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Post by pendell on Jun 26, 2014 20:00:23 GMT -5
*Puzzled*
Double-checking the google play store and the boards above suggests that 1.1.13 is the latest build released as of 26 JUN 2014 21:01 EDT. So I guess this is a patch you're currently working on?
I look forward to it when it comes out!
Respectfully,
Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Jun 26, 2014 17:03:59 GMT -5
So i have just started the game and got some of the basic stuff done but have a few questions. 1.So after i got my first colonies set up with the upgrades i was wondering what kind of ships i should make and what else i should do with those colonies. 2.So i got an alert about the Xeno and heard people discussing then but what are they? Should i be worried? I never played Star Traders so i have no knowledge about except thag they are assholes. 3. Should I expand my empire for now? Caveat to the answers above: In the tutorial mission, the message will say either "Xeno activity has reduced" or "Xeno activity has increased". Increased activity means you are about to face an assault from the xenos -- they will swarm you with large numbers of cheap ships coupled with 'world killer' invasion transports. Those last should be your priority target, as they will damage your planets at best, at worst they will take them over and convert them into alien colonies. "Xeno activity is reduced" means that the aliens are going to cease aggressive action if they are already aggressive, and otherwise will consolidate on their existing worlds without expanding -- I think. This is GOOD news. Take this time to build up your own empire. Note that attacking Xenos is a good way to trigger increased activity. So it's best to leave them alone unless you're ready to launch a major offensive of your own. As in, taking planets away from them. Note that in order to harm a xeno colony in ANY WAY you must research planetary invasion, which is under about starship construction 5 on the tech tree. I'll repeat this : Without a military transport, you cannot harm an alien colony in any way. The most you can do is orbit the planet and destroy any ships that take off from it. When you do finally get this capability, you are going to want multiple invasion ships, as one ship is not enough. The Xenos are quite fertile and will add one population to their planet every turn. So if you want to conquer the planet (reduce population to zero), you are going to need at least 4 invasion transports to reduce the planet in anything like a reasonable timeframe. With less than 2 you won't make any headway at all. Another option is to sterilize the planet, turn it into a dead world, which is done by reducing its quality to 0. A dead world cannot be colonized either by Xenos or by humans. There are three invasion options: Scout has a lesser probability to inflict damage but never harms quality. Invade is balanced, having a high probability of damaging population and a low probability of damaging quality. Bombard has a very high chance of damaging quality and I'm not sure how it works against population. Destroying a planet is fairly easy: Population regenerates but quality does not. If you want to capture the planet you're better off going for the full 8 transports, completely englobing the planet, and scout it until it is captured. Mixing with invasion usually means you'll be left with a planet of about 3 quality, almost useless save as a gas stop. Respectfully, Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Jun 26, 2014 16:46:29 GMT -5
How about this: When a faction core world (De Valtos Prime) for example, is attacked by aliens, there is a random chance, one time only, that you'll suddenly find X number of additional fighters or other ships under your command.
It turns out that the faction was embezzling some of the production from your factory order towards building its own fleet come the day. When the aliens suddenly threaten their homeworld, the faction suddenly decides it's time to pull out the spare box of ships under the sofa, and 'gifts' it to the Templars along with some pious apologies.
Make it a probability rather than a certainty so that the player doesn't simply exploit this to get free ships.
Of course, if you're defending De Valtos Prime from an alien invasion you've probably lost already, but it might be neat flavor-wise.
Respectfully,
Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Jun 26, 2014 15:16:55 GMT -5
Good points pendell, but that assumes the Templar fleet could actually bring their fleets back from wherever they went and rain down holy hell without the Xeno walking in after them snapping in their mandible-clicking language, "That's a nice empire you got there. Would be a shame if we didn't eat all life in it...". Then again, the very fear the Templar Fleet *could* do something like that might be a reason for the Factions to hold themselves back (It's one thing to make a minor miscalculation. It's another when your miscalculation destroys all life as we know it). Basically, mutually assured destruction = peace. Interesting... Remember that in ST:4X, the Templar fleet is omnipresent so this is a possible scenario. In ST: RPG, while the bulk of the templar fleet is missing there is apparently enough of a remnant that, to quote the spice hall rumor 'the templar make their own laws by force of arms and none can gainsay them'. Recall also that Steel Song continues to exist in the quadrant despite the combined votes of all the other factions, because the Templars wish it so. This implies that, though just a small portion of the entire fleet, the remnant garrison in the Quadrant retains a combination of influence and power sufficient to act as a counterweight to all the factions combined. NOT enough to rule the worlds directly -- that's what the faction wars were all about -- but enough to act as the enforcers of an uneasy truce based on the laws of Shalun. In fact, that may be another reason the factions observe the Edicts -- because the Edicts impose a balance of power such that no one faction becomes dominant. Overturning the edicts and driving out the templars might result in a no-holds-barred civil war without limit, such that when the Narvidians return to the quadrant they find nothing but dead worlds burned to a cinder as the humans destroy themselves. So they observe the laws not just out of fear of the Templars but also out of a healthy dose of self-preservation. Which doesn't prevent them sneakily trying to subvert or avoid the laws in order to gain an advantage -- given that all the other factions are doing so, even a pacifist faction would be foolish not to do all they can to prepare against the contingency that the truce breaks, or the Templars fall. It's just that open defiance isn't on the menu. They're playing this game to win, and openly breaking the laws would be akin to setting off a hand grenade at a game of cards. Respectfully, Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Jun 26, 2014 14:14:55 GMT -5
I agree, but given the might of the Templar fleet and the hell they can rain down on heretics they must adhere to the letter of the law in public. All kinds of behind-the-scenes shenanigans to undermine each other, yes, but open defiance of the edicts would incur the wrath both of the Templars and the united might of the other factions, each of whom would jump at the chance to beat seven kinds of tar out of each other, especially with Shalun's blessing. Thus the tyranny of the Templars will continue until the factions are able to unite against them, which won't happen any time soon. It would also destroy their best defense against the alien -- but if they truly were united they wouldn't NEED the Templars to begin with. Interesting story ideas: The factions deliberately try to provoke each other into openly violating the edicts, or even manufacture false-flag incidents to make it appear so, in the hopes of encouraging the Templars to take punitive action against the target faction. The Templars, for their part, are in a delicate balancing act, fostering peace and unity on one hand, but nonetheless trying to ensure that the Templars are indispensable to this natural order. Thus the Templars would actively oppose faction cooperation which they had no part in -- again secretly. Meanwhile, I assume the Narvidians have their own agents and sympathizers within human society, acting to foment as much war, division, and disruption as possible. NOW we know what all those secret courier missions in ST: RPG are about . Respectfully, Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Jun 26, 2014 13:53:29 GMT -5
I am of the Reformed faction of the Templars which teaches the principle of graded absolutism -- i.e., that the edits of Shalun are the edicts of Shalun, but not all the commands carry the same weight. And the command right up at the top of the edicts is "thou shalt not allow the human race to be annihilated". So if it's a choice between wiping a potentially colonizable world versus tipping the balance between aliens and humans , resulting in our extermination, I'll take the first choice. The Edicts of Shalun were never intended to be a suicide pact -- in fact, the entire POINT of the edicts is to keep humans from repeating the mistakes that killed the core! ETA: Of course the factions have pragmatism on their side as well as the edicts in not torching worlds -- humans need to spread out, and a dead world is a world we won't be able to spread to ourselves later, thereby threatening the entire human race with overpopulation. Of course, my response is: Which would you rather have, the problem of overpopulation in a century or would you like to be dead now? Sometimes a controlled burn is needed to control a fire -- or a swarm of millions of xenos, as the case may be. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_burnRespectfully, Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Jun 26, 2014 13:35:02 GMT -5
So I've played a few games on the tutorial and I'm more or less settling into the following formation for a TEF (Templar Expeditionary Force). It isn't fully tested yet, but this is the way I'm leaning. All class names are my own. 1) 8-12 FURY-class Fighters (whirlwind 2 guns, concentrating on speed and evasion but some armor). These are my basic ship killers and space superiority vehicles. Fighters are my mainstay because they are cheap to build, cheap to maintain, and relatively disposable. 2) 2 CHERUBIM-class cruisers (pretty much out of the box, but I suppose I could upgrade them with armor and better guns). These ships are high-maintenance, but they also have a lot more hit points than your average fighter. So their job is as blockers. To escort the carriers and keep away anything that makes it past the fighter screen. They also make a useful shield to retreat behind if the fighters need to fall back or regroup. 3) 1 QADDIYSH-class explorer scout. Because we need SOMETHING optimized for long seeker ranges. This guy gets the best sensors with the best range I can find, to give as complete a picture of the tactical situation as possible. 4) 2 ARCHANGEL-class carriers. One for refueling, one for repairing. May be upgraded to 3 ships (2 refuel, 1 repair). These provide mobile fuel and repair support far from home base. They also seem to refuel much more quickly, and therefore can repair and refuel the other ships quickly when in orbit around a faction world. They are the centerpiece of the Task Force whom the cruisers protect. 5) 4-8 HA-MAWET [Angel of Death]-class Military Transports. These have as many planetary invasion upgrades as I can afford and have their invasion training likewise maxed, as well as a colony module. Because an invasion is so hard, they are heavily optimized towards accomplishing this task and are almost helpless for any other purpose. That is why it has so many friends to protect them from interstellar threats. In battle, the fighters rapidly sweep away enemy opposition and form a perimeter around an alien world. The transports, carriers, and cruisers then completely englobe the planet to prevent it launching reinforcements. Then it's a slow process of assaulting the planet with the transports while the fighters prevent any interference. If quality is below about 5, it's probably best to simply pulverize the planet into a dead world rather than attempting to colonize it ourselves. Otherwise, one of the transports will create a refueling stop on the planet while a replacement is already traveling in from the core worlds. Refit, refuel, repeat the cycle again. This is extremely expensive, as you can well imagine, but interstellar conquest is NOT something done on the cheap. Thus for me the planetary construction tree is easily twice as important as the starship side of the tree. You cannot field a large fleet without a large economy, and a large economy allows you to build and replace ships far more quickly. It is easier to win with primitive ships produced every few turns than with a few powerful ships cranked out in roughly forever by underdeveloped planets. That, at least, is my experience. Does anyone have a better suggestion? Comments? Feedback? I've got no problems being told I'm on the wrong track. Respectfully, Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Jun 26, 2014 12:45:53 GMT -5
So what DOES radiation do? It appears to have an effect on the invasion roll of attacking transports. The lower the radiation, the more likely an attack will succeed , and therefore the more likely you will be able to take the planet intact through scouting, rather than through conventional invasion which typically doesn't leave a very interesting planet after all's said and done, even if it isn't made into a dead world.
Respectfully,
Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Jun 26, 2014 12:30:06 GMT -5
This may not be a bug but an issue of user understanding.
Version: 1.1.13 (thanks for the new tutorial AI, guys! It's really appreciated!)
So I research starship construction 4. This allows me to build a carrier with a fighter repair bay. It also gives me the repair skill.
I thought I was set. But then -- possibly a mistake on my part -- it seems to me that the baseline carrier can only REPAIR fighters. It cannot REFUEL them.
In order to refuel the fighters, I must research Fleet Operations 1 to unlock the specialist training 'refuel fighter'.
Then I must design a new class of carrier . I get my choice of primary training, secondary training, and specialist training. The primary and secondary training are reserved for combat options -- I get ONE specialist slot which can be to either refuel ships or repair ships but not both at the same time. I need two separate carriers, one for repair and the other for refueling.
Am I misunderstanding the engine? If not, is this intended by design? Or is the intent to have one ship able to perform both operations?
Respectfully,
Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Jun 26, 2014 12:18:52 GMT -5
My suggestion would be that there be three states for the map. 1) Uncharted (black as now) 2) Charted-not recently scanned(you can see the squares, anomalies and stars but they are dimmed. You cannot see if there are ships there, and cannot tell whether the stars are currently colonized or not). 3) Charted-recent information (fully lit, you can see ships , stats, and details on every square). I fully understand the need for fog of war but the fog of war shouldn't mean having to rechart the position of stars every few turns. They're stars, after all. . They have a mean-time-to-failure in the billions of years, and they move at the rate of galactic drift. They're also so bright you can literally see them from untold millions of kilometers away. I'm sure the aliens have advanced stealth and ECM technologies, but if they can completely hide a star's emissions such that it can't be seen from anywhere in the quadrant unless you actually fly there with a ship, the human race might as well quit now. Of course, the whole question of 'stealth in space' is an issue ... www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/spacewardetect.php#nostealth... but we've got to make SOME concessions to the game engine. Besides , there's no fun in having perfect information about the enemy's disposition at all times ... although I'll bet THEY have perfect information on US at all times, don't they? *Looks suspiciously at fallen* tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheComputerIsACheatingBastardRespectfully, Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Jun 25, 2014 14:46:15 GMT -5
Thank you!
Next question.
A Factory I produces 2 cp for 2 population. So:
-- I can have as many factories as I have population points. So if I have 3 population points I can have 3 factories. This will result in overcapacity however, as 2 factories can fully employ up to 4 population.
-- Likewise, the factory does not stack. 1 factory with 1 population will produce 1 cp. 1 factory with 2 population will produce 2 cp. 1 factory with 3 population will likewise produce 2 cp, because the factory can only employ a maximum of 2 population points. 2 factories with 2 population points means you get 2 CP and the maintenance cost of 2 factories.
Is that correct?
Respectfully,
Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Jun 25, 2014 10:28:58 GMT -5
Trying out the new upgrade. It's nice to have a breather from the xenos on the tutorial while I'm learning the ropes. Thanks for listening! Question: What exactly does 'subsidy' do? Is it a one-time bonus or is it ongoing until the project is built. Question: I think I've figured out what the numbers mean. I finally found that I could click on a star that I've just seen and get a readout such as : Minerals: 6-20 Quality: 2-20. This means that the star could have a MINIMUM of 6 minerals and a max of 20. Likewise, quality can be as low as 2 or as high as 20. So this is probably a star I want to hold off on colonizing until I have at least hab 2 or higher. Suggestion: When you eventually create the game manual and make it available online, this would be a great thing to spell out in detail more fully. As an example of one way this was done right, have a look at the manual for the old EA starflight game: www.lemonamiga.com/games/docs.php?id=1538I find section 5.3 [planetary conditions] of particular interest. It is considerably more detailed than ST but the player is left in absolutely no doubt what is and is not colonizable. If the player than winds up trying to colonize a magma world, s/he's got no one but himself to blame. Observation: I am colonizing very quickly and my core worlds are languishing at only a few population (3-4 max) while some of the new worlds jump to pop 2 almost immediately. I'm facing a constant housing crisis. I suppose I need to allow my core worlds to build up a bit before launching my first colony ship. Since the Templar Adviser clearly spelled this out this is totally on me. Observation: Some of my colony worlds have a bad die roll and I am limited to 6 or fewer quality. But they rapidly become overpopulated even so. I assume that I should build habitation modules even if it exceeds the planet's quality, because the cost I will pay in maintenance premiums is going to be less than I will take from a morale hit. At least up to some point of diminishing returns. If the planet stays overpopulated for too long, it will eventually declare independence, correct? And an independent world doesn't contribute anything to our budding federation, but at least it's not a xeno world. Is that correct? Is there some way to evacuate a planet once colonized? I know I have the evac option if the planet is under attack from a world killer. Can the planet be evaced under other circumstances as well? Respectfully, Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Jun 24, 2014 9:52:22 GMT -5
Excellent! I'll download the update and give it a try! Vae Victis, Trese Brothers!
Respectfully,
Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Jun 23, 2014 9:46:27 GMT -5
"pendell - is your device rooted? "
No.
"Does end turn process if you do not make moves on the map? Does it persist to the next turn?"
Actually, the problem went away when I downloaded the latest upgrade and I was able to play normally. I can't restore the state of the game as it was, so I can't answer your question. But if the issue recurs, I will definitely attempt what you suggest and let you know what happens.
Alogcat reported the following, but I don't know if it was caused by ST 4x or not:
I/Adreno-EGL( 9519): OpenGL ES Shader Compiler Version: 17.01.11.SPL I/Adreno-EGL( 9519): Build Date: 02/28/14 Fri I/Adreno-EGL( 9519): Local Branch: I/Adreno-EGL( 9519): Remote Branch: I/Adreno-EGL( 9519): Local Patches: I/Adreno-EGL( 9519): Reconstruct Branch: W/InputEventReceiver( 9519): Attempted to finish an input event but the input event receiver has already been disposed. I/Choreographer( 9519): Skipped 32 frames! The application may be doing too much work on its main thread.
Respectfully,
Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Jun 22, 2014 21:16:05 GMT -5
That did it. Thank you! *Looks sheepish*
Respectfully,
Brian P.
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