IDK, seems to me they’ve had this pairing in every single game, the equilibrium between them varying a bit though.
It feels a bit…clunky sometimes.
It was easier to see strategic layer as the main part of the game cause you could overwhelm your enemy with economic advantage. The combat was also more predictable cause most units were more straightforward. You can more or less imagine what happens on a battlefield when two typical armies of typical armies clash, maybe some hero abilities or spell change the outcome a little. Here you probably need much more experience to evaluate armies, if it’s possible at all.
Yeah, this. And not just that, but how to use them in tactical combat – it’s not uncommon in heavily modded/specialized army comps to go from a Pyrrhic autocombat victory or even a loss to an overwhelming or attritionless win. And that’s with a tactical AI that really is about as good as can be reasonably asked for.
These are the pieces I’m wondering about in terms of gameplay. In my last game, I fought out about a half dozen of the tactical battles. Most I pressed auto-resolve, either because the outcome was apparent or the battle wasn’t that important and I wanted to keep things moving along. I’d guess 90% of my game time was in the strategic mode. But the tactical combat is where the game shines, and a big element of the strategic mode is fueling tactical combat strength.
I’m curious if I can find a sweet spot in the mix of strategic mode/tactical combat/game length as I improve and play at harder levels.
I really like the game, but the UI doesn’t quite suit me. I still have trouble seeing what units are where; I can’t find any way to filter out extraneous stuff, even on the military map. I deployed the “show all enemy units” covert operation, and while I do see them (with a soft red glow around them), they don’t exactly jump off the page. It’s all so cluttered. I can’t find a mod that de-clutters it. Just something to hide everything but my units and enemy units.
I also wish the fonts on the abilities and techs were larger. And I wish Tier I, II etc used Arabic rather than Roman numerals, as my aging eyes find them hard to distinguish. A larger font, or color-coding, would help too. Plus I find it confusing that tech levels have higher tiers than the resulting units or doctrines.
Still and all, I’m enjoying it a lot. The underlying game is great, and the AI is impressive. I think I’m about to win my first game, on Easy, but I have to hold my conquests for another 8 turns. I’m looking forward to finishing it tomorrow.
It doesn’t get enough respect from the larger community though, but given that this is quite a complex game, the AI is actually pretty good, I agree.
:(
Can’t help you with this.
Oddly, I find myself wishing the units cards and the UI elements were actually a bit smaller, so I could see more of the map.
Back when the game first came out I found it a bit slow but could play it well enough to win on normal difficulty. Now somehow I can’t, and I don’t know whether it’s because I’ve forgotten what I did before or because my old approach doesn’t work as well now.
So I like the Paladin Warlord vehicle loadout, and the archives list a Paladin Warlord unit, but I don’t see where in the tree I could actually build one. Is this a vehicle only?
Yeah, I think that one’s for the bossman, not the mere soldiers in your employ. There’s another one, the Marquis I think, that is a support version, and it is excellent too.
Thanks for your helpful replies, @BloodyBattleBrain. I finally won my first Empire game, on Easy, which proved to be too easy – I rolled over my competition and won with a domination victory. It was still plenty fun, though, and the AI did make a last-turn assault on one of my cities that I managed to win despite being outnumbered – very satisfying. The MVP of that fight was a Growth unit that mind-controlled an enemy Dvar trencher.
As @Piemax2 mentions, Normal mode is quite a bit tougher, at least for me, but I’m going to try it for my next game.
I need to learn more about the Empire mode. I see that my “lead” hero and one “assisting” hero both gained one Empire level, which is interesting. I’m curious – do you all keep using the same heroes in your Empire games, to keep leveling them up? I’m inclined to do that for my next planet.
I live to serve!
My gameplay isn’t very hero centric, so I don’t.
I’ll take careful note of the traits of the planet I am intending on visiting, and make a hero to deal with it.
E.G loads of Xenoplague, consider Promethean.
Oh, I hadn’t even thought of making a hero to fit the planet. That’s a good idea! I will see what my next planet choices look like. Thanks!
Nice work, Spock! Empire underway!
I made a new hero for my second Empire game, and the second hero in my game was the hero from my first game. Both leveled up at the Empire level after the game was done, so I’m thinking purely for leveling purposes it might make sense to get a half dozen or so heroes going. That way they could all level up in most of the games you play.
I also hadn’t considered tailoring a hero for a planet, that’s a good idea, of course.
How many heroes can get an Empire level-up – just two per planet? I deployed at least 4 heroes on my planet, but only two leveled.
In fact, one of my two leveling heroes died in the epic end-of-game battle I mentioned. I forgot to use the operation that could have revived her on the strategic map the next turn. But she still leveled up and is apparently ready for use again.
Bah I seem to have encountered the same game stopping bug that Razgon mentioned. Turn 58 of a skirmish game, end turn, the game purrs through part of the enemy turn and then just hangs. I tried restoring the autosave and a couple of earlier saves from that turn and 1 turn prior, no good. I could go back further but that really trashes my flow and I have no certainty that would fix it. I also tried restarting the game and also a full reboot of my machine. I guess that particular game is borked for now.
Any word on the timing of the patch they are working on? This has all the hallmarks of a memory-leak type bug/hang. Doesn’t kick in until the game gets into the midgame or later, with a lot of units and a big war going on.
I’ve been playing a ton of this lately and really enjoying it, but there are definitely some major details of the economic system I don’t fully grasp. For example:
Can anyone explain the actual, practical meaning of the economic indicators on the zoomed out map? I.e. what does it mean to have two lightning bolts for energy, or two gears for production, as opposed to one? And does that impact the main colony itself and its central economic structure?
Also, is it better to have two of two specific sector types attached to a colony, or to spread around to all four?
Hello vinraith, here’s a primer on sectors.
Sectors add to the production of a colony but you must first Annex them to the colony, and then you must also Exploit them (build an exploit in the sector for a particular resource.) Once you have an exploit built, if you’ve researched the upgrade tech, you may then Specialize the Exploitation, and also Upgrade the Exploitation.
What does an Exploitation do? It produces a certain amount of a resource, based on the type of the exploit. For example, a basic Energy Exploitation will produce 10 Energy per turn for your colony.
What do the symbols in the sectors mean? Those are bonuses. Each symbol adds 1 to the level of the Exploit for that resource. For example, if you built an Energy Exploitation in a sector with 1 Lightning Bolt, it would increase the level of your Exploitation from 1 (for a “naked” Exploitation with no bonus) to 2. If you built that same Energy Exploitation in a “double bonus” sector (two lightning bolts) you would get a level 3 Exploitation. Each level of Exploitation increases the yield of the resource. I believe level 2 Exploitations produce 20 energy instead of 10 and level 3 produces 30 (IIRC).
These Exploitations can also be Upgraded if you researched the right techs, up to 2 times total, and the max possible Exploitation is level 5. So if you build in a “double bonus” sector, your Exploitation starts at level 3 and can be upgraded to the max of 5. That’s why double bonus sectors are good.
In addition to this, you can Specialize a sector. For example, research sectors can be specialized for civilian or military research, which provides a bonus for that type of research.
In general, double bonus sectors are best but if you really need a resource, build on a single bonus sector. Try to avoid no-bonus sectors (keep in mind a sector that is “no bonus” for some resources will be single or double bonus for other resources and plan accordingly).
You can only have 2 Exploitations of the same resource per colony and there are several possible specializations. Some specializations will work well together (like the Food Farm Spec and Food Export Spec work nicely together to create a “Food Exporting Colony”) but others are entirely up to you - I often build only 1 Production sector per colony, either Military or Civilian depending on what i plan to use that colony for.
In general, if you have colonies placed where you can grab multiple double bonus sectors, that’s great but you also want to produce the stuff you need.
In the long run, energy is by far the most important resource but it’s also arguably the LEAST important early as you can get by via selling your battle rewards in the early game. However, early on you also need at least some research to get to the cool toys. Depending on race, you may also need food badly. Vanguard have a great doctrine for food for all colonies so they have less food need but some of the other factions are food-hungry. And of course, once you get your economy off the ground, you need production to build all the crap you need.
My general rule of thumb is to figure I will expand to 3 cities in the first 10-12 turns, building 1 via colonizer and grabbing one via influence. I try to scout so that I can find good spots with double bonus and I plan my first three cities depending on what good bonus sectors are available. Generally speaking, I want a food city, a research city, and an energy city in the first three, with perhaps one or two of those adding Production as they grow. Later cities I probably want energy, if I can get it. On a medium map, you can do quite well with 4-5 cities, 3 is a bit tight, and 6+ is great if you have the room but don’t over-expand.
I actually like the economy in this game.
Thanks for that awesome guide. One question. You mentioned buying a city in the first 10-15 turns with influence. Do you mean one of the “settlements” I occasionally see? Or the home city of the Growth, Autonom, etc? I suppose you just click on the city to get the option to buy it?
Settlements is what I mean - you need to move a unit up to the settlement and try to move unit onto the settlement - this won’t cause an attack but will instead open up a dialogue window. Attacking is one of the options but paying influence to “buy” the settlement is another option.
Purchasing one of the home cities is a different process entirely and requires you to get to the max reputation with that faction and have a colony nearby with room for a sector. The price is high but it can be worth it b/c the home cities come in as pre-built level 5 Exploitations, often with other bonuses. That’s something to consider for the mid to late game.
But buying a regular settlement is a very solid way to get yourself started. The RNG will automatically provide you with a settlement of your faction within a few sectors radius of your capital on start - you just have to scout well to find it. The base cost for an initial settlement of your faction is 45 influence which you can usually afford by turn 9 or 10. You do want to have some troops to help defend the settlement while it builds a militia building b/c the base guards are crappy. Just 1 or 2 tier 1 troops, even scouts, can help your baby colony survive until it upgrades its militia. (This is on “average” enemy settings - on higher settings you need to be even more careful.)
Thanks, that’s really helpful. Do the sector bonuses for the sector containing the colony itself matter? E.g. if I’ve built the colony in a double food sector is it better to build a central biofarm there?