Welcome to the Shadows of Antiquity! (or something)
After an extended break from AI War (blame Skyrim, BL2, TL2, XCOM), I'm playing my first Ancient Shadows expansion game. I've got a bunch of questions about it:
1 - If playing SP (reg game + champion) multiple homeworlds, you only get one champion? Is the nebula scenario difficulty scaled by number of homeworlds?
I've never tested this myself, but I believe it is only a single champion per player regardless of number of homeworlds. I
think nebula difficulty is scaled by number of champions in the game but I'm less certain about that. Nebula difficulty is also scaled by number of nebula entered previously, so the first nebula entered will be easier then the fifth nebula entered.
2 - It seems that the champion gets XP for things killed by his other units (ie: guard posts). How close does it have to be to get this? (ie: same planet, only within 30K range, etc) Does that also count in MP if your ally makes the kill? What about if your nebula ally makes the kill? (ie: it kills a starbase or ship in a nebula, which you were also attacking)
Currently, the champion only has to be on the same planet. The original implementation was at a set distance but that receive several complaints, notably on the "my champion should have gotten experience but did not", so it was changed to as long as the champion is on the same planet it gets the XP.
3 - How many nebulas are typically on an 80 planet map? Do more open up as your champion levels up or gets better hulls? (It seems like some of the game text implies that).
There are only 9 scenarios so only the first 9 nebulas you enter will have a scenario. The 10th nebula (and higher) will be empty and you will get a journal entry explaining what happened. If your map has more then 9 nebulas you can force scenarios to repeat with the "cmd: allow duplicate nebula scenarios".
4 - Is there any way to quickly identify which planets have nebulas without actually going into the planet screen and looking for one? I couldn't find any mention of it in the planet details on the galaxy map screen.
If you are playing with default visibility, select the "Unexplored Wormholes" option on the galaxy map. As all non-nebula wormholes are explored anything that shows up in that filter is a nebula.
5 - I've seen some indication here that nebula scenarios give better rewards for being finished quickly. Does that mean from initial entry to the nebula or from the start of the game? If you wait to mid-late game to do some the nebulas, are you losing out on rewards?
It is from entry of the nebula.
6 - I see the nebulas have the standard 3K knowledge. Is there any way to collect it?
They do? Interesting. However, no way to collect it that I am aware. Note that you usually get some K as a reward for completing the nebula.
7 - After I completed each of my first 2 nebulas, my allies sent a bunch of ships - seemingly to patrol around my planets, or are they just moving randomly and will enter AI worlds also? But then I haven't seen any in a while now - is that a one-time deal? Or will they send more?
Erm, I'm not sure. The initial pulse is the survivors of your allies when you win the scenario. I'm not sure if they make more after the scenario is complete or not. It may vary depending on the scenario?
8 - Is there any new cheat codes for Ancient Shadows? I'd love to see ones to respec the champion, add upgrade points, and give all items. Also one to add the Dark Spire faction to a planet.
There were some codes added, the only one of your list I know for sure though is the add upgrade points one. I'll see if I can find it in the patch notes.
Hope that helps, have fun in the Shadows!
D.
