Solar War

[BanzaiCat]

Dammit, I missed it. It's back to 19.99.  :-\

[panzerde]

I've had this game for ages, too - I think via Desura. Sounds like it's time to load it up again and see the progress that's been made. Thanks Huw!

[Pinetree]

You can request a steam key through Desura too.

[Dread Rlyeh]

I have been looking at this for a bit, but didn't pull the trigger until Huw mentioned the sale, thanks.  Got a huge, huge backlist (especially considering the CW2 patch), but played a bit of this.  Looks pretty neat, lots of tech, but I wish there was a bit more info out there on a wiki page or something.

The nation diplomacy at the beginning - when I try forming a council I seem to alienate a number of the smaller nations, but if I auto, it tends to be either all perfect relations or maybe 2 hostile.  Could be sample size, but I'm curious what gives.  Two things I've discovered - there are more than two resources (unlocked by tech tree/events), and your Starbase will upgrade (auto) to have new beam weapons.  Getting the fusion laser was pretty huge - it went from whittling down light cruisers to one shoting them.  Something to think about for your early start.

Oh, and I'm playing on the penultimate difficulty for reference.  Just thought of something to try for the beginning diplomacy - I've been doing that first thing to get my production and research going, but I will try promoting officers first and focus on some of the ones from the usual trouble maker nations.  Perhaps this will appease them, as later on, promotion of officers from a particular nation does have an effect on that nation's satisfaction.   

[Dread Rlyeh]

Just tried to manually form a council after officer promotion.   US accepts a seat, next, China refuses and turns unhappy...  That was after promoting I think two Chinese officers.  So, I'm done with that and will just go auto. 

[Huw the Poo]

I don't see a reason not to just promote whoever is eligible for promotion anyway; they don't need to be assigned to a ship straight away or anything.

[Dread Rlyeh]

I don't see a reason not to just promote whoever is eligible for promotion anyway; they don't need to be assigned to a ship straight away or anything.

I had been doing the diplomacy first, then promotion (all while paused), but it doesn't seem to have an effect or much of one on countries turning hostile.  Given the difficulty I'm playing on, I'm just going auto for my 'real' start.

Speaking of difficulty, one of the early techs, fleet (something, can't remember - organization?) lets you choose a permanent bonus.  One of them is +40% research which seems far and away the best.  I think I might try the bonus to officers, not that I'm expecting a cake walk, but I always hate too easy of a game. 

edit:  oh, does anyone know how to board enemy ships?  I've seen bonuses to boarding, but I'm not sure how that works.  Unlocked by tech?

[BanzaiCat]

That reminds me of an old Civil War game by SSI called "No Greater Glory." You had to promote/assign generals from different regions, as well as cabinet members. SO FRUSTRATING to have to assign a lackwit to a prominent position to appease the people back home.

(Yeah yeah, the joke writes itself...)

I hope this game doesn't do that. As soon as it goes on sale again I'll be all over it.

[Huw the Poo]

edit:  oh, does anyone know how to board enemy ships?  I've seen bonuses to boarding, but I'm not sure how that works.  Unlocked by tech?

From what I've seen it looks like you have to unlock tech to do pretty much anything!  I think you'll discover the answer before me; as much as I'm enjoying the game my gaming time is severely limited at the moment, and Starbound just got an ace update and it's calling me...

[bbmike]

That reminds me of an old Civil War game by SSI called "No Greater Glory." You had to promote/assign generals from different regions, as well as cabinet members. SO FRUSTRATING to have to assign a lackwit to a prominent position to appease the people back home.

(Yeah yeah, the joke writes itself...)

I hope this game doesn't do that. As soon as it goes on sale again I'll be all over it.

I remember that game! I couldn't win no matter what I did. I always hated how just before an attack I would lose most of my men through disease and desertion while the other side would gain at least twice as many.

[BanzaiCat]

I must have tried playing it 100 times but I'd always get my butt kicked. Didn't help that I played the Confederacy every time...

I almost won once, though, and it's sad that I remember it very clearly. I had the Union split in the middle and had all of their armies in retreat, but the friggin' English and French STILL wouldn't recognize me. Finally after about 10 tries I took Washington D.C. and they recognized our greatness. 

[Dread Rlyeh]

edit:  oh, does anyone know how to board enemy ships?  I've seen bonuses to boarding, but I'm not sure how that works.  Unlocked by tech?

From what I've seen it looks like you have to unlock tech to do pretty much anything!  I think you'll discover the answer before me; as much as I'm enjoying the game my gaming time is severely limited at the moment, and Starbound just got an ace update and it's calling me...

looks like there is a 'boarding shuttles' tech further up the tree.   So, one mystery solved.  Will be interesting to see if I can pull off my elite game with almost zero (excepting my early start experiments) foreknowledge.   What makes the best anti-missile countermeasure?  Point defense fusion lasers?  Counter missile?  Will I perform a celebratory dance or pound on my kb sending keys flying???

[Dread Rlyeh]

Something else I noticed:  your Starbase, because it contains a large number of beam weapons, does an excellent job of destroying enemy missiles.   Only the number of beams needed to kill the missile(s) will fire, so you can destroy multiple groups of missiles and/or ships in a turn.