Playing for 4 years and still learning
 

I have been playing space empires IV now for about four years and three months. It honestly amazes me that I am still learning new things about this game.

Take for instance the fact that I just now figured out how to get my ships to repeat orders. LOL, seriously, I just found this out. And to think that I am a die hard player.

Sorting planet values looking for the best one that meets my imediate needs for production is also a cool thing. A tip I should post in the tips thread.

Re: Playing for 4 years and still learning
 

Thank you. Now I dont feel so late-comer nothing-new-to-find.

I loved Stars but I got in too late. Everything I commented on had already been totally broken down into perfect formulas which I didnt understand. It just made me feel like it wasnt worth experimenting. I really like all of the Shrapnel games for the feel of getting in on new territory for strategies and tactics.

Re: Playing for 4 years and still learning
 

Stars was, and many will still say, King of the mountain when it came to 4x games. The problem with Stars was that it was, does, lack the feel of the environment for which it represents. Something that SE IV does nicely.

I never got into stars. I have the full Version of the game some place, but found it to be to over complicated and I really hated the user interface. I felt like I was squinting all the time. But man the tutorial for the game was second to none.

Re: Playing for 4 years and still learning
 

I just recently (re?) discovered that you can press space to jump to the next ship with no orders! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: Playing for 4 years and still learning
 

OK giving away the secret here to always having a larger population than most, but the Repeat Orders button is the key, so here goes.

Auto load and auto dump of population from your starter 2K worlds with a small, slow transport (or maybe a Destroyer hull if you wanna keep it under 200) to your largest Breather; a 4K or 8K. Once that is full, shift the convoy further out into your systems and add ships of the same type to quickly populate more outPosts. One 8K breather can build pop on several smaller worlds with an auto-convoy of 3 or 4 shuttles.
The danger of course is "raping" your starter worlds and under-populating them, thereby hindering production and reproduction. The key is "small and slow." If your first large breather is in the next system over, or you're starting with only one planet, you can slow things up by using a smaller hull, pulling an engine off the Design, or sending the convoy through an extra system or two in its route.
By turn 60 or 80 of most games I've got 10 or 15 convoys going and I don't even have to think about it, especially since I retrofit the lil buggers with cloaking devices later. And everyone else is saying "Leonine? Your guys look more like rabbits!"

As far as new discoveries: The System Notes window is a fantastic little mini-database of my galactic explorations.

Re: Playing for 4 years and still learning
 

Yeah i agree with you Atrocities, i've Stars somewhere on my HD, but i use it very very rarely.

Re: Playing for 4 years and still learning
 

Good system.

What I do is this. I set the Minister to control Transports, and have a minister on my transports. I also have what I call the Gravey Train going. That is two to four transports locked into repeat orders to keep fill the population of Planet X in Y system from my home world. I have maybe 8 or nine of these going at one time.

The Minister controlled transports are located in all of my systems. I might have one or six depending on the production needs at the time. The Minister controlled transports pick up population from the X planet of that system and distribute them to the other planets of that system. It really is very effiecnt but kinda time consuming.

I keep the gravey train going from HW to Planet X then once Planet X is full population, I start a new gravey train from Planet X to new Planet Y. I know have two gravey trains. One from HW to X and one from X to Y. Then I have the ministers work out of Y.

Loads of fun. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Playing for 4 years and still learning
 

Holey moley!!

Re: Playing for 4 years and still learning
 

Ed... You are a Saviour, I never knew this and I can see how much it will help me in the games I got running. I Publically express my thanks, even if your avatar is Rimmer http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif

Re: Playing for 4 years and still learning
 

The most annoying thing is that orders clear when enemy ships are encountered.

I can't think of a single instance where it is advantageous for your orders to clear, other than if you want the ship to chase the enemy.

Example : One lone enemy scout enters my system. All my transports, warships, etc. lose their orders and repeat orders.

How do I turn this off?

Brian

Re: Playing for 4 years and still learning
 

it's under "empire options"

Slick.

Re: Playing for 4 years and still learning
 

The transport minister does not mess the things up when you have multiple breathing population??

Re: Playing for 4 years and still learning
 

oh yes he does.

Slick.

Re: Playing for 4 years and still learning
 

I feel better now. I guess Im not the only person who skips the looking at the readme.txt file for years and years.

In light of the keypress surprises I guess I will post this. I wouldnt want anyone sending a game message like "to cloak a planet press Ctrl-A" (do NOT do that!)
Are there any keypresses which are not on this list?

---------------------------------------------------------------------
- 4. HOTKEYS
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The keys listed below are shortcuts which provide additional
functionality during game play.

*** Tactical ***

Shift + click Allows you to select multiple ships for movement
in the list section of the Main Window.
M MoveTo
W Warp
Alt 0 - 9 Set Waypoint # in sector
Ctrl 0 - 9 Move to Waypoint #
C Colonize
A Attack
F Fleet Transfer
S Resupply
R Repair
Backspace / Del Clear Orders
Q Set Build Queue
T Cargo Transfer
U Launch\Recover Units
L Load Cargo
D Drop Cargo
I Launch Units Remotely
O Recover Units Remotely
Y Sentry
E Explore
P Set Patrol
K Repeat Orders
B Stellar Manipulations
V View Orders
G Scrap / Analyze / Mothball
H Change Formation \ Strategy
N Change Name
J Jettison Cargo
Z Cloak
X Decloak
Ctrl M Sweep Mines
Ctrl T Add Tagged Minefield
Ctrl R Remove Tagged Minefield
Ctrl A Abandon Planet
Ctrl V Convert Resources

F1 Help
F2 Game Menu
F3 Designs
F4 Planets
F5 Colonies
F6 Ships \ Units
F7 Construction Queues
F8 Research
F9 Empires
F10 Log
F11 Empire Status
F12 End Turn

Spacebar / Ctrl N Next Ship
Ctrl B Previous Ship
Ctrl F Next Fleet
Ctrl D Previous Fleet
Ctrl C Next Colony
Ctrl X Previous Colony

Ctrl P Phase Replay Full
Ctrl O Phase Replay Reload
Ctrl I Phase Replay Single Step
Ctrl U Phase Replay Follow Ship

Ctrl L Toggle: Show Ship Movement Lines
Ctrl S Toggle: Sound

Ctrl H Show the Tutorial \ Scenario Window


*** Combat ***

Alt 0 - 9 Set Group # Leader
Ctrl 0 - 9 Set Group # member
L Launch Units
T Drop Troops
R Ram Ship
C Capture Ship

Spacebar / Ctrl N Next Ship With Movement
Ctrl B Previous Ship With Movement
Ctrl F Next Ship Which Can Fire
Ctrl D Previous Ship Which Can Fire

Re: Playing for 4 years and still learning
 

They are all listed in the in-game help files... Hit F1, then look at the Hotkeys sections.

Re: Playing for 4 years and still learning
 

Sure you can read all that, but it is much more satisfying to complain about it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

I'm still getting over the spacebar thing...

F1 You say?

Hrm

Re: Playing for 4 years and still learning
 

No need to read all of it, just skip to the hotkeys pages. I never read the rest of it myself... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif