Design a small universe

[CptSparke (OP)]

Hi !

How to design my own universe (rather small, of course) ? Is there any tutorial that point out how to do that ?
(Like create a universe with 3 systems, few planets, and two empires (like Legend of Galactic Heroes in fact )

Bye !

[Nightstar]

Sadly no. However, you can figure out how to do stuff pretty quickly by starting a new non-solar game and playing around in f9 with SM mode on. To keep you from wasting too much time: You can't really make custom systems with the default tools, you have to generate new ones until you get something you like. Also, SM terraforming requires that you place a colony on the planet to be terraformed, and work through f2.

Everything else should be pretty obvious.

[MarcAFK]

When you generate a game there is a "maximum number of systems" option, just set that to 2, set "starting NPRs" to 1, and change "NPR generation chance to 0%" then you'll have your 3 system game with only 2 empires, I imagine the game would generate Sol for your empire, it would pick a nice suitable system for your NPR, then the other system generated would be random, I suggest that at the start of the game you immediately open up jump points in sol untill you find that system, then re-generate it untill it looks suitable for your game, I imagine a nice binary with good distance between the stars (but not 500 billion kilometers), at least one gas giant in the system, and lots of planets, moons, and asteroids would probably suit your purpose.

[Hawkeye]

Remember to _not_ use real stars, as that setting ignores the number of system you specify.

Also, I am not sure setting such a low number would work, but I haven´t tried something like that, so what do I know

[Brian Neumann]

Normally systems will not be generated untill they are entered.  When you set the game size to any set number of systems it does not create all the systems at once.  1 system will be created for each npr you choose to exist.  If you are setting up the systems and not using the sol start option then you will need to create your own home system. 

To make this work you will need to set how many systems you want (3) in the starting Game Info screen.  Use the random start system and make sure that real stars are turned off.  Once the start stuff (mostly npr) is done you will want to turn on SM mode and then open the F9 (System View) screen.  On the bottom right there should be a group of buttons that start with create empire, create nebula and create system.  Use the create system, and then delete any system that you don't like.  Once you have the system you like you will need to go to the jump point tab to edit the jump points.  You probably don't want more than 1 or 2 jump points in a system for this game so delete the rest of them.  Then click on one of the jump points and go to a button middle right of the screen it says "Break Link" click on this and then go to the pull down menu adjacent to select the system you want that particular jump point going to.  Select the system and jump point then click the connect link button.

Good Luck.
Brian

[MarcAFK]

Damn, I thought the system limit worked for real stars games, I was hoping to force early contact with NPRs using that option, I'll have to restart using random stars. Isn't there a 'generate sol system' option somewhere?
Also I was hoping that I could avoid game slowdown by lowering total number  of systems, I guess I could achieve the same effect by turning NPR generation chance down to zero.

[Brian Neumann]

The system limit probably does work with real stars being on, I just don't know for sure.  The down side to using a standard sol start is you need to create a sm style player and then create the other systems.  If you do it this way, I would recommend not having a starting npr.  Instead create the two systems you want and then pick a planet to create a race on.  You can make things easier or harder by varying the population you create.  You can also set a race you create to npr status when you create it.  There is a toggle box for this in the race creation screen.

Brian

[MarcAFK]

I do know that the option for local system generation chance doesn't work on real stars games so I'll need to alter jump gates for my small game, I'll just check if the system limit works. Yeah, the new game window does actually state as much in the popup text.

[CptSparke (OP)]

Wow, thanks for the answers !

[MarcAFK]

Ok I'm currently running an AAR for a small universe inspired by this thread, there are 2 NPRs and 12 systems, each starting empire's home system is connected to a lone system, that system is then connected to a third system which connects to one of the other empires second system, that third system then connects to a fourth system which has links to both other fourth systems, creating a complex symmetrical web of interconnected systems, making opportunity for many bottlenecks, salients, and back door invasions, sadly however after entering the jump points and editing them those systems are now visible to me, the jump points are visible also, I can however set the jump points to unexplored, so even though I can see the jump points, I'll hVe to consciously ignore them until the grav surveys are complete.

One tip for manually opening and modifying jump points, after setting a jump point to another system, sometimes the label for thatpoint will still say 'unexplored', you need to enter it so it lists the correct system, otherwise you may get confused. Good luck.

[Brian Neumann]

, sadly however after entering the jump points and editing them those systems are now visible to me, the jump points are visible also, I can however set the jump points to unexplored, so even though I can see the jump points, I'll hVe to consciously ignore them until the grav surveys are complete.

One tip for manually opening and modifying jump points, after setting a jump point to another system, sometimes the label for thatpoint will still say 'unexplored', you need to enter it so it lists the correct system, otherwise you may get confused. Good luck.

If you have a SM race you can use that to design the systems.  Then when you are playing a race you don't have any extra information available to you.

Brian

[MarcAFK]

Of course! Thank you, however as I have already started I'll just learn to ignore it. Besides I already know how I set up the jump points