Building infrastructure?

[clocknova]

Just got the game, and I'm trying REALLY hard to understand and like it. I'm letting the AI make most of the decisions for now, until I really figure out what all those settings do. But I can't seem to figure out how to build planetary structures like the "hydroponic farms." They don't show up on the planetary build queue. I noticed that when a planetary AI is on, they seem to show up on their own in multiple regions (not always where I want them built. But I want to build them manually. So what gives?

[Kahn]

Some items the game just will not let you touch. Regional improvements are one.

[clocknova]

WHAT?

Now that's just plain stupid! I really prefer to micromanage every aspect of a game like this, and that pisses me off. So, basically, if I turn off the planet AI, I can't build regional infrastructure? How can that possibly be intentional?!

Who thought that was a good idea?!

[Daz]

we're waaay past that nowadays....
I guess everyone got used to it. Live with it. Best is to presume the AI does a way better job than you could....
really, it is so....

[Proteus_MST]

See it this way:
The AI takes over some of the rahter unimportant jobs so that you have your head free to get the really important jobs done well

[Grumbold]

A custom mod exists to force all the improvements into the visible building class but I have never used it.

[krait23]

If you like Micromanagement you should get MoO2... It is in that and many other regards a much better game for most people. (Yes yes I know, fans are the majority in their own minds, but most certainly not from what I see online and know from my friends...)

You should have read the reviews at Amazon.com before buying this ... thing... Even the good reviews tell you that there is no micromanagement...

Of course I made the same mistake (just there were no useful reviews because I stupidly bought it on day 1)...

I learned from my mistake though. No more games purchased unless I played them before....

Lata
Krait

[clocknova]

I Bought MoO2 in 1997 and played it constantly for four years. One of the greatest games ever made, but it no longer holds any challenge for me.

I knew about the reviews, but they also said that the AI could be turned off...

Sigh.

I'm going to hold off on judgement for a while longer.

[Proteus_MST]

Now, if you get used to the fact,
that some things can´t be controlled by the player (at least in an unmodded game) you´ll probably find out, that it´s a really good game (after the patch) despite being no MOO 2.5

I was also one of those who micromanaged every part in MOO 2, but I´ve learned to trust the AI (which btw. does a much better job than the AI in MOO 2) in MOO 3 and aside from a few worlds where I exert greater Influence I trust the AI to run large parts of my Empire (as I always play on huge Maps, so I normally have really big Empires, so Micromanagement would mean, that in later turns of the game I had to spend more than 1 hour just to manage the economy of all my worlds ).
So the most important jobs I do is managing Shipsbuilding on my larger Industrial worlds, assigning DEAs to new colonized Planets (I always assign all DEAs after Colonization by hand), Creating new Ship Designs and of course Creating Fleets and the like and sending Them From System A to System B

[Ozymandous]

Re: WHAT?

Originally posted by clocknova
Now that's just plain stupid! I really prefer to micromanage every aspect of a game like this, and that pisses me off. So, basically, if I turn off the planet AI, I can't build regional infrastructure? How can that possibly be intentional?!

Who thought that was a good idea?!

Some items in the game will be built in every region that has the population to support them, like Hydroponic farms and Space ports. These items don't seem to cost much upkeep and only require a one time build for each region. These items also essentially produce the same regardless of where they are, so why would you want to manually add them to each and every region of each and every planet you own when the AI can do it for you and then turn off the spending when done?

This would be like installing the OS on your PC by copying every single file yourself instead of having the OS copy the files automatically.

By the way, would you want to hand manage 60+ planets every turn? You can but you'll spend more time tinkering and tweaking than playing the game. Heh, one Huge map game played this way would take you literally years to complete if you got 100+ planets.

[Kahn]

Re: WHAT?

Originally posted by clocknova
Now that's just plain stupid! I really prefer to micromanage every aspect of a game like this, and that pisses me off. So, basically, if I turn off the planet AI, I can't build regional infrastructure? How can that possibly be intentional?!

Who thought that was a good idea?!

I'm probably the last person on earth that would stick up for QS's job on MoO3, but this is to some extent realistic. The president doesn't tell each state in the union what they can and cannot spend their budgets on.

If QS wanted to get real nit-picky they could have introduced a more realistic economic model into the game taking into account commodity supply & demand, inflation, deflation, etc. which would really take the player out-of-the-loop as far as being the soul influence over his/her domain. But let's face it, the most realistic models don't make for very interesting games.

[Cedayon]

Re: WHAT?

Originally posted by clocknova
So, basically, if I turn off the planet AI, I can't build regional infrastructure?

I think the AI still fills the "normal economic development" queue (DEAs and regional improvements, the stuff you can't queue up yourself, though you can tell it what DEAs to build and where) even if the "economic AI" for the planet is off. Or am I wrong?

Who thought that was a good idea?!

I'm reasonably sure the responsible party has already received the appropriate punishment

[clocknova]

Okay. All very good points. And, to be honest, I'm getting used to the idea that this game cannot be played like its predecessor. I've been reading up on dev plans, and putting them to good use, so I don't feel like I'm powerless to control development. I think I've finally gotten over the hump that so many of MOO3's detractors don't play long enough to get to, and I'm having some real fun.

However, two of the more annoying issues I've run into are: the build queues should be seperated from the economic AI, so I can control what is built while the viceroy decides how to spend; the colors assigned to various races are too similar- I've got four shades of red in one game, each only slightly different from the next.

But I'm sure you all know that by now.

[Craig P.]

Separating the queues from the AI -- if you get the patch, you can lock the MBQ, which will probably accomplish most of what you want to accomplish there.

[CharlesBHoff]

Originally posted by clocknova
Okay. All very good points. And, to be honest, I'm getting used to the idea that this game cannot be played like its predecessor. I've been reading up on dev plans, and putting them to good use, so I don't feel like I'm powerless to control development. I think I've finally gotten over the hump that so many of MOO3's detractors don't play long enough to get to, and I'm having some real fun.

However, two of the more annoying issues I've run into are: the build queues should be seperated from the economic AI, so I can control what is built while the viceroy decides how to spend; the colors assigned to various races are too similar- I've got four shades of red in one game, each only slightly different from the next.

But I'm sure you all know that by now.

In real life the leader cannot micromang everything in his Empire. Let say I am the Emporous of than 25,000,000 planet empire it would be impossible for me to manger the action of the breat cops on very planets that why I have the Department of Police mang that for me.