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TheDeadlyShoe posted:the thing to remember with food - with most resources, but particularly food - is that there's private food and public food. Public workers and troops are fed out of public food and the private economy is fed out of private food. You can set a zone to be subsidized so that public food backstops private food if necessary, but that isn't the case by default. You only get a fraction of public food out of your starting private farms, but it's usually enough to feed a small amount of industry and a couple formations of state troops. There is baseline service taxation, think like social security, the real money to run things is in income and sales tax.
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Jul 2, 2023 15:35
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Tias posted:On the verge of quitting. It seems like no matter what I do, I either run out of IP (easily fixed by spending carefully, though), supply (the mechanisms of which are still black magic), and now food (though I've built one farm a turn for three turns and keep trading food in). I had a post either in this thread or the management games thread that was considered good advice for a new player. Hope that helps
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Jul 2, 2023 16:08
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Tias posted:On the verge of quitting. It seems like no matter what I do, I either run out of IP (easily fixed by spending carefully, though), supply (the mechanisms of which are still black magic), and now food (though I've built one farm a turn for three turns and keep trading food in). I found some (short) videos that helped me, a non-grognard, get started: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrGILJcqTblUl847S8rxzxdEHSggw-KAV
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Jul 2, 2023 16:43
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Joe Chill posted:I found some (short) videos that helped me, a non-grognard, get started: These helped me too when I started out. It helps to generate a Earth-like planet with agreeable climate. An arid nuclear wasteland with hostile aliens will make everything harder. In the early game there is a window to get enough basic industry under your control (for IP) before easily accessible scavenging sites run out. If you miss it you can end up in a difficult deadlock. Echoing the videos above, I would: 1) nationalize the starting city's logistics 2) scout around the starting city in a circle. You might get lucky with resource sites or province perks. 3) get as much metal as possible 4) train singular independent machine gun battalions. Their job is to guard the starting city so that there's at least 4 hexes between the city and any threats. These guys won't really move so they're also good for getting a feel for supply and organisation. 5) build up industry to produce vehicles for the army 6) develop buggies and send them out to scout more 7) aim for enough resources, industry and technology to field light tanks. Machine guns will keep enemies at bay, light tanks will let you conquer other provinces. As long as you can get your industry off the ground, at some point you will find yourself outfitting entire armored brigades with ease.
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Jul 2, 2023 20:12
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All seems like sound, advice, thanks! How do I build public factories? Is there any other way than building and then nationalizing? That seems both expensive and provocative to the colonist sector.
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Jul 3, 2023 07:42
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If you build it manually you shouldn’t have to nationalize it. It’s the ones that come through cards that build up the private sector.
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Jul 3, 2023 08:06
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If anyone else has been sitting on the fence thinking about getting this game GOG has it on 75% off for another 13 hours
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Jul 3, 2023 09:49
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RabidWeasel posted:If anyone else has been sitting on the fence thinking about getting this game GOG has it on 75% off for another 13 hours Tias posted:How do I build public factories? Is there any other way than building and then nationalizing? That seems both expensive and provocative to the colonist sector.
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Jul 3, 2023 11:02
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Is there a mod that removes or rebalances the random events in this game? Some of them are just flat out bullshit events that fire too often, and have horrific consequences even if your leader succeeds in the longshot roll to mitigate. Losing thousands of workers to a dice roll two or three turns in a row is not fun when it's hard enough already to keep a stable supply of them in the mid to late game. Maybe there's a way to prevent them that I just haven't figure out yet but sometimes they feel pretty arbitrary.
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Jul 3, 2023 15:30
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I'm getting frustrated with airplanes. I've created recons, fighters, and tactical bombers, but I can't create any fighter squadrons. I can deploy the other two, but there seems to be no way that I can create a fighter squadron. What am I missing here?
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Jul 3, 2023 21:04
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Most likely, you're trying to raise it in a hex that doesn't have a sufficiently high-level airbase. You can see an aircraft's airbase level requirement (if any) in the window you get if you click on the subunit or model. Conventional aircraft require an airbase 1 level higher every time they go up a size - level 1 for ultralights, level 2 for light aircraft and so on.
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Jul 3, 2023 21:11
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cranky corvid posted:Most likely, you're trying to raise it in a hex that doesn't have a sufficiently high-level airbase. You can see an aircraft's airbase level requirement (if any) in the window you get if you click on the subunit or model. Conventional aircraft require an airbase 1 level higher every time they go up a size - level 1 for ultralights, level 2 for light aircraft and so on. That was it, all right -- thanks! The weird thing is that I'm somehow allowed to build my (terrible) tactical bomber design, which requires a level IV airfield, even though my largest airfield is level II. It even lets me build them on an empty hex. 
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Jul 3, 2023 21:27
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Helicopters, thopters and aircraft with VTOL jet engines are exempt from airbase level requirements. The latter two won't list an airbase level requirement at all, but I don't know whether conventional air models with VTOL engines lose it from the interface.
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Jul 3, 2023 21:35
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Kibbles n Shits posted:Is there a mod that removes or rebalances the random events in this game? Some of them are just flat out bullshit events that fire too often, and have horrific consequences even if your leader succeeds in the longshot roll to mitigate. Losing thousands of workers to a dice roll two or three turns in a row is not fun when it's hard enough already to keep a stable supply of them in the mid to late game. Maybe there's a way to prevent them that I just haven't figure out yet but sometimes they feel pretty arbitrary. shadow empire is cool, but its got serious Grog Game Problems with lovely balance and arguably broken design all over the place. You pretty much just have to tough it out. a lot of 'random' events are in fact conditional though, like theres so many gently caress you events that trigger with low happiness in cities. cities also often have a 'permanent event' like the computer or the union boss where you can call up the governor and do an event roll to destroy the computer etc. if you're sick of its bullshit TheDeadlyShoe fucked around with this message at 02:37 on Jul 4, 2023 |
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Jul 4, 2023 02:35
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Yea I love the game, some of these events just feel oppressive. If the random events were better or absent, and the game just copied the ToE designer from AT:G this game would top 5 all time strategy games for me. The more I play the more I understand how some of these nasty event chains can be circumvented. What's really annoying me right now is the constant demands of money that I don't have from MTHs, and denying them pisses off all my leaders by at least -10. Honestly I'm a little disappointed by the Oceana DLC in general, but being able to play on proper Earth-like maps is pretty nice. The DLC really should have just been boat and ports without the weird libertarian fantasy element. AT:G once again did this right.
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Jul 4, 2023 05:18
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cranky corvid posted:Helicopters, thopters and aircraft with VTOL jet engines are exempt from airbase level requirements. The latter two won't list an airbase level requirement at all, but I don't know whether conventional air models with VTOL engines lose it from the interface. I think that it allowed me to build the squadron because I have two designs classed as fighter-bombers, one helicopter and one medium 2-engine (with the level IV airbase requirement). So I'm guessing that I passed the "can be built on this hex" test because of the helo, but after that it allowed me to build the unit as all helos, all 2E, or a mixture without testing again.
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Jul 4, 2023 14:25
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That sounds right. However, if aircraft do end up in a hex without an airbase of sufficient level (also possible through strategic move, or through automatic replacements if the aircraft is otherwise valid for that formation - which can be fixed by properly setting the model's and formation's quality settings), their unit won't be able to fly.
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Jul 4, 2023 14:41
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Decided to boot this up again to see how the boats are. First world generated sentient aliens and 24m long apex predator things, cool. Spawned on a peninsula with a huge stack of predators 3 spaces from my capital, probably a game over but I move to surround it to see if this can be salvaged. During the alien turn 2 the predator stack destroys the mechs I got from a card and a stack of militia. Turn 3 another predator stack comes out of the ocean and takes the cap, extremely cool. Ah well the new(?) ocean worlds that get generated seem neat.
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Jul 4, 2023 17:21
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Hey, so you recreated hit movie "Aliens", good job.
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Jul 4, 2023 18:56
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hm actually they said "aliens" and "predators" so it sounds like more of a hit movie "AVPR: Aliens vs Predator - Requiem / AVP2" situation
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Jul 4, 2023 19:41
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I think the movie you are looking for is "Avatar 2," but I haven't seen it yet. Also what stuff are people building to stop bad random events? Based on their tendency to hit new/underdeveloped cities I know the health/security scores influence them happening.
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Jul 4, 2023 21:25
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Security is probably the most important, since it relates to unrest which can snowball quickly into rebels if unchecked. Stacking militia in town is the cheapest/fastest option, once unrest is down to near zero you can build a security building or two and move your militia on to the next town. Stuff like entertainment, health and education are good for the long term since they raise the town's civilization score which increases free folk and immigrant attraction, which means a larger pop pool to staff your factories and conscript into the army.
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Jul 4, 2023 23:31
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Is it normal for alien life to be a huge blockade to overcome or have I just got really unlucky? I've started a couple of games so far and both times I had more difficulty with the wildlife than I did with other human factions, but I'm also mindful that all of the human forces are using lovely grunts with rubbish guns and probably once you get up a rung on the tech ladder things will be a lot easier. On a related note, is there any reason to not prioritise the military research and model design councils ASAP before the others? My first impression is that the other councils are useful but at the start of the game army quality feels like something that desperately needs addressing wheras everything else is able to get by ok
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Jul 5, 2023 11:25
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RabidWeasel posted:Is it normal for alien life to be a huge blockade to overcome or have I just got really unlucky? I've started a couple of games so far and both times I had more difficulty with the wildlife than I did with other human factions, but I'm also mindful that all of the human forces are using lovely grunts with rubbish guns and probably once you get up a rung on the tech ladder things will be a lot easier. Econ council is stronger start if you don't have power plants, because to get the industry running smoothly you need more power than your starting reactor can give. Solar is great for that For Alien lifeforms, if they are notable and appear as unit cards they are generally at least 1 meter in length, that is basically a medium to larger sized dog, generally predatory in nature, often they come with stuff that makes normal bullets not that great against them. a 3 meter alien lifeform is basically like a rhino and probably as angry, 5m is getting to be something larger than a buggy, 10m is stuff that will run a tank over
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Jul 5, 2023 11:53
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AtomikKrab posted:Econ council is stronger start if you don't have power plants, because to get the industry running smoothly you need more power than your starting reactor can give. Solar is great for that I'll bear that in mind, I seemed to have plenty of energy so far, both starts were on planets with lots of life and open air farms which I guess don't need as much energy as farming domes? I think my first game had 8m long shelled octopus monsters roaming around which was not good times Another question I meant to ask: are any of the ideology profiles particularly useful / useless in the early game? I can see all of the base modifiers, but it would be useful to know if any of the strategems are worth specifically aiming for
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Jul 5, 2023 12:29
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RabidWeasel posted:Another question I meant to ask: are any of the ideology profiles particularly useful / useless in the early game? I can see all of the base modifiers, but it would be useful to know if any of the strategems are worth specifically aiming for Very early on, the non-card bonuses are imho more important than the cards. The first two levels of Meritocracy, Fist, Democracy, Government and Commerce all have bonuses that can be very helpful in many situations. Hover over them in the interface to see them. Notably, Fist I is very good for start because it gives you a third more militia in the very early game, tapers off quickly. Meritocracy I gives a diplomacy bonus, if you have a lot of friendly neighbors you want to diploannex, do that very early. If you are running out of food, Meritocracy II helps a ton. Democracy I gives you +40% political points, Government I gives +40 bureaucracy bonus, Govt II gives +40% public industry, Commerce I gives +40% private industry. For cards, my initial goal is to replace all the capacity I or II leaders in my initial set with people of at least cap III, (through "recruit civilian" and/or "recruit talent" cards) and then start spamming cabinet retreat. Everything is so much easier if you have high quality leaders. Note that capability is the most important personal stat, as it defines rate of learning. So long as you can trigger some skill rolls, a cap-V beginner with zero skill will not take all that long to get better than a Cap I who has spent a lifetime honing the skill. Mind, heart and enforcement all give bonuses that imho are more relevant once you have gotten past the very early game, making it easier to run supply, get techs and keep cities and leaders happy. Tuna-Fish fucked around with this message at 13:19 on Jul 5, 2023 |
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Jul 5, 2023 13:13
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One important start item that isn't at all obvious is keeping the factions happy. This generally involves at looking at what their sector proficiencies are (in Reports -> Factions) and making sure they are satisfied so that their happiness goes up. This is important because the factions can give you powerful unique cards. poo poo like Commercial Project (up to +3 pop loyalty/turn, permanently). I'm not sure you can actually tell which faction gives which card tho, other than looking at the theme of hte card. I used to try to round out my ideology profiles to pick off the low hanging fruit, but eventually decided it wasn't worth the effort or the balancing act; now i just pick one direction and go for it. I only switch based on practical reasons, not for the bonuses specifically. Although my favorite starting ideology would have to be Meritocracy, as Recruit Talent reaps a lot of benefits in both the short and long term. alien life can be extremely difficult to fight early on, but usually you can just contain it with enough units. Sometimes you get unlucky with unusually aggressive lifeforms that love nothing more than breaking your logistics. I recommend using buggies to fight alien life, wildlife is almost always garbage against hard targets and the mobility helps a lot with covering large areas and finishing off units. It's also a highly efficient use of manpower. Bear in mind that wildlife uses readiness mechanics just like any other unit so they're far easier to push out with counterattacks after they've exhausted themselves attacking you. You also should look closely at the wildlife and check out their traits. This can be very informative. For example, on a recent planet there was a very common animal that was like Metallic III Toxic II which meant it was an armored hard target (not only hard target but resistant to low caliber weapons) and it was far more likely to kill anything it hit. Pain in the rear end to fight, but it was also pretty passive and i could kinda pen it off to the side without issue until i was better equipped.
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Jul 5, 2023 18:30
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I'm finally getting the hang of this game after a couple false starts. One of my political parties demanded I conquer a city that's a pain in the rear end to get to. Most of my real forces are on the other side of my empire and im waiting on a tech to finish before I refit anyway so I hit decline. The next turn they demanded the exact same thing. Is this just bad luck or are they gonna do this repeatedly? I don't want to go after this city now but if the alternative is torpedoing my relationship with the strongest group in my nation I can give it a go.
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Jul 6, 2023 03:21
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Faction gift cards can be viewed in help, under the card encyclopedia tab. Factions that are happy give you cards based on what your regime, "wants" i.e. what your profile has unlocked. No idea how they determine which one when you have multiple unlocked, but they seem to give more high end ones than low end ones once you unlock them. This also means that going for a mix of profile with good gifts and no gifts can pay off in a hurry. Meritocracy's early diplomatic card is straight busted in multiplayer. It is a whole lot easier to raise relations than it is to lower them... Faction demands should change over time. But if you have aggressive folks they'll keep asking, just after multiple turns. Democracies get the most requests, autocracies the least. Most alien life won't challenge adjacent units. Even a militia truck can keep a route clear for a turn or two.
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Jul 6, 2023 03:43
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Is there a guide to planet creation anywhere -- like, what selections to make if you want a planet with an atmosphere that will support planes, and a reasonable amount of metals to be mined, etc? So far, I've just been re-rolling a lot, is there a better way?
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Jul 13, 2023 15:01
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This recent patch has serious grog game energy, its like two steps forward two steps sideways into Narnia. The ammo changes etc are really good. But I get into a war with the strongest major faction on my planet and the frontline is like 50% Light Tank Regiments. Not battalions, regiments. I go look at the intel report and they have 4000 light tanks. Barely a mech, moto, artillery, medium tank, etc. to be seen. Great, they've taught it to minmax. I am a big fan of this. It makes the game very interesting! Arrrrrgh.ZekeNY posted:Is there a guide to planet creation anywhere -- like, what selections to make if you want a planet with an atmosphere that will support planes, and a reasonable amount of metals to be mined, etc? So far, I've just been re-rolling a lot, is there a better way? Not really, although anything thats noted as often supporting alien life (i.e. Morgana) will usually have a biosphere of some flavor.
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Nov 24, 2023 17:28
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Bigger and heavier planet is what you want for more resources/better shot at a biosphere. Heavier planet = more mineral content. Bigger planet is more able to have good conditions. Then look at temperature, you want something in the 8-12 C range on average.
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Nov 24, 2023 17:46
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TheDeadlyShoe posted:This recent patch has serious grog game energy, its like two steps forward two steps sideways into Narnia. The ammo changes etc are really good. But I get into a war with the strongest major faction on my planet and the frontline is like 50% Light Tank Regiments. Not battalions, regiments. I go look at the intel report and they have 4000 light tanks. Barely a mech, moto, artillery, medium tank, etc. to be seen. Great, they've taught it to minmax. I am a big fan of this. It makes the game very interesting! Arrrrrgh.
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Nov 24, 2023 18:13
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Yeah I was wondering what the change of ammo was. And then I looked at a tank's ammo consumption... Just hitting that point in a single player game of the patch but hopefully this change will kill Blitzkrieg dead. Also LMAO if midcore logistics takes us back to the mark 1 logistics system. It isn't actually going to happen, but it is very funny to remember the time before traffic signs.
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Nov 24, 2023 21:23
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Unless it worked differently at some point in closed testing, mark 1 logistics was all logistics using the default rule of splitting evenly at intersections, forcing everything to be directed manually with traffic signs  Then pull points were implemented to automatically direct logistics because of players complaining about the micromanagement, along with (for some reason) the refocusing mechanic and branching penalties.Midcore logistics allows full logistics points to be sent down every branch at an intersection, but logistics points used on any branch are also deducted from every branch, so it retains most of the complexity of the logistics system while cutting down on the micromanagement. cranky corvid fucked around with this message at 21:53 on Nov 24, 2023 |
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Nov 24, 2023 21:45
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Noticed the AI were wasting tons of resources to spam lovely planes and helicopters, losing their entire empire to a unit of GR tanks and some militia whose main function was to clog the enemy's guns with meat So I disabled air forces. Then 800 of these wander into my capital on turn 1 (skill issue) and I'm wondering if there's a way to enable air but only for flying logistics? 
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Dec 6, 2023 20:52
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silentsnack posted:Noticed the AI were wasting tons of resources to spam lovely planes and helicopters, losing their entire empire to a unit of GR tanks and some militia whose main function was to clog the enemy's guns with meat I mean you had the skill to create uh... aggressive nigh invulnerable land blue whales that are sharks
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Dec 6, 2023 22:03
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