My Questions of Perplexity

[ZimRathbone]

and to answer the Spoiler question...peole are not hiding the EXISTENCE of the three "special" NPRs but their behavior.  It goes back to when Steve introduced the Invaders as he specifically kept their behavior & capabilities a secret to allow gamers to discover them on their own.  The Precursors & Swarm predated them and their habits & weapons etc were discussed to a greater or lesser extent before they actually were avaliable to the rest of us  (this was in the old forum so I think most of the posts from then are long gone), but the practise grew to cover them as well. 

Its more a courtesy thing - If you want to discover the stuff for yourself just dont move the mouse over the spoilered text - If you cant wait for Christmas then go ahead and look.

[Dutchling]

Ok, thanks for the replies.
I have now created a player race on Titan (copied DB ofc) and I gave it some of the predesigned warships, although they kinda out-tech me.
How do change them to an NPR? I hope that is possible.

[Brian Neumann]

Ok, thanks for the replies.
I have now created a player race on Titan (copied DB ofc) and I gave it some of the predesigned warships, although they kinda out-tech me.
How do change them to an NPR? I hope that is possible.

Once created as a player raced they will stay a player race.  What I usually do is to make a copy of the database, create the race for testing a specific idea, give the race the tech I want it to have and design the ships.  Then I create a fleet using the instant oob (SM menu) for both races try out the different designs and when I am done I reinstall the saved game.  This to me is the equivilant of playing wargames to see how a new design ship will work before you finalize the design in the real world.

Brian

[Dutchling]

Ok, as there doesn't seem to be a way to give an NPR tech or a fleet. I'll just test my own fleet versus my own fleet .

EDIT: Combat seems to be working for my ships. Although my designs seems to be very defensive orientated. I have one question though: How do I make the map not move to when I advance in time? I keeps jumping to some other place and I want to watch my missiles...

[ZimRathbone]

Ok, as there doesn't seem to be a way to give an NPR tech or a fleet. I'll just test my own fleet versus my own fleet .

EDIT: Combat seems to be working for my ships. Although my designs seems to be very defensive orientated. I have one question though: How do I make the map not move to when I advance in time? I keeps jumping to some other place and I want to watch my missiles...

I suspect that the map is not moving (ie its centered on the same co-ordinates) but that everything else is.  Unless you select "no orbital motion" options, the only immobile items in a system are likely to be the primary star & the jump points.   I just zoom out to run intervals & zoom in to see the action.  If you zoom out & then run automatic intervals you can watch you missiles crawl accross the screen (until something happens) You can left clisk to center on a particular thing of interest, but when you run an interval the focus will remain on the old position of the TG or whatever, not wherever it moved to during the inteval

[Erik L]

I suspect that the map is not moving (ie its centered on the same co-ordinates) but that everything else is.  Unless you select "no orbital motion" options, the only immobile items in a system are likely to be the primary star & the jump points.   I just zoom out to run intervals & zoom in to see the action.  If you zoom out & then run automatic intervals you can watch you missiles crawl accross the screen (until something happens) You can left clisk to center on a particular thing of interest, but when you run an interval the focus will remain on the old position of the TG or whatever, not wherever it moved to during the inteval

Beyond a certain zoom level, it centers on the primary.

[Dutchling]

Another question: My seconds generation missile/escort cruisers need PD defense, so:
-Do I need beam fire control for gauss canons?
-Is it useful to give the cruisers some PD or is it better to get a dedicated PD ship?

[Thiosk]

I'm pretty sure yes, gauss needs it. 

I do both.  I put a little PD on the cruisers themselves... and then have dedicated PD boats.  Mostly for roleplaying purposes.

[Erik L]

Another question: My seconds generation missile/escort cruisers need PD defense, so:
-Do I need beam fire control for gauss canons?
-Is it useful to give the cruisers some PD or is it better to get a dedicated PD ship?

The only weapon system that does not need fire control is CIWS as it is built into the system.

A couple CIWS on each ship is usually a good idea.

[Brian Neumann]

The only weapon system that does not need fire control is CIWS as it is built into the system.

A couple CIWS on each ship is usually a good idea.

The drawback to doing this is that the ciws system only protects the mounting ship.  If you have any size fleet then the total point defense of even single gauss turrets and fire control will be higher.  Effectivly each ciws is equal to a single gauss turret.  With two ciws systems you will take up about as much space as a single turret with fire control would take up.  So if you have 4 ships you have the equivilant of 4 ciws systems total, but they all protect all of the ships.  Compare that with having two ciws per ship.  If you have more ships then the total goes up and more missiles will be shot down.  I usually only put ciws on civilian designs that may see combat (troop transports ect) and high priority targets like the big sensor ships that are often the first target or the largest class of warships that I build.  Those are the ships that are going to tend to be shot at anyway so not having the extra turrets for general fleet defense doesn't meen as much when they are the target anyway.

Brian

[Jacob/Lee]

Also, a commercial ship with a CIWS mounted on it does not become a military ship.