While it will be left to other more intrepid emperors to chronicle their epic exploits of galactic domination. This humble after action report will be tuned to the micromagers among our ranks who revel in the details. Boy are you guys in for a great time with this expansion! By now Distant Worlds has already earned a reputation as one of the best balanced 4x games out there. And this expansion adds a new set of tools that maintains this balance by offering both micro and macro manager players a bevy of new tools and features that support both styles of play.
So this thread will cover the first ten years or so of starting an empire with an eye on the details. Of course, I'm sure that most of you are also interested in the big finish (and it is truly big!). So others will be posting more complete reports that will take you through an entire game.
So let's jump in and setup a new game.
The first screen has some new features and there has been some serious attention given to tweaking all the options to over a more exciting and balanced game.
As you can see, the research slider now provides you with the going price of level one technology as you move the slider left to right. While playing, you will notice that the pace of research at the default setting feels a bit different from the original game. A great deal of time was spent tweaking this option with an eye on how it affects play balance as well as how it triggers programmed events. The overall result brings a new strategic feel to the game that I for one found very appealing. Of course the entire research portion of the game has also be reworked bringing a new depth of play that brings even more relevance to these controls. In any event, you still have a great deal of control over the pace of research even with the additional factors to consider.
