Looks like the Karma Invaders got you.
Maybe you shouldn't squish the NPR next time.
Hey, they attacked me first. They shot down my exploration ship, and fired on my fleet when it arrived. I just returned fire. Lots of return fire until there was nothing left of their fleet but space dust, but they started it.
So, uh, any pointers for getting into the swing of this? I seem to have fallen down that mile I mentioned making on the learning cliff a while back.
Basically, where and how do I start? I can poke and prod on my own time, but I need to start somewhere.
When I got into it (back when this thread first surfaced like 19 months ago) I just played with it for a few days until I got the hang of it. I started with making a new game and letting it pick tech for me, then just spent time exploring the interface a bit and playing. Then I later restarted and picked my own starting techs once I knew what was what.
Was hooked when I finally had my first successful warship kill the swarm that was in the next system with a bunch of missiles. Took several tries, my very first one was missing something vital. I think I forgot the active sensors? Then the next one died because I couldn't get my ship to turn ON the active sensors. I think I lost ships once because I forgot to actually produce missiles for my missile launchers to fire too. Finally working it all out and defeating them was fun though.
Thats why I was so bored with this game, I remember all the action I had in my games before - this one was the first getting back into the game with the more recent releases, and all I find is an empty galaxy and nothing for my ships to fight but some crummy NPR that didn't even move off his home planet.
Also, one tip I'm finding useful in the latest version: Auto 1 day turns instead of 5 day turns. The game seems to calculate stuff, especially civilian ships, better when its on 1 day increments instead of 5 or 30. I noticed when I was doing 30 day turns and even 5 day turns the civ ships weren't working as well, they'd be almost to their destination before you click and then just finish their trip in a day or two and sit there the rest of the time because it wasn't rechecking their orders in between the days. Running auto 1 day turns will check every day, so the ships move every day instead of sitting around wasting time. And it stops every time an interupt hits (research done, orders finished, or officers joining it seems - as well as the obvious sensor contacts and such).
Speaking of the automated turns thing, anyone know if you can select what interrupts you and what doesn't? I have so many new officers coming now that I built more academies that every 5 days it stops. If I could just make it stop only on important stuff I could have it run until something happened that needed my attention every time.