Welcome thread n' quick questions

[Evan85]

Hey guys!

Fallen for this game instantly. Always loved a complex strategy and 3x games. Where was that one hiding from me? Cuttin' edge graphics are for sissies. Browsing this forum at work (and turning off all automation) made me learn the ropes pretty quickly too.



Just a few questions remaining..


1, Can I queue orders somehow for ships? Would be especially cool for explorers and constructors in pre-warp. Saw a function like that in a context menu, yet never managed to make it work. Or to find it again by that matter.

2, What's the tech for Spy Academy? I'm pretty sure I'd find it reading the whole tree, but most of it is self-explanatory and I got bored reading it every time I started to look for it.

3, Is there a way to see what resources present in a ship/station? Forum people keep referring to the content of cargoholds, but I didn't find out if they just figure it out or if they can check it somewhere.

4, Is there a diplomacy/reputation overhaul mod somewhere? The current model pictures races as omniscient xenophobes. I mean... how does the Naxilians on the other end of the galaxy know that I glassed a few planets of some cats that they never even heard of? And why do they care that much? They looked like dog-people anyways.

BTW... If no such mod exists... can someone point me to a file to re-weight the reputation adjusting factors? Any chance that a mere mortal like me could understand that?

[Aeson]

1, Can I queue orders somehow for ships? Would be especially cool for explorers and constructors in pre-warp. Saw a function like that in a context menu, yet never managed to make it work. Or to find it again by that matter.

Yes, you can. When you hold control and right click somewhere, there's an option at the bottom that says something along the lines of 'queue next order ...,' which allows you to give the ship a task to perform after it completes its current order. I don't know how many orders you can queue up, but it's probably more than you'll ever want to.

2, What's the tech for Spy Academy? I'm pretty sure I'd find it reading the whole tree, but most of it is self-explanatory and I got bored reading it every time I started to look for it.

You want the Stealth technology in the High Tech tree; it's up the branch that starts with Proximity sensors, roughly midway up where that part of the tree necks down to a single tech and then back out to three branches.

3, Is there a way to see what resources present in a ship/station? Forum people keep referring to the content of cargoholds, but I didn't find out if they just figure it out or if they can check it somewhere.

Yes, there is. You want to open the ship details window by double clicking on the ship overview in the lower left hand corner of the screen, or by opening the Ships and Bases list and finding the ship you want to look at and selecting it, and then you want to open the 'Cargo' tab within the ship details window.

4, Is there a diplomacy/reputation overhaul mod somewhere? The current model pictures races as omniscient xenophobes. I mean... how does the Naxilians on the other end of the galaxy know that I glassed a few planets of some cats that they never even heard of? And why do they care that much? They looked like dog-people anyways.

People talk, and rumors spread. You might not know that Planet Q was glassed by the Imperious Forces of the Spaceball Navy, but you have heard rumors of the atrocity. This wasn't a completely isolated planet; it most likely had some (indirect) trading ties with independents, pirates, and standard empires. If I hear rumors in the civilian trade network that a planet went dark, and I hear rumors that it's your fault, that's something that I have to consider when dealing with you.

Specifically regarding the question about a mod, I don't know; I don't play with mods. You can try looking through the modding subforum (tt.asp?forumid=795), or you can wait and see if someone who knows of such a mod responds.

BTW... If no such mod exists... can someone point me to a file to re-weight the reputation adjusting factors? Any chance that a mere mortal like me could understand that?

There's a modding guide which might be able to help you over in the modding subforum.

[Evan85]

Thanks!

Yeah, now I recon I tried queuing orders from that menu, but it didn't work for me on the first try. Though I'll play with it, I'm sure I'll figure it out from here.

After finishing my second game, I realized I was harsh on the diplomacy (a bit). Just realized that in both games I played I was alone in my racial family (with 11 random AI empires). It first meant a failure of a Human 'galactic peacekeepers' approach, so I went with Boskara next round. That kinda gave me the 'forever alone, only my Nuclear Annihilator understands me' feeling.

It was refreshing to see that when I started to express my sadness trough eradication of billions, the initially criticized Naxilians were amongst the most forgiving few. Can't say we became best buddies but we reached peaceful coexistence without the usually required subjugation. [:)]

Now, higher difficulties, here I come!