Questions about game play.

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truepurple
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Questions about game play.

#1 Post by truepurple »

Are they still working on this game? Last release seems to have been some time ago.

I am using V4.10 under Linux.
https://freeorion.org/index.php/V0.4_Quick_Play_Guide wrote:Populated planets have a population shown by the white icon resembling two people standing next to each other is Population. The number next to it is the current population. Hovering over the icon with the mouse will reveal a popup. The popup displays the current population (Current), what the population will be next turn (Next Turn), the change between this turn and next (Change)(green-growing, red-falling), the maximum population (Max Meter), and how the maximum population was calculated.
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Where is this max population meter or whatever? Where do I find "how the maximum population was calculated"?

Is it possible to move population between planets in the same system or between systems?

What do these bars in the picture indicate?

Is there any food or water stats to sustain your population?

Does all production in one system combine from all the planets to produce items one at a time? Does extra production carry over?

If you encounter a cloaked planet, do you always know something is there even if you can't see what it is?

How do you make 'supply lines'? How do you tell how much fuel a ship has left?

How can I upgrade the technology on a ship?
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Why does it say it takes 6 turns but also only 2 turns to research this? It doesn't say it needs those weapon techs and I don't seem to be getting them anyway.

Why does "new fleet" do nothing? In order to merge ships into a fleet I have to hold down a key to select multiple at once then right click and choose merge fleet, is there a easier way?

What does focus growth mean on a planet already at max population? Why can't I "focus growth" elsewhere?

Would someone please explain "stock-pile"?

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Oberlus
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Re: Questions about game play.

#2 Post by Oberlus »

For most of your questions, could you please try searching the Pedia articles in the game first? It's in that question-mark button near the top-right corner.

Also, hover the mouse over icons to get further information (e.g. hover over the white symbol with two people to see the tooltip for population).

The bars in the picture indicate the number (less indicative than the numbers themselves, IMO).

Supply lines are drawed in the map (in the systems and starlanes) with your empire color.

The ships are hulls with ship-parts mounted on them. Some of these are unlocked after you research a tech (better armor, weapons or engines), and you will have to design new ships with the unlocked parts to benefit from them. Some parts will get improvements when you research refinements of their tech (e.g. lasers will be stronger after you get laser 2, 3 and 4).

Techs have a minimum number of turns and a total number of RP to be researched. If a tech is 100 RP and 2 turns, that means you can get it in two turns if you invest 50 RP per turn. If you only have 20 RP per turn, you'll need 5 turns to complete it.

Growth focus is counterintuitive, it is not to boost growth of the planet but to export some effects (growth specials, homeworld bonus) to other planets.

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Re: Questions about game play.

#3 Post by Ophiuchus »

truepurple wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 12:36 am Are they still working on this game?
Not sure who they are, but we are.
truepurple wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 12:36 am
https://freeorion.org/index.php/V0.4_Quick_Play_Guide wrote:Populated planets have a population shown by the white icon resembling two people standing next to each other is Population. The number next to it is the current population. Hovering over the icon with the mouse will reveal a popup. The popup displays the current population (Current), what the population will be next turn (Next Turn), the change between this turn and next (Change)(green-growing, red-falling), the maximum population (Max Meter), and how the maximum population was calculated.
Where is this max population meter or whatever? Where do I find "how the maximum population was calculated"?
Hover the mouse over the population icon as it says.
truepurple wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 12:36 am Is it possible to move population between planets in the same system or between systems?
Yes, but probably not like you intend it to work with very harsh drawbacks - using evacuation. Evacuation is random. You should learn the other stuff first.
truepurple wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 12:36 am What do these bars in the picture indicate?
Just the values of the icons above (same colored). I find them pretty useless.
truepurple wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 12:36 am Is there any food or water stats to sustain your population?
no
truepurple wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 12:36 am Does all production in one system combine from all the planets to produce items one at a time? Does extra production carry over?
All production points are combined in the same supply group (a supply group are all planets connected with supply lines). Supply groups is an important concept (especially in multiplayer), you should try to learn that.
truepurple wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 12:36 am If you encounter a cloaked planet, do you always know something is there even if you can't see what it is?
Not sure how it was in 0.4.10, in development branch there is a setting which influences that.
truepurple wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 12:36 am How do you make 'supply lines'? How do you tell how much fuel a ship has left?
This is done automatically. If you have a starlane in your empire color, that is a supply line. Planets have a supply meter. If a planet has a supply of three, it will supply all planets (if not interrupted by monsters or enemies) up to three jumps from that planet.

A ship has a fuel meter which shows how much fuel is left. Ships get automatically refueled if they are in your supply. Also the first jump out of supply is free. Try leaving supply and getting back to figure out how that works. Also there is a very slow refill. Send some scouts for far recon to see how that works.
truepurple wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 12:36 am How can I upgrade the technology on a ship?
You cant upgrade ships. Some tech (e.g. mass driver 1,2,3,4 or fighter upgrades or stealth tech for flux hulls) upgrades the effect of existing ships/parts - usually the ship has to be in your supply for that to happen.
truepurple wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 12:36 am Why does it say it takes 6 turns but also only 2 turns to research this?
It would take 2 turns if you had enough research. In that case you would be researching a tech in parallel. If you do not specify that, the cheapest tech available gets researched instead of wasting your research points.
truepurple wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 12:36 am What does focus growth mean on a planet already at max population? Why can't I "focus growth" elsewhere?
You can use it only on homeworlds and planets with a grow special. It increases the max population of all supply-connected planets.
truepurple wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 12:36 am Would someone please explain "stock-pile"?
Bit advanced usage. It is supply-group-independent production stockpile. If you produce more PP than you use in a supply group, it goes to the stockpile instead of being wasted. You can use PP from that stockpile from any planet, but for most cases your ability to use PP from the stockpile is negligible. Try mastering playing Sly, they are good at using it and have really bad supply, so they need to use it as well.
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Geoff the Medio
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Re: Questions about game play.

#4 Post by Geoff the Medio »

Ophiuchus wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 7:42 am
truepurple wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 12:36 am What do these bars in the picture indicate?
Just the values of the icons above (same colored). I find them pretty useless.
I've been meaning to ask / poll players about whether anyone uses / likes the bar displays, or if I should just remove them...

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Re: Questions about game play.

#5 Post by Oberlus »

Geoff the Medio wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 8:07 amI've been meaning to ask / poll players about whether anyone uses / likes the bar displays, or if I should just remove them...
I always keep the planet's info in the reduced form, not seeing the bars (or the bigger graphics of the buildings).

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Re: Questions about game play.

#6 Post by LienRag »

Oberlus wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 8:15 am
Geoff the Medio wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 8:07 amI've been meaning to ask / poll players about whether anyone uses / likes the bar displays, or if I should just remove them...
I always keep the planet's info in the reduced form, not seeing the bars (or the bigger graphics of the buildings).
I do sometimes look at the non-reduced form when searching for a particular info, but haven't noticed that far that these info bars had any meaningful information.
They look nice, though.

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Re: Questions about game play.

#7 Post by Oberlus »

LienRag wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 3:42 pm I do sometimes look at the non-reduced form when searching for a particular info
What info? I see nothing there appart from the bigger pictures and the bars.

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Re: Questions about game play.

#8 Post by LienRag »

Some meters do not appear on the non-reduced form.
Like planetary stealth, for example.
It seems to depend on the width of the panel.

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Re: Questions about game play.

#9 Post by Oberlus »

LienRag wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 3:47 pm It seems to depend on the width of the panel.
In my panels all meters are shown, I guess the default size of the planets panel is OK for HD screens. But you can widen it up nevertheless.

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Re: Questions about game play.

#10 Post by drkosy »

I've been meaning to ask / poll players about whether anyone uses / likes the bar displays, or if I should just remove them...
I used it as a newby, now I learned that I can expand the panel to see all the numbers.
It seems to depend on the width of the panel.
It definitly does, same for fleet and empire window. I temporally expand them if I need more info, than reduce them to see something of the galaxy. Maybe I should change for a UHD Monitor :wink:
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Re: Questions about game play.

#11 Post by truepurple »

oberious wrote:For most of your questions, could you please try searching the Pedia articles in the game first? hover the mouse over icons to get further information
I did both those things before asking these questions, clearly the info there was too unclear to answer my questions.
Ophiuchus wrote: Hover the mouse over the population icon as it says.
I had already done that before posting these questions. Does "target population" mean "maximum population"? (why did they use such strange custom terminology)
This is done automatically. If you have a starlane in your empire color, that is a supply line. Planets have a supply meter. If a planet has a supply of three, it will supply all planets (if not interrupted by monsters or enemies) up to three jumps from that planet.
What effects the supply power of a planet/system? Does the benefits stack, if you got a planet with a supply of 2, and one planet with a supply of 1, in the same system, do you get three?
Yes, but probably not like you intend it to work with very harsh drawbacks - using evacuation. Evacuation is random. You should learn the other stuff first.

The in game info says "some" leave each turn. How much is "some"? Is that part of the randomness, the amount leaving each turn? Possible death of population if they go to a place that has no space for them and loss of production, any other harsh drawbacks?
If you encounter a cloaked planet, do you always know something is there even if you can't see what it is?
Not sure how it was in 0.4.10, in development branch there is a setting which influences that.
Influences what exactly? I don't feel my question was answered. If I don't change any settings, is there any possibility that a planet is so cloaked that I see nothing at all? So there are cloak levels where I know something is there, just not what, and cloak levels where I am completely unaware of a planet? And if so, these can occur naturally?
You can use it only on homeworlds and planets with a grow special. It increases the max population of all supply-connected planets.
Is that all it does and only while they are set to grow, it all disappears when you stop? So set to grow forever or never do it? Does setting a planet to grow, increase their max population no matter how many are connected to it?

Does "PP" mean production? If so, you should specify that in the in game files, and provide a link to that meaning every time you say "PP" somewhere. I searched "PP" in the info files and it gave me nothing. I mean we're suppose to read that it means production somewhere and them somehow memorize that forever? That seems unreasonable.
but for most cases your ability to use PP from the stockpile is negligible.
Only limited by how high the stockpile can go, or are there other factors? How can I tell what my stockpile max is, and how can I increase my stockpile max?

Does max population change how fast a planet gains population? Does population grow as a percentage of total population or at a set rate?

Does "scraping" anything provide momentary boost of production or anything? Or does it only just delete things?

Are all "jumps" the same distance no matter matter how close or far apart they are?

What is "target industry" The in game info is useless for a definition. It seems to possibly mean production, but isn't that what "PP" is?

What is "target research"? Again the in game info is useless and seems to be saying it means research points? I mean the link in game from the phrase "target research" takes me to a page that seems to be talking about research points.

If you upgrade a tech and you have a ship already in production of the lower tech, do you have to discard that production entirely and start anew to get the new tech?
What do these bars in the picture indicate?
Just the values of the icons above (same colored). I find them pretty useless.
Not all of them are "same color". Look at my picture for Walter Y 2, see how it has a white bar, a yellow bar, and then another white bar. I assume the second white bar is infrastructure despite not matching the color? So the bars are in the same order as the icons left to right/top to bottom?

Speaking of infrastructure, what does it do? I looked up "infrastructure" in the in game info and only got useless flavor text. Also in my game it says "shipyard -10 (red)) under infrastructure. If infrastructure is what you've built, then why would the built shipyard subtract from that???
Geoff the Medio wrote: I've been meaning to ask / poll players about whether anyone uses / likes the bar displays, or if I should just remove them...
Well how about giving info when you mouse over a bar so to tell people what the bar is for. If you can hide it, then there is no reason to remove it

BTW I think I figured out ship design, so never mind those questions.
Last edited by truepurple on Tue Jul 06, 2021 6:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Questions about game play.

#12 Post by LienRag »

truepurple wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 5:40 pm
oberious wrote:For most of your questions, could you please try searching the Pedia articles in the game first? hover the mouse over icons to get further information
I did both those things before asking these questions, clearly the info there was too unclear to answer my questions.
Yes, the Pedia needs work. What you find on it is usually useful (when not outdated) but it's not obvious to find what you want, especially when you don't already understand the basis of the game mechanisms.


truepurple wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 5:40 pm
Ophiuchus wrote: Hover the mouse over the population icon as it says.
I had already done that before posting these questions. Does "target population" mean "maximum population"? (why did they use such strange custom terminology)
Yes. All meters have targets (the value they are going towards, which is a maximum at the moment it is the target, but usually not a definitive maximum, so target is quite the correct term) and present value.

Note that for Population, the Target is usually the same for a while (until you get a new Tech or a growth bonus); while for other meters, since most of them depend on Population, the Target grows a little each turn (barring exceptional circumstances, like changing focus).


truepurple wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 5:40 pm What effects the supply power of a planet/system?
If you mean "what affects" : Size, species, buildings (mostly Space Elevator), Specials, Focus (there's a logistic focus), technologies.

If you meant "what are the effects of" : It makes it part of a Supply group, which means that it benefits from everything Supply-related in the group (yes, it's a bit tautologic).
So basically not much in some case (except for pooling Production Points), very much in others (industry centers, growth ressources, neutronium or reformation asteroids,...).



truepurple wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 5:40 pm Does the benefits stack, if you got a planet with a supply of 2, and one planet with a supply of 1, in the same system, do you get three?
No in open space (you get the supply of the planet with most supply).
I don't know in ties-in with other Empire's Supply.


truepurple wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 5:40 pm
Yes, but probably not like you intend it to work with very harsh drawbacks - using evacuation. Evacuation is random. You should learn the other stuff first.

The in game info says "some" leave each turn. How much is "some"? Is that part of the randomness, the amount leaving each turn? Possible death of population if they go to a place that has no space for them and loss of production, any other harsh drawbacks?
2, I believe.
Basically, don't do Evacuation (unless you really know what you're doing).

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Re: Questions about game play.

#13 Post by LienRag »

truepurple wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 5:40 pm
truepurple wrote: If you encounter a cloaked planet, do you always know something is there even if you can't see what it is?
Ophiuchus wrote: Not sure how it was in 0.4.10, in development branch there is a setting which influences that.
Influences what exactly? I don't feel my question was answered. If I don't change any settings, is there any possibility that a planet is so cloaked that I see nothing at all? So there are cloak levels where I know something is there, just not what, and cloak levels where I am completely unaware of a planet? And if so, these can occur naturally?
Well, your question was partially answered, which is to be expected sometimes from unpaid volunteers trying to help.

So the answers are :
- How the cloaking works
- Yes (not if you have a ship in the very system, though, I believe)
- Yes
- What do you mean by "naturally" ? Cloaked planets get their cloak from two sources : stealthy species and specials (themselves either present at game creation or granted by cloaking monsters).
Last edited by LienRag on Tue Jul 06, 2021 6:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Questions about game play.

#14 Post by LienRag »

truepurple wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 5:40 pm
You can use it only on homeworlds and planets with a grow special. It increases the max population of all supply-connected planets.
Is that all it does and only while they are set to grow, it all disappears when you stop? So set to grow forever or never do it? Does setting a planet to grow, increase their max population no matter how many are connected to it?
Yes.
It makes other connected planets grow, though, not the one set to growth (it gives connected planets the population bonus that the planet set to growth already have).

truepurple wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 5:40 pm Does "PP" mean production? If so, you should specify that in the in game files, and provide a link to that meaning every time you say "PP" somewhere. I searched "PP" in the info files and it gave me nothing. I mean we're suppose to read that it means production somewhere and them somehow memorize that forever? That seems unreasonable.
Did you find this "PP" in the Pedia/the Hover text ? If so, indeed it should be corrected, please provide a reference to it.
It's short for "Production Points".

Or was it in the forum ? In that case, yes, unpaid volunteers trying to help may forget that their habits taken from long practice of the game are not obvious to everyone. Oh the humanity !


truepurple wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 5:40 pm
but for most cases your ability to use PP from the stockpile is negligible.
Only limited by how high the stockpile can go, or are there other factors? How can I tell what my stockpile max is, and how can I increase my stockpile max?
There is a maximum amount of PP that you can take from the stockpile each turn.
Basically, don't you use the stockpile if you're not playing with Sly, Fulver, or another Good Stockpile species (though there are techs that can produce a similar effect).

truepurple wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 5:40 pm Does max population change how fast a planet gains population? Does population grow as a percentage of total population or at a set rate?

Does "scraping" anything provide momentary boost of production or anything? Or does it only just delete things?
Yes and no. As a percentage.

No. Yes.

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Re: Questions about game play.

#15 Post by truepurple »

What do you mean by "naturally" ? Cloaked planets get their cloak from two sources : stealthy species and specials (themselves either present at game creation or granted by cloaking monsters).
I mean by "natural" without monsters or other species on the planet. A plain planet with nothing on it (special resources don't count, I mean untouched) or around it.

Algorithmic Elegance is going to give me some "target research" per .5 population. But I don't know what "target research" is. Something different than research points?

What does "infrastructure" do?
Did you find this "PP" in the Pedia/the Hover text?
Yes I did, I'll tell you where next time I come across it.
Last edited by truepurple on Tue Jul 06, 2021 6:30 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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