Armchair Dragoons Forums
Wargaming => 4X Gaming => Topic started by: Undercovergeek on April 20, 2020, 03:44:17 AM
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Has anyone played shadow empire in any depth?
It seems to tick all my boxes for an epic cup of tea, chin scratching immersive game - elite forces, war in the Pacific sized map, spies, RPG elements for army commanders - it looks great
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I hadn't even heard of it but it's on my wishlist now!
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We've got someone working on an article for the past week or so
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Sweet. It's been on my wish list for awhile now.
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if you guys see stuff coming up and want an advance look at it, I can probably get you one, if you're willing to write something about it for us :)
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It’s by the guy that did advanced tactics huw - it’s not pretty but the gameplay looks great - there are some let’s plays by dastactic but I trust you guys here more
I like that you don’t research directly - there is a research council you work with and you tell them the projects you require, and there seems to be many councils that deliver missions and advice, a complicated in a good way supply system, skill sets for leaders, your planets history and stats - it honestly looks great
I think I’ve talked myself into it!
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It’s got aar written all over it Brant if there’s a copy knocking about
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It’s got aar written all over it Brant if there’s a copy knocking about
this one's spoken for, sorry! :nerd:
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To the shops!!
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Is it released already?
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(sigh) what's one more thing on my Steam wishlist?
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To the shops!!
seriously though guys - if you see something you're interested in and let me know, I can try to get a copy for you :)
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(sigh) what's one more thing on my Steam wishlist?
Have you seen my wishlist? (https://store.steampowered.com/wishlist/id/huwthepoo/#sort=price) And that's after an extensive pruning session I carried out earlier today!
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I think mine is up to 5. ;)
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Yeah, I add shite to my list and then months later see it and wonder what the heck I was thinking.
I do this with my board game collection at times, too. :)
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Slowly shuffles back from the shops
June release - hurrrrumph
And matrix at that - I’m on the dark web getting prices for my kidneys - nothing says emergency organ sale more than a hardback manual that’ll be out of date within 6 hours :tickedoff: :tickedoff:
Still buying though - sigh
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Multiplayer as well, Geek. I'm not gonna be able to resist this one. I shall buy a copy too and beat you about the head and shoulders!
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Seriously?
You’re on - my highly searched mega things will rain fire on your cities
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Well, this sounds like it could be fun. I've not heard such fightin' talk since we used to MP 'Warlock'
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Are you in bob?
I remember waiting for huws turn and listening to his fridge wheezing away like a hamster wheel
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I might be!
Yes, that was fun indeed.
I have to confess - that noise was not Huw's fridge wheezing - or the hamster wheel squeaking - it was because i forgot to disable the in-game sounds ::)
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Yeh it was, haha! If it makes you feel any better Bob, I did eventually get a hamster which lived next to my desk, and it annoyed my gaming group every Saturday night! :D
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Yeah, I add shite to my list and then months later see it and wonder what the heck I was thinking.
I do this with my board game collection at times, too. :)
I do this as well, then later when I get the "an item on your STEAM wishlist is on sale" I'm like "what the heck is THAT doing on my list"?
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In order to save bandwidth, Steam only sends me emails when a game that isn't on my wishlist goes on sale.
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:bigthumb: ;D ;D
In order to save bandwidth, Steam only sends me emails when a game that isn't on my wishlist goes on sale.
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In order to save bandwidth, Steam only sends me emails when a game that isn't on my wishlist goes on sale.
:ROFL:
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:2funny:
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Ok, I added this to my wishlist also.
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peer pressire
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The best kind of pressure.
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Sigh... in.... :nerd:
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The best kind of pressure.
Beats the pressure from being on the bottom of the dog pile.
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I've looked but not seen anything on how many can play at the same time. Anyone see that?
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There’s a discussion on matrix about the three let’s players playing each other so at least 3
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Hark now, is that a squeaky hamster wheel I hear...............
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UCG's First Impressions!
https://www.armchairdragoons.com/feature/first-impressions-of-shadow-empire-from-matrix-games/
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Wow. It was on my wish list already but my intrigue has jumped up even more with UCG's impressions. Lots of world-building tools and more depth than I was expecting. Bring it on.
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Wow. It was on my wish list already but my intrigue has jumped up even more with UCG's impressions. Lots of world-building tools and more depth than I was expecting. Bring it on.
what?! Steelie is interested in a 4X game?!?! Naaaaaaaaaah..... :go-on:
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Its a strange old world in which we live.
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Ummm....have we met??? I've played 4x games since the "4" was in Roman Numerals 8)
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Ummm....have we met??? I've played 4x games since the "4" was in Roman Numerals 8)
Sarchasm (https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Sarchasm)
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^was aware, have heard of it.
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...but never felt the need to stoop to use it...........................
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Well played, Bawb, well played ;D :applause:
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UCG's First Impressions!
https://www.armchairdragoons.com/feature/first-impressions-of-shadow-empire-from-matrix-games/
Awesome. Thanks for the write-up, geek! Looking forward to this more than ever now. :2thumbs:
Incidentally, I see the game is going to be released June 4th, but apparently on Matrix/Slitherine only. No word on when it will be available on Steam.
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I missed the start date, Martok, so that's exciting news. Matrix/Slitherine has been pretty quick to slap Steam keys on their products after release so hopefully that won't take long. Either way, it's a must buy for me.
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[casts Minor Thread Resurrection]
For those who've been waiting, Shadow Empire will be available on Steam December 3rd!
https://twitter.com/Matrix_Wargames/status/1316801352274767872
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Its certainly on my 'follow' list.
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Good news! I bought it a while back but didn't really want to play it until release.
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We're relying on you to tell us if its any good or not.
......after all, its not as if you have a lot of other stuff to do....... :whistle:
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Bought it with my anniversary coupon a while back but haven't really tried it out.... :Loser:
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Good news! I bought it a while back but didn't really want to play it until release.
Bought it with my anniversary coupon a while back but haven't really tried it out.... :Loser:
Aside from playing around with it a little, I've largely been holding out for the Steam version as well -- partially because Steam & GOG have made me lazy in getting used to automatic updates, and partially because the game will (be more patched up & polished by that point.
I understand Vic has been working on giving the logistics system a(n) apparently much-needed revamp. Hopefully he gets the kinks worked out, and that it's ready to roll by the beginning of December; fingers crossed!
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I hope he changes the logistics system. I was reading about some of the problems people were having with it. Didn't sound like much fun to me.
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So apparently Vic (the dev) got distracted from working on the logistics system, and has added air forces instead:
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4824133&mpage=18�
That's...neat, I guess? Sounds like that's what everyone in the forums has been pestering him to add, so I suppose I can't really blame him. Still, I'm reluctant to dive into what is an obviously deep & detailed game until the logistics model is improved. Here's hoping that's now the next major thing on his to-do list...
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I still haven't tried it. Seems like it's still in early Alpha to me.
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Seems like it's still in early Alpha to me.
I don't know if I'd go *that* far. However, it probably should have cooked in the oven for a bit longer, yes.
At the very least, I think holding off on a general release until Dec. 3rd (assuming that date holds) wouldn't have been a terrible idea. But in that scenario, Matrix wouldn't have had a large group of paid beta-testers to better refine the game, which is what I suspect they were aiming for.
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Amongst other things the logistics broke the aar i was doing - it is the must fix thing at the mo but I get the impression that it’s such a huge mystical thing it might go the way of the war in the pacific logistics system which would be mainly live with it and learn its broken nuances
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Ugh, that would suck. There's so much to like in this game; I don't want it marred (ruined?) by a bad/wonky logistics system. :( Even if Vic were to implement a simplified model, that would still be a better alternative than what there is now.
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What was wrong with the system he used in Advanced Tactics? It seemed to work okay.
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Shadow Empire is officially available on Steam today! It's dropping alongside a new update that introduces air units (https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/1154840/view/2883955091542119984) and new alien creatures (https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/1154840/view/2883955725088849561) for you to
kill interact with.
Despite its logistics issues, I'm still seriously tempted to finally fire this up.
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Yeah, I redeemed my Steam key and was thinking of maybe trying to learn how to play.
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To be sure I understand what I'm possibly getting into...
It's a 4X game, in a sci-fi future, but on a single world, with a heavy military/wargame element.
Is that the short of it?
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With a heavy take on logistics and supply
And research
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To be sure I understand what I'm possibly getting into...
It's a 4X game, in a sci-fi future, but on a single world, with a heavy military/wargame element.
Is that the short of it?
Essentially correct, yes. (Plus, what Undercovergeek said.) :bigthumb:
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I'm going to use my Matrix anniversary coupon on this.
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To be sure I understand what I'm possibly getting into...
It's a 4X game, in a sci-fi future, but on a single world, with a heavy military/wargame element.
Is that the short of it?
Essentially correct, yes. (Plus, what Undercovergeek said.) :bigthumb:
Well it's downloading onto Steam now... :D
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^ Excellent. Hope you enjoy it!
I'm going to use my Matrix anniversary coupon on this.
A most excellent use for it, I'd say. 8)
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I've got this on my follow list - waiting to hear more about how it plays first though.
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It might still be a bit for me, but I do want to fire it up in the near future. It's definitely on my to-do list.
I just gotta get through my current Stellaris campaign, and hopefully at least quick dip back into Warhammer 2 (now that the Wood Elves rework has dropped). It's an embarrassment of riches! :D
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For those interested, Explorminate is giving away three Steam keys for the game. Sign up for the giveaway here (https://explorminate.co/shadow-empire-giveaway/)!
They also put up a massive review (https://explorminate.co/what-to-expect-shadow-empire/) for Shadow Empire a few months ago...with Part 2 still pending. (The author wanted to wait until the game was further patched and released to Steam before writing up the second part.)
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Part 2 of Explorminate's review (https://explorminate.co/shadow-empire-review/) is finally out. It's quite apparent they like it -- a lot. Only a tiny handful of games have ever received an "exemplary" rating from them.
For myself, I remain both strongly attracted to Shadow Empires, yet also intimidated by its steep learning curve. It's clearly not a game for sissies.
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A big new update (https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4968824) (v1.08.01) was just released. Along with the usual changes, fixes, & improvements (which make for a pretty significant list), the update also adds new content, including a couple new planet classes and Alien Natives.
I'm starting to feel seriously tempted to dive (back) into this one now...
We have released a new major update for Shadow Empire.
- You can now craft Stratagems. You do this by expanding Scrap Points you can earn by scrapping Stratagems you do not need. The crafted Stratagems are random and procedurally generated and thus always a surprise.
- AI turn speed has been increased
- Two new Planet Classes have been added. The Morgana Class and the Hydra Class.
- Sentient Alien life can now evolve on Planets. If this happens on the Planet you are playing on you'll very probably face some Alien natives during your game.
Check out the full changelog below. Asterix (*) at end of item means it requires a new game start to go into effect.
v1.08.01
• Fixed glitch in Alien Minor Report
• Reduced number of Asset Types eligible for usage in procedural Scrap Stratagems.
• Finetuned downwards the Charismatic Union Chief demands *
• Fixed that Open Contact could be played on Alien natives Minors. *
• Increased difficulty for making Alien natives join you a bit.*
• Fixed some glitches in the Militia growth algorithm.
• Fixed a turn processing crash (related to AI aircraft movement).
• Fixed an issue with Private Economy not seeing it was already producing enough Food. An optimization for speed didn’t work out. Removing it for v1.08, will try again with subsequent open beta’s.
• Added Hydra Class Planets, humid with plenty of swamps, rivers and seas. Almost always home to alien lifeforms.
• Added Morgana Class Planets, arid and dry, but with plenty of oasis areas dotted all over these planets.
• Added Minor Alien Regimes functionality for more variety. Native Aliens can now evolve during the Planet Biosphere phase, they’ll impact colonization and the aftermath of the Dissolution war as well. 5 Different types are present (like Cephaloids, Reptiloids) and they can use local wildlife as ‘cavalry’ as well. They’ll form their own Minor Regimes and a special kind of diplomacy will be allowed with the Xeno Diplomat Stratagem. They’ll also can contact you themselves, like other Minors.
• Fixed new organisation PP cost glitch if continuing from loading a saved game.
• Fixed some glitches with the Corporate story module (fixed some crime impact on corporation as well as better corporate spreading to other zones)
• Fixed bug with credits disappearing due to having only one zone and it being a unincorporated one.
• University production now increases with education tech
• Barracks production now increases with security tech
• Fixed construction cost for High Speed Rail
• Fixed an issue with renamed Unit name not being properly displayed for the Commanders job.
• Went back to speeded-up build mode, .06 should be faster turn processing than .05/.04 and equal to .03.
• Fixed a small glitch in the QOL score calculations which could cause small temporary decreases in them.
• Fixed model issue with Techs Launcher Optimization and Payload for SAM Launcher
• Fixed model issue with Conventional Guns Optimization and Flak Gun
• Plugged an exploit with scroll bar movement not updating button
• AI should construct tanks with HV guns as well now
• AI now tries to keep movement of Reserve Fronts to their targets more on roads (in order to benefit from potential Strategic Transfer)
• AI now makes use of Strategic Transfers Mode (limited number of units allowed to do this)
• AI now actually plays any Artifact Stratagems it has obtained during game *
• AI now also more interested in constructing Recycling Assets on top of Archeological Finds *
• AI now creates new Zones when they reach a size where if it was subject to administrative strain it would suffer penalties. *
• AI now also re-arranges its Zones.
• AI now has more difficulties in general to build roads and especially difficulties to build roads over mountains.
• Cards 31,32,104 now use 31.png, 32.png, 104.png instead of 1.png *
• Cards 546,547,548,549 now use newly added 546.png, 547,png, 548.png, 549.png *
• Added 8 new portrait part graphics (named groupXextrahair) for modders to have no double use between portrait groups. *
• Shared some help documentation for make graphics mod over on: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oDruMJbB6JBPvYaYlxeyCQMj5MWN46tjh6P4WOkN-4s/edit?usp=sharing
• Fixed big crash bug caused with 1.07.04
• The glitch corrupted some data and could take a few turns to surface to turn into a bug. Corrupted savefiles due to 1.07.04 play are cleaned up as well.
• Added Very Slow AI speed and made regular Slow mode less slow. See Prefs Tab.
• Fixed bug with Zones losing their SHQs ! Apologies. It was caused in a previous open beta.
• Fixed the missing Stratagem generation info
• Scrap Strats no longer give “Market” Asset (which is an asset still in development and not meant to be given yet)
• Scrap Strats no also can give some Private Mining and Private Farming Assets
• Alien Fauna now makes sound in combat
• Switched back the compilation mode to the one used in 1.07.02 to see if it fixes some weird calculation errors or not.
• Double Artifact Stratagem fixed and also the amount of Artifacts you’ll find should be lower due to this fix.
• Several Private Assets including Private Hospital have had their way too high Population need reduced by factor of ten *
• Made some relatively good speed improvements to turn speed. However this also made me change some compilation settings and might give some unwanted bugs, didn’t find any, but lets see. Stay aware this is an open BETA. capitals for emphasis.
• Minors with whom you have “unclear” relation can no longer take your locations.
• Fixed a crash when player gets more than 300 stratagems in stock (caused with 1.07.02)
• Nomads when losing a conquered city now are NOT removed from game anymore
• Added possibility to scrap Stratagems and craft new Stratagems (spending Scrap Points) to the game. You can find all new functionality in the Stratagem Tab when you flag “Scrap Mode” in the top-right corner. *
• Fixed propper average of attack and hitbonus skill % in Leader blocks in combat results window
• When tolerated equipment is switched for better equipment during replacement troops phase it keeps the soldiers (the xp, rdn, mor) where they are and only switches the equipment.
• MissileLauncher and RocketLauncher and other mechanized Launchers now use the Gun Tactics Skill (instead of Tank Tactics)
• Rail Stations now also profit from LogBonus *
• No longer very occasional n/a skill learning with Leader XP where Leader did not use any skill that turn
• Made fixes to the max logistical % settings for SHQ which were being overly optimistic (euphemism for not sticking to the limits)
• Fixed issue with Deception Skill being wrongly used in the combat mechanics.
• Fixed crash with older version savefiles and trying Strategic Transfer
• Automatic scrapping of most doubled Stratagems after you have more than 300 of them. To prevent too huge piles of Stratagems. *
• Fixed a nasty loss of Credits due to a bug to structural damage caused during battle code.
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Nice! :bigthumb:
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Awesome!!! The patch before this one eased up on the logistics somewhat (or at least gave you the option to do so), making it a much more playable game. I'm enjoying it so far, I keep going back to it despite letting other eye candy steal my attention at times.
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Yeah, I'd noticed the easier logistic option on the previous update as well. It almost made me pull the trigger right then.
Any tips or other useful bits you'd offer to the rest of us newbies? I've read that playing on one of the more habitable planet types (such as the new Hydra class) helps, along with playing on a lower difficulty, of course.
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There’s a ‘let the game run the logistics’ option? :applause:
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Yeah, I'd noticed the easier logistic option on the previous update as well. It almost made me pull the trigger right then.
Any tips or other useful bits you'd offer to the rest of us newbies? I've read that playing on one of the more habitable planet types (such as the new Hydra class) helps, along with playing on a lower difficulty, of course.
Meh, I'm still learning. Haven't had a real go on anything but the most habitable planet. My usual 4x tactics work well enough with the minors....expand rapidly, make peace with my flanks, pick a target and take them out, then go after a second minor. Usually when I'm at three cities overall (my starting one and two minor conquests) I stabilize my borders and work aggressively on my infrastructure. I generally work on diplomacy with the majors about that same time. I haven't gotten far enough in any single game to go to war with the big boys because updates keep bringing new and shiny things. I will say the easing of logistics makes this a much, much more approachable game while keeping more "realism" than games which minimize supply. And filling leadership positions is starting to gell with my brain. In my current game, I fired a skilled governor who hated me, but then promoted her to a Cabinet position. Now she's become one of my most ardent fans. My Air Force chief is outstanding at his job but barely tolerates me (didn't send me a Christmas card even!!!) but I keep him on because of his skills. First political assassination I make though....that bullet may have his name on it 8)
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Appreciate the insights, Steelie. That's still useful to know. :bigthumb:
There’s a ‘let the game run the logistics’ option? :applause:
I'm not sure if it does that, but the previous update did give players an "easier" logistics option, which a lot of folks have taken advantage of. (I believe it doubles the "standard" logistics range IIRC.) It seems to have made a big difference in ease of play.
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Ohhhhhhh, I like the new world choices :bigthumb: I never understood not having more of a water world option. Makes me wonder if small navies are down the road.
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Ohhhhhhh, I like the new world choices :bigthumb: I never understood not having more of a water world option. Makes me wonder if small navies are down the road.
Pretty sure Vic said navies are in fact in the cards.
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Awesome. It will certainly add another dimension to an already great game.
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Well, that's nice timing. Shadow Empire is on sale on Steam for $25.99. Looks like Slitherine is having a major Steam sale on a number of titles. Nice.
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^ Heh. Yeah, I noticed that as well. You gotta love coincidences sometimes.
Ohhhhhhh, I like the new world choices :bigthumb: I never understood not having more of a water world option. Makes me wonder if small navies are down the road.
Pretty sure Vic said navies are in fact in the cards.
That would be fantastic!
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I'm following all this. At some point, I suspect I'll have to get it.
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Yes, you will. :biggrin:
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DasTactic has started a new Tutorial/Let's Play series for SE. Great news given how much the game has evolved in the past 6 months.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGB6RkFB7ZmOXcpzu-GoiMmRhG_srFPZl (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGB6RkFB7ZmOXcpzu-GoiMmRhG_srFPZl)
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:bigthumb:
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Most excellent. Thanks for the heads-up!
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Yes, DasTactic is great at explaining stuff.
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Vic has put up a poll for players to help guide future development:
https://survs.com/survey/xyexfuvkrv
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Thanks, Martok. I definitely filled that out.
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Shadow Empire is now available on GOG, *and* is currently 35% off ($25.99 USD).
https://www.gog.com/game/shadow_empire
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Vic has shared the results of the poll he put up a few weeks ago, along with his thoughts & response to it:
https://survs.com/report/r4wshuqikc
https://www.vrdesigns.net/?p=2066
Overall, it sounds like he has a vision for the game that he intends to continue to adhere to, but is also working to incorporate at least some of the player feedback into future plans. This may mean that he skips adding a naval component to Shadow Empire (despite it being the most popular of requested new features), but will perhaps put more effort into making the AI both better and faster (although he's careful to not promise miracles).
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It's interesting that most people rated the supply system in the game so high. I thought that was the one thing people disliked the most. Maybe it has already been improved?
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The poll pretty much reflects how I voted. Currently the supply system is more manageable with some of the tweaks and options SE has already. The ability to remove supply (or greatly simplify it further) wouldn't appeal to me personally, but adding it as an option wouldn't hurt the game. Sort of like playing Civ at Warlord level I suppose. The artwork could use a boost but personally I think the game plays pretty well as is.
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I haven't played this game for quite a while now but I do remember really liking the original supply system. I haven't played with supposed newly patched in supply system but from what I read I don't think I'd like the new system.
Isn't the new system a pull system instead of the original push system?
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I'm surprised the supply/logistics system didn't get more discussion/feedback as well.
I think most folks certainly like the idea of having one, but that at least some don't care for how the current system is implemented. The problem is that a lot of people seem to find it neither intuitive nor easily explained.
Isn't the new system a pull system instead of the original push system?
That's my understanding, yes.
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(Wow, this slipped past me...)
While at the moment, Vic is understandably a bit more focused on the just-released Decisive Campaigns: Ardennes Offensive (https://www.matrixgames.com/game/decisive-campaigns-ardennes-offensive), he also still managed to quick push out a new open beta for Shadow Empire (v1.10) on Steam to help tide folks over in the meantime. It's mostly just bug-fixes and some balance changes, but it's nice to see he's still working on the game, despite everything else he has on his plate:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1154840/discussions/0/2990917484149750507/
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Good info, thanks Martok! :rockon:
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Cheers, Steelie!
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So Vic just teased this today...
https://twitter.com/VRdesigns/status/1468264831060955140
He gives a little more detail here (https://www.vrdesigns.net/?p=2111):
Just a quick word on Shadow Empire. The plan is to release the current open beta v1.10.0X in early January as the new release version. Best to not release it while my publisher is on holidays, hence the small delay. If impatient please opt in to the open beta. In the meantime I have started work for adding a major new feature to the game. I’ll need a few months to finish it as it involves a lot of work. I’ll tell you what the new feature is in the next design snippet, but I am sure you can guess :)
I'm only guessing, but last I checked, Shadow Empires didn't have Gaia-class planets in the game. So the fact that he's adding them in -- specifically, a planet-type with large bodies of water -- makes me wonder if Vic is adding navies after all.
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Fingers crossed!
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I'm pretty sure I read that navies are indeed the next major feature.
So I did end up buying Shadow Empire but, like many people, was seriously hamstrung by the logistics system. I like logistics in games, but this one is insane. Hex-by-hex logistics coupled with a really poor explanation of how it works made for immense frustration, and ultimately I couldn't get past it - and I really tried. It's a shame because I love every single other thing about this wonder of a game, and it should be one of my all time favourites.
So can anyone tell me how the simpler option works? If it really is just doubling supply range I can't see how that really helps; it would make supply slightly less important but wouldn't make it simpler to manage.
Anyway, I'm willing to give the game one last shot. After the next major update is anyone willing to jump into a multiplayer game to try it out?
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Geek and I have just started a multiplayer game of this. I've been looking forward to it. I've concluded that one of the reasons I bounced off it before was the massive effect the randomised starts can have on you...turns out I was enormously disadvantaged in my previous game and I just assumed that was how it generally goes. I since started a new single player game and was enjoying it a lot more.
But multiplayer is where games like these truly shine of course, so I've just sent Geek turn 1 and look forward to replacing his cities with large craters. :)
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;D :bigthumb:
Have you found the pumpkin farms yet?
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Not yet, but I will need time to research nukes anyway so they can wait. :D
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I will grow them asap
Time willing I’ll be able to do an aar so we’ll see how we fair
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Very cool, guys. I'll look forward to any AAR you might care to put out. :bigthumb:
Shadow Empire is another game that my old rig didn't run the greatest, so I really need to check it out again.
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Shadow Empire is another game that my old rig didn't run the greatest, so I really need to check it out again.
How old is it?! The recommended requirements for Shadow Empire are basically the PC needs to have power. ;D
The game has begun in earnest! My founding city, Photoglacier, had the tremendous good fortune to be sited right next to a ruins. Ruins provide good scavenging, providing among other things the very precious rare metals resource, which is vital for manufacturing machinery and used for any tech above bog standard. I therefore made the bold decision to start building there straight away. This being turn 1 I knew I wouldn't quite have the production chain set up to fully support the construction but it was a risk I thought was very much outweighed by the benefits.
In other news, as usual my peasants were worried about the threat of enemy units - at this stage almost certainly nomadic non-aligned units - so I immediately gave orders for all battalions under the command of the 1st Infantry Brigade to start sweeping outwards to claim some territory and provide a buffer of land to make everyone feel safer. We didn't encounter any units but we did reveal some water and metal spots to be mined later, and a geyser to the northeast which, when brought under my control, will provide some bonus energy. Always useful. We also found a couple of villages of "free folk" who, when they see how good my peasants have it, will begin migrating to Photoglacier each turn.
At the start of turn 2 I continued moving my battalions outwards. One of them encountered about 1,200 non-aligned infantry and settled down to get some entrenchment bonus going. Another, heading toward another village, was ambushed. We didn't lose many troops thankfully, but the enemy unit is several battalions strong, numbering about 3,600 troops. My unit is going to need reinforcements.
Development of the ruins went more or less as I expected. Currently we aren't producing enough industry points - an abstracted value of general industrial capacity - to pay for full construction costs each turn, so it will take longer than the two turns it would otherwise, but it's going well apart from that so I expect to be mining rare metals by the end of around turn 5 with any luck. At that point I will be able to start building machinery which has all sorts of uses - one of which is trading for credits.
Ah yes, credits. As always my coffers are running low. Since I don't have a particular need for lots of troops right now one of the first things I did in turn 1 was order my secretary to reduce the sign-up bonus to zero. If people still want to enlist, fine, but at least it won't cost me anything extra. I'm still running a deficit though. Happily Photoglacier is sited with range of a couple of lakes, meaning I'm producing more than enough water (for now). So I sold all the surplus water I could for a quick buck. It swelled the coffers slightly but money is going to be a mid-term problem if I don't turn my economy around.
In order to get a handle on all this, the first organisation I asked my secretary to create was the interior council. This council, when staffed, will start churning out strategems that will allow me to adjust tax rates and do various other things focused on boosting the economy. Until I get my economy under control organisations like the military research council simply aren't a priority. This is also the reason I chose commerce as one of my starting nation profile boosts. My plan is to do everything I can to support the fledgling private economy and then tax the living shit out of it.
My next short-term problem is finding replacements for my troops in the field. The battalion that was ambushed lost 100 men and at the moment I have no reserves to send. Raising reserves at this stage of the game is very cheap but one of the costs is those damn industrial points again, all of which I've committed to mining the ruins. So until that development is complete I can't send any reserves to any battalions. Hopefully we're at least producing enough food, ammo and fuel to send, and further hopefully the non-aligned forces won't have much of an appetite to go on the offensive, allowing my battalions to dig in and get that sweet entrenchment bonus.
Anyway, this is the kind of game you can spend all day writing about a single turn but I think I've outlined the start of the game well enough for now. As I've told Geek, I consider this a learning game so I don't mind posting this stuff where he can see it. I just won't tell him where my eventual nuclear silos are situated...
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Great write-up, Huw. :2thumbs: While I've only spent a little bit of time with SE so far, one of the things that did impress me was how much can be going on in any given turn.
I recall credits/my economy being an issue as well, though I didn't progress far enough at any point to figure out how to best address it. Keep us posted!
Shadow Empire is another game that my old rig didn't run the greatest, so I really need to check it out again.
How old is it?! The recommended requirements for Shadow Empire are basically the PC needs to have power. ;D
Not that old, actually -- I got it three years ago. However, it had an integrated video card, which turned out to be a major bottleneck (and general PITA) for running a lot of newer games. Rest assured, I'll never make that particular mistake again... :buck2:
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How do you setup a MP game
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Shadow Empire is another game that my old rig didn't run the greatest, so I really need to check it out again.
How old is it?! The recommended requirements for Shadow Empire are basically the PC needs to have power. ;D
The game has begun in earnest! My founding city, Photoglacier, had the tremendous good fortune to be sited right next to a ruins. Ruins provide good scavenging, providing among other things the very precious rare metals resource, which is vital for manufacturing machinery and used for any tech above bog standard. I therefore made the bold decision to start building there straight away. This being turn 1 I knew I wouldn't quite have the production chain set up to fully support the construction but it was a risk I thought was very much outweighed by the benefits.
In other news, as usual my peasants were worried about the threat of enemy units - at this stage almost certainly nomadic non-aligned units - so I immediately gave orders for all battalions under the command of the 1st Infantry Brigade to start sweeping outwards to claim some territory and provide a buffer of land to make everyone feel safer. We didn't encounter any units but we did reveal some water and metal spots to be mined later, and a geyser to the northeast which, when brought under my control, will provide some bonus energy. Always useful. We also found a couple of villages of "free folk" who, when they see how good my peasants have it, will begin migrating to Photoglacier each turn.
At the start of turn 2 I continued moving my battalions outwards. One of them encountered about 1,200 non-aligned infantry and settled down to get some entrenchment bonus going. Another, heading toward another village, was ambushed. We didn't lose many troops thankfully, but the enemy unit is several battalions strong, numbering about 3,600 troops. My unit is going to need reinforcements.
Development of the ruins went more or less as I expected. Currently we aren't producing enough industry points - an abstracted value of general industrial capacity - to pay for full construction costs each turn, so it will take longer than the two turns it would otherwise, but it's going well apart from that so I expect to be mining rare metals by the end of around turn 5 with any luck. At that point I will be able to start building machinery which has all sorts of uses - one of which is trading for credits.
Ah yes, credits. As always my coffers are running low. Since I don't have a particular need for lots of troops right now one of the first things I did in turn 1 was order my secretary to reduce the sign-up bonus to zero. If people still want to enlist, fine, but at least it won't cost me anything extra. I'm still running a deficit though. Happily Photoglacier is sited with range of a couple of lakes, meaning I'm producing more than enough water (for now). So I sold all the surplus water I could for a quick buck. It swelled the coffers slightly but money is going to be a mid-term problem if I don't turn my economy around.
In order to get a handle on all this, the first organisation I asked my secretary to create was the interior council. This council, when staffed, will start churning out strategems that will allow me to adjust tax rates and do various other things focused on boosting the economy. Until I get my economy under control organisations like the military research council simply aren't a priority. This is also the reason I chose commerce as one of my starting nation profile boosts. My plan is to do everything I can to support the fledgling private economy and then tax the living shit out of it.
My next short-term problem is finding replacements for my troops in the field. The battalion that was ambushed lost 100 men and at the moment I have no reserves to send. Raising reserves at this stage of the game is very cheap but one of the costs is those damn industrial points again, all of which I've committed to mining the ruins. So until that development is complete I can't send any reserves to any battalions. Hopefully we're at least producing enough food, ammo and fuel to send, and further hopefully the non-aligned forces won't have much of an appetite to go on the offensive, allowing my battalions to dig in and get that sweet entrenchment bonus.
Anyway, this is the kind of game you can spend all day writing about a single turn but I think I've outlined the start of the game well enough for now. As I've told Geek, I consider this a learning game so I don't mind posting this stuff where he can see it. I just won't tell him where my eventual nuclear silos are situated...
That’s a great write up Huw, will post my stuff here too - back home tonight for turn - looking forward to it
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How do you setup a MP game
PBEM is an option you can select when you're setting up the game. You then start the game as normal except it will ask you to create a password (possibly optional, I can't remember). When you're done you just click end turn then you should see the login screen of the next player, so you just save and quit then send the save to that player.
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Thank you.
Perhaps I can talk Martok into an MP game. That'll light a fire under me to get this learned.
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That's great, I'll certainly keep posting about my game then so that we can all learn together. Should I ever get a handle on Shadow Empire I'm probably eventually going to call it a masterpiece. It's truly remarkable; it's just so bloody hard to learn.
Speaking of which, I cannot recommend strongly enough to read the manual. It's awfully laid out but all the information is in there somewhere, so reading it cover to cover (more than once) will give you a ton of information that isn't very apparent through just playing. For example, I'd never have known about free water collection from lakes within range if the manual hadn't mentioned it.
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Perhaps I can talk Martok into an MP game. That'll light a fire under me to get this learned.
You think we're going to have time to play once Distant Worlds 2 is released? :whistle:
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Sounds like someone is....
CHICKEN!
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Perhaps I can talk Martok into an MP game. That'll light a fire under me to get this learned.
You think we're going to have time to play once Distant Worlds 2 is released? :whistle:
Now your sounding like my wife. All realistic and logical and responsible.
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Sounds like someone is....
CHICKEN!
Guilty. Not gonna lie, the game scares me just a little... :worried:
logical and responsible.
Them's fightin' words!
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As its a practice game ill put my progress in here too -
In terms of priorities for me 1. Bureaucracy points 2. Water 3. Credits 4. Food - without these nothings happening.
For the water i have a mine producing near 500 points a turn, so far i cant see any natural water sources so for now this will have to do - hopefully ill find a lake soon. All my assets are running properly, nothings broken and everything that needs water and food seems to be getting water and food where they need it.
Militarily our infantry fairs really well in the structural design, but our buggys are a little weak - a redesign for those is a high priority. I have excellent leaders, some fours and a five - noone really specialises in anything but with scores like that they can go anywhere and learn on the job, few people need shuffling around but im happy with what ive got. Unlike Huw my first council will be a military research council - i have a level 4 guy with a bonus 8 points in research/science, and then ill push for the interior council - my first priority here will be solar energy
My first building will be one that gives me 50 extra bureaucracy points so i can make some decisions and get the government moving
Around my initial set up is a stack of 40 enemy units to my west, 15 to the south and everywhere else looks peaceful - i move the bulk of the professional army to get a closer look at the 40 and the militia move south to ward off the 15 - i seem to be surrounded by unfriendly enemy factions at the moment so well see how that pans out - lots of bonus terrain and ruins, and a natural metal source nearby for mining too
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Doesn't sound too bad mate, well done. With relatively good starts hopefully this will be a really fruitful game.
By bureaucracy points do you mean political points? Those are what you spend on strategems and making decisions. BPs are what you divide between your councils, who in turn use them to generate strategems and whatever else each council does. Unless I'm totally confused about it which may well be the case! Either way, BPs are important to generate anyway.
Anyway, on to the turn! I daren't look....I just hope those 3,600 nonaligned forces have decided to stay put or I could be in trouble.
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Yeah man - the strategem doodahs - clenched fists on top bar
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OK, I have new problems!
The good news is those 3,600 nonaligned militia were content to dig in and simply moon at my troops. As long as they're content to do that I couldn't care less; I'll keep my entrenched unit facing them until I'm able to bolster their numbers.
However, a new militia unit popped up to the south east, about 20 hexes from Photoglacier. They've found the ruins of an ancient mech, which will provide a very nice +100 research points boost to my military research council once it's connected to my network. However, they've also made the demand that the hex be held until turn 9 - and I have no way to reinforce them. They're only 800 foot and 200 gun, all militia, so the weakest unit you can have. And worse than that, they have about two turns' worth of food, and they're well beyond my supply network at the moment. I don't know what I can do to help them.
I'm starting to regret immediately developing that ruin; with no IPs to spare every turn, I can't build roads so all my units are going to run out of supply sooner or later. I can't do much of anything infrastructure-wise until the damned development is complete. After two turns I still have "1.1 turns" of construction remaining, so I estimate it will be another four turns before it's actually built. That's a lot of paralysis when I have such a weak economy and 1st MG Infantry Brigade spread so thinly.
Half of my BP budget is allocated to the interior council. I have to hope they produce some good strategems soon because at the moment my only source of IPs is the service tax on the private economy (in fact that's a large part of my credit income too). To further exacerbate the credits issue, the price of water is now so low that traders aren't willing to buy any at all, which is a shame because it's the only thing I can produce a surplus of at the moment.
Tough times, but as soon as I start getting some IPs back I can start building a supply network and reinforcing my units. Just need to hold on until then.
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On turn 2 we manage to kill 400 infantry for no loss reducing the force to the west to 3100 rifle militia, the south doesnt attack but intelligence firms up their numbers to a lower 28 ltotalling 2600 rifle militia. My fear here was the southern force would try and flank me and head straight for the centre but they didnt move, i unlocked a buggy force from the defenders here and went further south to establish the size of the enemy territory - its a tiny plot of land that now belongs to me except the patch of land the enemy stand on and i assume theyll now be out of supply
To the east of my centre more water has been found, a mineable ice resource, not a lake - at the minute the amount of resources to mine this is too much. The bureaucratic centre is completed with no fuss and more of these resources are available
I appoint a head of military research, actually my advisor but hes the very best for the job so well see how he does
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Sounds like you chaps are having fun :bigthumb:
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Sounds like you chaps are having fun :bigthumb:
Yes I'm enjoying it a lot more this time around!
A quiet turn this time. I make it two more turns before the ruins are finally developed, and I absolutely cannot wait because I'm completely paralysed until then. I think my next construction will be some dirt roads to make a supply network, closely followed by an industrial building in my capital to generate more IPs.
As predicted, the new militia unit that appeared and instantly decided to guard the corpse of the ancient mech are now starving. I thought about having them come home to resupply but it would take so long to get here then back out that I'd be certain to lose control of that hex. So they're basically being sacrificed in the (probably vain) hope they can somehow hold on long enough.
I had the option of selling food for a decent amount this turn, but eventually I decided against it because once my ruins are developed I'll be churning out machinery which is a real money-spinner in the early part of the game. I also noticed that no credits are allocated to public spending in Photoglacier so I turned that up to three credits per turn. Doesn't sound like much but we'll see what happens.
Interestingly, I noticed a regular report I'd never bothered to look at before: strategem generation. I was able to see in detail how far short of generating strategems I am each turn, mainly because I simply don't have the BPs yet. A few turns down the road I will follow Geek's lead and build some admin buildings to produce more, and hopefully get some tariff cards I really want. At the moment I have a sales tax of 20% - that's on sales of private goods to traders - but an import tariff of 0% so I really need to turn that up. As far as I know, you can only do that with a tariff strategem.
Oh yeah, that huge unit that massively outnumbers me to the northwest finally attacked, but they left it too late; my troops are slightly better armed and they were seriously entrenched by then. The enemy lost 300 men and I didn't lose any. Satisfying!
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Very cool, guys! Am loving this so far. :)
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300 more enemy are killed on our western borders, their strength here now is reduced to 16, once i can clear these out we can race west and find all those lovely little bonus conveying towns
the enemy to the south hasnt moved - our buggy here forces continue to race round expanding our borders
We discover the propeller engine, and i put some resources into its research with the hope of developing some recon planes
Like Huw a team of explorers have found an artificial automoton some way from the capital but as we're heading west anyway theyre only 6 hexes away, i should be able to get them back to my territory safely and then build a network towards the facility
im running out of money and without any fancy precious metals have not much to trade - there is the metals mine that needs building but to do that is robbing peter to pay paul - well see what happens next turn
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im running out of money and without any fancy precious metals have not much to trade - there is the metals mine that needs building but to do that is robbing peter to pay paul - well see what happens next turn
Yep I know the feeling. It seems we had pretty similar starts but we've differed in what we've prioritised. Soon I'll have loads of rare metals but I'm low on BPs and haven't researched a bloody thing yet - it's alarming to know you already have the propellor!
I've got a turn waiting for me but don't want to fire it up while I'm working; I wouldn't get any work done! Couple more hours to go...
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No worries buddy
The guy I have researching is a level 5 inventor - he’s a monster
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We discover padded envirosuits that convey some minor armour protection to the troops - ill not bother researching this for now. We also receive a new strategem - Blitzkrieg that can be attached to a unit leader - it increases attacks by 60% but reduces defence bonuses to nil and allows no entrenchment. I take it and apply it to the 2nd Inf Brigade and attack the raiders to the west with support from surrounding friendly troops - we have an overall ratio of 20:1 and kill 1800 of them but theyre still there for the next turn!
There are so many decisions to make i want A, but to get that i have to have B, and to get B i have to have C - what i need are industrial points to build more and be ready for when tanks are researched, to get those i need to build light industry, to build that i need metal, for that i have to build ametal mine which needs industrial points :doh:
so were starting at the bottom of the ladder and building a metal mine, however this is hoovering up all our available IP and needs 250 - i make 40 a turn so industry will have to come to a standstill for 7 days whilst we pay for the mine
The forces to the south stay still, our buggy forces drive round them uncovering more territory
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Yep I'm in the same position. The ruins development was finally completed this turn, so I haven't received anything from it yet but starting next turn it will churn out IP, metals and rare metals for me. Even better, my IP production is finally freed! So, decisions....
Currently 1st Inf Brigade are fairly close to the city so they can just about stay in supply, so roads not a priority yet. I happily spend the single IP, single metal and 100 reserves to bolster the battalion that lost 100 men in turn 2. Now I have to decide the best way to further develop my infrastructure. Thankfully water and food are solved problems for now, so, like Geek, I have to decide between a metal mine which requires IP, or bolstering IP production in my city which requires - yes, you guessed it - metal!
For now I decide to build nothing at all. I don't have enough IP to complete construction on anything so I'm going to let them build up for a few turns, possibly skimming a few off the top each turn to build machinery. Those machines can either themselves be used for production - saving me a fortune in purchasing - or sold for profit. Either way, building machines is a Very Good Thing. The next two developments I have my eye on will cost me around six machines in total I think, so if I build one per turn while storing the remaining IP everything should come together nicely a few turns down the line.
My long term goal will be to start building my supply network. For now dirt roads will do as anything's better than nothing, but later when I have the metal to spare I'll start building railways. With a supply network in place I'll be able to send 1st Inf Brigade all over the place, claiming territory and I'll even start thinking about where to site my next zone. I'll also need to raise a new formation, but I've never done that before and it looks quite complicated so I'll need to thoroughly read the manual before I begin.
The only problem I have left at home is I don't really have any capable personnel - certainly not a level 5 inventor like Geek has, the jammy git - and that's not likely to improve any time soon as my interior council's budget has zero BP allocated to HR strategems. So another goal is added - building up the admin buildings. More pen-pushers = more BPs.
This is the most stable start to a game I've had yet, and the first time I've really felt like I know what I'm doing. Consequently I'm enjoying it a lot.
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Exactly 😂
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Haha yep, pretty much.
God knows how people manage huge, sprawling empires. I'm putting a serious amount of thought into every turn with a single zone and a single brigade of infantry.
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Right........
The raiders in the west attack and inflict 200 casualties on me and 500 on themselves - im still in blitzkrieg mode so have no defensive value :doh:
Propeller research is complete and i can build an airfield if required - long way down the list of stuff to do. High velocity guns are discovered, these are for artillery and tanks so can take a backseat for now
The buggy uncovered some ruins last turn that gave me 11 free machinery - 2 of these are gobbled up by the metal mine leaving 9 in the bank, handy to sell or use well keep them for now
One of my strategem cards is 'sentinels' - spend a fate point and play the card providing me with some kick ass walker units that i send south to deal with those raiders who havent moved for a while
My money situation isnt dire - im losing about 8 credits a turn but it will become a problem so ill look at the internal council next turn and maybe fire that up
Im suffering with a water shortage problem - the mine produces 800 but is only putting out 450 - the asset info box says im only paying for 41% of the production ???
i dont know what that means - ive increased the workers salaries and well see what happens
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It's probably not worker happiness, although you can check that by clicking on the zone tab in the array of icons at the bottom of the screen. Worker happiness is just below population happiness.
It's more likely there's some resource it isn't getting enough of. Click the assets tab - again at the bottom - and either find it in the list or change it to "assets only in this hex" and click the hex where your water mine is. You'll easily find the card for it then. Click on the card and you'll see on the right a full log of what it did in the turn, and if there's a shortage of anything you'll see it there. Actually I think you'll see it on the card itself; something will be highlighted yellow or red.
All the information you need in this game is given to you...somewhere. It's just a matter of finding it. The UI of the game could be better, although given the complexity of the game I'm not sure how much better it could be.
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I’ll check when I’m in the game next buddy thanks
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Im suffering with a water shortage problem - the mine produces 800 but is only putting out 450 - the asset info box says im only paying for 41% of the production ???
i dont know what that means - ive increased the workers salaries and well see what happens
A pity you can't just click on the "41%", and it either prompts a pop-up telling what exactly the issue is, or it at least takes you directly to the numbers breakdown so you can see for yourself where the problem lies.
All the information you need in this game is given to you...somewhere. It's just a matter of finding it. The UI of the game could be better, although given the complexity of the game I'm not sure how much better it could be.
I agree with this in its entirety.
I wish info (or at least certain kinds of info) were more accessible and/or easier to find, but there's just so dang *much* of it in Shadow Empire, that realistically I'm not sure what can/could be done to improve that aspect.
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So the nonaligned forces on my northwestern border tried to attack again this turn. My battalion is about as entrenched as it can be at this point, better armed, and in a forest. They stood no chance. Despite outnumbering me at least two to one, they lost 600 men and I lost none. It's refreshing to play a game where overwhelming tactical advantage actually means something. I've played plenty where, in a similar situation, I'd lose a quarter of what the enemy lost too because reasons.
Lack of IP continues to be a problem and I've decided it's my most immediate short term goal. They're so essential to almost everything you do I just have to boost the output. The easiest way to achieve it that I know of is to build an industrial facility at Photoglacier city. To do that I need a lot of metal. The price on the open market is extortionate and there isn't enough available anyway, so I'm going to build a metal mine at a good location just south of the city. Of course, to do that I need yet more I bloody P, albeit a lot less than to construct the industrial facility. So all I have to do....sigh....is wait a few turns then start construction.
The good news is that ruins development is getting a 25% bonus due to being in a good scavenging area and a further 16% bonus from the governor of Photoglacier. That means I'm now bringing in more than 100t of metal and about 14t of rare metals per turn. I'll soon be able to build all the machinery I can eat, and in a pinch I can sell rare metals on the open market if I need a quick cash injection.
I love how this game gives you loads of different options to solve problems!
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Ugh. You and geek are really making it hard to resist stepping back into this game. :P
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Ugh. You and geek are really making it hard to resist stepping back into this game. :P
;D
The autorifle is discovered - better weapons for the infantry so we send some research that way.
After surrounding the forces to the west we use the blitzkrieg advantage and push for destruction - the forces are wiped out leaving us free reign to expand west.
The buggy forces to the south net us some Galactic age rifle forces - serious hard men here and they are added to the 1st battalion. To the south west are the aurora faction and we make peace with them for now to secure this border
The interior council is established - the level 5 governor of Seattle, our capital, awaits the promotion to director and then we can play the increase income tax card with confidence.
It turns out it wasnt the water mine not working properly it was the agri-dome not receiving enough water - and upon this discovery i dont actually know where our 900 water is coming from ???
The metal mine is awaiting 600 workers and 120 IP points - should be 3 turns - and then we will start construction of the light industry to increase the IP
Enjoying it very much so far - i find myself thinking about turns between turns which is only a good thing
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Geek we're going to be throwing sticks and stones at you by comparison, by the time we clash! :o
The first of what will probably be a few quiet turns. I'm just storing IPs in order to build the metal mine so that I have the metal to build an industrial facility to ultimately build even more IPs!
Another attack from the northwest, another 600 enemy killed with no losses.
Unfortunately it's a different story down south where that militia unit appeared. We only need to hold the hex for one more turn, but wouldn't you know it, an unidentified enemy unit just appeared in a neighbouring hex. I've no idea of their composition but my militia unit has, predictably, been whittled away almost to nothing by starvation, so if they attack I've had it. Oh well, can't win 'em all.
My secretary offered to form another council and I chose the economic council, because according to the manual (which is irritatingly vague here) it should help with economical issues. My treasury still takes in less than it pays out each turn usually, except when we're able to sell water, so I'd like to do what I can to give it a shot in the arm. I duly played a strategem to recruit a new leader: some 18 year old girl as it happens. Probably not the best choice to direct a council but beggars can't be choosers. She doesn't have any skills whatsoever except improvisation, hahaha. Hopefully she'll acquire some down the road.
I immediately regretted the decision though. I realised afterwards that my already thin allocation of BPs will now be spread out across three councils instead of two.
So, the priority list now looks like this, in order of importance:
1. Build metal mine
2. Build industrial facility
3. Build admin buildings for more BPs
4. Build supply network
In previous games I've always concentrated on the supply network first in order to support my units as they range far and wide. This time they're all staying near the city to maintain borders so it hasn't been nearly so important. It's a weird feeling not to be obsessing over logistics for a change.
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Unfortunately it's a different story down south where that militia unit appeared. We only need to hold the hex for one more turn, but wouldn't you know it, an unidentified enemy unit just appeared in a neighbouring hex.
Well, that unit attacked and we duly lost the hex. Apparently a severely depleted battalion of 200 foot on the brink of starving to death can't hold out against 2,000 well fed troops. Who'd have thought it?!
The only other thing of note this turn is I decided to start construction of the metal mine early. The reason being with my continued investment into the public economy (which feeds into the private one) I'm worried that the private citizens might claim the hex for themselves. If they do, I'd still take some metal as service tax, but it would only be a fraction of the total mine output. Screw that - I want it all! So I'll just have to pay for it all. I have enough resources to complete one turn of construction, and the second and final turn will have to be spread out over three turns because I won't have enough IPs by that point.
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The interior council is established and I move the level 5 governor out of the capital and into the directorship there - I move a level 3 guy I was recently forced to employ but he turned out good into the supreme council and the now grumpy ex supreme director is put on the front lines where she can’t do too much damage
I didn’t receive any research or discovery news this turn and on investigation realised I’ve discovered everything I can at this level but need to research 3 of the discoveries before I can move up a level - I’ve done two so it for the high velocity gun before we can move into more swanky stuff
Metal mine is slowly coming along - I have the machinery in place, the workers in place and 190 of the 250 ip points - then it will be light industry and a water well
I have quite a large expanse of land now but can’t get out any further without roads so I’m waiting for more Ip to improve the logistics
I’m hoping to find precious metals somewhere
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A couple of turns later and metal is up from 55 to 300 - the mine is complete - we shift construction to industry to get those valuable IP points - it needs 500 metal a turn so therell be some backlog - but were good with everything else
Ive entered the downward spiral of doom with an unhappy advisor - every turn or so hell make crappy decisions that the only way to counter is to reduce the relationship further - its the guy sent to the front lines so a swift death may come soon
Both raider forces in the west and south have been cleared away, the relationship still stands with the minor to the south west and were slowly pushing out our borders - looking for natural water and precious metals - a mystery force has moved in and closed our path to the automoton so well be heading back that way - new IP points soon will create a road route back to the ruin
The turboprop engine has been discovered which is in the next tier of discoveries so were moving on - im reading up on modelling new infantry now the autorifle has been fully researched
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All quiet for me for a while. My metal mine is more than half built but production has now stalled due to lack of IPs. It will be at least a couple more turns before it's online. At the moment the only advantage I have over Geek is my early discovery of rare metals, and from what he's said via email I'm probably a lot better off credits-wise too. If only you could buy IPs!
The nonaligned forces to the northwest continue to dash themselves against my heavily entrenched forces. Suits me fine; I get XP for now, and an easy path forward later when I'm in a position to start building roads.
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Nice. :bigthumb:
Apologies if I missed it, but what type of planet are you guys playing on?
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Next time I play I'll grab a screenshot of it, but I can at least tell you it's Siwa-class. Since we're both noobs I thought we could probably do without a really harsh environment. :D
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Ha. No, a Siwa-class (or other wet-ish) world makes sense. The game is already rather unforgiving as it is! ;D
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Now we're cooking with gas! The metal mine has been completed and metals are absolutely pouring in. That's going to make construction of my industrial asset much easier. I thus ordered construction as it will take three turns. I only have two of the three machines needed, but by the next turn I'll have enough rare metal to make the third, and with no plans for machinery after that I can start selling them for some ready cash. That means I will be able to raise salaries to make my cabinet happier.
My population happiness is already at 100% by the way, with worker happiness very closely behind. I was also finally able to generate, and play, a stratagem that boosted my income tax to 30%. The economy is finally starting to come together! The credits I'm investing in public finance has allowed the private sector to develop the private industrial asset a bit more, giving me even more IPs via the service tax.
So, in a couple of turns I will finally be in a position to a) build those admin offices for BPs and thus more stratagems, and b) build a road network. Once the roads are laid I will keep my militia brigade near the city for home defense and give 1st Infantry Brigade orders to move all units outward in pursuit of a whole new zone to conquer. It's getting exciting now!
Note to self: start recruiting colonists to settle a new zone.
I'm coming for you Geek, me old China!
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(https://i.imgur.com/V7LniCn.png)
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okayyyyyy coupla more turns in.......
Ive discovered turboprop engine and the jet engine - needless to say im ready for a full blown airforce but Dastactic my go to mentor doesnt rate it at all in his tutorials - i mean im ready for squadrons of Apaches man but we'll see
The metal mine and light industry is built - metal and IPs are good, resources are now been put into expanding the road network - i was building a road to the automoton hex perk but came across some advice in a post on Reddit saying they dont need to be connected by road - just be within my borders - ill check later
To the west near the automoton ive found more baddies, to the east some indigenous species baddies are staring at me from with in a forest hex - dont want to kill them and will try and push them back and to the south ive finally found a body of water - again unsure as to whether this needs a road leading up to it - if so it will be a looooong road
Played two strategem cards this turn one was a critical success granting me 250 extra BP to throw into research or discovery or a new council..... more on that
and i raised the sales tax to 25% - unsure of this, i saw Huw mention some fancy 'investing in public finance' shenanigans and wanted to try that out - dont know if its the same thing
Im also confused by tanks - i can discover side skirts for them which is the big intention, but i have no idea how to discover light tanks - the tech tree says 'you could discover these' but theres nothing in the tree that says 'light tanks' - i was going to berate Huw for setting the game up without tanks in it but then realised i have buggies but there isnt a discover buggies option so i dont know how to get my hands on the tracked lovelies - google has failed me as every answer already assumes youve discovered or researched them - i think it might be something to do with the model council but common sense tells me i cant design a model for a chassis i havent discovered and i dont want to waste the PP setting up the council only to find i cant
ironically ill do more research to find this out
oooo, heres home
(https://i.imgur.com/6pfcZQz.jpg)
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You don't need a road to connect a hex feature to your network, but it's a good idea to have one anyway because if it comes under attack you won't be able to mobilise a defense without one. And don't forget that any unit that isn't yours can claim territory simply by entering it. You definitely don't need a road to the water - as long as it's within your zone it will start to be collected.
Dunno about tanks...I think if the tech tree says they can be discovered, that still means you're waiting for the random discovery via your research council. Just keep making new discoveries and presumably the chassis will come up eventually? I've never made it that far myself so that's all the help I can give you.
The sales tax is just a tax on any sales made by the private economy (so invisible to you except for the revenue on your balance sheet). However I think in the reports tab at the top, if you switch to zones then click on zone news you might see in the detailed log exactly how much stuff is being sold. The investment that I mentioned is something else. I think you access it via the governor and "zone orders" - I can't remember now! But the zone info panel at the bottom of the screen will show you how much investment has accumulated. My understanding is the more it accumulates, the greater the likelihood that private assets will be built (which ultimately means more service and sales taxes for you). So it is, quite literally, an investment. Probably helps pop happiness too.
For myself, I noticed some nonaligned forces to the south claim a bit of my territory. I still don't have a supply network so I have no choice but to just watch for now. I moved a battalion to intercept just in case and reinforced it with some militia artillery - better than nothing. I can't move any other battalions in because they're maintaining my borders.
Mistake made and lesson learned - I should have built all three of the machines I needed for my industrial asset production. The problem is the construction is now eating all of my IPs, so on the next turn when I need to build the third and final machine, I won't have the IP to do so. I now have no choice but to wait for construction to stall, freeing up the required IP. Basically this means the construction will take one turn longer than it should have. Oh well, live and learn.
Thanks to Geek's generous posting of his screenshot, my suspicion is confirmed - I have many times more credits than he does. :D
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Rapid fire (?) MGs is discovered - i know MGs are strong in game so ill bookmark this to be researched - i have two GR MG units which add some serious punch to an attack
Found the increase investment in public budget options and threw them some dollars
I uncovered a black market, i had the option to shut it down for 900 or leave it and earn 100 a turn off it - ill leave it running
Ive expanded the road east and west a little as thats where im heading - even this small increase has solved some supply issues and ill expand again next turn
Water is pouring into the coffers, from 350 to 4000 - ill not bother with the ice mine and the road to water question is obviously answered
I secure the automoton again for 100 extra military research points and find a crashed spaceship to the east that does the same
The goal now is to bank some IP and metal and build another brigade - that big city i made peace with looks too juicy to ignore
Increased income tax, despite Huws pooh poohing of the banking situation the credits are starting to flow at last ;)
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Great stuff, guys. I'm really enjoying following along. :)
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Great stuff, guys. I'm really enjoying following along. :)
Probably feeling like joining in the next PBEM, eh? :)
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As predicted, construction of my industrial asset will now halt due to lack of machinery, so since I'm so flush with cash, I shamefully bought a machine from traders in order to complete construction next turn instead of waiting to build up the IPs to make one myself. Hey, that's what the credits are there for, right?
And since I'm so wealthy I also called my secretary and had him raise the salaries of all my cabinet. This isn't entirely altruistic; apparently we're entering a "time of egoism" and my relationship with my leaders will naturally fall, so I'm trying to offset that.
Enemy forces to the northwest continue to kill themselves on my border. When we finally move out I'm going to absolutely sweep them away. We're getting closer to that, now. Next turn the industrial asset will be built which leaves only the admin offices to go, and then finally I will be able to start building roads and moving out. To that end, I called the zone governor and set a recruitment cap for colonists, and bumped up the colonist sign-up bonus. I've just realised I have absolutely no idea what a reasonable number of colonists to start a new zone is; better get reading the manual once again!
The only other thing that happened is my secretary offered to start a new org and I chose the military research council. The only problem is I don't have anyone to lead it, but for now I'm producing so few BPs it hardly matters. Added to the list of short term goals...
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Quick update before work. My industrial asset is finally complete and I immediately started construction of admin offices. Photoglacier city increased admin level and awarded me a fate stratagem pack - one of which is "boom town" which can massively boost population of a city at the cost of a single fate point. This is quite timely since I'm starting to think about creating a second zone; the new city will need an injection of population in short order.
The military research council remains leaderless which is a big problem. When the admin offices are completed and I'm getting a lot more BP, I will temporarily assign the lion's share to the interior council and tell them to focus on HR cards. I really need some stratagems that give me leaders!
The admin offices should complete next turn and I will finally have the IPs to start building out roads.
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I create the Model Research council and give them discoveries as a priority - im looking for that light tank asap to give me the edge over the farmers to the south
I expand the road east and west - im really at the limit of fuel and supply now and theres nothing out there! Ive seen no activity north or east and will bring the forces towards home to resupply, recruit and then head south
im having a problem with the new set of baddies that occupied the automoton ruin and cant get them off - the last battle was 40:1 in my favour and they still made it - i think it might be the lack of supplies - ill rest a few turns - theyre surrounded but i dont know if raiders need supply per se
At home i increase the directors wages and the soldiers, were going through an age of unsettlement and the soldiers are grumbling. The admin offices are in full flow kicking out IP and we point these and the new metal at expanding the bereaucratic offices that should bring in over 200 BP a turn
I play a few strategy cards - we boost the BP again, double economic output, and i play a hidden treasure card using up 2 fate points that nets me 200 rare metals, 400 metal and lots of oil
I check the raise formation options and can raise a lot of independent brigades - right now im ready to expand peacefully the only limit is my supply network
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Bit annoyed. The admin building wasn't completed even though the zone and my SHQ between them had enough IPs, and during the normal course of a turn they will send "items" between each other. There must be something in the way turns are processed that prevented me using both supplies of IP. Oh well....next turn, then, it will be up and running and I can finally start building my roads.
As luck would have it I generated a stratagem this turn that gave me another blank slate leader, so I was able to get the military research council staffed. Maybe I'll have something slightly better than sticks and stones by the time I clash with Geek! My economic research council discovered the barracks tech but I haven't looked into it; I'm producing so few BPs at the moment that research will probably be painfully slow.
I'm going away for a long weekend so maybe we'll get another turn or two in before then, but then there'll be no more updates until Monday at the earliest unfortunately.
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Busy couple of turns.......
I sent the sentinels out west to scout further and they bumped into some indigenous species and were destroyed
I finally kill off the raiders in the west and send the troops back towards the capital to regain replacements and supplies
Everyone pulls away from the north and east and heads south to scout the eastern edges of aurora - the farmers to the south
The design council discovers light tanks - we throw all our research into this project and put our new high velocity guns on the top, a medium diesel engine and 25mm armour - the high vel gun will be good for killing vehicles ill design some with mortars that kill infantry too
We send spies into aurora to see their strength
I build 2 brigades of buggies to scoot around the borders some more
The admin building upgrades to level 2 quickly and ill wait a while to upgrade to 3 - we have a fair amount of BP right now
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Yeah I've finally got busy too. Now that I'm finally not building anything I've been able to construct some roads. Just dirt roads for now but they're quite sufficient to keep 1st Inf Brigade well stocked. I've expanded the road to the southeast a fair bit; I decided the zone in that direction will be the first I colonise, not least because it contains that hex I failed to hold last week which has the derelict automaton. I'm going to need all the military research bonuses I can get in order to catch up with His Esteemed Geekness.
In contrast to his military geniuses, the best my military council has come up with so far is the ingenious idea of maybe padding the envirosuits. Yeah, that'll show 'em....
I played a fate card and got my own squad of AI sentinels. Aside from being hard as nails, they don't need any supply either, so off a-scoutin' they go. Meanwhile I ramped up colonist recruitment to 500 per turn and now I have more than 2,000 of the eager buggers. Along with that pop-boosting stratagem I have in reserve, I can easily get a new city up and running. All I need is a few more turns to scope out the area and then I need to build it. Having said that, I am rather greedily eyeing up an upgrade to Photoglacier's industrial asset to bring in even more IPs...
So many decisions!
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I actually tried to build my new city this turn. On the construction screen you simply toggle the "found new city" flag while choosing what to construct. I almost went for a high command bunker but the final screen warned me this will always be in your capital, so god knows what would've happened if I'd gone through with it. I changed my mind to another industrial asset. However I got a message about not having a logistical connection, so with a weary sigh, I built out some more roads in that direction. Next turn I think I'll be able to start. So exciting!
The commander of 1st Inf is not happy with me at all. The problem is he never liked me that much to begin with, and he belongs to a relatively unpopular political faction against whom I keep making decisions, exacerbating the situation. I might have to start looking for a way to have him replaced...
It's been a long time since I saw any nonaligned forces and I continue to slowly push my borders out. However 1st Inf is getting spread awfully thin now, and it's becoming very apparent I need to raise a new formation. I still have no idea how to do it (competently) so I'd better get reading. I don't know if my new city will form its own militia or not, and militia suck anyway, so I will need at the very least one new brigade just to defend the new zone.
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I had a similar problem with a poor advisor - he was promoted to commanding first infantry and after a few turns of raider bashing he errrr ceased to be
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A long term plan begans to hatch
Its quite pricey to build my new tanks so im saving up for a turn or two, after that everyone will head south and take Aurora from the farmers
I have an option to upgrade to high command offices level 3 that brings in heaps of BP - itll use quite a few resources for 6 turns and that will start after the tanks are built
I play a boost BP card again and choose an economic council - whilst its lovely tearing into the military objectives my QOL buildings are woeful for increasing my civilisation levels, i have no schools, unis, hospitals, barracks - i need to catch up on these too
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Well that was a shitty turn. A "crisis of egoism" (random event) has been ongoing for several turns and now half my cabinet hate me, including my secretary. One of my units of sentinels walked into an ambush and were wiped out, so my new zone will apparently have some kind of monster of a neighbour. And lastly my new city wasn't constructed yet because of a lack of logistics points - it's at the end of a long road. In an effort to get it built as quickly as possible I've temporarily halted all logistics movements out of Photoglacier city except in the direction of the new city. I can't help but feel like everything's starting to fall apart...
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Tanks rumble off the production line - the blitzer anti infantry tank brigade (it will be renamed) heads south to Aurora with the other forces that have crossed the red lines denoting the farmers borders - war is declared
Spies tell me theres about 35 militia rifle men units guarding the city - i need to surround it and wait whilst fuel and supplies restock
I have discovered rocketry, RPGs, and gas powered ammunition - i dont know how effective this is yet - but that list coupled with combat armour and the auto rifle mean our infantry is pretty elite
I get my first recruit senior card as opposed to the junior ones and play it - shes a level 4 high command war nuutter who will be perfect as commander of the SHQ or the staff couuncil - getting rid of the current commander is going to cause some serious damage to my relationships so ill hold her in reserve for now
As the turn ended there was some movement from the east that pushed my borders back - ill recruit a battallion or division of the new infantry and head out that way
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Hoo, boy. Looks like things have gotten "interesting" for both of you...
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Yep things are starting to happen now. I finally got my second zone, whose name escapes me for the moment, heh. The people there are happy but they are slowly migrating out to live with the free folk so I need to do something about it. I ramped up public investment and I also noticed they're "hungry" and using my emergency food to survive. I'm not sure what the mechanic is here, as the city is obviously connected to my SHQ which has more than enough food for everyone, and since I built a supply base half way between both cities there's easily enough logistics to move items. I can only imagine they need to be producing their own food to not count as being hungry.
I have therefore ordered construction of a xeno farm, which doesn't need electricity to run. It only produces 200 food per turn but that will be enough for now. In addition I'm also constructing a second industrial asset at the new city so I will be swimming in IPs soon. The "monster" unit to the south turned out to be a whole brigade of rifle militia. Not sure how they managed to penetrate the armour of my walkers a few turns ago; I guess it must have been a lucky shot(s) due to sheer numbers? Either that or the game's "hard/soft attack/defense" stats mean nothing. Anyway we've got them surrounded so now I'll just dig in and wait for them to dash themselves against my wall of troops.
In other news, telling my interior council to switch priorities really paid off. I had a severe lack of leaders so I called their director and told her to focus on HR. She did, and soon enough I had more leader recruitment cards than I needed. The extra BPs I'm producing thanks to the admin offices I've built in both cities surely helped with this.
Anyway, although it's getting exciting I'm now going away for the weekend so no more action until at least Monday I'm afraid.
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Aurora is finally surrounded and i have two roads leading to the troops down there but not a lot of supply is coming down them - i set up some supply traffic signals cutting off supplies that are being sent west and north and are not needed and build two truck stations on the roads - i can get 3:1 odds at the moment with some guys low on supply and fuel so once its resolved i should be good to go
I order another anti infantry tank, and 3 regiments of machine gun troops - nothing too aggressive but something is slowly pushing my eastern border in
My old secretary ups and defects in a huff - a lot of empire improvement things are discovered - one of the best ones, although i have a water source now is some kind of water/soil filtration system that allows you to tap water without needing an actual water supply, there is one of these for metal too but its undiscovered so far
the model council have designed all they can for now - although ive recently discovered side skirts, so that will be researched and added to the tank models
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It's been a slog but I finally have two cities up and running with no shortages of anything they need. Resources are really starting to roll in now, so I can finally start planning long-term. 1st Inf are now protecting two zones which is absolutely ridiculous, so I need to start thinking about a whole new brigade. That means I need to start producing more food.
...speaking of which, I noticed that it won't be long before the nice little green up arrow next to "food" in the SHQ tab will soon become a nasty little red down arrow. Scanning my zones, I find that any asset producing food is working at reduced capacity due to a lack of logistical points. Sigh. That old chestnut. I guess this is a function of having 1st Inf spread absolutely everywhere. Well, at least now I have the resources to just construct the answer to any problem! I could nationalise the transport hub at Photoglacier city, but doing so comes with a penalty and also I get the feeling it still wouldn't be enough before long. So my next construction project is a rail station at the city. It will take two turns to build, then I will need to replace all my dirt roads with railways.
In other news, fully 1,600 nonaligned forces committed suicide against my troops this turn. Amusingly, half of these were because a unit decided to attack my newly-minted 1,800-strong machine gun battalion - heavily entrenched and specifically equipped for defense. Honestly, entrenchment is your best friend if you're defending. It does wonders.
Also, a few turns ago I decided to continue recruiting colonists despite already founding my second city. I'm glad I did, because I realised one of the major reasons the city wasn't yet self-sufficient was due to a lack of workers, so off the colonists were sent to fill the jobs. Next turn I completed two construction projects. :)
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The war with aurora has begun - they fairly well dug in and the forst round of combat at 3:1 sees me cause few casualties and take a few including an all important anti infantry tank, there are 5 more on their way. The second round faired better at 3:1 killing about 9 units of defenders and a few of my own, as well as the new tank brigade, imanaged to find another band of sentinels so theyre on the way too
Im having difficulty getting any supplies down here so have built two truck stops and 2 supply centres on the 2 roads ive built towards aurora - one is working well, the other still isnt getting enough supplies to complete the construction - ive resorted to traffic signalling to divert all the supplies down these roads - well see what happens next
to the east the indigenous gastrolobsters have finally been found and defeated preventing a wandering monster shutting down roads and supply routes - theres still something moving out to the west that intermittently shuts down my access to the ruin and its research bonus - the monster hunters will head that way next
ive managed to research sideskirts for the tanks but as theres no enemy tanks out there ill hold off on that for now, medium tanks and APCs have been discovered but no researched
supply wise i read on Reddit that those that wish to uncomplicate supply and not have to micromanage the logistics build supply centres and truck stops every 5 hexes and a new city every 15 - ill look into this
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supply wise i read on Reddit that those that wish to uncomplicate supply and not have to micromanage the logistics build supply centres and truck stops every 5 hexes and a new city every 15 - ill look into this
Interesting. I'd be very curious to see if/how well that works.
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Well the truck stops and supply centres have literally thrown all the supplies south like I wanted - the city 15 hexes away turns out to be aurora so there’s that!!
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Yeah it'll definitely work, it just won't be 100% efficient. But I suspect (fervently hope) that once we upgrade to railways we'll have far fewer supply issues.
Geek - didn't quite have time to take my turn before work, soz. Will do it ASAP this evening.
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no worries chap - im on the cusp of toppling aurora and then i can explore more
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So my new zone (I'll remember the name eventually I swear) still isn't producing enough food. I examined the xeno agri dome and just can't work out from its turn log what's going wrong. The only clue I've been able to find is somewhere in the reams of planet info a line about the planet being resistant to xeno crops maybe? That's all I can think of. So reluctantly I scrapped the dome and ordered construction of a normal one that needs water. Luckily I still have massive amounts of spare water - it will be a long time before that arrow turns red.
Joy of joys, I happened upon a "Galactic Republic" tank. Only one, but it's an absolute monster. I'll save that for when I really, absolutely need something to die.
Also my first railhead was built in an area to the south where I have a large part of 1st Inf gathered to repel nonaligned forces. I even had enough IPs left over to build the connecting railway! It's nice to finally be at a stage where I don't have to fret over every last resource when I want to build things.
Once I've got my new zone stabilised I really need to look into raising a second brigade to free up 1st Inf to go exploring.
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So my new zone (I'll remember the name eventually I swear) still isn't producing enough food. I examined the xeno agri dome and just can't work out from its turn log what's going wrong. The only clue I've been able to find is somewhere in the reams of planet info a line about the planet being resistant to xeno crops maybe? That's all I can think of.
This is another example of why I'm always so hesitant to jump back into Shadow Empire, even though it fascinates me and I love the setting. So many things in the game are explained poorly or not at all -- and as in the above example, should really have been explained beforehand (so that you didn't waste time & resources building something that ended up being not that useful) -- and the player is then left to dig for answers if they want to figure out what the problem is.
I get that this is *not* a game that holds your hand, and I totally respect that. But too often, it still seems like it goes to the other extreme, where you feel like you're pulling teeth all the time.
Joy of joys, I happened upon a "Galactic Republic" tank. Only one, but it's an absolute monster. I'll save that for when I really, absolutely need something to die.
You gotta love discovering Precursor tech/toys... >:D
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Aurora falls with the addition of the extra tank and the sentinel - our southern border now appears to be the southern most part of the map so we can concentrate on spreading east and west for a while - there is still some activity to the west, be it beasties or enemy i dont know - i send all the mobile units, 2 tanks, 2 buggys and 3 sentinels that way to have a look - the infantry will rest in Aurora - theres plenty of supply
I had found 4 oil fields during the battle with aurora but private enterprise has taken 2 for itself so i quickly start mining on the other two - the resources panel shows nothing in the red for the first time since starting, all force replacements have been paid for - ill take a breath whilst building the oilfields and resting the troops and then start again
I had a poor bunch of exiles a few hexes away who i managed to keep alive somehow but i forget every single turn to connect them to the network, ive passed the mission and gained the kudos i just keep forgetting to link them up - theyre south east and something is mooching around that area too so ill have a look soon
beauracratic offices and industry are expanded again, we research sealed roads and gas powered ammo, and the RPG - the model team have also discovered the bazooka - i dont know if these two are connected so ill have a look next turn
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Kepihome! The second zone is called Kepihome!
Anyway. Agri farm finally built. It was down to 0.1 turns on the last turn which is really annoying, because I had to use a whole extra turn to finish it which means waiting another turn to actually get anything out of it. But that, along with an increase in public spending, will hopefully really start to improve quality of life for my little pops and encourage them to er....be fruitful and multiply. I want some tax revenue!
I'm starting to build railways all over the place now. It helps that you get a discount if you build them along existing roads. The supply you get from a railway is absolutely massive and will easily keep me going for quite a while. I'm starting to expand in three directions a lot more easily than I ever could before, and it might even be time to start thinking about a third zone.
Onto military matters. 1st Inf is still spread comically thin and I really don't have a handle on formations, models and things yet. The good news is that my scientists are catching up with Geek's; we've "discovered" rather a lot of tech at this point, and now I just have to research it all. I might divert the lion's share of BPs to my military research council, although that will mean irritating the directors of the other councils. But needs must and all that. The bad news is that when it comes to making a new brigade I really don't know what I'm doing, and just as bad, it will take a long time to recruit enough soldiers if I don't want to deplete my zones too much. So the highly-anticipated second brigade is still a long way off for now.
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Coupla turns later…….
Research has taken a decidedly unwanted turn - although random to a degree, I understand you can’t move on until a certain amount of discoveries have been researched, but all my discoveries lately are in applied aerodynamics - better airframes, better engines, better fuel consumption - don’t want any of this and I’m trying to find a way to steer me back to good old armour and billets
The economic research went wild for a bit giving me advanced discoveries whilst ignoring the starter ones I need to increase quality of life - hospitals, barracks, unis, but barracks came up recently so I hope we’re getting back to basics there
I can research a very murderous medium tank with side skirts and high velocity guns but I’ve still seen nothing near me but indigenous life forms and infantry so I’ll hold off - infantry can be turned into gas powered ammo bearing, combat armoured, rpg wielding bad asses so that could be a thing next
I’ve got great strat cards all over the place but with things as they are they don’t need playing yet - I have a stack of recruit senior and recruit talent cards that will lead to some great leaders but at present my 6 guys are either excellent or sacking them will lead to such disturbances in morale it’s not worth it yet - I do have a guy with intelligence 70 and war 50 who would be a great commander for SHQ but the current guy is the prime minister and he has a lot of MPs further down the food chain - I’ll wait until I fire up the spy council for him but that means taking a fraction of the BPs away from the research so it’s another back burner for now
To the map - my empire is huge but apart from my capital and recently taken aurora the surrounding enemies have borne no capitals just more territory - it’s a very long trek by dirt road from one end to the other - so far the strategy of a supply dump and truck station every five or six hexes is working and supplies are reaching where they need - it’s time to start thinking about a zone or two at the end of some of these super highways
Currently every unit is west or south and I have had a unit of unknown origin or skill heading from the east at top speed straight to my capital - it took a few turns to notice him coming and it’s too late to send anyone back east even the tanks so I bought an independent division - 100 units of infantry and plonked it in the capital, Seattle - the last preview turn I sent to huw saw the enemy stop in its tracks - I like to think it was a case of ‘f&@k - turn around!!!’
Once I’ve gobbled up all the new real estate west and built a zone there for border protection I’ll go east again and kick their ass
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ok, long time no update -
game is back on after the move hiatus
Ive finally reached the southern tip of the map and am heading east along that border just grabbing free land - im surrounded now by about 5 free folk factions but none seem to have any cities so reaching my borders is a real test of logisitcs - so far the 6 hexes/supply depot/truck station x2 and then a zone seems to be working - supplies are been pushed along nicely and ive created a new zone west called Cannon and have expanded further enough to start the next lot of depot/stations
my infantry are nearing space marine potential, extra sensors, rpgs, gas powered explosive ammo but i was missing combat armour - i hadnt realised padded envirosuits were a pre requisite so ive researched those and switched the priority back to discovery
all kinds of research has happened in the name of resource gathering - i can deep mine for water, fuel and metals now without actually having to find those resources but im not particulalry short of any right now - basic discoveries to increase the QOL of my people are all in place, unis, barracks and hospitals
Priorities now are heading east, building a zone there and equalising all the infrastructure in the zones, my capital has industry 3, beauracracy 3 - aurora has 2 and 2 and cannon has 1 and 1 so ill bring everyone up to the same level
I have a brilliant covert operative to place into the spy council - it occurs to me instead of randomly looking for empires with a capital to steal i can send out my many spies to see what the enemy has - the rolls are always critically high granting my double spies in the regions so theyve all been sent out this tuurn and well see what happens next
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Incidentally, it appears a pretty juicy update dropped on Friday while I was gone. Looks like Vic put a lot of AI work into this one:
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10617&t=382595
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1154840/announcements/detail/3182364231128995290
Changelist for 1.11
-If AI has been collecting lower quality models after making replacements. This has been addressed and now its SHQ is going to directly deploy the unneeded ones (for repl.troops) in new units.
-AI is now only replacing troops now with newer models if XP is at least 40 as the whole idea in the first place was to retain the XP at the front (and sending the new troops to the older version equipment)
-Some minor AI algorithms concerning replacing troops revised.
-In some cases there will will now be less requests to hire a faction candidate.
-Fixed a crash during “flak front processing” message (starfry)
-Fixed occasions of faulty nato counters in history screen
-Reduced Flak production for AI some further.
-Fixed eternal loop in human-human PBEM game (mroll)
-Fixed small glitch with Battlegroup formation from SHQ
-Fixed issue with Strategic Movement caused in earlier v1.10.X open beta
-GPU accelerated in-game DPI scaling added which should speed up a lot playing the game with DPI scaling enabled.
-The DPI scaling done by the GPU is sharper than the previous DPI scaling done by the CPU.
-Sped up the scrolling speed by using shifting direct memory copies within the same map bitmap
-Sped up the scrolling and map clicking speed by not recalculating or redrawing the windows that are overlaid over the map and separating the underlying map drawing and the overdraw (making cache-ing possible).
-Fixed bug with Advice window after end turn (Voker57 / thomas)
-Fixed bug with receiving a new leader with a regime profile above 100
-Finetuning Militia equipment improvement in games that last hundreds of rounds (hyveltush)
-AI work done on quality of tactical level movements.
-AI work done on reducing the tendency of giving ground in general.
-AI work done of making super aggressive regimes less likely to completely overextend
-AI work done on making the AI more likely to invest more in its current military than in its future military (by economic expansion) if threatened a lot.
-AI work done on making the AI wait a bit longer before constructing bigger units instead of more units.
-AI work done on reducing buying of Flak gun units/replacements at some points. And in general stop buying (much) replacements of troops we have less need of.
-AI stops playing some (often) stupid Stratagems on its OHQs
-AI improved OOB raising order (less chance to stay stuck in infantry formations only)
-AI improvements to moving to correct part of a frontArea
-AI improvements with entrenchment
-AI improvements with encircled troops
-Fixed an issue with Free Folk increasing way too much in some circumstances
-Fixed an issue with a savefile getting to large due to extremely large high node logistical network (game will prune some data now if its logs get too big)
-Fixed issue with Zone assignment upon rebel unit placement during turn (decision result)
-Fixed crash at start of turn calculations with trade (volker)
-Fixed an anomaly with the sliders on some systems
-Fixed an anomaly in the trade reports
-Fixed category of forced sales from private to public in the reporting
-Fixed an anomaly with scientific cooperation (not getting tech points from partner)
-Fixed rare crash during elections with a class-based voting system in place.
-You can now set import & export tariffs on the non-aligned regimes. Can be handy if you want certain items not to leave your Zones or to make a little extra buck!
-Fixed a rare issue with private asset doubling public asset that was delegated
-Fixed a bug with disappearing air units after artillery attack on them
-Fixed an interface glitchy state after asking research decision to a director in the case where no research fields were actually available.
-Fixed crash due to an misconfigured AI Regime SHQ inventory (Alex)
-Fixed glitch where you were not paying PP for Zone Merge
-Fixed ZOC ghosts in multi-player game where one human player has resigned
-Truck/Rail/HS Rail Station higher levels now have reduced upkeep workers*
-Rail/HS Rail Station higher levels now have reduced construction round for higher levels*
-Truck/Rail/HS Rail Station higher levels now have increased truck/rail point production*
-Some cards like Eager Industrialist will no longer cause double Asset Type to appear when playing on a Zone where the lower level Asset Type in question is in construction.
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Very cool, geek. Sounds like things are coming along swimmingly. :rockon:
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Gah. I completely forgot to post this interview last week that this nice fellow Peter had with Vic:
https://www.matchstickeyes.com/2022/04/03/shadow-empire-interview-with-victor-reijkersz/
Sounds like more work/development is planned for Ocean planets... :D
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Vic gives us a hint of what's to come: conflict on the high seas?
https://www.vrdesigns.net/?p=2144
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Very nice
I’ll update the aar soon
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https://twitter.com/VRdesigns/status/1541742977009287168
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You beat me to it, damn you. :P
Seriously, though, it's good to see him still working on the game. Even with barely scratching the surface, I'm always amazed with how apparent it is the depth & complexity Shadow Empire has.
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He's also still working on Advanced Tactics!
https://www.matrixgames.com/news/advanced-tactics-phoenix-version-just-made-it-to-open-beta (https://www.matrixgames.com/news/advanced-tactics-phoenix-version-just-made-it-to-open-beta)
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Yeah, I noticed that as well. I'm starting to wonder if the man ever sleeps.
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Vic updated the current beta. Slower planetary orbits allow for some interesting game-setting options.
https://twitter.com/VRdesigns/status/1544335559778344961
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A re-roll button hadn't even occurred to me, but that's brilliant. Thank you, Victor!
https://twitter.com/VRdesigns/status/1550429551465041920
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Oh, and for anyone who enjoys truly epic-length AAR's, check out these two guys' MP game! :o
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GuRW1RNXJmk-mm8QmOx8VEO67QhKINbr-CEY9-zU9Q4/edit
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A re-roll button hadn't even occurred to me, but that's brilliant. Thank you, Victor!
https://twitter.com/VRdesigns/status/1550429551465041920
Every game that creates a world or universe like this needs a re-roll button. Civ has one. I wish ISG did.
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An "Oceania" DLC is coming to Shadow Empire:
https://www.matrixgames.com/news/shadow-empire-oceania-is-coming-soon
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https://twitter.com/VRdesigns/status/1661333022740824064
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That’s great and all but I still need a ‘this unit is out of supply because…..’ tool tip - it should not remain a mystery how logistics work
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I'm super-pumped for Vic's roadmap, especially regarding future DLC's, but 'geek is right: Logistics remain frustratingly nigh-incomprehensible. It continues to be one of, if not *the*, single biggest complaint I come across regarding Shadow Empire. I'm always baffled that the issue doesn't do better in Victor's occasional community votes, though I'm guessing perhaps not a lot of newbies hang out there.
Don't get me wrong, I genuinely am excited for where he's planning to take this game. But a more intuitive logistics system -- or at least one with better tooltips (or even tooltips at all) -- would be most welcome.
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Update dropped yesterday:
https://www.matrixgames.com/news/shadow-empire-major-update-v121d
https://www.vrdesigns.net/?p=2225
It includes numerous AI improvements (it's better at using air forces now), Alien Critters and Free Folk Marauders actually fight each other now, and you can finally give your Research Director a specific focus for when you're missing a specific discovery.
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https://twitter.com/VRdesigns/status/1688579389984849920
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https://twitter.com/VRdesigns/status/1690028440865439744
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https://www.matrixgames.com/news/shadow-empire-hazards-and-hardships-major-update-v125-out-now
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Subcultures expansion / update released
https://www.matrixgames.com/news/shadow-empire-subcultures-update-v125e-out-now