The Galaxy map
The galaxy map is our window on the universe. There we see the cartography of the space around us, as well as information about our fleets and systems. For the purposes of the LP most of my pictures will be of the galaxy map. Let's go through some of the information we can see on this screen, starting in the main screen.
We see the map itself. BOTF uses a fog-of-war for galaxy exploration. Any sector that has never been scanned or visited is hidden behind the nebulous image you can see above. Our home system, Sol, is part of our territory, and is highlighted in blue. The neighboring systems have not yet been visited, and so while we can see the presence of stars, we don't know if they are inhabited or what planets may be present. The only way to find out is, as they say, to boldly go where no one has gone before. Finally, the colored rings indicate the range of our ships. Scout ships alone can go to the red boundary, while only our command ships and strike cruisers are restricted to the green boundary. Colony ships, troop transports, raiders, and most of our ships can operate within the yellow boundary. We can expand the range of our ships by building planetary shipyards and keeping them powered. Or we can convert troop transports into spaceborne outposts and starbases to expand our range.
Below this we can see a map of our selected system, in this case Sol. B-class planets appear in blue, gas giants cannot be colonized or terraformed. All the other planets in the system have been terraformed, and appear green. Future systems will come mostly uninhabitable, and those planets will appear in red. Planets have a class, indicated by the letter below it. Classes have a limited impact on future colonization, O-class allow us to build aquaculture centers, P-class unlock a free-energy building later on, but for the most part it merely dictates how hard it is to terraform. Each planet contributes to our maximum population (officially that 335 means millions, but I don't worry much anymore). Planets also contribute to the growth rate, which impacts how fast we reach our maximum. Orbital defenses can be constructed later if we feel we need them. Finally, the blue crystal by the star indicates the presence of dilithium in this system. We require an active dilithium mine to provide fuel for each starship we are building. Dilithium is distributed empire-wide, so any mined here on Sol can be used at any shipyard we happen to have active. Mercury, Venus, and Mars have a glowing rock above them indicating a bonus to energy production. Planet-specific bonuses like this and Earth's food bonus only activate if the planet in question has been terraformed.
The top-left indicates the turn number, and also lists our funds and total available dilithium. Below it are indicators of our relationship with the other 4 major races. Finally we see any ships we have in this sector. They are also visible in less detail on the main screen. As you can see we have a scout ship and a colony ship available at the beginning of the game.
The Research Screen
Here we distribute research points collected throughout the empire. There are 6 areas of development, each with a unique impact on the game. Earning a level in Biotech will unlock type 2 farms and increase farming efficiency empire wide. The bonus applies immediately, but systems must upgrade their farms individually. Levels in Computer unlock scanner systems, but are mostly related to new ships. Construction levels unlock type 2 factories, Energy levels unlock type 2 plasma reactors. Propulsion levels give us small bonuses to the maximum range of our ships, but are primarily related to new ships. Weapons research is only useful for new ships and upgrades to our intelligence and research buildings. Upgrades for these two buildings only unlock after a certain tech level has been reached for all 6 areas of development. We must keep pace with all our research or we will never improve these buildings.
We can keep our research balanced between these 6 options, or we can focus on one at a time in succession. Sometimes we can focus on earning the tech for certain buildings or ships, and then go back to a more ordinary rotation.
The System ScreenThis allows us to micromanage the economy of each of our systems. It is divided into 5 screens, 4 of which I will describe in detail.
Please note that each system has its own version of this screen.First: The Production Screen
In BOTF, each building requires 10 units of population to make it function. Currently we can only operate 21 buildings, but with time we can get up to 33 going. We have the 5 building types I listed above, producing a variety of resources. Food is required to maintain our population, and having more food than necessary provides a small bonus to population growth. Industry is used to construct ships and new buildings. Energy powers special buildings that operate off of power rather than population. Intelligence and research points are pooled across the empire, and are used in their own screens.
We can move population between buildings as we like, to emphasize one resource or another.
Second: The Energy Screen
Here we can turn buildings on or off, thereby selectively activating the bonus they provide. At the moment we only have an active dilithium mine and our shipyard. Later we will add private farms, sensor arrays, and Starfleet Academy itself.
Third: The Build List
Here we see the buildings available for construction, we can see the bonuses they provide and their cost. Conveniently, the game automatically calculates the total construction time in turns for us based on our
current industrial output. This farm costs 60 units of industry, and as you can see to the left we are currently producing 72 units, therefore this will take 1 turn. To the right is a queue we can fill for several orders. An important note: excess points spent for a given building are lost, and you can only build one building per turn. Queueing up 8 farms with 1000 industry will still take 8 turns to build.
Fourth: The Shipbuilding List
This duplicates the build list, but for starships.
Fifth: The Structures List
This provides a comprehensive list of the currently constructed buildings, and allows buildings to be scrapped (for no return). Useful if you are upgrading farms and now have more than you need. Scrapping those extra farms will reduce the industry points needed to upgrade the remaining farms. I did not feel the need to show you this screen.
The Intelligence ScreenThis is where you distribute your produced intelligence points. At the moment we haven't met any major races, so we shouldn't even bother producing intelligence points (intelligence points, like research points, are not accumulated). I'll describe this screen when the time comes.
The Diplomacy ScreenThis is where you offer and respond to diplomatic treaties with major and minor races. I will describe this one in greater detail once we meet someone.
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Topic: Lets Play: Star Trek TNG Birth of the Federation: Turns 173-175 *WE'RE BACK* (Read 58460 times)