Cool beans then!

@SgtScum I´m on the fence for Race Update and Pirate Expansion to see how and in which way I can expand this Mod but in the meantime I keep working on expanding the tech tree regardless, once Im done wilth all I could complite it as a standalone so yeah...its defo something I have my eye on but not in the immediate future as there is still too many gaps in the tree to be filled towards the higher tiers and it all need to be somewhat consistent so expaning just one line is time consuming. Have Ion Weapons completed lines in the meantime. They get introduced in this mod on next update

Any word on porting the tech tree minus the terran specific stuff like recon cruisers into stand alone mod? I'd love to be able to use the extended reactors and warp drives etc in a vanilla game!

@Massive: One day I will try your list However, it may lead people to skip the manual and other important info for being a mod-list.

@NaitNait: Terran Republic is already somewhat OP...however once Shadows is out and I got to fiddle around with the Shakturi to up their difficulty I may revisit the Gov part to replace the Way of the Ancients with another one you can find on Terra

I wish there was a government upgrade in this mod, a counterpart and alternative to the Way of the Ancients.

@Dex Thanx for your kind words. I have honestly no idea why the Galactopedia does what it does. I have never touched it so I´m at a complete loss to why this happens. I noticed the same but since all this can be read on the race selection screen on game start including all the race tech and bonuses they have I choose to ignore it as it has no influence on the game anyway and honestly I never looked at the race tab on the Galactopedia while playing

Hi Chris,

Thank you for your great mod.

The Galactopedia only shows the Races information for the four alien races allowed as independents. Is this intended?

@Krada: It literally says so in the Manual !

@Chris Gbau is it intended that I cannot add multiple mining engines to mining stations?

@Nightskies certain is that only with the PreWarp start all events and all home ruins are created for all the races

@Nightskies They already have decent buffs and the player is behind in first FTL drive (they get 80% finished at start and player get 35%). By any means giving them an agreeable home system should be enough. Next update exploring will take the player way longer and that will mitigate a lot of the early advantage a human player has. I never give the AI +tech level and by mid game I almost always find 2-4 bigger empires than mine All this based on the on the game creation options from the manual. Right now AI buffs come from Race file so it not matter you give them +tech I think. Next update you cant do that anymore as there is new events that need game start from 0 level.

In General Discussions, you said I shouldn't have raised the tech level of the AI empires, implying it denies them the boosts that are event-generated for them through this mod, right?

After playing your fantastic mod for quite a while, I started experimenting with the XL mod and different submods that are hard to get working together without meeting some hard game-breaking bugs. When I finally got 5 gameplay mods working, I added everything else that I could for other content; music, sounds, symbols, flags and other visuals. The total ended up at 35 combined mods.
I then figured I could do the same with your Terran Conquest, and now the the work is done. The total is 32 mods, including really huge capital ships. I tested it just now and the tech tree seems to be as it should be.
Here is the link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3588204750

@Dovahkiin I watch the discord but I rather not beta testing - I´m eager for the pirate expansion to release though. It will bring new mechanics and possibilities which I look to implement into the mod -

not sure if that is a thing u would be interested in or not but seems to me you would be a helpful addition. if interested just log into the 'official distant worlds 2' discord channel. they will likely send out a notice for new beta testers just prior to next round of testing, pirate expansion i believe. road map suggests that will be before end of year. just saying.

@Dovahkiin I was not a beta tester

@BladeofSharpness 2/2 Been there before... Maybe over time revisiting some values but there is only so much than can be done with the parameters available and too much choices can also lead to choice overload. Its literally only the second version of the mod and it already is lightyears ahead from the first one. I like to let things settle in and over time new thoughts and ideas coming on their own...for me the journey is the goal.

@BladeofSharpness 1/2 my goal is not a total re-balance, there is XL for that, my goal is memorable campaign games in big galaxies with max amount of civilizations for diversity and variety of outcomes while having some goal to achieve for the human race > (Coming home!) I missed that in vanilla. As for values, most vanilla values were preserved when possible, some imbalances from vanilla DW2 maybe present here also, its ok, one has to set limits when embarking on such a big project alone otherwise it never get finished as striving for an unattainable standard can result in procrastination while also hindering creativity and causing stress.

@Dovahkiin should be ok...will try myself lol...galaxy chart really looking good

i like the mining station exploit fixes. i wish there was a middle ground for tech stealing where it would be possible to prevent race specific tech stealing (im talking by default) . have asked for some kind of nerf to the for a couple years. some great ideas i wish were in base game but just the fact that it can be done with modding is good new. Modding is what made stellaris so replayable. really looking forward to this. i'll post if i see any bugs. are you a beta tester out of curiosity ?

shouldn't be any incompatibility issues with galaxy chart right ?

Ok, but I thought your goal was to change the game according to a different and perhaps more refined balance. So you admit that you always pick the fastest warp drive for military use, which is a shame, it means that the current balance is somewhat imperfect.

ill be checking this out. did not see this coming, very ambitious.

HyperDrive speed & range have been adjusted to slow the game down by a factor of 0,7 to 0,75 (some manual adjustments +/- a bit) for speed and JumpRange has been reduced by a factor of 0,66 so they maintain mostly the vanilla differences, except for the first Drives that are very diff to vanilla.
There is one Ultra Long Range drive and its for the Recon Cruiser only.
For projecting military power you should build Starbases.
For speed I certainly go for Equinox Drive.

@BladeofSharpness:

Well, the different parameters of the hyperdrive engines have nothing to do with the mod; it's the same in vanilla.
At least for warships, I always use maximum speed. Fleets need to be able to move quickly, so energy or cost is irrelevant.
For civilian ships, however, I like to use efficient engines or the Quickjump hyperdrives. They're not supposed to fight, but to get the hell out of there, and preferably quickly.
In that case, flight speed is also less important.

2/2

Anyway, I’m continuing my game; so far so good, as they say. I’m researching a new warp drive and went for the Gerax v2. I’ve analyzed the different parameters of the four drives and I think they’re not quite balanced. The most important factor by far for me is speed, it’s a key element of efficiency. Jump range too. The rest a bit less, though of course a drive with low consumption is nice. In short, I think your four options aren’t perfectly balanced, and if it were up to me, I’d rebalance them a bit by giving more advantages to the slower drives, maybe an even shorter recharge time or a longer jump range. In fact, that’s one parameter missing: there’s no drive specialized in long jumps, too bad.
Also, since I read your manual, I went with the fixed non-hidden research option, but I find it less interesting. Is it really necessary?

All that being said, your mod is really good! Please take these remarks in a good-natured spirit.

1/2

I had actually read almost your entire document, believe it or not. I think you should have it parsed by ChatGPT or an equivalent tool and make it more focused, because out of the 31 pages, you give game rules but also various comments and digressions.
So yes, page 7, I think you need to go to Mars.

@BladeofSharpness - read the pinned comment in the discussion section above "Event Arc Return to Terra - How to proceed ! " It is also explained in the manual page 7.

https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/discussion/3536887117/598534026474784519/

Under which conditions the gravitic storm around Terra can be removed?

@bigd
You can obtain the colony module with the ‘Basic Colonisation’ technology, which you must research separately.
You can find it under sensors.

I researched colony ships but I can't create a colony ship design. I selected the template and went to create new. There is no colony module.

Thanks. :)

@Taurec - not possible as game stating events and essential ruins are generated at your home world. For Refugee start would need changing and adapting the event chain. Maybe something to do on a later stage but it would not work with Refugee Start right now.

Could your mod also be played well with the game start ‘Refugee Fleet’?
That would fit the theme of the mod perfectly, as you are essentially searching for your old home world. :)

@bidg This is not a beginner friendly mod! Quite the contrary ! It is paramount that players have fully understood the game and its mechanics otherwise there is a high chance that it will lead to frustrations on player side. Resource collection for example is nothing that can be altered/modded so whatever may be going on in your game is not related to the mod. Automatic design ? yeah sure can do that, just not hull upgrade..if you not understand how it works it will cause massive problems. Read the manual !!! Twice if needed lol

Will we eventually be able to do automatic ship design down the line? I really hate designing my own ships and it's time consuming for me. Especially with all the tech we have. Too many options.

How come independent ships doesn't collect the resources from mining stations or any other places? They just sit around my home planet and shipyard. I also realize that there are no small ships being sent to the planets/asteroids and bringing it back to mining stations but yet, resources are filling up the mining stations.

Thank you.

@USAM-Falcon
In order to make everything work proper here is how to proceed!

1. Once you get coordinates for Sol, send Explorer with Ion Shield.
2. First go to Terra and investigate - Events unfold and little surprise
3. After Terra go to Mars and Rebuild Mars Guardian Station (bring Constructor with Ion Shield) and research what you find there! > Anti-Graviton Emitter - to be found where Research Labs
Do not colonize Mars to acquire the station that way - repair it straight away!
4. Events now take their course - it will be couple of years before the grand finale but its awesome when it comes !
5. Investigate and clear the rest of the Sol System. Few goodies and some background story waiting!

Also, I love the Mod. Just want to say that. Cannot wait to see any other additions to it you are planning.

I do not know if others are running into this problem, when I discover and colonize Terra, besides my first real play through I never again once got the anti-gravity tech tree to free the Sol system form its prison. Is there a step I am missing?

@BladeofSharpness Engine limitation come from vanilla to avoid some ships getting OP. Thrusters are engines and cannot be something else or they would not go into the yellow slots. Engine position adjust dynamically on ships yellow slots depending on engine number aiming for symmetric distribution. Removing the limit...for example Terran Super Heavy Frigate with all them big guns and up-shielded with same engine count as Fast Frigate would defeat the principle of heavy armored and slow as player would fill all slots with Acceleros Engines and be done with it. I thought about the Thruster issue during building the mod then decided to leave vanilla values in place for now. Maybe some genius idea coming to mind later. Even in vanilla Thrusters are kind of a niche component, maybe not a fully thought out concept. I personally only ever mount them on missile ships with "cautious" engagement so they can turn around fast and skate away when pursued by their targets.

It’s the least I can do as a user, compared to you who spent hundreds of hours on this mod. 95% of people don’t give feedback, but it’s important when you’re a modder.
Otherwise, I just had one suggestion for an improvement that wouldn’t be anecdotal at this level: I think there’s an issue with the gameplay engine/thrusters. The thrusters are small and would certainly be useful, but since we have a limitation on the number of engines and they count as engines, they often get ignored! And on top of that, we also have a limited number of yellow slots... My suggestion would be either not to count the thrusters as engines, if that’s possible, so they could go into the extra yellow slots, or to remove this “max engine” restriction and just let the player do whatever they want with their yellow slots. Considering that an engine weighs three times as much as a thruster, I think thrusters could come back into favor this way.

@BladeofSharpness Thank you! Always rewarding to know others tune in on the vision, appreciate the effort and have a good time with it.
System Names already in for next update. Moon names, well, I take another look later maybe find a way to circumvent engine restriction.If I only can make Terra´s moon into "Luna" I´am all happy.
Ship design names, already upped from 36 in vanilla to 84 in the mod, getting more difficult to find names that fit the vibe and style.
As for the global perception, I´am not fond of cobbled-up mods that feel and play awkward because their features do not integrate seamless with the vanilla game (except some engine limitations like with the upgrade mechanic of ships role/hull of course) so my goal is to make it difficult to distinguish what is vanilla and what is mod.
Thanks again for kind words!

I’ve already put a few hours into the game with the mod, and so far I have to say I find it really well done. So congratulations! I actually don’t have any negative remarks… I like the techs and their balancing better than in the base game (for example the hyperdrives). I also enjoy the subtleties, like the marine barracks being a specialized crew quarter, etc.

As for improvements I’d like to see, as I mentioned, providing a list of systems from the start would be nice (and if you ever figure out how to change the awful moon name generator, don’t hesitate!), as well as maybe adding more combination choices for ship names (since we’ll never officially get separate lists by ship class).

I also appreciate the high-quality, error-free text (even though I’m not a native English speaker), it makes a difference.

Great work and keep it up, this is a fantastic mod, and as a player who almost only plays with humans, it’s becoming the base for playing.

@BladeofSharpness I know exactly what you mean with "difficult struggle followed by a hard-won victory".
These are the games that a so memorable and these are the games I´am looking for!

There is already players that got beaten (dunno their difficulty settings though).
I would not recommend anything above hard - preferably maybe normal as this is what I based balancing on.

With next update the playing field will become even more levelled (toning down a massive player advantage over AI) so player has to roll up his sleeves if he not want to be rolled over

Really looking forward to Shadows expansion as it will bring new mechanics that wish I would have right now.
They will enable a whole new world to advance the basic concept of "creating the chance of memorable game" a lot.

Clarification: I would actually be pleased to lose. A difficult struggle followed by a hard-won victory would make for a great experience, and a welcome change compared to the games I’ve played in recent years.

No offence taken, even if you meant some
I didn’t give it much thought, I know system names are “cosmetics.” I was just darn sure that, given the extent of your work, you would have included your own list, following what was cool in your mind.
I’ll use the editor to rename the systems, no worries.
Good game so far, I’m still at the beginning. I would be surprised to be beaten by an AI, given how godlike my strategic acumen is, though. 🚀😚

@BladeofSharpness well, its a disclaimer with no exceptions. It also says "This mod is not for beginners" ...yet here we are...cough...cough... More than anything because players should have a complete understanding about the limitations of the vanilla game and be experienced with the ship building and upgrade system to avoid massive issues with it during the session. This is by no means meant in a patronising way but since this was so hard & took so long to make I not looking forward to spend a lot of time defusing & explaining "issues" that are non-issues but rooted in the inexperience of the player. Best example right here: A more seasoned DW2 player would know that any System Names mod would not interfere with the mod Still hope you have a blast and a good time with it. It provides a lot more game-play options than any race in the vanilla game but AI races are no pushovers and the Shakturi should be a fair bit tougher than in vanilla.