Hello everyone,
I've decided to start a new game with version 1. 12 out now, but I have a question that I wondered the answer since C# Aurora came out: Are we supposed to leave starting points on the race creation screen (tech points, build points etc) as it is? (i. e. 80k tech points) Are NPRs (one(s) created in the beginning of the game) starting with some points as well or do they start with all of those values at 0? The reason I am asking is, while I would like some advantage since I'm still relatively new to the game, I don't want it to break the balance.
Thank you.
The starting points you set are purely for your race, by default the values should be reflective of 2 years wealth based purely on population, this is why the points change as you tweak starting population. If you use them or not is entirely your call, using them often makes the early game progress significantly faster as you can leap frog quite a few years worth of research using the default points values making your first ships much more advanced than they otherwise would have been, as well as immediately giving you the means to start with all the basic tech levels for most component types if you choose so.
Personally I stopped using research and build points in C# quite some time ago as early game time progression is much faster than it used to be in VB6 so progressing naturally without using magical advancement powers already feels a bit too quick (So I now play with campaign research speed between 40-50%), and if you produce components using your planet factories in advance which takes a fraction of the time then even with early ship building tech you can churn out pretty much any design you'll need including 300k+ ton freighters in well under a year, so using the points to instant ships... again seems pointless as you're instant building ships that would only take 4-5 months anyway.... so seems silly to use magical gnomes to build them overnight.
One case I do consider using them in very rare occasions is for early ground troop production, as the logistics to transport multiple formations is often not established by the time I've got multiple populated colonies going all demanding protection thanks to civilian shipping flooding them with people, and trying to keep PPV demands met with early weapons tech gets old fast, so using ground forces to just mitigate the morale loss works best. But it really is down to personal preference and what fits your empires narrative.
As for NPRs, there is a base amount of points any NPR will always receive on generation. Off the top of the head I could have sworn that minimum number was around 80,000 points but checking around I can't find any clear statement by Steve on that amount so it's possible I am misremembering and pulled that 80,000 number out of nowhere. Beyond that minimum (whatever the value actually is) then when generating a brand new NPR through exploration then the game will take approximately your current empires total points as a baseline for determining NPR advancement..... so if you start with 0 NPRs and generate a NPR 90 years in, don't be surprised if within a few months that NPR has suddenly expanded across multiple systems and has military fleet going as their point investment to go from nothing to roughly your state of development will have been pretty significant and will result in a massive activity explosion.
I don't think there has even been any direct statement if starting NPR creation factors in player race factors, personally I would assume it doesn't and just follows the normal starting NPR behaviour but really that's something only Steve can properly answer outside of making multiple campaigns with a single NPR and using different player race points for each campaign and poking into DBs on Day 1 to compare the NPRs.
