Distant Worlds: Shadows (Released)

[JudgeDredd]

Thanks Cougar - but that guy is hard core.

I guess you recommended it because he does micro manage?

I tried last night - unfortunately I followed everything he did - including difficulty - and I was having a rather awful time.

But I will use his videos to micro manage just so I get a feeling for everything and use Erik's suggestions for an easier game.

He gave some great insights in that video though.

[Cougar_DK]

Yes, I must confess that its was AFTER starting to micro manage that the game really clicked for me - not that I enjoyed the game before the Shadows expansion, but the build up is more me.

And I have now my exploration ships on auto, seeking out those pesky pirates and other civilizations.

(I have now tried to play CK2 with all expansions beside the new one, and I just stare at the screen wondering what to do next - so I know the feeling  :))

[JudgeDredd]

Definitely watching his video and playing my game whilst watching showed me quite a bit I was unaware of.

I have a question for all you DW nuts...I gave my construction ship a build task for a gas mining station on a big gas giant....the ship was on it's way when I noticed a moon which had much needed resources...and the construction ship was going to have to pass that moon in order to get to the gas giant...so I changed it's build task so it built a mining platform on the moon...

It then turned and headed for home. I didn't want it going all the way back and losing all that time on the distance travelled...so I changed the task back to building a gas mining platform on the gas giant again - and low and behold the ship turned round and headed back to the gas giant and when it got there it started building the gas mining plant.

So the question is - why did it head back for home when I changed it's mission to creating a mining platform instead of a gas mining platform? Is it that different "resources" are required to build those different types of platform? And if that's the case, was it heading home because it was loaded with resources to build a gas mining platform and not for building a normal mining platform?

[Cougar_DK]

Hi JD,

I not a hard core DW player but could I think it could have something to do with the resources required to build the two stations.

The default gas mining station needs:





And the default mining station needs:




So it could be missing some of those? I'm not sure if we can see what a ship contains....

[JudgeDredd]

Ok - thanks Cougar. That kind of makes sense.

Thanks for checking that out for me.

[Cougar_DK]

Np JD  ;)

[Darkspire]

If you double click in the data window for the constructor or freight ship, it will take you straight to the ships and bases screen for the selected item, there is a tab on there for cargo so you can see what the ship has in its hold.

Darkspire

[JudgeDredd]

^ Thanks Darkspire. That'll be very useful.

[undercovergeek]

Hi JD,

I not a hard core DW player but could I think it could have something to do with the resources required to build the two stations.

The default gas mining station needs:





And the default mining station needs:




So it could be missing some of those? I'm not sure if we can see what a ship contains....

its amazing what it takes to turn someones eye - having ignored the game forever, this post right here detailing the necessity of ferrying the right things to the right place has piqued my logistic interest - i love me some micromanagement and have never had that 'need for a pad moment' since dropping WitP AE

[republic]

never had that 'need for a pad moment' since dropping WitP AE

That's a good observance.  The games I tend to enjoy the most require me to write things down.  On DCS I'll jot down GPS coords to adjust my flight path or to come back and blow something up after rearm.  My WitP game with jomni (now a year + ago...I really need to pick that up again if I get time...sorry Jomni) I was jotting things down every day.  Convoy names with destinations and cargo's and why I was doing it, etc.

I do have to say, both WitP and Distant Worlds could use someone creative to redesign their UI's.  A good example would be Eve Online.  I know lots of people call it "spreadsheets in space" but it really does good at presenting enormous amounts of data in a way that you can manipulate and understand.  Especially with the latest updates with all the mouseover info.

[ERutins]

v1.9.0.6 is now available:

CRASH FIXES
- fixed various crashes

BUG FIXES
- fixed bug where some pirate games would often 'stall' on some hardware configurations
- fixed bug where pirate relations would sometimes get mixed up
- corrected bug where pirates were offering negative pirate protection amount when normal empire cashflow was negative
- fixed bug where pirates could not manually change tax rate at colonies where they build Criminal Network
- fixed bug where pirate colonizing planet where already have spaceport would cause spaceport to be removed
- fixed bug where a pirate faction raiding a colony where they already have a pirate base or fortress resulted in them battling against their own troops who defend the base
- fixed bug where galactic storms would often get 'lost' when reload game

WEAPONS AND ARMOR
- fixed Ion Pulse weapons to properly disable weapons and engines
- fixed bug where normal components were getting damaged before Armor was completely destroyed

RETROFITTING
- when retrofitting damaged ships or bases, damaged components are now first repaired
- Troop loadouts for ships are now reviewed when the ships is retrofitted to a new design
- pirate construction ships no longer retrofit or repair at controlled (but unowned) colonies
- fleets will no longer go to retrofit when no ships in the fleet have newer designs available

SHIP DESIGN
- AI ship design process no longer creates unbuildable new designs (too large) for a ship subrole when there is an existing buildable design for the same subrole

USER INTERFACE
- added some filters at the top of the Pirate Missions panel in the Empire Navigation Tool at screen left: attack/defense/smuggling mission types, accepted/open missions
- fixed Design Detail screen warnings panel so that text wraps and scrolls
- increased text size in Research screen

GAME SETUP
- altered "Random" proximity setting in Game Startup to distribute starting empires *EVENLY* across the galaxy
- now exclude space creature appearance Shadows events if space creatures are completely disabled in game setup

CHARACTERS
- characters no longer have skill increases until skills and traits are revealed
- fixed bug where Demoralizing and Inspiring character traits were sometimes not working

OTHER
- pirate and diplomatic offers now ensure that offered empire has *excess* money to purchase (not just enough)
- weak pirate factions (no spaceport, weak military, negative cash and cashflow) now join stronger nearby pirate factions
- added new Engagement Stance settings for *manually* controlled ships and fleets (Game Options > Empire Settings). These settings default to 'no change', so that Engagement Stance does not change when a player manually assign missions to ships and fleets. Existing Engagement Stance settings now apply to auto-controlled ships and fleets
- military ships will now 'gang-up' on enemy targets better, assigning many attackers to take on a target

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm...1&mpage=1&key=

[Bison]

Looking good Erik.

[mikeck]

This:
- altered "Random" proximity setting in Game Startup to distribute starting empires *EVENLY* across the galaxy

[Kushan]

- now exclude space creature appearance Shadows events if space creatures are completely disabled in game setup

Thanks for adding the Erik.

Has anyone else getting an exploration ships has finished it mission message, when it has not explored an entire system? Seems like mine are stopping after they have only explored half of a system and when I order them to continue they either go to the star or sit there idle.

Edit: Also want to add that I think boarding is the most annoying feature in the game. Its the equivalent of swatting flies. Given the new economic model, I don't think you can feasibly afford to have a group of ships at every mining station to prevent it from being boarded. I have to keep a force of dedicated boarding ships just to take back every little mining station that gets taken over by pirates. It was coll for awhile not its just annoying as ....

[mikeck]

I have always found pirates annoying. Which is why I turn them off