Distant Worlds Catch All

While the mod scene for DW has put out the requisite Star Wars/Trek mods I'm more interested in enhancements to the vanilla game. There are a couple mods I prefer and are confirmed to work with Shadows.

Sirian's Resources Mod replaces the game's icons with easier to recognize symbols. At this point I feel like they should just pay the guy and use his icons.

Silent Alerts. Thank god for this.

Distant Worlds Extended Shadows. This mod adds 16 new races to the game. With good art too.

So as promised I've started up a game of Vanilla Distant Worlds, no mods or expansions. So far it's been great, I've had a decent amount of Pirate action and have not witnessed any of the problems with fleets breaking I up for repair and refuel like they used to. Fuel in general is much less of a pain as well.

So far the only time my fleet has split up its when I sent a fleet of 5-6 ships to attack some Giant Kaltor and they paired up, which was totally reasonable.

As far as actual gameplay goes, it's fine, but not super grabbing me yet. I think that this is mainly because research is one of my favorite parts of these kinds of games, and that is the area where Distant Worlds gives you the least control. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea that the majority of research happens hands off from the government, but IMO Distant Worlds has gone too far in that direction.

Also, I think that their default research speed is too slow. I started at one colony, and was up to a thriving Empire of 20+ planets and a large and powerful Navy before my first tech was researched. And yes, my Empire was researching at their full capacity the entire time. Add in the fact that I am one of the larger Empires and should hence be researching the fastest, along with my 35% species/government bonus, and my scientific advancement just seems glacially slow.

I have been very pleasant with the other Empires, and have a good relationship with them, but I have begun expanding into and among the closest race, which they are none too happy about. They have started some small skirmishes, and things will probably degrade quickly. I'm looking forward to cutting my teeth on something that isn't pirates.

Also, I found a colony ship with a species that lives on marsh planets. I gave them a planet, will colony ships made from that planet contain that species and be able to colonize more marsh planets?

Yonder wrote:

So as promised I've started up a game of Vanilla Distant Worlds, no mods or expansions. So far it's been great, I've had a decent amount of Pirate action and have not witnessed any of the problems with fleets breaking I up for repair and refuel like they used to. Fuel in general is much less of a pain as well.

So far the only time my fleet has split up its when I sent a fleet of 5-6 ships to attack some Giant Kaltor and they paired up, which was totally reasonable.

As far as actual gameplay goes, it's fine, but not super grabbing me yet. I think that this is mainly because research is one of my favorite parts of these kinds of games, and that is the area where Distant Worlds gives you the least control. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea that the majority of research happens hands off from the government, but IMO Distant Worlds has gone too far in that direction.

Also, I think that their default research speed is too slow. I started at one colony, and was up to a thriving Empire of 20+ planets and a large and powerful Navy before my first tech was researched. And yes, my Empire was researching at their full capacity the entire time. Add in the fact that I am one of the larger Empires and should hence be researching the fastest, along with my 35% species/government bonus, and my scientific advancement just seems glacially slow.

I have been very pleasant with the other Empires, and have a good relationship with them, but I have begun expanding into and among the closest race, which they are none too happy about. They have started some small skirmishes, and things will probably degrade quickly. I'm looking forward to cutting my teeth on something that isn't pirates.

Also, I found a colony ship with a species that lives on marsh planets. I gave them a planet, will colony ships made from that planet contain that species and be able to colonize more marsh planets?

Does vanilla still have the original research system where you can't pick anything? I remember the original system was very boring. I think shacturi overhauled.

Also yeah if you find a colony ship of another race, you can colonize that race's planet type. Of course it has to be built at the planet with said race. Really great when you find one.

master0 wrote:

Does vanilla still have the original research system where you can't pick anything? I remember the original system was very boring. I think shacturi overhauled.

Seems like it, this is how I can control research:

1. Alter the ratio of Energy, High Tech, Industrial, and Weapon labs I build, that will be the ratio of research in each of the four sections.

2. Pay money to funnel all of the research done into one of the 20ish components being researched at that point in time. If I don't do that I assume the 20ish components just crawl along according to the research in their category (of the 4 mentioned).

Somewhat related: I can try to steal or buy tech. Luckily as I mentioned I am the wealthiest of the Empires in this galaxy, so I have money to buy tech, and all but one race likes me quite a bit, so they seem to offer up their tech pretty much as they research it.

You can pick specific techs to research in DW:S, not sure the exact way but I've done it and seen it in videos. Something is missing.

Chesspieceface wrote:

You can pick specific techs to research in DW:S, not sure the exact way but I've done it and seen it in videos. Something is missing.

The ability to pick the techs to research was added in the Return of the Shakturi expansion. One of the reasons I consider it a must-have expansion for the game.

garion333 - Thanks for the mods link. Holy crap the silent alerts was a little more than necessary.

I do have a few question since I am somewhat new (only a couple of games in and still learning the game and playing Legends (not Shadows ... yet)):

  • Any quick summaries on what tech is needed to build each class of ship? I am finding it pretty difficult to figure out what I need for cruisers, carriers and capital ships.
  • Automated ship designs: Are these worth it or should I be tackling a dedicated ship design here and there. (Good AAR write up)
  • On the main galaxy screen, I see some things that I feel I should understand, such as a red dotted line from one empires colony to mine? Or in a zoomed in system screen a circle around a colonized planet. What are there or how do I find out what these mean?
  • Pirates are my DW:L wack-a-mole. Is there anything that explains their prodigious reappearance rate?
tboon wrote:
Chesspieceface wrote:

You can pick specific techs to research in DW:S, not sure the exact way but I've done it and seen it in videos. Something is missing.

The ability to pick the techs to research was added in the Return of the Shakturi expansion. One of the reasons I consider it a must-have expansion for the game.

Yeah I remember the old version. Each expansion tends to adds a huge amount to the game.

CEJ wrote:

garion333 - Thanks for the mods link. Holy crap the silent alerts was a little more than necessary.

I do have a few question since I am somewhat new (only a couple of games in and still learning the game and playing Legends (not Shadows ... yet)):

  • Any quick summaries on what tech is needed to build each class of ship? I am finding it pretty difficult to figure out what I need for cruisers, carriers and capital ships.
  • Automated ship designs: Are these worth it or should I be tackling a dedicated ship design here and there. (Good AAR write up)
  • On the main galaxy screen, I see some things that I feel I should understand, such as a red dotted line from one empires colony to mine? Or in a zoomed in system screen a circle around a colonized planet. What are there or how do I find out what these mean?
  • Pirates are my DW:L wack-a-mole. Is there anything that explains their prodigious reappearance rate?

Okay I think I know a few of these. I think the main limit to ship class is construction size. There's a research topic which basically lets you build bigger ships/bases. Farther along you are of that the bigger the ship.

I always use automated ship designs and generally have no problems. That being said designing ships yourself can easily be better if you do it right. I just never liked doing that in any space game.

The red dotted line is an attack vector. Now for the circle around a planet I need a few more details. There's is planetary/fraction influence, but that's much bigger seen from zoomed out. Planetary radar, also big. It also could have a warp restriction field that would seen way up close.

edit: oh and for pirates make sure to turn of re-spawning. That way if you wreck bases they stay dead. If they do have bases around you expect to be bothered a lot.

double edit: Never realized there were so many mods for the game. I'm debating the graphics overhaul mod right now.

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3211317

It looks better for a lot of areas, but in some I like the old graphics better.

So my war with that other Alien race went well, but it lasted much, much longer than I expected. This is mostly due to fueling problems. It was not as aggravating as in the original, when the fleets would split up mid-battle for refueling at the slightest provocation, but they did still need some baby-sitting.

All-in-all I wasn't too unhappy with ship fueling AI though, but I was very annoyed with Empire fueling AI. That sort of freight transfer is 100% out of your hands, and the AI wasn't doing a very good job of prioritizing getting fuel out from from my Empire Center and the rear lines and getting it up to the Front lines where I needed it.

I didn't seem to have any way to set up planets/stations as refueling hubs to prioritize shipment, or request more manually, or anything like that. Eventually I gave up on keeping my fleets refueled on the front line bases and had them continuously return back to my more developed colonies. This of course took more fuel, and more travel time, but it was far faster then waiting for a resupply that never came.

It is true that there was a war on, and shipping was interrupted, but not to the degree which seemed to justify the enormous lack of freight I was experiencing. I also didn't experiment with the handful of Resupply ships that my advisor recommended I build, but it seems likely in hindsight that those would have been useful to manually bring fuel up from the rear lines.

In other news, I did learn that during a war it's best to turn Diplomatic relations off of automated unless you are RPing solely as the Naval Commander. A short while after I had them on the ropes I realized that we weren't at war with them any more (it took me a bit to realize that as you can still attack and blockade and stuff without an official war on). Luckily there wasn't any sort of cease fire period so I was able to just start up again.

Once I completely knocked them out by returning them to their home-system, ambushing their main fleet (which for some reason was way far away from everything for the last part of the war and then had to limp back home after running out of fuel and having all their bases in that quadrant captured/destroyed, and destroying their very powerful large space port guarding their home planet peace was declared again.

Luckily my AI didn't settle for a cease fire that time, they are now a subjugated race, which I am totally fine with.

I also turned my Espionage from Automated to Recommended, after I got a request from a race that quite liked me that I stop stealing research and whatnot from them.

I also got complaints from the most militarily powerful race and my Mutual Defense Pact partner that I was refusing to trade my valuable resources with them, so my AI Governors may very well be dicks.

CEJ wrote:

I do have a few question since I am somewhat new (only a couple of games in and still learning the game and playing Legends (not Shadows ... yet)):

  • Any quick summaries on what tech is needed to build each class of ship? I am finding it pretty difficult to figure out what I need for cruisers, carriers and capital ships.
  • Automated ship designs: Are these worth it or should I be tackling a dedicated ship design here and there. (Good AAR write up)
  • On the main galaxy screen, I see some things that I feel I should understand, such as a red dotted line from one empires colony to mine? Or in a zoomed in system screen a circle around a colonized planet. What are there or how do I find out what these mean?
  • Pirates are my DW:L wack-a-mole. Is there anything that explains their prodigious reappearance rate?
master0 wrote:

Okay I think I know a few of these. I think the main limit to ship class is construction size. There's a research topic which basically lets you build bigger ships/bases. Farther along you are of that the bigger the ship.

So, I figured a few of these out then ...
1 - Cruisers, Capital are related to construction advances then
2 - Carriers needs construction and fighters (Tactical Interceptors to be precise)
3 - Resupply Ships need construction plus Enhanced Storage (or something like that)
4 - Troop Transports you start the game with?

master0 wrote:

I always use automated ship designs and generally have no problems. That being said designing ships yourself can easily be better if you do it right. I just never liked doing that in any space game.

Noted. I do think there is some room for specialization but that is a topic for another day.

master0 wrote:

The red dotted line is an attack vector. Now for the circle around a planet I need a few more details. There's is planetary/fraction influence, but that's much bigger seen from zoomed out. Planetary radar, also big. It also could have a warp restriction field that would seen way up close.

Ok. What does attack vector do for me and why is it displayed?

Turns out the other deal was a wrap restriction field that made me slog through it to his defense platforms that hammer me the whole time. Very cool but very annoying. I guess I need to look at some longer range weapon options for those. Can you research and build said wrap restriction deals?

master0 wrote:

edit: oh and for pirates make sure to turn off re-spawning. That way if you wreck bases they stay dead. If they do have bases around you expect to be bothered a lot.

Damn. That would be too damn simple. I will do that vs playing my twisted wack a mole game until I finally kill them all or they join my empire.

I doubt that thing is an attack vector, as in, the path a spy or one of your ships has seen an enemy fleet coming to attack you. If that was the case there should have been a very clear message.

Dotted lines between colonies denote the major paths that civilian and automated ships will take for trade and patrols. They are based on trade needs and space ports, and distance. If the other race is red then their died lines will be red. It sounds to me like you each have a colony in a different world in the same system.

This can cause friction with that race later on. If you want to stay friends you may want to consider purchasing their colony or trading away your own. If you go to make a diplomatic deal with them you'll see a "disputed claims" section on one or both sides of one race owns ports, mines, or colonies the other race feels rightfully belong to them.

Yonder wrote:

This can cause friction with that race later on. If you want to stay friends you may want to consider purchasing their colony or trading away your own. If you go to make a diplomatic deal with them you'll see a "disputed claims" section on one or both sides of one race owns ports, mines, or colonies the other race feels rightfully belong to them.

Ohhhh ... that makes a lot more sense.

One thing to note is I never automate the ai and always have espionage set to recommend. The reason is the ai doesn't deal with diplomacy and spying strategically. Rather it behaves more like the opposing ai. As in if it like a race based on their action, goverment, etc they stay peaceful with them. If they don't they declare war or spy on them like crazy. Basically the ai behaves just like the opponent ai. Which is more realistic for an empire, but not great for strategy.

Yeah warp restrictions can be lethal, and you can put them on capital ships. I love that. Also you can attack and invade people out of war. It just sinks your reputation and everyone starts to hate you. A good reputation is really useful.

DOes anyone have a weapons stats comparison for ship components?

Still debating if I should get the game or not.. Or live the gaming thru all your posts.

I read the discount was running until July 5 or 6..., still undecided. :S

Get it man, its worth the investment.

Veloxi wrote:

Get it man, its worth the investment.

Seriously. Now that it's clicked with me, it's worth every penny.

Now, I need to get back. Stupid galactic neighbors are being assholes, and I'm taking them over my proverbial knee.

And which expansions are required?

I'm trying to hold off on this, but SotS2 let me down and I need to scratch an itch.

Base and Shakturi at a minimum.

Hey guys, this week's podcast on my site focuses on Distant Worlds, with the game's lead developer and Matrix's head PR dude. It's pretty damned informative both on the game and on Matrix's business practices. I hope y'all like it.

http://www.spacegamejunkie.com/featu...

Awesome!

Sweet. Downloaded for afternoon listening while I "work".

I posted this comment on Veloxi's blog the other day, but since that was an old blog post and wouldn't get many views, figured I should repost it here.

I later found that the talk about a packaged version of DW came from part 2 of this interview at SpaceSector.

OK, so after watching a handful of videos I am *sorely* tempted to buy into this. Knowing Matrix, I think that the current holiday sale price on this game is best you'll see for some time. That said, I'm pretty sure I heard some rumblings about a "packaged" version coming out sometime. Now I can't find where I read that (maybe it was DW2?), but with my luck, that would happen right after I bought the set.

I just know it's going to be one of those games that I play through once or twice, but move on to something else. I tend to play 4x games REALLY slowly and become overly attached to my empires. Watching the Das24680 videos, for example, while he is playing I see him ignore a *lot* of events that seem (to me) to be fairly important. I have to wonder if that's simply the way you have to play this game, or just a matter of his style, or just his experience telling him which things matter & which don't.

Also (and again maybe this is just his style), the videos seem to show the game as really focused on military and expansion. Development of planets seems to be an afterthought. I plan to look at other LP videos to shed more light on this.

I've also spent some time reading the Matrix forums (where I've apparently had an account since 2004!). That always gives you a nice mix of fanboys and people who complain about everything. You also see a few people saying "when are they going to fix this issue that's been around forever", a few complaining about the price, and others complaining about the people complaining about the price.

Is there a PDF manual that comes with the game(s)? Is it decent, or do you get most of your information from playing and/or reading the forums?

Hrdina wrote:

I posted this comment on Veloxi's blog the other day, but since that was an old blog post and wouldn't get many views, figured I should repost it here.

I later found that the talk about a packaged version of DW came from part 2 of this interview at SpaceSector.

OK, so after watching a handful of videos I am *sorely* tempted to buy into this. Knowing Matrix, I think that the current holiday sale price on this game is best you'll see for some time. That said, I'm pretty sure I heard some rumblings about a "packaged" version coming out sometime. Now I can't find where I read that (maybe it was DW2?), but with my luck, that would happen right after I bought the set.

I just know it's going to be one of those games that I play through once or twice, but move on to something else. I tend to play 4x games REALLY slowly and become overly attached to my empires. Watching the Das24680 videos, for example, while he is playing I see him ignore a *lot* of events that seem (to me) to be fairly important. I have to wonder if that's simply the way you have to play this game, or just a matter of his style, or just his experience telling him which things matter & which don't.

Also (and again maybe this is just his style), the videos seem to show the game as really focused on military and expansion. Development of planets seems to be an afterthought. I plan to look at other LP videos to shed more light on this.

I've also spent some time reading the Matrix forums (where I've apparently had an account since 2004!). That always gives you a nice mix of fanboys and people who complain about everything. You also see a few people saying "when are they going to fix this issue that's been around forever", a few complaining about the price, and others complaining about the people complaining about the price.

Is there a PDF manual that comes with the game(s)? Is it decent, or do you get most of your information from playing and/or reading the forums?

I bought the base game and Return of the Shakturi during the sale this past summer after debating for months reading the glowing praise for it. I have not been disappointed and I'm buying the other two expansions right after my holiday nightmare is over with.

Now, from my perspective with just that first expansion, DW is definitely oriented towards military expansion as well as diplomacy. You have to keep in mind that DW is macro management of an empire and the game will automate as much as you allow it. Allowing the automation to micro-manage the fiddly bits while you track your fleets and key important events is a real joy. You are THE Emperor/King/Lord/President/Leader of your people. Do you really care that Epsilon Utani IV built some random building? Nope. Do you care that your fleets of capital ships and troop transports are using bleeding edge technology you bought from a close ally (better remember to keep them happy) and are cutting a swath of destruction through some resource rich insectoid colonies in the outer rim? YES! It lets you enjoy the parts you want to enjoy and delegate the others to AI that works decently well. It's pretty slick overall and if you want to setup an epic 1000+ star galactic tussle for ultimate supremacy you have that option as well as small engagements. The scalability of the universe and the races that inhabit it is a really nice factor. You can easily adjust research tiers to delay research rushing towards optimal techs, or the number of space monsters or pirates disrupting your empire. You can even toggle wether pre-inhabited planets like splinter colonies can form empires on their own later in the game and join in the fray.

The game scales the 4X experience really well. I consider it a compliment to a game like MOO2 and not a replacement. The focus is different. One more note, is that the universe feels kind of like John Scalzi's incredible scifi series Old Man's War. The resource rich colonies are tightly contested you are in a race to expand to those locations and defend them from your rivals. But, allys can come from unexpected places, race specific technology can dramatically turn the tide of battle, locations of bases and refueling stations become critical to planning your fleet actions, and coordinating jumping your task forces in to attack a fortified location around the fifth planet of a star system matters. But again though, these are just my thoughts so far and I'm loving what the game offers.

Now complaints... Sometimes the automation is a bit overzealous or annoying. Sometimes the alert sound will play constantly as whatever event continues to barrage you. Sometimes the AI recommends sending a fleet to attack a pirate base even though that fleet is out of fuel and stuck limping back to a refueling base (I read that automated refueling was fixed in a later expansion). Sometimes it can feel a bit tedious but when that kicks in I usually adjust what the automation is doing to help me so I can focus elsewhere. There's a balancing act with the automation that you'll learn as you play and experiment.

Also, here's the manual but I found the various Let's Plays of it far more useful.
http://www.matrixgames.com/products/...

LockAndLoad wrote:

I bought the base game and Return of the Shakturi during the sale this past summer after debating for months reading the glowing praise for it. I have not been disappointed and I'm buying the other two expansions right after my holiday nightmare is over with.

Now, from my perspective with just that first expansion, DW is definitely oriented towards military expansion as well as diplomacy. You have to keep in mind that DW is macro management of an empire and the game will automate as much as you allow it. Allowing the automation to micro-manage the fiddly bits while you track your fleets and key important events is a real joy. You are THE Emperor/King/Lord/President/Leader of your people. Do you really care that Epsilon Utani IV built some random building? Nope. Do you care that your fleets of capital ships and troop transports are using bleeding edge technology you bought from a close ally (better remember to keep them happy) and are cutting a swath of destruction through some resource rich insectoid colonies in the outer rim? YES! It lets you enjoy the parts you want to enjoy and delegate the others to AI that works decently well. It's pretty slick overall and if you want to setup an epic 1000+ star galactic tussle for ultimate supremacy you have that option as well as small engagements. The scalability of the universe and the races that inhabit it is a really nice factor. You can easily adjust research tiers to delay research rushing towards optimal techs, or the number of space monsters or pirates disrupting your empire. You can even toggle wether pre-inhabited planets like splinter colonies can form empires on their own later in the game and join in the fray.

The game scales the 4X experience really well. I consider it a compliment to a game like MOO2 and not a replacement. The focus is different. One more note, is that the universe feels kind of like John Scalzi's incredible scifi series Old Man's War. The resource rich colonies are tightly contested you are in a race to expand to those locations and defend them from your rivals. But, allys can come from unexpected places, race specific technology can dramatically turn the tide of battle, locations of bases and refueling stations become critical to planning your fleet actions, and coordinating jumping your task forces in to attack a fortified location around the fifth planet of a star system matters. But again though, these are just my thoughts so far and I'm loving what the game offers.

Now complaints... Sometimes the automation is a bit overzealous or annoying. Sometimes the alert sound will play constantly as whatever event continues to barrage you. Sometimes the AI recommends sending a fleet to attack a pirate base even though that fleet is out of fuel and stuck limping back to a refueling base (I read that automated refueling was fixed in a later expansion). Sometimes it can feel a bit tedious but when that kicks in I usually adjust what the automation is doing to help me so I can focus elsewhere. There's a balancing act with the automation that you'll learn as you play and experiment.

Also, here's the manual but I found the various Let's Plays of it far more useful.
http://www.matrixgames.com/products/...

L&L,

Thanks for the thoughtful response. At that Matrix site I found a couple of guides and links to some videos, but not a manual. Maybe I'm just blind. In any event, you're probably right that the LP videos give a better idea about the game. The reason I had asked about the manual was that sometimes the better LP videos leave out a bunch of details, unless they are actually focused on teaching them.

Scanning through the Matrix forums, I ran across a series of "micromanagement" LP videos for DW by Larry Monte that show some promise.

As far as playing as an "Emperor" is concerned, that is one of the things that attracts me to the game, so good. That said, it was also what attracted me to MoO3 at the time.

I've read the first few books of OMW (Human Brigades is next), but hadn't noticed that similarity. I'll have to think about it.

In any event, I've decided to take the plunge and picked up the base game and all 3 expansions, since Matrix has them on sale. I have a few days off for year-end, so this is a good time to dive into a game like this. I will hold Veloxi personally responsible* for the fact that these three brave Kerbals will have to wait a long time before they can get home from the attempted Duna mission that I started yesterday.

IMAGE(http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g20/Kelly-Hrdina/KSP/DUna-02.png)

* Actually the videos from Das are probably more responsible, but it's Veloxi's fault that I was looking in the first place.

Happily taking the blame, yessir.

Hrdina, try thinking of it this way. In most 4x games, you start with all the detailed systems and have to learn each one and micromanage it from the start in order to know when you can go hands-off and when you need to pay attention to it. In DW, you start hands-off, and you choose when to learn and take over a game system. DW is top down, where previous games were bottom-up.

So instead of having a huge learning curve where your first turns take an hour each, you simply watch for a while and then think "hmmm, an alien race, what's the diplomacy interface like?". You turn off the AI for diplomacy and check out what you can do. Later, you'll start to do things to your taste - maybe you'll get deep into spying, or scouting, or hunting pirates, and you'll pick areas to micromanage accordingly.

Veloxi wrote:

Happily taking the blame, yessir.

I never doubted that for a second.

Robear wrote:

Hrdina, try thinking of it this way. In most 4x games, you start with all the detailed systems and have to learn each one and micromanage it from the start in order to know when you can go hands-off and when you need to pay attention to it. In DW, you start hands-off, and you choose when to learn and take over a game system. DW is top down, where previous games were bottom-up.

So instead of having a huge learning curve where your first turns take an hour each, you simply watch for a while and then think "hmmm, an alien race, what's the diplomacy interface like?". You turn off the AI for diplomacy and check out what you can do. Later, you'll start to do things to your taste - maybe you'll get deep into spying, or scouting, or hunting pirates, and you'll pick areas to micromanage accordingly.

Robear,

Thanks, I'll try to remember when drinking from the firehouse that I can actually turn down the pressure.

I hope to dig into the game tonight after family commitments have been discharged. All I was able to do last night was get it installed and make sure it ran.

BTW, don't I know/remember you from (way way) back in the day on c.s.i.p.g.s? I used to spend a lot of time there back in the late 80's/early 90's.

New details on Distant Worlds: Universe, the final expansion to the DW series.

Key Points:

Modding-wise, it pretty much allows a complete overhaul of the game universe. You can make your own tech trees, resources, components, government types, create your own galaxy map including special locations, write your own storyline including creating triggered events similar to what we have in the official storylines. -Erik Rutins (Matrix Games’ Director of Product Development)
It will [also be] a “wrap up” release of the entire Distant Worlds series in one affordable package (with an upgrade path for existing customers).
It will also include a new official storyline, covering the first war between the Freedom Alliance and the Shaktur Axis, in which, among other things, you’ll have access to the tech required to build your own planet destroyers and research and deploy the Xaraktor virus.
D-Man777 wrote:

New details on Distant Worlds: Universe, the final expansion to the DW series.

Yaaaaay!

Manach wrote:

Wonder if I'll be too tempted at that time to buy it. Knowing they will wrap it up, they might jump on something else.

....What?