noob here looking for tips

[Timptation]

So, I started a tiny map with one enemy. I've got 6 or so planets but I've pretty much been stagnant on money and prosperity the whole time. I don't know what I'm supposed to do about it. Trading with my one enemy seems dumb, and I'm not sure I have that option anyway right now, nor can I trade with minor races. I can only raise taxes for funds, which will tip my happiness to less than 50%. None of the tool tips I've seen really tell me what to do to improve my situation. Can I get some beginner's help or something?

[BobbyBullets]

I don't really feel like this game is meant to be played with one other race. It leaves you stranded, as you are. Try playing with at least a few races and develop partners and trade and then use your money to build infrastructure on your planet to increase your income.

[MikeGreyWolf]

The trading system needs some balancing and we have plans for that in the near future. In your case I would suggest investing in Social Infrastructure to improve happiness in your colonies (and get some extra tourism income) and raise taxes or invest in Housing and wait for your colonies to grow and provide more income. Any help you need feel free to ask, and I'm sure either me or someone from the team or from the community will gladly help you out :) Cheers!

[Timptation]

Thanks guys! I finished my first playthrough after deleting all my offensive and scout ships that were just a drain on my funds and after a while I randomly got a "booms in the private sector economy" event which helped turn prosperity around. I started investing in food and population in the cities mostly which got my tax incomes up and finally I was able to get going, finally making a fleet and finishing it. I'm looking forward to a second run now that things are a little clearer.

[MikeGreyWolf]

Do you feel the tutorials aren't helping much? This is something that is very important for us and we have the feeling we haven't gotten it right yet.

[Timptation]

Sorry it took so long to answer. I got married between posts and wanted to jump back into the game to refresh my memory before giving my two cents...

Tutorials do a good job of telling me what I can do and how to do it, but doesn't always tell me WHY I would want to. For example, people more familiar with 4X games probably understand intuitively that they need more population before an armada so they don't drown in debt, but it's pretty easy to "just experiment" in your first playthrough with no understanding and get into trouble. Maybe show that taxes and population are tied to eachother in their tooltips (which, I know, sounds obvious when I write it out). These are all "first playthrough woes" to be sure, but the tutorial should probably err on the side of heavier guidance in 4x games since a playthrough is quite a time investment and the first impression is pretty important. Maybe simply poping up when needed such as to say "hey, you've been short of money for some time now, maybe consider getting rid of some ships to reduce upkeep and/or increase population via food production to improve income from taxes".

What is the point of governors? Maybe I'm missing it somewhere. If one only has a positive ability of bonus exp and a negative of some kind, there must be some hidden reason for me to want him around since he doesnt have anything directly positive to do with the planet. Again, nothing in the tool tips are showing me what effect they're having. Why do I care if he's displeased and going to quit when he's just there to increase his seemingly pointless level?

Why would I want to buy this alien's jewlery? Can I determine if the effect is worth that price?

Random thought: Maybe clue people into the fact that Casus Belli means "excuse to start a war".

It would be super cool to color code the tech tree based on what benifit it gives. If I need more food, I could quick look and see which green icons I might want to hover over for a better explanation.

I'll play around and try to update as I notice things. These are complex systems, so as much clairty as we can get, the better. For what it's worth, I think the game is turning out well. Keep up the good work, and thanks for listening!

[Tree Diagram]

A more intuitive UI would be a big help. I recently bought the game and have tried a few matches against the AI and it feels like there is very little guidance beyond the info dump in the tutorian. When I tried colonizing my first planet or upgrade my homeworld it was just kind of roughshod guessing. i had no idea what qualities I should look for in an initial colony or what timeframe would be desireable to begin expanding. It seems like there is a fairly delicate balance at least in what I've played and striking that balance has been a nightmare. There are barren planets that I can colonize and seemingly earthlike planets that I can't and besides a signifier like "harsh" or "hostile" or whatever I have no idea why one is good and the other isn't.

[MikeGreyWolf]

Thanks a lot for the awesome feedback guys :) We've been looking at ways to improve the tutorial, and we're adding all this to our notes.

By the way, congrats Timptation! :)

[clearhope]

Originally posted by Timptation:

Sorry it took so long to answer. I got married between posts and wanted to jump back into the game to refresh my memory before giving my two cents...

Tutorials do a good job of telling me what I can do and how to do it, but doesn't always tell me WHY I would want to. For example, people more familiar with 4X games probably understand intuitively that they need more population before an armada so they don't drown in debt, but it's pretty easy to "just experiment" in your first playthrough with no understanding and get into trouble. Maybe show that taxes and population are tied to eachother in their tooltips (which, I know, sounds obvious when I write it out). These are all "first playthrough woes" to be sure, but the tutorial should probably err on the side of heavier guidance in 4x games since a playthrough is quite a time investment and the first impression is pretty important. Maybe simply poping up when needed such as to say "hey, you've been short of money for some time now, maybe consider getting rid of some ships to reduce upkeep and/or increase population via food production to improve income from taxes".

What is the point of governors? Maybe I'm missing it somewhere. If one only has a positive ability of bonus exp and a negative of some kind, there must be some hidden reason for me to want him around since he doesnt have anything directly positive to do with the planet. Again, nothing in the tool tips are showing me what effect they're having. Why do I care if he's displeased and going to quit when he's just there to increase his seemingly pointless level?

Why would I want to buy this alien's jewlery? Can I determine if the effect is worth that price?

Random thought: Maybe clue people into the fact that Casus Belli means "excuse to start a war".

It would be super cool to color code the tech tree based on what benifit it gives. If I need more food, I could quick look and see which green icons I might want to hover over for a better explanation.

I'll play around and try to update as I notice things. These are complex systems, so as much clairty as we can get, the better. For what it's worth, I think the game is turning out well. Keep up the good work, and thanks for listening!

On a completely different subject...May I humbly suggest that you don't let your new lifemate catch you playing this game if you just got married. They tend to get upset when you play computer games in the first week/month/decade? of being newly married.
*I speak from oh so painful experience...* Heh!

[Timptation]

lol. Yeah, I've set expectations accordingly, but I'm also careful to take care of emotional states as well. So far so good :P