Oh Jesus Christ, I didn’t know that.
Think what you’re doing with your hotkeys!
gah… I missed it. and I’ve looked over the list of keys time and time again!
Thanks!
If you press M for Metal Mine, it will give you lines to 3 good options for Aluminum and Iron.
I just went through all the tutorials just now…this is something special, isn’t it…?
I think it is. And I generally dislike RTS games. Be sure to watch Soren’s videos on the practice games. He does a nice job of explaining the game concepts.
It is indeed. Though one will usually take a good while before really grokking it.
I’d also recommend trying the Campaign instead of just jumping into Skirmishes, which was what I did. Campaign has an interesting take by introducing employees and also instead of buying out, you are buying your way into the colony.
But…the campaign is locked until I win a skirmish…?
The campaign plays out very differently from skirmishes and, unlike more RTS game, is an end in itself and not a tool to teach you to play. Thus, we wanted to make sure people didn’t just go to it first. (You can unlock it by beating a skirmish at any difficulty, btw!)
OMG HI SOREN! /fanboy
;-)
Anyway, sure, I get that, which is why I was confused when told to skip the skirmish and go right for the campaign when one apparently can’t! ;-)
I think the post-tutorial challenges count as skirmishes for unlocking the campaign. At least they seem to have in my case.
I would highly recommend playing through the Practice Games.
(I made a playlist going through them if you want advice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVtP1dPvWd8&list=PLsRPrwJXwEjb-OaFWF7dHnsdd0AkkONSa)
Is there anyone left still interested in going in on a 4-pack? Despite my backlog, I think I need to get in on this…
I do plan on it, not sure if I’ll have time before I stream it tomorrow night, but I’ll try to get at least one in. The tutorial was a downright hoot. The game reminds me of Moonbase Commander, but with money. ;)
You should be able to get through the 1st 3 fairly easily before the stream. ;) It’s the 4th one that slows people up.
I’ll be looking forward to the stream. :)
I agree with this statement :D (time to start up attempt #4 at the fourth!)
So I am bucking the trend and have started to delve into this. I managed to finish “Proof of Employment” on my second try and will attempt the last practice mission next. Enjoying my time thus far and am looking forward to the campaign and some multiplayer.
Some questions that have come up for me:
1.) How does paying down my debt affect my share price? Do you typically run high debt till the end of the game, or do you pay it off at some point?
2.) I find it hard to evaluate the costs of buying power from the free market and the income generated through pleasure domes. What does a dome’s income of, say, $88 mean? What’s the time interval for this? The end game statistics help a bit for the ex-post evaluation, but in-game it seems hard to tell (e.g. when bidding for a pleasure dome).
3.) Is there any way to predict future offworld market prices? I am asking because right now I was simply launching whatever yielded the highest profit. I am wondering, though, if it makes sense to stockpile certain resources in the hope of making even higher profits with the next launch.
4.) Is there a benefit to having multiple offworld market launch pads? One of my opponents had two, if I remember correctly.
5.) Buyout strategy: Is it generally advisable to buy out the weakest opponent first, or should I save up for the strongest? How much do I profit from turning an opponent into a subsidiary? And how does my own share price respond to successful takeovers?
6.) HQ-Placement: Does anybody have advice on this? So far, I have only paid attention to being close to my main “build resources”. As Science HQ, for instance, I would try to have Glas, Steel, and Aluminium close by. I have never bothered with placing my HQ on resources, though. Do you pay attention to that? Have people experimented with being “mean”, e.g. by removing precious carbon from the map through HQ placement when facing a Scavenger opponent? Just wondering…
I love how the seemingly simple design manages to create tons of intricate details to pay attention to. Well done, Soren!
I am really liking the music as well, even though it didn’t quite live up to the expectations set by Tom’s review…
Answers as I know 'em:
1: Paying down debt will gradually increase share price. I usually run massive debt most all games, but that could end up biting me in the ass and I wouldn’t say it’s the way to go.
2: I believe the tick rate for pleasure domes and power use is once per second. The numbers don’t look super impressive on their own, but they build up nicely.
3: Offworld market prices are static (Although I believe by default they’re somewhat randomized each skirmish map) throughout a game. Any differences in profits are due to buying materials (Fuel, aluminum, if you need any additional of whatever resource you’re sending) to trigger the launch.
4: Each launch pad can launch every 60 seconds (By default, they get adjacency bonuses next to the neutral colony’s warehouses if they have any) so any additional ones just means you can look at all the money even more. Generally speaking offworld markets will profit even if you’re buying the resource and the aluminum and fuel for every market, just not as much as if it’s something you’re producing yourself. There would be diminishing returns on the number of launch pads unless you had a big stockpile of whatever you were sending.
And then 5 and 6 I can’t even really hazard a guess.