Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

CONSTRUCTION

1.2.7 Happiness effects construction rates; the happier, the better rate:
Mood Riot Modifier := 0
Mood Angry Modifier := 80
Mood Unhappy Modifier := 90
Mood Indifferent Modifier := 100
Mood Happy Modifier := 110
Mood Jubilant Modifier := 120

1.2.7.1 Rioting Planets do not construct anything, as the construction queue will display "Never." To resolve Rioting:
a. Station a fleet in that system. Better yet, park it over a specific planet that you want to improve.
b. Build troops in the system. Building troops on a planet also increases happiness for that particular planet. Tip: Amount of troops count, not quality, so you can design cheap troops with minimal components.
c. System happiness facilities, such as the Urban Pacification Center (I, II, II) or special tech facilities/shrines increase hapiness. The effects of these facilities seem to be very gradual, requiring several turns.
d. Winning battles improves population confidence and improves happinness, especially in the system in which the battle occurs.

1.2.8 Population effects construction rates; the higher population, the better bonus to production.

1.2.9 Space Yards improve production. You are allowed only one space yard per planet. Invest research in better Space Yard Technology (I,II,III) to increase construction rate. Note: (Special Tech) Temporal Space Yards have better rates. Unfortunately, you must first scrap your standard Space Yard in order to build them.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

TIPS
****
SETTING UP A GAME
==================
4.1.2.
Choosing an uncommon atmosphere type such as Methane or Carbon Dioxide is a good idea, since you will face less competition for breathable planets.

4.2.7.
Friget should be spelled Frigate.

[ August 06, 2002, 18:33: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The satellite facts are wrong.

1.5.3.1 Only one Ship or Base can mine a location at once. Whichever is placed first will mine.
All mining components on a ship or base will produce, and the value of the planet or asteroids will drop exactly 1% per turn no matter how many mining components you have.

1.5.3.2 In a stack of satellites, up to three satellites can mine, provided they all have robo-miners working on different resources.
Three mineral miner sats will produce the same amount of minerals as one mineral miner sat. A mineral miner sat plus a radioactives miner sat can both work on the same location at the same time, producing the full amount of both resources.

1.5.4.2 In order to make your mining operations Last longer, use only one type of robo miner per base. If all of your robo miners are Mineral miners, the organics and radioactives value of the planet or asteroids will not decrease. When the minerals are gone, you can retrofit the base to an organics or radioactives miner, and continue production for many years to come.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

[quote]Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:

Quote:

1.5.4.2 In order to make your mining operations Last longer, use only one type of robo miner per base.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hmm... I think this is might be wrong. A robominer will cause reduction in all resource types. I haven't checked recently, but that used to be the case. Has it changed?

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Actually, it has been that way since at least v1.49.

PS: 1.5.4.2 was meant to come after 1.5.4

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Not sure where to put this, maybe Technology? BTW, why does Religious Studies have such an odd case number?

SYSTEM FACILITIES

3.1 - Production bonuses from system facilities do not appear on the listings of individual planets' output, but the extra production is included in the totals on the (F11) Empire Status page.

3.2 - System facility effects stack with planetary facility effects.

[ August 11, 2002, 19:56: Message edited by: capnq ]

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Will incorporate later this week, as to the Talisman number, there is a logical explanation http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Didn't see this in the FAQ.

Is there any way to make Satellites automatically deploy when built every turn? Sure gets annoying to have to go launch 'em every turn when I may have a number of planets building them.

Bin

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Please ask this question as a new thread, when you get an answer post in this thread and I'll incorporate it into the faq.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Yes, just give the planet the "launch remotely/satellites" command, then hit repeat orders. Then each turn, the planet will try to launch satellites, even if there aren't any stored in cargo.

I think. Actually, I'm about 97% sure this is correct. Well, make that 96%.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Help me out here, fellas...

WEAPONS
2.4.4 Weapon Types / Classes
2.4.4.1 Seeking. Example: (Missiles, Crystalline Torpedo). Once launched, have a %100 hit probably unless intercepted by point defense, fighters, or some direct fire weapons.
2.4.4.2 Direct Fire. Example: (Anti Proton Beams, Normal Torpedoes). Must be fired within range determined by weapon type and mount. Offensive Bonus and Defensive Bonus variables affect the actual chance to hit.
2.4.4.3 Point Defense. Example: (Point defense I-V). Automatically fire at seekers or fighters when in weapon range.
2.4.4.4 Armor and Shield Skipping. Example: (Null Space, Engine Destroyers, Weapon Destroyers). Successful hits ignore enemy armor and shield components. Engine/Weapon Destroyers do damage to those components only.
2.4.4.5 Armor Skipping Example: (Boarding Parties, Security Stations, Crystalline Shard Cannons).
2.4.4.6 Shield Skipping. Example (Phased Polaron Beams). Successful hits ignore normal shield components. Phased Shields absorb Phased Polaron hits (Shields 6+ technology).

2.4.5 Targeting. In order for a weapon to fire at a particular target (satellites, ships, etc.), that target must be included in the Weapon Details "Targets" list.

[ August 15, 2002, 16:04: Message edited by: Stone Mill ]

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

2.4.4.4 Armor and Shield Skipping -- I think the patch was supposed to change the Engine Destroyers so that they did not skip shields, not sure if Weapon Destroyers were included in this change or not.
Haven't had a chance to play with the new patch yet to verify this took effect, Last night was bowling night -- my only obsession other than SE. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Corrections:

2.4.4.1 Seeking. Example: (Missiles, Crystalline Torpedo). Once launched, have a 100% hit probability unless intercepted by point defense, or the target moves beyond the seekers' range.

[In the unmodded game, Point-Defense Cannons are the only weapon that targets seekers.]

2.4.4.3 Point Defense. Example: (Point-Defense Cannons I-V). Automatically fire at seekers, fighters, satellites, and drones when in weapon range.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

it might be interesting to add a section on the most know mods and what they are focusing on. a lot of questions of that kind have come up. i can't help you much with this since i'm a newbie myself when it comes to mods. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

This may have been suggested before but I don't see it here.

Add a cargo pod to the Colony Ship design used to colonize your race's breathable planets. Then when you hit the "Colonize" button to send a ship off to a planet (whether you do it from the planets screen or main screen) extra pop will be loaded to give that colony a kick-start.

I use 3 colony ship designs:

CS-LR - long range (has a supply pod on it)
CS-SR - short range with cargo pod for breathable (green + planets)
CS-SR-nbr - short range, no cargo pod for non-breathable atmosphere planets (red + -- cheaper to build). I use these for storage planets so pop doesn't matter as much.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Newbie question: What does racial experience mean? Does this somehow give the race an edge, does it carry over across different games (importing a pre-made race), or is it just an indication of how much a particular race is played?

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

From what I heard on previous discussions, the racial experience has no effect on the game. Theory is that it is a feature that was never implemented. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Thanks, Tsaarx. Are you doing your resupply with simultaneous or sequential turns? All I ever play is simultaneous, so there may be a difference.

Also, addendum to 2.4.2.02:
Well, I was about to list all the variables that could affect the chance to hit a direct-fire weapon, but that would make for a huge entry, so....

2.4.3 Chance to hit with direct-fire weapons
The chance that a direct-fire weapon will hit its target depends on the following factors:
2.4.3.1 Range: longer range is less chance to hit (-10% per square on the tactical map).
2.4.3.2 Racial bonuses: aggressiveness for the attacker, defensiveness for the target.
2.4.3.3 Cultural bonuses: the Space Combat bonus of both attacker (added) and target (subtracted).
2.4.3.4 Ship and fleet experience: experience of the attacker is added to the chance, experience of the defender is subtracted. Ship and fleet experience are cumulative (if the ship is in a fleet).
2.4.3.5 Inherent weapon to-hit bonuses: for example, the Wave-Motion Gun has a built-in +30% chance to hit.
2.4.3.6 Size of the target: smaller ships (light cruiser and smaller) are harder to hit.
2.4.3.7 Components: Combat sensors on the attacker increase the chance to hit; ECM, stealth armor, and scattering armor on the defender all decrease the chance.
2.4.3.8 Weapon mount: some mounts, such as weapon platform mounts, increase the chance to hit.
2.4.3.9 Caveats
2.4.3.9.1 If the attacking ship has a talisman, every direct-fire shot will hit, if in range.
2.4.3.9.2 Without a talisman, the highest adjusted chance to hit you can have is 99%.
2.4.3.9.3 The lowest adjusted chance to hit you can have is 1%.

I think that the base chance to hit is 100% before modifiers come into play, but someone should confirm this. I hope I remembered all the to-hit variables....

Quikngruvn

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

The base to-hit is 100%, and is moddable in settings.txt.

However, the closest two ships can get without ramming each other is range 1, so that might make it effectively 90%

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

This is getting huge http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Thanx guys

Lots of "stuff" to think about. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Hello, I have been keeping “good to know” notes when I find out something that is not [or not well] documented]. Some of these have “bit” me in a game so I wrote them down so that I didn’t have to remember them all. I have gotten a wealth of info from the “dubious strategy guide” and this forum. You guys are always willing to help newbies and are very mature, which is why I like reading this forum. Please don’t be offended if you see something below which you posted; sometimes I just cut and paste into my notes file for future reference. Most of these have been originally written by the community and I found interesting. Please use any/all in the newbie guide and give credit to the community. Also, please look for mistakes and redundancies. Some of these may seem very simplistic to the veterans here but each one was not obvious to me at the time I copied it so I think they may be useful in a newbie guide.

- bases and sats have unlimited supplies.

- sats or other orbiters will attack a newly captured planet. need to eliminate them before capture. Weapon Platforms will not attack troops and don’t participate in ground combat.

- ships with a spaceyard can’t build while cloaked but can repair while cloaked. [icon changes from “spaceyard” to “repair” while cloaked.

- Cloaking: cloaked sats with sensors work well for recon. cloaking devices uses supplies, not sure about stealth armor. cloaked ships can get into combat if they encounter ship with right sensors. you can launch/recover fighters/mines[not recover]/satellites, transfer cargo, resource mine while cloaked
cannot colonize while cloaked. cloaked ships can’t be retrofitted

- all components on sats/fighters/mines/drones are inactive when unlaunched.

- ships lose fleet experience when they leave fleet.

- ships must leave fleet to be refit or do specialized functions [use emergency supply, build ships, etc.]

-ships will decloak when out of supplies

- atmosphere converters can be scrapped after the atmosphere is converted.

- each crew quarter counts as 16 defense against Boarding Parties

- there is a limit of 10 warp points per system

- need to add weapons to a ship in the order you want them to fire in combat

- specialty weapons [eg. weapon damaging] leave no “excess” damage. If it doesn’t destroy weapon, it does nothing.

- mounts on tractors don’t improve tractor

- tractors are not able to pull in larger ships

- 1] you can't design a ship unless it has the requested number of LS/CQ, or a MC. 2] ships lose movement if they have ZERO lifesupports or crewquarters remaining. 3] ships lose movement if they have no intact bridge or aux con. 4] any ship with an intact MC is exempt from rules 2 & 3. One each of B/LS/CQ is enough to fly the ship normally, but you can't save that design unless you have an MC [or are designing a ship < 450KT in size].

- you can self destruct mines

- Organic armor will regenerate only in battle, not in strategic mode. If got 1 left, engage immobile target and just sit there to regenerate.

- domed worlds are 1/5 facilities of non-domed. domed sphere worlds are 1/2. not sure about ring worlds.

- emergency supply & propulsion pods need a spaceyard [not repair bay] to repair.

- rock/none gives moons a whole new meaning.

- no use in training missile ships or using combat sensors - missiles either hit or miss based on range & pd.

- don’t forget to set the strategy of a new ship design

- if all ships in a fleet break formation, they go to their individual ship orders. this may be what you want.

- victory conditions are “and” not “or”

- good ratio - minerals:organics:radioactives = 5-10:1:2-3. increase organics if you are organic racial, endgame increase radioactives

- mothballing a ship resets its crew experience to 0%

- retrofitting a ship does not affect its crew experience.

- you can shift cargo between anything in the same sector with cargo components, even a planet and its moons. built units will be placed in the cargo components of the building unit. if none/full, they will be placed in any other cargo components in the sector [ships, planets, moons]. if all full, you get log message saying unavailable storage.

- don’t mothball your Last spaceyard ship in a fleet - you need an active spaceyard to unmothball.

- System facility effects stack with planetary facility effects.

- it costs 50% [of the cost of the new facility] to upgrade a facility

- how much does retrofitting cost? 120%, 30% for component removal

- what does experience do? 20% Experience [whether gained from training or combat] would give your ships a 20% less-likely-to-be-hit modifier and a 20% more-likely-to-hit-with-direct-fire-weapons modifier.

- solar generators have increased benefits if more stars are present

- pdc’s get a 70% to-hit bonus. incinerator beams get a 10% to hit bonus. wmg’s get a 30% to hit bonus
high energy magnifiers get a 30% to hit bonus. tachyon canons get a 10% to hit bonus. mental singularity generators get at 20% to hit bonus

- units in same sector stack and count as 1 unit. any component on any in the stack applies to all, except shields [until that unit is killed]. ie. 1 multiplex tracking component on 1 sat in a group makes the whole group able to multiplex track until that component is destroyed.

- when a stack of units takes damage, all structure is added up and when enough accumulate to destroy 1 unit, it is killed. no partials.

- do pdc’s need multiplex tracking? no.

- captured population [by any means] loses all of its racial attributes and is identical to yours except they retain their atmosphere breathing so can be used to populate your colonies appropriately AND they slowly get unhappy over time so you need to account for that so they don’t riot [riot police, upc, etc.].

- pdc’s won’t fire automatically unless you or the target moves and is in range; but they can be fired manually.

- you can get ripped off in the “build 1 turn’s worth” since extra build capacity is lost- check out the build times for 1,5,10,etc if you were going to build that many anyway - could be shorter since additional build points are lost, but you won’t get any of your units until the entire build time is complete.

- ships do retain original strategies after being retrofitted or captured - you can overcome this by making a 1-ship fleet and giving it new fleet orders.

- Income is better than a savings account with no interest. quote I saw regarding whether to build a facility on a poorly valued planet.

- Facilities undergoing upgrade still produce. Do not scrap to upgrade!

- Shields are not active against mines.

- having more population increases production rate [see settings.txt]

- happiness affects resource production [see settings.txt]

- there is no way in unmodded game to detect mines without running into them.

- repairs cost no resources.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

there is an enormous guide compiled of Posts from this forum in the archives. I don't think it's been updated since gold, but the vast majority of it is very much still useful.

It's called the Dubious strategy guide and you can find it in the must visit sites sticky... A lot of what is being compiled in here is already in there.

I mean this guide is HUGE.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Thanks, Tsaarx. Are you doing your resupply with simultaneous or sequential turns? All I ever play is simultaneous, so there may be a difference.
<snip>
</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yeah, my info is based on sequential. It may very well be different in simultaneous (like so many other things that are different between the two styles)...

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I agree with most of the notes you posted; I have just a couple minor comments...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Actually, you don't have to leave a fleet to build a ship; you just can't access the build screen directly from the fleet. (i.e., when you have the fleet selected on the main screen, the "build queue" icon won't light up). HOWEVER, if you go to the Construction Queues screen, you should be able to find the appropriate spaceyard ship/base in the list and you can add items to the queue from there. I do this for building ringworlds/sphereworlds - not only is it easier on the eyes to have all those ships in a single fleet, if you access the queues from the construction queues screen you can do use multi-add for setting up builds on the plating or cables...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I think some ships retain the fleet orders even when they break formation, but I could be wrong about this. There's been a lot of discussion about ship orders vs. fleet orders and what each strategy really means...

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

That was alot!
I'm a newbie myself, haven't finished a single game yet but have two in progress, one PBW.
So I can't verify anything.
I have two kids and a full time work so to incorporate I usually just use your method, slick; I cut and paste.

To incorporate Slicks big post to the appropriate places will take time and as nothing is numbered I'll be glad if I have it done this year.

I really like when people add numbers,and I'd be happy if people copied the entire faq and incorporated new things themself http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

All this said I'm glad Slick posted that big post as it contains alot of usefull newbie info!

Javaslinger > Yes, I know most information can be found in different threads, but there isn't so much compiled into any easy to orientate order.
This FAQ isn't well organized either, it's grown out of the originial proportions http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
When you are a newbie as me it's not easy to search for all the info you need, it's easier if it's compiled into something with a newbie friendly topic title as FAQ for newbies http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Now I gotta go and put my oldest (5 years) to bed.

[ September 09, 2002, 19:03: Message edited by: Ruatha ]

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Sorry about the “no numbers” but I wasn’t sure what if anything you wanted to include. I am married with children too.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">0.0.0.0 Forum Navigation
Forums Posts appear latest post first, so you can easily check up on the newest responce to a long thread

0.0.0.1 To see the begining of a forum thread, click the "Printer-friendly view of this topic" icon at the bottom of the page(thanks Gryphin!)

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Great content, Slick.

Don't sweat the numbering. I'm sure Ruatha can make it fit. He's done a great job already.

I agree; it is the organization of this post that makes it a handy reference!

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">¿This is really possible? I'm trying to do it and when i hit "launch remotely/satellites" the planet launches all its satellites and then the order is deleted. I can't hit the "repeat orders" since there is no orders to repeat. Am I doing something wrong?

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">¿This is really possible? I'm trying to do it and when i hit "launch remotely/satellites" the planet launches all its satellites and then the order is deleted. I can't hit the "repeat orders" since there is no orders to repeat. Am I doing something wrong?</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">"repeat orders" for launching satellites from a planet is only possible in simultaneous movement games AFAIK

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">PDC's do NOT fire automatically at drones, nor do they automatically fire at satellites. I do know that they can be manually fired on satellite Groups. I don't remember if they can target drones, though. Somebody will have to check.

When firing PDC's manually from a ship that is armed with other weapon types, the order in which you attack your targets does matter. On ships not equipped with Multiplexing components, firing the PDC's at the satellite group prevents you from firing your direct fire/missile weapons at a different target on the same turn. However, if you fire your direct fire/missile weapons at the other target first, you may still fire the PDC's at the satellite group afterwards.

--raynfala

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Is there some reason this thread isn't stickied?? I think it's a prime candidate.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Here's a tip:

Before colonizing a 'ruin planet' make sure that your research queue is filled. If it is - there's a good chance that you might get some of the queue finished for you from the discovered ruins.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">PDC's do NOT fire automatically at drones, nor do they automatically fire at satellites. I do know that they can be manually fired on satellite Groups. I don't remember if they can target drones, though. Somebody will have to check.
<snip>--raynfala</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">PDC's firing at drones is supposed to have been fixed in Patch 2:
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">As for PDC's firing at satellites, ISTR my PDC's automatically firing at satellites when my ships moved, but not when sitting still. And seekers/fighters/drones are a higher targetting priority for PDCs anyway...

[ September 11, 2002, 18:53: Message edited by: DirectorTsaarx ]

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Again, more of my notes. Credit to the great community.

- defensive bonuses from stealth + scattering armor do stack - a powerful combination.

- cloaking devices use supplies; stealth armor does not.

- does long range scanning (from long range scanners) happen automatically or do you have to click on enemy ships? must manually click on the enemy ship and the design does not show up in your enemy designs list until you actually get into combat with it. I reported this to MM as a bug.

- is there a comprehensive buglist posted anywhere? no.

- do asteroids affect sight? no.

- in the default AI .txt files, there is absolutely no difference between a tribute and a gift regarding chances for accepting/refusing nor happiness modifiers. There may be differences for individual races.

- wormhole defense: on the “receiving” end, all units clumped together at start of combat. build defenses on short range/overwhelming attacks.

- you can get ripped off on upgrading ships. Check that you are not upgrading engines of the same type from I to II or III - no benefit, but additional cost. Master computers, almost the same thing, slight decrease in size is the only benefit, usually not worth the cost. Check every component to see if there is enough of a benefit to make it worth the cost.

- if you know or suspect an enemy psychic race, begin transitioning to Master Computers before war breaks out - makes Allegiance Subverters useless.

- for strategic combat, I have found that ships that have multiple weapon types and are very flexible are not handled well by the AI. The AI seems to be better at handling single purpose ships. The opposite seems true for tactical combat because, obviously, a human is in control.

- It almost always makes good sense to use the largest mount you can. Check out the specialty weapons to see if you really need the benefit.

- Monolith facilities are very expensive and will take many turns to break even - use wisely. You can do a calculation of the break even (and even factor in the use of a Resource Converter) to see what makes better sense.

- On ships, Spaceyard III and Repair Bay III both repair 8 per turn; all planet Spaceyard facilities only repair 5 per turn. Moral: better to repair in space.

- Spaceyard ships can repair & retrofit while moving, assuming the ship it is repairing/retrofitting can move. Spaceyard ships cannot build while moving.

- Be sure you really need high levels of Multiplex tracking before you research it - do you really expect your ships to engage 5 enemies every turn?

- Be careful you don’t run out of supplies on your CSM ships - each CSM V uses 20 supplies.

- Since shields must be lowered to use Boarding Parties (and they don’t come back up unless you have shield regenerators), armor is a better choice on BP ships. Also consider use of shield depleting weapons on BP Ships.

- Mine Sweeper level-X, sweeps X mines of ANY size per component; keep this in mind when making Medium & Large mines.

- you can get ripped off when analyzing an enemy ship. Although the analyzer might show “minor” or “moderate”, etc., if the enemy ship has racial techs which you do not possess, you will not get them.

- even though PDC’s don’t require multiplex tracking, if you fire them before normal weapons in tactical combat, you lose 1 multiplex “slot” for that turn. I reported this to MM as a bug.

- mounts that add range will add as follows: example: say your normal mount weapon does 60 50 40 30 20 10. using the massive weapon platform mount (adds 6 range, 5x damage), the weapon now does 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 250 200 150 100 50 (!) i.e. it takes the range 1 damage, multiplies by 5, then adds this in before the rest of the damage string. this makes those range 8 weapons able to reach out and touch someone at range 14! at 5x damage!! People, that is a 55-gallon drum of industrial strength WHOOPASS!

- If you retrofit a damaged ship, you don’t pay as much - it had to be repaired anyway. also if a ship will take several turns to retrofit/repair, mothballing it will allow you to save on the maintenance costs. Don’t forget that mothballing will reset crew experience to 0%.

- computer virus attacks skip armor and shields, destroy MC's (which reduces movement to 1), but do no other damage, and does NOT take over control of the ship.

- In addition to moving the target ship, as far as damage goes, Tractor, Repulsor, & Wormhole beams will damage shields equal to their damage rating, but nothing else will be damaged, even if shields are down. Mounts will increase the damage to shields.

- If they hit, Energy Dampeners disrupt all target's weapons for the number of turns equal to the "damage". Mounts will increase the "damage" so larger mounts will increase number of turns disrupted. Multiple hits from ED's will add together - example: 2 hits from a normal mount ED-III (damage = 3) on the same turn will disrupt all target's weapons for the next 6 combat turns.

- Self destruct devices will automatically destruct a ship if it has been taken over by boarding, and can be used manually if the ship is under your control. It will not self destruct a ship taken over by other means (crew insurrection, subVersion, etc.)

- 1 Resource Converter can service your whole empire, or federation, or collective... you get the picture. Build it in a secure location.

- Emergency Supply Pods, Emergency Propulsion Pods, Self Destruct Devices, Stellar Manipulation components, Repair Bays, and Space Yards cannot be used in combat.

- Anything in the cargo storage of your colonizer will be deposited in the cargo of the planet when it is colonized i.e. Weapon Platforms, etc. Any colonists or cargo beyond the capacity of the planet will be lost, however.

Slick

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOPS!

*blush*

Patch before you leap, I guess. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

I like how fighters have been appropriately nerfed. I was using them almost exclusively in my turn-based single-player campaigns. It was easy to take out an entire system in one turn with a modest squadron of fighters on a single carrier.

I was starting to rely on them too heavily. Now I'll be forced to figure out new methods of dishing it out... not a bad thing.

Trying my first campaign where all players start out with max tech. I haven't met any other empires just yet, but I'm imagining the blood's really gonna spill when I do.

--Raynfala

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

after your next update, I will submit any future addtions with appropriate numbers to make it easier in the future.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Maybe this is the best place for these questions:

- If I launch fighters and combine them with a fleet in strategic mode before a battle, do the fighters get the fleet experience bonuses?

- If I send an empty colonizer on a suicide mission in hostile territory simply to try to get the ruins, do I get the ruins tech or do I need to sacrifice population also?

- Are there any ground combat offensive/defensive modifiers?

- is there a chance that intel projects can fail/succeed independent of the amount of counter-intel? It seems that the only modifier is counter-intel.

- What are the exact percentages of the “AI bonus”? What is it applied to? only resource generation? What about research and intelligence? What about combat bonuses?

Thanks,
Slick

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The level II and III engines are cheaper than the level I.
You will save money on maintenance in the long run.

1) fighters get fleet experience bonuses.
2) population is not required to get ruins tech.
3) There are small combat sensors and small ecm, I believe.
4) Only puppet political parties has a chance to fail independent of counter intel, IIRC.
5) something like 2x, 3x, and 5x. Applies to research, intel, resources.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Can somebody put these Posts in one big file that can be downloaded. It would really help us Newbies out!

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Check Ruatha's post one page back. It is, I think the latest compilation of all these tips.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

A little question http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/blush.gif
How Ships/Bases get experience? By number of ships destroyed? Or tonnage? Or battles winned? Planets count as experience? And units?

Sorry if this was answered before.

Edit: A little idea for DavidG

What about adding resolution select for the modder? I like to play in 800 X 600 but my work resolution is 1280 X 1024. It's a pain changing resolution from control panel every time I play SEIV. Thanks.

[ September 24, 2002, 23:25: Message edited by: Shyrka ]

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I used to like 800x600, then I found out that 1024x768 actually gives you extra information on certain screens like tatical combat! Plus, you don't have to scroll through all the buttons!

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Ships and bases can get experience from training facilities and from battle I believe it is done by tonnage...but I'm not super sure...

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I used to like 800x600, then I found out that 1024x768 actually gives you extra information on certain screens like tatical combat! Plus, you don't have to scroll through all the buttons!</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">If you play SE4 while your resolution is 1280 x 1024 the game run's at 1024x768.
But the scroll-lists like ships/units, colonies and planets use the extra space!
Less scrolling - more information on the screen.
Try it and you won't switch back http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
(i'm running xp)

[ September 25, 2002, 07:38: Message edited by: zaphod-42 ]

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Every time one of your ships destroys an enemy ship, yout ship earns 1% experience. I am not entirely sure how fleet experience is earned. The easiest way to get experience is to build training facilities. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

IF: I know for a fact that that is incorrect. I don't know how it does work, but I know that's how it doesn't work. Time and time again I've found myself wondering, "how many #@&** ships does that frigate have to kill in order to gain any experience?!?!?!???". Apperantly, it is a lot.

However, fighters/seekers count, too. So in the early game (before training complexes), your PDC cruisers will gain experience much faster than your front line warships. And experience carries over when you retrofit a ship. So.... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Are you using missiles? I don't believe missiles give you experience.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Really? Then, I think this is a bug http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

And for the experience, if every time that a ship kills an enemy it gains 1% experience no matter of tonnage, then you can build a large number of empty hulls and then gift it to the enemy. Then you come with your ships and annihilates that fleet, exchanging resources for experience. I will try it! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Really? Then, I think this is a bug http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">It was always that way. It was rationalized as the guy who poked the fire button didn't really learn anything new, the missile tracked the ship.

The missile might have picked up some good tactics but ...

Ensign Jane: "Lieutenant ... I uh..."
Lt. Liu: "Speak up ensign"
Ensign Jane: "I got a strange telemetry reading from that Last missile the struck the Ammonkre destroyer"
Lt. Liu "Well what was it"
Ensign Jane: "It said: "I know everything"
Lt. Liu "Pay no attention to that, the robotic core usually releases some such foo ... it's a side effect of the advanced AI tracking heuristics"
Ensign Jane: "But what if ..."
Lt. Liu "Ensign... if you can't handle combat, maybe you need see the med lab...NOW..."

"Admiral Jones, the frigate Firestar had lost it's entire munitions supply, apparently some shell shocked ensign jettisoned the entire magazine yelling "You're free ... you're free ... experience the universe ..."

[ September 25, 2002, 22:48: Message edited by: Arkcon ]