Great game, but a couple of newbie questions

[Jones]

This my first SE game, and I think its great.Very addictive.However,the manual doesn't really do a very good job of explaining all of the little details to the game. So I've got a couple of newbie questions, and I hope they don't sound too dumb.
1. Does it matter what you title a ship or colony when you first create it? The reason I ask is because I wasn't creating any "military bases". I was calling any planet with a shipyard a "construction base", any planet with high resource values either "mining,farming,or refining", and anything else either "research or intelligence bases". Well into the game, I created a colony and accidently called it a military base. The next turn I got a message saying my population in that system was happier because of the increased military presence. So that got me thinking these titles that I thought didn't really affect the game may really do something.

2. What does "counter intelligence" do? It takes a long time to complete, and I've always gotten a message saying it's failed. Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks for any replies, and I apologize for any typos. )

[Comar]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jones:
This my first SE game, and I think its great.Very addictive.However,the manual doesn't really do a very good job of explaining all of the little details to the game. So I've got a couple of newbie questions, and I hope they don't sound too dumb.
1. Does it matter what you title a ship or colony when you first create it? The reason I ask is because I wasn't creating any "military bases". I was calling any planet with a shipyard a "construction base", any planet with high resource values either "mining,farming,or refining", and anything else either "research or intelligence bases". Well into the game, I created a colony and accidently called it a military base. The next turn I got a message saying my population in that system was happier because of the increased military presence. So that got me thinking these titles that I thought didn't really affect the game may really do something.

It shouldn't. The label is there to help you remember what you wanted to do with the planet strategically. As a military presence, well, when there isn't anything built, there shouldn't be any effect. Do you have other ships in the system? That is more likely to have an effect on the happiness of your citizens.

2. What does "counter intelligence" do? It takes a long time to complete, and I've always gotten a message saying it's failed. Am I doing something wrong?

Counter-intelligence is an ongoing process. It does not ( from my understanding ) have to be complete to be blocking other players intelligence missions. Hence, the long time to complete it. You are constantly using up points for counter -intelligence missions. It will fail, though, if they are moving on a higher level ( you are running counter intelligence 1 and they are running level 3 missions, at least I think so. ).

Hope this helps.

Comar

Thanks for any replies, and I apologize for any typos. )

---

[Tomgs]

1. Well I never did start a military base I will have to try that now. If you use the ministers the title matters because they use that to tell them what facilities to build on that planet. Otherwise I didn't think it made a difference but maybe you found something new .

2. Counterintelligence only works if some other race is using intelligence actions against you and you use enough points to stop that action. It seems to work the whole time it is being "researched". If no other races had built intel facilities it will fail.

[Tomgs]

No fair you got your answer posted while I was typing mine .

[This message has been edited by Tomgs (edited 24 November 2000).]

[Comar]

Ahh, the advantages of rank.

I don't use ministers for anything, so I will defer to you on this.

You are correct. Counterintelligence is always going on.