I was just wondering - when a random start is generated, is the galaxy balanced so each player gets a fair share of resources / easy to get to star systems (ones you can get to without wormhole technology for instance) / etc? I just started a small 1v1 game where I only had access to three systems, with no other planets colonizable without tech (eight planets and an asteroid belt in total), and shut off from the rest of the galaxy by two wormholes. Is the whole game really only six systems in size, or did the enemy get most of the systems on his side (I can see his scout ship moving around the systems on the other side of the wormhole, so I know he has access all the way to there)? In contrast, the game I played last night on the same setup - the default small 1v1 game - had seven stars either side of the one wormhole that sat right in the middle of the map and it seemed really well balanced as a result.



So, how random is random? Is there balancing of start positions?

There most absolutely is not. The main forums has a thread going started by a guy whose starting area was his home system with nothing but wormholes leading out.

And this is why the Amoeba's ability is worth the points it is worth. Because you know from turn 1 where the good stuff is.

Ah, so you can be screwed from the start but it takes a couple of hours (or many hours) to realise that fact! Don't suppose you have a link to that thread do you, Taliesyn? As is often the case, my search-fu is weak.



EDIT: One thing that springs to mind is to use the seed number for a galaxy setup to try out different starts until you find some that are balanced. When I'm in a game, how do I find out the seed number of the galaxy I'm playing, so I can input that number in my next game's setup if I want to try the same galaxy with different factions/tactics?

It's on the front page of the main forum. Gimme a sec.



Edit: Ok, it finally fell to page 2 a couple hours ago. This is it: Slightly unfair (and funny) starting constellation

Titan wrote:
Ah, so you can be screwed from the start but it takes a couple of hours (or many hours) to realise that fact! Don't suppose you have a link to that thread do you, Taliesyn? As is often the case, my search-fu is weak.



EDIT: One thing that springs to mind is to use the seed number for a galaxy setup to try out different starts until you find some that are balanced. When I'm in a game, how do I find out the seed number of the galaxy I'm playing, so I can input that number in my next game's setup if I want to try the same galaxy with different factions/tactics?

You should have Cashmir effect around turn 15-20, and about 4-5 turns after that you should have most of the nearby stuff scouted. That's not turn 1, but I hope it's not hours.

Titan wrote:
EDIT: One thing that springs to mind is to use the seed number for a galaxy setup to try out different starts until you find some that are balanced. When I'm in a game, how do I find out the seed number of the galaxy I'm playing, so I can input that number in my next game's setup if I want to try the same galaxy with different factions/tactics?

From in-game? You don't. Best you can do is use 7zip to open the savegame, open the file insde THAT with notepad, and then search for the word 'seed'. The number following that is your game's seed.

Taliesyn: "From in-game? You don't. Best you can do is use 7zip to open the savegame, open the file insde THAT with notepad, and then search for the word 'seed'. The number following that is your game's seed."



That worked really well (after we discovered that I'm of sub-normal intelligence, Tal!).



Nodor: "You should have Cashmir effect around turn 15-20, and about 4-5 turns after that you should have most of the nearby stuff scouted. "



Is that the normal progress for people? I haven't played a big map yet, but if I'm in a huge galaxy with eight players (my usual preference, I'll admit) would that still be a good starting tactic?



I'll admit I'm not as worried about the random starts now that I can start a few games as amoeba, spot a reasonably balanced-looking setup, and replicate the seed. It seems a bit of a daft workaround, but I can live with that for the time being.



Thanks for your help, gents.