Author Topic: Tips for New Players  (Read 62643 times)

Offline pallenda

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Re: Tips for New Players
« Reply #30 on: February 01, 2012, 02:44:14 pm »
Coming back to AIW after 2 years or so I looked at this thread, and think I could need a bit more help on some less complex settings.

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Map tab:

# Planets: 50
Map Style: Simple
Campaign Type: Conquest

Expansions:

So here is my first question, should I play with/without some/or all of the expansions? I know they are great and add depth to the game, but maybe its a bit overwhelming for a newbie/beginner.

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Ships tab:

Available ships: Simple/Normal/Complex

Turn off Cloaking, Swallowers, Core Shield Gens

Simple sounds great, but will it lock out key ship type that are almost a must have for some AI Types?

Reasoning for turning the two first off is that it can be confusing. Reason for turning off Core Shield Gens was that in my 2nd game I played after getting back, I was gutted after making a plan and then finding out I had to take out a shield on the other side of the galaxy. (Yes newbie).

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Game Options tab:

Combat Style: Normal
Visibility: Complete Visibility

I pick normal combat style as I have played RTS before. Epic if you like the gameplay a bit slower. Complete Visibility helps when still learning what is what.

Thinking about ticking Reveal Random AI Types on also.




Offline keith.lamothe

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Re: Tips for New Players
« Reply #31 on: February 01, 2012, 03:32:22 pm »
That sounds fine.  Normally I would strongly advise against disabling cloaking because that disables scouts, but you've also got complete visibility so that should be good :)
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Offline BobTheJanitor

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Re: Tips for New Players
« Reply #32 on: February 01, 2012, 04:03:20 pm »
Turning off certain ship types disables them for both you and the AI, so you won't have to worry about them using fancy tools that you can't get. Simple should be fine for a learning game where you don't want to have to check references every 5 minutes to figure out what the heck that new ship is. There's not anything I can think of that the AI might have that you have to have normal or complex ships to deal with. There are plenty of tools in your arsenal any way you set it up.

Core shield gens were really only put in to keep people from short-cutting most of the game and aiming straight for the AI homeworlds, so with or without them you shouldn't have much trouble.

I would suggest against turning off cloaking, thus disabling scouts, even with complete visibility on. The reasoning being that scouting is a sizable part of the game, and turning that off just doesn't seem right. I always feel like I've done a good job and passed a milestone in my games when I finally manage to scout out the entire galaxy. And for a game where you're trying NOT to get overwhelmed, starting out with visibility on the entire galaxy is a bad idea, in my opinion. Scouting nearby planets and finding those goals that are in range gives you bite-sized bits of gameplay to shoot for. Once you get to the first planet with something good on it, then you scout out again for the next one and so on. Seeing it all from the start would just make me feel like I had too many options and I wouldn't know what to shoot for.

That said, the reason there are so many options is that there is no 'right' way to play the game, except for the one that works best for you. So take all that with a grain of salt and go with what you enjoy. :)

Offline pallenda

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Re: Tips for New Players
« Reply #33 on: February 02, 2012, 07:02:29 am »
I totally get the scout thing, I mainly did the Complete Visibility because there are just so much to learn. Hmm I should maybe have made this in the after action reports section instead.

Cheers for the comments. :)

Offline zoutzakje

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Re: Tips for New Players
« Reply #34 on: February 02, 2012, 10:39:14 am »
I started my very first game with all ship types and expansions enabled, while I tried out any of the minor factions / plots one at a time (I'm still busy with that after 300 hours of playtime). Yes, it was overwhelming at first and I lost quite a few times as well.  But I did catch on really quick. I just have the feeling that you'll miss out on a lot of good stuff if you don't play with all ships and expansion enabled. You could also enable some of the easier minor factions like dyson sphere, golems easy and spirecraft easy

Offline Shrugging Khan

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Re: Tips for New Players
« Reply #35 on: February 02, 2012, 10:43:30 am »
Just switch on everything and learn to do it the hard way, with AI level 8 but Zero AIP over time.

A steep learning curve is more satisfying to master than a shallow one, and being able to see all the features interact with no pressure of time is better than looking a bits and pieces in a hurry.
The beatings shall continue
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Offline keith.lamothe

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Re: Tips for New Players
« Reply #36 on: February 02, 2012, 11:34:16 am »
True, some of the most excited "first posts" I've seen are from folks who just picked up the game, turned everything on, and spent their first few games figuring out how to survive exos and 2x advanced hybrids.
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Offline chemical_art

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Re: Tips for New Players
« Reply #37 on: February 24, 2012, 11:26:38 pm »
That feel when your  first game ever and it was on 7/7 "simple" and think "laser gatlings and cockroaches are numerous and tough!  They must be special "AI ONLY units"


No defensive planets. No strategy. Just some "grand strategy" tactics of theater of war, objectives, and overall inefficency in exchange for broad security.

I remember losing a dozen planets in exchange for having a chock point twelve worlds back as a fallback defensive world before the homeworld. I played much more cautiously and casually then. Now I play on the edge so much. Maybe I should return to the strategies of old. At least I would finish games them.

Ha. I had no idea. I feel some sort of pride that my first game ever was 7/7 AND I finished it in victory. Now I don't even finish my games before I get bored.
« Last Edit: February 24, 2012, 11:32:39 pm by chemical_art »
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Offline Teeani

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Re: Tips for New Players
« Reply #38 on: November 22, 2012, 02:49:31 am »
Just switch on everything and learn to do it the hard way, with AI level 8 but Zero AIP over time.

A steep learning curve is more satisfying to master than a shallow one, and being able to see all the features interact with no pressure of time is better than looking a bits and pieces in a hurry.

Best advice ever!  I always find the same: throw me in and let me learn without rushing me and I'll enjoy it, no matter how complex.  Set me a time limit, but make it easier, and I'll panic ahaha!

Offline Mánagarmr

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Re: Tips for New Players
« Reply #39 on: November 22, 2012, 09:45:06 am »
Just switch on everything and learn to do it the hard way, with AI level 8 but Zero AIP over time.

A steep learning curve is more satisfying to master than a shallow one, and being able to see all the features interact with no pressure of time is better than looking a bits and pieces in a hurry.

Best advice ever!  I always find the same: throw me in and let me learn without rushing me and I'll enjoy it, no matter how complex.  Set me a time limit, but make it easier, and I'll panic ahaha!
This is what I did too. Everything on and died horribly. :) Took me a while to learn.
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