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[LoSboccacc]

I know but there is no more than 100% so te other way is to spawn npr by hand at each system which somewhat spoils the fun

[Flying Dice]

5 systems, 100% npr generation chance  (and sm-throw system in once you are expanded, 5 at time)

should balance between actually finding aliens so aggression can be directed toward something and not dying the 5second death

I'm not actually very sure about how to SM-in more systems.

Although it's worth noting that 100% generation chance, will only generate an NPR on a habitable world.  So if it gens a system with a sun and a barren rock, no NPR.  If it generates a system and it includes an earth-like planet, or suitable methane planet, then it would generate an NPR.  It's still up to the galactic dice if the system is going to be a contested ore-harvesting point, or an alien homeworld.

From the system information window you can generate new systems and then manually connect them to the existing JP network.

[Girlinhat]

Small map, heavily populated, and generate new random systems and toss them in to the existing network, possibly also adding new NPR.

Will also leave on Precursor, Swarm, and Invaders.

Now, on to the empire.  Two questions: Should it start a certain way?  Should the empire have a grand goal, or multiple goals?

I don't like conventional start, that's just boring to me.  You're gonna get TN eventually, don't waste time piddling about with the simple start.  But should a certain amount of tech be done, or starting conditions set?  With Starmaster mode, I could make Earth have extremely bountiful resources, or set up Mars as a mineral hub, or any number of geographical settings.  Then beyond that, the number of starting shipyards and other infrastructure can be handles, as well as starting tech.  Playing aggressive, I'd suggest to go with engine, armor, and sensors more than anything else, as well as things like fuel efficiency and mining rate - if war games have taught me anything, it's that the winner is not the person with the biggest guns, it's the person who can produce the most guns the fastest.  Large, fuel efficient engines strapped onto small, disposable war modules sounds about right.

And then, any over-aching goals?  Shall we seek to produce a ship of a certain tonnage, or to colonize a certain type of planet, or to have a certain number of races in the empires?  I personally want to go capping ships.  Stealing special enemy ships like hive queens and invader anything sounds amazing.  But there could be any number of other meta-goals available.

[JacenHanLovesLegos]

I have no suggestions on goals, but destroyers and frigates supporting carriers with marine transports to cap enemy ships sounds good. Make sure to have lots of AM gauss/missiles/etc.

[MonkeyHead]

PeeTeeefF

[Mephansteras]

PTW

[Sheb]

Well, not too advanced or it's going to be a cakewalk. You should expand as fast and as far as you can. For ships, standardize things! You just need 3 ships: a missile DD, a anti-missile DD and a DD leader.

[Girlinhat]

This begets the question though: Are missiles to be the primary weaponry?  After all, missiles are ammo-defendant.  Do we really want to slow the fleet down waiting on supply ships and production?  Lasers are a "standard" armament, but plasma carronades can do outlandish damage if you can actually get them in close enough.  Gauss will do fine for anti-missile, but we could mix things up a bit with different specialized weapons.

I've always liked microwave myself.  It destroys shields and sensors, and ignores shields and armor.  It's not lethal in itself, but it's a good tackle weapon when combined with marines.

[MonkeyHead]

I like the sound of that. Some kind of hegemonising human swarm, assimilating, scavenging and taking things through force.

[Sheb]

Okay, go for microwave and marines, but only because I hate you.

[Rabid_Cog]

How about a reverse swarm?
No ships below 20kt and no missile launchers BELOW size 5. No swarming, no disposable ships, no tiny escorts or cheap recon fighters. Note that you can still use smaller missiles, you just can't make your launchers that small.
You will have to use mass amounts of Gauss cannons and thick armor to hold out against the inevitable missile swarms, or go with cluster missiles that break apart.

Overarching goal is simple: no diplomacy, no trading, no conquering. Every alien race is blasphemy and must be exterminated through the judicial use of radioactive warheads. Under no circumstances can your soldiers see the hideous monsters face to face.

[Mephansteras]

Go for Robotech Missile Spam!

[Girlinhat]

Actually, I'm in favor of conquering.  There's some planets that are just too annoying to exploit unless you have some methane-breathing slave labor!

Megaships are tricky things...  The big problem with them is that a certain new tech can trivialize the whole thing.  Upgrade your engines, and you've got to deal with the whole weapon system and shields in the refit and/or rebuild.  For big ships I prefer to split them, use one ship with engines and a tractor beam, and another ship with weapons and defenses.  This has a few advantages.  1: If you split your ship in half, then your grav signature is half as big, and the enemy has to get closer to target you.  2: If you're losing a fight, you can at least save the engine module by detaching it, which will reduce the rebuild cost considerably.  3: Shipyards only need to be 1/2 as big.  4: Refitting an engine module is easier than refitting a whole ship, and the same for weapons.  5: If you make an FAC or something, you can strap a big engine to it as a boosting sled to take it somewhere that would normally be beyond its fuel range, and then slip off and let it fight at combat speed.  Of course it also has drawbacks.  1: Only one ship is defended by shield and armor, only missile defense will be shared.  2: I have no idea how new crew issues will work with modular ships, but I know it won't be pretty.  3: That's quite a bit of micromanaging, to get all your ships tied together before setting off.

I like megaships in theory, but they're not a very aggressive choice.  They're slow to build, slow to move, and consume massive resources.  It's just not terribly convenient for this kind of style.  If I were going for slow expansion and iron-wall defense, then hells yeah I would toss on the most armor and shield I could and layer it with gauss and drop some megaheavy lasers onboard.

[Rabid_Cog]

Of course you could always go the swarm approach with a max ship size and max launcher size, with no ships above a certain size allowed to have weaponry (synergizes well with split ships, they are half the size, effectively).

If you want to go the whole hog with split ships, disallow ships from carrying both weapons and engines.

If you like conquering, by all means go that way. It just has a habit of slowing things down immensely as you have to research and build invasion ships and ground forces, then spend the several weeks (months?) actually fighting the other guy's ground troops.

[Sheb]

Or nuke his troops from orbit and then invade.