Hi, long time since my last play-through. I must say that the time that you have spent since version 10 was well used! I just wanted to give you my impressions (sorta bugs) about this version: 1. I've started my first game on hardcore mode and.. won the game at turn 69th through galactic council. I've had "Charismatic" perk for my race. All three races were pleased with me and I've had trade treaties with them. 2. Music is playing on the victory screen even when music is turned off in options. 3. I miss the old music, previous one was less intrusive for me, was better suited for thinking, but that is a matter of taste I guess 4. As Konstantine said in his impressions, automation of space exploration would be a very good think in later stages of the game. 5. When your ship and alien civilization ship are stationing in the same system, every turn, game asks you if you want to attack that ship. That is a bit annoying, I think this question should be asked once per such meeting. BTW: How does Trade Treaties work? Because I haven't figured out this yet All I know is that at the beginning you are losing BC and then you are gaining them. How this is calculated, how can I tell before accepting Trade Treaty that I will gain more than the other "guy" ? Thanks, will add some things after couple of hundred more turns
Wodzu, I agree with you on 4 and 5. In fact, I have doubts as to the usefulness of remote exploration. I seldom learn anything new or important from it. It seems a bit like a waste of time, so some kind of automation might be a good thing. (I think I missed that post from Konstantine.)
Yes, automation and the streamlining of the remote exploration feature is planned. Remote exploration is crucial to discover many types of objects that can't be revealed otherwise, like black holes, neutron stars, boson stars, white dwards, brown dwarfs and rogue planets. Each one of these hidden objects has its own set of uses, like exploiting strategic resources or finding exceptional planet specials, exploiting accretion disks for extra research, tourism, etc. These hidden systems also tend to have lots of asteroid belts which are key for boosting the economy through exploitations built there. Remote exploration is also an instrument at your disposal to know more about systems if you don't have a survey ship or can't reach a system using ships. You can reveal ruins, wormholes and their destinations and space monsters, all without going there Hint: Certain hidden objects can be found inside or near some map features, like planetary nebulae (white dwarfs), supernova remnant nebulae (black holes, neutron stars and boson stars) and near dark nebulae (brown dwards).
Hello, Adam. Thanks for the reply. I think I haven't been paying attention. Now that you mention it, I did discover some of these oddities, but for some reason I didn't associate their appearance with remote exploration. My bad. This game is impressive: lots of familiar stuff and a ton of new things, too. But enough talk, I've got to get back to my game.....
Thanks, let's go one by one. Well, seems like you made quite an impression with the other races Still, a bit early to win, although you could have abstained or voted the other guy to continue playing I took note of this though, thanks. Right, that one still plays with music off, we'll fixe it. Yeah, I guess it really is a matter of taste. Yes, we'll have automation and streamlining of remote exploration soon. Agreed, it's annoying. This is will also be dealt with. You lose money at first to set the routes, customs and establish patrols. After a while both parties get money. Both get the same money, which is a percentage over the total production of the party with the least production. Therefore, establishing a trade treaty is a commitment. You'll get money after a while. This foments trust and increases relations for both parties, so it's also an investment in that respect. Leaders with the Trader skill boost income from trade treaties, as for some planet specials, culture perks, wonders, techs and race abilities. This is one of those things that should be explained better in the manual at release. Happy gaming. Let us know if you managed to win a Council Victory with the Repulsive trait this time
But what happened with the old music, is it still in the game? Thank you for explanation I think it also should say a little bit more in the game itself, because a player don't know what amount of money he will lose at the beginning. Will do! BTW: race customization is awesome!
@Joe3 you can even find new systems with exploration, so it is really important at the beginning of the game. Less impactful in the middle/endgame hence we suggested automation.
I actually had that happen a lot playing as humans. I kept winning as soon as voting was held. Which made for a quick game, but somewhat unsatisfying. I imagine this will somewhat solve itself when there are more factions in the galaxy (than just 4), but in games where I played a custom race, I would dominate the voting simply because I had more population (colonizing large or huge planets, even if they weren't that desirable)
I guess as Adam said, Repulsive trait might be good workaround for the moment, and you can give yourself some other nice perks for having it.
Two more games and two more wins at the first council meetings. It's getting frustrating, almost. I don't think people should vote for anyone else unless they are out and out allies. In the last game I was about to go to war with the Humans (playing a custom race) because they just cancelled a mining treaty, but they still voted for me.
You can always decide not to win, or at least not immediately. I remember doing that in Master of Orion 2 a lot. I won when I wanted to win, otherwise I would abstain or vote for the other guy As for others voting. They tend to vote on who they perceive as friends or "less bad". However, we should probably tweak that to make it harder for them not to abstain unless there's some serious treaties going. \Edit: By the way, what's the difficulty level you're playing with, as for map size and number of players where you perceive to be easy to win by election?
Interesting, I've yet to see anyone win during an early election. If anything the AI has a voting bloc against me of at least 2 of the 3 AI races. I don't play as humans though...
Yes, DiscoJer is playing with custom Humans, which probably are Charismatic. This will give them a boost with relations which should ease a diplomatic victory, the opposite for the repulsive Moltar, which you played recently with. We tweaked the numbers a bit so that it's not as easy for the AI to vote for you unless you're really friendly, as per DiscoJer's suggestion. Let's see how it goes.
A reasonable suggestion. I haven't seen any quick diplo wins yet, and like you, I play a custom race most of the time. What I do see though, is that the behaviors for diplomacy are still in infancy, they will grow. Right now this effects the council vote, in your case quite a lot In mine, I saw the AI turn down peace when it clearly should have accepted during war. The response was based only on how they viewed me, which was as evil incarnate. The issue I had is that I could have crushed this faction when I offered peace, their view of me should not have been the sole determining factor. P.S. Interesting that you allowed them a mining treaty and it did not bother you that they could set up shop in your space. I'm like the North Koreans when it comes to those treaties.
Following along the lines of this recommendation, I have another one: When you completely destroy a colony through bombing, you click done and it still asks you if you are done with ground combat. This question isn't necessary to ask since the colony is now a crater.
