dev planning, anyone done it?

[Ianpolaris]

Stuie,

That is denial, pure and simple. I am sorry, but I know of no polite way to phrase that. As Emperor, President, Grand-Poobah...whatever....I should not have to micromanage spies and the military.

Putting together task-forces and redesigning ships is the job for your Joint Chiefs....not the President...assuming of course we take the "macro" management arguement to it's logical conclusion. Likewise, recruiting and deploying spies is the job of your Imperial Intelligence Agency....not you personally.

The game is wretched and not fun. It doesn't get any simpler than that.

-Polaris

[Stuie]

Sorry that you are not enjoying it. Like I said, guess it's not your cup of tea.

[Ianpolaris]

Stuie,

We can certainly agree on that. I did not enjoy it. Please note the past tense. I gave it away to a friend of mine who tried it out....and promptly gave it away to another friend. I hope I still have friends after this week is out.....because the reaction from all of them as been overwhelmingly negative.....indeed I have been the mildest of the bunch.

I enjoy a good, complex, and challenging game that allows me a fair amount of feedback and control. Moo III fails on all accounts. Take the most neutral requirements for a good stategy game, and then analyze Moo III fairly against them.

If you do, I think you will see that it is an unmitigated failure. Even worse IMHO, the game is not fun. I could forgive any sin in a game....except that.

-Polaris

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by aiin
Dev plan is worthless for military stuff. It's best never put military in the priority list if you don't want worthless ships and troops. It's best to focus on a few(5-10) planets and micro the military queu while trusting the AI to do the rest. Trust me, you'll want to toss your computer out the window when all of a sudden you get 50 recon ships in the reserves.

The AI is building a wide variety of warships for me. About 1/3 frigates 1/3 cutters 1/3 recon (It's early game and those are my only designed ships) My home planet, for instance, will have a queue full of 'top of the line' warships, while my newly developed colonies will be building scouts or point defence ships, with an odd marine or psy op thrown in. I still manage most of the military queues, though, because I like to. I usually have an overall strategy for production, anyways. (ie. build a fleet of first generation ships, then focus on colony ships while I wait for the technology to build second generation ships, ect...)

Of course, I make use of the military spending options in the budget options. (although, oddly enough, most of my planets still have military spending below the limit when set to limited war )

[OmniDude]

Ianpolaris,

one quick Q: Do you still play or did you dump the game?

You postings here here points to a love/hate-relationship (a la "The game sucks bigtime, but annoyingly manages to be just addictive enough as to not allow me to abandon it completely and that REALLY pisses me off!")...?

[OmniDude]

Ah, too slow. You've already answered. Then tell me instead: Moo1 and 2 was FUN in what sense of the word? I ask, because when you say FUN I'm thinking Star Control 3. I never thought of the TBS-genre as FUN?

[darcy]

Ah yes, the dev plans, another opaque feature.

How are the auto-categories for a planet chosen? Do both categories have the same priority? Is a secondary directive of a primary development plan equivalent to a primary directive of a secondary development plan? How does the Balanced/Natural/Specialized command factor into this? Is it active only when the development plan is empty?

And since it came up, what is the relationship between the Military Policy setting and the Imperial Military Budget? If the Military Policy sets nothing but the maximum Planetary Military Funding that can be allocated without causing unrest, why not keep it at maximum all the time? Wouldn't that cause the lowest unrest? Where exactly does the Imperial Military Budget go? If it goes into several Planetary Military Fundings, wouldn't that make it equivalent to Grants?

And another funny one: If you set the Planetary Military Funding to 100%, 100% of what is it then? Switch to absolute (AU) view and you won't find that number anywhere.

[Ianpolaris]

OmniDude,

I did find Moo 2 fun....much more so after the 1.31 patch admittedly (because it made the game much more challenging and balanced). I didn't play Moo 1, so I can't comment there, but I have played Civ (1,2, and 3), SMAC, and many others of this genera. I felt that Civ 3 was very weak and had serious issues (which were never adequately resolved IMHO), but all were at least marginally fun.

By 'fun', I mean that I was challenged and entertained. A good stategy game IMO is addictive and immersive and that is a good part of the fun (in addition to all the other points I have made already).

I did something with Moo III that I have never done with any other TBS game....even those I felt were bad (Civ 3 comes to mind here): I stopped playing when I was winning because I couldn't bear the thought of 'playing' another turn. There simply wasn't any incentive to do it. I have never done that with any other stategy game ever. It was that bad.

-Polaris

[vmxa1]

Originally posted by Razgon
Core planets mean exactly that - the core planets of your empire.

Mineral rich planets are also just that - Planets with the rating "Mineral Rich"

Sorry maybe I was not clear. I understand what the term Core means, what I do not know is what the DEA plan is for any of the them.
When I pull up the tab it is blank. I want to see what the AI is using. Is CORE:
Bio Gov Manf or what.
The same for all of the defaults, what are they set to?
I do not think the way the AI is doing it is optimal, but I am not sure what to modify to improve it as I do not know what the setting is at this point.
If they were defined, I may see that in fact that is the best that can be done.

[General Ludd]

They do not have any priorities unless you make them. Otherwise, the Ai will just build whatever it the planet needs.

[Harry Seldon]

You can check defaults on the government screen where the oppressometer is. Most planets will build what is needed most first, then follow what most compliments the planet it's on; ie Mining on Mineral Rich. The AI doesn't handle this well without a little guidance, I've noticed. I usually set a basic all-planetary tertiary policy for whatever I'm good at as a race to make sure particular DEAs are built. You'll have to keep an eye on other planets to make sure they're using their space wisely because if your empire needs food, the AI will build bioharvest DEAs on mineral rich planets all day. You can delete the DEAs to eliminate any unwanted or unneccessary DEAs and replace them with what you want.

[azuldracul]

funny little insects buzzing in my ear

HEY folks!

please can we be somewhat intelligent...when some people say dev plans don't work..it just makes me shake my head and light my hobbit pipe

Which should tell all you whiners out there somethen...if a hobbit pipe smoker like me can figure this game out everyone can...I think the strat gaming community has been a little dumbed down by commercial candy (you games know of which games I refer too)

no wonder the world is on the edge of war....some people just want to see what they want to see regardless of Facts to the contrary.

dev plans are primative object oriented programming...they are wonderful and have lots of effect; in fact my hive minded Klakons stick to them so much I am scewing up my empire 'cause planets were following the dev plans instead of thinking for themselves and taking care of failing food supplies....

thats all I wanted to say I have already spent too much time talking to people who ...have already decided..to dislike just 'cause it is a little different..a thinking persons game....gotta get back to the klackon Swarm

good luck to all those who still are allowing the foul winds of bull to influance them.

see you in the mooverse.

[vmxa1]

azuldracul that was nice, but what does it have to do with the thread? This is not about their usefulness or lack of it. It is about how to use them better, if possible and to understand them better.
IOW I was soliciting input and ideas, not complaints or diatribes.
So in that vain, do you know what the plan is for CORE or any of the default values?

[azuldracul]

a bit of a rambling--half answer

Originally posted by vmxa1
azuldracul that was nice, but what does it have to do with the thread? This is not about their usefulness or lack of it. It is about how to use them better, if possible and to understand them better.
IOW I was soliciting input and ideas, not complaints or diatribes.
So in that vain, do you know what the plan is for CORE or any of the default values?

ya sorry if that came off a little hot...I am just loving the game and finding it to be not reflective at all of the negative reviews.

I think Mr sheldon right at the top might have spoken about defults.....

that being said...I don't know the defult values...AS I understand it there are not any set defaults..if you don't touch the development plan area...IMO the vicroys do what ever they need to to keep their world happy...BUT

I have only played a lttle more than 48hrs (with only 5hrs for the little death known as "sleep")

I also belive although I can't prove it that the actions of the vicroys will fluctuate with what race you play.

Also I belive the type of race as well as government type influanve just how much and if the vicroys implament the dev plans....

I am assuming you already know what is ment by CORE (worlds).... so as I said I am not awaire of default settings I belive every race has a plan that is best for them..see loreweavers excellent strat guide...

hope this helps

ps

IMO the ranking the plans are inthe que speak to their priority
so all planet would superseed..say sweetspot plan for example..I don't know for sure about this so if anyone has corabourating evidence...let me know.

[Sinapus]

Are there limits to the amount of dev plans you can have? No scrollbar appears on the list when I add a new one, so that might be "no". Also, when one changes a devplan (ie., switching "mines" to "farms" for a primary focus) during a game, how long does it take to be effective?

Anyway, I find them useful. Will try to test a few plans. (I think "military" selection will cause remote colonies to build mobilization centers, but am not sure. Going to replace that entry with "planetary defense" and see what happens next time.)

ObGripe: No way to save the dev plans and load them in a game, so each time I have to manually input them on turn 1.