Planetary Designations?

[fembotcosmonaut]

I am having issues creating influence early game and I was hoping someone could help me. Looking at the little tool-tip under the influence resource, it says that to build influence I need to recruit soldiers on a colony with the "Fortress World" designation, but none of the planets I colonize nor the core wolds I start with have that option available. I cannot designate any of my worlds as "Fortress Worlds." Is this something I need to research? (I really wish I could see a research tree so that I know what to research to get to a specific technology... :/ )

Anyway if someone who knows can provide some clarity on the subject, it would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

[macragge]

you set planet designations yourself. on the planet view, click on the planet icon on the left side. then a window opens up to the right where you can set a designation for the planet. your home planet is locked, so you can not change that.

[Endicott]

Its a shame they don't have "Fledgling Colony", like New Horizons does. Allows for faster growth as the colonists get settled, before you really have an idea what the planet is going to be used for.

[fembotcosmonaut]

Originally posted by macragge:

you set planet designations yourself. on the planet view, click on the planet icon on the left side. then a window opens up to the right where you can set a designation for the planet. your home planet is locked, so you can not change that.

Yes, that is how to set a planet's designation. I can make a planet's designation Bureaucratic, Agrarian, Tech... ect. The question I was asking is how to designate a planet, specifically, with the "Fortress World" designation. I do not have that option listed in the menu. Do you know how to make that option available in the game?

[macragge]

if you are playing Federation, then that option is not availiable for them.

[IndianaJones]

I've just checked and you can't set this when playing as Federation, which is meant to be peaceful and gain territory via diplomacy.
Federation is seriously handicap in this game.

Other factions have this kind specialization for the planet.

It is kinda weird design since influence is used not only for claiming planets during war, but to expand to unoccupied systems, and later for planet upgrades.

Mid and late game with Federation is really boring. Devs didn't add anything to replace removed war mechanic for Federation.

I'm might start to play with different faction on iron man to get some achievements after they patch the game in next few weeks.

Or I'll start exploring modding, since playing as Federation is super boring.


Anyway, playing as Federation I got most of influence through events. Now in mid / late game I simply start humiliation war with Cardassian to farm influence.

After short war I get incluence from almost zero to several hundreds. To be honest Cardassian are no match for me now. :D

I can't win game sooner since they limited wining condition, best score after 300 years, still 150 years to go or to have 12 ethos, which I have 6 now.

[simking]

ya i am stuck too, can't expand no influence ,started war with cardasian but it throws an auto tready in so can't do nothing with them,can't colonize anymore planets because i cannot expand anywhere. Nothing more to explore,no anomiles so the mission tree is stuck and you cannot complete it. begging for missions is all the same over and over and none of them have helped expand the enterprise mission tree. the federation is boring mid game you cannot do anything. no random missions nothing unusual to explore. If you miss the borg window its stuck forever.

[IndianaJones]

I created a small mod which can produce influence by construction a building on planet.
It's gives small amount per building and has upkeep so it is balanced, but speeds up the pace of the mid and late game.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3057203642

[PlainSimpleJoel]

^ Nice.

The other option (if want to cheat), is use console commands to gain influence. I had to that early so I could expand like I wanted too.

[IndianaJones]

Originally posted by PlainSimpleJoel:

^ Nice.

The other option (if want to cheat), is use console commands to gain influence. I had to that early so I could expand like I wanted too.

Well it's not meant to be a cheat but somewhat balance change.
Lack of Influence source is really bad design of mechanics in this game. I recall when I played Endless Space 2 I could build some producing buildings or boost otherwise influence points generation.
It also make sense that trade would gradually increase your influence, especially for peaceful (to the point of ridiculousness) Federation.

Anyway, I'm learning how to mod this game and this was something fairly easy to do. I hope NGE won't drop support for this game and they will patch the game frequently.