Remnants of the Precursors - Initial thoughts

[Ray F]

Can we get a clean up of the troll who obviously has issues with RotP?

Purged. Might be the same person who's been repeatedly making new accounts here and trolling. Thanks to the user who reported it by the way - have recently fixed a forum issue that make it much easier to see reports like this. If he comes back, use the report button again.

There was some reddit user /u/SomeoneWithMyName who was a 1OOM developer who had I to perma-ban this week (second ban, first was for 7 days) for trolling the rotp subreddit. I think he was the first troll we've ever had. Maybe it was that guy? Has a really insulting style of posting. If he followed me here, then sorry everyone.

[haphazard1]

Thanks for explaining the ship (and base) building reserve effect. The pre-build 'instant fleet with newly discovered tech' effect has always seemed rather exploitive to me, but it is good that such spending does not just vanish and get lost. I can mentally hand wave that as the spending building up space dock facilities, supplies, training workers, etc.

[rgp151]

I'm not clear on how production works in RotP. When you switch production from one ship to another, what happens exactly? Do you lose all of the production you had invested? If I have been producing missile bases and I have 3 years left to build a base, but then I set investment in defense to 0, what happens? Does what has already been invested get lost or is that production retained indefinitely?

In ROTP, if you have accumulated ship production on a planet for a particular ship design, then change to a new design and hit "Next Turn", then all of that accumulated production is placed into a planetary-specific ship reserve on that planet. It is then used to add up to 50% to your ship production on your planet until it is expended. This is similar and in addition to reserve spending.

Example:

Let's say you are building a 3000BC ship and, once you have spent 2000BC, you decide to switch construction to some 100BC ships.

In MOO1, you would immediately get 20 of those new ships plus whatever you get from the next turn's ship construction.

In ROTP, that 2000BC is funneled into a ship-specific reserve on the planet. So if you create 400BC of ship production the next turn, 200BC will come out of that reserve... giving you 600BC and six of those 100BC ships.

The purpose of this change is to close the "insta-fleet" exploit. You still get a nice benefit from the accumulated ship construction, but it works like an extra form of reserve spending now (for ships only).

Missile base construction is similar, but simpler, since there is no concept of switching designs. There is a accumulated missile base spending. If you suddenly stop spending (or set your missile base target to 0), those BC sit there patiently in a defense reserve until you start spending there again.

So switching designs isn't a total waste. Here is another question though, how do these hidden reserves interact with the Planetary Reserve? Let's say I have 1000 BC in Ship Reserves, and then I also give 1000 BC in Planetary reserves to the planet. The planet's production is 200. I think this means that if the Planet has 200 Prod then its production can be doubled to 400 per turn from the Planetary Reserve. Does this mean that the Ship Reserve can now increase Ship Production to 600 or is one reserve not used until the other is exhausted?

[Ray F]

So switching designs isn't a total waste. Here is another question though, how do these hidden reserves interact with the Planetary Reserve? Let's say I have 1000 BC in Ship Reserves, and then I also give 1000 BC in Planetary reserves to the planet. The planet's production is 200. I think this means that if the Planet has 200 Prod then its production can be doubled to 400 per turn from the Planetary Reserve. Does this mean that the Ship Reserve can now increase Ship Production to 600 or is one reserve not used until the other is exhausted?

Both reserves work but they do not compound with each other, nor does either compound with planetary production bonuses (rich/poor). Both benefits are based on basic ship production.

You don't want to create systems that incentivize micromanagement. If the two reserves compounded, then players would be incentivized to build up ship reserves on their ship-building planets during peacetime just so they could exploit the compounding during war. The way it works now is that it just doesn't punish you for changing your mind. 

The empire tax system was also improved significantly to reduce micro, as was the research interest system. I really tried to hit all of the obvious micro exploits.

[haphazard1]

Thanks again for the explanations, Ray F.

I like the reduction in micro. It simplifies playing the game, and allows the player to focus on the big decisions rather than trying to mix/max every little thing with lots of slider adjustments.

A quick update on my lizards: As of turn 105 I have settled the two tundra worlds, and now have 8 worlds. Range 6 finally came in, and a colony ship is on the way to Kennioth for world #9. Of course, my only new tech option was range 7.

I also finished researching IIT8 and IRC3, nicely timed together, and am in the midst of a round of refits and factory building. An actual waste clean up tech was spotted, and I may someday have RW60% to finally help my eco spending.

I have established diplomatic contact with the Humans, who are just east of the Nazlok. The shape shifters really got boxed in, and only have 3 worlds. I have trade going with all three known alien races, and have been skirmishing with the humans and bugs as they keep sending ships to my frontier systems. I badly need something better than laser fighters, but ion cannon is in the percentages which should help. I am hoping for a missile upgrade in the next tier.

Spying has been continuous by both the bugs and shifters. I get a report that I shut down one of their spy networks almost every turn (probably 4 out of every 5 turns). I have no idea how much resources they are putting into spying, but I have a couple ticks in counter-espionage.

I am worried about the wider galactic situation. With three other races all near me in the west, there is a lot of space available for the remaining races. If the rocks or brains have been busy grabbing the entire eastern half of the galaxy, my lizards may have big problems in the future.

[rgp151]

I tend to see starts like this a A LOT. 

   

This is Small (70). There are 4 opponents, so 5 players in all. As you can see, at least 2 are right slam up next to me. The Bultarhi are also very close to me. Their home world is in one of those clusters of stars below me. 

This means that some AI has like half the map to themselves. The orange star above it has no habitable planets. The planets below me are Inferno, so I'm stuck wedged between a bunch of AI in a crowded sector, while over half the map is open with easy access to 2 of the AI. I see this more in RotP than I did in MoO.

[rgp151]

Update on this: 
   

The Meklars are so far ahead I don't know that the game is salvageable. They are 5 levels ahead of me in Computers already. They only have one level left to Advanced Computer Tech. So, I don't know that I can come back from that.

[haphazard1]

Cyborgs with that many stars and that much computer tech are scary.

How many stars were in that galaxy, rgp151? That kind of distribution with one AI having a free shot at a large portion of the galaxy seems to happen more in larger galaxies.

[rgp151]

Cyborgs with that many stars and that much computer tech are scary.

How many stars were in that galaxy, rgp151? That kind of distribution with one AI having a free shot at a large portion of the galaxy seems to happen more in larger galaxies.

This was Small, 70 stars. That's the 3rd biggest option. There is Tiny 33, Small 50 and Small 70.

[haphazard1]

An update on my lizards: I have played through turn 144, when the first galactic council vote was held. I have been worried about all that space in the eastern half of the galaxy, and I was right to be worried.

The birds are almost twice my pop. I had just made contact with them the previous turn, when I settled my 14th planet:

I have a colony ship on the way to a 15th world (an inferno), and there are two size 15 toxic planets available (I do have radiated in my tree). But it looks like this is probably all I will manage to get peacefully. And with the birds being that much larger...things do not look promising.

A big part of the problem has been some very sparse tech trees. It is turn 144 and I have no clean up techs and no terraforming. Reduced Waste 60% is in the precentages, which will help, and I do have the 10/BC eco tech in my tree. It is a long way off, though, very expensive for the research I can produce.

I have sizable trade deals and decent relations with my neighbors, but I just met the birds and they may turn out to be hostile. If I could just get some kind of terraforming tech...with this many worlds that would be a huge boost. I did recently finish Soil Enrichment tech and have been improving my habitable worlds, but about half my empire is hostile so the gain is limited.

Maybe I can turtle up for a while and continue development -- I have grabbed several new worlds recently and they need time to build factories. But with the council having met, I suspect my neighbors may become more aggressive. Will have to see. Hopefully my lizards can still find a way to greatness.