Noobie Question(s)
 

Altho I've had this game for awhile it finally arose to the top of my backlog. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

I'm a really old guy(53) and don't learn as fast as you young whippersnappers. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

I'm still learning the game mechanics and have my very first question: Can I generate a game where I generate who the computer players are? And if so how?

I have been reading a lot of the beginners questions and answers but didn['t see this one.

Thanks!

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

Well I just pick all the players involved...make sure the first race you pick is the one you want to play with...then pick the rest...
Then when you start a game go into..options and select PLAYERS..once there click on which races you want to have under AI control.
Which you be everything except the first one.. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

<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.

[ December 29, 2002, 23:41: Message edited by: Atrocities ]

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

Thanks guys for your quick replies! I'll try it out right away.

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

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?

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

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.

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

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!

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

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

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

Okay,so even tho they're listed in the cargo area of the planet they still function against enemy attacks.

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

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">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, 04:41: Message edited by: TerranC ]

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

Expand like mad until you meet the first enemy (they are all enemies afterall http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif ) Then remember your undefended Homeworlds... And hopefully you build the defences faster than your enemy ships are http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

Thanks guys!

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

Expand Like Mad
One of the popular techniques is:
Build Base Space Yard, (Small Base with Ship Yard)
Build Colony Ships on Emergancy Build
Do this till you get low on resources or you can't expand any further.

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

if you ever need real time answers stop by #se4 on gamesnet irc....

There will always be players there to answer questions as well

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

Hi,I'm back with some new questions. Played a few games and got my butt kicked. Found out I need to specialize more when it comes to weapons.

Do any of you use missles/torpedos later in the game. When in fleet actions they don't seem to Last long.

Also when defending you planet in a ground attack. Is the milita the defualt defense? Is there any way to tell how many there are? Is there anyway to increase them? For your regular troops,do you just construct them and then leave them is the planets cargo or what?

Thanks!

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Not really, a couple larger hulls with level 4 or 5 point defense cannons will rip up all your seekers. You might suprise someone with them sometime.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">You get a militia based on population. See my opinion Click Here:

Some troops left in cargo will help defend your planets against ground combat.

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

Thanks for your reply.

Another thing I've been finding out is to make sure(at least on planets with lots of facility slots) I leave some cargo facilties there. Especially when I have a shipyard.

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

From Settings.txt:

Defending Units Per Population := 20

This means you get 1 militia for every 20M population. Since defending ground troops are considered as planet cargo, they get destroyed in planet attacks before you land troops. Thus there is rarely a troops vs. troops ground combat. It is usually your attacking troops vs. defending militia. Settings.txt also gives attack/defense stats for a militia unit.

P.S. read this, it answers most of your questions:
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;f=23;t=005518

Slick.

[ January 07, 2003, 15:18: Message edited by: Slick ]

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

Another question. Where can I find a good decription of the standard races that come with the game. The manual gives a good thumbnail decription but I was looking for one that shows the complete decription like when you open up your own description while playing the game and it says things like +10% production or somesuch.

Thanks!

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">In the game setup screen, choose the empire of the stock race you want to look at, choose edit and look at all the information there. Besides that, there is no other place outside of the game other than the races' AI files to find that information.

[ January 08, 2003, 14:45: Message edited by: Captain Kwok ]

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Like the Captain says, I've never seen a list like that. Sounds like a project for you. I know I don't often play a race without moving around the race characteristics.

[ January 08, 2003, 15:25: Message edited by: Arkcon ]

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

Thanks for your replys. I guess that's what I'll have to do. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">When you start doing it for the TDM Modpack races, you'll find out what it takes to make a race tough -- but you'll spoil all the adventure of finding out.

I remember the Arquilians, I saw them and said oh, organic -- *yawn* organic armor and weapons. Heh, they have so much aggressiveness and defensiveness they really cut me down. Who would have thought their favorite weapon was .......transmission ends

[ January 08, 2003, 22:20: Message edited by: Arkcon ]

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">IMO, that entire section of the manual shouldn't have been included. For me, part of the fun of the game is discovering how the different alien races behave; the manual gives too much away. Most of those "thumbnail" descriptions are lifted verbatim from the AI_General files, anyway.

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

Not a question this time,just a comment. Here it is 3:30AM and I've been playing SE4 for 8 hours straight. Well,almost.I've had 3 bathroom breaks. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Come on just 1 more turn! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

"Honey Come to Bed" http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Just 1 more turn

Dang 4 AM

1 more

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

I have noticed when researching the extraction facilities that I can research past level three but I can never build past level three.(and it doesn't seem to have any extra effect on my output)

What's going on here?

Thanks

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

"I have noticed when researching the extraction facilities that I can research past level three but I can never build past level three.(and it doesn't seem to have any extra effect on my output)"

After level III you get a different set of facilities, that if built increase the amount of resources you get. Ex: build one and it increases the minerals made on that planet by 10%.

However, they're mostly useless, since they are expensive to research and there are cheaper, better alternatives- namely the Robotoid Factory from the Computers tech tree.

Phoenix-D

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

Ah,that explains it. Thanks!

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Just remember, robotoid factories not cheaper to build than the mineral scanner et al. They take longer to come Online, and time is money.

That said, I hardly ever research them. But if I got them from a ruin ... well, why not

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Sorry, Slick, this is incorrect. Ground troops are not destroyed by space-born attacks. Both the troops present on the planets and the militia defend the planet against invading troops.

If weapon platforms are on the planet, the troop ship will not make a bee line for the planet till they are gone. Fighters, of course, would be launched so they are not a factor. Satellites in cargo, I have no idea, but it seems likely they would be a null item in both space and ground combat. So, as I see it, the only thing that prevents a troop transport from heading immediately to a planet is weapon platforms. Once the line ships have destroyed the platforms, they will cease firing on the planet and the troop transport will move in. If the attacking troops fail, the line ships will destroy the planet (and defending troops) for its termerity.

Kim

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

Kim, if there are troops and weapon platforms on a planet, the troops will always be bombarded before the platforms (assuming unmodded game). The unit with the least hit points (including shields) is destroyed first. Troops have fewer than WPs. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

Another question for you all. What kind of victory conditions do you use? Right now I'm just trying to destroy everbody with this uber fleet. But I'm always missing some colony ship somewhere and by the time I make my rounds of the galaxy the bad guys(some anyway) have built back up their strength.

I guess I should take it a little slower and send colonies of my own into the abondoned systems,but I was just trying to take a shortcut.....and it didn't work!

I created an old galaxy if I remember right and every other region is a black hole or radiation or rogue planets or something. Don't think I'll try that again!

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">See IF response regarding why troops do get bLasted from space. Note that I did say it is rare not impossible to have troops vs. troops on the ground. The other thing that can kill troops on a planet is how the strategy is set up.

If there are no WP's on the planet (i.e. the planet is not a threat to the troop transport) AND there is nothing in the strategy to make the fleet attack the planet AND the fleet strategy is to capture planet AND the troop transport does have troops in it, then yes, the rest of the fleet will hang back and the troop transport will drop its troops to give you a troop vs. troop battle. If you don't mess with the default strategy to capture planet, a fleet won't attack a planet which is not a threat to the troop transport. If the planet is a threat, the fleet will try only to attack it until it is no longer a threat and during this phase, the troop transport will hang back and wait till the planet is no longer a threat. Sometimes the fleet will fire in such a way that it will eliminate the threat, but so much firepower was used that the planet will be glassed in the same combat round.

Also, regarding satellites MM reported that it was a conscious decision to not auto-launch satellites during combat due to they might be recon (or other non-combat satellite) so you are correct in saying they are null either way if unlaunched.

Cheers,
Slick.

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hmm, that's very interesting. Since all my data is empirical (gleaned from games) I was unaware of this. Not trying to be snotty here, but how do you know this to be true? Since this occurs only in simul games where you never see the enemy troops, how did you find out?

Slick, what you replied is bang on. No arguments here except I have little trouble capturing planets. As you suggested you just need the right strategies.

Kim

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

It occurs in all games, actually. Test it. Control both empires, and load various HP troops and WPs in the cargo, then control the bombardment. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

Kim & all: The difficulties in capturing planets is definitely a recurring issue. I became so frustrated with it (in simultaneous games) that I have been doing excessive testing. It certainly is not intuitive and it involves lots of variables. And I am by no means an expert at it. I have a couple of test games in progress where I am experimenting with ship capture in one and planet capture in the other one which I play from time to time to tweak my skills. Here are some of the things I have learned, off the top of my head. Please chime in with corrections and/or additions. All of these are for simultaneous games with strategic combat since tactical combat can be done manually.

- Your troop transports can be of any hull design so long as you have at least 1 cargo carrying component on board, but if you want it to work right, you must give your troop transport the SHIP strategy of "capture planet"

- If you want your transport to work in a fleet, you need to give the fleet the "capture planet" strategy as well. This will make the fleet work as I said in the post below.

- If you want to try to capture more than 1 planet in the same turn, give the fleet orders to attack the target planet, then load troops from that planet then attack the next planet, etc. The loading of troops can get all screwed up using this set of orders if you have other cargo carrying ships in the fleet. The fleet will load troops into the first available cargo carrying ship in the fleet from the top down. Any troops over its capacity will spill over into the next available ship. Bottom line: the game is not smart enough to load troops into troop transports. Select your "capture planet" fleets with caution if you intend to use carriers or have support ships which can carry cargo. Remember, one of the requirements for the "capture planet" strategy to work is that the troop transport is actually carrying troops.

- I have had very little success in getting more than 1 troop ship in a fleet to work together. I got very frustrated trying to get them to work together and have given up in favor of 1 larger, more heavily shielded/armored transport. Of the few times I got it to work, the result was poor since each time troops drop, a separate ground combat session is generated. Either I win after the first ship drops its troops or I lose with the first ship, the militia regenerates and I lose with the 2nd ship too. I have read about using troops in the first wave with only shields followed by the combat troops, but I have not been able to coordinate this with more than 1 troop ship.

- The number of militia per population is set in settings.txt. If the defending militia win a battle, they regenerate to full strength before the next battle. The only time that this does not happen is if the battle is not completed within the 10 turns of ground combat.

- Having a massive fleet with your troop ship is not really a good idea because your fleet can very easily glass the planet. I almost have to add and remove ships as required on a case by case basis to tweak the fleet for different size planets and differently defended planets. If anyone knows how to configure a rather large fleet so that it will be able to handle huge to tiny planets without getting killed or glassing the planet, please speak up.

- Beware of satellites and moons. If you capture the planet before satellites and moons are killed, they will turn around and glass your newly captured planet, killing all of your troops on the ground. In strategic combat, if this happens, it may not be obvious at first what went wrong if you are not looking for it. Even a couple of satellites or 1 WP on a moon can glass the newly captured planet before combat is over. On this note, I have yet to successfully configure a fleet with multiple troop transports to capture a planet AND its moons in 1 round of strategic combat. The only times that it wasn't catastrophic were when there were no WP's on the moons. Anyone know how do this? Maybe breaking up the fleet into a sub-group for each planet/moon might work, but I haven't done this.

That's about all I can think of off the top of my head. I was going to make an entry for the FAQ for this topic when I felt more comfortable with the mechanics after more testing. Maybe a veteran out there can lend some good advice??

Slick.

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I rarely ever see planets with heavy defenses and really low population. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Last man standing can be a little annoying at the very end. Just colonize and defend the best planets per system. The AI won't come back strong from a nothing position. That said, you won't win until every Last planet, ship, and satelite group is destroyed. Ususally I take over those guys, just to find where they are. Scanner sats in each empty system will help you. If you've won you have ships and resources to burn.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">This galaxy type is full of eye candy, but the AI is not as good at playing these quadrants. It doesn't know how to pace it's supply to cross empty space.

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

More question for you experts out there. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
How do you handle spying,either yours or theirs? I build tons of intelligence centers and still their spys keep getting thru. Also,how can I spy?(wan't that a TV series? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif )

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">dbt1949, you don't know how happy I am to see your question. You've discovered the most important part of intelligence, the part most people who hate intel haven't figured out, building lots of facilities.

In fact I have a tear in my eye -- our little NEWBIE: has gone and grown up and become an EXPERT: (click links)

Okay, yes, you have to build lots of intel facilities. But you also have to select intel projects. Click the alien head on the commad bar to get the diplomacy window. There is a button for intelligence. Select them like you select research projects.

[ January 11, 2003, 17:18: Message edited by: Arkcon ]

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">This is an artifact of there being 10 ground combat rounds per turn. With so much shooting going on, it is usually over extremely quickly.

In my mod I set the # of ground combat rounds to One. That means your troops are almost guaranteed to survive for a while, and allows reinforcements to arrive from both races. When invading a large world, it can take a year or more, which I find much more realistic.

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

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

[ January 11, 2003, 17:30: Message edited by: dbt1949 ]

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Come on just 1 more turn! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

"Honey Come to Bed" http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Just 1 more turn

Dang 4 AM

1 more

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">5am, one more

5:15am. gotta potty, whoa! what was that?

6:45 am......whats that smell? DAMN! JOMT really was just one too many. (steals one of grannies Depends and returns for just one more turn.)

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

A couple of other settings to tweak on your 'Capture Planet' strategy:
--Select 'Damage targets until all weapons are gone' under the Damage tab. The theory is that your ships will stop shooting when all the planet's defenses are gone. It usually works for me.
--Under that same tab, set 'Damage Percent per Planet' to something smallish, like between 20 and 50. You don't want to set it too low, in case the planet is heavily defended, so you will keep pounding the planet's defenses while it still has 'em.

Quikngruvn

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

Am I right in thinking that once all the weapon platforms are dead the ship currently firing will continue to fire at the planet if it has unused weapons remaining, but any ships still to fire will not fire?

If so, a possible strategy is to create 'WP bombardment' ships that are very strongly shielded/armoured, but only carry a light armament. The light armament means that any one ship can only do a small amount of damage to the planet and shouldn't be able to glass it by accident.



On a similar topic, I wanted to throw my computer out the window the other day when my capture fleet descended upon a huge planet stocked with facilities, but instead of capturing it they glassed it. Meanwhile the troop transport dropped 500 troops on the nearby moon... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Something I drafted concerning defensive intel use:

does this make sense?

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

Yep,it certainly does. I had all those intelligence facilities sitting around doing nothing.

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I think not. Ships should stop firing their remaining weapons when all platforms are dead _if_ they are using a strategy that is set not to destroy unarmed planets.

Re: Noobie Question(s)
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Something I drafted concerning defensive intel use:

does this make sense?</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I like your rendition on how intell works (does this make sense). It is in accord with how I believe it works.

You state in 'does this make sense', "Defensive projects get such a high bonus...".

What is the bonus?