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Greetings from a former fence sitter

 
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Greetings from a former fence sitter - 9/5/2012 7:40:23 PM   
tylertoo

 

Posts: 55
Joined: 9/3/2012
Status: offline 		Greetings all, I picked up DW and expansions during the sale and am excited about learning the game. I won't begin to say how long I was on the fence because of the price, even at the discount (I know pricing has been well-debated so no need to further that discussion). I will, though, say that Brian Rubin of the Space Game Junkie blog helped convince me (on another forum) to make the purchase. Give that man a commission.

I've played a bunch of space games over the years and the best one I've ever played until now is Space Rangers 2. I loved it because I felt like the universe was alive. That, for me, is key. Eventually I tired of SR2 and moved on. Brian convinced me that DW has that same 'living universe' feel. Can't wait to experience it. I vow not to run away when I get overwhelmed by all the "stuff" to do.

So far I've worked my way through the tutorials and just won my first game... although I really did nothing in that game. Everything was on auto . I controlled a fleet of about five ships and spent my time rushing to various hot spots to get in on some fightin'. Always seemed to get there late, though. Then, after a while, I won! . I'm a brilliant intergalactic ruler!

My question is this: I had my fleet hotkeyed to "1". When I got a message box on the right about another ship being attacked, I had difficulty ordering my fleet there. I would click on the message box, and that would make the ship under attack active. Then I would hit "1" once, making the fleet active AND putting the current view on the fleet, and away from the attack.

Shouldn't hitting the hotkey once just make the fleet active without shifting the view to it? I want to make the fleet active, then right click on the ship under attack to send the fleet rushing to its aide.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong....
Post #: 1
RE: Greetings from a former fence sitter - 9/5/2012 8:23:24 PM   
Haree78


Posts: 963
Joined: 5/18/2010
Status: offline 		Happy to hear you joined our family :)

Regarding the fleet I'm afraid I don't use hot keys for fleets, I just use the fleet display on the left hand side showing each of my fleets and clicking one of them selects without focusing the display on them.
Hopefully someone else can explain the hot key use.

_____________________________

Distant Worlds Extended
Battlestar Galactica Legends Mod

(in reply to tylertoo)
Post #: 2
RE: Greetings from a former fence sitter - 9/5/2012 8:28:33 PM   
WoodMan


Posts: 1342
Joined: 6/2/2010
From: Ol' Blighty
Status: offline 		Hi tylertoo, welcome to Distant Worlds

You learn things all the time with this game, I didn't even know you could hotkey fleets and I bought the game a couple years ago, hehe. The way I select fleets is by cycling them using the "f" key. So you press "f" and it will select a fleet and press again to cycle through them. The most I ever have is around 4 or 5 so it isn't really a hassle. This method doesn't zoom to the fleet you have selected it just selects them. This should make it easier for you to react without getting all lost, which is something that I can recall happening a lot back when I was learning the controls! If you do want it to zoom to the fleet though, and to all subsequent ones you cycle through, press the "L" key. This will "lock" the view on the selected item and it will remain locked as you cycle through different items until you press "L" again.

Also handy "Y" to cycle through your construction ships just like "F" does for fleets, and "C" for colonies I believe, but I don't often use that

Edit: Or do what Haree said, hehe, there is more than one effective way, it seems we have three different methods mentioned in this thread, lol.

< Message edited by WoodMan -- 9/5/2012 8:29:51 PM >

_____________________________

Proud contributor Distand Worlds: Legends and Distant Worlds: Shadows

"My body may be confined to this chair, but my mind is free to explore the universe" - Stephen Hawking

(in reply to tylertoo)
Post #: 3
RE: Greetings from a former fence sitter - 9/5/2012 8:35:38 PM   
Bingeling

 

Posts: 2821
Joined: 8/12/2010
Status: offline 		And I can run a quick test. For me using 1 to get the fleet selects it, and double tapping it selects and move to it.

If you make a habit of targeting the nasty first, you can also use the left arrow over the bottom left select panel to go to previous item and find the nasty. Click once in the frame to center on it, and use forward again to find your fleet...

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Post #: 4
RE: Greetings from a former fence sitter - 9/5/2012 10:43:34 PM   
tylertoo

 

Posts: 55
Joined: 9/3/2012
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Bingeling

And I can run a quick test. For me using 1 to get the fleet selects it, and double tapping it selects and move to it.

If you make a habit of targeting the nasty first, you can also use the left arrow over the bottom left select panel to go to previous item and find the nasty. Click once in the frame to center on it, and use forward again to find your fleet...


I rebooted the game and single tapping the hotkey now makes the fleet active without the view change; double tapping does change the view (the standard RTS convention). It's odd, but I'm certain that before the reboot the single tap was changing the view as well. Regardless, problem solved. And I'll try using the F key (and cycle through when I have more than 1 fleet) rather than hotkey them. Much easier.

So thanks everyone for the tips. Onward!



(in reply to Bingeling)
Post #: 5
RE: Greetings from a former fence sitter - 9/5/2012 10:45:50 PM   
Bleek


Posts: 215
Joined: 10/26/2011
From: United Kingdom
Status: offline 		I use hotkeys ctrl+ 1-9 for fleets, always do it as it's standard 'RTS' play style, and if I click a hotkey it selects the fleet but does not take me to the fleet unless I double tap.

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Post #: 6
RE: Greetings from a former fence sitter - 9/6/2012 12:27:14 AM   
Raap

 

Posts: 272
Joined: 1/12/2011
Status: offline 		There is however a setting which locks the camera to whatever you have selected. If that setting was active, then it's likely pressing the 1-9 hotkeys once will immediately focus the camera on the fleet.

(in reply to Bleek)
Post #: 7
RE: Greetings from a former fence sitter - 9/6/2012 1:00:39 AM   
jpinard

 

Posts: 244
Joined: 4/19/2004
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: tylertoo


quote:

ORIGINAL: Bingeling

And I can run a quick test. For me using 1 to get the fleet selects it, and double tapping it selects and move to it.

If you make a habit of targeting the nasty first, you can also use the left arrow over the bottom left select panel to go to previous item and find the nasty. Click once in the frame to center on it, and use forward again to find your fleet...


I rebooted the game and single tapping the hotkey now makes the fleet active without the view change; double tapping does change the view (the standard RTS convention). It's odd, but I'm certain that before the reboot the single tap was changing the view as well. Regardless, problem solved. And I'll try using the F key (and cycle through when I have more than 1 fleet) rather than hotkey them. Much easier.

So thanks everyone for the tips. Onward!





Hey Tyler! If your view was swithing with a single click it was because Lock got activated. I've gone through this many times myself. "L" will toggle Lock on and off, and there seem to be some functions you can do that enables it automatically.

(in reply to tylertoo)
Post #: 8
RE: Greetings from a former fence sitter - 9/6/2012 1:44:01 AM   
tylertoo

 

Posts: 55
Joined: 9/3/2012
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Raap

There is however a setting which locks the camera to whatever you have selected. If that setting was active, then it's likely pressing the 1-9 hotkeys once will immediately focus the camera on the fleet.


quote:

ORIGINAL: jpinard

Hey Tyler! If your view was swithing with a single click it was because Lock got activated. I've gone through this many times myself. "L" will toggle Lock on and off, and there seem to be some functions you can do that enables it automatically.


Yes, thanks guys. That was what was causing the change of view. I'm relieved, I was starting to think I was losing my mind (or at least being a total moron). It does strike me that the Lock functionality is too easy to accidentally toggle.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll have more questions... back to the game for now.

(in reply to jpinard)
Post #: 9
RE: Greetings from a former fence sitter - 9/6/2012 2:20:40 AM   
tylertoo

 

Posts: 55
Joined: 9/3/2012
Status: offline 		Here's another question: are any of the quick starts recommended for newbs just trying to learn the interface and how to get around? I was actually thinking about Fast, Ring Race, or Sovereign Territories - Minor Nations. All of them give me just a handful of colonies to start.

Or should I avoid the quickstarts in favor of some other custom settings?

Recommended newb race? (Apologies if there are already threads on these questions).

< Message edited by tylertoo -- 9/6/2012 2:21:42 AM >

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Post #: 10
RE: Greetings from a former fence sitter - 9/6/2012 5:41:42 AM   
jpinard

 

Posts: 244
Joined: 4/19/2004
Status: offline 		Here's what I've been doing... the learning curve is awesome, but if you can take some of this to bed it helps :)

#1 - Watch the intro videos Matrixgames made in order: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGG9AVI2mSI

#2 - Then watch some of Das's Lets Play series

#3 - Go through the Tutorials twice. I missed stuff the first time around, and the manual is good at some basics.

#4 - Use this post as it is super awesome: http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2988049 There are 9 guides linked there. As you play and can ask the right questions it helps a ton.

#5 - For starting to learn the game I played many games as the Humans (not to completion as I was learning each new game). My settings were very helpful in not getting overwhelmed and kept the difficutly reasonable. Sorry for the large screenshots, but I want to make sure you can make out the details. Replicate every detail exactly. You can see Tech is a custom number as "Normal" was a tad too slow, but the next setting was way too fast.



--------------



< Message edited by jpinard -- 9/6/2012 5:44:22 AM >

(in reply to tylertoo)
Post #: 11
RE: Greetings from a former fence sitter - 9/6/2012 5:42:16 AM   
jpinard

 

Posts: 244
Joined: 4/19/2004
Status: offline

-------------------


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Post #: 12
RE: Greetings from a former fence sitter - 9/6/2012 5:45:09 AM   
jpinard

 

Posts: 244
Joined: 4/19/2004
Status: offline



#6 - Keep asking questions!

< Message edited by jpinard -- 9/6/2012 5:49:01 AM >

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Post #: 13
RE: Greetings from a former fence sitter - 9/6/2012 6:44:59 AM   
Darkspire


Posts: 717
Joined: 6/12/2003
From: My Own Private Hell
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: WoodMan

Hi tylertoo, welcome to Distant Worlds

You learn things all the time with this game, I didn't even know you could hotkey fleets and I bought the game a couple years ago, hehe. The way I select fleets is by cycling them using the "f" key. So you press "f" and it will select a fleet and press again to cycle through them. The most I ever have is around 4 or 5 so it isn't really a hassle. This method doesn't zoom to the fleet you have selected it just selects them. This should make it easier for you to react without getting all lost, which is something that I can recall happening a lot back when I was learning the controls! If you do want it to zoom to the fleet though, and to all subsequent ones you cycle through, press the "L" key. This will "lock" the view on the selected item and it will remain locked as you cycle through different items until you press "L" again.

Also handy "Y" to cycle through your construction ships just like "F" does for fleets, and "C" for colonies I believe, but I don't often use that

Edit: Or do what Haree said, hehe, there is more than one effective way, it seems we have three different methods mentioned in this thread, lol.


If you lock with the L key then cycle through your fleets with F it will move the view to each fleet, if you 'unlock' then the F key will just select the fleet and not move the view.

Darkspire

_____________________________

No one can go back and make a new beginning, but anyone can start from now and make a happy ending.

Dual Core E4500 2.20GHz - GeForce 8800GT (1gb) - XP 32bit 4gb with a 3gb twist and a shaking of PAE

(in reply to WoodMan)
Post #: 14
RE: Greetings from a former fence sitter - 9/6/2012 3:13:08 PM   
tylertoo

 

Posts: 55
Joined: 9/3/2012
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: jpinard

Here's what I've been doing... the learning curve is awesome, but if you can take some of this to bed it helps :)

(snip)



Jeff, thanks for all that. Its DW University! Funny thing was, I put the manual pdf on my tablet and was, in fact, reading it in bed last night. Got about one-third of the way through. Pretty well done, IMHO.

I will try your setup. And das's videos are a great help as well. Watched a few on the train this morning.

(in reply to jpinard)
Post #: 15
RE: Greetings from a former fence sitter - 9/6/2012 6:11:54 PM   
jpinard

 

Posts: 244
Joined: 4/19/2004
Status: offline 		Das's videos are good for a playthrough but don't explain much in detail when he gets beyond starting the empire. Check out my post on putting the Galactopedia on your Tablet. Being able to just read through each entry at your leisure is super healpful. Especially since the Galacopedia screens require a lot of scrolling fort some entries and are squished (but not on the Tablet). Do you have an iPad?

(in reply to tylertoo)
Post #: 16
RE: Greetings from a former fence sitter - 9/6/2012 7:21:34 PM   
tylertoo

 

Posts: 55
Joined: 9/3/2012
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: jpinard

Do you have an iPad?


No unfortunately its Android.

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Post #: 17
RE: Greetings from a former fence sitter - 9/7/2012 1:01:28 PM   
tylertoo

 

Posts: 55
Joined: 9/3/2012
Status: offline 		I've been reading the manual. Its very well done. Can't remember the last time I found a manual worth anything, probably SMAC.

And this made my jaw drop:

quote:

4.8.2. ENEMY TARGETS LIST
One notable list in the Empire Navigation Tool is the Enemy Targets List. This list shows you all
known enemy targets. Clicking on a target will assign your nearest available fleet to attack it.


You mean I don't have to find the damn bad guy on the main map? You mean if I get a message that a base is being attacked, I can just go to this list and find the attacker and assign a fleet -- without even changing the main screen view? If so, that's awesome.

Thus proving the advice I'd read repeatedly, when it comes to DW, RTFM.

Do you veterans use this list always/sometimes/never?

(in reply to tylertoo)
Post #: 18
RE: Greetings from a former fence sitter - 9/7/2012 1:53:15 PM   
Bingeling

 

Posts: 2821
Joined: 8/12/2010
Status: offline 		I have usually not have much problems finding enemy sites on the map. And of course, that list are only things you know about in the first place. The left hand menu is nice for quick, situational overviews, though.

When at war I also do my utmost to reduce the number of enemy items to track. I may not be aggressive in attacking big, remote colonies, but I love to clean up their ships and bases list. :)

When you are attacked, you can just click the attack message (from the log). Unless there is crazy log spam going on, it sits right there on top. That should either show you the attacker or the defender, both would work quite well.

For zooming around, notice the option on what to do when scrolling. Move nowhere, move to cursor, move to selected. I sear to "move nowhere", so that I can go to an emergency location. Scroll out to look for forces in the vicinity, and scroll back in and get back to the same emergency location. You may prefer a different setting, but finding one that suits you helps a lot when moving around the map.

If you get a message about something happening (like a space creature attacking a named ship, which is probably an explorer, it is enough to zoom out, and mouse over the message. A yellow ring will pulse around the location. I at least act differently if an event is in my backyard or across the galaxy.

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Post #: 19
RE: Greetings from a former fence sitter - 9/7/2012 2:09:39 PM   
Bleek


Posts: 215
Joined: 10/26/2011
From: United Kingdom
Status: offline 		If I'm at war I generally have the 'enemy target list' open, it's a nice helper.

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Post #: 20
RE: Greetings from a former fence sitter - 9/7/2012 8:18:55 PM   
jpinard

 

Posts: 244
Joined: 4/19/2004
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: tylertoo

I've been reading the manual. Its very well done. Can't remember the last time I found a manual worth anything, probably SMAC.

And this made my jaw drop:

quote:

4.8.2. ENEMY TARGETS LIST
One notable list in the Empire Navigation Tool is the Enemy Targets List. This list shows you all
known enemy targets. Clicking on a target will assign your nearest available fleet to attack it.


You mean I don't have to find the damn bad guy on the main map? You mean if I get a message that a base is being attacked, I can just go to this list and find the attacker and assign a fleet -- without even changing the main screen view? If so, that's awesome.

Thus proving the advice I'd read repeatedly, when it comes to DW, RTFM.

Do you veterans use this list always/sometimes/never?


Sadly it doens't work like that. It is only MAJOR targets, not minor ones like stray pirates attacking you mining bases.

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Post #: 21
RE: Greetings from a former fence sitter - 9/9/2012 11:18:40 AM   
Darkspire


Posts: 717
Joined: 6/12/2003
From: My Own Private Hell
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: tylertoo

I've been reading the manual. Its very well done. Can't remember the last time I found a manual worth anything, probably SMAC.

And this made my jaw drop:

quote:

4.8.2. ENEMY TARGETS LIST
One notable list in the Empire Navigation Tool is the Enemy Targets List. This list shows you all
known enemy targets. Clicking on a target will assign your nearest available fleet to attack it.


You mean I don't have to find the damn bad guy on the main map? You mean if I get a message that a base is being attacked, I can just go to this list and find the attacker and assign a fleet -- without even changing the main screen view? If so, that's awesome.

Thus proving the advice I'd read repeatedly, when it comes to DW, RTFM.

Do you veterans use this list always/sometimes/never?


The easy way to deal with this is when starting off with the learning curve:

A. Oh crap my ships being attacked
B. Hit space (pause)
C. Go to the messages screen (at the top, next to the credits, looks like an envelope)

Just click the attack thats at the top, or near the top, of the list and select the goto on the right of the screen, 9 times out of 10 you see the attacker, beastie, ship etc. You now have the target on screen, press F for your fleet and right click to attack (Its worth zooming out with END before attacking just to make sure the fleet your attacking with is not to far away)

And yes, it would be cool if all attacks, major and minor, were listed in the quick menu to the left, but the method above works till you get used to things.

Darkspire

_____________________________

No one can go back and make a new beginning, but anyone can start from now and make a happy ending.

Dual Core E4500 2.20GHz - GeForce 8800GT (1gb) - XP 32bit 4gb with a 3gb twist and a shaking of PAE

(in reply to tylertoo)
Post #: 22
RE: Greetings from a former fence sitter - 9/11/2012 3:19:12 AM   
jpinard

 

Posts: 244
Joined: 4/19/2004
Status: offline 		That's exactly what I do Darkspire. Good advice.

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Post #: 23
RE: Greetings from a former fence sitter - 10/1/2012 9:50:25 PM   
tylertoo

 

Posts: 55
Joined: 9/3/2012
Status: offline 		Almost a month after purchase, I finally this past weekend got over the "too scared to hit unpause" phase and all I can say is.... wow. Lovin' it.

In the weeks since purchasing the package, I read the manual, did the tutorials, played a couple of games completely automated just to watch things, read the manual again, went through the tutorials again, and then tried different set-ups. But with each set up, I would literally feel intimidated to start out, to unpause. To go off on my own. Which is silly, I know, but that's how I felt.

Finally in the past week I took the time to watch 11 of the 13 videos made by Das for RoTS, as recommended above by Jeff Pinard. Yes, I know they were done before Legends, but they really did the trick as far as giving my a sense of how to play without being overwhelmed. I even took notes while watching. Thanks Das !

I then did a setup similar to Das's in the video and jumped into the fray. With quite liberal use of the pause key, I found that I was managing fleets and colonization quite well. I left most other aspects to AI, though a bunch of things are on 'suggest.' But I'm fully handling fleet building, fleet deployment and decisions on colonization. I'm now about five years in to this first real stab at DW, and even as my empire grows I don't feel overwhelmed at all. I still have troubles sometime figuring out the UI in terms of issuing orders, but I'm getting better at that.

Really glad I gave DW a try. Onward!

(in reply to jpinard)
Post #: 24
RE: Greetings from a former fence sitter - 10/1/2012 10:06:25 PM   
WoodMan


Posts: 1342
Joined: 6/2/2010
From: Ol' Blighty
Status: offline

Glad to hear it!

_____________________________

Proud contributor Distand Worlds: Legends and Distant Worlds: Shadows

"My body may be confined to this chair, but my mind is free to explore the universe" - Stephen Hawking

(in reply to tylertoo)
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