A few more Newbie Questions & some Observations..

Dogberry · #1 May 26th, 2002, 03:54 AM

Multiplex Tracking seems to work only when I have 2 or more different targets at varying ranges.. starting with the further & working back to the closer one(s). Am I doing something wrong here ?

How do people feel about the trade-offs between normal & heavier mounts in ships ? In MP ?

Do people use the Climate Control Facilities in MP ? or is this something that is reserved for periods when you are coasting.

As has been stated elsewhere, the AI seems to lose its juice when you whack the Homeworld or some other key planets. They seem to surrender quite easily... seeing what a few motley ships can do against an undefended or weakly defended planet, perhaps I would do the same.

The AI overall, does not build enough shipyards & seems to handle planet "specialisation" very poorly. I have been playing w/ finite resources & notice that the AI mines the bejesus out of its planets. I am sure that much of this activity does not benefit the AI & quite a few resource points are just "lost".

Also, on that subject.. eg. "lost points".. I gather that intel & research points "leftover" after the completion of a topic are lost, unless you repeat it. I, personally, would like to see this changed somewhere down the road, so remaining points are reallocated to other ongoing topics. This would be especially useful to newer players in MP & open up the tech field a little w/o penalising a player.

Dog

oleg · #2 May 26th, 2002, 04:22 AM

Well, AI is AI. I figured out from your other Posts (Leo' thred) that you are playing without AI bonus. Try do switch all ministers "on" in your empire and observe how it crumbles. This is basically what you are against. The medium bonus (at least !) + TDM' AI is a must if you want AI to put some sort of fight.

Dogberry · #3 May 26th, 2002, 05:37 AM

Yes .. I agree Oleg. Only so much you can get with an AI. Hopefully tho .. as further iterations of this game & patches come out, some of these AI "problems" can be slowly chipped away. I think, for example, that the AI would be better off if it semi-specialised .. instead of going the whole route, but that's just my way of thinking.

Planning on trying TDM .. as soon as I can. Gotta find out what the bonuses do before I try them.

Dog

Captain Kwok · #4 May 26th, 2002, 06:08 AM

I recommend you try the TDM mod now. It doesn't change any of the components or facilities, it just improves the twenty or so AI's it comes with - they are much improved and will build a variety of ships, mine warp points, better research and diplomacy.

Suicide Junkie · #5 May 26th, 2002, 06:08 AM

Quote:

Also, on that subject.. eg. "lost points".. I gather that intel & research points "leftover" after the completion of a topic are lost, unless you repeat it.

If your projects don't require all the points you are generating, ADD MORE!
All the extras will spillover into the next project.

Also, be sure to NOT choose "distribute points evenly"

Dogberry · #6 May 26th, 2002, 10:53 AM

Ouch ! Now I am confused about the lost points ! If you run a bunch of projects & divide the points evenly .. you lose the leftovers ? If you repeat the project, you retain them ? If you take projects one-by-one... you also use the leftover points ?

Vs. the AI, this is of little consequence, but in MP .. my bet is every point of any sort counts !

Also nobody answered my Multiplex whatsit question ...

... better luck tomorrow.

Plan on doing TDM .. as soon as my Mega Evil conquers the board. Mostly just going through the tech now, & trekking my different kinds of breathers around the board, & trying to figure out how to safely get through those super-squished warp points .. next to Black Holes.

thanks..

Dog

[ May 26, 2002, 15:58: Message edited by: Dogberry ]

PDF · #7 May 26th, 2002, 05:28 PM

Multiplex just allows your ship to fire at more than 1 target, so I don't grasp your question ...

As for Research just don't divide, spillover is lost in this case, rather always put enough projects Online !
Same for Intel, except that Counter-Intel never finishes, these are "permanent" projects to foil enemy intel, their "progress" is meaningless.

Dogberry · #8 May 26th, 2002, 08:57 PM

Well.. say I have Multiplex 3 .. I have 3 sets of weapons on a ship & I have 3 targets at the same range. I choose the first target & let go, all my weapons fire. So I really can't target 3 different enemy vessels under these circumstances. Is this the way it is supposed to work ?

I wonder how this works when you use strategic combat. Any benefit to having these things ?

thanks,

Dog

oleg · #9 May 26th, 2002, 09:06 PM

Well, first of all, if you use tactical, you can deselect some weapons, fire on one ship and if you are satisfied with damage, you can redirect the fire of reselected weapons to another target, providing you have multiplex targeting. If not, you are committed to the first ship no matter what. In strategic, it is more tricky. You may need to play with target priorities for your ship if you want your ships to distribute fire once damage objectives are meet (like no weapons left).

In either case, if your Dreadnought pulverized enemy scout with just one shot, you can fire rest of weapons on other shipe, _IF_ you have multiplex.

[ May 26, 2002, 20:08: Message edited by: oleg ]

Taera · #10 May 26th, 2002, 09:18 PM

If you use tactical combat, when you fire weapons you can deselect some of the weapons to fire them on other targets. you wont be able to do so unless you have multiplex, and even then the number of targets is limited.

For strategical combat, there is the damage percent. If the enemy is dead and there are still other weapons over the "percent" the ship will fire on other targets given it has multiplex.
Also ships can use their PDC as a weapon(meaning wont fire automaticaly but aimed) after firing on ships with the use of multiplex.

Hope that helps.