Since my ships seem to have damage control capacity without it; is it worth developing, and what does it actually allow?
2. Terraforming:
--what effect is there of adding water to the atmosphere? Especially to a world with 0% hydrosphere. Does this reduce the colonization cost?
--what is anti-green house gas for?
3. I built two ship types both 1500 Tonne, 1 engine, life support, bridge, and engineering space. One design had 2 colony bays and was classed as a freighter, the other had 2 cargo bays and was classed as a non-combattent. Any idea why this is?
4. What does the armour value x-y mean in terms of damage absorption capacity.
5. I see a value for max spare parts usable in a repair but my ships seem to be able to exceed this. What is the meaning of that value?
6. Do microwave attacks work against missiles?
7. What exactly do financial centre's do? Obviously they are increasing your wealth but how exactly? Can they be moved from planet to planet?
8. What are spaceports for and how do you use them?
9 What is civillian cargo facility for? Can it be built on one world and moved to another?
Thanks. Likely more will show up with time but these are the ones that I have now.
1. I´m not sure myself
2. AFIK, you can´t add water. If there is ice on the planet, it will melt, once the temperatur rises above 0°
Greenhouse gas raises temperatur, Anti-Greenhouse gas lowers temperature
3. You might need a cargo handling system to qualify for a freighter
4. Armor 3-35 means: 3 rows of armor with a length of 35 each. This means, there are 35 "spots" your ship can be hit and it is protected by 3 layers of armor. A laser dealing 4 points of damage will penetrate all 3 layers and deal the remaining point of damage to the systems of the ships. Missile warheads deal "splash" damage, hitting several "spots" simultaneously. Each weapon uses a different damage template (if you know the old Renegade Legions games from FASA, you know what I mean)
Basicly, lasers deal all damage to a single spot like
X
X
X 4 points of laser damage
X
Missiles deal damage something like:
X X X X X
X X X 9 points of missile damage
X
5. This is not the max usable, but the amount, the biggest and most complex part of your ship will require to be fixed. It is highly recomended to have at least as much spare parts on board (more is allways better)
6. Never tried, so I don´t know
7. They act like additional population. The formula, I don´t know
8. You need at least two spaceport in two different systems. Over time, a spaceport collects trading points, which allow you to establish a trade-route (the economy screen will tell you when enough points will be collected). Once this point is reached, you establish a trade-route, which will generate additional income.
9. It allows for ships classed as frighters to perform a "Freighter Maintenance Check". This fills the spare parts for free AND gives you a free overhaul, i.e. resets the maintenance clock to 0.