This is a much appreciated guide. I learned a lot. Thanks.



And I will say, the ES community has been very welcoming to newcomers, like me, with all our simple questions. ES is certainly not the easiest game to get a handle on but the willingness of the community to answer, sometimes the same things, over and over make it much more approachable.

Stealth_Hawk wrote:
Thx



@DarkMeph. Sorry I didnt see your post about the bad attachment. It was just the auto explore icon, so Ill re upload it soon thx for the heads up.

Do not worry it it seems to be a lot of bad uploads at the moment. Not just your thread but also in T41 blog post too.



DarkMeph

I might add something about frustration.





At times you will find there are things you cannot do but seem like you should be able to do and it can be frustrating, but there are some nice subtlties to the game which can result in advanced strategies, but can be very frustrating to folks first learning like:

--- Why can't I build the same ship I built last turn?

------- Because the strategic resource the ship needs has been blockaded. Create a new ship design that does not require that resource.

--- Why can't my ship move?

------- Because another race has blockaded the star system. The only way to move out of that system is to attack and either win, or retreat.

--- How did the AI get ships past my blockade? Remember when they attacked and retreated last time? (there is also a tech they will get eventually)

--- Why can't I attack that fleet that is blockading me. Be careful to get your fleets out of netral territory before signing a ceasefire otherwise you have just promised not to fire any shots in that player's territory, which means you can be blockaded until the cease fire ends.



Okay... so much for THIS noobs pain points.

2 more things I wish I had known:

• Ship upkeep = CP * 0.4 * Max CP
  
  

This means "Big fleets" trait increases ship maintenance cost and "Anarchists" trait reduces it.

For instance, Cravers pay every turn 1*0.4*8 = 3.2 Dust for each scout, defender and colony ship in the beginning of the game, while Automatons pay only 1*0.4*3=1.2 Dust.

• Eden Incense monopoly provides +56% invasion military power on fleets and +56% ground defense on system.
  
  

This is awesome, thanks Stealth_Hawk. Although I'm not a new player I'm definitely still a noob.



Hmm. Just a thought, has there ever been an interest in a 'coaching' style multiplayer game? Kind of like in TF2 where a more experienced player joins a friendly multiplayer game in order to teach a new player some of the intricacies of high level play?

I would make setting your research choice as the first step on turn 1 so if the scout reaches the nearest system right away and hits one of the science boost events it puts that science into the first tech you want to complete.

Monthar wrote:
I would make setting your research choice as the first step on turn 1 so if the scout reaches the nearest system right away and hits one of the science boost events it puts that science into the first tech you want to complete.

Really? I am pretty sure when I tested it (I did put some thought into this guide lol) that those research points are treated as though they are surplus from the last turn, so if you select a tech after getting that event, it will roll over onto the tech you select. Although if you or anyone else has tested it too and is dead sure of it, Ill double check it for clarity's sake

It's more of a perception thing than a requirement. Think about it from the eyes of someone new to the game that doesn't know for sure if that +10 science they just got was actually applied or not. With the first tech already queued up, when the scout grabs a +10 science event they can see clearly that the number of turns to complete the tech decreased.



Edit: I just tested and yes the science is applied to whatever tech you pick first. You might want to at least mention this in the op to ensure new folks are informed of this. After all in some 4x games the overflow would be randomly assigned to a tech if none is selected.

Oh, thanks

To OP



You get my first post cherry.



Just bought the game since its on Xmas sale. And this tutorial is just what I was looking for when I came to these forums.



Thank You for your time and effort.

Stealth_Hawk wrote:
hmmmm, now that I think about the sandbox mod I think you are right. I seem to remember a dev/VIP making a point about a 1 pop per turn cap. Oh well, maybe Im wrong... again...

Yeah I've seen several people say there is a 1 pop / turn cap but if that was the case at one point it's not true in the latest release. Last game I played I had a system that said 237% growth when I moused over the population growth area and it went from 51 pop that turn to 54 the very next turn.

What is the rationale for choosing between Kitchen Chemists/Entrepreneurs and Businessmen/Scientists when dealing with Custom Races?

JIntegrity wrote:
What is the rationale for choosing between Kitchen Chemists/Entrepreneurs and Businessmen/Scientists when dealing with Custom Races?

[editthatsmyopinionnoideawhattheOPthinksaboutit]



Always Chemists cause of your Tax Slider you loose the most of your extra Dust from that trait except your Tax is at 100%.

From Chemists you always get the full extend of its bonus.







Thats why imo Entrepreneurs is a extrem overprized trait and not worth it to pick it at all.







Businessmen/Scientists



While Businessman suffers not as hard from your Tax slider as Entrepreneurs i would still go Scienctists cause of the big advantage it gives in mid and late game.

Exeptions are of course custom races where u would to want to buyout alot (Sheredyn affinity for example)

I'm sorry. I was not clear. I wanted to know when to pick a 1(F, D, or S) per pop over the percentage based traits. In what situation would one choose Kitchen Chemists over Scientists (II), for example? Where can I find some math for this?

Thank you so much for this guide! I'm restarting my first ever campaign because I now know exactly what I'm doing wrong.



Next up - figure out WTF this battle system is all about. Anyone know a newbie guide about battles?

Thank you.

blOD8FOA wrote:
Thank you so much for this guide! I'm restarting my first ever campaign because I now know exactly what I'm doing wrong.



Next up - figure out WTF this battle system is all about. Anyone know a newbie guide about battles?

Do you want to know about the battle cards or about how modules work in battle?

Thanks for the great guide, without it would probably still be sat here scratching my head

Noob here. How do I get my colony ships (and defensive ships) to go to specific stars? It's not like Civ where I click whee I want them to end up.

You select them, then you right click on a star system. If you haven't researched the wormhole tech or the free space travel tech you can only travel to systems connected with the white lines. Hope this helps.

There we go.



Also turning of pirates in the first game can be really helpful for a new player. I didn't see a mention of it.

Well, I have two:

http://endlessspace.wikia.com/wiki/Game_settings is extremely important for players to know, if their difficulty contains advantages for the AI and if so, how large the advantages are.

Also one of the things that player never ask but SHOULD know to make the right decision in the early game: http://endlessspace.wikia.com/wiki/Planet_probabilities

Always take the closest star with the highest chance to actually contain a T1 or a suitable T2 planet for your starting colony ship.

Your tips are a good way for a noob trying out Sowers or Harmony to cripple their early game. Might want to explain that they have a different exploitation paradigm (Sowers obviously, and harmony is better off exploiting Industry than food or science)

Autocthon wrote:
Your tips are a good way for a noob trying out Sowers or Harmony to cripple their early game. Might want to explain that they have a different exploitation paradigm (Sowers obviously, and harmony is better off exploiting Industry than food or science)

If you wish to interpret a broad thread in a narrow manner, be my guest. But if you read the thread, I already state that specific strategies (such as food exploitation) will differ based on the faction you are playing, and your specific play style. This thread is only for the basics, meaning broad strategies that will apply to most of the standard factions. And honestly, a great way for a noob to cripple their game experience is to try and learn the game using an advanced faction, and then trying to apply the inherent advanced strategies to a generic race.



Nontheless I will do my best to add what you suggested in. (The post is already pushing the charachter l

The only issue is that there's nothing to tell a new user "This is an advanced race", I personally used Sowers in my first game and I've used them almost exclusively since. Love 'em.



Saying "sometimes the strategy is different" isn't helpful without providing a reason when the strategy is different.

Autocthon wrote:
The only issue is that there's nothing to tell a new user "This is an advanced race",

I'm pretty sure it says that the UE are good for beginners (which they are )

T41 wrote:
I'm pretty sure it says that the UE are good for beginners (which they are )

It does, but I see his point as well. In order to help new players out, its best to emphasize the warning to not play with advanced races, so I put a warning in the OP

New content AND improved content is even better. Especially if they are balanced appropriately. It's also good for business, as a happy community means word of mouth (or Internet) encouragement to the effect of "Buy this game, it's great!!"

I think you should mention that you do not need to your colony ship to colonise a system you already own. If you did I am sorry I must of missed it. I think a really good guide you have created Stealth Hawk.



DarkMeph

DarkMeph wrote:
I think you should mention that you do not need to your colony ship to colonise a system you already own. If you did I am sorry I must of missed it. I think a really good guide you have created Stealth Hawk.



DarkMeph

Ah, thank you for reminding me of that lol I have seen many people posting about that of late, but somehow I forgot to insert it



Ill make a list of Killer Noob Mistakes. That, as well as advanced race selection, will be on it.

Recently, in the following months of the Disharmony release, and more recently the newest 75% deal that just happened, the ES community has seen a massive influx of new players. While some communities abhor newbies, I believe I speak for the entire community when I say that we enjoy and welcome new players. However, lately the question has come up allot: "The older tutorials are nice, but they don't apply well to Disharmony." Or: "What am I doing wrong? What is the best strategy for noobs in experienced players' perspectives?" Such are the questions I will attempt to address in this long wall of text.



I reccomend you enjoy playing the game at least once before reading this. It will familiarize you with terms, and its fun to learn on you own sometimes. I intend this to be a guide for players who are done having fun with learning, and want to start learning to win.

Top 5 Killer Noob Mistakes

1) Dont use colony ships to colonize planets in a system you already own. This can be done by clicking on the planet and selecting the Colonize option. After that, the system will take care of the colonization



2) Don't try to start out with races that use advanced play-style. The strategies used for these races (Sowers and Harmony) dont really apply to almost any other race. (To a lesser extent, this applies to the Automotans). Try strating with a 'basic' race, such as the UE or Sophons. They will help you learn the basics



3) Keep pirates off for the first few games. They can mess with new players greatly.



4) Never use initial Colony Ships as explorers. While some players do this, it is not a good idea to move you initial colonizer off you home system unless it is moving in the SAME direction as your explorer. If you send them in opposite directions, you probably will have to send it back the way it came, costing you valuable time.



5) If you rush too many Military techs too early you will sink your economy (see the "Military" section)

So you open Endless Space for the first time, so excited. But you quickly realize you haven't the first idea of how to go about your journey to the ultimate goal: Galactic Domination



Accordingly, I will give you a step by step guide of good ways to go about your first 5 turns. You may wish to do this differently, which is fine. This will just give you the basic framework for early game strategy.



Turn 1

1) The first thing you want to do right off the bat is locate your exploring ship. You start every game with two ships: A colony ship and an explorer. Click on the ship visual in the Galaxy view (the one orbiting your home system, ofc :P) Your exploring ship will be fleet 'Alpha'. Select it. Then click the 'Auto Explore Galaxy' Button. This is located in the lower left corner, above the fleet names and specifications. It looks like this:[ATTACH]8277[/ATTACH] This is a handy option where the explorer will automatically move around the galaxy (going towards the closest systems first). NOTE: Do NOT move your colony ship from the home system until you have located a cognizable system. It would waste time and is dangerous to do so.



2) Right Click all the notifications that appeared on the right of the screen (3 hero notifications, 1 info notification) they aren't important until turn 2, and don't waste time pondering over their meaning just yet.



3) Now click on your Home system (the one highlighted in your faction's color) You should be greeted by this:

You will notice your only planet is flashing: "NO EXPLOITATION". Explorations are improvements immediately available that give your planet a special bonus. IMPORTANT: Their are Very few scenarios in which you exploit Industry (:Industry: first. All other times, immediately exploit food (:food on you planet. This will allow your people to grow in population (opulation faster. Do not worry about the industry exploitation for now. As a noob, you definitely want to go for food exploit right away. To do so, click on your planet, and, near the top left, your will be presented with exploitation options. Click the food option, and it will automatically be put into the system que.



4) Now go back to the galaxy view, and click the Empire View icon: (top left, second from right) Adjust your tax rate to a higher rate if and only if you will not lose FIDS (basic resources by doing so). Increased tax rate decreases approval (:approval, so don't adjust the tax rate if your people would become more unhappy, basically. (This means you may skip this step altogether.



5) Lastly, click the Research icon (3rd from right). This is where you will encounter a plethora of techs you can chose to research. To decide on which would fit your strategy best, refer to the section in this thread: "Research"



6) If you already encountered a system suitable for colonization (meaning it has at least one Terran, Jungle, or Ocean planets) with your scout, go ahead and send your colony ship to colonize.



END TURN

Don't worry. Turn 2 won't be as hectic.

Please note that Turn 1's mini tutorial was written in a very detailed manner. In the following turns and throughout the rest of the thread, I will assume you will be familiar with enough terms to a point where I can concentrate on strategy more than showing you the GUI



Turn 2



1) This step will not be repeated again as it applies to all turns. Click the Arrow immediately left of the End Turn button. This will advance ALL fleets with orders.



2) If you have 20 dust or more, while gaining more than 2 dust per turn, hire a hero if you have a suitable type. Hire either, A) An administrator, or B) A corporate hero. These are the two types that will give bonuses to FIDS, which is vital in the early game. (Administrators tend to bonus Food and Industry, while Corporates bonus Dust and Science) Assign this hero to your home system. For more in depth info on heroes, skip to the "Heroes" section of this thread



3) This step wont be repeated again since it applies to all turns: If you have located a system suitable for colonization, send a colony ship towards it for colonization.



4)This step wont be repeated again since it applies to all turns: Make sure you have research ready/in-progress for the next turn.

END TURN



Turn 3



1) This step wont be repeated again since it applies to all turns: If your exploitation/improvement will be finished next turn and you have no other improvements to build, Build a colony ship to colonize more systems. Thats how you win. But if you cant do that either, because of population issues, select either the Industry to Dust or Industry to Science options. Industry does not stack unless you are the Automotans.



2) Go to the Ship Design window. Edit the Scout so it only has an engine module on it. Everything else just adds industry cost and isnt worth it if you want to build scouts. Also, if possible, add an engine module to the colonizer design



END TURN



Turn 4



1)This step wont be repeated again since it applies to all turns: Keep in mind that most of what you finish researching will still have to be built on systems for it to take effect. So go ahead and que 'em up when you finish researching.



END TURN



Turn 5



1) Repition! Your getting the Hang of it!





So that previous was just for 1st time game operation. For anyone with even a little experience, you probably will be more inclined to read this section. This section will cover details from major aspects of game-play. Not all of them will be discussed, but the confusing and important ones will definitely be discussed.







First up, because people ask about this the most.



The tech tree is arranged in tiers, with each tier being unlocked by the previous tier. Additionally, each tier of technologies generally will get wider, and will get more expensive in terms of research cost.

Furthermore, the tree is split into 4 different branches. One for military, applied science, expansion, and diplomacy (respective from top to clockwise)



Tier 1 gives you 8 techs to choose from. Here are some guidelines to help you choose the right tech.



1) Military is not what you want to research first, since you won't really need it until you encounter hostile races. Some say you only need to research it upon encountering 'aliens', but if you want to be prepared start on the military tree as you 3rd or 4th tech selection. (basically, this eliminates the two military techs from your options for your turn 1 selection)



2) Expansion tier 1 techs (colonization techs) aren't needed right away per say. You may need them soon if you cant find a friendly planet to colonize, but in normal circumstances, these will generally be around the 5th and 6th techs researched. This may vary based on your faction's strategy, but it is extremely rare for them to be the first selection, and generally, they should not be.



3) Diplomacy tier 1s (Food and Dust) are really good techs. But they should almost never be your first selections for the following reasons: A) You need better industry to build these improvements fast. B) You should only research the better food exploitation after you have built the old one, since the new one costs more and you will save industry by the automatic upgrade that occurs through researching the tech.



4) So that leaves us with techs that unlock improvements for Industry and Science. While both are Highly

important, but what players generally research first is N-Way Fusion Plants. This tech gives a Massive boost to industry, which is arguably the most versatile resource in the game. This extra Industry will allow you to build colony ships and improvements faster, and you can research Isolation Shields, the tech beside N-Way that gives Science boosts, while the Fusion plants are under construction. once you have built isolation shields after the fusion plants, you will be able to research other techs faster.



This brings us to a key point: Researching Science improvements will lead to faster research, which leads to better science improvements, etc. So if a science improvement is in reasonable research range, it is efficient to research it as it will make all the other techs cheaper. This applies in every scenario except, generally, its competition with N-Way Fusion plants for the first pick, as if you research an expensive improvement before an Industry upgrade, it will take too long to build that previously researched improvement.







While often described as the worst and most simplistic aspect of the game, it is nonetheless necessary to cover Diplomacy.



At the beginning of the game, by default, the only diplomatic action you can use is 'Declare War'. Thats great if your the Cravers, but how do you operate more peacefully? Well, you need to research 'Relativistic Economics' and 'Relativistic Markets'. The former will allow you to offer peace, and request a Cease-fire. The later allows you to trade and request open borders (borders are defined as systems within your influence). These techs are located on the top (or right side, depending on how you look at it) of the diplomacy tree (the far left tree).



Other techs are available to unlock more diplomatic options.



Trading is covered in a separate section.



In terms of strategy, Trade can be used to keep the game peaceful. Alliances/Peace offerings can make other factions more friendly, and they will be reluctant to go to war because of the trade benefits that they would lose. Additionally, you can exchange resources so that you can build certain improvements and ships without necessarily owning a deposit of that resource.







From here on out, basic, textbook style info will be provided using links to the wiki. This page is about strategy, not text-book info.



For all the basics on Strategic resources



Strategic resources were one of the big things changed in Disharmony, as they were made far more scarce, and therefore more important. So how should you go about getting strategic resources? Well, some are more important than others. Some are worth paying for (by trading), but some are so important that many players would not hesitate to declare war and take them in a competitive game.



Specifically, the most important ones are the ones required for basic ship building. These are (in a general order of importance) : Titanium-70 (Armor, anti-Missile, and Missile modules), Anti-Matter (Beam and Beam Defense, and power modules), Hexaferum (Kinetic Defenses and extra Tonnage), and Hyperium (Repair modules). It is important to note that the first tier of weapons and defenses do not need strategic resources, ensuring that you will always be able to build ships. However, if you want even decent ships, you need the Strategic Resources.



Thus, you can use the t

Stealth Hawk I am getting invalid attachment when you are explaining about the auto explore galaxy.



DarkMeph

Great work on this newbie guide. Some people might picking on you in this thread dont realize that the basic advice you give applies to every race selected. Also you try to go into basic mechanics without too much of specialized points which is good.



Big thumbs up from me, thanks for the work

There's a reason I said he needed a "not sowers or harmony" clause.



Because none of this basic advice applies to them. Except for the bits about colonizing your own systems.



Oh and a killer noob mistake: Applying too many system upgrades to systems, does your science system REALLY need 7 +Industry upgrades?

Autocthon wrote:
Oh and a killer noob mistake: Applying too many system upgrades to systems, does your science system REALLY need 7 +Industry upgrades?

As sowers, yes. As anyone else, not really.

The only reason I said not to play Harmony is that they require more thought and micromanaging that is not present for other races. Applying my strategies above to the Harmony, isn't really all that bad to the Harmony. So yeah, this wont really harm someone playing Harmony all that much, but it also won't help them much either.



Also, yes. Yes my systems do need 7+ Industry improvements. Industry is the single most versatile resource in the game, and without it, you are just asking other factions to prey on you. But 7+ food improvements is a killer noob mistake, since growth is capped at a max of 1 pop per turn, surplus food improvements just waste dust.

Stealth_Hawk wrote:
..since growth is capped at a max of 1 pop per turn, surplus food improvements just waste dust.

How so? If you change food yield per population to 1000 on ocean planet and start a new game as Amoeba, at turn 2 your home planet will be fully populated.

Vicarious wrote:
How so? If you change food yield per population to 1000 on ocean planet and start a new game as Amoeba, at turn 2 your home planet will be fully populated.

hmmmm, now that I think about the sandbox mod I think you are right. I seem to remember a dev/VIP making a point about a 1 pop per turn cap. Oh well, maybe Im wrong... again...

Great Advice for a New Player. Thank you for putting the time and effort into making this Newbie guide. lol

Masadon wrote:
Great Advice for a New Player. Thank you for putting the time and effort into making this Newbie guide. lol

Thx



@DarkMeph. Sorry I didnt see your post about the bad attachment. It was just the auto explore icon, so Ill re upload it soon thx for the heads up.