Distant Worlds: Universe annouced!

[Jack Nastyface]

Update:  Game 1 ended rather poorly when my colonies were invaded by zillions of those freakin' Shakturi rodent things.  I was getting ready to start a border war against some of the encroaching bug races when the Shakturi show up and swarm everything I've got.

[JasonPratt]

^^ So, like real life then!  :)

[Martok]

Yes, the Shakturi are nothing to sneer at, even on the lower difficulty levels.  About the only "easy" way to beat them is to invade & conquer their homeworld when they're still the Eruktah(sp?) Refugees; otherwise, you're generally in for a rough ride... 

[spelk]

Eurogamer reviewed DW:U and gave it a 7/10

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-06-27-distant-worlds-universe-review

[Martok]

Eurogamer reviewed DW:U and gave it a 7/10

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-06-27-distant-worlds-universe-review

A pretty decent review, although I'm surprised he scored it only a 7.  Going by how the article reads, I would've expected at least an 8, maybe a 9. 

[Jack Nastyface]

Sigh...
Game 2:  I make a protection deal with Pirates, which I falsely assume will give me time to build up some mining installations to generate income.  Just as I complete Mining station4, the Pirates cancel the protection agreement, come in and raid and destroy everything I have.  With no money, no mines, no defensive ships, research bases or space ports, I decide to call it quits.  Maybe I have better luck next time.
Game 3:  Starts off well, no trouble from neighboring races or pirates.  However, a cluster of four giant kaltors chew through all of my space assets (including 6 poorly armed destroyers...as I decided to research "assault pods" first because I wanted to counter-attack any pirate raids on mining stations).  Defeated, I choose to restart.
Game 4:  So far so good.  I chose to build in order:  one medium space port,  two defense platforms, three research stations, two exploration ships, and one construction ship.  I build a mine on the closest moon, and discover ancient scrolls of warp drive research.  This is looking better.

[Martok]

Yikes.  I've not played much in the Age of Shadows yet, but your experiences aren't exactly encouraging.  Here's hoping this latest effort goes better for you! 

[bobarossa]

Not sure if it's a bug, but every time the pirates rescind the protection order and attack, I just immediately request another one and they accept.  That lets me keep them away until I can build up some defenses. 

[Kushan]

Sigh...
Game 2:  I make a protection deal with Pirates, which I falsely assume will give me time to build up some mining installations to generate income.  Just as I complete Mining station4, the Pirates cancel the protection agreement, come in and raid and destroy everything I have.  With no money, no mines, no defensive ships, research bases or space ports, I decide to call it quits.  Maybe I have better luck next time.
Game 3:  Starts off well, no trouble from neighboring races or pirates.  However, a cluster of four giant kaltors chew through all of my space assets (including 6 poorly armed destroyers...as I decided to research "assault pods" first because I wanted to counter-attack any pirate raids on mining stations).  Defeated, I choose to restart.

What pirate settings are you using? If you set them to Very Few, and Weak, then they will be around the strength they where in the Legends expansion. Which is a way of saying, their a nuisance rather then a real threat they are in Shadows/Universe. You can also turn off "Enable Shadows Story Events" option on the victory conditions screen. It only seems to control a few pre-warp only events, most notably the pirates showing up a few minutes into each game.

You can also turn off "Allow Giant Kaltors at game start" on the same screen. I never play with space monsters so I'm not sure what the best way of dealing with them is. I wish you could enable the legendary creature/pirates separate from the normal space monster, I'd love to be able to fight the silvermist without space slugs and scorpions.

[Nefaro]

I kinda dig the Space Monsters, in small and relatively distant amounts.  Not good if they're nibbling on your doorstep early in the game though.

[Jack Nastyface]

I am not sure of all my settings, but I sorta don't just want to nerf the game so much that nothing happens.  I think I selected "few pirates", "distant" and "weak".  I thought that would at least ease the burden of encounters.  Unfortunately in my current game, there are at least six different pirate factions that are knocking on the door.

I think my primary challenge is just trying to figure out all the things going on.  I just had three research stations blow up as the result of suspected sabotage, and I also notice that if I don't research "assault pods" as one of my first weapon techs, the pirates seem to have this and use it against me (they just captured a mining station and a cruiser).  It seems as if there is a "perfect" research tree / mining / ship and fleet build scheme that is just beyond my ken.

I am playing only as the Terrans (maybe that's a mistake) and starting with pre-warp technology.  I actually kind of like this era, where everyone is struggling to figure out how to expand beyond their own system, but obviously the other races benefit from a native AI that optimizes their progress.  I have to learn by trial and error, which I suppose is part of the fun.  As I said, nerfing the game into super easy mode could be done easily enough (massive star grid, few other races, no pirates, etc) but where's the challenge in that.

And now my first colony appears to be upset about something and refuses to pay taxes.  Must be 'mercians...

[Staggerwing]

And now my first colony appears to be upset about something and refuses to pay taxes.  Must be 'mercians...

Mercians? Would that make you Star King Offa?  ;D

[Kushan]

I think my primary challenge is just trying to figure out all the things going on.  I just had three research stations blow up as the result of suspected sabotage, and I also notice that if I don't research "assault pods" as one of my first weapon techs, the pirates seem to have this and use it against me (they just captured a mining station and a cruiser).  It seems as if there is a "perfect" research tree / mining / ship and fleet build scheme that is just beyond my ken.

I never go for assault pods early on. I normally got for rail guns right at the start. I find the -10% accuracy is more then made up its ability to penetrate shields. Try adding more ah bit modules to your early base designs. Along with troops modules and I think assault pods as well, habitat modules in erase your boarding defense strength.[/quote]

[Nefaro]

And now my first colony appears to be upset about something and refuses to pay taxes.  Must be 'mercians...

Mercians? Would that make you Star King Offa?  ;D

LOL!

;D


Or Lady Aethelflaed?

[OJsDad]

Jack, have you applied any of the updates.  The issues you're describing with the pirates I haven't seen so far.  And from what you've stated about the game settings, it doesn't sound like the pirates should be overly aggressive.