Are Techs' Effects That Unclear?

[LordGek]

Hey Those in the Know,

I think the scariest part of Tom Chick's reveiw was his mention that many of the tech descriptions were far more fluff than substance. Even if, maybe, hard numbers aren't given in the description, do the descriptions at least let folk know the KEY differences between say Blasters and Mass Drivers? Like as I recall in Master of Orion 2, wasn't the Mass Driver's claim to fame that it did the same amount of damage regardless of distance if within range? While the description in Mo3 may not say "it does 6 points of damage regardless of distance" does it still at least say that the damage isn't dissapated over distance like a typical beam weapon?

[JonahFalcon]

Check the Strategy Guide for exact stats.

However, the amount of damage dealt and other stats are pretty unneeded - there are four types of weapons (beam, particle, mass driver, and one other) and each one is better than the next in terms of tech level. Level 5 is worse than Level 6, etc.

[Todd Hawks]

Maybe I don't want to spend another € 15 or 20 for an outdated Strategy Guide to get info that should be included in the game?

I guess we will see this kind of info on the board soon enough, but still decent in-game info would be much better.

[LordGek]

Hmmm,

So there isn't any of MoO2's subltey of the Mass Driver does more damage individually but at this point it may still be more effective to load up on the lesser Lasers since you can fit many more in your ship?

Looking at the strategy guide it really does look like, for the most part, higher tech level is just the better weapon and other than that maybe the newer ones cost a little more you'd be an idiot to NOT load a newly minted ship with only the latest weapons. Where are the tradeoffs?

Oh, also, do any of the weapons have cute side effects like the old Black Hole Generators or Destabilizers? Not those SPECIFIC effects but just something more than straight damage? Like a weapon that immobilizes a ship temporarily or something?

[sfsuphysics]

Originally posted by Todd Hawks
Maybe I don't want to spend another € 15 or 20 for an outdated Strategy Guide to get info that should be included in the game?

I guess we will see this kind of info on the board soon enough, but still decent in-game info would be much better.

Of course you could just open up (or wait for someone to) the in game preferences with winzip, then load the data into a nice spreadsheet like MS Excel, print it out for viewing or change stats as you see fit

But I agree, lack of mention in the manual, lack of mention in the game, need for a $20 strategy guide built off a 4 month+ old copy of the game that probably went through some tweaks to make all sides "fair", and ontop of that the whole damn thing is in black and white, is really crappy.

If I get the game and aren't glued to it I'll probably make a gamefaq.com type weapons/armor/whatever faq on the ingame statistics.

[JonahFalcon]

The techs do mention IMPORTANT stats. For example, the DEA mod techs TELL you "Adds +1 to Bioharvest DEA" etc. There are plenty of stats in many of the techs.

[rhofman]

Jonah, is what sfsuphysics saying possible? Seems like all the b****ing about it though valid, is unnecessary if it is as simple as that.

I also like to echo Lordgek's question about if there is indirect or "special" damage depending on the weapons used?

[Sarxis]

I don't like to have to dig into the game's files and mechanics to get info like weapon damage, but honestly, its a sure fire way of knowing the correct stats.

[Corentor]

Originally posted by JonahFalcon
Check the Strategy Guide for exact stats.

However, the amount of damage dealt and other stats are pretty unneeded - there are four types of weapons (beam, particle, mass driver, and one other) and each one is better than the next in terms of tech level. Level 5 is worse than Level 6, etc.

What about comparing damage from weapon types?

IE, will I know if it is better to outfit my battleship with primarily beams or mass drivers if I have say level 15 beam weapon vs level 18 mass driver weapon?

[sfsuphysics]

Originally posted by Anun Ik Oba
I don't like to have to dig into the game's files and mechanics to get info like weapon damage, but honestly, its a sure fire way of knowing the correct stats.

That's why I mentioned wait for someone else to do all the digging, and then you enjoy the fruits of their labors I did something similar with Fallout Tactics listing damages for most all weapons (with some minor mistakes) which was posted at www.gamefaqs.com, I'll do the same thing with moo3 unless someone else does it first in which case there would be no reason for me to do it, although one thing I would change is not put any email at all in their.. seems that people can read the email address just fine, but can't read the line directly below it in all caps that says "DONT EMAIL ME ASKING HOW TO GET WEAPON XXX" .. *sigh*

No worries, though first few games should be all about discovering everything, no need to get anal about stats until much later

[leiavoia]

the tech descriptions are hit and miss. some are extraordinarily vague, while others, like weapons, give you a pretty decent list (or some of them at least) of range, damage, recharge rates, etc.

[JonahFalcon]

There are tech stats on all ground troop weaponry, DEA improvements, and everything you'd REALLY need on them.

The others, like ship weaponry and mods, have their stats in the Ship Construction screen, not the tech tree.

[Kc7mxo]

The others, like ship weaponry and mods, have their stats in the Ship Construction screen, not the tech tree.

Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense. If I'm told that we just invented hypertensive borzine atenuators in my Sisrep, but I don't have the slightest idea what they do, why waste my time with it at all?

[Starlord]

Originally posted by Todd Hawks
Maybe I don't want to spend another € 15 or 20 for an outdated Strategy Guide to get info that should be included in the game?

I guess we will see this kind of info on the board soon enough, but still decent in-game info would be much better.

I hope we get this information soon. It is pretty lame that such important information is missing in the manual and the online help. Probably Infogrames gets a fee on each strategy guide sold.
In short: If you really want to know how the game works give us some extra €/$.

Starlord