Sphereworlds and Ringworlds

[WillyNilly]

I've search all the archives and I can't find anything on how to build a ringworld or sphereworld. The way I tried was to build three construction ships and fly them out to a star. Then I build three Star Bases. One with the sphere world placement generator, one with the cables and the Last with the plating. When the everything was finished I used the generator's stellar manipulation, but it couldn't find the plating and the cables. A Star Base can't hold the generator and the other stuff so if I have to get it all in the same ship then I'm not sure how it can be done - the Star Base is the biggest thing available right? Does anyone know?

[oleg]

It is explained very clear here:
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;f=23;t=005518

BTW, why SE4 FAQ thread has not been made sticky yet ??

[Pax]

You didn't read the Placement Generator's description closely enough.

A Sphereworld needs 20 thousand kT of cable -- TEN cable components. A ringworld needs 10 thousand kT of cable -- FIVE cable components.

The placement generator you built was working fine, it found the cable and the plate you had built. To build your ringworld, it was comlaining about the OTHER FOUR of EACH that were missing.

[Arkcon]

Well, it's worth mentioning so it's perfectly clear.

The description of sphere world placement generator says how many KT of plating and cables are needed. To construct a sphere world you will need 10 starbases, each with bridge, life support, crew quarters and the plating component. And 10 more starbases: bridge, life support, crewquarters, and the cabling component. Only a starbase is big enough, and it won't hold much else. You need one base with the activator component. It is the most expensive, and therefore takes longer to build.

All complete ..., at the same spot..., on a star..., all there at once. Then you may activate the activator base's stellar manipulation component.

All bases will disappear, and you'll get a dull metallic looking ball replacing the star. Woo-Pee.

Have a colonizer ready, nobody lives there yet -- and the AI might colonize it before you if you're not quick.

A ring world only costs 5 of each, and it's icon is a little cooler, you get to see a yellow sun in the center of a planetary band. But the icons are small, only the size of a planet.

By the way, these icons appear to the side when you're setting up a game -- if you just want to see them.

Another thing, people say you want more than one shipyard to "speed up construction" That might sound to a newbie that multiple shipyards make things build faster, and that's not true. Since you need 21 starbases -- all at once, you might as well have 21 space yard ships (or have several spaceyard ships first construct enough shipyard space stations) to build them all at once instead of one at a time.

You do realize that while you wait for other sphereworld starbases to be built -- you are paying maintenance on the one's already built, and these ships are the most expensive ships you can make. You better mothball those three you have now until you have all of them.

I remember when I first built my first one, long ago. I went all out. Cleared a nebula, ignited a star -- see I had events on high frequency and thought a homemade star would be less likely to go nova. That's wrong, and anyway a star in a ringworld or sphereworld will never go nova.

Then I built my sphereworld, but not all the parts at once, and bankrupted myself paying maintenance, mothballed in desperation, had to wait until I had gained enough resources to unmothball the bases. And then, activate, and then, and then, ... TA DA

Well no trumpets, more like a kazoo.

Was really funny when I lost it ten turns later to an anarchy group. Ha. Shoulda tried to take it back, but a new patch came out and I didn't want to keep this game.

Since then I've done it all. Built sphereworlds, then switched with an AI and tried to take it back. Built ringworlds, populated it with some captured neutrals, then gifted it to them (as if the A.I. could actually tell what value this gift had). *Yawn*

Lord_Shleepy, your input on this topic would be appreciated.

Edit: Edited dozens of times to correct grammar and spelling.

[ August 29, 2002, 18:56: Message edited by: Arkcon ]

[WillyNilly]

Thanks for the help. I experimented in a practice game and built myself a sphereworld. I can't believe that there would be much game left if you had the resources to build one of those things - you should've won the game, but at least I understand how to build it now.

Thanks!

BTW - Is there every a strategic situation where building one of these makes sense?

[Pax]

Originally posted by WillyNilly:
BTW - Is there every a strategic situation where building one of these makes sense?

If you have an unstable star, or lack system gravity shields, it can prevent destruction of yoru star (and thereby, of every planet in the system).

And in P&N, with a Temporal/organic, Advanced-Storage race, playing a MAxTEch game to get a feel for it ... I got to a 77B population sphereworld, with a build rate at the shipyard of 117K/117K/117K. Now, THAT is a shipyard! heh!!

[Arkcon]

Originally posted by WillyNilly:
BTW - Is there every a strategic situation where building one of these makes sense?

Good question. The ringworld is patterned after Larry Niven's Ringworld. In the books it's populated by a number of different races, who (as far as I know, didn't read all of them) didn't build the ringworld, or in fact are aware they are on a ringworld.

I also read some Star Trek novel based on a Next Gen episode where they found a Dyson Sphere. Again, the inhabitants are a technologically advanced people who have no knowledge of the outside universe.

It appears in science fiction literature, the only use for these giant constructions is to gift it to a neutral

[ August 21, 2002, 18:43: Message edited by: Arkcon ]

[mottlee]

Originally posted by WillyNilly:
Thanks for the help. I experimented in a practice game and built myself a sphereworld. I can't believe that there would be much game left if you had the resources to build one of those things - you should've won the game, but at least I understand how to build it now.

Thanks!

BTW - Is there every a strategic situation where building one of these makes sense?

I have had a game where I built 3 (I won)

[Q]

If I have the ability to build ring- and sphereworlds I just do it for my pleasure. I believe the record until now was about 30 of them in a game: virtually every sun in the systems I controlled had one or was under construction of one.

[Lord Kodos]

"BTW - Is there every a strategic situation where building one of these makes sense?"
Well in LR you can build tiny uninhabitable things around your star called Stabalizers that protect it from going nova.You can always Colonize one and use it as a capital.They are mainly meant for battles of "epic galaxies are nothing to me" battles.....like most of the ones in LR.Ringworlds i find to be more usefull then Dyson Spheres.For one thing they are cheaper,require less work and yet are still figureheads of an empires massive wealth and power.You can load them up with resource harvesters and in time they will pay for themselves.You can use them as Fortress's like say for example your mighty empires under heavy attack but you have alot of credits,build one and evacuate your other worlds.Load them up with fleet training facilities and churn out the uber ships.

"It appears in science fiction literature, the only use for these giant constructions is to gift it to a neutral"

Warning Ringworld and Halo Spoilers:

Not true.If i recall in Ringworld the Pak who built it were still there but fell into anarchy so it wasent gifted to anyone.And what about Halo you can always use Ringworlds as weapons...or to store races to hard to eradicate but too dangerous to let be.