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[Alfapiomega (OP)]

TF is "task force"

You fill in the TF in the commanders interface with all other leaders. You assign naval commanders to your TF and bonuses apply to ships in the same solar system as where the TF is located. You can have them on planets or ships with a flag bridge.

Wow, thanks for the tip! I will check that one out!

[Alfapiomega (OP)]

Four more episodes are up (will be up) today:

part 8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltnjoU6rFas

part 9:

[/url]

part 10: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Kv95hyzxkA

part 11: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPrt9ej1SMA (will be published today at 19:00 CET time (+1).

[Alfapiomega (OP)]

Yesterday I recorded a few more parts and I turn to you for more answers

I did assign my commanders to the Fleet HQ TF but I have no idea how the bonuses work. Is it the same as with System Governor (everybody gets 1/4 of the overall bonus) or do people get only the bonus of the assigned part (i.e. fighter operations guy gives only fighter operations bonus)?

And also - who/which skill should/is useful in public affairs? Is it the Xenology guy?

[Jorgen_CAB]

As I explained above it is important to note that TF HQ will only pass down their bonuses to ships in the same system. They do pass down all their bonuses. 1/4 of the TF leader is passed down to the TF except for Fleet Training which uses his full value. All other members use one skill based on their position.

Fleet Training: This decreases the time that fleets will need to train to get to 100% fleet training level. This is the level of "Inexperienced Fleet Penalties" the fleet gets if below 100%.

Operations Officer (Operations Bonus): This reduce the "Inexperienced Fleet Penalties" of a fleet and increase the Fleet Training rate some.
Communications Officer (Communications Bonus): This also reduce the "Inexperienced Fleet Penalties" as you can pass on orders more efficiently.
Intelligence Office (Intelligence Bonus): Used to discern enemy capabilities, interpret sensor data, and identify enemy classes & ships. Basically, everything found on the Ctrl F5 'Intelligence & Foreign Relations' window that isn't 'Political Relations'. Also used to interrogate captured enemy personnel.
Public Affairs Officer (Diplomacy Bonus): Increase the PPV (Planetary Protection Value) of any fleets in the system. Simply convince the people that guns are bigger and better than they really are. Sort of PR experts...
Survey Office (Survey bonus): Coordinates, collects and coordinate survey efforts in the system. Simple add their bonus to any surveys conducted.
Fighter Operations Officer (Fighter operation Bonus): Decrease the time of all the ships in the TF time to reload box launched missiles in hangars and perhaps also at maintenance facilities. I'm not completely sure about the last but I think it does.
Logistics Offices (Logistics Bonus): Reduce loading and unloading of cargo/troops and anything that takes time.

You can have as many TF as you like as long as you have officers to fill the role.

One other important thing to note is that if you have officers of the same rank or higher in the same TF (as the TF leader) on a ship that commander will not be as efficient as otherwise since there is a conflict of interests.

[Alfapiomega (OP)]

As I explained above it is important to note that TF HQ will only pass down their bonuses to ships in the same system. They do pass down all their bonuses. 1/4 of the TF leader is passed down to the TF except for Fleet Training which uses his full value. All other members use one skill based on their position.

Fleet Training: This decreases the time that fleets will need to train to get to 100% fleet training level. This is the level of "Inexperienced Fleet Penalties" the fleet gets if below 100%.

Operations Officer (Operations Bonus): This reduce the "Inexperienced Fleet Penalties" of a fleet and increase the Fleet Training rate some.
Communications Officer (Communications Bonus): This also reduce the "Inexperienced Fleet Penalties" as you can pass on orders more efficiently.
Intelligence Office (Intelligence Bonus): Used to discern enemy capabilities, interpret sensor data, and identify enemy classes & ships. Basically, everything found on the Ctrl F5 'Intelligence & Foreign Relations' window that isn't 'Political Relations'. Also used to interrogate captured enemy personnel.
Public Affairs Officer (Diplomacy Bonus): Increase the PPV (Planetary Protection Value) of any fleets in the system. Simply convince the people that guns are bigger and better than they really are. Sort of PR experts...
Survey Office (Survey bonus): Coordinates, collects and coordinate survey efforts in the system. Simple add their bonus to any surveys conducted.
Fighter Operations Officer (Fighter operation Bonus): Decrease the time of all the ships in the TF time to reload box launched missiles in hangars and perhaps also at maintenance facilities. I'm not completely sure about the last but I think it does.
Logistics Offices (Logistics Bonus): Reduce loading and unloading of cargo/troops and anything that takes time.

You can have as many TF as you like as long as you have officers to fill the role.

One other important thing to note is that if you have officers of the same rank or higher in the same TF (as the TF leader) on a ship that commander will not be as efficient as otherwise since there is a conflict of interests.

Thank you for the thorough explanation!

But still please specify the skills needed - what skill does the PA Officer uses? I couldn't find any specific (maybe I don't have one). Or is it the diplomacy skill? And the operations officer uses logistics or which skill?

[Jorgen_CAB]

The way I play the game (mainly for RP reasons) in the early game I divide Sol system into two TF. One for civilian ships and one for military ships. I then use the Naval Organisation tab of my "Task Group screen" to organize my ships into squadrons and real task-groups.

Later, once my empire start to expand and create real colonies with large amount of people in other systems I assign a colonial TF with a rear admiral in charge. This TF is tasked with both civilian and military operations in the new system.

Mobile TF will usually be called fleets and these are located in major systems commanded by a Fleet Admiral. Most usually at Earth or in other sector headquarters in a large empire. Nothing you need to concern yourself with at the moment though...

Once I encounter hostile aliens I usually build large self sufficient cruisers that also have adequate hangar space and a flag bridge. These ships will usually take the role of surveying new systems using small 500t survey shuttles in addition to providing heavy combat and recon abilities if the system is patrolled by hostile enemies.

For role-playing purposes I also rename my commander ranks in the start to be Commanders/Captain/Rear Admiral/Fleet Admiral and adding ranks as my navy and officer pool grow.

I also like to use level 5 crew training (found on the race screen). This means that ship crew start at a much higher experience level but you get much less crew from your academies. I personally like quality over quantity, but having a lower level is equally fine... if you like to waste crew (such as using beam armed fighters) or you intend to train them for long periods.

[Jorgen_CAB]

Thank you for the thorough explanation!

But still please specify the skills needed - what skill does the PA Officer uses? I couldn't find any specific (maybe I don't have one). Or is it the diplomacy skill? And the operations officer uses logistics or which skill?

I did that in parentheses after each officer position...

[Alfapiomega (OP)]

I did that in parentheses after each officer position...

Ah, my mistake! I didn't notice those were skills and not areas in which the bonus was

[Jorgen_CAB]

Some more tip after watching the latest episode...

In the Teams/Academy tab of the "Economy screen" there is a box called "Unassigned Only". If you tick that box you will only see unassigned personnel in the list of available personnel. That way you don't have to keep track on whether somebody is available or not.

On the Commander screen you can also use the search feature on the right to search for personnel with a certain skill when you need them. Very useful for assigning personnel to more specific posts.

You can also view the "Task Force" screen and get a good overview of the different bonuses you get from them and where they are located. They can also be moved to ships with a flag-bridge in the same location if you have any.

Task-force personnel will also be filled in automatically once you give a leader to it so normally you don't need to assign personnel to every position yourself. You only need to assign the first position.

You might want to fiddle around with the "Naval Organisation" tab of the "Task-group" screen.  Perhaps of camera first to understand how it works. This is a great way to organize your ships into a coherent structure, very good for a nice RP feeling. From here you can create Task-Groups, split them into squadrons/recon elements and add/remove ships quite easily and then create those groups with a few clicks when you need them. The reason why I mention this is because there is no really good tutorial for how this tab works and it is really a helpful tool when you know how to use it properly.

One other tip... watch your fuel production and the fuel you consume each year. With a small empire start fuel can become a serious problem once you start building bigger ships and send ships with military engines on missions. I don't think there is a problem there right now, but this can quickly change. I think your yearly production of fuel is only a couple of hundred thousand right now. That is usually enough to fill one tank on a proper military ship of an average size such as a Destroyer.

[Alfapiomega (OP)]

Some more tip after watching the latest episode...

In the Teams/Academy tab of the "Economy screen" there is a box called "Unassigned Only". If you tick that box you will only see unassigned personnel in the list of available personnel. That way you don't have to keep track on whether somebody is available or not.

On the Commander screen you can also use the search feature on the right to search for personnel with a certain skill when you need them. Very useful for assigning personnel to more specific posts.

You can also view the "Task Force" screen and get a good overview of the different bonuses you get from them and where they are located. They can also be moved to ships with a flag-bridge in the same location if you have any.

Task-force personnel will also be filled in automatically once you give a leader to it so normally you don't need to assign personnel to every position yourself. You only need to assign the first position.

You might want to fiddle around with the "Naval Organisation" tab of the "Task-group" screen.  Perhaps of camera first to understand how it works. This is a great way to organize your ships into a coherent structure, very good for a nice RP feeling. From here you can create Task-Groups, split them into squadrons/recon elements and add/remove ships quite easily and then create those groups with a few clicks when you need them. The reason why I mention this is because there is no really good tutorial for how this tab works and it is really a helpful tool when you know how to use it properly.

One other tip... watch your fuel production and the fuel you consume each year. With a small empire start fuel can become a serious problem once you start building bigger ships and send ships with military engines on missions. I don't think there is a problem there right now, but this can quickly change. I think your yearly production of fuel is only a couple of hundred thousand right now. That is usually enough to fill one tank on a proper military ship of an average size such as a Destroyer.

Thank you! Those notes are invaluable to me!

I wish I knew about the unassigned only That would make it much easier!

And I noticed during the recording that the AI automatically reassigned the people so I figure that might work

Naval organisation I will check!

Regarding the fuel production - you were one part too early The one I uploaded today morning (part of a larger session) is the one where I convert the CI to fuel refineries and gain production of about 1 000 000 litres of fuel per year. However I know this is not enough and will work on it. However as you are obviously more skilled, what would you do in my case? I have the intention of putting 5 - 10% (depending on the priorities) of production to construction factories and I thought of putting another 5% to fuel refineries thus all the time increasing the production. Is that wise?
Second question to this is how do you easily calculate the required fuel amounts for your fleet? Or is there a tool for that?

[Jorgen_CAB]

I will try and give some of my advice and experience from playing conventional starts, which I do most of the times.

There is no tool for figuring out your fuel situation other than looking at your ships and try to do an estimation of how much you will use based on the type of missions you will send your ships on. On the "Fuel Report" screen you get a nice overview of your ships maximum/current fuel status and their fuel efficiency. From here you can at least make a good judgement on how much fuel you are currently consuming. You can also look at your yearly fuel production and then watch your fuel reserves decrease or increase over the course of a year, this will obviously tell you if you use more than you make and then take action accordingly.

In regards to construction facilities this is highly tied with three different resources which are Minerals, Wealth and population. You must make sure you have all of them and balance them with everything else. When you look at minerals you need to look at Duranium since almost everything (except financial centres) will require 50% Duranium. So the mining of Duranium will usually set the maximum level of factories that you will use. You need to deduct the Duranium you intend to use for ship building, yard expansion and ship maintenance and what's left over can be used for factory construction. If you have a total of lets say 2000t of Duranium produced each year and you estimate about 300t per year for other things not produced in your factories you have 1700t Duranium left over, that is a maximum of 3400 build points worth of factories.
But in your case you will have to balance not only that but also wealth and population, you don't really have an abundance of either I would say. When it comes to population you will eventually hit that roof once you start building laboratories, naval yards, maintenance facilities etc...



My primary concern in the beginning of a conventional start game is to get my civilian economy going by building a colony on either Luna or Mars. In my current game I had a great Luna with large quantities of both Duranium and Corundium and decent accessibility so I choose Luna for my first colony.

You need nuclear thermal engines and at least one colony with some infrastructure on it before any civilian shipping starts building ships. You also need to research cryogenic transport so your civilian shipping lines can start shipping colonists to your newly established colonies. I usually rely on my civilians to build up my colonies, civilian shipping supply colonies with infrastructure and colonists without my worries. I don't like to waste Duranium resources on building infrastructure other than about 100 infrastructure to kick-start a colony.

I usually only like to use my own freighter for hauling minerals so I only build two small cargo ships in the early game for the purpose of helping out and deliver infrastructure to new colonies or hauling minerals where I have no mass-drivers. I suppose you know about civilian contracts and how you can tell your civilian ships to ship stuff between your planets.

One other important thing that you need is to build at least one troop transport ship and some military structure or small ship after you built your first colony. Quite soon that colony will start require military presence. For military I usually go with a corvette type ship armed with some sort of beam weapon. I like to go with lasers because they will give you a good multi-purpose role with a low amount of research. I worry about missile technology for later. The first ships are mainly more like a coast guard than real military ships and laser armed ships are pretty cheap, both to build and maintain.

When it comes to laboratories I give a very high priority to them once I have built one Academy, one Sector Command and one Commercial Shipyard. After this I will priorities at least 20 laboratories with about 25-50% of my industrial capacity. After this I lower the build rate of laboratories to about 10% of my industrial base and leave it at that throughout the game, more or less (if resources permit it). 20 laboratories make sure I can give at least 2 labs to every field and have four additional to concentrate research in more important areas as the current situation warrant. If I'm really pressed I will remove one lab from a low priority research field (but never lower than one) and concentrate even further in some field.

Here is list of research I do in a prioritized order for a conventional start...

Geological  Survey Sensors (Sensor tech)
Pressurised Water Reactor (Propulsion tech)
Nuclear Thermal Engine (Propulsion tech)
Duranium Armour (Defensive tech)
Cargo Handling Systems (Logistics tech)
Sector Command (Logistics tech, can be skipped if you are really pressed for research points!)
Cryogenic Transport (Logistics tech)
Garrison Battalion (Logistics tech)
Troop Transport Bay (Logistics tech)
Active Grav Sensor Strength 10 (Sensor tech)
Infra-red Laser (Energy tech)
10cm Laser Focal Size (Energy tech)
Capacitor Recharge Rate 2 (Propulsion tech)
Fire Control Speed rating 1250km/s (Sensor tech)
Beam Fire Control Range 10000km (Sensor tech)

[Jorgen_CAB]

In regard to your comment of geosurvey teams...

Their skill do not have an impact on what they find, only how long it will generally take to find anything on a planet or body.

You can also add lost members of a team on the "Leader" screen by selecting the team and adding a new member to it. You don't have to dissolve the team and create it again.

[Alfapiomega (OP)]

I will try and give some of my advice and experience from playing conventional starts, which I do most of the times.

There is no tool for figuring out your fuel situation other than looking at your ships and try to do an estimation of how much you will use based on the type of missions you will send your ships on. On the "Fuel Report" screen you get a nice overview of your ships maximum/current fuel status and their fuel efficiency. From here you can at least make a good judgement on how much fuel you are currently consuming. You can also look at your yearly fuel production and then watch your fuel reserves decrease or increase over the course of a year, this will obviously tell you if you use more than you make and then take action accordingly.

In regards to construction facilities this is highly tied with three different resources which are Minerals, Wealth and population. You must make sure you have all of them and balance them with everything else. When you look at minerals you need to look at Duranium since almost everything (except financial centres) will require 50% Duranium. So the mining of Duranium will usually set the maximum level of factories that you will use. You need to deduct the Duranium you intend to use for ship building, yard expansion and ship maintenance and what's left over can be used for factory construction. If you have a total of lets say 2000t of Duranium produced each year and you estimate about 300t per year for other things not produced in your factories you have 1700t Duranium left over, that is a maximum of 3400 build points worth of factories.
But in your case you will have to balance not only that but also wealth and population, you don't really have an abundance of either I would say. When it comes to population you will eventually hit that roof once you start building laboratories, naval yards, maintenance facilities etc...



My primary concern in the beginning of a conventional start game is to get my civilian economy going by building a colony on either Luna or Mars. In my current game I had a great Luna with large quantities of both Duranium and Corundium and decent accessibility so I choose Luna for my first colony.

You need nuclear thermal engines and at least one colony with some infrastructure on it before any civilian shipping starts building ships. You also need to research cryogenic transport so your civilian shipping lines can start shipping colonists to your newly established colonies. I usually rely on my civilians to build up my colonies, civilian shipping supply colonies with infrastructure and colonists without my worries. I don't like to waste Duranium resources on building infrastructure other than about 100 infrastructure to kick-start a colony.

I usually only like to use my own freighter for hauling minerals so I only build two small cargo ships in the early game for the purpose of helping out and deliver infrastructure to new colonies or hauling minerals where I have no mass-drivers. I suppose you know about civilian contracts and how you can tell your civilian ships to ship stuff between your planets.

One other important thing that you need is to build at least one troop transport ship and some military structure or small ship after you built your first colony. Quite soon that colony will start require military presence. For military I usually go with a corvette type ship armed with some sort of beam weapon. I like to go with lasers because they will give you a good multi-purpose role with a low amount of research. I worry about missile technology for later. The first ships are mainly more like a coast guard than real military ships and laser armed ships are pretty cheap, both to build and maintain.

When it comes to laboratories I give a very high priority to them once I have built one Academy, one Sector Command and one Commercial Shipyard. After this I will priorities at least 20 laboratories with about 25-50% of my industrial capacity. After this I lower the build rate of laboratories to about 10% of my industrial base and leave it at that throughout the game, more or less (if resources permit it). 20 laboratories make sure I can give at least 2 labs to every field and have four additional to concentrate research in more important areas as the current situation warrant. If I'm really pressed I will remove one lab from a low priority research field (but never lower than one) and concentrate even further in some field.

Here is list of research I do in a prioritized order for a conventional start...

Geological  Survey Sensors (Sensor tech)
Pressurised Water Reactor (Propulsion tech)
Nuclear Thermal Engine (Propulsion tech)
Duranium Armour (Defensive tech)
Cargo Handling Systems (Logistics tech)
Sector Command (Logistics tech, can be skipped if you are really pressed for research points!)
Cryogenic Transport (Logistics tech)
Garrison Battalion (Logistics tech)
Troop Transport Bay (Logistics tech)
Active Grav Sensor Strength 10 (Sensor tech)
Infra-red Laser (Energy tech)
10cm Laser Focal Size (Energy tech)
Capacitor Recharge Rate 2 (Propulsion tech)
Fire Control Speed rating 1250km/s (Sensor tech)
Beam Fire Control Range 10000km (Sensor tech)

Fuel - I see. I never had trouble dealing with fuel before, I always kept it on a steady rise and good to know I did it the right way (the game has many hidden extra tools that you discover via experience or advice). A good thing I do is try to do a hub system where the main bulk is always on Earth with some emergency small refineries on the colonies. And I build from the in out. Never failed me though it makes it a bit more logistically intensive.

Yes, I agree. As I did the players the choice and as there is almost nothing on Luna (though the ground survey found a large deposit of Neutronium) I went for Mars first (now considering Luna a second target together with sending Humans to Jupiter’s moon).
I am aware of the way colony works (I am always a bit forward as I rarely post everything in a day. At this point there is infrastructure being hauled to Mars, I have Iceman colony ship being designed (researched the cryogenic bay) and all is going well. Once the ship is build manned mines and humans will start to be shipped to Mars. So that part is OK

The troops transport thing is new for me however though I know I need to get some protection sooner rather than later. But I had no idea battalions provided Defence rating for colonies? That is why in one of the last episodes (I think three more episodes ahead from part 16) I talked about getting some missile PDCs.
With the laser ships I am ok too though I gave my viewers some leniency of what they would like me to build.

The current stage I am in I already have 8 research labs and working hard to get more. 10% is given to factories while I plan to tone it down to 5% and give the 5% to refineries. Labs have 40% while 25%/25% are for mines (automated for Comas sola and one other I have marked in the video, manned for Mars). 20 labs sounds like a doable goal for me although I have no (!!!) larger deposits of Mercassium anywhere in the system

The research:
Geological  Survey Sensors (Sensor tech) - done
Pressurised Water Reactor (Propulsion tech) - done
Nuclear Thermal Engine (Propulsion tech) - done
Duranium Armour (Defensive tech) - done
Cargo Handling Systems (Logistics tech) – not done and not planning to although I will think about it
Sector Command (Logistics tech, can be skipped if you are really pressed for research points!) - not done and not planning to although I will think about it
Cryogenic Transport (Logistics tech) - done
Garrison Battalion (Logistics tech) – not done but I plan to do that one asap
Troop Transport Bay (Logistics tech) – not done but if battalions give defence I will mark it a priority with the Garrison Battalion
Active Grav Sensor Strength 10 (Sensor tech) – planning to
Infra-red Laser (Energy tech) – planning to
10cm Laser Focal Size (Energy tech) – planning to
Capacitor Recharge Rate 2 (Propulsion tech)  - planning to
Fire Control Speed rating 1250km/s (Sensor tech) – planning to
Beam Fire Control Range 10000km (Sensor tech) – planning to

So regarding the research I am where you are. I also already got the thermal reduction done and I intent on doing all the basic engine techs soon to give me some more possibility of design to play with.

I even got a first civilian ship build though I haven’t asked it to do anything, I intend to do it after I explain everything to the new players. Any tips I should not miss?

BTW as you do conventional starts, do you have any templates for the starting beam ships? And I wanted to build fighters (never did that before) but every time I try to the ship is just marked as a vessel. What am I missing?

[Erik L]

Regarding Sector Commands and Improved Command and Control.

Even if you only have one system, it is generally a good idea to research this and build the sector command. This allows you to assign a sector governor who provides a bit of his bonus (25% I think) to all colonies in that sector.

[Alfapiomega (OP)]

In regard to your comment of geosurvey teams...

Their skill do not have an impact on what they find, only how long it will generally take to find anything on a planet or body.

You can also add lost members of a team on the "Leader" screen by selecting the team and adding a new member to it. You don't have to dissolve the team and create it again.

I checked the wiki and that is in contratiction to what it says... Quote: "The higher the team's skill, the more likely it is that they will find extra minerals and the less likely it is that they will give up after each find."