Distant Worlds: Shadows (Released)

[Kushan]

Since I've not gotten deep into Shadows yet, I'll ask others who have:  How's the AI?  Any better in your opinion?

For the most part I would say yes.

Ship and fleet AI on the other hand has become almost asininely stupid. I've got ships flying off to join up with their fleets without fueling first, I've got a fleet of ships sitting in planetary orbit/patrolling, while pirates fly in and raid the planet. As much I love DW, I'm really thinking of shelving it until these issues are solved. I should not have to spend 20 minutes just to get a ship to refuel because it refuses to refuel where I tell it too.

[OJsDad]

With the latest patch, I was getting by clocked cleaned due to lack of funds and getting over run by pirates.  I was bum rushing colonies, and trying to build defense bases at each planet to protect them, but was greatly slowed due to lack of resources.  I even start with three planets colonizable in my home system (playing abundant colonies).  I've started over, with the goal of growing more slowly.  Escort colony ships with escorting fleets that stay on station until defense base and small space port are built. 

[Kushan]

I restarted as well. Hoping the weird ship refueling behavior was because I started the game on v1.9.0.2 and kept patching it without restarting. Reduced pirates to "few" and set them to an average starting distance. I'm changing my strategy a bit, and researching colonization at the start instead of improved storage system. Hoping that by the time I have hyperdrive tech researched I'll have colonization as well and can start to expand right away.

With the latest patch, I was getting by clocked cleaned due to lack of funds and getting over run by pirates.  I was bum rushing colonies, and trying to build defense bases at each planet to protect them, but was greatly slowed due to lack of resources.  I even start with three planets colonizable in my home system (playing abundant colonies).  I've started over, with the goal of growing more slowly.  Escort colony ships with escorting fleets that stay on station until defense base and small space port are built. 

One thing I learned is to not expand too quickly, and not to build a space port as soon as you colonize/invade a planet. Now I do a pirate smuggling mission as soon as a I colonize a planet, which gives it a good early boost to resources, and also gives your private sector time to build ships to help support the planet.

[Martok]

Yeah, I've just learned the hard way to not build a space port as soon as I colonize a planet, as I'm now badly strapped for resources. 

Now I do a pirate smuggling mission as soon as a I colonize a planet, which gives it a good early boost to resources, and also gives your private sector time to build ships to help support the planet.

By the by, how *do* I offer smuggling missions to pirate factions?  When I open up the diplomacy screen and talk to one of them, I can't find the option for it. 

[Yskonyn]

Its in the unit selection window in the lower left of the main screen. Its a button.

[Martok]

Aha!  Grazie. 

[Kushan]

By the by, how *do* I offer smuggling missions to pirate factions?  When I open up the diplomacy screen and talk to one of them, I can't find the option for it. 

You can have one pirate mission per planet. So each of your colonies can have a smuggling or defense mission on it. Same goes for setting attack mission for enemy stations and colonies. Except in that case you may need a scout to lift the FOW so you can select the target you want attacked.

[Martok]

Thanks for clarifying, Kushan.  It definitely helps to know that. 

[Darkspire]

Distant Worlds Shadows Updated to 1.9.0.11

Change History:
This build has the following changes from version 1.9.0.10:

CRASH FIXES
- fixed rare crash when selecting space creatures

BUG FIXES
- fixed pirate attack missions not completing due to message "Mission has been canceled because it has been captured by someone else"
- fixed bug where exploration ships sometimes get stuck at planet
- fixed rare bug where captured ships would sometimes not be scrapped or disassembled when empire policy specified that they should be
- fixed bug where "Most Time At War" race victory condition was sometimes not completing
- fixed bug where Defensive Bases were not being designed beyond current maximum base construction size, even though typically built at a colony (no construction size limits)
- ensured that Defensive Base designs always correctly show in design list in Designs screen when filter is set to "Show Latest Buildable Designs" or "Show Buildable Non-Obsolete Designs"
- no longer incorrectly cancel transport missions when cargo pick-up point is destroyed but freighter has already loaded cargo
- now properly preserve Engagement Stance settings for manually controlled ships when start a new game

CHARACTERS, RACES AND MODDING
- implemented missing Character skills: SmugglingIncome, SmugglingEvasion, BoardingAssault
- fixed bug where Colony Ground Report screen would have blank planetary background if a custom theme did not include a set of PlanetMap images. Now properly fallback to default images if theme does not contain any
- new settings now avilable to add to race files: CharacterRandomAppearanceChancePirateLeader, CharacterRandomAppearanceChanceShipCaptain, CharacterStartingTraitPirateLeader, CharacterStartingTraitShipCaptain
- fixed problem with custom characters where startup characters would sometimes not appear because they were being assigned to pirate factions of the same race
- pirate troops now properly use correct image of their race

GAME BALANCE
- further increased defensive troop levels at non-player homeworlds, especially on higher difficulty levels
- updated Planet Destroyer design to make slightly stronger
- Creative Reengineering race event (Ugnari) now only occurs for research projects less than 60% complete

USER INTERFACE
- added construction resource shortage icon to colony and base lists in Empire Navigation Tool
- changed color of "Local Defense Tactics" message to green in Selection Panel (when fleet with relevant Admiral selected)

OTHER
- improved game performance, especially in late-game with large empires
- now periodically check for and nationalize any unowned cargo at bases/colonies from defeated empires

Darkspire 

[Martok]

Thanks Darkspire!  Going to download now.  :) 



Incidentally, part 2 of SpaceSector's interview with Erik is now up as well. 

[Darkspire]

Thanks Martok. Was wondering when the second part was being published, very good interview. When I saw the first one with the photo of Erik I thought he looked like Bruce Wayne from the recent Dark Knight Trilogy, now when I see him I keep seeing Batman sitting there  :o

Darkspire

[SgtRock]

I have DW up to Legends, so is DW Shadows worth it?  I hear the pre-Warp period is very short and I have no interest in playing raid/pirate type race.

I have 2 issues with DW, where any of these fixed?

Loading and Unload Troops
- I always screw up with the left/right mouse click unloading when I want to load, just give me a pop-up menu.

Ship/Fleet Refueling
- there needs to be a refuel ship that can travel with a fleet, resupply ships only works if there is a gas giant with the right type of gas in the system you are going to.

[Rayfer]

Can't answer your question about the issues you have and whether they were fixed.  But I am very glad I got the Shadows upgrade.  To start out pre-warp and only be able to explore and even colonize only your starting system, build mining stations, etc., was a lot of fun and also a great way to learn the game for someone new to it.  You will fairly early on open up the research for warp drive but you don't have to do it right away if you don't want to.  But once you do and you begin to explore other star systems and colonize other worlds.....well, I found the immersion factor was raised significantly because I started out with one system, built it up then grew from there...it's like being an adult and now having a childhood to remember.

[Darkspire]

I have DW up to Legends, so is DW Shadows worth it?  I hear the pre-Warp period is very short and I have no interest in playing raid/pirate type race.

I have 2 issues with DW, where any of these fixed?

Loading and Unload Troops
- I always screw up with the left/right mouse click unloading when I want to load, just give me a pop-up menu.

Ship/Fleet Refueling
- there needs to be a refuel ship that can travel with a fleet, resupply ships only works if there is a gas giant with the right type of gas in the system you are going to.

Load and unload troops with the menu that is brought up after the right hand button is pressed with the cursor over the colony.

Resupply ships are awkward to use, If I do use them I have a fleet of 4-6 and send them near the system I wish to attack and set them up there, the resupply fleet is sent first with a small fleet to protect them then the main attack fleet is sent to attack the target, by the time the attack fleet has got to the target system the resupply fleet should have had enough of a head start to be deployed and filling up with fuel, once the attack fleet has finished I just send it to the resupply fleet and go from there.

Shadows has added a lot to DW besides pirates and prewarp starts, the private sector has been overhauled, logistics, new character types, the pirates have been turned into factions and can be quite a handful if you so choose, design templates have replaced the optimized designs and quite a few other bits and pieces, really worth getting IMO, have a look at the features over on the Matrix site. Lots of work has been done since it was released on fixing, balancing and adding things, the modders guide has just been published as well. The prewarp start is great as Rayfer has pointed out, I now much prefer the prewarp start to the classic one, very immersive with there being only one planet at the start, pirates attacking from all directions (there is now a slider that was introduced in the last update so you can decrease there strength if there a bit too much :o) You now have four starts to choose from, two empire and two pirate.

Darkspire

[Martok]

<Casts Lesser Thread Resurrection>


By the by, the 1.9.0.13 update has been officially released.  I still haven't gotten around to checking it out myself, but I'm looking forward to the changes, especially with regards to freighters and resource mining/distribution.