Feedback on Distant Worlds AAR (from Kushan)

Started by bayonetbrant, July 17, 2014, 10:52:56 AM

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bayonetbrant

The key to surviving this site is to not say something which ends up as someone's tag line - Steelgrave

"their citizens (all of them counted as such) glorified their mythology of 'rights'...and lost track of their duties. No nation, so constituted, can endure." Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers

Boggit

I'm really enjoying this. My empire is still struggling, but has started to benefit from your 101 on running a space empire! ;)
The most shocking fact about war is that its victims and its instruments are individual human beings, and that these individual beings are condemned by the monstrous conventions of politics to murder or be murdered in quarrels not their own. Aldous Huxley

Foul Temptress! (Mirth replying to Gus) ;)

On a good day, our legislature has the prestige of a drunk urinating on a wall at 4am and getting most of it on his shoe. On a good day  ::) Steelgrave

It's kind of silly to investigate whether or not a Clinton is lying. That's sort of like investigating why the sky is blue. Banzai_Cat

Martok

Gah, I somehow missed this latest update. 



Nice job with the Gulrath, Kushan.  :)  Bring on the Yirphunea Supremacy! 

"Like we need an excuse to drink to anything..." - Banzai_Cat
"I like to think of it not as an excuse but more like Pavlovian Response." - Sir Slash

"At our ages, they all look like jailbait." - mirth

"If we had lines here that would have crossed all of them. For the 1,077,986th time." - Gusington

"Government is so expensive that it should at least be entertaining." - airboy

"As long as there's bacon, everything will be all right." - Toonces

Kushan

Quote from: Boggit on November 10, 2014, 10:31:44 AM
I'm really enjoying this. My empire is still struggling, but has started to benefit from your 101 on running a space empire! ;)

What are you struggling with Boggit? lack of resources? money?

Quote from: Martok on November 10, 2014, 02:56:04 PM
Gah, I somehow missed this latest update. 

Nice job with the Gulrath, Kushan.  :)  Bring on the Yirphunea Supremacy! 

Thanks Martok. Hopefully this will be a springboard to better things. Not to get to far ahead of myself but if all goes according to play I have the next few wars already planned.
PanzersEast: Have to think to myself.... will I play the first one by the Winter Sale?  Probably not, then I should remove Dragonfall
PanzersEast: but that is thinking too logically.... and Steam Sales are about ignoring Logic

---
Twitch Channel
YouTube Channel
Twitter - @KushanGaming
Discord Chat
Command Northern Inferno Let's Play

Boggit

Quote from: Kushan on November 10, 2014, 03:03:31 PM
Quote from: Boggit on November 10, 2014, 10:31:44 AM
I'm really enjoying this. My empire is still struggling, but has started to benefit from your 101 on running a space empire! ;)

What are you struggling with Boggit? lack of resources? money?

Incessant pirate attacks on my mining bases, my nascent starports, and my trade lanes. Oh yes, the inability not to get my fleets mashed when I attack pirate bases too! :buck2:
The most shocking fact about war is that its victims and its instruments are individual human beings, and that these individual beings are condemned by the monstrous conventions of politics to murder or be murdered in quarrels not their own. Aldous Huxley

Foul Temptress! (Mirth replying to Gus) ;)

On a good day, our legislature has the prestige of a drunk urinating on a wall at 4am and getting most of it on his shoe. On a good day  ::) Steelgrave

It's kind of silly to investigate whether or not a Clinton is lying. That's sort of like investigating why the sky is blue. Banzai_Cat

Kushan

Quote from: Boggit on November 11, 2014, 03:44:10 PM
Quote from: Kushan on November 10, 2014, 03:03:31 PM
Quote from: Boggit on November 10, 2014, 10:31:44 AM
I'm really enjoying this. My empire is still struggling, but has started to benefit from your 101 on running a space empire! ;)

What are you struggling with Boggit? lack of resources? money?

Incessant pirate attacks on my mining bases, my nascent starports, and my trade lanes. Oh yes, the inability not to get my fleets mashed when I attack pirate bases too! :buck2:

What pirate settings are you using? If you using Shadows or Universe, I suggest setting them to very few and weak, that should set them more or less to where they were in Legends. Very few and weak should make them a nuisance rather then a life or death threat.

Not sure if your using automated design/ship construction. One thing I found with using those settings but manually controlling fleets and attacks was my ships where not getting upgraded. I did a little save reloading this last part when my ships where getting ripped apart. Once I upgraded my ships the problem went away. Pirate bases are also nothing to sneer at. Back in Legend I use to be able to take out pirate bases with a few frigates and destroyers. Ever since Shadows it more or less require a full fleet.
PanzersEast: Have to think to myself.... will I play the first one by the Winter Sale?  Probably not, then I should remove Dragonfall
PanzersEast: but that is thinking too logically.... and Steam Sales are about ignoring Logic

---
Twitch Channel
YouTube Channel
Twitter - @KushanGaming
Discord Chat
Command Northern Inferno Let's Play

Kushan

PanzersEast: Have to think to myself.... will I play the first one by the Winter Sale?  Probably not, then I should remove Dragonfall
PanzersEast: but that is thinking too logically.... and Steam Sales are about ignoring Logic

---
Twitch Channel
YouTube Channel
Twitter - @KushanGaming
Discord Chat
Command Northern Inferno Let's Play

bayonetbrant

thanks, Kushan...  I was going to get to it :)
The key to surviving this site is to not say something which ends up as someone's tag line - Steelgrave

"their citizens (all of them counted as such) glorified their mythology of 'rights'...and lost track of their duties. No nation, so constituted, can endure." Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers

Martok

Crazy.  Do you think the Adare are going to come after you then? 
"Like we need an excuse to drink to anything..." - Banzai_Cat
"I like to think of it not as an excuse but more like Pavlovian Response." - Sir Slash

"At our ages, they all look like jailbait." - mirth

"If we had lines here that would have crossed all of them. For the 1,077,986th time." - Gusington

"Government is so expensive that it should at least be entertaining." - airboy

"As long as there's bacon, everything will be all right." - Toonces

Kushan

I had to buy them off twice during the war, so yea I'm pretty sure their going to be coming after me.

The real concerning part is that almost everyone hates me. Even the factions that like me don't have a high enough opinion to want anything more then a trade agreement, if that.

I may just keep trying to buy them off while I go after the Gulrath or I might just roll the dice and see what happens. If I can do another short blitzkrieg war and take two colonies then sue for peace. Going to set my spies and scouts on them and see what their defenses look like.
PanzersEast: Have to think to myself.... will I play the first one by the Winter Sale?  Probably not, then I should remove Dragonfall
PanzersEast: but that is thinking too logically.... and Steam Sales are about ignoring Logic

---
Twitch Channel
YouTube Channel
Twitter - @KushanGaming
Discord Chat
Command Northern Inferno Let's Play

airboy

Couple of questions about the game:
1] How much "real time" is there?  I loath, loath, loath "twitch games."  I could handle Hearts of Iron however.
     Pausable can be very meaningful, or the game speed can be so fast that pausable does not help much.
Can you give me your opinion on this?

2] Can you set the size of the universe easily?  Can you pick opponents, or level of difficulty, etc........?  How well does that work?

3] How good is the AI given the parameters you set for the universe/opponents/what-not?

4] Is this one of those irritating Steam games that requires a ongoing internet link - or can it be played offline?

5] How would you rate the "fun factor?"

My issue is not with the price of the game ($75 + tax for Universe) but is it worth the time investment to me?

I would greatly appreciate feedback from those who have played the game on the five questions above.

Thanks in advance.

Kushan

#26
Quote from: airboy on February 05, 2015, 11:34:00 AM
1] How much "real time" is there?  I loath, loath, loath "twitch games."  I could handle Hearts of Iron however. Pausable can be very meaningful, or the game speed can be so fast that pausable does not help much.

Its same as the Paradox games. Its real time but you can speed up or slow down time and pause to give orders.  I haven't run across any order that can't be given while the game is paused.

Quote from: airboy on February 05, 2015, 11:34:00 AM
2] Can you set the size of the universe easily?  Can you pick opponents, or level of difficulty, etc........?  How well does that work?

Check out part 1, all the standard 4x options are available. Galaxy size and shape, AI difficulty, AI aggression, starting tech and expansion, etc. You can either have the game auto generate factions for you or you can opt to set up factions individually.

Quote from: airboy on February 05, 2015, 11:34:00 AM
3] How good is the AI given the parameters you set for the universe/opponents/what-not?

Its ok. It's not the best AI in the world but it does play the game decently. The diplomacy AI is the weakest part of it IMO. Its not like the TW AI where it will declare war on you for no reason, but it can be abused by doing things like buying it off with tech right after it declares war on you. Its one area I really hope to see improvements another expansion or DW2.

Quote from: airboy on February 05, 2015, 11:34:00 AM
4] Is this one of those irritating Steam games that requires a ongoing internet link - or can it be played offline?

No. The Matrix version uses their standard serial code DRM but doesn't require any connection. Even the steam release can be played without Steam running. All you need to do is create a shortcut from the exe in the installation folder and not through Steam or you can copy the installation folder to a location outside your steam installation and create a shortcut to that.

Quote from: airboy on February 05, 2015, 11:34:00 AM
5] How would you rate the "fun factor?"

I think its the best 4x on the market, despite the weak AI. For me its mainly about replayability. The standard Civilization/4x start with one city/planet has gotten really stale for me the last couple of years. In Distant Worlds you can set up just about any conceivable scenario you can come up with. You can set up a large highly advanced faction surrounded by barbarian smaller ones you or reverse it and have highly advance smaller factions surrounding a lower tech giant empire. Or setup a galaxy where you have a number of faction centered in the galaxy and can then spread out from there. And the relative ease to which you can mod ship images, although coming up with decent ones can be a bit difficult, means you can play in just about any sci fi universe created, and that doesn't even include all of the modding options added in Universe.

I do have to point out that there isn't as many overhaul mods for Universe as I expected. But in the end there's only a finite amount of modders in a relatively small community. I think part of the problem is that Universe still had some major limitations at launch (most have been removed through patches), but by the time the patches got released some enthusiasm had already waned.
PanzersEast: Have to think to myself.... will I play the first one by the Winter Sale?  Probably not, then I should remove Dragonfall
PanzersEast: but that is thinking too logically.... and Steam Sales are about ignoring Logic

---
Twitch Channel
YouTube Channel
Twitter - @KushanGaming
Discord Chat
Command Northern Inferno Let's Play

airboy

Thanks!  Probably buy it next sale (or next time I get a big chunk of free time).

Martok

Just wanted to add that I second Kushan's assessment of DW being the best space 4x title currently out there...and I say that from the perspective of someone who overwhelmingly prefers TBS to RTS games as a general rule.  Distant Worlds is a ton of fun, and I already look forward to whenever the sequel comes out. 

"Like we need an excuse to drink to anything..." - Banzai_Cat
"I like to think of it not as an excuse but more like Pavlovian Response." - Sir Slash

"At our ages, they all look like jailbait." - mirth

"If we had lines here that would have crossed all of them. For the 1,077,986th time." - Gusington

"Government is so expensive that it should at least be entertaining." - airboy

"As long as there's bacon, everything will be all right." - Toonces

bayonetbrant

The key to surviving this site is to not say something which ends up as someone's tag line - Steelgrave

"their citizens (all of them counted as such) glorified their mythology of 'rights'...and lost track of their duties. No nation, so constituted, can endure." Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers