In order to reduce an easy-to-forget micro management step, either the terraform facility should be auto-deleted when it hits max or its maintenance should drop to zero. I would prefer the latter.
Yeah the second! It got so annoying getting spammed telling me to deconstruct the facility and keeping it because I am going to upgrade it. I don't want to pay more than twice for a small increase.
Deconstructing terraformers is the only reasy I keep the building AI on suggest. I hate it that I need to keep getting spam to build other buildings to get the notification to deconstruct
Thank you so much Scott. Having never played Distant Worlds, I was so overwhelmed when I first played Distant Worlds 2. I was worried that I had spent good money on a game that I would never understand. Then I found your guide and from there your UA-cam channel and WOW, just WOW! You have not only the knowledge but the passion of and educator! With your help I have taken this immense game with a gigantic learning curve and found a new excitement in my life. Thank you again.
I will second that. This video was very helpful in explaining some of these numbers and factors to me. Now I guess I will have to research some of these colonization techs. Prior to this video I thought, these were only useful for actual colonization, but upgrading the suitability for your homeworld should be very helpful.
One of the nebula homeworlds I found had 40% damage on it. That lowered the suitability so low that I didnt see the planet in colonization window. It takes some years to fix, but will be highly profitable when repaired. Currently assimilation can be "cheesed" by rising the tax to 100% to cause a rebellion. Each rebellion kills some population and damages buildings but when beaten gives +30% assimilation. So just after you have invaded a planet cause three rebellions with your troops already on planet.
Yeah but in my play through the humans hated me more each time they rebelled so they rebelled every time it was put down after a few days so i had constant rebellion like 20 in a row so eventually i had to purge the planet.
Hello Scott! Thank you so much for your videos and your guide. You are a wholesome guy. I enjoy your content and your passion for the game. It is contagious, and it made me learn how to enjoy more this game. Thanks to your guide, it is now one of my favourite games ever!
Thank you for the chapter links in this video. The short chapters are great for finding what I can do better. Can you do similar videos for other key game points (ie, invading, building fleets, etc)
If you set the automation for facilities to "Suggest" it will give you a notification exactly when the 5 years are over, suggesting to scrap the terraforming facility. However, it also keeps suggesting military facilities everywhere...
Great videos. Well explained and to the point. I hope DW2 will get a fanbase as loyal as DW1! Are you using some UI mod? My planet window looks different ... thx for any hint!
- Good video, very clear - There really needs to be a message when the terraforming facility is "finished" with its improvement of the planet. As it is, it is just one more thing you need to remember to check, and then delete, when it is done. - You keep highlighting that 20 is the threshold of suitability where it will become profitable in a timely manner. It would be good to see some detailed sensitivity analysis of how profitability changes against suitability, to understand exactly what the inflection point looks like. - I often colonise planets under 20 suitability! I play on very rare colonies, so it often requires me to spread out my empire using 'bad' planets in order to reach good planets. Also, having a colony claims some space as part of my empire, locking out other neutral-ish players from building mining ops on 'my' resources. - You will often colonise independent colonies where your colonising race is not suitable. In this case, you might want to take less than a coloniser can carry, even a few guys are enough to trigger the 'colonised' moment, and then you can ship them offworld using the race control features you showed.
First well done video and explanations. A question I've had, completely off topic I know but I haven't seen anywhere else so here goes. Is there a lore person or could you even do such a thing.. what happened in the past with the shaktari (sp) war, how did the galaxy fall to its current state etc etc? Thank you in advance.
There was a previous game Distant Worlds Universe. They were an end game threat. I never played that game long enough to encounter them so I'm not 100% sure.
This idea is great! However it does cause migration gridlock after a while. It is because of the algorithm the migration passenger ships use. Example assume you have 5 races in your empire. They all thrive on very different planet types. So every planet in your empire will after a while have 4 of the 5 races set to resettle as they do not live well on that particular planet type. What happens when a passenger ship shows up? It loads a mix of all the races set to resettle at that planet. So jump to the chase at the end of all of this and now your passenger ships all have a mix of 4 races on them. Not a single planet in your empire will accept ALL 4 of these races. The algorithm does not know where to send these passenger ships they just become gridlocked.
I have successfully used Colony ships for this. I built 2 and when you say "load colonists" it will prioritize the race you set to resettle. It takes awhile (and a lot of micro) but it works. As for auto - it does work sometimes - but I've only had to deal with 2 races in the last few play thrus.
Hey - sorry I was gone for so long. I was very ill, had surgery, and am much better now. However got a new job so life has been crazy. Hoping to get back soon.
Don't forget that the game rounds UP for many things. So when it said 5% it was probably 4.0001% Also, the initial math 38% -50% +20% =18% doesn't that equal 8%? The planet will repair damage at ~1% a year. The first Terraformer is barely faster. So, I would never use a T-former solely to repair the damage. Depending on your Science output and the R&D focus you have to decide: Incremental T-forming versus all at once. The costs and maintenance rising with every step. It takes an immense amount of investment in R&D Time since yu have to do every planetary type to get into the endgame T-formers. Also, while +20 is very nice, I have seen worlds that cannot accept it. Quality cannot go above 100%. I know, makes sense, but I was hoping... lol An Ackdarian game, I went crazy rushing colonization because of another world in my home system, a Deep Ocean, 71%, and 6000-something diameter. I made it the capitol later. The reason I was looking at Quality above 100%, is with advanced Leaders you can actually get maintenance reduction above 100% and your massive fleets start generating money. Unintended I am sure but so woven into the game's current mechanics it might be hard to fix.
Yes but it should round off, not up. If you see my pop calculation is off a tiny bit - that is because you can never know the exact value of anything. i.e. I'm sure it's 200 people per square mile but the actual quality is a decimal not shown - thus using my formula will give slightly wrong answers (even though the formula is correct). People don't realize (unless you took Geometry recently) how much difference a small Diameter change makes in SA (and therefore Pop Limit). Of course it's because of r being squared. I had suggested they use a size category instead (Huge, Large, Average, small, etc.) and leave the actual number in a tool tip, etc.
@@scottsspace5562 Yes, there are many places where you only see whole numbers, but when 5+5= 9 in game it becomes an issue to me. I wish I could post a picture in YT, it is ridiculous in some cases. /sigh Complete aside, I had a modder point out to me that my understanding of Shield Resistance was wrong. A shield resist of 3 means that hits of 3 or less are ignored. Hits of 4 or more ignore the resistance and apply fully to the shield. I need to test, but they had looked at the code... 😥
Re: 38%-50%+20%=18% mistake: he has the Improved Water Colonizations tech, that grants +10% suitability. Small mistake in an otherwise very good video. Much appreaciated, Scott!
@@SolyomSzava thanks - yes I forgot to mention in my first reply on this thread that I forgot that in video. That calculation is the base w/o techs of course. That’s the problem with starting with a mid game example if you aren’t careful.
Hello I think your videos are very good and I downloaded your guide and since my English is not so good I wanted to ask you if you protected the pdf because I wanted to translate it into German using a translator
Calculate the true maximum by using the suitability value instead of the quality value. Not sure if my comment keeps disappearing because I post a link... but anywho.
@@scottsspace5562 Well the shakturi could have stolen a chunk of the planet but it looks untouched (even tho a handful of sol-system planets are missing) and it even has an habitability of 90%. In any case we can safely assume 4500 is equivalent to the size of Terra.
In order to reduce an easy-to-forget micro management step, either the terraform facility should be auto-deleted when it hits max or its maintenance should drop to zero. I would prefer the latter.
Yeah the second! It got so annoying getting spammed telling me to deconstruct the facility and keeping it because I am going to upgrade it. I don't want to pay more than twice for a small increase.
Deconstructing terraformers is the only reasy I keep the building AI on suggest. I hate it that I need to keep getting spam to build other buildings to get the notification to deconstruct
The easiest way to manage it is the facilities list, and filter to terraformers.
Thank you so much Scott.
Having never played Distant Worlds, I was so overwhelmed when I first played Distant Worlds 2. I was worried that I had spent good money on a game that I would never understand.
Then I found your guide and from there your UA-cam channel and WOW, just WOW! You have not only the knowledge but the passion of and educator!
With your help I have taken this immense game with a gigantic learning curve and found a new excitement in my life.
Thank you again.
Thanks SO MUCH for the very kind note - it makes it all worth while to know people find it helpful and appreciate it! Thanks again!
I will second that. This video was very helpful in explaining some of these numbers and factors to me. Now I guess I will have to research some of these colonization techs. Prior to this video I thought, these were only useful for actual colonization, but upgrading the suitability for your homeworld should be very helpful.
One of the nebula homeworlds I found had 40% damage on it. That lowered the suitability so low that I didnt see the planet in colonization window. It takes some years to fix, but will be highly profitable when repaired.
Currently assimilation can be "cheesed" by rising the tax to 100% to cause a rebellion. Each rebellion kills some population and damages buildings but when beaten gives +30% assimilation. So just after you have invaded a planet cause three rebellions with your troops already on planet.
Yes - good point - someone else mentioned this loophole. If you watch my play-thrus I avoid doing anything I feel is gamey.
Yeah but in my play through the humans hated me more each time they rebelled so they rebelled every time it was put down after a few days so i had constant rebellion like 20 in a row so eventually i had to purge the planet.
Thanks for this video l, never realized the teraforming bonis stayed after the teraformer was gone. This'll make that building a lot more useful
Hello Scott! Thank you so much for your videos and your guide. You are a wholesome guy. I enjoy your content and your passion for the game. It is contagious, and it made me learn how to enjoy more this game. Thanks to your guide, it is now one of my favourite games ever!
Thanks so much for the kinds words! Glad you enjoyed them!
This video will change the way folks play the game IMO. I know it will for me. Great stuff.
So glad it helped!
Nice! A new high quality analysis video.
Glad you think so! Thank you!
great series
Thank you for the chapter links in this video. The short chapters are great for finding what I can do better. Can you do similar videos for other key game points (ie, invading, building fleets, etc)
thank you mate, you made really impressive videos
Very well explained and I for one appreciate the math ;) well done Sir.
Glad it was helpful!
If you set the automation for facilities to "Suggest" it will give you a notification exactly when the 5 years are over, suggesting to scrap the terraforming facility.
However, it also keeps suggesting military facilities everywhere...
Pity this was the last episode i really liked this series.
Just added a new one. Enjoy
Great videos. Well explained and to the point. I hope DW2 will get a fanbase as loyal as DW1! Are you using some UI mod? My planet window looks different ... thx for any hint!
Thanks for stopping by and the kind note. Glad you liked it. I don't think I'm using a mod in that video.
Good stuff
Glad you enjoyed!
Hope you will get back to the game one of these days...
- Good video, very clear
- There really needs to be a message when the terraforming facility is "finished" with its improvement of the planet. As it is, it is just one more thing you need to remember to check, and then delete, when it is done.
- You keep highlighting that 20 is the threshold of suitability where it will become profitable in a timely manner. It would be good to see some detailed sensitivity analysis of how profitability changes against suitability, to understand exactly what the inflection point looks like.
- I often colonise planets under 20 suitability! I play on very rare colonies, so it often requires me to spread out my empire using 'bad' planets in order to reach good planets. Also, having a colony claims some space as part of my empire, locking out other neutral-ish players from building mining ops on 'my' resources.
- You will often colonise independent colonies where your colonising race is not suitable. In this case, you might want to take less than a coloniser can carry, even a few guys are enough to trigger the 'colonised' moment, and then you can ship them offworld using the race control features you showed.
There is a pop-up when terraforming is complete asking "do you wish to dismantle terreforming facilty"? - or something similar to that
All good point - I do the same w bad planets when I have to. Thanks for the kind words.
It depends if you manually manage building or not I think. Or it takes awhile before it pops up.
@@scottsspace5562 It pops up when it pays the maintenance fee for a useless T-former, either at 100% or having reached its max
@@williamklett6660 I have never seen that popup. Hmmm, maybe I need to change my settings in some way. Maybe allow suggestions.
First well done video and explanations. A question I've had, completely off topic I know but I haven't seen anywhere else so here goes. Is there a lore person or could you even do such a thing.. what happened in the past with the shaktari (sp) war, how did the galaxy fall to its current state etc etc? Thank you in advance.
There was a previous game Distant Worlds Universe. They were an end game threat. I never played that game long enough to encounter them so I'm not 100% sure.
This idea is great! However it does cause migration gridlock after a while. It is because of the algorithm the migration passenger ships use.
Example assume you have 5 races in your empire. They all thrive on very different planet types. So every planet in your empire will after a while have 4 of the 5 races set to resettle as they do not live well on that particular planet type.
What happens when a passenger ship shows up? It loads a mix of all the races set to resettle at that planet. So jump to the chase at the end of all of this and now your passenger ships all have a mix of 4 races on them. Not a single planet in your empire will accept ALL 4 of these races. The algorithm does not know where to send these passenger ships they just become gridlocked.
I have successfully used Colony ships for this. I built 2 and when you say "load colonists" it will prioritize the race you set to resettle. It takes awhile (and a lot of micro) but it works. As for auto - it does work sometimes - but I've only had to deal with 2 races in the last few play thrus.
Love the content Scott. Hope everything is OK. Thoughts on future uploads?
Hey - sorry I was gone for so long. I was very ill, had surgery, and am much better now. However got a new job so life has been crazy. Hoping to get back soon.
@@scottsspace5562 good to hear you are on the up and up! Hope the new job transition goes well and your health stays strong.
@@scottsspace5562 Hi Scott. Hope you are doing good. Do you think you come back again for more great content? Hope to see you soon in space again.
FYI Ko-FI doesn't work. I tried, however it would not let me "continue" to buy you a cup of coffee
Don't forget that the game rounds UP for many things. So when it said 5% it was probably 4.0001%
Also, the initial math 38% -50% +20% =18% doesn't that equal 8%?
The planet will repair damage at ~1% a year. The first Terraformer is barely faster. So, I would never use a T-former solely to repair the damage.
Depending on your Science output and the R&D focus you have to decide: Incremental T-forming versus all at once. The costs and maintenance rising with every step. It takes an immense amount of investment in R&D Time since yu have to do every planetary type to get into the endgame T-formers.
Also, while +20 is very nice, I have seen worlds that cannot accept it. Quality cannot go above 100%. I know, makes sense, but I was hoping... lol
An Ackdarian game, I went crazy rushing colonization because of another world in my home system, a Deep Ocean, 71%, and 6000-something diameter. I made it the capitol later.
The reason I was looking at Quality above 100%, is with advanced Leaders you can actually get maintenance reduction above 100% and your massive fleets start generating money. Unintended I am sure but so woven into the game's current mechanics it might be hard to fix.
Yes but it should round off, not up. If you see my pop calculation is off a tiny bit - that is because you can never know the exact value of anything. i.e. I'm sure it's 200 people per square mile but the actual quality is a decimal not shown - thus using my formula will give slightly wrong answers (even though the formula is correct).
People don't realize (unless you took Geometry recently) how much difference a small Diameter change makes in SA (and therefore Pop Limit). Of course it's because of r being squared.
I had suggested they use a size category instead (Huge, Large, Average, small, etc.) and leave the actual number in a tool tip, etc.
@@scottsspace5562 Yes, there are many places where you only see whole numbers, but when 5+5= 9 in game it becomes an issue to me. I wish I could post a picture in YT, it is ridiculous in some cases. /sigh
Complete aside, I had a modder point out to me that my understanding of Shield Resistance was wrong. A shield resist of 3 means that hits of 3 or less are ignored. Hits of 4 or more ignore the resistance and apply fully to the shield. I need to test, but they had looked at the code...
😥
Re: 38%-50%+20%=18% mistake: he has the Improved Water Colonizations tech, that grants +10% suitability. Small mistake in an otherwise very good video. Much appreaciated, Scott!
@@SolyomSzava thanks - yes I forgot to mention in my first reply on this thread that I forgot that in video. That calculation is the base w/o techs of course. That’s the problem with starting with a mid game example if you aren’t careful.
@@scottsspace5562 Yes, I missed that you had that colonization Tech. You do show it later. LOL oops
Hello I think your videos are very good and I downloaded your guide and since my English is not so good I wanted to ask you if you protected the pdf because I wanted to translate it into German using a translator
It's not protected and please feel free to use it. Just be sure to keep it intact as is (cover letter, etc.). thank you!
Calculate the true maximum by using the suitability value instead of the quality value.
Not sure if my comment keeps disappearing because I post a link... but anywho.
The fact you have to remember to delete the terraforming project after is so jank
Agreed - ridiculous
In game "Terra" is more or less ~4500 in size, so I do not think the planet size is in miles
Other than km (which would be even smaller for Terra actual SA) what else could it be? I think it’s miles and “terra” shrank from old age.
@@scottsspace5562 I thought it was just a parameter without relation to real world measures
Doubt it but I'll agree to a "we just can't be sure"
@@scottsspace5562 Well the shakturi could have stolen a chunk of the planet but it looks untouched (even tho a handful of sol-system planets are missing) and it even has an habitability of 90%.
In any case we can safely assume 4500 is equivalent to the size of Terra.
@@scottsspace5562 I actually checked with the game editor and the size of Terra appears to be random?