warning: newbie inside. beginner's questions

[fladiv]

Thanks everyone for the tips, and now I have got some more questions...

1. I was trying the devnull mod...
It seems that by default the ministers are turned on there, so they have given some orders and filled some queues before I have disabled them, and I hope this won't repeat The worst thing, however, is that somewhat designs the ships and units automatically, which, for me, is inacceptable.
I am used to name designs using certain convention so that ship class name would give the idea of what this ship is usable for.
AI, on the other side, gives designs it adds absolutely irrelevant names, and I can't yet determine what the design is intended for because I am not competent enough with the game yet - I like exploring its featuring one by one, so it is important that I create all the designs myself..
Ok, shortly - how do I disable this feature?
Or maybe it is possible to pre-design something to re-use designs in some later games?

2. What affects the movement rate of ships in combat? Number of engines? Sail? it seems not. So is it fixed for the hull type?

3. is there any tactical ground combat? once somewhy I had only "strategic" option.
In this mode, combat is shown as the changing numerical amount of alive troops...
What is the point of complex troops design then?
Or perhaps I have done something bad that prevented tactical combat?
That time I have unleashed troops from the space tactical combat's troop transport sheep's order, btw...

4. Playing with `emotionless' race, I have conquered some other, non-emotionless species's planet (with 100% population of that species), and its mood was still emotionless for several turns (I don't know would it have ever changed...).
Isn't this a bug? shouldn't mood depend on species the people of those it is?

5. Why do the planets revolt? I thought they do because of poor happiness of the planet's population, but once emotionless planet has revolted...

[Alneyan]

Originally posted by fladiv:
1. I was trying the devnull mod...
It seems that by default the ministers are turned on there, so they have given some orders and filled some queues before I have disabled them, and I hope this won't repeat The worst thing, however, is that somewhat designs the ships and units automatically, which, for me, is inacceptable.
I am used to name designs using certain convention so that ship class name would give the idea of what this ship is usable for.
AI, on the other side, gives designs it adds absolutely irrelevant names, and I can't yet determine what the design is intended for because I am not competent enough with the game yet - I like exploring its featuring one by one, so it is important that I create all the designs myself..
Ok, shortly - how do I disable this feature?
Or maybe it is possible to pre-design something to re-use designs in some later games?

If you disable the AI before the first turn, it won't mess up with your designs or queues. You are advised to do so, as you see the consequences of leaving the AI in charge.
As for the second part of your question, you have the option to save your designs when you save your Empire. (Menu => Save Empire => Type a name => Click Yes when the game prompts you to save your designs) All your other options will be saved as well, including disabling this pesky AI.

2. What affects the movement rate of ships in combat? Number of engines? Sail? it seems not. So is it fixed for the hull type?

The basic combat movement of ships is their strategic ship (engines+sails)/2. A ship with a speed of 6 will go at a speed of 3 in combat. However, there are components that alter the combat speed, like Afterburners for fighters in the vanilla game (+3 combat speed at best) or Base engines, which give bases the ability to move *only* in combat. However, I am not sure if these bonuses are halved or not. (That is to say, if you have a +3 movement bonus with Afterburners of +1,5 point)

3. is there any tactical ground combat? once somewhy I had only "strategic" option.
In this mode, combat is shown as the changing numerical amount of alive troops...
What is the point of complex troops design then?
Or perhaps I have done something bad that prevented tactical combat?
That time I have unleashed troops from the space tactical combat's troop transport sheep's order, btw...

There are no tactical combat, except the window you alluded to. The ground battles are a bit... erh unknown to say the least, so the purpose of advanced troops is hard to see. In the vanilla game, ground combat should never be that much of an issue though, as militias aren't exactly a threat. With several mods, you will face an hard time capturing some of these worlds. (AIC and likely Proportions as well, you don't want to glass the enemy homeworld, do you?)

4. Playing with `emotionless' race, I have conquered some other, non-emotionless species's planet (with 100% population of that species), and its mood was still emotionless for several turns (I don't know would it have ever changed...).
Isn't this a bug? shouldn't mood depend on species the people of those it is?

I am not sure about this one. Conquered species are supposed to have all the characteristics of your Empire, except atmosphere, but I don't know how Emotionless is handled in such a case. I would believe the conquered species don't have any mood as well.

5. Why do the planets revolt? I thought they do because of poor happiness of the planet's population, but once emotionless planet has revolted...

They usually do because of a poor happiness. It might be linked to an event (Planet Riot) or an intelligence project. (Anarchy Groups)

[Arkcon]

Originally posted by fladiv:
4. Playing with `emotionless' race, I have conquered some other, non-emotionless species's planet (with 100% population of that species), and its mood was still emotionless for several turns (I don't know would it have ever changed...).
Isn't this a bug? shouldn't mood depend on species the people of those it is?

No, all your racial traits and racial characteristics are applied to captured races and none of theirs apply once they are yours.

Emotionless, Hearty Industrialists, Propulsion experts, whatever, you get what you spent racial points on ... not a penny more or a penny less.

5. Why do the planets revolt? I thought they do because of poor happiness of the planet's population, but once emotionless planet has revolted...

Ah, now that is a problem. I was experimenting with an emotionless race, but was not able to replicate the problem, although others warned me about it.

Your race never gets angrier or happier, but if you acquire a race that was rioting, you can never make them happy and therefore, productive again.

P.S. Quick experiments on my part indicate that an emotional race is immune to insurrection-type intel ops.

[ November 08, 2003, 11:56: Message edited by: Arkcon ]

[QBrigid]

Originally posted by Alneyan:
With several mods, you will face an hard time capturing some of these worlds. (AIC and likely Proportions as well, you don't want to glass the enemy homeworld, do you?)

Have fun capturing the AI Homeworld with PvKs Proportion style infantry, you could face up to 10000 enemy regiments not to mention hundreds of fighters, sats and weapon platforms

[Fyron]

You only get AI ministers turned on if you load an empire file that has them turned on. If you create your own, you will not have any AI ministers enabled.

Complex troop design is still important. Rate of fire and range do no matter on weapons though. Total hit points (including shields) are used to determine how long it takes a troop to die. Damage at range 1 of the weapons determines how much damage each troop does to the enemy every round. To hit bonuses (on weapons as well as combat sensors and ECM) have some effect on troop combat, though I am not sure of the exact details there.

Components like Afterburners that provide X bonus combat movement give the ship +X movement in combat. That ability is not rounded. As for the base combat movement, it equals total strategic movement divided by 2, rounded up. 6 strategic movement gives 3 combat movement. 7 strategic movement gives 4 combat movement.

Check out the Newbie FAQ, which is stickied at the top of the forum. It has answers to almost all of your questions, as well as 100s more.