Some opinions on initial settings, if you please

[vorpal+5 (OP)]

I'm in the process of creating a new campaign, and I would like to tailor it the best possible, for what I have in view. It will have some decent scope, as there will be 8 NPR in the solar system, as nations blocks, plus the player as UNE, the follow up of UN (sorta, as it blends also with Europe/NATO).

So, my questions, what is your opinion on these following parameters?

Difficulty Modifier
I'm planning to crank it to 150%. I know it will alter the power base of all NPR, including the ones in the SS, but given that I'll edit most parameters of these through database edit, the bottom line is that it will only boost the NPR outside sol. Is it even enough, the 8 Sol NPR will on average have 500 M pop and a decent industry (TN), so the 'Aliens' might face a lof of humans (in dispersed order, admittedly).

Ruin Generation Chance
I'm not too sure here. Usually I find there are too few ruins and I was thinking of raising it some. Opinion? Experience?

Truce Countdown
Probably 10 years, but perhaps 5. I'll anyway edit relationships in the SS so that most of the NPR within Sol are not starting a war too soon. My concern is that there won't be 'colonial wars' only, as Earth might be trashed rapidly if there is a conflict between 2 nations block. Well, I can always remove dust if need be.

Invaders
Who faced Invaders? Are they supremely overpowered? I don't want them to ruin the game entirely and without any hope to win... Better perhaps to leave them out.

Civilian Harvesters
Seems harmless to me. Do they really run dry the gas giants? Or is the problem elsewhere? I like it when the SS feels alive.

Min-Max NPR distance (25-50)
I have read that even the default distances can make for very elusive NPRs, so I was considering halving the values.

Research/Survey Rate Modifier
Probably 20% Research and Survey speed. Not glacial, but slow.

Initial minerals
What would you advise, so that a total of 4000 M pop with accompanying industries and mines don't suck dry Earth before year +5? 10 millions minerals per mineral? More, less?

Thanks a bunch to everyone who will answer, even one answer

[DFNewb]

I usually play with 200 percent difficulty with invaders on.

I usually set distance of NPRs to 1 - 30 LY's

10 million of each mineral is a lot if you think about it, usually its like 100k of each for a start.

Invaders are OP, their scout ships destroy my entire fleet in open combat, gotta take them on at jump points and hope they don't find Sol fast. If your ships don't 10km/s or so, you probably need to do the same.

[Froggiest1982]

Difficulty Modifier
I never bother too much with this setting tbh. I probably would more if the difficulty impacted:
1-amount of spoiler you may encounter
2-their strenght
3-npr as it does

Ruin Generation Chance
Too many ruins are OP as it will guarantee you free installations. I find it balanced well with vanilla settings. My last game I posted on 1.12 patch a screen I got ruins on both Mars and Mercury, was a pleasant surprise...I would hate to be the norm.

Truce Countdown
Why no truce at all? I don't think NPRs handle well the build up time while the player can make better strategic decisions on the long run.

Invaders
NO!!!!!!!!

Civilian Harvesters
They are going to be sitting on a planet making them more similar to a plant, but still alive. I usually keep them on for then deactivate it. In my mind long distance logistic is for military only, while Sol and nearby systems are more "civilized". I guess this is personal taste then.

Min-Max NPR distance (25-50)
I haven't played a custom galaxy game yet, can you believe it?

Research/Survey Rate Modifier
5% survey is a must. My research is 20% to 25% before jumping out of Sol. As soon as I get out I lower it to 10%.

Initial minerals
What is your goal? I have a standard (still play around sometimes tough) Duranium 200k per race, neutronium 50k per race, sorium 125-150k per race. All others between 50k to 100k per race, depending on how harsh you want it to be.
In my case I need a reason to defend my mining outposts and get out of Sol early without building up too much.

Pro tip: Sometimes it's not the quantity but the accessibility, have you ever tried to put 250,000 of each mineral on Earth but at 0.1 acc? Oh boy...

[vorpal+5 (OP)]

Thanks guys.

I'm realizing that Research Speed is just that ... Not research cost increase, meaning that with 10% speed, your 100 k initial RP are worth one million relatively speaking, same for NPR ... Am I right? It changes a lot of things for the initial conditions ...

[Garfunkel]

You are right.

Another way to handle it would be to manually reduce the number of laboratories you have at game start and stop yourself from building (loads) of them. That way the NPR research speed is not hobbled, just your own.

Though now that I think about it, I don't remember whether the survey speed and research speed settings affect NPRs at all.

[vorpal+5 (OP)]

Seems I need to redo my settings then, or I'll end up having the 8 other Earth nations blocks with just too many techs compared to me.

[TheTalkingMeowth]

Those settings do affect NPRs.