Planetary Shields?

[dwbennett]

Apparently I don't know the meaning of "prevent" because one of my empire's district capitols, Kharan Junction, went the way of Alderaan of "Star Wars" fame; blown up by the Mortalens. Kharan Junction "had" a planetary shield which, from the Galactopedia, is supposed to protect the planet and its population from bombardment damage; again, apparently not. By the way, the planet explosion was spectacular if very disappointing from an owners perspective.

Also, I had several fleets protecting Kharan Junction (along with a strong garrison of troops on the planet) with numerous capital ships in the fleets. The capital ships had "hyper deny" components which I thought were supposed to stop enemy ships from hyper jumping. Well, the Mortalen capital ship, a BUFF, jumped into the system, moved rather slowly toward the Kharan Junction and then jump directly over to the opposite side of the planet. Apparently, (I haven't tried to replay the sequence repeatedly so I could see the actual kill shot), the BUFF fired the planet killer during the short jump. I guess there is some type of hyper drive that can defeat "hyper deny".

I was well into a war with the Mortalens and actually starting to rollback some of their gains which apparently ticked them off severely given their "Way of Darkness" governance. Kharan Junction was a focus for their attacks in every war with them and was under almost continual attack during any war. I was able to fend off numerous invasion attempts with a strong garrison force (learned that the hard way after losing and then counter invading several planets). At about the same time that Kharan Junction was blown up, Quedic, in another system (one of the planets that I had to retake) was bombarded by the Mortalens with "great loss of population" or something to that effect. Quedic was another focus of attacks (although more recently than Kharan Junction as Quedic was a much younger colony) so once the Mortalens got the idea in their scaly heads that they wanted a planet, they were very persistent in their attacks.

I've given up on that game as I don't know how to combat an opponent with an unstoppable planet killer weapon. Plus, the game crashes were become a real pain. I have autosave set at every ten minutes which saved me several time but the game crashed once during an autosave! Also, I set space creatures to "zero" and still had them at spaceship graveyards but I took care of them with the editor (I reported the bug).

I'm playing DW Legends 1.7.0.13, and, yes, have had numerous (and I've reported several of them) crashes of the game; particularly when well into the game when there were large numbers of ships running around. My galaxy for that game was a 10x10 with 1000 stars. My next game is an 8x8 galaxy with 700 stars and I set the other empire to a more (hopefully) cooperative race than the Mortalens.

Great game and I'm just starting to drill down through the many layers of the game play. The forums have given me many good ideas (and more than one laugh) and the mods have been helpful also. My theme is "Star Wars" with all my Star Wars music converted to mp3 and now played in the game. Good stuff.

[Kayoz]

ORIGINAL: dwbennett

Kharan Junction "had" a planetary shield which, from the Galactopedia, is supposed to protect the planet and its population from bombardment damage; again, apparently not.

Shields protect populations from "normal" bombardment - the weapons in the "bombardment" weapon path in the tech tree. Whether this protection is absolute or it mitigates the damage is something I haven't had the option to test.

The "super laser" which blows up planets isn't a "bombardment weapon". Its effects are special. As a "super weapon", it's far too powerful to be resisted by any shield, and as such, any planet hit by it goes pop - shield or no.

ORIGINAL: dwbennett
By the way, the planet explosion was spectacular if very disappointing from an owners perspective.

Given their position, that being on the exploding planet in question, their perspective was probably quite limited. Either that of a bright light in the sky, or sudden darkness as the planet explodes with such force that their bodies are squashed flat onto the disintegrating landscape by the force. However impressed or unimpressed they were with the explosion is a question left for practitioners of necromancy.

ORIGINAL: dwbennett
I've given up on that game as I don't know how to combat an opponent with an unstoppable planet killer weapon.

Simple answer:
Don't let them have it.

It takes ages to repair, so your explorers should have discovered the project (explorers not identifying debris fields, projects and exploring ruins is a defect that has been called out several times - feel free to add yet another bug report).

My usual tactic, once one of the "world destroyer" projects is discovered, is to either start repairing it myself - or if someone is currently repairing it, a few blasts to encourage any would-be repairers to find other activities. There's a diplomatic ding for doing so, but sometimes it doesn't matter, or can be countered with a few financial gifts. Either way, the benefit of the ship (tech bonus while repairing it, and military oomph when it's repaired) make the costs trivial in comparison.

Otherwise, position an explorer ship in the system and send every intel agent you have on sabotage missions against the constructor fixing the ship. Rinse and repeat till done.

If you aren't willing to rattle your saber over the uber-ship, then you can always send a task force to blow it up as it's being repaired (and thus not owned by anyone). You can blow up the ships under repair without any diplomatic hit.

Failing all of the above, it's just a tarted up capital ship. Sick enough ships on it, and it'll go bang once you've worn down its shields. Just make sure to send some ships with "hyper deny" ability - it'll try to run once it's shields are worn down, and given that it has 3000+ shields, it'll be trying to run long before you've carved through its shields. Oh, and don't bother sending "rail gun" ships after it. It's armour is thick enough and advanced enough that you're VERY unlikely to hit internal systems with them.

ORIGINAL: dwbennett
Plus, the game crashes were become a real pain. I have autosave set at every ten minutes which saved me several time but the game crashed once during an autosave! Also, I set space creatures to "zero" and still had them at spaceship graveyards but I took care of them with the editor (I reported the bug).

To turn off debris fields, you need to turn off the story line options. No other way - aside from manual removal with the editor. Sorry.

As for crashes, it's an ongoing headache for Elliot, I am sure. Post a report and a savegame, and hopefully he'll fix it.

ORIGINAL: dwbennett
My theme is "Star Wars" with all my Star Wars music converted to mp3 and now played in the game. Good stuff.

Do you mean that you're using the "Star Wars" mod? It may be that this is causing your stability issues. Try removing the mod - if your stability problems cease, then it's something you need to take up with the mod author.

[dwbennett]

Kayoz -

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate it.

I just reran the "final battle" (before I read your comments) and followed the attack and, yes, it was a "super laser" and not a bombardment weapon. I had enough firepower in the system that the BUFF got only one shot off before it (32 second recharge time for the weapon) was destroyed.

Question for you? How many of these "World Annihilators" are generally in a galaxy? Has my empire killed the one and only? And, no problem, I'll be all over the secret "world destroyer" projects in the future.

The Star Wars theme I'm running is the music only. I used the Mod Guide to figure out how to get my music into the game; everything is the same in the game but the music.

Again, thanks for the help.

[Tophat1815]

Can you post your system specs as well? I'm curious about the number of crashes your having. I'm finding the game very stable and i almost always pick 1,000 planet galaxies for my games.

[dwbennett]

Tohpat1812 -

I got this from the DxDiag file.

(Note that I have update the video driver since this file was created but it didn't do any good with the crashes.)
------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 4/18/2012, 09:34:54
Machine name: DONBENNETT-PC
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.120305-1505)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model: X58A-UD3R
BIOS: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 960 @ 3.20GHz (8 CPUs), ~3.2GHz
Memory: 18432MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 16384MB RAM
Page File: 1528MB used, 31237MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7601.17514 32bit Unicode

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce GTX 560 Ti
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1200&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_A1
Display Memory: 4062 MB
Dedicated Memory: 2014 MB
Shared Memory: 2047 MB
Current Mode: 1600 x 900 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor Model: HP S2331
Monitor Id: HWP2908
Native Mode: 1920 x 1080(p) (60.000Hz)

-------------
Sound Devices
-------------
Description: Speakers (SB Audigy)
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_1102&DEV_0007&SUBSYS_100A1102&REV_00
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: P17.sys
Driver Version: 5.12.0001.2020 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
Date and Size: 10/16/2009 06:44:56, 1309696 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: CREATIVE
HW Accel Level: Basic
Cap Flags: 0xF1F
Min/Max Sample Rate: 100, 200000
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 1, 0
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No

Description: Digital Audio Interface (SB Audigy)
Default Sound Playback: No
Default Voice Playback: No
Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_1102&DEV_0007&SUBSYS_100A1102&REV_00
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: P17.sys
Driver Version: 5.12.0001.2020 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
Date and Size: 10/16/2009 06:44:56, 1309696 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: CREATIVE
HW Accel Level: Basic

------------
PS/2 Devices
------------
+ Standard PS/2 Keyboard
| Matching Device ID: *pnp0303
| Service: i8042prt
|
+ Terminal Server Keyboard Driver
| Matching Device ID: root\rdp_kbd
| Upper Filters: kbdclass
| Service: TermDD
|
+ Microsoft USB IntelliMouse Optical (IntelliPoint)
| Vendor/Product ID: 0x045E, 0x0039
| Matching Device ID: hid\vid_045e&pid_0039
| Upper Filters: Point64
| Service: mouhid
|
+ Terminal Server Mouse Driver
| Matching Device ID: root\rdp_mou
| Upper Filters: mouclass
| Service: TermDD

[Tophat1815]

Aha! I think we have a culprit its the memory,i believe Elliot said that for the larger galaxies Dw takes 2+gigs of Ram. I have to look back through things and check,hopefully some of the more technically able will post if i am correct or just dreaming.

The good news is with you down in the 700 planet range now that might solve the crashing problem. I have 3 gigs on my machine and 6 on my errrrum,daughters that i borrow from time to time.[;)]

[dwbennett]

Tophat1812 -

Errr, you mean:

Memory: 18432MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 16384MB RAM

is not enough? That's 18.384 Gigabits that's available to Wibdows 7 64-bit. Now for some reason, the OS, game, whatever may not be utiilizing the memory but (I'm no expert here) there seems there should be plenty of memory installed and available.

Thanks for looking at the specs, though. ANY help is always appreciated.

: ". . . and 6 on my errrrum,daughters that i borrow from time to time. "

LOL! I missed this on my first read through of your post. Question: How did you manage to wrestle the computer away from her long enough to install the game? One brave individual!

[Kayoz]

ORIGINAL: dwbennett

Question for you? How many of these "World Annihilators" are generally in a galaxy? Has my empire killed the one and only? And, no problem, I'll be all over the secret "world destroyer" projects in the future.

At your stated galaxy size 10*10, 1000), you should be seeing 2 of those projects. Largest galaxy size will see 3 of them, iirc. Just fire up a few games for the desired galaxy size and check with the editor the number of death-star projects you see, as the number shouldn't change from one game to another for the same galaxy sizes. Once you know how many to expect, start afresh and make sure you've "taken care" of the required number of projects.

One problem I've had is with ruins discoveries that reveal surrounding systems and the "archival repository" (name?) which reveals a whole load of stars. In those cases, your explorers will not explore those revealed systems, so your explorers will not automatically discover the debris fields, projects or ruins in those areas. You'll have to manually check them yourself (a pain in the arse), or I'd suggest you build a few ships with long-range scanners and run them around to reveal any derelict ships (grey). Don't build too many, however, as the long-range scanners give a nasty performance hit.

Your system specs are not, as far as I can see, the cause of your crashes. They (the crashes) are far more likely to do with Elliot's code and/or the stability of the libraries he's used. The best thing you can do is to upload crash logs and, if repeatable, the savegame files that demonstrate the crash. Elliot is pretty good at fixing crashes with updates.

[Kayoz]

ORIGINAL: Tophat1812

Aha! I think we have a culprit its the memory,i believe Elliot said that for the larger galaxies Dw takes 2+gigs of Ram. I have to look back through things and check,hopefully some of the more technically able will post if i am correct or just dreaming.

18 gigs of RAM isn't enough? Please cite your source.

[Tophat1815]

ORIGINAL: dwbennett

Tophat1812 -

Errr, you mean:

Memory: 18432MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 16384MB RAM

is not enough? That's 18.384 Gigabits that's available to Wibdows 7 64-bit. Now for some reason, the OS, game, whatever may not be utiilizing the memory but (I'm no expert here) there seems there should be plenty of memory installed and available.

Thanks for looking at the specs, though. ANY help is always appreciated.

: ". . . and 6 on my errrrum,daughters that i borrow from time to time. "

LOL! I missed this on my first read through of your post. Question: How did you manage to wrestle the computer away from her long enough to install the game? One brave individual!

Nope I misread and thought it was 1.8 gig.....so you are more than fine memory wise. Sorry man,thats what happens when you read too fast and answer before running errands. Sorry for my mistake,I have no idea hy your having crashes then as i with far less memory on each machine am seeing no crashes. I update my drivers regularly but you already indicated you had done that as well. Hopefully someone else wil see something in your system config and have the correct answer.

[Tophat1815]

ORIGINAL: Kayoz

ORIGINAL: Tophat1812

Aha! I think we have a culprit its the memory,i believe Elliot said that for the larger galaxies Dw takes 2+gigs of Ram. I have to look back through things and check,hopefully some of the more technically able will post if i am correct or just dreaming.

18 gigs of RAM isn't enough? Please cite your source.

Aha! I think we have a culprit its the memory,i believe Elliot said that for the larger galaxies Dw takes 2+gigs of Ram. I have to look back through things and check,hopefully some of the more technically able will post if i am correct or just dreaming.

The good news is with you down in the 700 planet range now that might solve the crashing problem. I have 3 gigs on my machine and 6 on my errrrum,daughters that i borrow from time to time.

Hey...read the whole post will you:

Aha! I think we have a culprit its the memory,i believe Elliot said that for the larger galaxies Dw takes 2+gigs of Ram. I have to look back through things and check,hopefully some of the more technically able will post if i am correct or just dreaming.

The good news is with you down in the 700 planet range now that might solve the crashing problem. I have 3 gigs on my machine and 6 on my errrrum,daughters that i borrow from time to time.

I misread the numbers and thought I saw 1.8gigs not 18! As look what i replied citing 3 and 6 gigs on two different machines running DW. I blew it and at least i own right up to my errors. As we all know 18 gigs is far and away more than enough memory to run DW,there is no source that says differently. And as i have no crash problem running the game with 3 and 6 gig machines respectively it'd be pretty ludicrous to claim otherwise.

[Kayoz]

ORIGINAL: Tophat1812
I misread the numbers and thought I saw 1.8gigs not 18! As look what i replied citing 3 and 6 gigs on two different machines running DW. I blew it and at least i own right up to my errors. As we all know 18 gigs is far and away more than enough memory to run DW

Fair dinkums.

I think of most importance is that dwbennett understand that his system specs aren't the issue.

DW does indeed have stability issues - the best we can do is to send in crash logs and let Elliot fix them as he can.