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[postal83]

I've been playing this off and on for a couple weeks now and am trying to figure everything out so I can really enjoy it to its full extent...

My question is, for those of you who haven played Distant Worlds, what would you say is the better 4x?

[Paul]

They're way different, it's hard to make a comparison. I've had fun with both.

Star Ruler is WAY more modable. You can change just about anything in Star Ruler. In that aspect distant worlds is quite lacking, with no ability to modify tech trees or components.

But I love the way automation works in DW and having the ability to pick and choose what parts of my empire I want to run, and the automation actually does a pretty good job on the parts I let it manage. I've been playing lately as a military commander, letting automation take care of everything except for military ships. It's interesting sometimes to just let the AI make friends and enemies and leave you to clean up the mess

When it comes down to it I've probably played Distant Worlds more than Star Ruler.

[forsaken1111]

Distant Worlds is a whole different beast, yeah. I like both games but if I had to pick one I'd go with DW+Expansion. Then again, I own both games and I do play them both, so YMMV.

[Eek-A-Mouse]

Star Ruler is great. I'm also liking their devs alot.. Frequent patches + coming here to answer questions = awesome.

[Jehdin]

New patch out today, some significant changes in there.

Can't wait until Steam catches up.

[Firgof Umbra]

Patch 1050 now available! (It's not a typo; we bumped it up to 1050 because that's how big a difference it makes!)

Non-Steam users, click here to download Patch 1044->1050!
Steam users:  We're working on getting the patch to Steam ASAP.  It probably won't be up this weekend but should be available at the very start of the week!

If you'd like to see the major features of Patch 1050 in action while you download it, click the link! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF3e2haC9xk

Changelog:

Fixed
 A long lag before joining a multiplayer game in progress that appears as a freeze (but eventually does connect).
 Modded EmpireNames.txt and EmpireColors.txt are now used in the lobby.
 Tips files were showing up as languages.
 Freeze when holding alt for range rings while hovering on an enemy unit.
 Antimatter generators would not explode when disabled due to lack of control.
 Queue management commands did not work for dry docks in multiplayer.
 Light/Heavy/Stealth hulls were incorrectly scaling with level, making them much too powerful at later tech levels.
 Ships can now be retrofitted / scuttled at dry docks.
 The victory message was not showing up when eliminating all enemy teams in a team game.
 Docking stations into planets or carriers could crash.
 Starting a multiplayer game with teams could crash due to timing issues.
 When hovering over a sub system with a modifier/link attached to it, the correct stats will now be shown on the left.
 Overriding controls that had a default key assigned to them would create duplicate bindings and not be displayed correctly in the options menu.
 Hotkey groups are now saved and loaded.
 The Rack Mount was misbehaving at small scales. It now behaves much more sensibly at all scales.
 Fixed jittery movement of ships in multiplayer (except in very high-lag situations).
 Manual transfer orders did not work for MP clients and did not save.
 The order list on completely idle ships would not properly display for clients.
 Boarding defenses were not scaling up, making them wholly ineffective.
Changed
 Nano armor hitpoints and damage reduction now only increase with armor research, while regeneration rate increases with nanotech research only.
 Multiplayer server names now default to "<nickname>'s Game".
 Clicking the planet lost message now zooms to the system the planet was lost in.
 Version compatibility is now checked before joining the lobby, instead of after starting the game.
 When a treaty ends prematurely because of one party lacking the required materials / research, a message is now displayed.
 Use tool only appears in the right click menu if the ship could actually use that tool on the clicked object.
 Stations built from orbital dry docks now correctly orbit the original planet.
 System Searches (used by the AIs) should now be faster.
 The hovered object poll now uses the OctTree, improving performance by ~10% in large galaxies.
 Arrow key movement speed now changes more drastically with zoom level, instead of being exceedingly slow when zoomed out.
 Zoom in now locks on to the system plane, so missing a target will no longer zoom "through" the system.
 The Remnants now use designs with more advanced technology in them. Analysing or boarding their designs will let you build high-tech toys much earlier.
 The system rings are now larger so as to fully contain the bounds of the system.
 Space damage is now percentage based.
 System ring owner color is now based on military strength rather than pure ship count.
 Systems are only marked as under attack if either you or the enemy have military presence.
 Systems that are contested now glow rather than their ring changing color.
 Distant icons for ships that are taking damage now glow.
Balance
 All armor levels are now equalized, making more advanced armor more viable.
 Ablative armor now scales the same way as other armor, giving it significantly more hitpoints at higher tech levels.
 Torpedoes now use less ammo.
 Planets now have a damage resistance related to cities, capitols, and bunkers. This scales with level, increasing their longevity late-game.
Added
 Savegames may now be deleted in-game.
 Added an 'experimental' tab to the options menu. Has various completely unexplained options that aren't quite ready for release, but mostly work.
 Dedicated server binary to run a server without playing or rendering the graphics.
 UPnP support: port forwarding is no longer necessary to host a server when using a modern router that supports UPnP.
 Moving your mouse to the edge of the screen now moves the camera. (Can be turned off from the options menu).
 Options menu settings for ambient brightness and multiplayer server autosave.
 3D movement orders: Double right clicking and holding the right mouse button now lets you adjust the vertical component. (Also works by holding control, single right clicking and holding)
 Added support for scripted planet queues. Use '<script call="Module::Function" />' in a queue to use a function of the type 'bool Name(Planet@).' Return true to prevent the rest of the queue from running.
 A grid is now displayed on every system's XZ plane. (Can be turned off from the options menu).
 Added 'OrderList::leaveFleet()' to remove a ship from its fleet.
 Added a new weapon: Artillery. Huge range, massive damage, but very slow fire rate. May only be equipped to stations.
 Added log & log10 functions for formulas.
 Added new planet conditions: Plains (Cheaper buildings), Volcanic (Weaker buildings), and Geothermal vents (Faster electronics/advanced parts production).
 Empire messages now have a category. Categories can be toggled on or off when expanding the ticker display.
 Options to control the display or hide the distant icons for ships, stations and planets.
 Race Customization: before the game starts, you can pick traits affecting your empire in various ways. Traits are picked with a point-buy system.

[Firgof Umbra]

Patch 1.0.5.4 now available! Note:  Must patch to 1052 (available here:link to 1052) before applying this patch; this patch only works for non-Steam copies of the game!

Full changelog follows:

[Fixed] Fix civil acts that have a group not correctly loading.
[Fixed] Fix racial bonuses affecting ship components not correctly applying.
[Fixed] Crash on game start when having shaders disabled.
[Fixed] Dry Docks could be ordered to scuttle or retrofit at themselves, making them disappear.
[Fixed] When starting at a higher tech level from traits, structures on the homeworld did not start at that level.
[Fixed] Fetch orders did not behave properly with resources that have a "required" (eg Crew).
[Fixed] Ships reacting to automated attack orders could overshoot the system and sit idle at the edge of deep space.
[Fixed] The set_owner and destroy console commands now work with all selected objects.
[Fixed] Fixed a very rare crash bug caused by moving between systems/galaxies.
[Fixed] The minimap was horizontally flipped.
[Fixed] Objects that are under attack can no longer be docked to prevent exploits.
[Fixed] Construction progress would jump suddenly at times.
[Fixed] Construction completion percent is now the average of the lowest percentage of a particular resource, and the average percent per resource.
[Fixed] Scripted planet governor entries were breaking saves.
[Fixed] Shields no longer consume more power at higher levels.
[Fixed] "Supply This" was willing to tell planets and stations to supply objects.
[Fixed] Ships built from dry docks with auto park on would not park at the correct distance.
[Fixed] Fixed nano-armor reducing the ship's total apparent health in the absence of repair systems.
[Changed] Tweaked governors to maintain a stronger economy and empire.
[Changed] Tool names are now localizable.
[Changed] Automated attack orders are now lower priority, so ships will break attacks to fetch fuel and ammo unless manually ordered to attack to the death.
[Changed] Cut space damage in half.
[Changed] Repair tools can now only repair ships and stations.
[Changed] Fleets now stay in formation while attacking (can be toggled off with a button next to the formation buttons).
[Changed] Cargo Structures now also have a store for each dedicated resource, making them more useful in many cases.
[Balance] Artillery now has a minimum range of 10% of the maximum range.
[Balance] Goods factories now produce 30% less goods.
[Added] Added 'Automatic' option for default governor type to choose based on the conditions of the planet.
[Added] Objects now use a much better algorithm to search for targets in a system, improving behaviors at very large ship counts.
[Added] Ships now detect if they are likely to kill an enemy target and will select additional targets for their other guns when they are.
[Added] Added the 'Aggressor' personality by Superking.

[Johnfalcon99977]

I have this game. Can't wait till more ship skins are added!

Edit: HOLY SH*T RACE TRAITS!

[de5me7]

ive decided that bording parties are now probably my favourite attack. Deployed a fleet of six ships to my enemies home system, and over a 10min battle captured more than 15 ships, to then go on a decimate the system

[tNok85]

Bought this game a while ago on Impulse when it first came out - full price or near it - and just haven't had the time to try it yet.

It looks fantastic... really want to get going, just seems like a steep learning curve. Fun!

[Journier]

i dont think theres much of a learning curve after you know how to design ships.

Auto governors handle things for planetary build up (ok). some tweaking sometimes necessary.


Game is fantastic now, especially multiplayer, pretty intense games on small maps.

[tNok85]

i dont think theres much of a learning curve after you know how to design ships.

Auto governors handle things for planetary build up (ok). some tweaking sometimes necessary.


Game is fantastic now, especially multiplayer, pretty intense games on small maps.

In-game tutorial good?

[Journier]

i havent used the tutorial since oh..... august of 2010, but from what I remember, it should be fairly interactive, and should go into a majority of the games mechanics. IIRC its been added to since the game gets new features regularly.

[Firgof Umbra]

Unfortunately the tutorial is a little out of date.  We haven't been able to get around to updating it so some information may be missing or slightly incorrect in places; most of it is still very useful information and go-at-your-own pace.

I'm hoping to throw most of it out and replace it with something a bit more interactive and 'chapter'ed so that people can revisit and learn specific things if they've forgotten them.

[de5me7]

theoretically all you need to know to play this game is:

how to build a combat ship

how to build a colony ship

and how to assign each targets.

theres obviously alot more detail, but to simply play (not necessarily win) all you need is the two above, and the ability to move your view around the map.