New to game-Overwhelmed 2 (updated from '02)

[SilverRat]

Hello, I am new to SE and have been captivated by it's possibilities. I have been reading several forums looking for answers but when I search I get way too many "hits" (I found an old thread "New to the game and Overwhelmed. Any hints?" which is exactly how I feel atm, but it was from '02, and wasn't sure if reviving it would be better than starting another. Anyway-if this thread is out of line I am sorry, but the amount of information that is here is OVERWHELMING to me (and many newer players I imagine)
I have: read the Wiki guide and several others (finding many of the other "older" guides haveing "link" issues, played against the computer AI for a few games and am involved with a another. I attempted to play a game w/o tactical (to attempt to get used to playing vs. humans (online or PBM) but found NO success at all--the ships and fleets didn't do what they were designed to do OR were instructed to do. My TroopTransports (capture planet) didn't drop troops, my boarding ships didn't (capture enemy ships). I researched this and found that it was a flaw in the AI-yet another said it was fixed...

In my first game vs comp (tactical) I found that boarding parties could capture ships yeilding new technology or prebuild ships that I could retrofit to be whatever I wanted them to be when I had all the tech they could provide--this led me to create repair/building ships - that would speed up the retrofitting but would also refill my boarding parties... This in turn led me to the use of emergency supplies (that would be repaired by the repair ships.) I soon began to scare my children with: "Resistance is futile — you will be assimilated - we are the BORG!" until the wife explained that they were barely sentient beings as yet and should be allowed to evolve normally and perhaps their creativity--left unchecked, could produce new technologies... so they are safe for the time being.
In my next game I rushed to get the technology for boarding/repairing/refueling and was able to "trap" an opponents gas giant colony ship (I was a rock type) in an outlying sector until I developed boarding parties-boarded the vessal and soon had that technology-opening up 2x as many planets to colonize. I found that shield depleting weapons mounted on escorts that were built for speed could rush most ships-avoiding most fire until it was too late as the "BIGGER" "MORE POWERFUL" ships caught the heavy fire. I also discovered fighters and PD weapons--don't leave home without them! I used Fighters to mass at all of my warp points and found the best (in early game) was to get as many guns as possible on each - I regularly have Med. fighters with 4-DUC3's each able to destroy all sizes of ships that dont have enough PB protection. Then I noticed that there is no upkeep on fighters!
It is a very intresting game but the computer AI is poor in several ways (which I am sure you have all noted- i.e.: they drop alliances / attack me when I get strong-after I have offered them partnership and they refused, then get torn to ribbons as I capture their ships and planets with little or no opposition.)
Anyway, (Im a bit wordy huh?) I was wondering a few things:
1. Other than not being able to warp-what is the down side of fighters? They seem perfect-can move where needed in the sector, wait at a warp point, avoid almost all weapons early then can ship out with carriers as needed in later game.
2. Can someone point me to the fix or mod that will direct my ships to do what I intend for them to do in a stratigic only game?
3. Anyone else use my "self-discovered" BORG style and have any other suggestions for me? (I love not researching missles or shields at all and capturing the technology to use on my "fire-drawing" ships.)
4. Any "newer" suggestions /guides that aren't several years old-refering to obsolete systems?
5. Are there any "must have" mods (those that JUST EVERYONE has to play) that I should aquire (and where do I get them?)
6. Is there a way to have my fighters automaticly become "airborne" and fly to a waypoint? The constant management of cargo space on every planet gets grueling!
7. In a few threads some people mentioned that they could place orders at a planet to build a yard-then a ship (before it was built) could someone explain to me how please?
8. I have found in a tactics battle I can determine the speed and range of my opponents weapons--I plan to be "just out of range after he moves - then I rush foward and get the first shot - which greatly improves my successes- is there any method in "stratigic" that allows this method of "holding back" for the "right time to move" or am I unable to?
9. Are there tornements? I read something about a "Universe Tornement" (I think it was) but didn't search it yet-
10. Is it EVER profitable to have a ship (I have tried several sizes) mine astroids for metals??? It always seems to produce less than the upkeep of the ship--so I scrap or refit them and move on. (I haven't tried it yet but perhaps Satellite mining might be better with no upkeep/ maint costs...
11. Do "miners" need a space port in the sector to "feed the supplies" to the empire or is it just "done" by design or lack of thought in the matter?

Well, I am sure many of you are shaking your heads by now, at me and my silly questions--"we did this before in thread XXX...!" or "Oh no! This is his FIRST thread! Quick-BAN him!" but PLEASE understand that I am new and hopeful but there is just too much information to absorb and I am-Overwhelmed!

Thanks for reading, posting any answers, feedback or suggestions!

SilverRat
---"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and power down your weapons. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated."

PS-tried to spellcheck but I guess this post is too long to do it all... lol. Please excuse my errors.

[Slick]

First of all, welcome to the forums. Secondly, read the Newbie FAQ in its entirety. It will help greatly.

1) they are killed easily by Point Defense Cannons

2) not really, play with the strategies and designs. over time you will get the hang of it, but the AI does strange things sometimes

3) yes, but is SE4, for every stragegy, there is a counter strategy. don't get locked into one.

4)

5) get the TDM modpack for single player play. it makes the AI much better. Add-on for question 3, the Space Vikings are pretty good at capturing ships.

6) no. in simultaneous games you can launch them automatically by launching them then repeating orders. in sequential games you cannot do this. you will still have to order the fighters to the destination. a better way is to have a transport or carrier pick them up and drop them at the destination - then you could repeat orders for that ship more effectively.

7) read the Newbie FAQ. it is in 4.4.15

8) once again the designs and strategies govern this. the "max range" strategy can be used to approximate this but it isn't as good as doing it yourself in tactical combat. the good news is that when playing another human, there is no tactical combat so you are well advised to learn how to get your ships to do what you want in strategic combat.

9) Yes, check out PBW. there are a few tournaments: KOTH, etc.

10) Yes, read the Newbie FAQ section 4.6

12) yes. all resources (minerals, organics, rads, intel, research) need a spaceport in the system in order to feed the supply. the reports show a pink icon and production in parentheses if you don't and these resourses are wasted until you have a spaceport. The exception to this is if your race has the "natural merchant" trait - they don't need spaceports ever.


You would never be banned by this community for being new. Quite the opposite, actually. This is a great, mature community. You'll like it. Maybe you'll like us too...

[Fyron]

Slick said:
7) read the Newbie FAQ. it is in 4.4.15

That information appears to be wrong. I added a SY, then some ships from a saved fill queue. After I process the turn, I am left with just a SY in the queue, no ships. This happens in both simultaneous turns and sequential, tested in both 1.91 and 1.95.

[Slick]

Imperator Fyron said:
Slick said:
7) read the Newbie FAQ. it is in 4.4.15

That information appears to be wrong. I added a SY, then some ships from a saved fill queue. After I process the turn, I am left with just a SY in the queue, no ships. This happens in both simultaneous turns and sequential, tested in both 1.91 and 1.95.

It works for me. I actually only use it to build Spaceyard Base(s) after queuing a spaceyard facility and that has never failed. Possibly ships are removed from the queue but bases are not.

[Fyron]

I just tested it with bases in 1.91 and 1.95, both sequential and simult. movement, and got the same results of the bases disappearing from the queue when I process the turn. I also set up a PBEM style game with different machine settings, same results.

[SilverRat]

Thank you both for the replies.
I went back to the FAQ's and found the references you mentioned Slick.

Can someone tell me is there a thread or glossary list for the 'slang' that is used on this forum?
I understand DUC's, PD and SY but I see many references to a planet being 'glassed' or something - what does that mean?

Oh and on the forum - I couldn't see this post listed until someone replied (I think) is this governed by preferences in MyHome?

Thanks again for your help.

[Fyron]

Beware the trick... The ships/bases will appear in the queue, but they are gone after you hit end turn. It seems to work at first, but it does not actually work.

[Fyron]

SilverRat said:
I understand DUC's, PD and SY but I see many references to a planet being 'glassed' or something - what does that mean?

No, but we can create one!

http://wiki.spaceempires.net/index.php/Slang

[dogscoff]

10) Yes, read the Newbie FAQ section 4.6

Better yet, read the wiki article on SE4's remote mining.

If ever you find the wiki to be inaccurate, out of date or otherwise unhelpful, please feel free to improve it. That's the only way it will develop.

[Fyron]

Make sure that the strategies for your ships are appropriate to their roles, which can be set in the ship design window. Boarding sihps need Capture Ships, troop transports need Capture Enemy Planet. Also, it is generally a good idea to modify all strategies to have all ship types "Break Formation." Staying in formation overrides individual ship strategies, and overall degrades fleet performance by moving ships out of range to fire their weapons. Strategies are accessible from Empire Options (crown icon) > Strategies.

Make sure to use TDM modpack to play against the best AI available.

1. Other than not being able to warp-what is the down side of fighters? They seem perfect-can move where needed in the sector, wait at a warp point, avoid almost all weapons early then can ship out with carriers as needed in later game.

They tend to get chewed up by good PDC (mainly from TDM AIs and human opponents; stock AIs don't use enough PDC).

3. Anyone else use my "self-discovered" BORG style and have any other suggestions for me? (I love not researching missles or shields at all and capturing the technology to use on my "fire-drawing" ships.)

Wow behold the borg that runs up against ships with self destruct devices! Most human players and TDM AIs will use them after a while.

4. Any "newer" suggestions /guides that aren't several years old-refering to obsolete systems?

Most of the guides are still relevant, since the stock game has not changed much in terms of its data set in the past few years. Other than changing the ionic dispersers to not skip shields in 1.67, it's been pretty stable since Gold 1.60 came out.

6. Is there a way to have my fighters automaticly become "airborne" and fly to a waypoint? The constant management of cargo space on every planet gets grueling!

In a simultaneous game, you can order your planet to launch fighters, then hit repeat orders button (k hotkey). You can't do this in sequential mode, due to fighters being launched instantly there.

7. In a few threads some people mentioned that they could place orders at a planet to build a yard-then a ship (before it was built) could someone explain to me how please?

This is not possible. You can not add a ship to a queue if there is no SY on the planet. You can not use a fill queue to build ships at a planet without a SY. They will be added to the queue, but removed when you process the turn. Maybe in an earlier version they were not removed, but they are in Deluxe and Gold 1.91. If you scarp a SY, any ships in the queue are removed.

8. I have found in a tactics battle I can determine the speed and range of my opponents weapons--I plan to be "just out of range after he moves - then I rush foward and get the first shot - which greatly improves my successes- is there any method in "stratigic" that allows this method of "holding back" for the "right time to move" or am I unable to?

Not really. The best you can do is use Maximum Range strategy, maybe tweak the firing priorities a little. But you will never get the same kind of dancing you can get with tactical combat under manual control.

9. Are there tornements? I read something about a "Universe Tornement" (I think it was) but didn't search it yet-

There have been a number of them, but most (or all) have ended. I don't recall if King of the Hill is still going or not.

10. Is it EVER profitable to have a ship (I have tried several sizes) mine astroids for metals???

Use bigger ships and more miners on the ship. Bases make great miners, since they are big and they get 50% maint. reduction.

11. Do "miners" need a space port in the sector to "feed the supplies" to the empire or is it just "done" by design or lack of thought in the matter?

By sector, I assume you mean system, since a sector is one square and spaceports work for the entire system. No, RM needs no spaceport or supplies. Supplies will be eaten up, but the resources will continue being produced once ship supplies hit 0. I don't think there was any lack of thought on the matter; how could you mine a system with a ring of asteroids around a dead star, but no planets at all, if you need a spaceport in the system?