Colony mechanics in multiplayer / skirmish

[noisemarine]

Hi everyone, I am trygin to figure out the role / mechanics of the neutral colony in multiplayer / skirmish matches. Unfortunately, I can only find questions about the campaign mode which seems to be different:

- is there a guide to understand the mechanics of colony growth / role out there (specifically for skirmishes as campaign appears to be very different)?
if not:
- How important is it to look for what specific modules the colony has? Is it vital to project and understand future demand for a specific commodity?
- Can one guess how the colony will develop by how it has grown recently? E.g. if there is more glas demand, is it more likely that there will be more glass demand? Or is it completely random?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Best

[Sagi]

It is mostly random but never changes in the same game
This change with the expansion where neutral colonies could greatly vary (and thus makes the game alot more fun with more strict rules).
However while the colony does raise the price of certain goods more then others this does not guaranty that this good will also be the one wich becomes a high price later on also if you focus on a good to heavely it ALWAYS becomes dump price unless you are strong enough to stockpile it. Player actions have alot bigger impact on this. Also don't vorget that colonies can give decent speed boosts on buildings like the patent lab, hologram and offworld shipping.

[noisemarine]

Thanks. That makes it a bit clearer. Seems to be of minor importance I guess

[hexapus]

https://offworldtradingcompany.fandom.com/wiki/Colony

if you want to go into more details

[Terotrous]

Not totally related, but I'd love it if you could do a campaign-style battle in multiplayer/skirmish, where the goal is to buy the most modules instead of buying everyone out. I think these matches have some very interesting dynamics to them and I'd love to be able to play them with other people.

[noisemarine]

@hexapus
Thanks a lot for the link - So, there is some random chance that there is growth (per hour) and given time it is more likely we are going to see growth. The website also shows a list of what kind of modules are going to be created given the stating module. I do not understand the column with the "colony region" though. Does that mean each row corresponds to a different planet I choose for a skirmish? And if so, are starting modules always the same on a specific planet?

[Terotrous]

I think regions are a campaign-only mechanic. When you win multiple colonies from the same region, you gain a bonus (for example, China's bonus is that you gain starting shares).

[noisemarine]

So, the type of module when growing is completely random for the skirmish mode?

[hexapus]

Originally posted by Terotrous:

Not totally related, but I'd love it if you could do a campaign-style battle in multiplayer/skirmish, where the goal is to buy the most modules instead of buying everyone out. I think these matches have some very interesting dynamics to them and I'd love to be able to play them with other people.

You can already do that. Before starting a skirmish, there are match options you can choose. Check the "Stock Victory" one, that should give you the same 7 sol battle you see in campaigns.

[hexapus]

Originally posted by noisemarine:

@hexapus
Thanks a lot for the link - So, there is some random chance that there is growth (per hour) and given time it is more likely we are going to see growth. The website also shows a list of what kind of modules are going to be created given the stating module. I do not understand the column with the "colony region" though. Does that mean each row corresponds to a different planet I choose for a skirmish? And if so, are starting modules always the same on a specific planet?

Region has an impact. For example, American colonies will start with offices, and I think more likely to land office which consume power, and never have mechanical shops that consume electronics.

[Terotrous]

Originally posted by hexapus:

Originally posted by Terotrous:

Not totally related, but I'd love it if you could do a campaign-style battle in multiplayer/skirmish, where the goal is to buy the most modules instead of buying everyone out. I think these matches have some very interesting dynamics to them and I'd love to be able to play them with other people.

You can already do that. Before starting a skirmish, there are match options you can choose. Check the "Stock Victory" one, that should give you the same 7 sol battle you see in campaigns.

Oh, that's really cool, I saw that option previously but it implies that it's just "get the most stock price", rather than buying the colony modules, but it actually does let you do a campaign-style battle.