Post by: Judicator on April 24, 2010, 10:04:21 PM
Edit: Cleaning up as I'm learning by randomly clicking and looking. My questions. I have one ship right now. I want to learn all about task forces, task groups, how to make them, how to assign them, how to transfer ships between them, how to even give ships orders, how to dock, etc, etc, etc, etc.
In short, I have NO clue about how ANYthing works and I need a detailed rundown or at LEAST the basics on how it all works.
I'd also like to know what CI is and what I should be doing exactly concerning that. Recommended number of shipyards and slipways and tonnage allowed and so on and so on.
It tells me it surveyed the planets I told it to go to but uh, where d oI go to get a report on said planets/asteroids?
Post by: Father Tim on April 24, 2010, 10:24:44 PM
Post by: Judicator on April 25, 2010, 12:03:22 AM
Quote from: "Father Tim"
Read the Tutorials, read the FAQ, read the wiki pages that apply, and experiment with the various windows & buttons.
Like I said before, the things I am looking for are NOT covered in any tutorial or wiki pages or the FAQ even. Right now I'm trying to learn how to even know if my ship surveyed a vessel or not. I'm trying to learn how I can make a ship mine. Trying to learn alot basically but my OP should cover the priority problems.
Post by: Xaoc on April 25, 2010, 02:27:53 AM
Quote from: "Judicator"
Quote from: "Father Tim"Read the Tutorials, read the FAQ, read the wiki pages that apply, and experiment with the various windows & buttons.
Like I said before, the things I am looking for are NOT covered in any tutorial or wiki pages or the FAQ even. Right now I'm trying to learn how to even know if my ship surveyed a vessel or not. I'm trying to learn how I can make a ship mine. Trying to learn alot basically but my OP should cover the priority problems.
Surveyed a vessel? Ehm, If your ships detect another foreign ship you'll hear about it in the Events Updates window(CRTL+F3 or look under the spacemaster tab in the menu bar). All information about foreign ships will be collected in the tactical intelligence tab in the intelligence and foreign relations window(CTRL + F5 or look under the Empires tab in the manu bar).
Learning how to capture ships? Thats a bit more advanced. You'll need a fast(at least five times faster than the target) ship with a company drop module, if I'm not mistaken. I haven't done it myself so my knowledge is limited.
Most of the Issues in the OP are covered by the wiki and the tutorials. I know that they're a bit 'extensive', but its worth the read, if you want to play Aurora. The Task Groups window is actually not that hard to comprehend even without a guide. Try hovering your over the buttons and fields a second or two to see a quick help message.
You can view detailed information about system bodies in the System Information window(F9 or look under the Empires tab).
Post by: Judicator on April 25, 2010, 02:41:08 AM
Quote from: "Xaoc"
Quote from: "Judicator"Quote from: "Father Tim"Read the Tutorials, read the FAQ, read the wiki pages that apply, and experiment with the various windows & buttons.
Like I said before, the things I am looking for are NOT covered in any tutorial or wiki pages or the FAQ even. Right now I'm trying to learn how to even know if my ship surveyed a vessel or not. I'm trying to learn how I can make a ship mine. Trying to learn alot basically but my OP should cover the priority problems.
Surveyed a vessel? Ehm, If your ships detect another foreign ship you'll hear about it in the Events Updates window(CRTL+F3 or look under the spacemaster tab in the menu bar). All information about foreign ships will be collected in the tactical intelligence tab in the intelligence and foreign relations window(CTRL + F5 or look under the Empires tab in the manu bar).
Learning how to capture ships? Thats a bit more advanced. You'll need a fast(at least five times faster than the target) ship with a company drop module, if I'm not mistaken. I haven't done it myself so my knowledge is limited.
Most of the Issues in the OP are covered by the wiki and the tutorials. I know that they're a bit 'extensive', but its worth the read, if you want to play Aurora. The Task Groups window is actually not that hard to comprehend even without a guide. Try hovering your over the buttons and fields a second or two to see a quick help message.
You can view detailed information about system bodies in the System Information window(F9 or look under the Empires tab).
Oops, heh heh. I should have been specific, sorry! I meant, how do I make a ship mine an asteroid! Earlier, apparently, somehow, I got one to mine. I was having a mining vessel sit in extended orbit over an asteroid that tested positive for minerals earlier surveyed by a geo ship. Is this how I mine minerals?
This in turn leads mt to my next question, how do I retrieve minerals mined from asteroids and comets? Do I get a cargo freighter loaded with uh...cargo space to simply go there and 'load all materials'? This leads me to another question, colony setup. How do I setup a colony on another planet/asteroid/comet? I assume I get cryogenic pod things and load them up with people? If that's correct what do I do there?
Again, I am amazed at how far I am learning through sheer luck and willpower though I have alot to learn, heh, and I haven't even run into an NPR yet! But questions about task forces and groups, organization, and efficient and well to do ship designs will really help as well. Thanks for taking the time to help so far guys.
Edit: Sadly, the hovering method does not seem to work with all the buttons.
Post by: AndonSage on April 25, 2010, 06:16:48 AM
Quote from: "Judicator"
I meant, how do I make a ship mine an asteroid! Earlier, apparently, somehow, I got one to mine. I was having a mining vessel sit in extended orbit over an asteroid that tested positive for minerals earlier surveyed by a geo ship. Is this how I mine minerals?I haven't used a mining ship, so can't help you here. However, if you were able to get a ship to mine, then I'm assuming you've researched Asteroid Mining Module (Construction/Production category), and placed some on a ship. The minerals remain on the asteroid until you move them.
Quote from: "Judicator"
how do I retrieve minerals mined from asteroids and comets?You have three options to get the minerals from the asteroid to a world...
1) Have your mining ship include cargo holds, but I think this is the least efficient way, or
2) Have cargo freighters ferry the minerals from the asteroid to where you want them, or
3) (most common) Build a Mass Driver somewhere and transport it to the asteroid (be sure to have a Mass Driver on a world so it can receive the minerals). This requires moving the Mass Driver from the asteroid, once the minerals are exhausted, to a new spot.
Quote from: "Judicator"
This leads me to another question, colony setup. How do I setup a colony on another planet/asteroid/comet?The easiest way is to bring up the F9 System Generation and Display screen, click on the system body where you want the colony, and click on the Add Colony button at the bottom of the screen. BTW, I highly recommend changing the Option (last tab on the right) for Asteroids to "Show if Minerals." That'll speed up bringing up the F9 screen.
Quote from: "Judicator"
I assume I get cryogenic pod things and load them up with people? If that's correct what do I do there?Colonies do not require people, and you can't put people on an asteroid anyway. However, if you want to transport people to a colony (e.g. Mars), then research Cryogenic Transport (Logistics/Ground Combat category) if you do a Conventional start (you get it for free with a TN start), and build a ship with Cryogenic Transport (under Transport & Industry).
Quote from: "Judicator"
But questions about task forces and groups, organization, and efficient and well to do ship designs will really help as well. Thanks for taking the time to help so far guys.For Task Groups, I recommend the Mechanics (http://aurora.pentarch.org/viewforum.php?f=1) sub-forum. For ship designs, all I can say is read the Tutorial (http://aurora.pentarch.org/viewforum.php?f=101) sub-forum (which has ship design examples), and other sub-forums like the Bureau of Ship Design (http://aurora.pentarch.org/viewforum.php?f=14), Advanced Tactical Command Academy (http://aurora.pentarch.org/viewforum.php?f=15), and even Aurora fiction (http://aurora.pentarch.org/viewforum.php?f=2). There are so many possible ship designs, for so many different situations.
Post by: AndonSage on April 25, 2010, 06:36:35 AM
Asteroid Mining:
- Mass Drivers don't go through Jump gates. I would prefer having two mining designs: One with 2-10 Mining Modules, depending on tech, requirements, it really doesn't matter. One with 5 Cargo Holds, and probably far less modules. Then I would send a Swarm of those to an Asteroid, Mine it dry within years, or months if it's small, on continue on to the next, always sending to minerals to the colony or asteroid closest to the jump point for taking. Or simply use a freighter with it.
- You dont need holds, they go onto the planet. You can however, fit holds if you dont want to have to fly freighters over there, but this means a bigger ship, or sacrificing some mining capacity.
- I generally build miners in two styles;
- 1. Local - These carry 5 cargo holds with a mass driver, and several mining modules. They go up to a rock, drop the Mass Driver, and start mining. The mass driver sends the minerals where I want them. These generally operate in populated systems (like Sol).
- 2. Independent - These carry a lot of cargo holds, and less mining modules. I build a few and use them in systems that wont be seeing populations in the near future (or ever). They tend to be even larger, and will mine what they can carry, then head back with the minerals. They occasionally double up as superfreighters on the way back if theres colony enroute.
- Lately though, I've been thinking of a new approach for uninhabited system mining, using the 'Local' miner design. It would involve sending several of these into the system, each on a different rock, with the mass drivers all pointed at one of the rocks which will act as a 'depot' for the minerals. As theres a miner and mass driver there too, it can collect all the minerals. I would then run freighters to and from this one 'depot', making logistics easier. Optimally this rock would be near the Jump Point too - though as I use 'orbiting asteroids' this may not be quite as important.
*EDIT* Did a search on Asteroid Mining and found the URL: Asteroid Miners (http://aurora.pentarch.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=2449)
Post by: Judicator on April 25, 2010, 10:40:25 AM
And how do I assign tech points manually?
And one more big important thing. I'm almost ready to know how to colonize other planets. So the question is, how exactly would I go about doing so? I know I'll have to terraform and send infrastructure and then an initial payload of colonists but... what's an efficient and quick terraform setup? How much infrastructure? How many colonists?
Post by: The Shadow on April 25, 2010, 11:59:41 AM
Quote from: "Judicator"
Thanks for the help and the patience in dealing with the utter noob, heh. Now for some more questions. What do you consider to be a 'fair' startup of pop and tech points?
Whatever you get in the beginning, the bad guys will get too. (Unless you tweak yourself after game-start using Spacemaster functions.) So, a wide range of settings are potentially 'fair'.
Quote
what's an efficient and quick terraform setup? How much infrastructure? How many colonists?
I'm finding it more efficient to build terraformer ships than terraform modules. (Though you can build the ship terraformer components with industry to speed along construction.)
As for how much infrastructure and colonists, you'll find that infrastructure is usually the bottleneck - you'll be freighting the stuff over there as fast as you can (and hopefully the civilians will be helping out too) to support the next load of colonists. So I guess the answer is 'Lots'.
Post by: Judicator on April 25, 2010, 12:24:59 PM
Post by: Father Tim on April 25, 2010, 12:58:14 PM
Quote from: "The Shadow"
Quote from: "Judicator"Thanks for the help and the patience in dealing with the utter noob, heh. Now for some more questions. What do you consider to be a 'fair' startup of pop and tech points?
Whatever you get in the beginning, the bad guys will get too. (Unless you tweak yourself after game-start using Spacemaster functions.) So, a wide range of settings are potentially 'fair'.
More accurately, whatever you have at the instant an NPR is created is what the program uses to set the 'level' of the NPR.
I just use the default 500m people and 0/whatever Aurora gives me for a conventional/TN start.
Quote from: "Judicator"
And how do I assign tech points manually?
Assuming you've done a TN start, go to the F2 'Population & Production' screen, 'Research' tab, and hit Ctrl-S to turn on Spacemaster mode. A small box will appear next to tech cost labelled 'Starting RP'. Select a tech you want and use the 'Instant' button to add it to your empire's knowledge. The amount of research points remaining will decrease by the cost of the tech. Repeat until you are out of 'Starting RP'.
Quote from: "Judicator"
Wwhat's an efficient and quick terraform setup? How much infrastructure? How many colonists?
Terraforming is separate from infrastructure & colonists, and is more efficiently performed by ships with terraforming modules than by Terraforming Installations on a colony.
Infrastructure per colonist of course varies by colony cost, so the only useful answer is 'enough infrastructure to support all your current colonists, plus any more that will arrive soon, plus the amount of natural growth' - which turns out to be a multi-variate exponential equation, which still needs to account for how much infrastructure and population your civilian sector is moving to the colony for you, which means it's almost always not worth doing the math.
In general, throw some infrastructure and then some (about 90% of what your infrastructure can support, as shown on the 'Summary' tab of the F2 'Population and Production' screen for that colony) population down to get things started, then if you get a message saying 'unrest due to overcrowding' ship more infrastructure. Ninety-nine percent of the time the amounts will be determined by how much of each your Cargo/Colony ships available have room for.
Quote from: "Judicator"
Alright next question. I have the hang of ship building, mining, etc. What kind of sensors will I need to detect jump points in my system
Gravitational Survey Sensors
Quote from: "Judicator"
and what is needed to go through these points to go to a new system?
A Jump Engine, or build a jump gate (which requires a ship with a Jump Gate Construction Module
Quote from: "Judicator"
And I plan on having this ship be a jump point detector AND a diplomatic ship just in case I happen to run into an unexpected neighbor. I don't see any diplomatic ship designs or sensor ships on the forums so far. Thanks in advance.
Nothing, although you won't be able to initiate diplomatic relations with another race unless you identify a ship/PDC/population as belonging to that race, which requires an Active, Thermal, or EM sensor contact (and in the case or Thermal or EM, a fair amount of time to pin down the race ID).
So to BE a diplomatic ship requires no special equipment. To be a GOOD diplomatic ship you want powerful, long range sensors (which means big ones).
Post by: The Shadow on April 25, 2010, 03:36:49 PM
Post by: The Shadow on April 25, 2010, 03:41:50 PM
Quote from: "Father Tim"
More accurately, whatever you have at the instant an NPR is created is what the program uses to set the 'level' of the NPR.
On a related note, what are the odds of finding a low-tech or pre-industrial NPR out there? I've yet to see any, though I'm not sure how you'd detect a pre-industrial one anyway.
Post by: Father Tim on April 25, 2010, 05:35:41 PM
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 25, 2010, 06:45:56 PM
http://auroranewbieaar.blogspot.com/ (http://auroranewbieaar.blogspot.com/)
Also check out the tutorials and the wiki alot of your questions are answered by them.
Above all keep playing and trying new things this game is very deep but also very rewarding. One last thing don't be afraid to make some mistakes I learnt most of what I now know from things going wrong.
Post by: The Shadow on April 26, 2010, 12:46:51 AM
Quote from: "Father Tim"
Zero, since Steve has not yet programmed the AI to handle them. Every NPR you encounter will be Trans-Newtonian.
Huh? So this thread (http://aurora.pentarch.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1261), along with one I can't seem to find right now about preindustrial NPR's, is obsolete?
Post by: Father Tim on April 26, 2010, 01:35:00 AM
Which isn't difficult, and is the way every empire worked back before Steve wrote the AI software a couple of versions ago. But if you checked the 'computer-controlled NPRs' box on the game settings page, you will never 'discover' a low-tech race.
Post by: The Shadow on April 26, 2010, 01:40:20 AM
Yet in the Ad Astra campaign, Steve did find a preindustrial race. I guess he was playing both (all) sides in that game?
Post by: AndonSage on April 26, 2010, 06:09:24 AM
Quote from: "The Shadow"
Ooooh. I get it now.I think a lot of what goes on in Steve's fiction is done with him playing all of the important NPRs, as well as judicious use of the SpaceMaster mode
Yet in the Ad Astra campaign, Steve did find a preindustrial race. I guess he was playing both (all) sides in that game?
Post by: AndonSage on April 26, 2010, 06:16:44 AM
Quote from: "Judicator"
And how do I assign tech points manually?Are you sure you read the Tutorials (http://aurora.pentarch.org/viewforum.php?f=101)? This is covered in Part 4: Basic Ship Design (http://aurora.pentarch.org/viewtopic.php?f=101&t=1955).
Quote from: "Judicator"
What kind of sensors will I need to detect jump points in my system...Also covered in Part 4.
Post by: Judicator on April 26, 2010, 10:28:24 AM
I'm getting to the point where I'm almost experienced enough to make new colonies but I'd like to know the specifics on how to make them.
I understand that terraforming is obviously needed to take out the bad gasses, stabilize the good, etc but I'd also like to learn what is needed in terms of initial supplies. Do I need to plop down infrastructure before bringing colonists or will the civilian shipping lines begin transporting colonists on their own? What is exactly needed to form a permanent living colony on a new planet is basically what I am asking.
On the topic of uninhabitale planets that have millions of minerals, can I simply plop down infrastructure and automated mines in order to mine them out and transport them to my home planet via a mass driver? Or if that isn't the case, what is?
And a few more questions about the home planet, what is a good beginning strategy in terms of industry, research labs, etc. Someone posted that they like to spend 10% of industry at all times making factories while spending the other 90 on something else. How frequently should I add new labs? What is a good 'military academy level' to be at? These are just some more questions that I am currently pondering on at the moment. Thanks for your time and help!
Edit: I just thought of something else. Cargo Space. I noticed that one mass driver took up 25000(!?) units of cargo space. How many automated mines is a good number for mining planets/asteroids and how much cargo space does an automine take up?
Post by: The Shadow on April 26, 2010, 12:01:26 PM
Quote from: "Judicator"
I understand that terraforming is obviously needed to take out the bad gasses, stabilize the good, etc but I'd also like to learn what is needed in terms of initial supplies. Do I need to plop down infrastructure before bringing colonists or will the civilian shipping lines begin transporting colonists on their own? What is exactly needed to form a permanent living colony on a new planet is basically what I am asking.
You'll definitely want to put infrastructure down first. I wouldn't rely on the shipping lines until it's clear they've got the colony on their radar, so to speak.
Quote
On the topic of uninhabitale planets that have millions of minerals, can I simply plop down infrastructure and automated mines in order to mine them out and transport them to my home planet via a mass driver? Or if that isn't the case, what is?
No infrastructure necessary, as nobody's going to be living there. Automated mines and a mass driver are all you need, if there's a colony that can make use of the stuff in-system. If you want to take the minerals to another system, you'll have to ship it.
Quote
And a few more questions about the home planet, what is a good beginning strategy in terms of industry, research labs, etc. Someone posted that they like to spend 10% of industry at all times making factories while spending the other 90 on something else. How frequently should I add new labs? What is a good 'military academy level' to be at? These are just some more questions that I am currently pondering on at the moment. Thanks for your time and help!
Well, it depends what strategy you want to pursue, really. Myself, I like to put at least 20% of production into research labs. Mess around and see what you like.
Quote
Edit: I just thought of something else. Cargo Space. I noticed that one mass driver took up 25000(!?) units of cargo space. How many automated mines is a good number for mining planets/asteroids and how much cargo space does an automine take up?
Most installations take up 5 cargo holds. (Which is what 25000 "cargo space" amounts to.) Some, like research labs, take up 25.
Post by: Judicator on April 26, 2010, 12:46:54 PM
Post by: sloanjh on April 26, 2010, 01:03:10 PM
Quote from: "Father Tim"
Zero, since Steve has not yet programmed the AI to handle them. Every NPR you encounter will be Trans-Newtonian.
I thought he put pre-industrial into 5.1 - didn't he encounter one in the Roman story? The AI isn't hard, 'cuz they can't do anything except build ground troops
John
Post by: Father Tim on April 26, 2010, 01:17:43 PM
That is, regular mines are easier and cheaper to build, so don't waste any of your automines on an inhabited colony. As for how much of the TNE your economy needs must come from offworld, that depends entirely on how much your economy is using versus how much your homeworld is producing.
I think most people will agree that every single microgram of TNE in the known universe is best off mined and sitting in stockpile(s) on your world(s) - the only decisions to be made are ones of efficiency (ie where to get the most TNE per unit time).
Most games of Aurora go like this:
Setup --> time advance --> EMERGENCY! Not enough mineral X --> frantic research of mining tech / build mines / cutback on use of mineral X --> time advance --> EMERGENCY! Not enough mineral Y --> frantic research of mining tech / build mines / cutback on use of mineral Y --> time advance --> EMERGENCY! Not enough money --> frantic research of wealth / build financial centres --> time advance --> EMERGENCY! Not enough shipyards --> frantic research of shipbuilding & shipyard mod rate / shipyards & slipways / 'generalist' or 'multiple-classes-from-one-yard' designs --> time advance --> EMERGENCY! Not enough workers to man installations --> etc.
In short, every game - no matter how well you think you've planned, based on previous games - seems to be rushing from one crisis to another, based on not having enough something.
Post by: Father Tim on April 26, 2010, 01:36:17 PM
Quote from: "sloanjh"
Quote from: "Father Tim"Zero, since Steve has not yet programmed the AI to handle them. Every NPR you encounter will be Trans-Newtonian.
I thought he put pre-industrial into 5.1 - didn't he encounter one in the Roman story? The AI isn't hard, 'cuz they can't do anything except build ground troops :-)
John
He did, but Steve has God-like powers in addition to Designer mode and SM mode and so forth, though I believe he still 'ran' that particular NPR rather than having written the AI to do it.
If you turn off 'computer-controlled NPRs' (ie the AI functions) you can certainly encounter low-tech NPRs. With that checkbox ticked, I don't believe you can.
It's not that low-tech AI is 'hard', it's that it's different and high-tech AI is far more important (every NPR needs it) so it was done first. Steve will eventually get around to pre-TN AI when he has the time.
Post by: StratPlayer on April 26, 2010, 02:30:08 PM
Quote from: "Father Tim"
In short, every game - no matter how well you think you've planned, based on previous games - seems to be rushing from one crisis to another, based on not having enough something.
And that, in a nutshell, is one of the reasons that Aurora is such a good game and fun to play, at least in this newbie's opinion. Add in the drama of aliens to fight/avoid/hide from/negotiate with/conquer, and no game ever plays the same way twice.
There's no railroaded story that you have to follow, there's no only-one-way-to-win 'best' strategy, there's no having to self-nerf your own strategy/economy/tactics/etc. to keep it interesting, there's just a wide-open sandbox with new things to uncover every time you play. AND there's an active and involved designer adding new toys all the time!
What more could you want?!?!
Well unless you eliminated all the complexity, dumbed down the game, and turned it into a First-Person Shooter, then that would be awesome. NOT!!!
Post by: UnLimiTeD on April 27, 2010, 06:23:34 AM
I used that when I started.
To the other discussion, in my current 5.02 game, one jump from Sol, I discovered an Alien race with just one planet, that either has a population of around 50 million top, or no real industry.
During the last 10 years, they didn't build a single space ship, nor did their emissions rise by any noticeable amount.
they are obviously either a bug (I had a one billion start), with extremely low pop, or pre-TN.
Post by: Judicator on April 27, 2010, 01:04:44 PM
And I have to say that Hyfrydle's newbie journal of his first long term game has me captivated and inspired. I just may very well try my own! I have just about enough experience and knowhow to try one thanks to everyone's help mixed with my own blundering through the menus, decyphering what means what, etc.
Post by: UnLimiTeD on April 27, 2010, 02:12:51 PM
But back to your most recent question:
Conventional Industry is todays Industry.
You start with it if you do a conventional start, without TN tech, and they are basically a combination of Mine, Fuel refinery and Construction Factory, though way weaker, adding up to less than 50%, I think.
You can't build them afterwards, if I'm not mistaken, but you can convert them to TN mines or Construction factories or the like.
Post by: Father Tim on April 27, 2010, 07:00:51 PM
Ten Conventional Industry is also 1 mine, 1 construction factory, and 1 fuel refinery. Nine-point-nine-nine CI is 0 mines, 0 factories, and 0 refineries.
Post by: Father Tim on April 27, 2010, 07:07:47 PM
Quote from: "UnLimiTeD"
To the other discussion, in my current 5.02 game, one jump from Sol, I discovered an Alien race with just one planet, that either has a population of around 50 million top, or no real industry.
During the last 10 years, they didn't build a single space ship, nor did their emissions rise by any noticeable amount.
they are obviously either a bug (I had a one billion start), with extremely low pop, or pre-TN.
Just a bad roll (for the NPR that is). Fifty million pop is 1 research lab and a couple hundred RP to start - at that rate it'll be another thirty years before they finish all the basic techs needed to put a ship together. While they might as well be pre-TN, they're not, since the AI to run Conventional Industry, and decide how much of it to turn into mines, construction factories, ordnance factories, fuel refineries or small craft factories just doesn't exist yet. Pre-TN empires have so many 'holes' in their knowledge and abilities, writing code to account for it is a nightmare.
Post by: Steve Walmsley on April 28, 2010, 01:53:45 AM
Steve
Post by: UnLimiTeD on April 28, 2010, 03:40:04 AM
And I was nearly allied with them...
Post by: Judicator on April 30, 2010, 08:35:54 PM
A question to the more experienced players as well as newbies. When you're starting a real game, no SM mods aside from using up initial tech points, do you alter anything at all to your tailoring, ie adding more shipyards or research labs? I was curious because I am not going to alter anything but 4 shipyards and 20 labs seem a bit small for a 500 million pop considering they're so damn expensive
Also, how many research labs do you usually cap off at? And is the military academy max level 10?
Should I consistently keep adding factories as time passes on? How much is good to cap off on?
Post by: AndonSage on May 03, 2010, 08:23:25 AM
Would also be interested in what experienced players have to say about your other questions.
Post by: Hawkeye on May 03, 2010, 09:58:48 AM
Quote from: "Judicator"
Edit: Never mind I got it.
A question to the more experienced players as well as newbies. When you're starting a real game, no SM mods aside from using up initial tech points, do you alter anything at all to your tailoring, ie adding more shipyards or research labs? I was curious because I am not going to alter anything but 4 shipyards and 20 labs seem a bit small for a 500 million pop considering they're so damn expensive
Also, how many research labs do you usually cap off at? And is the military academy max level 10?
Should I consistently keep adding factories as time passes on? How much is good to cap off on?
Generally, I play with a conventional start.
I put in as about half as many labs as aurora would give me, if I had a regular start, i.e. 10 for a 500m population or 20 for a 1000m population, because otherwise, the game goes realy, REALY slow.
Other than that, no changes (I usually have enough time to build/expand my shipyards, because I have to research the various starship techs first anyway).
Oh, I forgot, I up the minerals on my homeworld by a factor of 5 to 10 for a conventional start or I run out of some minerals before anything gets done.
After converting conventional industry, I put 10% to building factories and 10% to mines. I also put 30% to building new labs (and have my best Construction/Production scientists research better research rates constantely). This leaves me with 50% for other stuff.
Post by: Kurt on May 03, 2010, 10:24:37 AM
Quote from: "Judicator"
Edit: Never mind I got it.
A question to the more experienced players as well as newbies. When you're starting a real game, no SM mods aside from using up initial tech points, do you alter anything at all to your tailoring, ie adding more shipyards or research labs? I was curious because I am not going to alter anything but 4 shipyards and 20 labs seem a bit small for a 500 million pop considering they're so damn expensive
Also, how many research labs do you usually cap off at? And is the military academy max level 10?
Should I consistently keep adding factories as time passes on? How much is good to cap off on?
I typically like high pop starts (1-5 billion), and I usually have to add research labs and remove shipyards. You have to be careful adding labs, though, because you can easily outstrip your available population and funds. I also increase my homeworld's resources, usually 2-5x.
You can have as many military academies as you can build, there is no limit that I'm aware of.
As for adding industry and research labs, that is very dependent on the game conditions. If you have enough scientists, money, and population to use more labs, then by all means build more. For industry, the calculation is simpler. If you have excess resources in your stockpile, and your stockpile is going up, then build more SY's, industry, and ground troop training facilities. If your resource stockpile is shrinking, then build more mines.
Kurt
Post by: James Patten on May 03, 2010, 08:43:18 PM
I started the game with 2000 systems and Precursors turned off, so that any NPR races would have less of a chance to find me, and the nasty wormhole aliens wouldn't pop through to wipe me out.
I had 1 billion starting pop and the normal number of research colonies, and added a zero to the end of all minerals (putting them in the 100,000 range), except for duranium which was already in the 100,000 range, so I doubled it. I also put 2 ruins in system, to give humans the idea that they weren't alone.
I'm almost 25 years in, and am over 10 years from running out of my lowest mineral. I was also fortunate enough to have minerals in the millions on Venus and TItan, almost so I don't have to go out system. However I'm going to soon, my first jump ship will be ready in about a year.
I really like the civilian sector now - they turned smart! I'm colonizing Titan, and now the civilians wait until there's enough infrastructure to plop their 50,000 colonists down, instead of sending them to their deaths.
Post by: waresky on May 04, 2010, 10:39:09 AM
Quote from: "UnLimiTeD"
Oh, then I should better be getting my Troop transports going.ehheeh "Dang dang dang! ehy Grunt! c'mon onboard!Alien wait for us!".."
And I was nearly allied with them...
Lol..and Unlimited going to war..eheh nice NPR encounter..a nice "school" War time.
Post by: Octavian30 on May 04, 2010, 10:08:00 PM
In my current game earth has 15 years of Deuranium left - everything else is gone - none of the planets had any resource greater than about 200,000 and none more than 2 - nearly all unimportant stuff like Vendarite and Corbromite.... except Venus had Deuranium at about 3mil but concentration .5 - 4 out of the 5 surrounding systems had no planets and the 5th only had 1 non-habital planet - sigh......
I am currently short of Deuranium - have eased my shortages of Neuronium and Sorium -am not producing anywhere enough fuel - barely keeping my freighters going - my entire combat fleet has spent the last ten years or more sitting in Earth orbit doing nothing to save their fuel... been at it about 40+ years game time - 2 friendly aliens - several precursor systems - 1 swarm - finally got my first sorium harvesters going - 2 that harvest 500,000 fuel a year which is a start on my fuel shortages.... another just built - 3 more coming....
have 30 labs on earth - research rate 500 - am working on 600 -
and I am having a BALL !!!!
I am re-tooling my main naval yard to build a 28,000 ton Battlecruiser that goes at 10,000K has 8 size 9 launchers and torpedoes and AMM - YES!!! look out you precurser skummies!!!
I have 4 16,000t CVE's that now move at 4,500k - 6,000T DD's, 9,000t LC's and 12,000t CAs that all do 8,000k - 30+ gunboats with 4 damage Torpedos (don't ask why torpedos) but they move at 11,000K!! CT's with 3 fire control and 6 size 1 launchers as FLAK ships that move at 10,000k - fighters that move at 11k with a size 5 missile... and now that the sorium harvesters are working I am going to move on the first bunch of Precursers.... finally -
and I have troopships to move my troops in behind....
Because of hte lack of resources - nearest planets all being 2 or more jiumps away and so forth - this has been my toughest game to date - but also my best so far!