What are your Automation settings and why? (Formally: How fun is automisation really?)

[MouldyK]

UPDATE: Since people are saying what parts they automate and why, I want to hopefully get more answers, so changed Thread Name. :)

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Most people here say that automisation is just there for until you learn how to do everything on your own.

But my question is: What if I DON'T want to do everything on my own?

See, I could understand the game given time, but maybe I just want to sit and advise throughout the whole 1,400 Star Sytsem game, only occasionally doing things manually when the AI is not doing everything I want.

So i'm asking a question shich I don't think i've seen answered: How fun is it to just sit back and stamp the paper work for constructions, war and other things, without lifting much of a finger to do other things?

I don't know if I will get a good reply as I know not many want to play it that way. :P

[Lysander]

I found having the AI do Fleet Formation makes it damn near impossible to win unless you're in steamroll mode, but everything else is doable. It's been a long time since I went full auto, but I generally let the AI control stuff I don't want to deal with which ranges from just about everything to just colony policies.

[Tripitaka]

You aren't limited to choosing automated or manual. You can define the basis on which the ai makes decisions for you.

I think that's what you're meant to be doing. You either start from "expert" (all manual) or "default" (mostly auto) then change things from there.

nb. this is 'advice' from a complete noob.

[wizaerd]

I've either read here or perhaps heard in a couple of YouTube videos about this game, that some people have let the game play itaself just for the entertainment factor alone and can be quite entertaining. if using full auto, there's an option to turn off all popups too and the game will literally play itself entirely.

But as 齊天大聖 said, you could automate 99% of it, and just manually control a single ship if you want to play that way, it's entirely possible. Or you could manually control 90% of the game, and hand off to the AI automation just handling the empires taxation. It's pretty flexible.

[MouldyK]

Okay, i'm mildly convinced now. Space Presidency while my underlings do my work, here I come!

[lechuck1]

i got the game yesterday, went straight into it without playing any tutorial - the atuo featues allowed me to start right away and it was much easier that way to understand some of the basic game concpets.. basically i was imagining myself as the "minister of research" only controlling research and some coloy placement.. i even let the AI do the fighing for me.

now im planning to play the next game doing science and ship designs.. i want to design good ships of each type and have the AI use these in its fleets!

[MouldyK]

Well you sound like you had fun doing only research, so I guess it is one of them "It's only as fun as your imagination" types of things. I guess you can just mix and match things you control every game while the AI covers the other areas.

Then once you learn everything, find out what you found most fun, you can then do only those things, like you said, you are finding being an Chief Science expert a fun job so far. Just as long as you research what the AI needs to grow, not just focus on things which help fight wars! :P

[Bingeling]

I can say my idea of automation. Some things I automate because they are a bit annoying to do, and because I like that part of the game to be the same as for my opponents. Exploration ships and taxes are in this area.

I refuse to let the AI build military ships, form fleets, or control fleets. This is a part I enjoy.

I always let the AI do characters, I dislike this part of the game and happily accept that any star admiral I got may be placed on a fleet that never see combat. The AI moving the star colony governor around may give surprises in the economy department.

I let the AI do ship design. I don't find it fun, and it makes my ships as good as my opponent's ships. I may make certain specialist designs if in the right mood.

I usually do manual research, but not always.

I always put suggest on spy missions, because I otherwise would forget them. I often accept the suggested mission, but sometimes change it. I could automate it.

I have tried automated diplomacy, but war and peace is better on manual. There is a lot to gain with the power to end wars at will, though.

For a long time I used automated Construction ships, but now prefer to do that on my own.

From experience I know that unless I shift the game setup heavily in favor of the AI, I can win the game just with my beloved fleets of cruisers and larger. I don't enjoy the storylines, and decide that I have won when I feel no threat anymore.

[MouldyK]

Sound like you are just a warrior haha. Which is fine. I will probably let the AI handle wars since I will just try for peace if I play anyway.

Any war which starts will be due to be failing at diplomacy. Then i'll just let the AI do this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hl9LWEej-I


Changed Thread name as I like these reasons.

[Retrox]

Having spent the last few hours delving into the finer points of the game and learning how everything works: I'm a control freak, so I've turned all automation off. I've left all suggestions on so that my staff can remind me when important things need my attention. I'm a very busy man these days. :D

The AI generally makes sound decisions, but I find some of them less than optimal in the context of my grand scheme. The AI is conservative and governs by the book. As a visionary leader, I have a tendency to throw the book out and take risks when I feel a situation warrants it.

[mr. flappypants]

Originally posted by retrox:

I've turned all automation off.

Major props to you man. You must have some serious free time on your hand and a level of enormous dedication. I could never play this game on 100% full-manual control. For starters, I could not micro 20 explorer ships... no way no how... I've tried it and it is BRUTAL.

[Ri0Rdian]

I consider myself pretty experienced with the game. I still play with some form of automation on. Just yesterday I started a new game, these are the settings, pretty standard for my games nowdays:

Everything off but Fleet Formation
Colonization manual

The following are on suggestions:
Ship/Base construction
Intelligence
Attack against enemy
Sending diplomatic gifts
Treaties
War and Trade sanctions
Colony and facility building
Offer and accept pirate missions

I like to keep suggestions on because I often forget about something and this way I am always updated if there is something I overlooked. More like a reminder than a suggestion really :)

[EddyVegas]

Originally posted by lechuck1:

i got the game yesterday, went straight into it without playing any tutorial - the atuo featues allowed me to start right away and it was much easier that way to understand some of the basic game concpets.. basically i was imagining myself as the "minister of research" only controlling research and some coloy placement.. i even let the AI do the fighing for me.

now im planning to play the next game doing science and ship designs.. i want to design good ships of each type and have the AI use these in its fleets!

I love this answer, because it's Distant Worlds in a nutshell. I played one game running 2 construction ships, insuring there were Caslon (fuel) extractors everywhere, so the AI could go where they want and have a gas station nearby. Then I brached out into defense platforms for the extractors. Then branched out from there to designing my own extractors with built in weapons.

You can play this game a million different ways.

[mr. flappypants]

Originally posted by EddyVegas:

You can play this game a million different ways.

This is a very nice and concise way to describing one of the defining characteristics of DW.

[Cypher]

I use a lot of automation but i always set policies to "advise" rather than fully automate, this way i can keep track of whats happening without having to setup/manage said action/mission. KInd of like being the ruler and having your advisors pass around edicts and suggested policies which you rubber stamp, kinda like real life (yes, based on my experience of being a ruler of a nation, yes it is!)
This also gives me the optin to see whats possible and maybe i think, actually i'd like to have complete control over that aspect (so i set it to manual) or, I actually don't like dealing with this since i always approve anyway (se that option to fully auto). This way i taylor the game to my taste as well as learning what my empire is capable of based on advisor suggestions. Also just tinkering about, starting a few games with the purpose of learning a feature then applying that to my main game.

[icedude94]

I play full manual. I've been a vet since Return of the Shakturi.

Mid to late game I tell exploration ships to explore whole sectors or I leave them in neighbor systems as spies.

Construction ships I always control otherwise they build mines allover the place which drains my civilian economy since I like to design heavily armed and heavily shielded mining stations. I also manually control them to deploy deep space starbases with long range scanners to cover my entire empire and my borders.

Colonization and taxes I do so I can keep new colonies at 0% to maximize growth and migration. I then fine tweak it to control happiness and maximize revenue.

Characters I do manually so that scientists go to the right research bases, generals stay with the right troops, and to make sure I'm always stealing the territory maps and techs of AI empires.

Ship and station design I do entirely manual. I want my area defense fleets to have fast-charging hyperdrives and high speed. I want all my freighters to be able to reach maximum hyperspeed and have extra fuel tanks. I want all my stations to be heavily armed with fast regenerating shields. I want my offensive fleets to have the highest speed hyperdrives and high capacity shields. I also build a defensive base with a medical and recreation facility on top of every colony instead of a starbase or starport.

Troop recruitment and garrisoning I do because it's really expensive to maintain them. I keep 3 as a garrison on most planets, 5 on border worlds, 20+ on important colonies but the fast majority are in troop transport fleets spread out, waiting to reinforce any colony that gets invaded.

The only place I use automation really is with fleet postures on my defensive fleets. It does a good job at refueling and repairing fleets but I wish it would also automatically replace the losses. Replacing lost ships on automated fleets is a hassle which is why I design my own ships to minimize losses.

I never set any of the advisors to suggest simply because it distracts me too much and usually they're not decisions I would make. I would only ever use it for roleplaying reasons.

The constant money gift popups and pirate related popups is already enough to distract me.