Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

I would like to get as much clear and concise in put upon this subject as possible. So please don't pass this thread up. If you have something that you feel is inportant to a beginner, any tips, basic first 50 to 100 turn strategies, or favorate settings, please for the love of God, post about them. Thanks.

And if your a beginner and have questions, please post em too. Thanks.

What it would take to write a beginners guide.

Time. Without a doubt, time.
Patience. Can’t get much done without it.
Knowledge. A real must have.
A Plan. Without this, nothing will work.
Interest. Dedicated to seeing it through to completion.

There is a difference between a Beginners Guide, and a Strategy Guide. A Beginners Guide is just that, a guide for beginners. It would have to demonstrate how to set the game up from the start, explaining all the features in detail, in addition to stressing that a player understand the game features prior to playing.

The scope of a beginner’s guide would have to be limited. There is no way to describe each and every thing that a beginner would need to know, so the best course of action would be to focus on what a beginner should know.

Basically, how to set up the game.
A clear understanding of what setting up a game entails.
The basic does and don’ts of the first 100 turns.

First and foremost, the guide would have to be standard. IE, the settings would have to be pre-determined before writing the guide. IE, what size galaxy, how many racial points, resources, technologies, etc.

A mind-boggling exercise to say the least.

What would be ideal would be a basic Up and Going guide that quickly introduces the a new player to the game set up features, and walks them through the 50 turns of the game. We all know that there are an endless amount of “strategies” to be played out in the first 50 turns, but what would be best for a beginner?

Let’s say that we set up the guide to give the beginner all the advantages. Small Galaxy, all Warp Points Connected, 3 planets, 2k racial traits, (Temporal & Lucky), low Bonus, and low AI empires and Neutrals.

From this, what would you recommend a player do for the first 50 turns. Keeping it short.

Another aspect of a Beginners Guide would have to be a walk through of most of the in game features. Oh what a task that would be. What would be the most important features a new player would have the most need for?

What about Ministers? On, Off, or Half-and-Half?

EDIT*
God what a complex and overwhelming thing to be considering doing. Writing a basic Beginners Guide. What am I thinking? I think I need professional help.

------------------
New Age Ship Yards

"We've made too many compromises already, too many retreats! They invade our space and we fall back -- they assimilate entire worlds and we fall back! Not again! The line must be drawn here -- this far, no further! And I will make them pay for what they've done!" -- Captain Picard STNG

Borg Breen Species 8472 Cardassian Dominion STNG Ferengi Klingon Romulan
Trek Movie era TOS Illuminati Starwolf Rogue Fleet


[This message has been edited by Atrocities (edited 28 October 2001).]

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

Basic Empire Operation:
- A red scrunchy popcan icon means You need to build a spaceport!
- Send ships back home before they fall below half supplies. Once the yellow fuel barrel icon appears, its too late.
- Recovering crippled or out-of-fuel ships. (use of tenders, repair bays and solar collectors)
HowTo: Decide what type of colony to make.
- Are you running out of some resource?
- Are you falling behind in research/Intel?
- Special-effect facilities.
- And how these apply to the value/size/conditions of the planet and your empire.
HowTo: Build some basic, legal ship designs
- Test them in the simulator!
- Test ships against common enemy designs, not just against each other.
HowTo: Coarser points of politics.
- What each treaty type actually means.
- Trade resources to keep the ecomomy running.
- Tips on how to not unduly upset an AI.

Generic tips:
- Build weapon platforms/sats when your planet finishes facility constrution.
- Emergency build colonizers, take breathables first, then explore.
- Never bother with funny-shaped wormholes unless its your only choice.
- Defend chokepoints, not planets.

EDIT: formatting

[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 28 October 2001).]

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

you know, this sounds a lot like the tutorial scenario that is included w/the game. Maybe it would just be easier to flesh this out some?

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

I've probably spent more time reading this forum than playing the game. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

I think the most overwhelming thing to a beginning player is deciding what to research(since it is so critical to successful play), and in what specific order.

Is there a visual representation of the tech tree anywhere Online? Like a line chart?

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

What would be useful is a list of newbie FAQ and put easy to find links somewhere so we don't have to answer the same questions over and over.

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

Some random stuff.

- Exploration is vital. Sending a single unarmed ship w/ extra supplies (especially solar collectors, once available) works well. Multiple ships don't reveal more information, and single armed ships are both a) still rather vulnerable, and b) expensive. Find your neighbors before they find you.

- Don't build too many ships early -- watch the mineral count. It's easy to build too many pop transports and strangle your economy; if you do, mothball or scrap.

- Ditto for the build-n-construction-bases-at-start method for cranking out ships. It's fast, but gets pricey -- once you've got some colonies and need to build facs on them, consider mothballing until you can afford to keep 'em building.

- Missiles are nice early, with the longer range, slow ships, and relative rarity of large amounts of point-defense. Beams tend to work well later.

- Defend in depth. One needs recon layers (say, spy satellites in neighboring systems), some front-line defense forces, and reserves to handle breaches. Well, at least until the age of Warp Warfare...

Mining warp points is often a good idea. Thankfully, the mine minister does this decently well if you build the minelayers and keep them fed with mines.

- Track what your opponents have for tech. If you need it, maybe you can trade for it, demand it, steal it, or steal a ship with it.

------------------
-- The thing that goes bump in the night

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

Right away, get a cheap unarmed escort and send it on a one-way exploration mission to the far reaches of the galaxy. Use it to find as many alien empires as possible. Run it almost out of fuel, then either gift it to an AI ally or put it into a storm (either as a spy or to destroy it). It will quickly pay for itself in trade revenue.

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

If you send a ship out too far, don't despair. Bring it back as far as you can, and send another ship (or a fleet) to meet it. They can share supplies and all get home. This is a nice trick in the early game, before solar collectors and space yard ships.

Another good range-extending tactic is to get a military alliance with someone far enough away that you're not competing for the same systems. Then you can use their resupply bases. In a huge galaxy, you might use this to leapfrog across the whole galaxy, then trade colonization techs with those distant neighbors. (The heirs to your throne might regret that decision 100 years from now, but, hey, that'll be their problem.)

You often want a competing empire's planet mostly for its population (for instance, because they breathe a different atmosphere). So, after obtaining the planet (and presumably angering the other empire), take a bunch of the pop and then give the planet back. You may be able to avoid a protracted war, and still get what you really wanted. (BTW, I find it annoying that you can trade all sorts of stuff, but not population. With human players, though, you can sometimes make this kind of deal in advance. Related side note: Players with different colonization techs and different atmospheres who ally faithfully from early on will be very hard for outsiders to beat. Just watch out for mimic intel ops!)

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

If you can trade for the colonizing techs. If possible trade for them with a neutral race that will never leave it's home system anyways. Failing that trade with the weakest alien out there that has what you want. Trade it with a race you know you are about to kill but are currently still peacefull with. Failing all of the above trade with someone far far away AND with their neighbor, for other techs you need or their colonizing tech if different. This will prevent the AI from expanding rampantly over it's neighbors far from your own borders and becoming a major threat later on. Thus preventing your descendants from regreting your hasty trades in later decades and bad mouthing your policies in history texts.

[This message has been edited by Cyrien (edited 29 October 2001).]

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

Good point.

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

Another bit -- after meeting an AI race for the first time, read its description quite carefully. Some happen to be quite warlike xenophobes, and may give you less prep time than you'd like.


Logistics: an unsupplied war fleet isn't very useful. It can move only one square per turn (either strategic or tactical), and its shields (if any) stay down. _And_ it's still costing full maintenance despite its low utility. Hitting the only enemy colonies close enough to be used as staging grounds can be more useful than hitting the fleets directly. Conversely, it's good to have redundancy in your own supply network so the loss of a single colony doesn't effectively cut your empire in half.


Design and counterdesign: Examine enemy ship designs. Consider adding your own designs to counter them if they pose particularly dangerous threats.


Intelligence: "Communications mimic" is a nice toy for starting wars between other players, especially AIs who won't necessarily question the authenticity of the DOW. Even between human players, a successful mimic DOW will zero their trade level, which can be substantial between two economic powerhouses, and it'll take twenty turns to recover. "Crew Insurrection" is another fun op, since a subverted ship in a fleet may not only remove itself from action, but perhaps damage its former compatriots, as well. A solo ship might be safely brought back for tech analysis.

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

Hey Atrocities


I have a 2 week vacation coming up from Nov 26th on. First week will be fun in the sun and then the second week will be quiet.

Anyway. During that time off I can write up a fraq for you. I will do the standard text based on and a hyperlink doc as well with table of contents etc. (Perhaps get permissions to add pictures ). I am still hiding my home email but we can figure out a way to comunicate. I do know that I will have 2 solid days To work on it and Prob. about 3 to 4 hours a week ( except the week when I am in Dom. Rep, and christmas week )

Let me know what you think.

And if this goes anywhere we can work out the requirements and responsibilities of the document.

------------------
Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant!

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif Thanks for all the comments guys. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif
Man to be a new player again, what a dream some of this information would be. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Tesco, I hope you have a great vacation. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Any info you want to provide for this community effort is very much appreciated.

Thank you all for posting these tips, suggestions, and game knowledge.

I agree with Andres, and feel that a list of useful Newbie FAQ attached to a few links would be the best course of action. This way, as we develop new ideas, we can keep adding to the FAQ, and eventually it can be compiled down into a general Newbie FAQ Guide by the SEIV Community. This way everyone will be involved. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Again, thanks. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif



------------------
New Age Ship Yards

"We've made too many compromises already, too many retreats! They invade our space and we fall back -- they assimilate entire worlds and we fall back! Not again! The line must be drawn here -- this far, no further! And I will make them pay for what they've done!" -- Captain Picard STNG

Borg Breen Species 8472 Cardassian Dominion STNG Ferengi Klingon Romulan
Trek Movie era TOS Illuminati Starwolf Rogue Fleet

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

1)Don't forget to use the upgrade button when you discover new tech..
2) In beginning research and get mines & upgrade missles. They are good for defense in beginning.
3) Try not to colonize systems in beginning where the AI has colonies unless u have no other option. This tends to upset them towards you.
4) When colonizing outside of your system in beginning be sure you give your main planet time to replenish its people, or you will lower pop to the point your colonization will come to immediate halt until it grows back up.
5) when building colony ship make sure you have cargo componet in order to carry pop outside your system, otherwise when you get there you will be unable to colonize, no people on board, or at least make sure you load pop before sending out system, 1 cargo gives extra pop to help grow
6) try and make trade & research treaties with every AI you meet. Some won't ck them out. This increases your resources & research
7) put at least several small wp's on your planets in beginning. Nothing worse then AI sct coming in and wasting your nice planet because yu have no defense
8) research your special tech ie; temporal etc as soon as you can afford to
9) colonize available planets in your home system in beginning while your scts are cking other systems. otherwise, AI will come in and coloize them before you if they have same type enviroment.

just some ideas mac

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>5) when building colony ship make sure you have cargo componet in order to carry pop
outside your system, otherwise when you get there you will be unable to colonize, no people on board, or at least make sure you load pop before sending out system, 1 cargo gives extra pop to help grow<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>This isn't quite accurate. The Colony component itself automatically includes enough cargo space for 4M colonists, but adding a Cargo Bay boosts the capacity to 34M, which can make a huge difference for growth. If you use the (F4) Planets/Send Colony Ship button or the (C) Colonize order, the ship will automatically load the pop from the planet it's at; otherwise, you do have to load the pop yourself first. Also note that if the colony ship runs out of supplies before reaching the target, it can't plant the colony when it arrives; for really long range colonizing, either resupply the ship at a border colony, send it in a fleet with a supply tender design, or swap out the Cargo Bay for Supply Storage component.

------------------
Cap'n Q
My first mod! Hypermaze quadrant
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Also note that if the colony ship runs out of supplies before reaching the target, it can't plant the colony when it arrives; <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Since when? I recall purchasing an out-of-supply EEE colony ship for a captured Battleship as it approached a nice planet in my system.
Certainly under V1.49, and I planted perfectly fine.

It does take one extra turn, since you need 1 MP to land once you've arrived at the planet.

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

Also don't forget that colony modules can be placed on other hulls; transport hulls can be a good choice for this, as you can put on lots of extra cargo (and, for the bigger transports, a number of supply storage components).

My first big tip for newbies: watch that happiness score. Research troops early, design a small troop with just a troop cockpit & build troops on any planet that's getting unhappy. The next step is researching the various happiness centers (standard traits, I think you research political science & maybe something else to get the appropriate facility; temporal tech gets the "Temporal Vacation Service"; I believe organic and religious also have facilities that will raise a population's happiness). The second (sometimes first) facility I build in a new system is a happiness facility. Makes life much easier.

My second big tip: if you start with multiple homeworlds in the same system, the game will still put a spaceport and resupply depot on each homeworld. So scrap the extra spaceports & resupply depots (remember to leave at least one of each in each system) & build something more useful in their place (like one of the happiness facilities mentioned above).

One Last tip: be careful when retrofitting ships at planets that don't have a resupply depot. If you retrofit the engines at a planet that does NOT have a resupply depot (and your design does NOT include a quantum reactor), the ship will have 0 supplies after the retrofit.

------------------
L++ GdY $ Fr&gt;Fr++ C++ SdS T-- Sf Tcp? A%% M- Mp! RTH!P Pw Fq--&gt;Fq+ Nd&gt;Nd+++++ Rp++ G+

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

CAP, tks for clearing up#5, you said what I meant to say, sometimes my mind races way ahead of my typing and it doesn't always come out the way I meant, tks

just some ideas mac

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Also note that if the colony ship runs out of supplies before reaching the target, it can't plant the colony when it arrives;

Since when? I recall purchasing an out-of-supply EEE colony ship for a captured Battleship as it approached a nice planet in my system.

Certainly under V1.49, and I planted perfectly fine.

It does take one extra turn, since you need 1 MP to land once you've arrived at the planet.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I distinctly remember a colony ship parking over an empty planet and doing nothing until I noticed the red barrel and sent it back for resupply, but I haven't let the situation occur again; I'll start up a test game and see if I can reproduce it.

------------------
Cap'n Q
My first mod! Hypermaze quadrant
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"

[This message has been edited by capnq (edited 31 October 2001).]

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

Is it possible that an enemy ship appeared and caused the colony ship to stop? And were the ship's orders cleared?

It could be a difference between simultaneous and sequential.
Perhaps modding a solar supply generation of 1 point into the colony module would help.
Then colony ships would always have two MP when they're "out" of supplies, and always have 1 supply at the beginning of a turn to land with.

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Is it possible that an enemy ship appeared and caused the colony ship to stop? And were the ship's orders cleared?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I don't think there was an enemy around, but it was so long ago that I don't recall. I think the orders did clear, because ISTR that I only noticed it was out of supplies while I was trying to figure out why giving it another Colonize order wouldn't "take".

I've started a game to test this, but it hasn't progressed far enough to get any results yet.


------------------
Cap'n Q
My first mod! Hypermaze quadrant
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

Completely new player here. I'm glad you started this post. Thanks! BTW, sorry if I make comments or suggestions that have already been made. I started playing SE4 one week ago (after downloading the demo about a month ago), and have been rather disappointed in the documentation. I like the idea of an HTML based doc, but the one supplied is not very helpful IMHO. A couple of things I would like to see are: 1) a tech tree, 2)what facilities to build or not to build in the beginning (and why), 3) what to expect from a new race (both friendly and not). Does anyone have a program that lays out the tech levels/facilities/units/ships/etc in a usable manner. I've started an Access database for this, but it will take a while to finish. Thanks for your time, and this is a great forum.

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

Early game defense: research war/mineheads III, construction and then small mines. Just build the small mines with 2 warhead IIIs, they are deadly enough for the first ships. In the build queue use the "one turn production" instead of 5/10/15... pieces, and hit repeat building. This automatically gives you the number of mines that can be produced in one turn, and you can react on different situations every turn, w/o loosing material. Later on when the AI builds minesweepers: create cheap mines in addition (small hull, one warhead I), these can be produced in a larger amount and they do for a better minesweep to destroy relation. Build transporters with about 5 to 10 minelayers, the rest cargo, they can be used to move population and to mine the WPs at the beginning.

Best weapon against fighters: religious talisman + phased polaron beam V, bLasts 5 to 10 fighters per shot, the fighters shields are bypassed by PPBs.

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

On facility production, here's one important note: While there are three resources, they are not equally important.

Pretty much everybody needs loads of minerals. Organic Manipulation experts need some organics, as well, but most components and facilities aren't too organics-heavy (exceptions include the planetary improvement facilities, and the ship-borne quantum reactors, master computers, and stellar-manipulation foo). Radioactives are also important for most, but not nearly as much as minerals are.

Incidentally, an Organic race has a build-rate advantage if it has more balanced ship designs, because ship build rates are balanced per component. e.g. one costing 20k/5k/5k takes twice as long to build as a 10k/10k/10k given same shipyard, productivity and resources despite same total resources required because the rate is n/n/n, not 3n.

More detail would need to take into account your neighbors, and how much other space you have.

------------------
-- The thing that goes bump in the night

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by MikeRMcCartney:
A couple of things I would like to see are: 1) a tech tree
&lt;snip&gt;
Does anyone have a program that lays out the tech levels/facilities/units/ships/etc in a usable manner. I've started an Access database for this, but it will take a while to finish. Thanks for your time, and this is a great forum.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

First, there's an option at game setup called "Player can see entire Tech Tree". If you're playing with that option turned on, there's a button on the Research screen that will show you the tech tree in a couple different formats. ISTR that you can export that tree as a file, but I've never tried it.

I also think there are a couple of files around this site that have either gathered the tech tree data into Excel files or allow you to view the raw tech & component data files in HTML format.

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L++ GdY $ Fr&gt;Fr++ C++ SdS T-- Sf Tcp? A%% M- Mp! RTH!P Pw Fq--&gt;Fq+ Nd&gt;Nd+++++ Rp++ G+

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

A link to another good newbie question answered by SJ. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

LINK

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

Everyone knows the documentation that comes with the game leaves something to be desired, if so, the documentation that pertains to stellar manipulation is non-existant. I only found this site because I couldn't figure out how to build a sphere/ring world so I figured I would check the web. I think a little explanation in this area would be helpful.

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Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

well the new computer is up and running. In a couple of days I am off to soak it up in the sun and then when I return I will start on the beginners guide. Any particular style of document ??

I was thinking along the lines of a web based document with hyper links etc... Screen captures.

Chapters. Ie. Units, facilities, ship building, research, intel, combat,mods, how to set up the directory structure, etc....
Lots of step by step how toos.

No stragety. Just instructions. ( as the first part of the manual ) Then the extra's can come later if people like it and want to help out creating it.

I will get a chapter or two done when I come back. If it is liked then I will continue along with the production of the SEIV beginners guide.

The question of permissions.

I will be using Posts from this web site.

Is this allowed.

How about screen captures?

I think I will send what I create to the moderator of this forum and see what geoschmo does with it http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

So if your adding any more Posts to this thread think about how you want the manual to look like etc....

And start new threads like

BG - Mods
BG - Mines
BG - Fighters
etc....
and pool your info their.

Also for those who are new to the forum.

Their is a great manual out their that explains the game in great detail. it is a text based document that is located on the following thread...........( sorry don't have the thread right now, so you will have to find it) OR some one else can post it.

P.S.

If anyone is already doing this or has any ideas let me know.

Thanks.

My only goal here is to pay back SEIV and the community with a good manual.

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Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant!

[This message has been edited by tesco samoa (edited 22 November 2001).]

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

It's late, so I only have one peice of advise for newbies:

Do not piss off the big empires living next door to you. If a neighboring empire is stronger than you, then you must learn the secret and delicate diplomatic art of 'sucking up'. Give them gifts, treaties, ships, whatever it takes. AIs are not very likely to be your friends again once they get angry at you. If they are weaker than you. then strike fast and hard, even if they're friendly. Don't let up, for once you've attacked, they'll never want peace again. Make sure every war you fight is one where you know what you want and know how to get it. Never hold back, or you will lose.

Well, that was more than one, but, like I said, it's late, and I'm tired.

------------------
This is it. That moment they told us about in high school, where one day, algebra would save our lives.

'Evacuate? In our moment of triumph?'
Grand Moff Tarkin, just before the Death Star blew.

Brain fart, you win again!

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

Discovering I was wrong about something in another thread reminded me that I was wrong in this old one, too. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/blush.gif

A Colony Ship which has run out of supplies can, in fact, still plant a colony. (I only proved this to myself within the past week or so.)

I still have no idea why the ship that gave me this impression wouldn't colonize that world.

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

I have some more newbie questions, if you don't mind...
First, SEIVG. Differences? Drones, yes, AI? what exactly? I thought there were supposed to be multiple bitmaps per shipset, but if there are, I can't find them. TCP/IP, awesome, especially with internet support...but did I just pay 50 bucks for TCPIP, drones, and sightly better AI?

If someone would like to point me at a comprehensive list of the advantages of SEIVG (not that little blurb in the press release) i would appreciate it.

Also...oops, forgot the rest. more questions coming tho.

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

I suggest that you read this then read this thread so that you know what are the COMPLETE features of this game and what has changed http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Happy readings.

[ 07 March 2002: Message edited by: TerranC ]

[ 07 March 2002: Message edited by: TerranC ]

God I hate UBB...

[ 07 March 2002: Message edited by: TerranC ]</p>

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

Thanks, atrocities. Took me awhile, but i got thu it.

New question: how do you change what starting planets have on them? if, for example, I wanted more organic farm facilities on a homeworld, how would I do that? I can't seem to find the file.

Also: My mod is looking half-way decent...and SEIVG is out. CURSES! anyone think there is any point to me actually posting it, or should I just go straight back thru it and update it for a few more months?

Abaraxe

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr> how do you change what starting planets have on them? <hr></blockquote> Homeworld facilities are hardcoded; the only thing you can do to change them is take an Advanced Trait that affects facilities (Natural Merchants, Advanced Storage Techniques).

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

IIRC, Homeworlds get:
- 1 Space port ability
- 1 space yard
- 1 resupply depot ability
- 1 organics extraction ability (highest available)
- 1 radioactives ability (highest available)
- 50% of remainder is mineral extractors, the rest is research centers.

You can mess with which facilities are placed on a homeworld by changing the abilities on various facilities.

EG, if you make a Space Yard with a resupply depot ability, SE4 will use the facility twice!
That means homeworlds get 2x the production rate, and the homeworld yard cannot every be duplicated or replaced, making it a valuable resource.

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

As a beginner in SEIVg but a wargame grognard I need an overview of the tech tree and an analysis of the more important elements and strategies related to it. It is hard to formulate a plan or even design a race when the possibilities are unknown.

This blank of knowledge is actually realistic, but hardly fair in a competitive environment in which the old timers already know the possibilities.

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

solops,
I agree with you on both counts. I loved the Tech Tree provided with Civ II. One place to glean the information is following the Posts. On the other hand I have enjoyed not knowing the tree here. Just an idea, hold off on looking at the trees till you have played for quite a while and get a feel for the game. Again, just the way I am.
Good luck which ever you choose.

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

solops alot of the tech tree can only be learned by reading the text files for facilities, components, etc... And then you still have to piece together what is going on in the background of the game..... The learning curve is quite steep but well worth the effort... I am still figuring out stuff and I have been playing this game for a year now.

Just using ship construction as an example ??? the variations and combinations is endless.

But for strategies.... computers and cargo are very important for long games....

And the value improvement tree is very important.

If you planning on playing a game that is over 300 turns I suggest that by turn 60 or 70 you have atmosphere converters...storage/cargo maxed out and system wide computers .... The game is a game of economics.....

This of course will drive the monoliths III's and resource converter III as well.

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

Just for military in general concentrate on ships that can be made in one turn at your homeworlds. Numbers are better than quality early on. As you advance your ships might take up to two turns with max spaceyards tech.

Building space bases is also really helpful. I just can't get over the use of them, you can have 15+ ships in less than 3 turns with 3 yards over each ofyour 3 homeworlds and your homeworlds going full throttle.

Make sure to try out the special techs, they are really useful depending on your style and the game and your opponents. But remember just keep plugging away, PBW is around when you tire of hte AI, and it is really easy on the low levels once you get and idea, the highest levels start to get challenging but no where near human efficiency.

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

There's an option in one of the Game Set-Up screens (probably Technology) that allows viewing the entire tech tree. When that's turned on, there are options on the Research screen to export the tree to a .txt file.

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

Here is a thread that deals with the weapons side of the tech tree.

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

ships in two turns,,, those where the days....

The idea of the space yards is to get as many as possible going ( say 2 to 5 above each planet and get them building ships and use your planets to build infa structure then units to defend them then ships or build the big ships quickly on planets ) and build up your economics... Also this places a resupply above every planet and adds alittle defence and if you have 50 planets you could potentionaly have 100 to 250 ship yards building every turn.... And don't forget to max out the population on your planets for the production bonus..
And if your building alot of stuff on a planet build a space yard first...this will shorten the build time.

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by tesco samoa:
Also for those who are new to the forum.

Their is a great manual out their that explains the game in great detail. it is a text based document that is located on the following thread...........( sorry don't have the thread right now, so you will have to find it) OR some one else can post it.

<hr></blockquote>

hello are there anyone that know that link?

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

I just started to play Gold

I want to know, why do my anti-proton beams do 25 damage while the ones AIs have do 75? They are both at level IV

difficulty is medium and handicap is none in my game.

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

The AIs are probably using weapons mounts- these are for Light Cruiser class ships and above. Click the "weapon enchancement" button in the ship design screen to see mount options.

Phoenix-D

Re: Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)
 

Mounts.

In the Ship creation window, you will see a little button at the Top right corner that says Weap Mounts.

Depending on the Mount: Large, Heavy, Massive,

The damage and the range of the weapon will vary.

Ship clases from Light cruiser and up and All Stations can use the mounts but Heavy mounts up from 800Kt, and Massive, 1100Kt.