I'm on my 2nd play through with the Terran Alliance now that I've learned the game a bit more. Do NOT leave your planets undefended!!! I would like to keep my thoughts, observations and feedback in one thread as I go along. 1. I love the overview panel, so much information at my fingertips. I would however, like another one on the right side of the screen that is maybe for my ships/fleets only and then you could remove them from the overview panel on the left so the focus could be planet stuff. Basically, I would like to see my planets AND ships all at once instead of having to click them on the single overview panel. 2. We should be able to assign a hero to a survey ship. I pick the option for a free survey ship and a hero who specializes in exploring, but I cannot assign him to my survey ship? Seems counter-productive to have to assign him to say, a frigate. 3. When I have all my ships available space maxed out and I research something like Class II shields, they all get upgraded automatically, but now each ship has a negative for available space? Maybe they shouldn't get added automatically, which would allow for another strategic choice in ship design? 4. Moving population to other planets. Is this essentially what support ships do? I haven't built one yet but from the tool tip it sounds like it's similar? Having fun for sure.. looking forward to retrofitting, being able to set a planet focus, ground combat, etc..
Glad to hear you're having fun and learned the lesson well. Yeah I think that from time to time as well so I cheated. I sent a survey with another ship that had a leader. Got the best of both worlds. The survey ship uncovered systems instantly and the leader led searches on ruins I doubled check, shields don't upgrade, armor does. Haven't seen ships go negative, let us know if you get something different Check the tooltips on them, they're cool in their own special way Edit to check your ships on the shield upgrade you need to select active on-map ships and check the shield, it is the designer that shows a negative by default when shields are researched. It won't allow you to build though until you address the imbalance
I'll have to try that survey cheat.. lol.. we do need to be able to put scientist specific heroes on survey ships though. Shields upgrade automatically once you research the tech.. yes I guess it's a designer issue. I read the tool tip on support ships, no mention of pop moving but more along the lines of support for a new colony that needs a jump start.
No, they don't. Check it out on the ships you have already built, shields won't upgrade just the armor.
I'll look again tonight but I'm confused on what you are saying. I research Class II shields and when that completes, I look at the ship designer and they all show Class II shields?
I know, that's why it's confusing. The "designer" gets updated for lack of a better word. The ships you have in the field (the ones that count) do not get updated. Check those ships once you research a new shield and you will see that there is no upgrade of your actual "forces" only your designs.
Ok we are on the same page here.. LOL... the designer gets updated, which leads to a negative number for space. It does correct itself though. Do you know, ships that are currently being built, if you get a ship tech before it's built, will it reflect that or do we have to start over with another ship?
It won't reflect. You're building a design already accepted. No "updated" design is accepted automatically. It's why you can design FrigateA and set a world to building it. Then create design FrigateB and set another world for that construction. Design A is not affected, neither is construction. Only Armor and engines update for real.
That's what I figured, thanks! Maybe at some point we could have a button that would allow to build the "updated" ship at a cost or more turns added to the build? I hate ship designing.. most games I just auto design if the option is available as I always want the most powerful ship according to what the hull size can carry. I find myself scrapping ships too much in this game so I can get the updated ship built and out the door.
The nice thing about ship designs in this game is that they are relatively simple and once you've played a few times you'll have a good idea of what you want to build based on what you have access to. It's much easier than saying something like StarDrive II where you have to place every piece of armor. Armor and shields can for the most part be left completely alone. Special systems largely don't exist right now. I've also never had to bother with the engine boosts available on the design screen. Perhaps they are useful, but I'd need to experiment with them more. What I'm trying to say is focus on your weapons and you'll be in good shape. I generally go for the kinetic weapons at the moment. Don't worry about having every ship out there up to date with the latest and greatest right now. An older model is still capable of putting out a lot of hurt and you can always join it in with a new one and let it fly slightly behind so the better ship takes the brunt of the attack. Old frigates are okay to scrap because their capacity is too low to be useful midgame, but destroyers and especially cruisers are still quite powerful even with low end weapons like tungsten guns. Combat in ISG from my experience follows the "best defense is a good offense" line, so focus on offensive firepower and blast them before they blast you.
Oh yes, this^^^ I find that ship designs have a very long shelf life after being commissioned. In my ongoing session I have ships that are over 100 turns old being effective still.
