On your guys recommendation, I tried to give this game a shot. Is there a comprehensive guide, preferably not a video about some dude that is just reading off information of a screen?

For example, what do the councils do and how should I allocate the budgets on their respective areas?
How do truck stations work?
How do I get more leaders that are not mouthbreathing idiots? Just through stratagems that needs to be spawned?

>>411884
Read the manual. Why are you so opposed to reading the manual that you don't even watch to watch a video of someone reading the manual?

File: 1611735419002.png (19 KB, 678x585)

19 KB PNG

>major with 20% victory score below mine decides to become friends with me i guess so i wont invade them once i finish my military build up after i finished my previous major war
>they have the forces to beat me but whatever, ill take it
>take advantage of the fact that they sent me friendship by using their tech level that is 2.0 higher than mine to get my tech level up through full sharing science agreements

>>411906
Wait there is a real manual? I always thought you meant the barebones help section in-game. Ok sorry, I am retarded.

>>411929
http://ftp.matrixgames.com/pub/ShadowEmpire/Shadow%20Empire%20manual%20EBOOK.pdf

>>411969
Found it already and reading, but thank you. It does actually explain a lot.

alright i need an explanation for what makes linear researchable technologies different from regular technologies. i had my council trying to research mining techniques for at least 150 turns with it constantly at 99% and it set my tech behind badly

im also asking how to actually finish researching linear researchable technologies

I found this thread to be pretty useful regarding the skills that your leaders need for their respective positions:

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4838574

>>412071
Normal techs, you research and are done, but can't use until you are finished. They have a flat cost.
Linear techs are ones that give you incremental increases to some aspect of your units based on how much you've researched them. They aren't meant to be fully researched. Their cost increases as you research them longer.

>>412072
Build more BP producing assets and upgrade the ones you have.

>>412072
Finishing linear technologies is almost impossible. A good rule of thumb is to leave them around 50% or so. Their effects are applied immediately (new models still need to be developed though).

File: file.png (1.76 MB, 1239x835)

1.76 MB PNG

im going to bomb this nearby faction into the stone age if they go to war with me, those single 88mm flak guns and duo 100mm flak guns arent going to save your people

File: file.png (188 KB, 580x229)

188 KB PNG

>>412180
ill sustain the ammo per turn for multiple turns if it means that i have to make sure they get the message im sending

>>411827
So is this game basically Old World Blues without being Fallout and crappy graphics?

>>412189
this game has a hell of a lot more going on in it than some mod for baby's first strategy game

>>412180
take the Light Aircraft pill (once you get Jet Engines). Incredibly cheap, incredibly low-maintenance, incredibly based high attack values with Rockets and AA Missiles that can still fight and win against other Fighters

>>412198
range is my biggest issue. i had light aircraft for a while but the 5 hexes max range was absolutely killing me
i had to build airfields often just to keep them not even in range all the time. then again, those were the first versions of light models i had. if you have any suggestions ill take them, whether that be using better tech versions of them or something

>>412190
Really because it does not seem to have the ideologies, unique naval, and air combat, and even combat in general seems very simple, and arcadey without the division designs or equipment production.

>>412204
the only thing on that list it doesnt have as far as im aware is naval combat
it does the things it does have from your list better than hoi4. at the minimum, watch a video on the game before making another post. thats all i ask - it doesnt even have to be a long one

File: file.png (90 KB, 1154x309)

90 KB PNG

>>412198
Thopters are superior and the meta in MP, as they have no airbase level requirements, go really fucking far (they are jets), can mount up to 4 engines on a Heavy and their readiness recovery outside of airbases is that of a helicopter, which is really good. Since building multiple level 1 airbases is more efficient and faster than building higher level airbases, you can simply spam level 1 airbases and put 9 heavy thopters on each.

is it worth using high speed rail over regular rail? i dont like the fact that i will have to tear out my regular rail stations to install it

>>412253
Aren't the points cumulative? Just build the high speed station somewhere else.

File: file.png (1.25 MB, 846x745)

1.25 MB PNG

im going to pin them down incredibly hard with heavy tanks on this lake once im done building troops to man the border and have my new tanks ready to go for a war

>>412303
and before you ask about roads, almost all of them except that on the far left was made by ai. i built smooth roads over theirs. the one on the left was needed because i needed a supply line to one of the cities of a former enemy major that i took further southwest

>>412218
Wtf is a "thopter" anyway? I thought it was just an incorrect abbreviation of ornitho-pter like how people say "copter" as an incorrect abbreviation of helico-pter, but it has jet engines on it? It is just a winged helicopter then?

>>412322
I'm not sure but I think it's supposed to be a beefed up ornithopter with jet engines.

>>411827
Redhill me on this game. After conquering your home planet, can you colonize/conquer others too?

>>412360
No.

>>412360
colonizing/conquering your planet takes quite a bit of time.
if you have ever played a strategy game with some depth to it, this one goes quite a bit further. its one of those things where you just have to play it and experience it to truly know what im talking about

>>412360
yes you start a new game

>>412322
I just imagine them to be like the Pelicans from Halo

File: 無題.png (2.31 MB, 1366x768)

2.31 MB PNG

United Front, I...

File: file.png (1.83 MB, 1246x860)

1.83 MB PNG

the stage is set for one of the largest assaults conducted since before the nukes went off. operation barbarossa is going to look like child's play

File: file.png (3.04 MB, 1922x806)

3.04 MB PNG

>>413851
everything on the border with south green is manned. assault is about to commence

>>413191
I told you bro, I told you about the ruins.

>>413855
Show us all the counters

File: file.png (3.72 MB, 2276x778)

3.72 MB PNG

>>413883
other counters in next screenshot

File: file.png (3.19 MB, 2535x604)

3.19 MB PNG

>>413886

>>413888
i should mention that i just used 2 call of power 3 cards in 2 of their biggest territories, so 24,000 troops have also risen behind their lines
should show up on the map next turn i think

>>413890
other thing i forgot to mention is that they are at war with the other big major left on the map north of me

>>413888
the rebels enabled me to cut off their supplies to the enemy's east faster

File: file.png (2.22 MB, 1225x779)

2.22 MB PNG

>>413953
forgot pic

File: file.png (3.83 MB, 1737x1004)

3.83 MB PNG

>>413956
they now have to break out twice if they want to get any of their troops back to their home territory

>>413978
im trying to decide whether to have fun letting them fight the rebels who are trying to break out of their territory while the enemy forces are simultaneously trying to break out from my forces
it would be quite fun to watch but im not sure if they will keep trying to attack it

>>412201
You should be able to get at least 10 hex range with turboprops and still carry a decent payload with light aircraft. Keep the power to weight ratio above 35% and it should be a viable design.

>>413886
Is this supposed to be War in the East in space or what

>>414028
Gary Grisby's Alpha Centauri is a pretty apt analogy

File: Untitled.jpg (404 KB, 998x837)

404 KB JPG

>move all my forces to one of the wild territories and prepare to claim it quickly
>reach the border
>leader rebels
>two rebel stacks in completely different parts of the zone
>the animals decided now was the time to start attacking and they move on my city
>including some of those 20m tall fucks
How did you deal with these guys

>>414333
liberal application of high explosives

File: 無題.png (2.36 MB, 1366x768)

2.36 MB PNG

It doesn't have to be this way, United Front. If you just stick to your side of the lake, tucked safely in your mountain range, we can still resolve this peacefully.

>>413988
I think I needed 2e Light Aircraft (or even Medium Aircraft I don't remember) to get 20 tile range with Turboprops, and those planes were barely able to even take off the ground at 80% gravity.

>>414333
station Grenadier brigades on your borders, animals will usually fuck off if they aren't Crusaders. Even the tougher ones will (usually) not attack into you.

>>411827
This, Ladies and Gentlemen and others, is how you promote a game.

You show what it is, offer commentary and discussion, and post screen caps. Along with some sensible chuckles. OP is doing a masterful job.

At least its one avenue of promotion. Utube is another, but fuck utube.

I almost want to buy this game now myself, even though it doesn't have beavers ( which is a major failing in my opinion, but not necessarily a fatal one )

>>415308
the main thing i like about the game is that it is different every time you start a new playthrough

so do you not actually have to have assets like refugee camps hooked up to your capital through roads or rails to get the benefits from them? i assumed "connected to the capital" meant through roads or rails

>>411827
on the matter of AI
Anyone knows what exactly is turned on or off with VERY SLOW and SLOW AI computation?
Also has it become at least a little bit more agressive? All my games AI never bothered to declare war on me

>>415340
even on beginner difficulty, i have had an ai major declare war on me at least once in each of my two playthroughs. will be starting a third soon

>>415338
Those kinds of assets are called "hex parks" and they have no logistical costs. They automatically benefit whatever zone they're a part of.

>>415338
Hex perks aren't assets, they don't need roads, they just passively give you the benefit if they're in a zone's territory

File: file.png (3.98 MB, 2278x1218)

3.98 MB PNG

after pushing in with my heavy tanks who had not received reinforcements due to the logistical strain on my SHQ and logistics network, i managed to take the enemy's capital and won the game.

it took me a month to a month and a half of playing pretty consistently but i learned a lot in this playthrough. although i may have been playing on beginner, im proud of the fact that ive won my second playthrough.
any suggestions for a playthrough i should try next?

>>415539
medusa world

File: Random Generator_map 0_tu(...).jpg (1.71 MB, 5791x2144)

1.71 MB JPG

>>415539
Show end-of-game map like pic related

File: file.png (3.64 MB, 2169x858)

3.64 MB PNG

>>415559
hang on im going to have to find a way to downsize these photos because they are all above 4 MB

File: file.png (3.9 MB, 2520x691)

3.9 MB PNG

>>415559
ok im going to have to post these images in parts

File: file.png (3.47 MB, 2539x663)

3.47 MB PNG

>>415576
part 2, will show the rest of the map in the next 2 screenshots

File: file.png (3.79 MB, 2543x645)

3.79 MB PNG

>>415577
part 3, or pic 2 part 1

File: file.png (3.49 MB, 2545x653)

3.49 MB PNG

>>415582
part 4, or pic 2 part 2

>>415583
the main thing i wanted to say is that i never once saw the far north major go to war. im assuming they fought one war that would be major for them at their size for the time and then just permanently stayed at peace. i wasnt really worried about the green north of me because they were sending me shit like friendship and relation increasers. if they had declared war on me at the end, i had enough forces freed up from the initial offensives into the south major that i would have been able to turn forces toward them quickly

>>415539
I wish this game had a full 3D animated intro. Something like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lT61slR4hM

Should I ever build just a plain, non-motorized light infantry unit? Or is that just a waste of time

>>416618
I would never build infantry without at least MG personally, but that's just me. But yes, plenty of times, when the terrain doesn't allow for rapid movement in vehicles, that's just wasted IP. Or if you just need line holders who's only purpose is to make sure the enemy can't just freely outflank you. Border guards against slavers/raiders/spiders/megabeasts.

>>416618
MG infantry is infinitely more effective

File: 無題.png (243 KB, 514x306)

243 KB PNG

>mpgame
Really, United Front?

Anyone play this on linux? I kinda want to get it but protondb says it's not working too well

>>415308
Potentially you can mod in Xenobeavers and roll until they are 20m tall

>>415308
i got the game because of /vst/
i think my first game was pretty unique since the starting population was 1.5 billion then 10 million survivors so the turns now take like 10 minutes because theres so many factions and units

>>416877
maybe it was the society of 20meter squid creatures

To the person in the previous thread who wanted the anime cards mod, I just want to let you know that it's been updated.

Anons, what should I choose?
Gas Powered Arms
Gauss Arms
Laser weapons
??
I understand the difference is the consumption of ammo vs energy, but also whats the point of gas powered guns?

>>417774
laser rifles always. The firepower is so far above any of the alternatives.
>whats the point of gas powered guns?
They don't have a point. Same firepower as carbines for half the ammo consumption but the tech comes after assault rifles and only 1 tier before laser rifles. Literally has no reason to exist.

>>416877
Not a great use of 76 political points I admit, really underwhelming card, but it probably does more if unrest is already high.

>>418045
No, I mean that it's an indication that you intend to wage total war on me if you're stooping as low as funding the Kurds. Terrible, simply terrible turn of events. Now even more blood will be spilled.

>>416618
I would only consider building Mechanized Infantry as support for what is otherwise an MG Regiment or Brigade. MG Infantry is just too good.

>>418388
Mechanized MG is even better though. APC's turn it from a purely defensive formation into an offensive one and for defensive purposes a mechanized MG infantry battalion has 5 times the amount of MG's as a non-mechanized MG infantry battalion.

>>418498
oh I was talking about Independent Formations. Mechanized Inf is pretty good as an Independent Formation to support an infantry formation, but actual dedicated Mechanized Formations are gonna be way better than Mechanized Light Infantry.

Personally I prefer Mechanized Grenadier formations for my mechanized troops.

>>417774
>>417779
>whats the point of gas powered guns?
I just found out the use today. They're the only small arms tech below lasers that doesn't have a prerequisite leading back to automatic rifles. (which my council hasn't discovered even though I'm almost at energetics.)

>>419053
but carbines have the same firepower and going from 0.1 ammo to 0.2 ammo usage is an insignificant cost increase.

>>419058
Factually, it's twice the cost. Supposedly small arms damage research increases ammo usage as well, so a situation was probably imaged where someone had really high small arms research and gas powered arms to lower ammo usage, but of course since it's split into the applied science branch of research, that will never happen.

>>419079
>Supposedly small arms damage research increases ammo usage as well
I have never seen this be the case even with high progress in that tech

File: 無題.png (340 KB, 478x460)

340 KB PNG

The United Front deploys concentrated armored forces against the ground arm of the Navy. This is yet another indication they intend to wage this war till either of our capitals has been reduced to rubble.

>>419307
Don't be so melodramatic. We're just securing the borders you are trying to deny us

>>419334
You have imperium west of the mountain range your capital is nestled in. You have enough land to be content with. That you would descend from the mountains to lay claim to the lowlands speaks of nothing but greed. You will go back where you came from, by will or by force.

>>411918
What's the deal with tech levels?

>>419339
its an indicator of how good your country's technology is , like is the enemy going to be able to adequately field medium tanks or do i need to try to prepare for an attempt to nuke my cities?

>>419339
>>419341
It also directly affects your regime domestically, but I don't really know by how much. I do know that at higher tech levels your people will start demanding fuel, machines, and even hi-tech parts for luxury, which will prompt independent traders to produce those things - which you can then buy.

>>419341
Sure, and I will preface this with it having been awhile since I played, but certain interactions refer to tech score seperate from the discovered technologies. In my expereince of the game I've ignored interacting to heavily with other nations past basic function so I've never felt the need to properly understand these things but how does all that work.
Honestly, it's diplomacy and aeronautics that I don't understand. One because I ignored it the other because I've only played a little since the patch dropped. I really should boot another game but there's always something new coming out this/last year - which is rare so I'm riding the wave.

>>419344
Ah see, it's this kind of hidden shit that I suspected would be lurking behind the basic explanation.

Also if anyone is active on the forums, does the dev know that renaming cities doesn't work properly and your culture and troop names still reference the first name of the city?

>>419353
Vic has been silent for a while, probably busy with another game.

>>419466
That's not a good sign. Last I heard he said he'd not help modders with tools because the game is so complex or somesuch.

how do i make sure I learn power plants?

Im quite rich, expanded, with combat armor/automatic rifles. Soon my need for power will completely drain my storage and the save is done

>>419469
Just invest in discovery and you'll research the tech eventually. If need be, set your economic council's research to 0% (although this is inefficient).

>>419466
Silent how? There was an update like last week.

>>419479
He isn't answering every tech report bug and isn't making an update every 24 hours, that's how. That's "silent" for Vic.

>>419466
that another game is Decisive Campaigns Ardennes

>>419622
Gimme the low down on that.

>>419479
>There was an update like last week.
What a bitch, no beta updates for his Steam customers.

File: screen_5fc7b14ded8fe.jpg (951 KB, 1920x1080)

951 KB JPG

>>419626
DC is his series of historic WW2 games. I haven't played any of them, but supposedly they're pretty close to what Advanced Tactics and Shadow Empire's war fighting portion are.

Are there any games with this war game kind of combat but entirely in outer space with spaceships and space stations?

>>420438
distant worlds?

>>420438
not really, distant worlds while does have a deep economy and resources, lacks on the character aspect and politics

>>420474
>>420472
Isn't that game real time? I mean literally a space turn based hex and chit wargame. And don't say GC3 just because it has hexes.

File: file.png (660 KB, 1110x385)

660 KB PNG

Does this sensor make you find artifacts easier, or does it help you in finding artifact locations to excavate?

>>411827

What stats influence the following
>amount of ruins hexes
>amount of bonus hexes
>more religious fanatic regimes

>>420600
>amount of ruins hexes
Prewar pop, whether they built mega cities at all.
>amount of bonus hexes
How much the world was used. The different types of uses, that is mining, science, etc, produce different types of hexes and how many they are depends on how developed the planet was in that aspect.
>more religious fanatic regimes
More death and destruction during the war.

Basically you want an interesting planet history.

>>420594
makes you find artifact sites faster

>>420817
Shit, I've been putting it in zones with artifacts in it, thinking it made me dig them up faster. Oh well, its the zone with the most ruins in it anyway

>>420818
nah, the rate is fixed as indicated by the ratio on the hex info. A 1:750 ratio will get you one artifact find for every 750 points of scavenging depleted. I believe machines and hi-tech parts also constitute artifacts since they seem to only be excavated by scavengers on hexes with artifact sites.

>>419633
DC:Barbarossa is pretty good. Gameplay wise it's similar but it's also character focused in a way that you must have good relations with other generals and Hitler for the operation to succeed. You can also commit war crimes and take part in murdering the gorillion if that's your kind of thing.

>>420691
>want an interesting planet history
Why yes.
I love the look of ruin hexes. I also like fighting and expanding in order to aquire the bonus hex's I like.

I fucking love this game. All the different feelings you get from different planets.

Sometimes its Fallout. Sometimes its Dune. Sometimes it's Jericho. It can really nail the Post-post apocalyptical vibe anyone is looking for

>>420833
Could use more Hokuto no Ken.

Just got the game off a friendly bunch of Russians. Is there a mod I must get? What are your recommend settings?

File: Sin título(2).jpg (69 KB, 422x372)

69 KB JPG

>>420887
>Is there a mod I must get?
This mod that makes stacked unit chits more readable is pretty much the only thing that's a must.
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4833321

>What are your recommend settings?
For your first game you should play on easy difficulty on a Siwa class world with an atmospheric hazard of "none", no more than 15% mountains and at least 10% water, one city start with militia + 1 army, tech level 3, no councils.

Guys, I need help. I'm bouncing off this game hard. I really want to like the game but I'm finding even short-term victories to be nigh-impossible.
I'm in my fourth game on a Siwa planet. From a few rounds in I'm forced to fight an expansionist regime to the north called the Fulda Hansa. I've tried this same start a couple times, up to a hundred rounds even. I can reliably get tanks and good models, I have ruins, water, and deposits of metal and oil, my economy usually performs fine, but I can't seem to figure out how to get a military together bulky enough to destroy the enemy without exhausting all of my resources. One thing I've noticed is that the Fulda Hansa units tend to have higher xp than mine. Any idea why that would be? Are they just fighting lots of minors, or can you gain XP some other way? Thanks in advance if anyone decides to help me.

>>420913
Thanks anon. Will start my first game soon. One more question, air force on or off?

>>420928
the ai doesnt use at all hardly and just builds antiair. if you are using it, its okay because you have to make a decent investment toward it in the first place, and you have to dump a decent bit of ammo and fuel into it to keep it running, along with building the airfields to keep it in range of the desired targets.
>>420922
are you building smaller divisions? theres a check box under the build with operational headquarters tab that lets you select how big you want to make the divisions

>>420928
it doesn't really matter. By the time it becomes relevant you should starting getting an idea of how the game works. It's just another unit type to make, it's not something fundamentally different.

You might want to turn off cults, corps, crime syndicates and epochs though, since those can really dick you around.

>>420932
meant to say, the ai MIGHT use air forces, but ive never actually seen them use them

>>420932
Yeah, I've been making divisions and regiments. Should I go all divisions and try to focus on surrounding the enemy? I try to use regiments for units in the front of the army, or for spear-head units like tanks. Is that a waste?

>>420938
make brigades so you actually get enough units to cover the frontage without draining your resources to nothing

>>420938
i agree with >>420939
i just won my second playthrough, but i had to learn the hard way to build the smallest option available. most of them do fine at holding the line and push okay. i dont know if anyone has mentioned it yet, but light tanks with howitzers are fantastic

>>420944
and to clarify, im referring to the howitzer barrel, not artillery itself

>>420939
>>420944
Sorry, I mixed up the formation names, I was making brigades+regiments, divisions were too big, but I get what you mean regardless. I think I'll try making all brigades this time.
I also wanted to ask, about unit types. Infantry, Machine guns, and tanks. What are they best for, and how can they be used efficiently?>>420944
I did figure out that Howitzer's and Light tanks are great for pushing and winning battles against most units and infantry at least.

>>420948
infantry: generally holding the line
machine guns: defense
tanks: breaking through
artillery: can be used to break an enemy unit's entrenchment through ranged attack
personally im a fan of using heavy storm infantry brigades but go with what you think works best

as for divisions, i fought a long war with them. they do tear through your supply, but if you arent using a retarded amount of them, you can keep them supported. this is also assuming you are consistently keeping your logistics network stations upgraded to level 2-3 minimum

>>420953
didnt mean to say divisions. meant to say that i used some corps before with a mix of regiments. had them mixed up and went in game to clarify on that

>>420953
Alright, let me see if I've got a decent idea here. Tanks are obvious enough. Machine guns should be used for border control and protecting logistics networks then? From what I know, MG's have the best defense stats, so I have to wonder where that leaves infantry once you have good tanks. If you can protect your borders and the roads feeding them with MGs, couldn't a tank rush just bulldoze the enemy?

>>420948
>Infantry, Machine guns, and tanks. What are they best for, and how can they be used efficiently?
Infantry exist to just be bodies in your units.
Machine guns to hold the line.
Tanks to be the spearhead.
A Heavy MG Infantry Brigade with good entrenchment and a defensive posture basically can't be pushed by anything that isn't armour or grossly out-teching you. Back them up with independent artillery battalions draining the readiness of the enemy every turn and you've got a rock solid front line.

Light tanks are best equipped with howitzer guns as armour penetration depends almost entirely on caliber, and light tanks cannot mount large enough high velocity guns to be viable. Break up the enemies entrenchment with artillery and then send in the tanks.

>>420961
yeah hypothetically. the main highlight of infantry is that if you can afford the manpower each turn, its just beefing up the overall strength of your units so they dont fall over and die. im saying this with the assumption that you are building brigades with a mix of each different type of troop.
as for protecting cities, i usually put a regiment of independent machine guns in each of my cities and they tend to keep order

Is this game really made by just one person?

>>421197
yes + some outsourced artwork. He uses the same engine for like the last 10 years.

>>420887
Friendly Russians?

File: 無題.png (322 KB, 502x421)

322 KB PNG

he United Front deploys 7" guns to the front, proving that they want total war above all else. So given the failure of the diplomatic route, the Navy will abide by their wishes and wage this war accordingly.

>>420438
Star General

>>420922
The fuck am i doing wrong... the game is too easy for me

>>420818
It doesn't matter what city you put it in, it just generates discovery points that gets pooled nationwide.

>>422069
For me the ai always ends up derping hard and crumbling, even when they have superior tech and numbers. So I switched over to playing multiplayer. It is how the game is supposed to be played after all.

>>422007
Bro you realize I fought squid monsters from hell with those AT guns and they still barely made a dent in them. Your paper vehicles is literally nothing in comparison.

speaking of those giant squid mouthed fucks
>see a pack of ~300 of them moving towards my city
>decide to have my militia stall them while my actual military deals with the multiple pockets of rebels
>militia just gets trampled obviously
>now my military has to fight them in the forests instead of the plains
I should have just used my militia to hold the rebels in place and sent my military to stop the squid fucks first. Oh well

>>422894
Not wise to boast like that anon. Not wise at all.

File: unknown.png (243 KB, 565x242)

243 KB PNG

How??

>>424567
200 free colonists a turn is always nice

>>424571
>400 people
>200 a turn

>>424586
i have often wondered the same exact thing
i just want this game to get some alternative win conditions that arent solely combat based

>>424590
It's literally called planetary conquest tho

File: 1604469454740.png (10 KB, 247x188)

10 KB PNG

>>424603

>>424586
Hidden cloning facility. Time to raid their village.

>>424590
you can conceivably diplomacy enough minors into joining your faction to get enough VP while keeping the majors bottled up and unable to expand

>>424590
Can you win solely through combat? I've never had to take out more than a couple of rivals.

>>424586
A bunch of them probably run away into the wilderness as your troops come in to forcibly get them into your territory.

>>424701
I have won without ever fighting another regime by doing just that, it was really boring and I decided not to do it anymore. It helped that my starting Foreign Affairs Director was a V-potential god.

>>424901
Shadow Empire is like 75% Advanced Tactics and 25% Alpha Centauri after all

Haven't been following this game for some time. How is the logistics now? I hear it's now a push and pull system at the same time, how does that work?

>>426833
pull system earmarks logistics points to assets and units and gets priority, then any left over points are equally distributed through the network as it was in the old system

Give me a quick rundown on what I should do in game anons.

>>427147
Also are the air units any good? Can I substitute ground units with them?

>>427155
air units can be good if your planets atmosphere allows it. you can probably use planes in place of things like artillery but you will still need a ground army.

new beta patch
Changelist for v1.08
-Added Hydra Class Planets, humid with plenty of swamps, rivers and seas. Almost always home to alien lifeforms.
-Added Morgana Class Planets, arid and dry, but with plenty of oasis areas dotted all over these planets.
-Added Minor Alien Regimes functionality for more variety. Native Aliens can now evolve during the Planet Biosphere phase, they’ll impact colonization and the aftermath of the Dissolution war as well. 5 Different types are present (like Cephaloids, Reptiloids) and they can use local wildlife as ‘cavalry’ as well. They’ll form their own Minor Regimes and a special kind of diplomacy will be allowed with the Xeno Diplomat Stratagem. They’ll also can contact you themselves, like other Minors.
-Fixed a turn processing crash (related to AI aircraft movement).
-Fixed an issue with Private Economy (and maybe AI too) not seeing it was already producing enough Food. An optimization for speed didn’t work out. Removing it for v1.08, will try again with subsequent open beta’s.

>>427418
Squids riding squids!

>>427418
Steam?

>>427517
lol

>>427666
Vic, you're a cunt

>>427669
>>427517
it's on steam if you enable the beta test build

>>427418
fucking nice. love more planet types and alien regimes.

File: alienmercs.jpg (272 KB, 864x474)

272 KB JPG

>>427970
The alien minors are pretty cool. I made friends with one of them and they offered 3 battalions of mercenaries. Their rifles are way better than what I started with, and one of them includes domesticated alien fauna.

File: 無題.png (301 KB, 455x423)

301 KB PNG

Hmm, this doctrine seems awfully familiar

THERES NO FUCKING METAL

>>428335
welcome to high difficulty m8, only 3x water + 1 random.

>>428005
dope

>>427825
Last time I checked it was 1.06 something version

>>428492
the launcher says 1.06.09 but the game itself is 1.08

I love this game but I hate the alien fauna sometimes.
Can completely ruin the start.

I want to figure out a way to make sure i start near either a idustry hex or a electricity hex.

The bonus eliminates the starting slog for me

>>429648
start on tech level 4 or 5

>>429648
>I love this game but I hate the alien fauna sometimes.
>Can completely ruin the start.
thats the whole fun. the struggle to barely survive is part of the experience. if you want a game where you always get what you want, go play starcraft or some shit.

>>429648
How do you even have problems with them? Just don't attack wildly onto every unidentified enemy block you find. Hold your forces next to them so they cant just walk straight into your border, and expand in other directions.

File: file.png (962 KB, 2075x339)

962 KB PNG

What's going on in my city? I have 20 000 free pops, happiness at max, I pay my workers more than what the private economy pays. This is my capital too, and I've got energy to spare, yet I still have shortages?

What reasons are there to make more cities? Also is there any reason to cram my land full of them, like a city every 5 hexes or so?

>>430974
>What reasons are there to make more cities
reduce admin strain plus the level 1 offices are pretty efficient in terms of what you get for what is put in. a couple of admin lvl 1 offices in the early game can really help you out.

>>429648
I enjoyed every grueling turn of sacrificing a thousand men just to barely hold the line two hexes from my only town against packs of 48m hypercarnivores that shot laser beams out of their eyes, enjoyed killing for sport and made my soldiers' morale insta-break the first time they failed to hit the unholy monsters until I could develop some guns that could actually make a dent in the bastards.

>>430925
i had a save where i spent most of it paying my workers 3-4x what the private economy paid, yet they still rioted pretty consistently for higher wages. i also dumped a decent bit of money into the private economy to keep everyone happy. the only thing i had left to really do about it (i didnt have the budget to pay the workers even more money) was to just bump up my barracks level in each city, and station an independent machine gun regiment in each city. i used them to fire upon protestors whenever they started creating issues. probably lost a lot of pop to it in the long run but there wasnt another option

>>430925
Are you democratic? Do you have mystic temple or whichever cult makes your people party instead of work? Have you tried bribing workers with cards? Do you really have energy to spare and aren't running out every turn and then refilling so it looks like you have energy to spare?

Noob here, which councils should I prioritize in forming first?

File: Untitled.png (825 KB, 894x549)

825 KB PNG

This is probably the first time I don't want to murder all nomads.

>>430925
Did you start any huge construction projects? civilians only convert to workers at a certain rate and it might take a turn or two to get all the workers you need.

>>431085
economic council almost always first so you can start prospecting for metal, and researching eco techs.
Then it's your choice of military research, model design, or interior council depending on your situation. If you start with a lot of hostiles nearby then military research council is a priority, and if your models are shit and you start on a world with a breathable atmosphere a model council before military research can improve your situation better than going military research first. Interior council lets you get an early start on filtering out shitty leaders that will just cause you problems.

>>431085
Just play with Basic 4 starting option.

>3 blackmailing neighbours who keep demanding credits
kill me...

>>431249
That's remarkably cheap. Your planet must have a metal surplus or something.

Are sentient aliens new?

>>431365
yes

File: Pops.png (182 KB, 505x222)

182 KB PNG

That's a large colony

File: 10bil.jpg (300 KB, 505x749)

300 KB JPG

>>431376

File: file.png (1.78 MB, 1453x858)

1.78 MB PNG

Justify this.

>>431358
Yeah there's no shortage of deposits.

>>431365
Sentient no, sapient yes.

>>431403
yeah, you attacked with militia against an enemy with a +75% defense posture and good OHQ and SHQ bonuses

File: Random Generator_map 0_tu(...).jpg (884 KB, 3199x1184)

884 KB JPG

>>431396
and these are the megacities made from 10 billion population

The sentient alien minors seem a little strong, based on my limited experience. Maybe I've just been unlucky with what ends up evolving into sentience, but it seems like every native race is a 4-meter worm whose unarmed tribesmen have double the soft attack/defense values of my carbine-armed guys, and who's rifle militia rivals early light tanks in power

>>431424
Don't let them get too big during planetary generation

>>431424
What I've encountered so far tend to have good attack/defense but really poor hitpoints.
Has anyone encountered alien natives with the usual xenofauna traits?

>turn 15
>2 factions have declared war on me for no reason at all, and at the same time i'm getting raped by ayyliens
w-why? i didnt even enable agressive ai

How many regimes are too much?

>>431492
no such thing

>>431513
option to replace each and every minor with a major WHEN

>>431492
depends on your tolerance for turn times. I just alt tab while it does AI turns and come back in 10 minutes

>>431492
>>431527
>Turn off other major regimes
>15 second turn times
1 major is too many.

>>431591
15 second turn time and zero challenge

>>431608
Majors are less of a challenge than wildlife and slavers.

>playing on a bighueg maps
Never understood this. I like them small and underpopulated. To really feel ISOLATED but comfy at the same time.

File: warriorknight.jpg (390 KB, 980x553)

390 KB JPG

the 11 autocracy profile gain per warrior knight is 100% worth it

>>431911
Wtf are those bees? I've never seen that.

File: bees.png (130 KB, 666x215)

130 KB PNG

>>432067
You get it from artifact sites

File: 無題.png (517 KB, 667x544)

517 KB PNG

>mpgame

The war between the Land Navy and the United Front escalates to a true total war as front lines are established and both sides use tanks in an attempt to break the other's defenses. After being pushed back one hex, the 6th Marine Brigade and its supporting armored columns pierce the enemy front in two areas, while in the southwest, fierce skirmishes erupt between flank security elements, with Naval forces getting the lead.

>>432338
dont hurt those cute little aliens caught in-between the frontlines

It took me 8 tries before actually understanding and surviving early game. Is that normal?

unfortunately it barely works on wine. demolishes my machine and everything is laggy.

how the fuck do i stop these dumbass faggot leaders from constantly rebelling?

File: file.png (126 KB, 220x280)

126 KB PNG

What the fuck

File: file.png (328 KB, 354x351)

328 KB PNG

>>432338
Yes that's all well and good, however.

>>432835
keep them happy, or if their profiles are directly opposed to your regime profiles, fire them.

>>432843
>>432091

>>432091
Why would your infantry ever not have armor?

What's the ideal size of a zone? Do I need to create cities?

>>433241
You start getting administrative strain for buildings farther then 6 hexes away from a city. once you are reaching 20% or 30% admin strain you should probably build a new zone

>>433216
Well it says envirosuit doesn't protect against it, so maybe you need something as heavy as battledress for it to not apply.

>>433241
Any asset beyond 6 hexes from the city hex will apply increasing levels of administrative strain, which decreases your production efficiency. You don't absolutely need to saturate the landscape with perfectly spaced cities but if there's a cluster of resources too far out of reach then it's probably better to make a new city to exploit them than take the strain.

>>432521
yes

Holy FUCK precision tac bombers are straight up fucked against armor. A pack of 90 pretty routinely wipes medium or light battalions in a single strike, and flak just doesn't do enough. It's enough to smell doomstacky to me and I wish enemy majors basically always built fighters

>>433491
I mean this is historically correct. Gotta keep the skies clean or your armor is fucked. AI really needs a boost in avionics.

>>433531
Yeah I'm not really concerned with the raw power as much as the lack of air opposition. The bombers in question have a top speed of a whopping 200 km/hish, so if there were any enemy fighter at all they'd be fucked.

>alien fauna
>alien minors
>still no boats
Where are my navies vic reeeeeeeeeeee

>>433607
Boat combat is the most boring thing since space combat

>>433607
lava navy when?

>>433607
Soon. He just added a planet type with very large seas and oceans.

File: Untitled.png (1.63 MB, 1127x969)

1.63 MB PNG

This is like humans having neanderthal pets

>>433841
>▶
playing as alien races when?

>>433867
hopefully never

>>433867
they exist only to be exterminated

>>433607
Imagine
>trade ports
>supply with no roads needed
>shelling enemy cities few hexes away
>your entire navy being eaten by not-Cthulhu

>>434068
What does haven of calm even do

File: Untitled.png (1.37 MB, 933x959)

1.37 MB PNG

Imagine being some random dude sent to teach an alien your language.

>>434098
The opposite of the one that makes regimes more dangerous. It makes them more willing to do diplomacy, and presumably makes the effects of the war on the planet less bad.

>>434098
More farmers in planet gen + regimes I believe.

>>433254
once I get over 10% that isn't from mines I built I think about building a new city personally. Each one is a potential new private sector you could be building there.

>>433491
Light Aircraft Fighters with Rockets are even more hilarious, they provide air power, still have pretty good punch against armor and can fight enemy fighters, especially if you give them AA missiles which further boosts the model's hard attack

>>434471
>especially if you give them AA missiles
sticking AA missiles on aircraft with bombhatches makes payload optimization buff the firepower of bombhatches too

>>434477
yeah but only the Hard Attack, and unless you're mounting super huge precision bombhatches, rockets are way more efficient in basically every way until the bombloads get big enough and outclass them. I think you need something like a Medium Aircraft (possibly even a 2e) that can even feasibly mount bombhatches big enough to compete

>>434530
>yeah but only the Hard Attack,
no, payload optimization affects firepower directly, from which soft and hard attack is derived.

>rockets are way more efficient in basically every way
Not against soft targets, they have a -75% soft attack penalty. That's what I was getting at. If you want huge soft attack then even the smallest AA missiles will improve soft attack of bombhatches significantly if you have decent progress in payload optimization

File: We must dissent.png (76 KB, 500x226)

76 KB PNG

How similar is this game to SMAC?

>>434554
"Gary Grisby's Alpha Centauri" is an acceptable alternate title

>>434539
Do AA Missiles not have any soft attack penalties? I know that rockets do which then effects their soft attack scores, but I thought AA Missiles were in the same boat and only majorly buffed attack scores against hard targets

>>434583
AA missiles have no bonus or penalty to either soft attack or hard attack. Any difference between them on an aircraft armed only with missiles is due to armour piercing optimization tech only applying to hard attack.

>>434599
that's dumb and seems like an oversight

>>434614
Why would anti-aircraft missiles be more effective at penetrating armour? AA missiles rely on shrapnel or high explosive power to damage aircraft, they don't need to pierce armour.

>>434620
no it's dumb that they don't take a Soft Attack penalty but normal rockets do

>>434685
In Shadow Empire a soft attack penalty is indicative of the weapon being better at penetrating armour. High velocity guns, RPG's, energy guns, and now precision bombs and rockets all have soft attack penalties. If it is worse against soft targets it means it is expressly designed to be used against hard targets. Rockets can simply be conceived as using shaped or hollow charge warheads.

Has anyone found a way to make this game less snowbally? I feel like the best I can do is make the early game a little harder, but it seems as soon as I get into the midgame I just skyrocket ahead of the other majors.

>>434863
Fight against an opponent who is playing by all the same rules as you, a human.

>>434863
A nemesis is a tough opponent in my experience

File: file.png (2.23 MB, 1030x923)

2.23 MB PNG

enemies have been sieging down the gates for a while now, but ive been very slowly pushing my way out as i build up the resources to build more units. my main issue is that my population isnt growing fast enough, so i will inevitably run out of people to throw into the fray

>>434895
have you tried colonizing your grunts into population?

im not sure how it works, but ive been dumping recruits back into civilians if i need more workers.

>>434895
pray for a sentinel card.

File: Capture.png (644 KB, 848x425)

644 KB PNG

Should I hire him? I have just enough. What would happen if I let him be?

>>434964
I don't think I've even once remembered to check up on those types of guys.

>>434964
Do not hire him. He is a great leader, but if you leave him be he will sell you gladiators every few turns. They are always skilled military leaders.
It is a choice between one great leader, or a guaranteed steady flow of really good ones

File: file.png (3.5 MB, 1387x1116)

3.5 MB PNG

>>434934
>>434941
updated situation. did get a sentinel card and decided to be really ballsy and try to snag that city north of my initial one to pad my recruitable population. i lost my sentinels pretty quick in the assaults and got lucky that i unlocked light tanks a few turns later. im now using a unit of light tanks to clean up whats left around that city. i was at peace with one of the groups of raiders south of me, but they decided to overrun my initial defense to the outskirts of my starting city. ive been absolutely tearing them apart in casualties and im starting to counterattack with my second unit of light tanks. i still have a need to do something about my exposed borders because i am still at war on every possible front.
also, apparently im having an issue with something at home that is causing major unrest, but i cant exactly figure out what it is.

>>435154
The unrest is likely either caused by high danger rating due to the enemy's proximity to your city or because of recent casualties on your part.

File: 無題.png (811 KB, 825x547)

811 KB PNG

>mpgame

Naval forces continue to push back United Front troops as Type 76 Large Light Cruisers lead the way. Large tank battles ensue as Naval destroyer and cruiser squadrons contest the land with Front Crusaders and Titan heavy tanks. Despite the encirclement and loss of a reinforced battalion of Marines last turn, casualties remain about equal on both sides, who are technologically on par.

the syndicate may be about the most annoying thing ive had to deal with in this game. i dont have a problem with the corporation, but holy shit the syndicate is just an ever present tumor that keeps growing back, no matter how much i suppress or persecute it

>>435319
The complete opposite experience for me. Whenever they show up they just end up disbanding themselves through no effort on my part.

>>435323
i cant really find a solution for them. they are in my capital city and keep starting shit, and have turned it into detroit 2.0 (people keep moving out and i cant get my worker count above 3100)
at least my other city is becoming productive

File: file.png (342 KB, 602x292)

342 KB PNG

>>435325
it doesnt matter if i pop crime raid and crackdown on crime 4-5 times each in a zone for a turn, they just dont go away

>>435326
Have you tried making friends instead? Also increasing your security score and enforcement profile.

>>435326
maybe next time play enforcement profile

How do fighters intercept enemy planes? Will they automatically attack if they are in range when an enemy plane comes in for an attack, just like AA?

>>411827
I've got a dumb question.
Is there some kind of AI unit movement assist system (for example like in hoi games?) or do I just have to move tens-hundreds of units myself?

>>435469
lol no. put your autism into overdrive bro

>>435469
You can group-move or group-attack all units in a hex. But I don't think you can group-strategic-move, so yeah, start guzzling mercury cuz ur gonna need the autism

>>435467
You have to go to unit admin and set the "Intercept Enemy Aircraft When Readiness Above X" checkmark to something other than "Never". Then yeah I think they auto-attack in range

>>435467
>>435878
Keep in mind the further they are from the hex being attacked by aircraft the lower chance they will have of successfully intercepting

God is there any better feeling than watch the AI rush to pull its units out from a city you've nearly encircled?

>>436006
watching a human player rush to pull its units out from a city you've nearly encircled

>>436006
strategically bombing an enemy city every turn from 25 hexes away, watching as their assets get torn apart in the process

Help me out here, are you not allowed to put funding of a council at 0%? What's the minimum allowed level of funding?

>>436088
Yeah I mean true. If the logistics of PBEM weren't' so fucked or any of my friends were interested, I'd consider MP.

Right now I'm willing to wait for a proper PBEM integration. It'd be fun to have a couple games running on once-daily or once-every-48-hours timers in the background. Like daily chess but more involved. Perfect for writing autistic AARs/LPs.

>>436134
1%?

>>436147
>once-daily or once-every-48-hours
How do you learn to tolerate such slow gameplay?

File: file.png (1.35 MB, 868x960)

1.35 MB PNG

Why are my secretaries always retarded, and hate me?

>>436366
Because they are old hags that want to fuck your shadow-infested cock but you keep refusing them. Increase their salary to appease them.

>>436366
in my previous playthrough, i just either forced them to retire, had them assassinated, or fired them so they wouldnt start a really small revolt against me every time their relation hit near zero

File: Untitled.png (1.65 MB, 1200x949)

1.65 MB PNG

#cancelionvoid

>436417
are you on twitter or are you in a shadow empire thread on a chan through the webring?

>>436354
join multiple mp games at once

>>436417
based

>>436422
I'm making fun of normalfag actions on /vst/

>>436427
oh

>>436006
Squashing hunters and alien bugs with your heavy tank

File: SEmonitors.jpg (1.61 MB, 1920x1080)

1.61 MB JPG

>>436006
nuking rebels with Monitor tanks

>>436417
What is vegetal gift?

>>436956
If it's not foreigner speak, then some sort of plant based gift. They are herbivores, so likely food.

How do I get my population up steadily? I'm playing on a relatively-sparsely-populated Morgana planet and for the first time I'm finding my limiting factor in the early-mid game is not metal or IP but number of guys.

Right now it looks like i'm only getting 200 natural growth out of my biggest city per turn. Does having more surplus food help this? Does increasing health score also increase pop growth?

>>437246
The fastest way is conquest

>>437327
That's served me pretty well thus far. I'm just wondering how to maximize peacetime natural growth.

File: Capture.png (134 KB, 199x278)

134 KB PNG

>>437246

>>437343
>>437246
Read the manual but yes, health increases it and high culture score decreases it. It's based on the number of people in the town in some way or another (either directly or by town level), so the answer is you need people to make people. Ideally you can just spread out and take over free folk towns, but if there's low planet pop, you'll need to depend on population generators like hidden villages and merc corps and refugee camps, or get cloning artifacts. There's also the boom town fate card but that's random.

If you want to do it a more complex way, you can conqueror a minor with a high fertility rate and not fully convert them to your culture so that they retain their high birth rate.

>>437358
I did manage to snag the automated cloning card and have that pumping away, so my pop score isn't critical.

>>437360
Makes sense. I think I've drained every reachable Free Folk town by this point, so I'll spam hospitals and see how that goes.

Related thought I just have: I think I'm going to try out a mobilize/demobilize approach rather than my usual 100%-standing-army approach. My position is safe enough that my borders aren't too hot, and tech is good enough that a handful of infantry brigades with armor support can root out the few remaining natives. So I think I'll try disbanding the majority of the infantry brigades while keeping the OHQs in place for quick replacement once I need them. I built a pretty huge army pretty quickly for my latest conquest so it'll be nice to have the units back. And I haven't noticed XP making as much a difference as tech and tactics so I'm not concerned about having a green army next war.

>>437374
You could try to rush robot soldiers and just not need human infantry

>>437382
That's an option but I'm on very slow development, so it'll be a while off.

>>437374
>I built a pretty huge army pretty quickly for my latest conquest so it'll be nice to have the units back.
The true and correct way to play is to attack someone else and get an even bigger army.

>>411827
Just got this game off steam and haven't played a serious 4x in ages. Any friendly anons here willing to give a dumbass some advice, tips and some stories to get help me know what I'm getting into?

>>438619
It's less 4x and more hex based wargame, so be ready for that. Don't get me wrong, the 4x element is still pretty important to the game, but it's not just another Civilization game.

Best way to learn is just by doing. Everybody's first games are a shitshow. Having the manual open to ctrl+f terms you don't know can go a long way to learning how things work. Click on all the UI elements to find out what they do, too, since there's a lot of information in this game but it's all accessible somewhere.

Your first game will go the smoothest if you go for a Siwa class world with a breathable atmosphere, no special world history rules, 1 city + 1 army, tech level 3, no starting councils, and corps, syndicates, cults and epochs disabled. This sets you up to explore all the systems in your own time without too much shit to jerk you around while you're trying to learn.

Here's some tips to get you started:
Economic council first
Don't build more than one SHQ
Always upgrade your truck stations
Roads are your empire's arteries
Units need to be within 4~6 tiles of a road to stay supplied