Distant Worlds Catch All

Holy crap...So after tboon suggested I pick up Shakturi along with DW Vanilla, I went ahead and bit the bullet on the expansion and finally exploring this game. All I can say right now is...I probably shouldn't be having some drinks while trying to play the tutorial and actually understand the game. The comprehension isn't quite there just yet. That being said, I can totally see myself getting lost in this game just from poking around. Definitely right up my alley

Definitely look up some of the 'Let's Play' series, Cpt.

So, I've had this since the Christmas sale, but haven't done too much with it. I read Veloxi's account of playing as a single ship and that sounds much more manageable to me. How do I set this up -- just turn everything to auto, click on a single ship, and go? Or is there more to it than that? Will the computer give me orders/direction or anything or is it a make your own fun kind of situation?

Actually, it's more of a command-style sim. You can set things up as you like, and the computer will pump out ships, manage planets, explore, etc. What I do is to pay attention to the various parts that matter at the time - deciding on exploration targets and tech choices early on; making ship production choices and fleet basing allocations later on. That sort of thing.

It's not "make your own fun", because you will run into decision points, other players, cool encounters as you go. It's more of a "how much do I want to manage?" choice. If you think of it that way, it might be easier to sort out.

How to get started in DW:
1) Start by automating everything.
2) See the cool clockwork universe run.
3) Decide what you want to manage and turn off automation of that.
4) Play some more.
5) Decide if you want to manage more; if so go to Step 3.

Once you have the start of a game or two under your belt, you have the automation settings where you like and start your "for real" game.

Bonus tip: Every game, before I unpause it, I queue up 4 destroyers and make sure I put them in the same fleet. I put my starting destroyer in that fleet as well and turn off fleet automation. 5 destroyers can pretty much handle anything in the early stages of the game whether it be pirate attacks or Kaltor swarms. Then I mostly just handle expansion and use the fleet to project force where needed.

Bonus bonus tip: When the economy gets running smoothly, I build a construction ship but turn off automation for it. I can use it to build/repair stuff as needed. You sometimes find some really great things out there that need to be repaired. But you cannot build this ship too early; the upkeep is pretty high and too many construction ships can drag your economy down a lot early on.

I have to admit to turning off automation for ship designs - having watched Das's Youtube series on the ST:TNG mod, I understood loads more about how to make sure your ships are properly equipped with the latest tech. It's always nice to know that if you have just invented Gauss guns or whatever that you can oversee the fitting of them to your ships, and see the impact of them.

But then, I'm like that

Distant Worlds (and all expansions) or Endless Space? Which one should I go for?

Strangeblades wrote:

Distant Worlds (and all expansions) or Endless Space? Which one should I go for?

Well, what do want? Do you want a turn based 4x game or a more living, pausable real time 4x game?

Edit: Nevermind, you super cross poster.

garion333 wrote:
Strangeblades wrote:

Distant Worlds (and all expansions) or Endless Space? Which one should I go for?

Well, what do want? Do you want a turn based 4x game or a more living, pausable real time 4x game?

Edit: Nevermind, you super cross poster.

I now have Distant Worlds. Like all of 'em (I mean I have the main game and the two expansions). Can't wait to flip all the dials to Automated and fly my ship around. Yee and ha.

Strangeblades wrote:

I now have Distant Worlds. Like all of 'em (I mean I have the main game and the two expansions). Can't wait to flip all the dials to Automated and fly my ship around. Yee and ha.

I'd manage the diplomacy myself, the AI is a bit too gung ho for my taste. Although I suppose it is more realistic that way.

Ugh. Can't get this game to work with everything installed and all updates searched for. Initially, I get this error message here:

IMAGE(http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab221/Strangeblades/Capture.png)

Any suggestions?

For all that money you paid surely there's some support...

...right?

Apparently, I might need to install Windows Media Player - as suggested by some on the forums. Can I get that from Windows 7 installation disc because I didn't install that.

Strangeblades wrote:

Apparently, I might need to install Windows Media Player - as suggested by some on the forums. Can I get that from Windows 7 installation disc because I didn't install that.

SB this is truly one of the few times I'll complain about your multiple postings. Previously I was just giving you a hard time, but when it comes to tech support it's hard to know where to respond as different threads give you different results so you're on different levels.

Anyway, based on what others have said, installing WMP seems the quickest route and one NEVER needs to use a Windows 7 install disc for that. WMP is free for all Windows users (afaik):

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...

garion333 wrote:
Strangeblades wrote:

Apparently, I might need to install Windows Media Player - as suggested by some on the forums. Can I get that from Windows 7 installation disc because I didn't install that.

SB this is truly one of the few times I'll complain about your multiple postings. Previously I was just giving you a hard time, but when it comes to tech support it's hard to know where to respond as different threads give you different results so you're on different levels.

Anyway, based on what others have said, installing WMP seems the quickest route and one NEVER needs to use a Windows 7 install disc for that. WMP is free for all Windows users (afaik):

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...

I feel the shame. Never again will I multiple post.

Strangeblades wrote:
garion333 wrote:
Strangeblades wrote:

Apparently, I might need to install Windows Media Player - as suggested by some on the forums. Can I get that from Windows 7 installation disc because I didn't install that.

SB this is truly one of the few times I'll complain about your multiple postings. Previously I was just giving you a hard time, but when it comes to tech support it's hard to know where to respond as different threads give you different results so you're on different levels.

Anyway, based on what others have said, installing WMP seems the quickest route and one NEVER needs to use a Windows 7 install disc for that. WMP is free for all Windows users (afaik):

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...

I feel the shame. Never again will I multiple post. :oops:

Also, this is real bacon:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/OTdqC.jpg)

"Canadian Bacon" isn't *really* bacon. Sob!

1) I eat all kinds of bacon. Back bacon and bacon. You see? All kinds.

2) Bacon DOES make everything better.

3) Now that I got Distant Worlds to work with all expansions I wanna do the single ship thing with everything automated. Should I start with a small galaxy?

Is there a mod to adjust the fonts in this game? A little fuzzy but readable as they are right now.

tboon has it right man, start small and open yourself up as you go. That's what I did and I had a BLAST. I wish I had time to play it more. Damn too many space games!

Strangeblades wrote:

Is there a mod to adjust the fonts in this game? A little fuzzy but readable as they are right now.

First, CONGRATULATIONS! You're in for hours and hours of glorious 4x-ing.

Regarding the fonts, it has been an issue from the beginning. Believe it or not, it is noticeably better than it was early on. Older gamers (myself included) have difficulty reading the tiny, fuzzy fonts. Unfortunately, there's no fix for it at this time. I'm hoping (as I do with each one) the forthcoming update will address this.

DW is not without its warts, but it's a tribute to its fantastic gameplay that we still regard it so highly. Grin and bear it, you will be rewarded.

Regarding your first game, I'd suggest 400 planets in a 6x6 grid. If you intend on exploring, perhaps consider turning off space monsters and pirates (or at least turn them down). Consider watching this outstanding Let's Play to familiarize yourself with some of the finer points of the game.

And for crying out loud, get the Star Trek Mod.

D-Man777 wrote:
Strangeblades wrote:

Is there a mod to adjust the fonts in this game? A little fuzzy but readable as they are right now.

First, CONGRATULATIONS! You're in for hours and hours of glorious 4x-ing.

Regarding the fonts, it has been an issue from the beginning. Believe it or not, it is noticeably better than it was early on. Older gamers (myself included) have difficulty reading the tiny, fuzzy fonts. Unfortunately, there's no fix for it at this time. I'm hoping (as I do with each one) the forthcoming update will address this.

DW is not without its warts, but it's a tribute to its fantastic gameplay that we still regard it so highly. Grin and bear it, you will be rewarded.

Regarding your first game, I'd suggest 400 planets in a 6x6 grid. If you intend on exploring, perhaps consider turning off space monsters and pirates (or at least turn them down). Consider watching this outstanding Let's Play to familiarize yourself with some of the finer points of the game.

And for crying out loud, get the Star Trek Mod.

Thanks for all the encouragement guys/gals/tentacle monsters/monks. I plan on taking it easy at first.

OK. I've automated everything and selected one ship. How do I get missions? Do I select them myself?

Oh, my ship.

IMAGE(http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab221/Strangeblades/Distant%20Worlds/Capture-1.jpg?t=1341374117)

And the delicious stats.

IMAGE(http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab221/Strangeblades/Distant%20Worlds/Capture2-1.jpg?t=1341374168)

Hmmm. I did set everything to automate and I also chose to play in a sandbox mode. I guess without victory conditions I get no missions?

Oh ho. Missions just come in and I respond to them. I'm helping some little dude fight off a Giant Kaltor. Should be easy. Of course on the way there I find this thing:

IMAGE(http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab221/Strangeblades/Distant%20Worlds/Capture3-1.jpg?t=1341375060)

Looks tempting. I'm sure whatever that ship is can hold off a Giant Kaltor.

No one "gives" you missions really, you react as the game throws things at you.

Huh, that was strange. Just fired up my first serious game of this finally a little bit ago. Started a Random Quick Start game, ended up pulling the Shandar as the race with the standard "Control 23%" victory conditions. I had everything automated but for one exploration ship which I started sending to random nearby systems. At one point I discover an independent nation and can colonize the planet they're on. Soon after that, I get a message one of my mining facilities is being attacked by pirates. What was strange though was that I didn't see any actual enemies anywhere once I clicked on the message to center on the mine. Checking through available military ships showed that my ships were attacking the pirate ship, but again, I couldn't figure out where the battle was taking place. So, I just went back to my exploration ship and continued to float around the galaxy.

About 15 minutes into the game I get a "You have been defeated" screen. I only sped up the game once to speed up the travel of the exploration ship, and even then it appeared that only a handful of game time days had passed.

Soo....I guess I'll just start another game?

CptDomano wrote:

Huh, that was strange. Just fired up my first serious game of this finally a little bit ago. Started a Random Quick Start game, ended up pulling the Shandar as the race with the standard "Control 23%" victory conditions. I had everything automated but for one exploration ship which I started sending to random nearby systems. At one point I discover an independent nation and can colonize the planet they're on. Soon after that, I get a message one of my mining facilities is being attacked by pirates. What was strange though was that I didn't see any actual enemies anywhere once I clicked on the message to center on the mine. Checking through available military ships showed that my ships were attacking the pirate ship, but again, I couldn't figure out where the battle was taking place. So, I just went back to my exploration ship and continued to float around the galaxy.

About 15 minutes into the game I get a "You have been defeated" screen. I only sped up the game once to speed up the travel of the exploration ship, and even then it appeared that only a handful of game time days had passed.

Soo....I guess I'll just start another game?

That's werid, although I can recommend a couple things to fix it. 23% is kind of low if it is the only objective, think if it this way it would be possible for four different races at the same time to full fill it. Second, if you have the win objectives start right away, a race that is lucky and say colonize a few planets very fast, especially pre-populated ones could win real easy though control. I usually have all three set to around 30-33 percent, although that can make the game take a while. Also if you have the last expansion the race objectives are a lot of fun as well, although some race have it easy compared to others (those damn tribble creatures for instance)

master0 wrote:

That's werid, although I can recommend a couple things to fix it. 23% is kind of low if it is the only objective, think if it this way it would be possible for four different races at the same time to full fill it. Second, if you have the win objectives start right away, a race that is lucky and say colonize a few planets very fast, especially pre-populated ones could win real easy though control. I usually have all three set to around 30-33 percent, although that can make the game take a while. Also if you have the last expansion the race objectives are a lot of fun as well, although some race have it easy compared to others (those damn tribble creatures for instance)

Ahh yeah, that makes sense. The strange thing about it is that I didn't set anything up--it was just a Quick Start -> Random, so that's just how the game played out initially I guess. And it wasn't just control the galaxy, it had the produce 23% galatic income and 23% of of population or something like that too.

This second game is going better--the automation is nice for just watching everything play out. I've already encountered some AI race that warned me about some bad juju coming my way and ran into another race that seems content on just leaving me alone for the time being.

As for the last expansion, I purchased it for a discount along with the Shakturi expansion but haven't installed it yet.