Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

You should probably start a new thread for that.
Pretty much everything in this thread is all part of the unmodded game, and its hints and tips, not a mod.
You install the items listed in this thread into your brain http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

PS: You need to be more patient with the submit button! You're double and triple posting, and I get to clean up after you.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Geetings all from a (one week) newbie.

Having read the Boards at length I have to say excellent stuff for the newbie FAQ http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif I read an early post from Zanthis (Feb 01) which was magnificent in its scope on armour, but was for SE4 and it mentioned potential future patches/fixes. Does anyone know if the figures are still accurate in SE4G (1.78)?

Swamprat

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hi.
Don't really know as I'm a newbie myself.
But if I remember correctly the latest patch altered armour some so I'd guess: No.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Ohh, It's stickified, I'm honoured http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Ruatha,

I've just got to know. Why on earth would you post the entire Table of Contents?? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

mlmbd http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Inspiration strikes again.... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

1.1.2.2 Crystalline Facilities
1.1.2.2.1 The Crystalline Restructuring Plant reduces maintenance of all your ships in that system.
1.1.2.2.2 The Energy Transmission Lens increases the shield strength of all your ships in the system.

1.3.3 Choose atmosphere of None can be very tempting, since then all those moons out there become breathable. The trade-off is that there are fewer regular planets with no atmosphere, and no gas giant will ever be breathable (since gas giants cannot have no atmosphere, even with an Atmosphere Converter).

4.3.1 [addition] Multiple Atmosphere Converters on the planet will speed up the process.

4.3.6 Climate Control Facilities can be scrapped once the colony's conditions are Optimal. Multiple CCF's will speed the process.

4.3.7 Value Improvement Plants can be scrapped once all resources are at the maximum level, which is 250%. Multiple VIP's will speed the process. You will only see improvements on turns that end in xxxx.0.

4.4.3.1 [addition] ...will go into slow mode (25% of normal construction rate)....
4.4.3.2 If a colony that is in Emergency Build mode starts rioting (meaning no production at all), those turns still count toward the recovery time in slow-build mode. Example: a colony has been emergency building for four turns. It then falls into rioting for two turns with no production, then stops rioting and emergency builds for two more turns before emergency build is turned off. The colony will be in slow-build mode for eight turns.

[formatting change] 4.4.9 through 4.4.12 should become 4.4.8.1 through 4.4.8.4.

4.8.2 In combat, a planet will launch any fighters and drones it has in storage when attacked. Fighters will be recovered, but drones will not. A planet will not launch satellites or mines while in combat.

5.5.26 You cannot retrofit a ship to include a Colony Module or a Space Yard if one was not present on the ship already.

5.7.6 [disagreement] Training a missile ship will not make its missiles more likely to hit, but it will still be more likely to be missed by enemy direct-fire weapons.

5.11.4 [addition] Mines can be ordered to self-destruct.

5.11.6 There is a limit of 100 mines per sector and 100 satellites per sector.

6.4.4 [change] In the post-1.78 patch, even if the Master Computer is destroyed, by Computer Virus or otherwise, the ship is still immune to the Allegiance Subverter.

6.9.5 A blockaded planet can still construct stuff, as long as the colony is not rioting due to the enemy ships in orbit.

7.2.10 [addition] The default setting is 1 militia per 20M population.

8.2.5 If a planet or carrier launches fighters during combat, any surviving fighters are automatically picked up once combat ends.

8.3.1 Range does not matter for troop weapons. All troop weapons are assumed to be fired at range 1.
8.3.2 Troops are deployed in the order they are loaded onto the transport ship. A devious tactic is to design two Versions of troops, one that has only shields and one that had only weapons. If you load the shielded troops before the weapon troops, the shielded troops will be attacked first by the enemy militia. This should give your gunners all the protection they need to wipe out the planet's militia.

9.5.1.1 The Matter Gravity Sphere will create a planet that is the same size as the asteroid field that is used, i.e. huge asteroid fields make huge planets.
9.5.1.2 Be careful when using less than the highest level of the MGS. An MGS 1 used on a hugh asteroid field will ony create a medium planet.
9.5.1.3 A created planet will have the same resource percentages as the asteroid field used. So be careful with remote miners if you plan on creating planets later.

10.0.2 The AI tends to get ticked off if you and it claim the same system(s). Relinquishing claims on contested systems (under Empires--> Borders) might make the AI less snippy.

10.1.2 [clear redundancy]

10.1.5 Counterintelligence (CI) points are drawn from points stored in CI projects. If a CI project is allowed to complete, all the accumulated CI points in that project disappear.

16.1 Popular mods [Note: these are my impressions of these mods. Anyone more familiar with them, please add/edit as you see fit!]
16.1.1 TDM-Modpack: greatly improves the stock AI and adds several new races and fleet formations, but does not change anything else in the game (components, techs, etc.). Created and maintained by Tampa_Gamer, Daynarr, and [K126]Mephisto.
16.1.2 Pirates and Nomads: introduces Quasi-Newtonian Propulsion (bigger ships need more engines to move), Pirate and Nomad racial traits (they do not need colonies to survive), and a whole slew of other gizmos and racial traits. Created and maintained by Suicide_Junkie.
16.1.3 Proportions: an attempt at a more 'realistic' game by dramatically slowing colony development. Reproduction is dropped to 10% of normal and production on lightly-inhabited worlds is significantly dropped, while homeworld production is boosted significantly. Also introduces many new components and facilities, and balances costs for racial characteristics. Created and maintained by PvK.
16.1.4 Devnullmod: Introduces new components and techs, a tweaked combat system, and AI's to use the changes effectively. Also includes the infamous Space Monsters. Created by Devnull, maintained by Rollo.
16.1.5 Fyron's Quadrant Mod: Introduces many new quadrant and system types, including several that are AI-friendly. Also includes nearly 40,000 (!) system names. Created and maintained by Imperator Fyron.
16.1.6 There are a whole bunch of other mods out there, such as the Babylon 5 mod, the Star Trek: The Next Generation mod, and Derek's Mod, that I am just not familiar enough with to comment on. There are many more that I have forgotten about as well. If I missed your favorite mod, please don't flay me, as I am just a scatterbrain (and I've written too much tonight as it is http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif ).
16.2 Managing Mods
16.2.1 Each mod is placed into its own directory in the Space Empires IV folder.
16.2.2 There are several ways to make SEIV use a mod instead of the stock files:
16.2.2.1 Use Matryx' Mod Launcher. Instructions are available with the program.
16.2.2.2 Edit the file path.txt. Instructions are in that file.
16.2.2.3 Launch SEIV using command line options. Instructions are in history.txt, under 'Version 1.39.'

Jeez, that was not intended to be as long-winded as it is. I guess I just got on a roll.... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Quikngruvn

[ November 10, 2002, 05:40: Message edited by: Quikngruvn ]

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Actually... it changes the Formations.txt file, and quite drastically, too. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">It is "Fyron," not "Fryon."

[ November 10, 2002, 04:48: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif I can't believe I did that, Fyron. I apologize for that.

[edit] Original message edited for easier cut-and-pasting, and to conceal the evidence. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif [/edit]

Quikngruvn

[ November 10, 2002, 05:41: Message edited by: Quikngruvn ]

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

No problem. I am used to Tesco calling me Fryon. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif I just thought it would be better in the newbie guide it the proper spelling was used, in case someone wanted to do a search for FQM or something. Fryon might not turn up too many results. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hi.
Why shouldn't I?
I don't really get what you are meaning http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

Anyway. Will incorporate the new stuff later this week.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Ahhh ... lots of updates and a sticky. Feels good. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif The waters fine, I'll jump in... I hope people will correct what I;m writing if its totaly wrong. But this question does come up once and a while.

16.# Combining MODs

16.#.1 Always put each mod in its individual subdirectory. If the mod changes a file, the subdirectory will contain a new file. If the mod subdirectory doesn't contain a certain file, SE4 uses the file from the default directory.

16.#.2 Once you've the MODs in their own subdirectory, you can see two MODs side by side.

16.#.3 If they don't modify the same file, it's easy to put them together. Just copy files over. Or create a new mod folder for your merged MOD.

16.#.4 If they do modify the same file, now you have some work to do. The data files are all text. You can cut and paste, but you have to be careful.

16.#.4.1 Definitely create a new folder for your new mod.

16.#.4.2 You have to check if there are redundant items, or incompatible items in the text files for your merged mod, and make some decisions about what to include.

16.#.4.3 Putting extra blank lines between text blocks and at the end of a text file has been known to confuse SE4 and cause it to not load the file.

16.#.4.4 Altering the order of some components has been know to affect the AI's ability to use a component. This is especially true with the colonization techs.

[ November 10, 2002, 13:15: Message edited by: Arkcon ]

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I don't feel so bad now... but thanks for clueing me in, for the sake of accuracy and so that maybe I won't look like a moron again.... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Quikngruvn

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Because this is a FAQ. A good FAQ lists the questions first, then the questions and answers.

If someone has a specific question, they can just read the ToC, then search the page for the number of the appropriate section, rather than skim the whole thing looking for the answer.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Only added the first Quikngruvn entry, will fix "fixes" and Arkcon later this week

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

If two system-wide facilities are built in the same system, its effects do not stack. But then what facility is doing the work? For example:

1 System Mineral Scanner I (+10% mineral prod.)
1 System Robotoid Factory III (+30% all resources prod.)

Which of them is working? The best (SRF)? The first built? (Sorry if it was answered before)

Edit: Correct "Mineral Scanner" to "System Mineral Scanner"

[ November 12, 2002, 00:06: Message edited by: Shyrka ]

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

The highest-rated facility is the one that works.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

1.4 AI bonus:

(I think)
AI bonus and construction rate:
Low x1.5, medium x2, high x3.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">How did you come to this conclusion?

Paragraph 1.4 already says that the bonuses are 2, 3 and 5 respectively.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Switch an empire under computer control to human player, check the construction queue window. Switch it back to computer control, check again.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

It does effect construction rate, but only for planets, not yards on ships.

[ November 25, 2002, 23:16: Message edited by: [K126]Mephisto ]

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">There is an Escort design from the Terran Confederation. It costs 3250 kt Minerals, 100 kt Organics and 300 kt Rads. In a game with low AI bonus this ship is built by the AI (empire under computer control) during the first turn, it is fully operational at the beginning of 2400.1.
The homeworld of the Terran Federation (under human control) has a construction rate of 3000 kt per turn, switch the empire to computer control and the number change to 4500 (low AI bonus).

EDIT: Terran Confederation is part of the TDM-Modpack.

Edit 2: Thanks for bringing an end to this "discussion", Mephisto.

[ November 26, 2002, 06:38: Message edited by: Rexxx ]

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

5.7.2.1 Ships lose fleet experience when they leave fleet.

Is this properly defined? Fleet experience is an attribute of the fleets, not of the sips.

BTW, How Fleet exp. is gained? I'm making experiments and i can't figure out how it works. It seems that the higher the individual ships experience, the faster the fleet gets experience. Is this correct? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Whenever one of the ships in the fleet destroys an enemy ship, the ship gains 1% experience and the fleet also gains 1%.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

I think the experience is a function of total hull tonnage destroyed, but I don't know the exact formulas.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Sorry Kamog, but in my tests this is not correct.

I have a 1 ship fleet with both experiences to zero. Then I send it to attack an unarmed escort. After that, the ship in the fleet has 1% experience, but the fleet experience still is zero.

After several victorious battles, the fleet experience raises to 1%. But it seems to depend of the individual ship experience, and maybe of the number of ships in the fleet. I can't understand it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

BTW I'm playing with 1.78 gold.

Edit: This is my post number 100! Wow! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[ November 30, 2002, 12:09: Message edited by: Shyrka ]

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Hi guys
I recently had to restart my system and lost my old Version of SEIV. I reinstalled but now none of my downloaded empires work! The TDM mod is now for gold only and whilst I want SEIV Gold, Living in the UK makes it way too expensive to buy the same game twice!
How can I get new empires onto an old Version of SEIV? Can anyone help me?
Cheers all http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">There's a section of the Mod Archives for "Classic mods (pre-Gold)" {link}. It has the Last pre-Gold Version of TDM (v2.00), plus the pre-Gold Version of my HypermazeLite mod. You should also check out the Old Scenario Archives {link} while they're still there.

You can also "reverse-engineer" Gold shipsets by using the conVersion instructions in my sig, but cutting the listed lines instead of copy & pasting them. You may also need to cut any entries for Drones in the AI's research & construction files; I've never tried converting backwards.

[ December 08, 2002, 04:23: Message edited by: capnq ]

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

1.5.2 In Simultaneous games, you can't launch units in increments; it is all or nothing.

1.5.3 In Simultaneous games, you will lose your remaining movement points when moving into an
unexplored system. Your ship will also stop and lose movement when encountering an enemy, but this can be changed under Empire Options.

2.3.1 (add) This is most applicable to Strategic Combat. You can manually select weapons to fire in
Tactical Combat.

2.4.1 (add) However, armor is effective against mines.

2.8.9 (add) However, if you fire PDC's before your other weapons, you can lose 1 multiplex tracking "slot". If you have no multiplex tracking component, you may then be unable to fire your main weapons at
another target. This bug does not apply if you fire your PDC's Last.

2.9.5 You don't have to put population on a colonizer in order to colonize a planet. Colonization will still take place, but you won't be able to build anything on the new planet without population. This is useful in sending a colony ship on a suicide mission to get a "ruin" planet in hostile territory. Since the colony won't survive long anyway, you can colonize the planet, get the ruin and not waste any population.

2.11.3 The latest history.txt file regarding the upcoming patch indicates that the relationship of fleet vs. ship strategies has been modified. Reserve this paragraph for future updates on this item.

2.13 Maintenance

2.13.1 Maintenance on your ships is 25% (settings.txt). You can decrease maintenance by increasing the Maintenance Aptitude characteristic or choosing a Cultural modifier that reduces maintenance. There is a hard coded minimum maintenance of 5%.

2.13.2 If unable to pay the maintenance, first any construction queues will not be accomplished. If the deficit is high enough, ships will automatically be scrapped to pay for the shortage. The AI will probably NOT choose wisely in scrapping your ships.

2.13.3 Things to do when maintenance is too high: place construction queues on hold, mothball ships, increase production (more facilities, increase happiness, remote mine, etc), scrap ships as a Last resort.

4.1.2 Play styles differ on how to explore early on. Find what works best for you. Some people use unarmed escorts with an extra supply storage component to maximize range. Others use colonizers and put them on a 1-way trip; colonize or die. Still others send out armed escorts which can quickly kill off a neighboring empire who has not yet set up any defenses.

4.2.11 Opinions differ on the value of colonizing moons. They can add to the overall strength of a sector. Cargo can be transferred readily between a planet and its moons. Colonizing moons keeps the AI or any other empire from colonizing them (a nasty habit). But it does cost you a colonizer, so you should not do it until you have colonized all the major planets in the area unless you have special circumstances.

4.4.3.3 Bug: If you give/trade a planet that has been operating on Emergency Build mode to another empire, its Emergency Build mode is turned off and its time in Emergency Build is cleared. It is considered cheating to use this exploit in multiplayer games.

4.4.8.5 A planet on Emergency Build, while rioting, still accumulates time in Emergency Build mode.

4.8.2 (add) The latest history.txt indicates that auto-launching of anti-planet drones will no longer occur after the next patch. Reserve this paragraph to for future discussion of this item.

5.2.1 Mine Layers

5.2.2 Mine Sweepers

5.2.3 Satellite Layers

5.2.4 Supply ships

5.2.5 Spaceyard & Repair Ships

5.2.6 Transports (Cargo, Troop, etc.)

5.2.6.1 I like to make a few "Dump Trucks" which are large transports with almost all cargo. Sometimes I put some Satellite or Mine layers on them to make them a little more flexible. Keeping one of these with your fleet allows you to carry enormous amounts of junk that you might want to carry around with you like extra population, troops, weapon platforms, replacement fighters, etc. If you have a spaceyard ship with your fleet and your fleet is stationary for at least 1 turn, you can "build 1 turn's worth" of something and the items will be placed in your Dump Truck for future use.

5.2.7 Exploration and Reconnaissance Ships

5.2.8 Stellar Manipulation Ships

5.6.2 If you have a Fleet Training Facility, it is a good idea to generate a few 1-ship fleets at that planet. After the fleet experience is maxxed out, you will have these fleets in stand-by waiting to be filled with ships and off you go.

5.10.5 Under "Empire Options" you can designate "Systems to Avoid". No ship will enter one of these systems unless you order it to go there directly. This means that ships on minister control or if given an order to move multiple systems away, will not go through that system.

6.1.14 A ship can do considerable damage (usually destroying it) to a fighter group by ramming it. Bug?

6.2.3 If the formation leader gets stuck by being surrounded by ships/objects and cannot move, the fleet will break formation.

7.2.9 (add) The positive happiness effect of 10 troops of any type will exactly cancel out the negative happiness of having alien population on a planet.

8.6.3 Weapon platform mounts increase range significantly, as well as the damage and accuracy.

8.7.5 Satellites do not use supplies.

8.7.6 Satellites in a sector will always be clumped together in 1 stack, frequently not positioned well for defense. Exception: at warp points, all friendly & enemy ships/units start combat close together.

9.2.1 Spaceports are required to allow resource (minerals, organics, radioactives, research and intelligence) points to contribute to your empire. Only 1 spaceport per system is required, but you can make more if interested in redundancy so that an attack on the spaceport planet won't necessarily cut off the whole system. The exception to this is the Natural Merchant ability which allows you to not need any spaceports.

9.3.3 With v1.78, you can turn on indicators for many system wide facilities under Empire Options. These show up as letters around a planet. These indicators will NOT show up if the system wide facility is on a moon.

10.0.3 Regarding where the AI will colonize, the AI automatically claims any system it has colonized, as well as every system right next to it. If the AI colonizes a disputed system, then that opens up a host of new disputed systems in your territory, and their expansion is not slowed at all.

10.0.4 There is a penalty associated with responding with a refusal to any offer made by the AI - the other empire increases its anger toward you. There does NOT appear to be any penalty for just not responding at all. Bug?

10.1.5 (add) So it is in your best interest to never let a CI project complete since all the points invested in it get lost.

10.2.2 It is sometimes difficult to find out what another empire has so that you can ask for it in a trade. Look at any enemy designs you have seen in combat to look for ship technologies. Use long range scanners on recon ships to check designs you haven't yet met in combat (these won't be added to the enemy ship design list until you meet it in combat). Use the intelligence projects for Ship Blueprints, Tech Levels and Planet Info to find other techs.

10.3.2 General communications with the AI are useless and in some cases (like Xenophobes) it actually makes them angry.

10.6.1 Some AI have a limit on the highest treaty to which they will agree. Nothing you can do will change this.

10.6.2 All treaties have cumulative effects which include the attributes of lower ones.

10.6.3 All treaties of Trade and higher are considered peace treaties for purposes of the victory condition "Peace for X years".

10.6.4 All treaties of Non-Aggression or higher prevent combat engagements.

10.6.5 Since the Military Alliance allows the ally to use your Resupply Depots, this can have some negative effects. The ally can now move throughout your empire and see what you have and if he is into colonizing in your systems, he can reach further.

10.6.6 Regarding Protectorate and Subjugation, the offering empire will be the dominant empire. So a small, weak empire can dominate a larger one if agreed to. In order to beg for mercy to become the submissive empire, you have to send a request and ask for a treaty of Protectorate/Subjugation in the "Give" section.

11.3.5 Be careful with the "Set Move To" option at a spaceyard when you build colonizers. Usually you don't want to automatically move colonizers.

[ December 19, 2002, 18:56: Message edited by: Slick ]

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Hi, great to see ya again Slick.
Good work as always.
Will incorporate in the future (Going away on christmas)

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Nice work Slick! You da man! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

QUESTION

Is there a way to Save a Que and then Load it for another Planet?

ANSWER

1. Open either the Planet Que (Recommended) or the Construction Que.
2. If you opened the Construction Que, then select the desired Planet.
3. Fill the Planets Que with whatever you desire.
4. Then Click on the FILL QUE button fourth up from the bottom of the menu to the right.
5. Click ADD
6. Name your new Que and save it. (Good idea to include Facility number, ie 18 Storage, Or 20 Blattle Ship, etc)
7. Click Cancle to exit.
8. Next time you open the Planet Que of a new planet, Click on FILL QUE and choose the Que (you named them) that you desire.
9. Presto Your Planet Que is full.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Great info. I keep telling myself that I need to start doing this. A Few follow ups:

- Is the list saved globally to be able to be used in any/all games or is it just for the current game?

- Is the list static or dynamic regarding upgrades? i.e. Do I have to make another list when I research another facility upgrade or is the queue updated automatically?

- Can I add ships or is it limited to facilities? If possible, what happens if an obsolete ship is called?

- Is there error checking if I try to build too many facilities?

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">From another thread. Needs to be formatted for the FAQ and added as paragraph 6.8.3

[ December 20, 2002, 15:35: Message edited by: Slick ]

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">This is already in the FAQ, under Construction (section 4.4.6). It's spelled queue. <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Current game only. [Edit] Correction: Geo reports that (F2) Game Menu/Save Empire saves the queues as well. <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Static, at least for ships and units; I'm not sure about facilities. Upgraded ships/units need a new saved queue. <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">If you can build it, it can go in a saved queue. <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">If the ship or unit is still shown on (F3) Designs when you turn off "Hide Obsolete", it will be inserted normally; if the obsolete design has already been purged, you get an error message: "We don't have the design for &ltitemName&gt." <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yes.

[ December 21, 2002, 20:54: Message edited by: capnq ]

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Thanks, Slick! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Quikngruvn

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Reformat and add as paragraph 4.6.8

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

1.1.1.1.2 Organic Weapons
Organic weapons cost organics and fewer minerals, which effectively makes them cheaper to build and maintain. Seeking Parasites are seekers with a reload of only 2. Small Electric Discharge is one of the best fighter weapons.

1.1.2.2. Crystalline Weapons
Crystalline weapons cost radioactives. Crystalline Torpedos (Seeker; Reload 2) and Shard Cannons ignore armor.

5.1 Attack & Defense Ships
These designations only matter to the AI. Defense ships will stay in the AIs claimed territory. Attack ships will go anywhere.

5.2 Support ships
Some useful types of support ships are: "tankers" with lots of supply storage and supply generation compononets, "tenders" with Repair Bays or Space Yard components, and "point-defense ships" with lots of Point - Defense Cannons and at least one other weapon. "Hospital ships" with Medical Bays are used to stop plagues.

9.2 Spaceports

9.2.1 [Add:] Planets in a system without a spaceport are marked with a red spaceport icon, and on (F5) Colonies/Production, their output is shown in parentheses.
[Add to Natural Merchants:] Your homeworlds will have an extra Mineral Miner Facility or Research Center in that slot.

[ December 21, 2002, 21:43: Message edited by: capnq ]

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Not exactly. They can be actually more expensive (costing more total resources), especially when you get to BBs and larger, which can cost more organics than minerals. You should say they cost fewer minerals, and can be built in fewer turns. They require fewer minerals for maintenance, but cost more organics.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

10.6 The possible treaty states, starting from the "lowest" are: War, Non-Intercourse, None, Non-Aggression, Subjugation, Protectorate, Trade Alliance, Trade & Research, Military Alliance, Partnership. <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I'm not sure this is correct; I think that limit is on what they'll offer, not what they'll accept.

Someone needs to verify how Subjugation and Protectorate work; I can't remember who has to offer the treaty. The game does not automatically check which side is "stronger" when the offer is made.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I'm not sure this is correct; I think that limit is on what they'll offer, not what they'll accept.

Someone needs to verify how Subjugation and Protectorate work; I can't remember who has to offer the treaty. The game does not automatically check which side is "stronger" when the offer is made.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">From Default_AI_Politics.txt:

Highest Allowed Treaty := Partnership

Therefore I am sure this is correct. Different AI's use race-specific politics files and can and do have settings below Partnership.

I also have verified (prior to posting the info) that the offering empire is the dominant empire in a Protectorate and Subjugation Treaty.

Thank you,
Slick

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">OK, I was remembering an old bug in that, which History.txt says was fixed in v1.59.

[ December 24, 2002, 00:13: Message edited by: capnq ]

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

I just learned this one the hard way. (Thanks, Geo!)

8.4.10 The default limit for mines in a sector is 100 per empire. This means that every empire can potentially have 100 mines in the same sector. It is customary to make fleets that can sweep 100 mines to be able to clear a given minefield, but this won't protect you from 2 or more allies who heavily mine the same sector. Note that your fleet will not be engaged by mines of an empire that you have a peace treaty with.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

4.2.12 You can colonize the moons by clicking on the main planet. If the main planet has moons, another window will pop up showing all planets & moons in the sector and you can select the one you want.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

I don't know if this is in the FAQ already, but it should be:

When a facility has "only one per system/planet effective", it refers to the ability of the facility, not to that specific facility. Eg: A System Robotoid Factory III and a System Mineral Scanner III do not stack, because they use the same ability (to affect minerals production).

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Question
How do I build Space / Repair yard ships?

I have the medium transport chassis available but it seems when I choose the "Space Yard ship" vechicle type it demands I use 50% of my tonnage in cargo holds.

This leaves no component slots or available tonnage for a repair bay or a space yard component.

What am I missing?

Answer

1. You would need to use a cruiser or larger hull size. the combat vehicles do not require the cargo minimum that transport ships have.

1 a. You cannot use the transport ships for anything but hauling cargo or colonization. i would use the transport to make a multi habitat type colony ship instead.

2. In the default rules, space yard and repair bay components don't have the "Cargo Storage" ability. To fit them onto a transport hull like that you'll have to go into the components.txt and add the "Cargo Storage" ability (recommend using 0 for the amount) to each space yard and repair bay component. Otherwise, you'll have to use a standard hull big enough to hold them.

3. ...keyword in hull type being 'transport'. In the stock hull type, anything with 'transport' (small, med, large) has the 50% cargo requirement. The easy way 'round it is what Sinapus recommends: add the cargo ability to the component.

The stock game wants you to use 'em as transports and not support vessels 'cause of the tonnage available at the lower tech levels (vs. standard hulls).

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

FOLLOW UP

Great info. I keep telling myself that I need to start doing this. A Few follow ups:

Question 1 - Is the list saved globally to be able to be used in any/all games or is it just for the current game?

Answer
For the game you use it in unless you save the empire your playing.

Question 2 - Is the list static or dynamic regarding upgrades? i.e. Do I have to make another list when I research another facility upgrade or is the queue updated automatically?

Answwer
I am not sure, but I think you have to manual update it. Good question. I will have to check.

Question 3 - Can I add ships or is it limited to facilities? If possible, what happens if an obsolete ship is called?

Answer
Yes you can add ships. As far as obsolete ships go, I believe it will add them any ways.

Question 4 - Is there error checking if I try to build too many facilities?

Answer
Yes, you will be given an error that your que has exceeded the amount of availible space. You just have to click OK a bunch of times to remove items.

[ December 27, 2002, 10:30: Message edited by: Atrocities ]

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

Here is a planet capture tip that I dont see in the FAQ but found through a search. For section 7.2.18 or so...

From this thread (even says it should be in the FAQ): Picking up troops after ground combat

Summarized:
7.2.18 To pickup troops after combat and capture multiple planets in one simultaneous turn, order your planet capture fleet to ATTACK (instead of MOVE) then, load troops, attack other planet, load troops, etc.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yes.

After starting SEIV,
1. Select NEW GAME
2. Click on the PLAYER SETTINGS tab.
3. At the bottom of this page choose the Racial Points for New Players. (2000, 3000, or 5000)
*I like to play with 5000 Racial Points.*
4. Click on the PLAYERS tab
(In this section you can either choose ADD EXSISTING or ADD NEW. The Exsisting Players are AI opponents that have already been set up and saved for use with new games. Add Player will allow you to set up a race the way you want.)

NOTE: Most new Ship sets come with Emp.Files that you can copy from the race directory to the Empires Folder. This will give you access to that race without having to manually set it up.

5. Click on the ADD NEW tab
Under GENERAL DETAILS tab you can choose the race you want. Additionally, you can give it an empire name, empire type, Emperor title, Emperor Name, choose a design name file, (For use with ship design names)

NOTE: If your new player is going to be computer controlled, then you will want to select both the Computer Controlled, and Use Race Minister Style option at the bottom of the General Details page.

6. Under the ENVIRONMENT tab you can select the atomsphere for the race, and the home planet type.

7. Under the CULTURE tab you can select the culture for the race.
(At the bottom of the page is a button for COMPARE CULTURE MODIFIERS. Click that to compare the advantages and disadvantages for each culture.)

8. Under the CHARACTERISTICS tab you can either increase or decrease values for the player.

9. Under the ADVANCED TRAITS tab you can select advanced traits for the player. (I often choose my advanced traits first then do the Characteristic. Remeber, for each of these you use, you will use up Racial Points. You can gain more racial points by decreaseing the Characterstics below a 100%, but not a good idea for playing the AI. Good idea for PBW games if its your race.)

10. Under the DESCRIPTION tab you can fill in the information about your race, and select Demeour, and Happyness Type.

11. After you have set up the race, click the CREATE EMPIRE button at the bottom of the page.

12. Select the empire you just created from the Players in Game window, and then click Save to File.

13. Click no for save with designs

14. Click NEW EMPIRE, name it, and then click OK.

You will have just saved that empire to the Empire Folder and it can now be accessed whenever you want to use it for a game.

After you have added your new races, start playing the game.

Befor you do though, make sure all of your game settings are to your liking. Have fun, and I hope this has helped.

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

QUESTION
Now for my next question. I'm confused about weapons platforms. Are they a facility for the planets? Can you transport them like to a wormhole and drop them off there?

How and where do I deploy them?

ANSWER

1. Weapon Platforms are defensive units for your planets.
You can add them to a transport, but they have no effect, until you drop them off at another Planet.

2. Weapons platforms are not a planet facility, but are listed in the cargo for the planet. So, particularly on small planets or ones with a different atmosphere than the race colonizing it, be careful of how many you put there.

In addition, weapons platform are listed by the number of a particular type. This can be a problem if you wish to replace older platforms or just make some space. You would have to dump all of one type. So if you want to keep some on the planet (of one weapons platform design), have a cargo ship or space station in orbit which can hold them!

NOTE: You can now just jettison a single WP even if you have multiples of that type on the planet. I think this was a Version 1.78 fix.

QUESTION

My next question:When you gut first start a game do you expand like mad or concentrate on your own system and then expand?

ANSWER

1. Expand like mad. Try to move population from your home system to other breathable planets to speed up the rate of expansion. Remember, the faster you expand, the less space for your enemies, and less space for your enemies, the faster you can exterminate them.

[ December 30, 2002, 07:16: Message edited by: Atrocities ]

Re: Frequently Asked Questions for Newbies
 

QUESTION

nt to know what all the weapons and componets are in this game, their range, and type. Is there any way to find this out?

ANSWER

Weapons Report

Components Report

Weapon Families

Component Familes