Old player returning! Questions #1

[Interesting]

Hello,

I used to be one of the people that gave a lot of feedback back when the game got released, but I ended up quitting after a bug that prevented me from loading my old save games. So yesterday I stumbled upon http://www.spacesector.com/ and saw information about Distant World Legends and decided to give it a try.

Anyway,
I dont know the changes yet, only one I noticed so far is a welcome addition that I used to complain a lot on the modding area. The ability to generate a galaxy with 15x15 size! I used to complain that we couldnt mod that. (By the way, can we mod that now, to make it 25x25 or so?)

Well, here is the question that brought me here:

Im starting a new game, and when I get to the area where I add other empires, it only allows me to add 11 other empires. But I remember there used to be a trick to add more. I want atleast one empire for each race, and tons of independent colonies.

So please, can anyone guide me on how to create a game with more empires than 11 for Distant World Legends current version?

I will come back later with more questions.

[WoodMan]

11 Empires is the default number for random Empires. You can change it by typing in the box.

Or, disable that by clicking the checkbox for random Empires and add as many empires as you like, but it maxes out at number of races, kind of odd I agree. So, in the default game, max 20 Empires (including yours). In a mod with 30 races... max 30 empires, at least I think, I'm not playing modded recently.

[Interesting]

Alright, I made the biggest galaxy and it allowed me to make 19 empires.

One for each race, good enough.

[Raap]

15x15 maps are great, but yeah, I'd love to see even bigger maps. Unfortunately it's not yet possible to modify that. Actually, most of the non-graphical stuff still remains unmoddable.

[Interesting]

Question 2.

I started remaking all ship designs.

I have a particular design that is an Explorer with extra fuel, extra speed, extra later thrusters, extra shields and extra blasters.

My question is related to energy/fuel calculation.

I have 1 fission reactor, energy output 60, I have 7 static energy consumption, and excess energy outage says 53.
Thats alright. So I went and added 4 maxo blasters (because I explore and kill pirates/aliens on the way and bring the closest explorers back in case of need).

It says Maximum Energy Usage per Second: 39. So Im assuming that if I fight a pirate, and I have energy, it will fire all 4 blasters, using 39 energy per second.

It will use the 7 static energy + 39 per second, up to 46 per second? So it will still be within the fission reactor capacity, right?

But here is the question. It seems engines also draw from the same energy pool of the fission. I have 6 Proton Thrusters, wich use up to 30 energy in sprint and 12 energy in cruise (5 per engine while sprint and 2 per engine while cruise).

So my question is.
When fighting a Pirate head on, will it be using the 12 energy for cruise or the 30 energy from sprint?
And in case the pirate decides to run away, and I tell the pilot to keep pursuing the pirate, after my ship turns and accelerates will it start sprinting after the pirate? So my energy usage will be 30 from engines on cruise + 7 from passive, and whatever is left up to 60 will be used for the blasters? So when sprinting, this means the blasters wont all be used at the same time, right? Only 2 of them. But if the speed at wich we engage is just cruise, then I can fire all 4 blasters at all times?



Question 3.
Regarding Armor. I remember that some aliens ignored shield, and caused damage to hull. Does this still proceed? I couldnt find anything on the galactopedia about it.

If only space aliens damage armor, Im thinking of designing a ship exclusivelly with armor, just to deal with them once I spot a bunch of them and once they are cleaned, I can dismantle/disassemble that ship. Is that a good idea?


Question 4.
Regarding Freighters.
I see that there are three designs for freighters. Small, Medium and Large. How does the AI decide wich one it constructs? If I copy the three designs as new, and make three identical designs for Small, Medium and Large, how does the AI reacts/chooses wich one?

Regarding Freighters AI, it is set to Evade when enemy is weaker, stronger, not invade and flee when enemy is sighted. I saw that I can only give them one weapon. With the "evade" on all settings, will they ever use that one weapon? Should I remove the weapon from design, since it wont get used and get some engine instead?

[Raap]

Frankly, I'm not entirely sure when sprint is used. It's certainly used for escaping, and I assume it's used for pursuing and combat( if needed, i.e. depending on enemy's speed), but when ordering ships around manually they seem to just use cruise speed. But yes, you probably should go with static usage + maximum weapon energy usage + sprint usage if you want to make sure you've enough for all weapons at all times. I think the usage might be dependent on which exact speed you're using though. I.e. if you're driving somewhere between cruise and sprint then I think it calculates the correct usage in accordance with the graph you see, instead of automatically using the sprint( maximum) energy usage. Then again, maybe not. Kinda hard to measure.

As for the space monsters, your regular ships shouldn't have a problem dealing with any but the largest, and even those shouldn't be much of a challenge if you use more than one ship or just have a few tech levels. But yes, they do go through shields. With the expansion there are also some ship weapons that partially penetrate the shields, but I'm not sure how much the AI tends to use them. Watch out for the new Silvermist though, that one will go through any ship in a blink and can only be effectively fought with Ion weapons. It also eats colonies.

Regarding freighters, I'd say yes, don't bother with the weapon( unless it's the super laser!!11). I've tried it a few times and by the time they jump to hyperspeed they've barely dented the enemy's shields. Engine or shield is definitely better for getting away in one piece.

[Interesting]

Regarding the Freighters.

How does the AI was programmed when it comes to deciding wich type of freighter is used for each job?

My constructor just made a mining base and it started with 0 fuel, so a large freighter went and moved the 120 caslon to it. While a small freighter was doing the hard work of moving 3 cargo compartments to my space station. While the large freighter had 10 cargo compartments, but just used 1.

It is a waste of potential.

Im trying to figure out how the AI works for freighters, so I can design them properly.

What I want my freighters to do is hyperspace at maximum speed, and cruise at maximum speed, while carrying the most cargo they can while emptying gas giants/mine stations (wich I customized to mine faster and have more cargo).
The idea is to make the economy flow fast, generate resources fast and move them faster.


But here are some questions.

There are 3 freighter roles.
The AI decides wich ones to built, right? They decide the missions for each freighter.
Does the AI evaluate the speed, cargo size, fuel cell amount of each freighter when deciding who should haul the big fuel from gas giants and who should haul the valuable luxury over big distances when trading and things like that?

How do I control and optimize the efficiency of freighters?

If I design the three roles with identical freighters, will the AI ignore my design and assume Im using the standard design based on the "roles"? If so, what each role actually means, what effect it causes in the behaviour of the freighter?

If one small freighter receives a mission from the AI to haul fuel from a gas giant, but I CHANGED THE DESIGN so it has the CARGO OF A LARGE FREIGHTER, will it only leech enough fuel for a small freighter, because that is how the AI think its the space the freighter has, due to the standard small freighter design only having 3 cargo compartments, or will it USE ALL THE CARGO COMPARTMENTS I DESIGNED IT, up to the limits of what the gas giant has in stock to be hauled?

In other words, if I change the design to add more cargo, will it be wasted because the AI doesnt recognize it?

If I put less fuel cells on some freighters and lots of fuel cell in other freighters, will the AI recognize the fuel capacity when deciding wich freighter should do a LONG TRIP? Is it based on role?

Any link where the developers explain this private sector?

[Theluin]

I don't think there is such an explanation by the devs anywhere.
From what I've observed the freighters do not haul stuff just because it's available but only if it's ordered by some other base/planet. But the more developed planets do try to have approximately 20k of each strategic resource in stock.
Also from what I observed the only factors the AI accounts for is if the freighter has enough cargo space for the job and if it is in range (but it doesn't check if the freighter has fuel for a return trip and if there isn't a freighter which has enough fuel it still assigns the job to some ship I'm not sure on what principles ). So afaik the roles don't play a part in assigning jobs, but the AI does order different amounts of ships with each roles (many small, less medium and a few large)

[Canute0]

The Grid size has nothing to do with the Map size.
You can create a small map with 15x15 grid or a huge map with 8x8 grid.

The grid is just for tactical issues like Explore the sector for Exploration ships, or engage range for fleet (local,system, sector).

How does the AI was programmed when it comes to deciding wich type of freighter is used for each job?

Like Theluin said, there is no real explain how the local area is working from the Devs side.
But my watchings are freighter works at the just in time prinzip. Someone need some resources, lets get a freighter to transport that resources or buy that resources and just that amount that is needed for that job. Not very effectiv but easy to handle (for the AI).

[feelotraveller]

Regarding energy usage:

Ships will sprint into combat to close range, then slow down to cruise (unless needing to pursue). Basically in range they will cruise unless they need to sprint to maintain appropriate range. The energy stored in your reactor is a reserve which will be drawn on before anything slows down. If reactor energy is zero then drives get energy before the weapons. Hope that make sense. [:)]

Regarding freighters:

The computer builds a given number of each type. You can make all the designs the same (except for role designation) and it will build them. The computer does not consider cargo capacity when assigning missions. Sometimes (even often) the freighters will not get full loads even when the resource is required in large amounts. Why? I have no idea. If you put the cargo capacity of a large freighter on a small freighter it will, at times (see above), use all its cargo space. Perhaps some of this has changed in the latest beta?

[Theluin]

ORIGINAL: Canute

The Grid size has nothing to do with the Map size.
You can create a small map with 15x15 grid or a huge map with 8x8 grid.

The grid is just for tactical issues like Explore the sector for Exploration ships, or engage range for fleet (local,system, sector).

I must correct you on this [:)] The grid size changes map size as on every grid each sector has the same size. (So playing on a 4x4 map means your map is much smaller than on a 10x10 and not that the sectors are bigger)

[JosEPhII]

ORIGINAL: Interesting

Hello,

I used to be one of the people that gave a lot of feedback back when the game got released, but I ended up quitting after a bug that prevented me from loading my old save games.

At Civfanatics forum for CIV IV there is a Mod called Caveman2Cosmos. The Team that is developing this Mod has made a New save format called Maximum Compatibility or Max Compat for short. With that format you can take older saves from previous versions and continue them on the latest version. '

A suggestion: Maybe Elliot and Erik could look into this and see if the basis for the new save format could be used as a blueprint to make a similar format for DW.

JosEPh

[Theluin]

You already can play games from previous version. (It's just that DW switches to a different folder for saves every time you patch. Just back up one folder and go into the folder with the number of the previous version. Your old saves will all be there)