OT: Emperor of the fading suns
 

Does anyone know this game, i played to demo a long time ago, it seemed like good game.
What did you think of it, especially the AI, is it any good?

Re: OT: Emperor of the fading suns
 

LemmyM, If its the one I'm thinking of, it was a number of years back, it had good reviews, and I was planing to buy it, but never did get around to it, it was supposed to be a decent game, when I did get around to it I couldn't find it in the stores anymore. Sorry can't be of more help

just some ideas mac

Re: OT: Emperor of the fading suns
 

I have this game and have mixed feelings...
The idea is great, and some things too (damn, is like to play several Civilizations game at the same time!), but because is a very complex game, obviously the AI is very weak. Have several bugs, the units have unbalances, and the replay value is weak too (the planets are always the same).
Some guys have modded the units, and then, balanced a lot the game: http://website.lineone.net/~rwein/nova/home.htm

Is a good game to play by e-mail (I have played only one, against a guy that knew here: Possum), but the players should try to agree to do not use the game bugs in their favor (see into the Nova website, the House Rules).

Considering that you could purchase the game for a little money, I think that you could try it.

Re: OT: Emperor of the fading suns
 

i found the demo and installed it again, i forgot it was this complicated http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

i've been searching for some reviews, and most of them agree with what MB said.

i think i'll first figure out the interface and play the demo, then maybe i'll get it.

Re: OT: Emperor of the fading suns
 

I haven't played the game but I stumbled on this site the other day and was thinking about looking into it. Apparently there are several mods available, a forum, and you can download the entire game.

http://www.theunderdogs.org/game.php...he+Fading+Suns

Re: OT: Emperor of the fading suns
 

EFS is a great game,its one of my Favorites.

BUT,if you know how you can beat it very easily.
If you are playing the original Version(patched with the officail 1.4 patch) all you have to do is stage commando raids on your opponents ,steal their sceptars and bring them back to your capital.The AI is very bad at protecting these and they are ALWAYS kept in the AI's palace.Which of course is very easy to spot.
Once you have enough sceptars(sp),all you have to do is surround and protect the palace that you store them in, AND surround and protect your nobles on the imperial planet,declare yourself emporer and hold out for 10 or 20 turns and you win.

Nova is by far the best Version. In nova the sceptars are non-moveable,so you have to take your opponents palace and HOLD it.
Nova also redoes the AI's build directives so that they build tons of cities ,LARGE armies,LARGE navies,and spread to other planets very efficeantly(sp).In Nova it is virtually impossible to wipe out your AI opponents thru standard war ,because
they build and colonize like mad.
In Nova artillary is also non-mobile.This is a big change from the 1.4 patch Version because artillary is all players and AI build in it(its very cheap,uses little resources to build, and is very effective.FAR TOO effective actually).
But as it cant move on its own in the Nova Version,it loses most of its appeal.

Also if you want to play a real tough Version, play with universal warehouse off AND food supply on.This means that all the planets you colonize are on thier own as far as resources go,unless you make a huge transport fleet and move resources every single turn.
Add to this that some planets just are not good to grow food on and the populations said planets can support is quite restricted.Over populate,over expand, and the food riots and plagues will come a calling.
Also since food plants can be both captured and destroyed,you now have to devote alot of your armies to guard them.

I could go on about EFS for just about forever,I really do love it.
Theres just something about reducing your enemies tech back to the 20th century(while yours is like the 40th),then unleashing a plague on them again and again(that they have no cure for).

Re: OT: Emperor of the fading suns
 

i've been playing the demo, after i figured out how everything works it really fun.
i have only played 20 turns or so, but i'm almost sure i'm going to get it, a few more questions.
How do the spies work and assasin, what can you do with them, and how do you get tech's of the church's "black list"?

Re: OT: Emperor of the fading suns
 

It seems like ages ago since I played EFS. I thought it was a great game, but its flaws kept me from playing against my desires...

Like most games in general, the AI is little more than a tutorial opponent. That being understood, I and a freind tried to find 3 other freinds willing and able to play EFS with us. We never succeeded. We did not know of any Internet support, with a pool of players looking to start games.

We made our own mod, starting with the Nova mod, which we called Super Nova. It's a shame we never got to play with it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

IIRC, spies and assasins can attack on Bizantium Secundus before a Regent declares themsleves Emperor.

I'm pretty sure, all you can do to gain black-listed techs is to study them, and be strong enough to defend against the Church's Inquisitors that will inevitably come after your labs.

Re: OT: Emperor of the fading suns
 

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>I'm pretty sure, all you can do to gain black-listed techs is to study them, and be strong enough to defend against the Church's Inquisitors that will inevitably come after your labs.<hr></blockquote>

what i meant was: Is there any way to make the "bad" techs, "good" techs? So that i can research them without the Inquisition coming after me.

Re: OT: Emperor of the fading suns
 

ok, i got the full Version now and playing with the Nova patch,
game progress: i'm losing....big time.

i started the game with universal w/house on and consume food.
i start out with a food shortage, so i have to build farms,one problem, i'm playing as house Li-halan, they start on something that looks like a desert planet.

So, can anyone give me some advice on what to build and research in the first couple of turns, cos i'm lost, i researched heavy infantry ( Appl. tech), but they don't show up in my build list at my factory.

And when should i start conquering other worlds?

Re: OT: Emperor of the fading suns
 

I know of no way to remove techs from the Church's blacklist. Just the opposite, I vaguely recall techs can be added to the Church's blacklist over the course of a game. I think a house can even bribe the Church to added techs to their list.

It's been sooooo long since I Last looked at EFS, my memory is very foggy. Yet, still I remember it fondly.

Lemmy, would you, and any other 3 player be interested in getting an EFS game going? I wouldn't mind diggin it out and getting loaded and running on my computer.

Re: OT: Emperor of the fading suns
 

i would be interested, but first i want to try and win a game against the AI http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
but i don't know if i can find any other players, most of my friends are more into RTS and FPS

and you can add techs the to black list by asking the church to proscribe them. I found no other way to get them of the list, so that leaves my only one option, destroy the church...mwuhahahaha....

Re: OT: Emperor of the fading suns
 

ok, i figured out how to build the new units, infantry must be built by forts, tanks by factorires.

I started a new game, same settings but as Hazat this time, and started conquering immediately, everything went ok, i was first in the rankings, but then it crashed http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

i also found this http://www.noblearmada.com/
it's another game set in the Fading Suns universe, but it isn't sure if it will be released.

Re: OT: Emperor of the fading suns
 

Ah... I remember this game as well. Once you get the hang of it it's pretty simple. Especially without a mod. Some of those mod packs are almost crazy though. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif
I remember it has some stability issues though. It always crashed on me pretty regularly anyways.

Re: OT: Emperor of the fading suns
 

Sorry , been kinda busy.

LemmyM asked "How do the spies work and assasin, what can you do with them, and how do you get tech's of the church's "black list"?

Spies and assassins can be used anywhere,not just on emperial world.The plus to using them is that they directly attack any nobles in a stack of opponents, where as normal units attack in a set order from first unit to Last of the stack,the spies and assassins ignore all other units til they have killed the nobles or been killed themselves.Doppleganger Assassins are deadly.
Now there are many great things about killling your opponents nobles.Such as:
A: Nobles are required in order to use relics-relics are very good to have.
B: if you kill all of your opponenets nobles, they are out of the game AND all thier units become rebels.
C:If you kill all of your opponents nobles on the emperial world,they cannnot vote in elections til they get another noble there.

You can ask the church to proscibe "forbidden techs" for your use .This is the best way to get the more powerful techs,becuase if you get the church to proscibe the tech for you, they dont get mad at you when you research it.
However the church is both greedy and hard to convince,so be ready to really work on them with bribes, future favors,world maps,etc...(just dont sign the writ&lt;that is the one thing you dont want to give them.It really hurts your score).
It can take a while but sooner or later they will say yes.
This will also put you in a great position to ask them to excomunicate your foes.The church will then attack thier worlds and systematically destroy thier labs,which will take away ALL their techs and make them start researching all over again from scratch.(When an opponent is reduced so, drop some plague bombs on his worlds,then sit back and watch them struggle just to survive).

The most important techs to research are the ones tied to space ships.The faster you can field a serious fleet the more trouble your opponents will be in.Plus most of the techs required for dreads and cruisers are also the techs required for the good tanks and troops.
Also when the merchant league guild declares for itself and attacks all the houses,you will be crushed if you cant meet and defeat their fleet.Be warned,they have a huge fleet consisting of many dreads and cruisers.And they start out with it.They declare the imperium when they have reached a certain amount of money in thier vaults.It has happens in about 70% of the games Ive played with human opponents.BUT you can delay it by simply making sure you sell the league as much as you can,this keeps thier bank account low longer.

You mention the game is crashing on you, make sure you have installed the 1.4 patch, it will do wonders.
Also again, the nova mod is by far the best Version.It eliminates almost all of the problems with unit balance and stupid AI that exist in the normal Version.

Fading suns noble armada has a demo out.Its been out for over 2 years.The game however is quite dead at the moment due to a severe disagreement with the parties involved in the game.
The demo is rather buggy but good.Its a mission based space sim that is heavy on trade and combat.
You can build a serious Armada even in the demo.
The combat is quite fun as things in space ships in the fading suns universe are easily destroyed and 1/3 of the combat is spent trying to keep your systems working by either reppairing them or replacing them as the battle rages.You tend to keep real busy in battles http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: OT: Emperor of the fading suns
 

I seem to recall a bug where the prohibited technology only Lasts during the current session. The next time the game is loaded (next player), the prohibition is lost.

There is a forum devoted to EFS. You should discuss the game there instead of on this thread:
http://www.kborek.cz/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?Category=3

Re: OT: Emperor of the fading suns
 

Lemmy, first thing you need to about church is that if you research techs that are proscribed, they will send their troops in your labs ONLY. And they will keep sending them as long as they have troops, transports or you loose the offending tech (by loosing all your labs or striking it).

AFAIK there is a simple way to use any tech in the game without having to worry about church invading your labs. You simply have to build cities all around your labs. Since church doesn't invade anything else (if you are not in war with them) they won't be able to attack your labs. It worked for me. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Also there was a bug (even in 1.4 Version) that makes all the new proscribed techs reset every time you save - exit - enter - load game.

Hope this helps.

Re: OT: Emperor of the fading suns
 

thanks for all the info, in my current game i'm doing much better, have almost conquered my 3rd world, and preparing for one or two new invasions.
One of the computer players have been elected regent, and didn't give any of the ministeries, their score jumped up, and now i'm Last in score, but i stil have the most technologies, all i have to do is use them a bit more.

Re: OT: Emperor of the fading suns
 

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>
Is a good game to play by e-mail (I have played only one, against a guy that knew here: Possum), but the players should try to agree to do not use the game bugs in their favor (see into the Nova website, the House Rules).
<hr></blockquote>

Hello, Jose Luis http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Yes, it's me, Rip van Possum, back from my long, long nap. Did you miss me? (yeah, right)

'Tis true, Belisarius did kicketh mine arse at a game of EFS about a year ago, or maybe longer. I think I've been immersed in Anarchy Online since Last June. Avoid MMORPG's, guys, they are too damned immersive...

EFS was/is a fantastic game. Sure, all of JL's criticisms of it are valid, but it still has a certain majesty, a certain flavor, a certain air of paradise lost, a certain "je ne sais quas", that makes it a classic in my book.

I personally prefer to play House Decados, as I like being the bad guys http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif