Just a few Newb questions

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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BlackSoulReaper
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2015 7:30 pm

Just a few Newb questions

Post by BlackSoulReaper »

When I first started this game is was too complicated and too much automation.

After I tried the first 2 tutorials of the New guy to fully non automation I have learned to appreciate the game and understand most of the mechanics.

There are still a few things I want to learn about in terms of fine tunning things...

1. Entertainment/Medical Centers. When is it appropriate to upgrade star bases or ships with these things? I randomly add them to a star ports only because I think they could use some. I don't know what effect they have.

2. Research Labs. What is a good number of labs to have running? I'm not sure what would be considered too little or too much when I add research labs to my space ports.

3. What do you do with planets without resources? All I ever do is put either resort or research labs on them...what does everyone else do?

4. Mine EVERYTHING. When I expand, I pretty much try to mine every resource in ever system no matter how small the percentage is. Is this a problem? Should I build star bases or spaceports in this systems?

5. Energy Collector, Gas Extractor, Mine Extrator/ect. - I do the research but I'm not sure of the best practice for upgrading my facilities with this stuff... Sometimes I don't even bother. What should I do to make sure my facilities are upgraded properly?

6. Low quality planets - Is there a way to bring their quality up?
accolade
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Joined: Fri May 01, 2015 11:22 am

RE: Just a few Newb questions

Post by accolade »

I'm still a bit new, but this is what I know so far.

1. Medical/Recreation - Both Raise happiness on planets.
Medical - Fixes infantry health on Troop Transports.
Recreation - Needed for Resort Bases.

2. An easy way is just add the Labs to spaceports. But the best way would be one Weapon/Energy/Hightech lab per planet/nebula/neutron/ruin depending on what bonus the planet/nebula/neutron/ruin provides etc..
To the best of my knowledge, the bonuses don't stack so get the best bonus planet you can find and add that facility type. (e.g. +17 Weapons bonus.. put 1 Weapon Research Facility there)

3. Nothing. Don't waste your time on them unless they have some type of bonus.

4. Good idea. At the beginning of the game, I manually choose the mining locations. After my ships can traverse a sector or two, I put it on auto then use the queue for choice locations.

5. Energy Collector VERY IMPORTANT. The closer they are to a star, the more they collect. The vessel also needs to be stationary. So add accordingly. For ships, I try to have a collector output of 100%-130% of static energy usage.
Gas/Mining Extractors... I don't know the optimal setup for those yet unfortunately.

6. Yes. Advanced Colonization.. but I've never used late game tech yet so cannot elaborate.
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RemoteLeg
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RE: Just a few Newb questions

Post by RemoteLeg »

I can help with some of these.

2.
I design dedicated research stations and never bother adding research labs to space ports. A good number of labs to put on a research station is, in my opinion, "as many as you can fit". I also like to put all three lab-types on each station. I then build as many stations as I can afford, usually clustered together in a well defended location.
Some locations will offer a research bonus and there you should build a research lab of the correct type to take advantage of it.
Oh yes, I've also found it is more beneficial to put all my scientists on the same research station - this yields the most research points.

3.
I only colonize planets without resources if they have some other benefit such as very high quality, strategic location, tourism bonus, etc.

4.
Mine everything - yes, I agree. You can never have too many resources. I give preference to planets with a high total percentage value, but I also try to make sure I am collecting a wide variety of resources.
I build lightly defended mining bases at good resources and keep a protecting fleet of ships patrolling nearby.

5.
Here's a video I did about energy collectors, energy to fuel converters, and gas extractors. I hope it explains the basics clearly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEBC4HSoGeg
Energy collectors are very useful - do not underestimate them.

6.
I have not found a way to improve the quality of low quality planets. I cannot even find any tech to research that might help in this regard.
Perhaps add this to the wishlist?
See my Distant Worlds tutorial videos here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... VfLtaT9Y81
Aeson
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Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2013 7:36 pm

RE: Just a few Newb questions

Post by Aeson »

2. Research Labs. What is a good number of labs to have running? I'm not sure what would be considered too little or too much when I add research labs to my space ports.
Standard empires want their total lab capacity to at least equal their empire research potential. You can see the empire's research potential and the total capacity in each field in the rightmost tab of the research screen; determining whether you've met the goal of matching total capacity to empire potential can be done by summing the total capacities across all fields and comparing the result to the empire potential.

Pirate empires are a bit different; they essentially perform no research until they transition to be planetary empires, but after that point they can have enormous research potentials due to the bonus to research potential offered by the special pirate facilities. The research potential of planetary pirate empires can be so great that it is impractical and unnecessary to match the empire's total lab capacity to its research potential, and so for pirate empires it can basically boil down to how much you're willing to invest and what research rate will satisfy you.
6.
I have not found a way to improve the quality of low quality planets. I cannot even find any tech to research that might help in this regard.
Perhaps add this to the wishlist?
That would be because there is no such technology. The only terraforming structure available speeds the rate at which damaged planets recover their original quality but does not improve planet quality over time. There are a couple of events that can affect planet quality, though most of these temporarily reduce planet quality rather than permanently improving it (there are nevertheless occasional events which slightly improve a planet's quality).

The only way for the player to actively alter a planet's quality without resorting to the game editor is bombardment, which with standard weapons can only reduce planet quality (and that only temporarily, and only if the planet lacks a planetary shield generator). Permanent reductions in planet quality can be obtained by use of a superweapon (although I'd class this less as a 'reduction' of planet quality and more as the destruction of the planet).
4. Mine EVERYTHING. When I expand, I pretty much try to mine every resource in ever system no matter how small the percentage is. Is this a problem? Should I build star bases or spaceports in this systems?
I would not mine anything approaching 'everything,' except perhaps in the very early stages of the game. I prefer to only mine targets which offer multiple resources, preferably summing to 100% or more resource quality (e.g. 50% steel + 50% gold), and furthermore prefer mining targets relatively close to colonies and places where I want to put shipyard capacity (which gets built over colonies; my experience is that freighters do not do a great job keeping shipyards which are not over colonies supplied with resources). Fuel sources are the only exception to this, and I'll still ignore poor sources of fuel if my fuel options in the region are adequate without them.

You just don't need the resource production found in mining everything; you're going to have downtime in ship construction and colonization which allows your existing mines to start building up a stockpile as the game goes on, and it's only really in the early stages of the game that you're all that likely to run into more than localized resource shortages. Beyond that, especially if you like heavily fortified mines, mining everything can be a real drain on your private sector's money, limiting its ability to purchase, maintain, and fuel the freighters needed to move those resources around. Having a few mines on decent sources for each strategic resource near each shipyard is generally sufficient, though you can almost always use more fuel.
3. What do you do with planets without resources? All I ever do is put either resort or research labs on them...what does everyone else do?
Is it a reasonable colony prospect despite its lack of resources (quality over ~60% and preferably much higher, large size, extends my colonization range if I'm playing with colonization range limits enabled, extends my claim region over something that I'd like to claim somewhere down the line such as a good quality planet I can't colonize yet or a superluxury or rare strategic resource that I'd like to claim or prevent another empire from mining, etc)? If yes, then put a colony there. Have I reached a point in the game where I don't really have more worthwhile colonization targets? Reevaluate the colony to see if it's worth bothering with on the basis of its quality and size (i.e. future income potential).

Does it offer a scenery bonus and is it relatively close to existing (preferably large) colonies? If yes, then a resort wouldn't be a bad idea. Does it offer a research bonus superior to anything else I have? If yes, a research base with the appropriate labs would not be a bad idea. Even if the research bonus doesn't exceed what I already have, it might be okay to build a lab there either to deny another empire access to it or to boost my research capacity to meet empire potential (though if meeting empire potential is the only goal, I tend to prefer somewhere safer, such as over a colony with a big spaceport).

If it doesn't meet any of the above criteria, I wouldn't bother with it. If there are better options available for extending colonization range or staking a claim to a useful location, I wouldn't immediately bother with it and maybe won't bother with it at all.
BlackSoulReaper
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Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2015 7:30 pm

RE: Just a few Newb questions

Post by BlackSoulReaper »

Just want to say thanks for the input guys, really starting to learn and understand the game more. Looks like now I just need to understand more about ship components and what a could mix I s hould have between armor shields and ect. Most of the time I put the weapons I want on them and then auto upgrade. My Resource management is slacking a bit i guess due to my mine everything approach. Not enough freighters or maybe not enough ports to ferry the resources. Do you guys ever upgrade the cargo capacity of ports and freighters? Is there a good approach to making sure certain resources get to where they need to be? I've upgraded all the hyper speed to make it faster... considering if my mines should have more extractors. On a side note... When do you know when the resources of a planet depletes?
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RemoteLeg
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RE: Just a few Newb questions

Post by RemoteLeg »

Planetary resources do not deplete over time. The only way this happens is if a random event hits that planet.

Every once in a while I do a big review of all my ships and upgrade everything. That's when I improve my cargo capacity for space ports & freighters. I find that the AI sometimes has blind spots to automatically upgrading designs and needs a helping hand.

I find the best way to ensure resources get to where they need to be is to mine them as close as possible to their destination.
I also make sure I have gas stations mining Caslon evenly spaced throughout my empire so ships don't have to go too far to refuel.
See my Distant Worlds tutorial videos here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... VfLtaT9Y81
Aeson
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Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2013 7:36 pm

RE: Just a few Newb questions

Post by Aeson »

Planetary resources do not deplete over time. The only way this happens is if a random event hits that planet.
And as far as I'm aware the event can only target colonies, and there's another event that 'discovers' new resources on a colony. Plus, if you disable 'Disasters and Other Events' during game setup, both the depletion event and the 'new resources found' event are disabled, if you don't want to worry about the potential loss of resources.
Not enough freighters or maybe not enough ports to ferry the resources. Do you guys ever upgrade the cargo capacity of ports and freighters?
If you're running into resource shortages, you're more likely to have too many spaceports than too few. The freighter algorithms are supposed to try to keep resource stockpiles at each spaceport relatively balanced; more spaceports thus means smaller stockpiles at each location, and more required trips to increase the size of the stockpiles.

As far as increasing the cargo capacity of spaceports goes, it's unnecessary unless you're playing a pirate empire (and even then, unless you have very few cargo bays on the design, it's likely unnecessary there, too) as spaceports share the cargo capacity of the colony over which they are built, and colonies have virtually unlimited cargo capacity. It may be reasonable to build up a bit of cargo capacity at a mining station, but I wouldn't go overboard with it; if freighters aren't coming by the station regularly and you aren't running into resource shortages, chances are your empire just doesn't need that much of the resources from the station anyways. I find the computer's mining station designs to be generally adequate for my purposes; I might tweak the armament and docking bays, but the cargo capacities and mining rates are generally acceptable even if they're not maximized.

As far as freighter cargo capacities go, I can't say I recall ever seeing a freighter carrying more than about 10000 units of resources even when they had the capacity for more, and much more commonly they're carrying loads of only several hundred to perhaps several thousand units of resources (and 'several' thousand is a fair way into the high side of what I expect, based on what I recall seeing in my infrequent checks on what my freighters are doing). I wouldn't bother putting enormous cargo capacities on freighters if I were you. I would, in fact, suggest that no private sector vessel needs to be larger than maybe size-300 at any stage in the game, and you could probably do well keeping the ships smaller. Keeping the private sector ships small makes it easier for the private sector to have more of them, replace losses, upgrade outdated vessels, etc, places less demand per ship on your fuel supply, and requires less total resources per ship built. Keeping the freighters relatively small (well, size-300 might not be exactly 'small' early on) is simply for the best in my experience.

I would also suggest that equipping your private sector vessels with the fastest hyperdrive you have is not necessarily for the best. A ship with a static energy requirement of around 12 will require approximately 10% more fuel per jump if equipped with an Equinox Jumpdrive than it will if equipped with a Calista-Dal hyperdrive, and equipping an Equinox Jumpdrive is more likely to result in the ship requiring two fusion reactors or at least one quantum reactor whereas a Calista-Dal will frequently fit into the power budget with just one fusion reactor on a civilian vessel. Fewer reactors means a smaller ship and possibly lower static energy requirements as well as lower resource requirements for construction, or more room for other components. Whether or not the reduced fuel required per jump and potentially reduced resource demand during construction is worth the longer travel times is, of course, up to you.
considering if my mines should have more extractors.
As far as I know, there is never a situation where it is beneficial to have more than 4 mining engines or luxury extractors or more than two gas extractors on a single ship or station, unless you're concerned about battle damage disabling one or more of them and want a bit of redundancy. You can see the most recent information I'm aware of on this subject here:
tm.asp?m=3649225
but what it comes down to is that extraction rate has a cap of 10 non-gas and 40 gas per tick (multiplied by resource quality and handled separately per resource) per ship or station. The very basic mining engines and luxury extractors give 3 extraction rate apiece, so you can have 3 of each and get the full benefits from each, or 4 of each at an efficiency penalty (as you get an actual extraction rate of 10 rather than 12).
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