Space monsters gone

[Brotore]

I've started many games, with a wide variety of mods, but there seems to be a lack of monsters.

In almost 3 full games I haven't seen a single amoeba, crystal, or void.

did something change in 1.4 or with the expansion that I'm not aware of?

[Jimmy McGill]

Have you tried turning off mods to see that its some mod causing it? Alternatively, verified game cahche?

[NixBoxDone]

Did you try using the observe command? They changed the spawns so they are more clustered.

That means there are areas where you have bunches of pirates and drones in every third system, and areas that are almost empty.

Landing in one of the empty areas, you will usually see little to no neutral creeps because the AI takes out any spawn they can whup with little to no losses. So the drones die once the AI reaches around 500 fleet strength, the crystals at 700 to 800, and so forth.

Hit the tilde button, type "observe" to see if neutrals spawn and if yes, how many, then type "play 0" to go back to playing once you are sure of your result.

You can do this on a newly generated casual map, too, if your current session is ironman - all you want to know is if they spawn. ^^

[Brotore]

I admit that I'm a mod addict, but since my realization of the missing monsters I have been removing/dissabling them in hopes of their return. Most of my mods are ship/station/tech stuff, I would be surprised if they are the cause.

I'll need to try the observe command when I get home. I just find it incredibly strange how I can't seem to find any.

I remember with release the space whales and aemobes were there from year 1. Now... Nothing.

[Exarch_Alpha]

Well the whales will die quickly by going to the wrong places, while the AI, while quite dumb, is still smart enough to kill things once it has fleet power and survey the system and the wreckage.
Can be annoying if you lose the forged crystal plating and amoeba bonuses.

Also, they changed it so that monsters spawn in an area of the galaxy, rather than all over it. If you find a crystal fleet, there will be more nearby.

[MaGicBush]

Originally posted by Brotore:

I admit that I'm a mod addict, but since my realization of the missing monsters I have been removing/dissabling them in hopes of their return. Most of my mods are ship/station/tech stuff, I would be surprised if they are the cause.

I'll need to try the observe command when I get home. I just find it incredibly strange how I can't seem to find any.

I remember with release the space whales and aemobes were there from year 1. Now... Nothing.

I noticed this as well, and recently returned after buying the dlc(last played at launch). I do not use mods though and in the one game I played I ran into zero monsters which I thought was lame. I don't like whatever change they made as far as the random monsters.

[Exarch_Alpha]

Most of the bonuses are trash anyway. Only one with real value long term is crystal forged armor. Everything else is replaced by better choices, and pretty fast too. By the time you might be thinking of using amoebas, fighter/bomber tech will be nearby, and you will use it for a few year tops. Waste of research.

[Brotore]

i totally agree that the tech recieved from the monsters is subpar, but for me it was more of a speed bump for expansion.

Right now my science ships are expanding my borders as fast as I can crank out settler ships. there's really nothing in the way except encountering new races and their borders. I don't have to mobilze my armada to mop up anything, so they just sit mothballed for 100s of years at a time.

I iguess I miss the added challenge of having to bring in some fire support with my survey teams.

[Exarch_Alpha]

Yes I understand, exploration changed a lot with those changes, but it didn´t make the game easier.

I have more issue with pirates, but I doubt they won´t be improved one day. When I saw the pirate fleet being called "privateer" I thought there would be more choices, like paying them to attack other empires... instead there is only that stupid big ship with red lasers... Millenia alive and they still have red ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ lasers?

[Centerpoint108]

Originally posted by Exarch_Alpha:

Most of the bonuses are trash anyway. Only one with real value long term is crystal forged armor. Everything else is replaced by better choices, and pretty fast too. By the time you might be thinking of using amoebas, fighter/bomber tech will be nearby, and you will use it for a few year tops. Waste of research.

I actually always use amoeba over level 3 fighters. Combo level 3 bombers/amoeba craft. The fighters are weaker. Unless I'm missing something?

[Exarch_Alpha]

Bombers have better DPS and fighters kill missiles and bombers better?

Lrvel 1 craft ok, but they aren´t better than level 3... post screenshots if you like.

[Centerpoint108]

From the wiki

Amoeba flagella: avg DMG 20.8/ range 8/100%shield penetration 50%armor penetration

Advanced fighters: avg DMG 22/range 8

Advanced bombers: avg DMG 22/range 8/ 100%shield penetration 50%armor penetration

To me that says amoeba craft are better than t3 fighters.