I bought it. Fun, but I end up getting waxed mid-game. One thing that would help is if I could navigate the starmap better. Am I able to freelookt hrough the glaaxy somewhow? It seems all i can do is move around by clilcking from star to star.
Currently you can only focus on systems or fleets. You can also sort worlds in lists and navigate by clicking on their name in the list.
Played through my first two games as Liir, and now I am trying out the Hivers. I am really enjoying this game, the "one more turn" syndrome is really strong.
I kind of wish there were more non-combat development options and differend victory conditions though. I usually enjoy building an empire more than destroying one.
I kind of wish there were more non-combat development options and differend victory conditions though. I usually enjoy building an empire more than destroying one.
You can bribe and eventually ally with everyone, even the stupid dumb Zuul.
The AI ate my third game. While as hivers I had a huge defensive advantage against the emergent hostile AI, I quite simply did not have the available ships to win back all the thirteen planets that had been lost. After the first round three had been won back, and in another five rounds a further five had been beaten into submission. The problem was that of the remaining seven infested planets, I only had an intact gate around one. While I was gradually beating that one down, the last six planets built up incredible defences and began sending fleets against me. The hiver ships were so slow that their danger was limited (though still considerable, since they were true top of the line ships).
I could win the war, but it would take many many rounds, so I opted to simply try again. The next time the bastard AI's will not take me by surprise.
This is my new favorite 4X. I love that I don't have to run around doing empire maintenance every turn and can focus on making money and building up my military. I really don't care if planet X done building it's library or not, and this game understands that. Combat is cool too. I feel like this is what MOO3 wanted to be.
So there's been a fair bit more activity in this thread than I thought there would be.
Who would be interested in participating in an epic in-house PA game?
I'd be up for that, scheduling/time zone permitting.
Darkchampion3d on
Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence --Thomas Jefferson
I am loving the hivers. We may be slow, but when we do reach you prepare to get fucked up.
I have come to the realization that humans are among the worst enemies for the hivers to meet, and my latest game had me pitted against an alliance of two human players quite quickly. I am slowly grinding down one of them, but it has taken me like 30 rounds of campaigning to win 6 planets from him.
My current war time strategy is pretty basic. A fleet of 30-40 mixed ships with the best possible engines and two gates are sent towards a planet. When they reach it I fight the first battle manually, minimizing my losses while noting how heavy the resistance is. After setting up the gate the remaining ships will usually be enough to prevent its destruction during the second round of combat even if the resistance is heavy, allowing me to send in wave after wave of new ships.
Does anyone feel like sharing any strategies/tactics/ship designs for the hivers? I could use any hints you have.
I am loving the hivers. We may be slow, but when we do reach you prepare to get fucked up.
I have come to the realization that humans are among the worst enemies for the hivers to meet, and my latest game had me pitted against an alliance of two human players quite quickly. I am slowly grinding down one of them, but it has taken me like 30 rounds of campaigning to win 6 planets from him.
My current war time strategy is pretty basic. A fleet of 30-40 mixed ships with the best possible engines and two gates are sent towards a planet. When they reach it I fight the first battle manually, minimizing my losses while noting how heavy the resistance is. After setting up the gate the remaining ships will usually be enough to prevent its destruction during the second round of combat even if the resistance is heavy, allowing me to send in wave after wave of new ships.
Does anyone feel like sharing any strategies/tactics/ship designs for the hivers? I could use any hints you have.
One suggestion - Send multiple waves of gate ships. 1 or 2 at a time. 2 to 3 waves, just to be sure. Always have defenders travelling with the first wave. Immediately turn that gate ship around and RUN IT AWAY. Let the rest of the ships fight. If the gate survives...well, as you noted, flood the system with a swarm of the waiting fleet.
The complete version of this game will be 50% on GamersGate tomorrow (thursday).
I'm so gonna get it.
Wow. VERY tempting.
Anyone have any experience with GamersGate? Reactions? Problems? Suggestions?
I have it. Works fine though of course I'd rather it have been on steam so all my crap could be in one place.
Darkchampion3d on
Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence --Thomas Jefferson
I am loving the hivers. We may be slow, but when we do reach you prepare to get fucked up.
I have come to the realization that humans are among the worst enemies for the hivers to meet, and my latest game had me pitted against an alliance of two human players quite quickly. I am slowly grinding down one of them, but it has taken me like 30 rounds of campaigning to win 6 planets from him.
My current war time strategy is pretty basic. A fleet of 30-40 mixed ships with the best possible engines and two gates are sent towards a planet. When they reach it I fight the first battle manually, minimizing my losses while noting how heavy the resistance is. After setting up the gate the remaining ships will usually be enough to prevent its destruction during the second round of combat even if the resistance is heavy, allowing me to send in wave after wave of new ships.
Does anyone feel like sharing any strategies/tactics/ship designs for the hivers? I could use any hints you have.
Research antimatter->farcasters as fast as possible. Every multiplayer game ive been in where a hiver is allowed to get farcasters has ended swiftly thereafter.
Darkchampion3d on
Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence --Thomas Jefferson
I am loving the hivers. We may be slow, but when we do reach you prepare to get fucked up.
I have come to the realization that humans are among the worst enemies for the hivers to meet, and my latest game had me pitted against an alliance of two human players quite quickly. I am slowly grinding down one of them, but it has taken me like 30 rounds of campaigning to win 6 planets from him.
My current war time strategy is pretty basic. A fleet of 30-40 mixed ships with the best possible engines and two gates are sent towards a planet. When they reach it I fight the first battle manually, minimizing my losses while noting how heavy the resistance is. After setting up the gate the remaining ships will usually be enough to prevent its destruction during the second round of combat even if the resistance is heavy, allowing me to send in wave after wave of new ships.
Does anyone feel like sharing any strategies/tactics/ship designs for the hivers? I could use any hints you have.
Research antimatter->farcasters as fast as possible. Every multiplayer game ive been in where a hiver is allowed to get farcasters has ended swiftly thereafter.
Hivers are pretty bad early and midgame. They're just too slow to project sufficient force across several systems at once, and if you ship out a huge fleet, that's a huge fleet that won't be available for defense for 10-20 turns, and one that can be defended against by most races, as they have more than enough time to gather all their ships. Once you hit late game though, farcasters plus having incredibly resilient ships and excellent arcs on weapons just add up to rape. I haven't seen a hiver that has reached farcasters with some semblance of power lose. But then again I've seen plenty of hivers lose to an aggressive human who goes fast fusion for 1 turn travel times, as once you lose a system as a hiver, that system is pretty much gone until you get farcasters.
Can I build tankers bigger than destroyers? A bit annoying to need a supply train of 20 tankers for my fleet of badass-ness, and another 5 tankers to fuel the tankers...
And does overharvesting a planet and using its resources decrease is income/industrial output?
Can I build tankers bigger than destroyers? A bit annoying to need a supply train of 20 tankers for my fleet of badass-ness, and another 5 tankers to fuel the tankers...
Build Refineries. They hold much more fuel than tankers, and can refine more fuel at any uninhabited planet.
And does overharvesting a planet and using its resources decrease is income/industrial output?
It reduces the resource base of the planet, this in turn reduces the available industrial output. Since unused industrial output is translated into income, it indirectly reduces planetary income as well.
This is on sale this weekend at Stardock and I'm thinking of picking it up. Two questions: how long does an average game take to play? One of the things that killed GalCiv for me was the pacing - I don't mind a long game (I love Civ IV for example) but things need to happen at some level of regularity.
My second, less critical question, is if there is hotseat.
This is on sale this weekend at Stardock and I'm thinking of picking it up. Two questions: how long does an average game take to play? One of the things that killed GalCiv for me was the pacing - I don't mind a long game (I love Civ IV for example) but things need to happen at some level of regularity.
My second, less critical question, is if there is hotseat.
The game is 5 bucks cheaper on gamersgate, too.
EDIT: I'm no shrill for GG or anything, I just want my forum brothers and sisters to get the game for cheap!
I am still learning new things about this game! I only found out about miners when I was checking out the tech tree yesterday, and I can't wait to dig up those damn rocks to enrich my industry planets. I have a feeling mining is a great strength for the hivers, as a hiver player has easy and quick access to every rock world he has reached thanks to the gate network. I can't wait to see how it works in practice, especially when dumping the minerals on a developing world to speed its growth.
I set the number of planets to 120 for my latest 6 player game, but I can't help the feeling that even this is slightly more than I can easily manage. Maybe I should try a really small game, say 60 planets for 5 players and see how that works out.
I am still learning new things about this game! I only found out about miners when I was checking out the tech tree yesterday, and I can't wait to dig up those damn rocks to enrich my industry planets. I have a feeling mining is a great strength for the hivers, as a hiver player has easy and quick access to every rock world he has reached thanks to the gate network. I can't wait to see how it works in practice, especially when dumping the minerals on a developing world to speed its growth.
I set the number of planets to 120 for my latest 6 player game, but I can't help the feeling that even this is slightly more than I can easily manage. Maybe I should try a really small game, say 60 planets for 5 players and see how that works out.
As hivers, the general practice is to dump all of the ore from your uninhabitable planets on your best production planet, typically your homeworld. Once it's resources get high enough it basically becomes your one stop shop for all ship production.
Darkchampion3d on
Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence --Thomas Jefferson
One thing that is both cool and off-putting about this game is how many ships you can easily pump out. I'm playing as humans and even in the early game I'm sending out battle fleets of 40 destroyers without really worrying about it. At any given time so far my home world has been able to pump out at least 2 of my most advanced cruisers in one turn. One thing I liked about Gal Civ II was that building a state of the art battleship felt like a huge achievement.
Smurph on
0
Golden YakBurnished BovineThe sunny beaches of CanadaRegistered Userregular
One thing that is both cool and off-putting about this game is how many ships you can easily pump out. I'm playing as humans and even in the early game I'm sending out battle fleets of 40 destroyers without really worrying about it. At any given time so far my home world has been able to pump out at least 2 of my most advanced cruisers in one turn. One thing I liked about Gal Civ II was that building a state of the art battleship felt like a huge achievement.
In SotS, Dreadnoughts are the state of the art battleships. Fleets of destroyers are useful for early game and for taking out menaces, but a fleet of cruisers will shred it pretty fast (with the right weapons, of course. I've seen Morrigi shield-destroyer fleets do some major damage).
But I boosted my homeworld's production up to 40,000 with mining (yes, mining does rock for Hivers) and it can still only turn out a Dreadnought a turn. My second best forgeworld takes 2. And this is around turn 200.
One thing that is both cool and off-putting about this game is how many ships you can easily pump out. I'm playing as humans and even in the early game I'm sending out battle fleets of 40 destroyers without really worrying about it. At any given time so far my home world has been able to pump out at least 2 of my most advanced cruisers in one turn. One thing I liked about Gal Civ II was that building a state of the art battleship felt like a huge achievement.
Oh, that's cool
I hate those 4x games in which it takes you 1000 turns to make a half-decent cannon fodder ship
In MoO I either had crappy ships or deathstars of star deathing.
Can I build tankers bigger than destroyers? A bit annoying to need a supply train of 20 tankers for my fleet of badass-ness, and another 5 tankers to fuel the tankers...
Build Refineries. They hold much more fuel than tankers, and can refine more fuel at any uninhabited planet.
Oooooooh. I thought refineries would boost the industrial input of a planet they orbit.
Can I build tankers bigger than destroyers? A bit annoying to need a supply train of 20 tankers for my fleet of badass-ness, and another 5 tankers to fuel the tankers...
Build Refineries. They hold much more fuel than tankers, and can refine more fuel at any uninhabited planet.
Oooooooh. I thought refineries would boost the industrial input of a planet they orbit.
They refine fuel. They also can "refuel" fuel tankers (if I'm remembering correctly). Basically, they are a mobile infinite gas station. Cruiser size though.
Marikir on
"Hiding in plain sight." PSN/XBL: Marikir
0
Golden YakBurnished BovineThe sunny beaches of CanadaRegistered Userregular
Can I build tankers bigger than destroyers? A bit annoying to need a supply train of 20 tankers for my fleet of badass-ness, and another 5 tankers to fuel the tankers...
Build Refineries. They hold much more fuel than tankers, and can refine more fuel at any uninhabited planet.
Oooooooh. I thought refineries would boost the industrial input of a planet they orbit.
They refine fuel. They also can "refuel" fuel tankers (if I'm remembering correctly). Basically, they are a mobile infinite gas station. Cruiser size though.
Tanker/Refinery ships will refuel any kind of ship, including other tankers/refineries.
This is on sale this weekend at Stardock and I'm thinking of picking it up. Two questions: how long does an average game take to play? One of the things that killed GalCiv for me was the pacing - I don't mind a long game (I love Civ IV for example) but things need to happen at some level of regularity.
My second, less critical question, is if there is hotseat.
The pacing of SotS is variable, depending on the settings you specify at the beginning of the game. The more resources you give people starting out, the faster the game goes. The larger or more spread out the galaxy, the slower the game goes. Higher research or economic efficiency will speed the game up, while reducing those values will slow the game.
There is no hotseat game mode, All players take their turns simultaneously to keep wait times lower for lan or internet multiplayer. On the other hand, its quite possible to drop into any open slot in an ongoing multiplayer game, and easy to restart a multiplayer game from an existing save, so the lack of hotseat gaming doesn't cripple your multiplayer opportunity.
I would be down for any multiplayer games that got going.
I had always heard that SotS was not a very good 4x, but my real experience since buying it (due almost totally to this thread) has been great. I haven't played any races other than the hivers enough to get used to them but I love the hivers playstyle.
So, I'm aching to play Zuul. They fight my general playstyle for these sorts of games very well.
My question is, though, what's the best way to get a good start as far as exploration goes? I know with humans, you want to send out shittons of ERs and whatnot, but Zuul have to rip new pathways. Any advice in general on Zuul would also be welcome.
Rip bores + escorts for initial node line creations, then massive waves of cheap ships to follow up. Rip bores have horrendous speed and will slow down any fleet they're in. Set your worlds to overharvest 100% and spam the crap out of ships always.
Rip bores + escorts for initial node line creations, then massive waves of cheap ships to follow up. Rip bores have horrendous speed and will slow down any fleet they're in. Set your worlds to overharvest 100% and spam the crap out of ships always.
Will keep in mind. How much of a focus should I be putting on research versus construction and whatnot?
Posts
Currently you can only focus on systems or fleets. You can also sort worlds in lists and navigate by clicking on their name in the list.
I kind of wish there were more non-combat development options and differend victory conditions though. I usually enjoy building an empire more than destroying one.
You can bribe and eventually ally with everyone, even the stupid dumb Zuul.
I could win the war, but it would take many many rounds, so I opted to simply try again. The next time the bastard AI's will not take me by surprise.
I'd be up for that, scheduling/time zone permitting.
I have come to the realization that humans are among the worst enemies for the hivers to meet, and my latest game had me pitted against an alliance of two human players quite quickly. I am slowly grinding down one of them, but it has taken me like 30 rounds of campaigning to win 6 planets from him.
My current war time strategy is pretty basic. A fleet of 30-40 mixed ships with the best possible engines and two gates are sent towards a planet. When they reach it I fight the first battle manually, minimizing my losses while noting how heavy the resistance is. After setting up the gate the remaining ships will usually be enough to prevent its destruction during the second round of combat even if the resistance is heavy, allowing me to send in wave after wave of new ships.
Does anyone feel like sharing any strategies/tactics/ship designs for the hivers? I could use any hints you have.
One suggestion - Send multiple waves of gate ships. 1 or 2 at a time. 2 to 3 waves, just to be sure. Always have defenders travelling with the first wave. Immediately turn that gate ship around and RUN IT AWAY. Let the rest of the ships fight. If the gate survives...well, as you noted, flood the system with a swarm of the waiting fleet.
I'm so gonna get it.
Wow. VERY tempting.
Anyone have any experience with GamersGate? Reactions? Problems? Suggestions?
I have it. Works fine though of course I'd rather it have been on steam so all my crap could be in one place.
Research antimatter->farcasters as fast as possible. Every multiplayer game ive been in where a hiver is allowed to get farcasters has ended swiftly thereafter.
Oh. Oh deary deary me. I don't think I'll be able to physically avoid buying that. And I've bought WAY too much shit lately.
IOS Game Center ID: Isotope-X
You and me both. I just last night bought inFamous...and now I hear about this?
Why does money wish to not stay with me? WHY?
Hivers are pretty bad early and midgame. They're just too slow to project sufficient force across several systems at once, and if you ship out a huge fleet, that's a huge fleet that won't be available for defense for 10-20 turns, and one that can be defended against by most races, as they have more than enough time to gather all their ships. Once you hit late game though, farcasters plus having incredibly resilient ships and excellent arcs on weapons just add up to rape. I haven't seen a hiver that has reached farcasters with some semblance of power lose. But then again I've seen plenty of hivers lose to an aggressive human who goes fast fusion for 1 turn travel times, as once you lose a system as a hiver, that system is pretty much gone until you get farcasters.
The SotS Complete sale is tomorrow, Friday, not today. Today it's World in Conflict Complete.
IOS Game Center ID: Isotope-X
Ahh, I was wondering what happened! Heh, I was refreshing like crazy, wondering why it wasn't showing.
Can I build tankers bigger than destroyers? A bit annoying to need a supply train of 20 tankers for my fleet of badass-ness, and another 5 tankers to fuel the tankers...
And does overharvesting a planet and using its resources decrease is income/industrial output?
Build Refineries. They hold much more fuel than tankers, and can refine more fuel at any uninhabited planet.
It reduces the resource base of the planet, this in turn reduces the available industrial output. Since unused industrial output is translated into income, it indirectly reduces planetary income as well.
My second, less critical question, is if there is hotseat.
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198006524737
The game is 5 bucks cheaper on gamersgate, too.
EDIT: I'm no shrill for GG or anything, I just want my forum brothers and sisters to get the game for cheap!
I set the number of planets to 120 for my latest 6 player game, but I can't help the feeling that even this is slightly more than I can easily manage. Maybe I should try a really small game, say 60 planets for 5 players and see how that works out.
As hivers, the general practice is to dump all of the ore from your uninhabitable planets on your best production planet, typically your homeworld. Once it's resources get high enough it basically becomes your one stop shop for all ship production.
In SotS, Dreadnoughts are the state of the art battleships. Fleets of destroyers are useful for early game and for taking out menaces, but a fleet of cruisers will shred it pretty fast (with the right weapons, of course. I've seen Morrigi shield-destroyer fleets do some major damage).
But I boosted my homeworld's production up to 40,000 with mining (yes, mining does rock for Hivers) and it can still only turn out a Dreadnought a turn. My second best forgeworld takes 2. And this is around turn 200.
Oh, that's cool
I hate those 4x games in which it takes you 1000 turns to make a half-decent cannon fodder ship
In MoO I either had crappy ships or deathstars of star deathing.
Oooooooh. I thought refineries would boost the industrial input of a planet they orbit.
They refine fuel. They also can "refuel" fuel tankers (if I'm remembering correctly). Basically, they are a mobile infinite gas station. Cruiser size though.
Tanker/Refinery ships will refuel any kind of ship, including other tankers/refineries.
The pacing of SotS is variable, depending on the settings you specify at the beginning of the game. The more resources you give people starting out, the faster the game goes. The larger or more spread out the galaxy, the slower the game goes. Higher research or economic efficiency will speed the game up, while reducing those values will slow the game.
There is no hotseat game mode, All players take their turns simultaneously to keep wait times lower for lan or internet multiplayer. On the other hand, its quite possible to drop into any open slot in an ongoing multiplayer game, and easy to restart a multiplayer game from an existing save, so the lack of hotseat gaming doesn't cripple your multiplayer opportunity.
I had always heard that SotS was not a very good 4x, but my real experience since buying it (due almost totally to this thread) has been great. I haven't played any races other than the hivers enough to get used to them but I love the hivers playstyle.
My question is, though, what's the best way to get a good start as far as exploration goes? I know with humans, you want to send out shittons of ERs and whatnot, but Zuul have to rip new pathways. Any advice in general on Zuul would also be welcome.
Will keep in mind. How much of a focus should I be putting on research versus construction and whatnot?