LOTSA Q's (28) non Newb help

[Dragonlord]

I have lots of questions, any answers will be greatly appreciated

BTW What a friggin great game this is.... of course the patch and buying it for 9.99 did help...but anyways, on with the questions


1. Does anyone know of a more detailed Encyclopedia MOD than the 1.3?

2. Rec center DEA's, lab DEA's and specials: Are "natural wells" bonuses region-specific or planetary? How about "archeological ruins", and what is the lifespan for each? Why is it important what magnate made them? (NOTE: IF SPOILER, plz do not say)

3. Is it possible to exchange 1 tech at all with the Silicoids? I Tried getting spinal mount (did not start with it, grrr) in exchange for other 3 advanced techs (P13, E7, M8) with a positive diplomat leader, and nada.... what gives?

4. Are there any patches beyond the 1.2 diplomod to fix diplomacy?

5. Why do i still have positive relations (+ relations, Calm/Relaxed/ treatied, etc) with other races with TA's even though i/them blockade systems, blow/bombard/skirmish each other AND i have even invaded them sucesfully taking their planet(?) In other words, what consitutes an ACT of WAR?

6. Does a non-agression pact prevent blockading?

7 HUGE: Can someone be more specific regarding Magnate DEA bonus/negatives? For example, i know mrrshans have efficient Military DEAs as Gnolams are with Spaceports (as the Encylopedia MOD states) but there seem to be differences in industry DEA, Research DEa , etc that i cannot exactly quantify for other races as well.

8. Can someone please either dispel or confirm the fact that if you posess an itkhul planet and they migrate to other planets, they will start EATING that 2nd planet's pop?

9. Is it true that an outpost/colony in a system "lays Claim" to it, so if i step in a colonize that system i get a relations hit?

10. TERRAFORming: How can i remove 'removable' specials? Do i need a tech? My planet's are now sweet spot but still infested with hostile microbes/pollution.....

11. Point defense: Speak from experience please,
missiles, direct weapons, or interceptors?
I think the interceptors are the worst, but then again i still have primitive systems for them....

12. Can someone please explain to me how to get arou nd the PD 'bug'? (I read something about firing missiles inmediately ...??!!)

13. is there a way to check combat terrain conditions in a planet before the attack phase?

14. A way to set the gift to empire option off as default? (messing with config files??)

15. What is the Direct effect of additional military/research funding through the empire screen? Where does that money go?
I have planets running on 1:1 or 1:2 efficiency at most because they produce nothing but industry (IP's) and RP's and have a very low tax revenue and empty planetary bank so they cannot afford any more spending. I need to funnel empire money to them. How can i do this ? (Grants are to newer planets only, so is there a config file i can mess with so grants are given to planets with <1000 AU bank?

16. conquered RACES: When conquering another race, what DEA bonuses apply? Example: Silicoids are awesome miners, if i conquer sakkra, will they be miners too? If not, what traits apply? The defaults? Or are they stripped of all the modifiers?
If possible, please list the complete STANDARD RACE DEA bonuses.

17. Economy (Holy War/ Peace & Prosperity?) I read somewhere that DEA's and improvements build faster in a P&P setting. Is this true besides the OBVIOUS extra funding that will speed up queues?

18. Commerce: Does AI need spaceports as well to commence interstellar trade? When and where do i know the cost/benefit from TA's RA's? The manual says they are costly to begin, but how do i know that?

19. HFoG: How to curb inflation/HFoG? Is switching govs from one turn to the next effective POST 1.25 patch? I read somewhere that this exploit was eliminated?

20. SHIPS!! Are 2 Focus Det. better than 1 on a sigle ship? ECM's? ECCM's? You get the idea. Is the benefit Arithmetic, decreasing, or exponential?

21. Transports: Any way to invade/bombard the planet of my choosing in a multi-planet system?

22. Ground troops: Any effect of deploying troops on owned planet besides invasion defense? Do they train/gain exp while deployed? Do they have police powers?

23. REC and Mil. DEA's: Arithmetic, decreasing, or exponential benefit? Do you build 3 in one planet with special multiplier hoping for system "spillover" or do you construct one in every planet? Has anyone been able to quantify spillover effect?
GOV DEA's : Same thing: Better to build 3 on system seat planet, or 1 on every planet?

24. Why do i get DEA's with a -1 turn ETA? How to fix them?

25. Unrest. How can i estimate unrest from demographics tab? Ie. What does it mean "90.6 unrest across 6 regions"? As it is now, i have to go to the planetary tab to calculate unrest problems precisely, and it is annoying.

26. Request attitude in Diplomacy: Can anyone tell me anything about this? Also, how can i request 'votes' on a bill through exchange/demand screen? (Sometimes option is there, sometimes it isn't)

27. Race relations: Everyone hates Itkhul, Tachiri despise Silicoids while humanoids are not very fond of them either. Meklar have it out for the cynoids. Lots of issues amongst ichitosyan. Could somone elaborate a bit further on others?

28. Last but not least. Please a comprehensive list of must-have MODS. Please do not tell me that everyone is different, because there must but MODS that everyone agrees are essential. I.e. No Babylon 5 chars, or expand research tree, etc. I just want fixes, fixes and better/updated graphs and info.

[Stormhound]

Answers to selected questions:

1. Nope. I don't think there is one.

2. It should say; if it doesn't, it's regional. Lifespan is variable and the numbers weren't given that I recall.

3. Exchanging techs is tough. Races generally want a really great deal, and even then it's tough.

4. No.

5. Actually, it usually takes multiple acts of war to get someone to go to war. It also takes time for relations to change, unlike older MOOs.

6. No.

8. Confirmed.

10. If it's removable, and you have at least one terraforming tech, then terraforming should automatically remove it. Don't know whether it deletes it from the planet/region info, however.

11. Point defense is somewhat broken anyhow, but I prefer beam weapons.

15. You cannot funnel money directly to specific planets.

20. ECM/ECCM is broken, but someone's working on a way to fix it. Check moo3mods.com

21. Yes. There's a tab at the bottom of the screen where you set options for space combat; click it then select the planet where you want the combat to take place. Troops will go to that planet if you're successful.

22. Troops do have minor police powers, but they're pretty limited so it's not a quick fix to major unrest.

23. Decreasing, and once they get "range" effect it's decreasing within range.

25. You want specifics, you have to go where there are specifics. The general number won't give you more than a vague idea.

[bakalov]

3. Trade race picks may help with exchanges.
5. Declaring war in the diplomacy screen ... though an AI race may declare war and then do nothing. The only thing that strongly affects the relations imo is the relative size of the both empires.

7. Bulrathi MineEff +=1
Mrrshan MilEff += 4
Gnolam TradeLev+=1 SPortEff+=2
- those I found related to DEAs

8. Confirmed from me too ;-) Glass the parasites' planets ....
9. Nope, outpost does not claim the system, it does not claim even the planet.
10. Agree with the previous answer. Bombardment may delete a special permanently (not 100% sure though).
11 - 12. I use beams too, but there was a statement that PD bug will not appear if your ship has unlaunced missiles, so I add a single missile since then.

--- to be continued ---

[bakalov]

15. I'd recommend lowering your empire taxes and rising up the planetary taxes. I even play with empire tax at 0 and use overflowing of banks of specific planets to raise the money in the treasury.

I've found that the research spending has something to do with the number in brackets (second research number) on the main screen, but I don't know if there is any real benefit from it.

16. Each race continues to use its own modifiers. The AI bonus on the hard difficulty settings is stripped if you conquer them.

17. These settings affect spaceports, and the length of the time that the ships stay in the delay box.

18. Probably the spaceports are needed for open border trade, but I'm nat too sure about it.

19. HFOG can be reduced only by tech in 1.25. Advanced governments also have lower HFOG. It raises by obtaining new planets. If you grow, your HFOG will grow, that's it.

20. The only thing that I'm sure of is that ECM\ECCM are cumulative, while the others aren't.

24. I've found even more confusing numbers like -65000 or something like it. Don't bother - they fix themselves.

25. Unrest accumulates from turn to turn on the planets. To seize it, eliminate the unrest factors. The number you describe should be considered along with the size of the planet. Larger planets usually require more unrest before you start getting troubles.

27. I know that Ichtyosian hate Saurian, and Etherean hate Cybernetic, and vice versa. Besides there are races that like each other. The easiest way to check it is by starting multiple games with many races in the senate - just look at the starting relations.

[Stormhound]

Actually, unrest doesn't accumulate; the amount of unrest is completely recalculated every turn...and larger planets shouldn't make any real difference (except for unrest factors related to overcrowding), as what matters is the unrest figure of each individual region.

Unrest = raw unrest points
Unrest Level = a separate value showing how close a given region is to open revolt

Unrest is calculated, then a die roll is made against a table, which determines whether the Unrest Level changes (and if so, by how much). Any Unrest Level above 0 carries with it a heavy load of Unrest points for all regions on the planet, which causes the problem to snowball unless you squash it. At Unrest Level 4, the region is in revolt. If you drop the Unrest to very low numbers (0-10), the Unrest Level will eventually subside.

[bakalov]

10x Storm ... Another thing that I would want to ask is how the oppresometer affects the unrest.
The oppressions do not appear in the unrest factors list but they do affect unrest. Do they multiply the exsisting factors in some manner, or what ....

If you can bring a formula how the raw unrest is calculated we would be very grateful ....

[Dragonlord]

Balakov

Hmm, i just posted a reply and it went the way of the 5 avengers on the Bermuda triangle...oh well....

Short answer: Unrest increase varies by Race/ GOV and also depends on the 'range' in or out of the average oppression for X goverment.

For Sillies in monarchy, i find 8pt. increase for a 1pt variation in oppresion within the avg range, whereas in a hive GOV it is more like a 5-6pt chg.

[Dragonlord]

3 more questions for y'all

1. Quickie: Archeological ruins special (10-15 turns) dissapears too fast to notice what is the "Research Efficiency up 5" Does that mean x5 or +5 for the region?

2. I have no (magnaterace)-labor specials inside my empire, yet i have quite a few FLU's in my empire. Where did they come from, and is there any way to know their race(i wouldn't want to be oppressing my allies, or god forbid, my own people!)

3. Example: In my hive Gov, oppress set at 5, i have captured dozens of spies, and only failed to prevent 3 tachidi-suspected sabotage durning 90 turns or so.
During a game earlier with the same race but diff GOV (monarchy) set at 8 or sometimes even higher, i suffered continuous spy harrasment from two other civs.
I was a member of the Senate both times and i had roughly the same number of enemies.

So, then, is oppresometer effectiveness dependent on the GOV, such that a lv 5 Hive oppresion is more effective than a lv 8 Monarchy?

[bakalov]

1. For sure it is not *5 (like Rare Plants) since the effect in the spreadsheet is not the same (AddReseE+=5 for ruins) and (ReseaEff*=5.0 for plants)

2. I dont think you can find out about their race. Slavery is slavery, that is.

3. I have the same observations. No explaination though. The fact that it is easier to steal tech from races with certain government types confirms this conclusion to some extent.