I Don't Often Play Space Based Games...

[undercovergeek]

curse my crashing wheelie bins!!

im now sorted on both options - there is a wheelie bin untipped and full of crap and a working HWII without issue, PDS added, given it a spin - complete with spooky atmospheric soundtrack its almost BSG but with more awesome - screenies later - ive been up 20 hours!

[Gusington]

How easy was the mod to install?

[JasonPratt]

curse my crashing wheelie bins!!

im now sorted on both options - there is a wheelie bin untipped and full of crap and a working HWII without issue, PDS added, given it a spin - complete with spooky atmospheric soundtrack its almost BSG but with more awesome - screenies later - ive been up 20 hours!

I'm a big fan of the original (although not so much that I ever got around to playing the expansion/sequel, much less HW2, although I've heard the "Cataclysm" intraquel was significantly better than the first game).

So I'm looking forward to seeing how the PDS mod affects the game. All I ever heard about HW2 amounted to "stay the hell away", but I do want it to be good.

[undercovergeek]

How easy was the mod to install?

the mods easy as pie - installing 8 creates a new data folder - this just gets dropped in the existing HW2 folder and updates what it needs to

then add a line to the 'target' in the shortcut box -overridebigfile - dunno what it does but it does it

then for me also added -w 1600 h 900 to play on my screen

and that was it

solved the crashing problem by not trying to play a duel! the manual says play a duel between 2 ships so you can see what theyre good at and how they work - great idea, cant get it to work!

just playing in skirmish mode as it suggests and royally getting my ass kicked - totally forgotten how to play - screenies later

[Gusington]

I have seen a lot of posts of peeps saying that unmodded HW2 is hellishly difficult, so there's that.

[undercovergeek]

I have seen a lot of posts of peeps saying that unmodded HW2 is hellishly difficult, so there's that.

and PDS makes it harder - beautiful to watch - it does say use skirmish tactics which i think ive forgetten - having watched youtube and experienced the 'scouting' method i think it might be - build big fleet and point it at the baddies - this is my next plan!!

[Longdan]

Now I have a post xmas glut.  What to play?  What to play first?  I have DW entire.  I have Endless Space, Star Ruler, Sins and based on JH's
enthusiasm Sword 2, some others.  I have dabbled in Sins and it was good.  The other are untouched.  Which one get broken out this
afternoon?  I am open to suggestions from this savvy crowd.  I like battle but not twitch.  I like complex economies..
I have Homeworld, played thru years ago with no mods.  I have Cataclysm but not HW2.  What to do?

[Martok]

You know - I have Distant Worlds and the expansions. They are truly great games in terms of depth and gameplay - but - and here's the rub - I always feel over-awed by it.

Worse still - the automated options. Leaving them as is, I'm kind of unsure what the hell I'm left with doing and end up just watching and wondering if there is something I should be doing. The automation is most likely a godsend in the end - but starting out - it kind of leaves you in a "movie" type game and makes you baffled - because you're sure there should be something you should be doing - but all the ships are going their own ways, all the exploration is being done, you "think" all the shipyards, ships and colonies will be grabbed - I'm just left feeling really baffled at what I should do.

And yet the automation is "meant" to ease you in...confused.com

I do want to love the game - but I'm lost.  :o

I think that's a common reaction JD -- one I myself have experienced (and admittedly still do to a degree) -- so you needn't feel bad about it. 


As commonplace -- and perhaps even trite -- as this particular piece of advice has become, I genuinely feel it's one of the most useful:  Just start with manually controlling 1-2 aspects of the game, and let the rest of it run on auto. 

What do you particularly like to do and/or focus on in 4x games?  Exploration?  Colonization?  Designing ships?  Diplomacy?  Research?  Military operations?  Whatever it is, just play around with a part of the game you enjoy, and don't worry about the rest.  Seriously. 


I think a lot of folks (again, including moi) feel a certain pressure to try and do everything at once, when that's not what Distant Worlds is about at all.  It admittedly can take a while to truly get used to the notion, but eventually I realized one of the game's major attractions is that it lets you spend time on whichever aspects of 4x titles you like while not having to bother with the stuff you don't care for as much.  Even now -- over two years after the original DW was first released -- I still run it with around half the stuff automated...and I love it. 

There's absolutely no reason one should feel obligated to control everything -- so I don't.  And neither should you.  :) 

[Martok]

Now I have a post xmas glut.  What to play?  What to play first?  I have DW entire.  I have Endless Space, Star Ruler, Sins and based on JH's
enthusiasm Sword 2, some others.  I have dabbled in Sins and it was good.  The other are untouched.  Which one get broken out this
afternoon?  I am open to suggestions from this savvy crowd.  I like battle but not twitch.  I like complex economies..
I have Homeworld, played thru years ago with no mods.  I have Cataclysm but not HW2.  What to do?

If you enjoy non-twitchy combat, then Endless Space is pretty good for that.  I don't have SotS2, but if the combat is anything like its predecessor, battles are probably reasonably paced.  I haven't really played Star Ruler nor heard much about its combat system, so I can't comment on it. 


If you like complex economies, then Distant Worlds is definitely the way to go. 

[JudgeDredd]

Thanks Martok

I'm not a huge 4x player - in fact I doubt I've played ANY 4x games in the past apart from maybe dabbling (I only recently foun out what 4x stood for - or at least I'd forgotton)

I wouldn't say I feel obligated to control everything - I think my problem is I seem to be controlling nothing - the game is just going on and every now and again I get a popup to deal with (one thing I hate about games (like HoI and EUI) - popups to deal with that make you "think" you're playing a game!)

But your advice about what aspect I would like to control and take control of that is a good one - so I'll have a think about that. I know I'm not interested in diplomacy.

A quick question on diplomacy as AI controlled - if I have a short tempered race as my race and I leave diplomacy to the AI, I presume they'll likely rub other races up the wrong way?

[Longdan]

Thanks Martok.  Maybe DW today....maybe not!

[GDS_Starfury]

I have seen a lot of posts of peeps saying that unmodded HW2 is hellishly difficult, so there's that.

and PDS makes it harder - beautiful to watch - it does say use skirmish tactics which i think ive forgetten - having watched youtube and experienced the 'scouting' method i think it might be - build big fleet and point it at the baddies - this is my next plan!!

big fleets are nice but strike groups get the job done early and mid game.  dont forget you can target specific modules on shipyards and capital ships.  50/50 split force of fights and bombers with a cover of corvettes and you can effective remove capital ship construction from the opfor mothership/shipyard and buy some time.  use secondary groups of corvettes to go after resource collectors. 
in solo play dont forget to use the pause key to take a look around and issue orders.  also grouping ships into hotkeys helps tons.

oh... and the best thing about, and the hardest thing to remember is that it is a true 3d game.  dont fight on a single plane.

[JasonPratt]

What do you particularly like to do and/or focus on in 4x games?  Exploration?  Colonization?  Designing ships?  Diplomacy?  Research?  Military operations?  Whatever it is, just play around with a part of the game you enjoy, and don't worry about the rest.  Seriously. 

Sounds similar to advice for trying to play War In The Pacific (Admiral's Edition or otherwise).

Not that I consider the comparison a bad thing. :)

[Martok]

I wouldn't say I feel obligated to control everything - I think my problem is I seem to be controlling nothing - the game is just going on and every now and again I get a popup to deal with (one thing I hate about games (like HoI and EUI) - popups to deal with that make you "think" you're playing a game!)

But your advice about what aspect I would like to control and take control of that is a good one - so I'll have a think about that. I know I'm not interested in diplomacy.

Fair enough.  :) 


Another piece of advice:  If you've not already been doing so, I absolutely recommend taking advantage of the fact that most the empire management stuff has three settings -- Manual, Suggest, and Auto -- and figuring out which setting works best with the various areas of empire management. 

"Suggest" is useful for when you want to keep a light hand on certain aspects of running your empire, but don't want to micromanage it (although this will mean more of those popup messages you dislike).  On the other hand, "Auto" is great for the stuff you don't want to bother with at all, *and* you won't be pestered with said popup messages. 

A quick question on diplomacy as AI controlled - if I have a short tempered race as my race and I leave diplomacy to the AI, I presume they'll likely rub other races up the wrong way?

Honestly, I'm not sure, as diplomacy is usually one of the things I control myself.  However, I do know the...less friendly races are generally more aggressive when controlled by the AI, so I would not be at all surprised if it behaves similarly if you let it be in charge of dealing with other factions (assuming you're playing as one of the aforementioned unfriendly races). 

Thanks Martok.  Maybe DW today....maybe not!

Well if you do, I'm always happy to talk shop!  I'm actually only a very mediocre player, so I'm not the best one for advice/input (aside from very basic stuff like what I've already mentioned to JudgeDredd), but I do enjoy discussing the game. 

What do you particularly like to do and/or focus on in 4x games?  Exploration?  Colonization?  Designing ships?  Diplomacy?  Research?  Military operations?  Whatever it is, just play around with a part of the game you enjoy, and don't worry about the rest.  Seriously. 

Sounds similar to advice for trying to play War In The Pacific (Admiral's Edition or otherwise).

Not that I consider the comparison a bad thing. :)

The funny thing is it's not the first time those two games have compared to each other (and it probably won't be the last!). 

The main difference seems to be depth/complexity:  While DW undeniably scores high in this area (although the automation and macro-management tools mercifully allow the player to grasp it), I get the impression WITP/WITP:AE is even more so, probably by an entire order of magnitude.  (That game still intimidates the hell out of me!) 

[mikeck]

Ok. So all this talk about HW 2 got me in the mood.

Can anyone explain how to get this working on windows 7. Seen about 8 posts on other sites that have me disabling crap and entering the guys of windows to alter other crap....no way, if its that tough, screw it. I know you have to type something after the shortcut but spacing must be perfect so if that is it, can you type it so I can cut and paste?