I'm here - introduction

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MatGB
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Re: I'm here - introduction

#211 Post by MatGB »

Bromstarzan wrote:Thanks gents for the tips!
Kulthos has Trenchers as well as Hhhoh at small barren and medium tundra, respectively. Not particularly well defended. One planet (large desert) is uninhabited (with Silmaline crystal special). I think I can eventually take that system.
Eventually? You have warships a couple jumps away, get scouts there ASAP and send the troops in, but get the warships there now.

Take those planets and have Orbital Construction tech and you've got everything linked up—you might need to take Firma from the AI as well, but remember that a planet with supply 2 in those positions will have one to get to the chain and then one up and down along the chain, higher supply even better.

As you're playing with a recent Test, you have the new supply system, warships block supply and allow you to extend yours if you're in range, that's important. If there's a Tiny or Small world in Barnard grabbing that soon will definitely help.
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Bromstarzan
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Re: I'm here - introduction

#212 Post by Bromstarzan »

Eventually? You have warships a couple jumps away, get scouts there ASAP and send the troops in, but get the warships there now.
Well, I don't have enough troops yet, but they're building up :D. I guess I can go in with warships and take out their defences since at this stage they should not have defence regeneration. Not sure how to check that...
I'll pay attention to the new supply system via warships (playing 160421).

The game last night took an interesting turn, I'll push on mixing in your bits of advice. Oh, and I so badly needed an ingame "notepad" to scratch & attach to various systems :mrgreen:
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Re: I'm here - introduction

#213 Post by Bromstarzan »

Still hanging in there on the outer rim. Trying to probe nearby systems and connecting a starlane to my northerly colonies. Not easy as I'm having intrusive visitors with some muscles poking on my open doors... :lol:
Doing pretty well in research, but expansion has really stalled. Must focus on troop production. Fantstic fun!
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Re: I'm here - introduction

#214 Post by Bromstarzan »

After many turns and twists (roughly 200) I feel I have a little better control over my situation in my current session :mrgreen:. I feel this is going to be a long game...
The graphs are very helpful as a gamer (and interesting as a developer) as you can observe the awesome dynamics of how a session develops. Some not so good moves show up together with moves of pure satisfaction :lol:

Below are some of the more useful graphs that I keep an eye on (I play as HUMAN in light blue). I feel satisfied now that I finally have turned my curves upwards, especially "RETMS" as I have been fighting from a poor position.

Image

I simply love how this game developed so far. Coping with early battles and trying to overcome 4 deep spaces (se map in previous post)!
All my gratitude to ya all continuing the development of this awesome game!

No questions this time... just enjoying the game!
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Re: I'm here - introduction

#215 Post by Bromstarzan »

Ok, game has moved slowly forward.
I (cyan) had to go around the (green) Coalition not gaining very much resources but recieved a good picture of the (pink) Righteous :mrgreen:
Image
Many turns later I feel I can eventually crush the Coalition before taking on the Righteous. This galaxy was certainly a challenge, but tremendeous fun.
The thing limiting my expansion, as I feel it now, is the troop numbers. I need to produce a lot of troop ships in order to expand and that is quite interesting. It slows down the game significantly (compared to 1509) and I like it. Perhaps there should be more of a "research branch" for troop training & capacity, though?
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Re: I'm here - introduction

#216 Post by Bromstarzan »

Ok, time for some (stupid) questions again:
  • 1) is the "Focus logistics" implemented? If so, what does it actualy do? I could not find much about it in the Pedia. For example, if I have a Silexian population that do Great Supply +2, should I set that planet to "Focus: Logistics" - and how does that affect my supplylanes? For the Silexian species, Pedia also says Preferred Focus: Research, while a few lines up it states - Bad Research: -50%. Are these numbers dynamic so they depend on the environment (hence the somewhat contradictory info in my particular example)?

    2) Any plans on adding "Logistics" to the "Game Graphs" window?
Thanks for reading,
Broms

EDIT: Now I just found this:
Interstellar Logistics
Unlocks the Logistics focus setting, which increases the Supply of planets by 3.
Increases Starlane Speed of your ships by 20 when they are within 50 uu of a controlled planet.

So, it is indeed implemented and functional, I just need to figure out the exact benefits :)
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MatGB
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Re: I'm here - introduction

#217 Post by MatGB »

Bromstarzan wrote:
  • 1) is the "Focus logistics" implemented? If so, what does it actualy do? I could not find much about it in the Pedia. For example, if I have a Silexian population that do Great Supply +2, should I set that planet to "Focus: Logistics" - and how does that affect my supplylanes? For the Silexian species, Pedia also says Preferred Focus: Research, while a few lines up it states - Bad Research: -50%. Are these numbers dynamic so they depend on the environment (hence the somewhat contradictory info in my particular example)?
Species parameters are set, they have Bad Research because they're not very good, but they like doing it more than other things (seriously, not all species are actually worth using much of). The only real use for Silexians is their supply bonus, very useful at one end of a large empty area.

Supply is currently not very well described in the Pedia because we've just redone how it works (well, Geoff has) and we need to finish testing it a bit and then update the documentation. You want to have all your planets linked up, and importantly you want your borders to have good supply so your ships can explore/invade better, each supply point will link a planet one further space away, if two empires compete for the same node then the empire with the highest will get that node, if tied no one gets it.

So Silexians, especially on a small or tiny world, set to Logistics, can be very useful at the border or when invading—worth noting that with the new system you can override an enemies control of their own systems if your supply is high enough (that would be one of the things we need to balance a bit I think, you can completely stop the AI from being able to build things in the right circumstances).
2) Any plans on adding "Logistics" to the "Game Graphs" window?[/list]
Not at all sure what you'd have display here, it's a per planet meter that gets better depending on tech researched, graphs are for empire wide variable stuff.
EDIT: Now I just found this:
Interstellar Logistics
Unlocks the Logistics focus setting, which increases the Supply of planets by 3.
Increases Starlane Speed of your ships by 20 when they are within 50 uu of a controlled planet.

So, it is indeed implemented and functional, I just need to figure out the exact benefits :)
Hope that's clearer (and I might tidy up my wording and use it as a Pedia article if it is so question anything unclear).
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Bromstarzan
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Re: I'm here - introduction

#218 Post by Bromstarzan »

Thanks MatGB for clarifying the Logistic Focus!

I was not entirely certain of what I meant when asking for a curve (graph) of logistics because I didn't understand what it was, in terms of attribute/numbers (where it belongs and how it is distributed). I figured it would be a "global" parameter as with Industry and Research and since that is something you can display in the Game Graph pedia, I assumed Logistics was too.

But it makes more sense now, and I have to play it further with your explanation in mind to fully grasp the importance of logistics (vs geolocation/species/tech-levels etc). It would be great with a Pedia entry under the "Concept" heading just as Industry and Research have their info-texts, "Logistics" could have its own info-text explaining its importance to (linked) "Supply".

Thanks also for elaborating on my question regarding the Silexians "Preferred focus" (research) and modifier "Bad research (-50%)".

Keep up the good work, very exiting times for FO, I sense!
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Re: I'm here - introduction

#219 Post by Bromstarzan »

[Build 2016-04-19.1fe183d]
So, well into my 3rd or 4rth(?) playthrough on beginners level (3 AI + monsters) and the new troop system in the works I feel very limited by the troopship production. I produce warhips in a good rate, but always have to take a step back in order to find troops.

I think I like this (as stated upthread), but a research branch that would increase the troop capacity would be nice. Now I have the option to produce 8x troopships and my invasion targets are usually 200+ defenders, so it takes quite a while to gain the upper hand.

Again, this is a nice "slow-down", but how about a "troop camp" that would give you a slight acceleration? Not really sure what I would like to see here, the very slow production of troopships or a tech/building that would allow me to produce troopships more efficiently?

I now there's been talk about it and I apologize if I'm late to the party.
/Broms
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Re: I'm here - introduction

#220 Post by MatGB »

To be honest I think the bigger problem is the incredibly cheap cost of the defensive troop bonuses to research and the boosts they give being higher for the cost.

I'm relatively happy with the totals that a fully teched out empire will have for this, but think they're achieved very early and the AI prioritises them (because they're cheap, effective and we want the AIs to be a challenge).

I'm thinking breaking the current 'line' into two (one is fortification the other population based), increasing the costs of them and having more interstitial techs to research.

I'm also wondering if the troop pod numbers (and the good/bad species effect thereof) are set at the right point, if we increased the base troops to three and kept the malus as -1 that might work better.

BTW, I strongly recommend designing your own troop ships using whatever the cheapest cost/slot hull you've got, and definitely avoid using, for example, spatial flux troop ships in the mid to late game (they're too fragile even with reinforced hull). I tend to use Symbiotic Hull, Energy Frigate or Nanorobotic Hull as my main troop carriers, Asteroids are also good but I don't play with them often enough these days.

(also, capture some Ugmors or Egassem, use them to build troop ships, you'll see why)
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Bromstarzan
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Re: I'm here - introduction

#221 Post by Bromstarzan »

Thanks Mat, for your comments and tips.

Yes, I need to explore the possibilities of making better troopships. As of now I tend to use robotic hulls with an 8x troop capacity. Mostly carries Hhhoh, but I think their troop bonus is only for defence, right?

Question: Is the planet troop number reflecting the bonuses given to certain species, or do I have to consider both the number and the species type inhabiting the planet to estimate my invasion force?

Anyhow, I'll be keeping an eye out for better suitet invasion troops and pick up on your tip for the hulls.
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Re: I'm here - introduction

#222 Post by MatGB »

Displayed number is total, it includes the species bonus.

Currently the only species that get a bonus to attack troops are Ugmors and Egassem, that will be changing but it's not been a high priority to go through, when Sloth did the work he assigned the stats with the intention it'd get a balancing pass, it's mostly there so we have examples of all but some obviously powerful species lost stats.

Hhohh get a defence bonus, not an attack bonus, part of the reason we split the stats up was to allow us to have good natives like them that are high priority grabs harder to conquer but not overpowered in assault, we don't want every ship in your empire built by the same species because they're best at everything (there's no fun in that).
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Re: I'm here - introduction

#223 Post by Bromstarzan »

Fantastic!
Thanks for explanation, and I agree that various type bonuses should be distributed between species.

I have by now started to actually read the pedia "soft" text (the not so important snippets) and find it quite amusing. "Collective thought computing" - who came up with that? Still laughing :lol:
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Re: I'm here - introduction

#224 Post by Bromstarzan »

So, I'm still here enjoying this masterpiece, of course!
Had a few battles testing the new builds, and now when returning from summer vacation (and the real world on earth) I was wondering about this situation (build 2016-04-19):

Image

Why do I have Intel telling me the exact force of my opponent circeled in red? (I am blue)
I have visited these systems with scouts in the early turns, but at this stage my scanning do not reach down there (and I have no scouts left in the area). Does it have to do with how I set up the game initially (beginners mode etc)?
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Re: I'm here - introduction

#225 Post by MatGB »

You have, at some point, seen that fleet stationary there, it may even have killed one of your scouts.

Until you see that ship somewhere else or get visibility of the system again you 'know' it was there, the scanlines over the pictures indicate you don't currently have visibility (and we really need to improve the UI of how we display this in some way).
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