Quick questions / Quick answers

[kosmoface]

I think it is about time for such a thread.

Question: For example: I tried to hold the Acutians low and sabtoged their reactors. Their economic value was -87 from the beginning. Public Order -25, compatibilty to their planet was only 0.50, yet they produced an awful lot of ships, bred like ants and fought the Thoraxian for years, built one outpost after another. I stopped them with other things. My question ist:

What do I really achieve when I manipulate the RCI numbers?

[SuperCactus]

If you put your mouse over any of the RCI values in the planet overlay you have your answer. Sorry I'm too lazy to write it  .

[GC13]

That doesn't really answer the question... The modified compatibility numbers in the detailed planet info insist that they're multipliers, but if that's true then he was probably seeing maybe 0.4-0.45x multipliers to every good thing on the planet and the Acutians were still able to hold the Thoraxians off for a long time.

Now part of that is because it's the most overpowered race in the game defending from the most underpowered race, but I still think the RCI values need clarification.

[kosmoface]

Now part of that is because it's the most overpowered race in the game defending from the most underpowered race, but I still think the RCI values need clarification.

Thanks a bunch. I think now I understand, why I got what I wanted.

My intention was to make the Acutians weaker, which I did (thinking it would be enough). In the end, I teched the Thoraxians up with scintific help from the Skylaxians and that did it.

[SuperCactus]

If I misinterpreted what you were asking I'm sorry. English is not my first language so I may misunderstand or write strange sentences sometimes.

[BobTheJanitor]

I think some of this is the blind leading the blind, and we may not know for certain until Chris or Keith descend from on high to grace us with their wisdom.

Although in the long term that is a sign that the game needs better documentation and tutorials in general. But for now the answer to some questions may just be "unknown."

[SuperCactus]

True. There are some games where internal maths are not that important for the player, but TLF is not this kind of game, we would really benefit from having a clearer insight of the beast, just to know we're making the right choices while playing.

[kosmoface]

Yup. This game needs a wiki.

[Rujasu]

What we really need are people who are willing to edit it.

[kosmoface]

If I don't know how it works, it is pretty much pointless to write something into it.

But thanks for the link.

[GC13]

What we really need are people who are willing to edit it.

Sign me up then. How does that work? Some blood ritual?

[LaGrange]

Sorry for necroing a thread from four days ago, but I think the thread, given its title, deserves to be an ongoing one. (There's a thread like this in the Crusader Kings II forum at Paradox, and it's incredibly lively and quite convenient.)

I've been afraid to post the following three questions for fear that my utter naivete will be exposed, but now I just don't care, because I desperately want to like this game more than I already do (and I like it quite a bit). So thanks in advance for any help on any of these.

TRADE ROUTES: No matter how many moons I ask the races to colonize, I can never get any trade routes going. Why? (I'm usually told that there are no resources anyone needs.)

QUESTS: At the beginning of the game I was asked to pick between two quests. I chose one. A few years later, I was asked to pick another quest. I did that. And then... nothing. I haven't had a single quest since then, for years. Is that normal? I thought doing special quests as they pop up was a regular feature of the game.

CAN'T GET THE INFLUENCE FOR A FEDERATION: I seem to have gotten myself into a dead-end cycle. I know the Acutians will be nerfed somewhat in 1.007, but in the meantime, I just can't start a federation:

1. I have to get the races to have a 300 attitude to each other, but the best range I can get is between 0 and 110.

2. I can grind for rep with various dispatch missions, but the return is paltry, and it seems the Acutians simply conquer another planet in the time it takes to do one or two 5-month missions. The Evoks go up by +1.5, but whoops! there goes another planet!

3. So things are stuck: I'm running out of cash, and there's no increased influence to be had. No trade routes, and no dispatch missions that don't end up making things *worse* when I do them. And all I have left to do in the menus is dispatch missions.

[GC13]

Trade Routes: The general idea would be that one planet needs to have very little incoming Material One, but a lot of Material Two. The other planet would then have a lot of Material One, but not much Material Two. Since colonizing moons picks materials at random, you're not going to help: you need to build up mines and processing plants. However, the exact mechanics are as hidden from us as they are from, you—a fact while I find rather irritating.

Quests: You're not missing anything. There aren't that many quests, and the ones there are all involve non-spacefaring races so you run out of potential candidates quickly.

Influence: The Improve Relations dispatch mission is a waste of time, like most of the others. In 1.006 you need your trade routes, but since you can't get those and they're getting nerfed anyway, you also have some nice buildings you can have the races build. Having two races make the right buildings can give them +0.3 influence a month with each other for each pair of buildings.

[LaGrange]

Influence: The Improve Relations dispatch mission is a waste of time, like most of the others. In 1.006 you need your trade routes, but since you can't get those and they're getting nerfed anyway, you also have some nice buildings you can have the races build. Having two races make the right buildings can give them +0.3 influence a month with each other for each pair of buildings.

Thanks for your help, GC13. Also, before I forget, thanks for being so active on these forums, and on Mantis!

On this last point, what you're saying is that there are buildings which are such that if any two races in the solar system each build one of these buildings, then -- no matter where the races are in the solar system -- the mere existence of this pair of buildings in their respective locations increases the races' influence with each other per month. Is that what you're saying?

[lifehole]

See, I know the devs are trying to prolong the gametime with that stuff. So trade routes will still work but be slower. But, for that to work, they also decreased the war threshold?? To be able to play long-term you need a relatively stable political situation or atleast one that won't result in conflict forced solution within 10 years.

And yeah, a HUGE problem with this game is that all the mechanics are "hidden." As in, they're explained, but the exact stats that are being modified by stuff like RCI, or the trade mechanics, etc are all just explained in vague text form. We need specifics! argh.

And yeah, attitude buildings are new building that increase influence per month by a marginal amount with certain races, but also decrease it. Check them out in the property development dispatch.