A complete newbie's questions...

[Atrocities]

Originally posted by deccan:
Hello,

Just to introduce myself a bit, I'm a complete newbie player, a MOO3 defector. Ordered SEIV Gold Online and received it a couple of weeks ago. This game just rocks by the way.

I've been playing with the Proportions mod (because I just like long, slow games) and I have some questions:

Greetings and welcome to SEIV.

1) Does anyone else think that PD is incredibly powerful? I keep wishing that I could make it my main weapon and hit ships with it.

Yes, I would have to tent to agree that Point Defense is a tad more effective in Proportions than in a standard game, but then again, I could be wrong.

2) Why does everyone seem to think that torpedoes suck? They seem alright to me, stat-wise. (Yes, I know about the reload rate.) Am I missing something else?

I have never really paid much attention to this debate, and feel that if people do not like the way something is set up, they can mod it. After all, the game is easily modable and one can tune the game or a mod to one desires.

3) How do I keep my fighters from running out of ammo in mid-battle? If I max them out on engines, they run far, far ahead of my main fleet. I can't add supply storage components to them. Use less weapons and more armor on them?

First off, I wouldn't help "your" fighters from running out of ammo in mid-battle as that would only help me. Seriously, you can either change your design and add the extra storage mod, or you can mod a fighter component to allow for more storage. I.E. the engines can carry more storage or use less supplies.

4) What the heck are meson bLasters for? They seem to suck to me.

Some weapons, like the Meson BLasters, do sometimes suck and I honestly never use them, but I am told, and have read that they do serve a purpose, what that is exactly I honestly have not GD idea. Perhaps one of the other Posts will shed some like on this, and I to will become "informed." (You see, there is no dumb question.)

5) I need some suggestions for ship designs. I notice that the AI doesn't tend to put supply components in combat vessels, but then they tend not to travel very far. Is it better to put supply components on every ship that needs to travel to attack the enemy (uses up precious space that could go towards weapons and armor) or is it better to build specialized supply tankers (game's "sharing of supplies evenly among all ships in a fleet" seems very inefficient)?

It is not nessassary to put more than one or two supply storages on a standard design. You can design ships that are STORAGE specific that are considered support ships and have nothing but supply storage.

Or you can build a forward base and on that base, normally a moon, build a resupply base.

6) What makes "Neutral" dispositioned races happy? I find that if I pick "Peaceful" races, I get keep them on "Happy" and "Jubilant" most of the time. However, if I pick "Neutral", they spend most of their time on "Indifferent".

It has been my experience that the AI diplomacy and politics system is broken therefore this is no way to effectively keep a "neutral" or other dispositioned race happy.

You can again modify the Anger and Politics.txt files, but that still really has only a small effect over all.

7) I find that once an AI declares war on me, I can't seem to end it, even if they are "Brotherly" to me and no one actually engages in combat for ages and ages.

A repeat answer:
It has been my experience that the AI diplomacy and politics system is broken therefore this is no way to effectively keep a "neutral" or other dispositioned race happy.

You can again modify the Anger and Politics.txt files, but that still really has only a small effect over all.

8) How do tech trades work? The AI keeps giving me tech that I have already.

The Ai can only give you technology that is considered and advancement if you do not already have it. I.E., if you have PPB II and the AI has PPB III, you would received a Technology increase if the AI agreed to exchange technology with you and your received PPB III in that trade. However, if you and the AI both had PPB II, and the AI traded PPB technology with you, the trade would not benifit you.

Sorry, if some of my questions seem silly. I haven't really played all that much yet and I'm nowhere near to completing a game.

Friend there are no silly questions here.

[ June 03, 2003, 14:53: Message edited by: Atrocities ]