A Colony Too Far

[NightReaper]

I'm in a session where I have explored all systems within the range limit of my home world. My explorer ships have found colonizable worlds but they claim to be too far from my home world. Is there any way too overcome this problem or must I start over. Could the slider in the options panel be set too low/high for acceptable distances between colonized worlds? I think I set the slider to 1.75 sectors. Any help would be appreciated. I'm puzzled why my ships can explore out that far, but the colonizers won't proceed. There are refueling points in between. [8|]

[vince0018]

Yes that would probably be because of the colonization range distance you set when creating your new game.

On the previous game I set the maximum range to 1 (sector.)
But the problem I had was luck became too much of a factor, since empires with more planets to colonize nearby
could spread faster, since it expanded their colonization range, but empires with few or no planets to colonize
nearby had to wait it out until they got the appropriate tech.
So my empire had 1-2 planets, where my neighbor had 8-10.

In my next game I'm trying 1.5 distance to see how that pans out, but it also depends on number of sectors
and systems.

I remember when this feature wasn't even in the game, and empires would be colonizing planets everywhere, far
away from the rest of their empire; so I very much like that the feature is available.

So it would probably be up to your personal preference what you'd like to set it to, if you're having difficulty
colonizing you could try turning it up, however you can only set it when starting a new game.

[Frildin]

Personally I find 2 sector range works best for me for any map size other then 4x4. I've only started one game where 2 sectors has really inhibited expansion for everyone (and that's because I put the map size up and forgot to increase the stars from 400 [:'(]).

[NightReaper]

Okay...that's what I was afraid of! I guess I'll call it a lesson learned and start over. Thanks for the help! [&o]

[ravincravin]

Find an independent colony with a population out of your settlement range. Conquor it and that will extend your range out.

[Bingeling]

Also, colonize something on the way. The issue is distance to closest colony.

It has a potential to be a nice feature, where you must colonize some "poor" spots to be able to reach more juicy ones.

It could be cruel in cluster galaxies, though, but you do always have the war and conquest option to get across the gap

[Harrs]

On the expansion window there is a checkbox show poor quality colonies..
You could colonize one of these on the way to the good ones..

I set the value to 3 sectors... Because sometimes you start in the empty space..

[Chet Guiles]

I use 1.25 to 1.5 sectors and find it fairly challenging. Sometimes it means I have to push hard on techs to colonize volcanic planets, etc to get past them to some of the jucier stuff out farther. Part of the enjoyment of the game for me is planning how to get "on out there" and conquer distant worlds (say, isn't that the "name of the game"). Eagerly looking forward to the next expansion -- whatever it may be! whenever it may be!?

[NightReaper]

All good suggestions but I think I got had by the Random Number Generator's fickle finger of fate! [:-] No low class planets to develop either! That leaves a crash program of trying to develop terraforming tech while I just know that somewhere out there an AI is licking its chops at the prospect of an ill-prepared victim. Thanks again for the great input but extinction seems like the odds on favorite for my little band of wayfarers. [X(]

[WoodMan]

I like this feature but I recommend setting it to higher than default. The game does not seem to recognise diagonals as a single sector distance, so diagonal potential colonies need to be very close [:@]

For example, in my current game, I have a planet with an independent population of my own race in the sector diagonally down and to the left of my homeworld. It is less than 2 sectors distance away but I still can't colonize it because it is too far from my existing colonies, even though I have the distance set to two sectors. I can only assume that the game is either a)got a bug or b)thinking in an L shape rather than true diagonals.

[tjhkkr]

Oh... right now, I have expansion set at 1.25 sectors...
That might explain why I have yet to run into the Republic or the CIS. [:D][;)]

[Frildin]

@Woodman from my experiences the game generates a circle rather then a square for max colony range purposes. As such, despite sectors appearing as squares, it'll give you one missing the corners for range. Could be wrong though, but that's just personal findings.

[WoodMan]

I understand what you mean Frildin (this is also how I think of it working). I will post a screenshot tomorrow, I just shut down the game for the night. I have the planet now because I landed troops on it, but you can see from the map it is definately less than 2 sectors away no matter how you shape it (I'd say it is just over a single sector). I wonder if the sector size referred to on this setting is for a Normal size galaxy, I am playing a Huge galaxy. That could be another explanation.

[Bingeling]

I think the game suggest different defaults for different galaxy sizes? That suggests that a sector is a sector in colony range whether you run 4x4 or15x15.

[WoodMan]

Hey Bing, no that is for influence size [:)]

[Bingeling]

Oh well

[darcion]

I love 1,00 but 110% influence. Its harder but if you got transporters you can claim independents really early. (i only have independent on "rare") i can win the biggest map on the hardest difficult.