Ministers?

[Narrew]

I just got the game and have only had the Intel Minister on, well this Last game I started, I turned on the Research Minister on. He does not seem to choose what to research, I get a message that all projects are completed and that I need to pick new projects.

Also I have tried to turn on the minister on my freighters so they can move population around, but it dont seem to work out the way I want, the ships move for a bit then seem to just sit there.

Is there anything more I need to do?

Thanks in advance

[Suicide Junkie]

For the transportation minister, you need to activate the minister in the empire options-> ministers screen. You then need to give the minister control of some ships. Select the ships, and press the "face" icon to toggle minister control of the ship.

The transportation minister dosen't send the ships off immediately, but takes a turn to load and unload population.

As for research, if you've got the minister toggled on in the ministers screen, it should be fine. The ministers add their orders at the end of your turn, so you may have to wait a turn in order so see them kick in.

[oleg]

When you turn on minister, AI takes over this function and works accordingly to AI files stored into space_empires/pictures/races/"your race name"
If AI function particulary funny, it may means that something is wrong with those files. How did you generate you race ? Is ii a standard SE race or custom made ? Did you load preexisting .emp file and made it from scratch ?

AI should work fine if you use load existing emp file and switch on "use style from the race" in the race generation screen.

[rdouglass]

If you want any chance of winning, don't use your minitsers. IMO they don't help much. They may be benificial in the very early game (and the player's learning curve) but not generally.

[oleg]

Originally posted by rdouglass:
If you want any chance of winning, don't use your minitsers. IMO they don't help much. They may be benificial in the very early game (and the player's learning curve) but not generally.

If you play cutthrow multiplayer game, then yes, no ministers ! But if you are role playing empire, why not ? I often turn on various ministers and concentrate on fleet battles or research or something else. but then I usually play with my own customized AI and I pretty well now what the hell it is doing

[primitive]

Ministers in SEIV are very closely modelled on our real life ministers. They promise a lot, but when you (s)elect them, they tend to do either nothing or just the opposite of what you wanted.

[Narrew]

Originally posted by oleg:
When you turn on minister, AI takes over this function and works accordingly to AI files stored into space_empires/pictures/races/"your race name"
If AI function particulary funny, it may means that something is wrong with those files. How did you generate you race ? Is ii a standard SE race or custom made ? Did you load preexisting .emp file and made it from scratch ?

AI should work fine if you use load existing emp file and switch on "use style from the race" in the race generation screen.

Ok, I didnt do that, I just made a race from scratch, is there any way to fix it(add the minister style) after the fact, or do I need start over?

Also, do people use their own race file for each game? ie design a race and pretty much stick with it, if so how do you change your racial points if the new game is different from when the original race was designed? The reason I asked I went to edit a race file I made, but it wouldnt let me open the file because I had used more points than what the new game had set (I can just change it, just wondered if there was an easier way to fix it).

Thanks for the replies.

[Suicide Junkie]

You can increase the Racial points allowed, then add your race, then edit it down to use fewer points, and then lower the game settings.

Personally, I tend to create new races from scratch for each game.
Since individual games Last quite a while, creating empires is still pretty rare for me.

Once the game has started you can't change the minister style. You can edit the minister itself, though (dangerous if you're not the only player using it )

[ March 06, 2003, 03:58: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

[QuarianRex]

For the empire file just make a game with high race points and then add your previously created empire (in the players window). Then select the race and press 'edit'. Make any changes you want, create empire, and then press 'Save to File' and save the empire.

Also, most people have multiple Versions of an empire saved (like Terran 2000, and Terran 5000) according to racial points spent. It saves time.

[QuarianRex]

D'oh! Late again. Must type faster.