Balanced Edited Sol start?

Distant Worlds is a vast, pausable real-time, 4X space strategy game which models a "living galaxy" with incredible options for replayability and customizability. Experience the full depth and detail of large turn-based strategy games, but with the simplicity and ease of real-time, and on the scale of a massively-multiplayer online game. Now greatly enhanced with the new Universe release, which includes all four previous releases as well as the new Universe expansion!

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Solastar
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Jan 30, 2015 5:23 am

Balanced Edited Sol start?

Post by Solastar »

Hi,

I'm on my third game right now that I have played for more than four hours or so. I kind of invent my own preceding story line and edit the galaxy to fit in with that. I am currently trying to get a good balanced game starting within a recognizable Solar System. My attempts thus far have made me feel very overpowered. The edits I do include leaving as much as I can as the game provides and just edit the names and planet textures. I generally give earth a pop boost to about 6 billion considering its 2100 that is conservative. I play 1000 stars with recommended setting for 1000 stars, and expensive tech for a long form game in sandbox mode.

In my two games I have started with an edited Solar system I led the whole time in economy strategic value and population. In between the two I tried a standard start as the humans and was promptly wiped out by pirates. So my conclusion is I am overpowering myself with the edits even though I try very hard to not give myself to much of a resource advantage. I also noticed that my leader became awesome in both edited games with a pop growth currently of +41 the highest and a great many other bonuses as well.

So to my question, does anybody have advice I could use about designing a starting system without giving myself advantage? I enjoy the challenge, and worst case I definitely do not want to stomp all over the AI empires when it comes to that. Thanks for any advice!
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Unforeseen
Posts: 608
Joined: Tue Mar 26, 2013 4:08 am
Location: United States of Disease

RE: Balanced Edited Sol start?

Post by Unforeseen »

If your creating a system where all of the planets and moons are included make their resource percentages low, or make them barren of resources entirely. The real planets and moons could potentially be filled with a vast amount of resources, but the games mechanics don't account for that kind of thing. Keep your planetary resources and populations the same as they were when the system was generated and just add everything else in as aesthetics or go through each homeworld system and modify it to account for the changes you made to your own system. The population boost has massive implications on your finances going forward as your bringing in quite a bit more revenue than the other races right from the start.
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Osito
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RE: Balanced Edited Sol start?

Post by Osito »

One option is to edit the resources of the solar system, so that there are no resources apart from the ones that are known to exist (i.e. don't include any of the invented resources). One exception: I recommend you do put caslon on at least one planet.

Also make sure that Earth is the only continental planet. Make all the other planets uncolonisable, or if you want to make mars and venus as desert and volcanic planets, don't set the quality too high.

Osito
Osito
Solastar
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Jan 30, 2015 5:23 am

RE: Balanced Edited Sol start?

Post by Solastar »

Excellent suggestions, I thank you fr your feedback. I realized the population boost was a large part of it. Also I always make Venus volcanic and Mars a desert with some ice moons around the outer gas giants. I also found out that the editor while it randomizes resources, any body you add is always 100% quality. That makes Mars a huge population center in short order. I definitely like the idea of only having "real" resources on any planets I add. I think that combined with not messing with the population should be sufficient balance for a noob like me. Again thanks for the input.
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