New player looking for custom race advice - Endless Space

New player looking for custom race advice

Reply

Copied to clipboard!

Rudest

Newcomer

Rudest

Newcomer

13 years ago

Aug 13, 2012, 2:25:48 AM

No shame in that! Aesthetics are a big deal! United Empire/Sheradyn affinity is one that I haven't quite wrapped my head around yet. Seems like they'd do well with economy or an economy industry hybrid! They might even be able to do pretty well with a food build, sucking more taxes out without saccing industry? How you apply your military to your favored style of infrastructure is up to you.

I tend to take what the game gives me! Preferably, yeah, I want a hero on turn two with lots and lots of labor. I try and work with what I get regradless, but games with early admin heroes usually go better for me.

(Still learning myself, most of my opinion is applied logic carried over from other 4x games)

0badgesSend private message

Apheirox

Newcomer

Apheirox

Newcomer

13 years ago

Aug 15, 2012, 5:15:59 AM

/#/endless-space/forum/33-strategy-guides/thread/14023-optimizing-custom-factions

Might as well learn from the best, especially when they took the time to piece together a guide that offers exactly what you wanted. In the 'strategy' forum. Note that parts of the thread is outdated due to recent patch, for instance Feeble Warriors is no longer useless (I take credit for that one!).

0badgesSend private message

Niteshade

Newcomer

Niteshade

Newcomer

13 years ago

Aug 15, 2012, 1:10:24 AM

Wondering, between Optimal Structure vs Masters of Destruction which may be more beneficial for what I'm going for.

Currently, I'm leaning toward Optimal Structure as it seems more suited to what im going for with my custom faction fleets. and thats to not necessarily have the largest sized fleets, but smaller yet potent and functional. I've seen and won 1 battle earlier when I was at a roughly -400-450

smiley: stickouttongue

ower: disadvantage. Granted it was just a pirate fleet so i'm not sure if their fleets tend to be weaker then the normal factions and they were only using kinetic weapons which by that time the fleet i quick built to intercept them was utilizing laser and missile modules along with kinetic.

But I can tell from the battle system and range of ways to build up and customize fleets that fleet size in and of itself isnt always going to be the winning factor in a battle.

Now, it appears though I'm going to have to make myself take a few additional negative traits or pull some positives since either of the above traits are a +10 point hit. I almost went for Entrepreneurs till I realized if proper setup of my various systems and bonuses I should be able to make due just fine.

Edit: this is another , fairly spread out base i'm working off for trait selection where i'm using Optimal Structure:

Blockade Breakers

Builders 1

Dust Impaired 1

Dust Recyclers 1

Fast Travelers 1

Feeble Warriors 1

Knowledge Gathering 1

Legendary Heroes 2

Militarists 1

Optimal Structure 1

Optimistic 1

Sloppy Sawbones 2

Space Cadets 1

0badgesSend private message

Niteshade

Newcomer

Niteshade

Newcomer

13 years ago

Aug 14, 2012, 10:27:37 PM

Ah, Sadly i havent had as much chance to compare combat tech in the game im playing now, about 100'ish turns in. I did like having researched the cruiser class hull, the ship tonnage that hull allows for was tremendous heh, compared to my destroyer and corvette hulls at least. Was the first ship outside of my original scout model I was able to mount one of the engine modules on w/o sacrificing

smiley: stickouttongue

ower: capability.

I plan to set another save up soon, using the same spiral system, but larger. Then experimenting with the traits more, I know there are certain traits I'm keeping for sure, like the legendary heroes trait and probably the builders/militarist. Going to see what I can come up with to start adapting my first custom faction to the idea I've got in my head.

0badgesSend private message

WhiteWeasel

Newcomer

WhiteWeasel

Newcomer

13 years ago

Aug 14, 2012, 7:35:55 PM

Niteshade wrote:
I've gathered as ive been looking through the forums in between playing lol. I just pulled from their traits as a start since at first before i took a look at the ship styles I thought the pilgrim bio sounded decent, etc but I acutally think i changed out most of the original default pilgrim traits already , 1 rank of wasted space is still there though. the next game i start up i'll probably make some tweaks to my custom faction traits.

Basically it's 10/20% less

smiley: stickouttongue

ower: for your ships fleets, & millitary as a whole. The differnce in

smiley: stickouttongue

ower: tech is huge; Around a 50%

smiley: stickouttongue

ower: increase from tier to tier Be sure to stay a tier or two ahead of your opponents' tech to make up for it.

0badgesSend private message

Niteshade

Newcomer

Niteshade

Newcomer

13 years ago

Aug 14, 2012, 7:15:17 PM

WhiteWeasel wrote:
Just so you know, wasted space is one of the biggest disadvantages you could get...

I've gathered as ive been looking through the forums in between playing lol. I just pulled from their traits as a start since at first before i took a look at the ship styles I thought the pilgrim bio sounded decent, etc but I acutally think i changed out most of the original default pilgrim traits already , 1 rank of wasted space is still there though. the next game i start up i'll probably make some tweaks to my custom faction traits.

0badgesSend private message

WhiteWeasel

Newcomer

WhiteWeasel

Newcomer

13 years ago

Aug 14, 2012, 5:35:54 PM

Just so you know, wasted space is one of the biggest disadvantages you could get...

0badgesSend private message

Niteshade

Newcomer

Niteshade

Newcomer

13 years ago

Aug 13, 2012, 7:15:27 PM

Ive decided to not use the lowest difficulty, but have started on the second lowest, at least for the first game to get my feet wet with everything.

I'm currently setting up the game start to use the 4 arm spiral with 3 factions, 2 of which i hand choose, and leave the 3rd random, choosing Sheredyn and Cravers as the 2 hand picked. Something I noticed on a test game was I had started to move a colony ship with 1 scout ship toward a system in my area to colonize it, but noticed mid travel they were about to run into a pirate ship. Lol i had forgotten the pirates are supposed to generally spawn in areas that you dont have vision of from what I've read here, so my poor colony ship and scout were decimated since i havent disabled the tutorial popups, it went to auto resolve before i could hit manual.

So now I think, maybe I'll try to leave 1 or so of the more not overly appealing systems near me when i start out of scout view range, let pirates occasionally spawn there and use them to 'train' a few of my ships.. though with the small experience bonus i've got through my custom traits this may not be overly necessary i guess.

I decided I'd essentially play just off custom faction for myself, the first one I'm working off i originally pulled off the Pilgrim set of traits, and made revisions to the trait selection. Now if only the random hero generation at the beginning would shine just a little luck my way. Oh and I figured I'd try my first few game approaches w/o an administrator type hero. If i can get a lucky hero generation at the beginning i know specifically which two I want to show up, the Endless one, and another that i just liked the bio of heh.

Oh, Ive seen several Lets Play related vids on youtube already, got some saved, along with some basic/adv gameplay ones, was what i spent most of my friday evening doing before I made my game purchase late friday night. THen spent most of sunday browsing the forums reading .

0badgesSend private message

Rudest

Newcomer

Rudest

Newcomer

13 years ago

Aug 13, 2012, 6:33:38 PM

I'd been playing on normal which has ceased to be sufficiently challenging with vanilla races, so I've started to try my hand at Impossible with custom races. My play style lends itself to early expansionist tactics, or heavy industry. I usually start being agressive after I've got a handful of good star system up and running. This also depends on where I am in relation to the AI, if one is close, I'll likely start my agression sooner rather than later.

I like to play 4-spiral with 8 players, so that the two races on each arm fight each other to get out, and then you have a more interesting clash in the middle or eliptical for harder to predict positioning. 4 arm/8 arm let you safely build up your infastructure behind a choke point so I'd definantly recommend that for a new player like others have!

As far as how AI pilot the other factions nothing really stands out as unapproachable.

Furthermore, while I'm thinking about it, some informative Let's Play Endless Space vids should be popping up on youtube. If so, they can sometimes give some insight and put someone elses experience to use for you!

0badgesSend private message

Niteshade

Newcomer

Niteshade

Newcomer

13 years ago

Aug 13, 2012, 4:59:36 PM

I don't want to make a separate post since i think it may fit in with my original thread topic here, but I was curious whether any of the factions while AI controlled would prove to behave noticeably different from the others.

As well as which ones may be more challenging or good picks to play against for a beginner? So far ive just set a game to leave 2 out of the 3 other factions in a Spiral -4 galaxy to random and setting the other to Cravers

0badgesSend private message

Niteshade

Newcomer

Niteshade

Newcomer

13 years ago

Aug 13, 2012, 2:56:12 AM

Appreciate the help, really is seeming like a solid community around here so far with a lot of helpful people.

What strategies are you experimenting with? and on what difficulty have u been using? Since you're still learning?

0badgesSend private message

Rudest

Newcomer

Rudest

Newcomer

13 years ago

Aug 13, 2012, 2:43:43 AM

Go for it! That's the best way really! Happy to help! ^_^

0badgesSend private message

Niteshade

Newcomer

Niteshade

Newcomer

13 years ago

Aug 13, 2012, 2:32:30 AM

I'm certainly not knocking the other faction ship styles, but the U.E style seems slightly more appealing, at least for my first custom race attempt, the tax bonus and minor experience bonus on ships should help with my adaptable approach.

I think the reason its taking me so long to start up a full game , is the combination of trying to get the Endless Hero + 1 of the U.E/Pilgrim heros with administrator at the same time seems like a highly low percentage lol. Ive spent most of my day browsing/reading threads on the forums here, doing a few other things here and there and tryin to trigger that starting hero combo and no luck haha. Was tempted to just settle on that Endless hero the next time he shows up, sure i'd lose the administrator class bonuses to food/industry production, but I was looking at it from the perspective of using that science bonus to semi boost my research and I'd aim for some of the industry boosting technologies on the right, grabbing the Titanium -70 and such early on . While of course looking for a solid system in my starting area that would make for a good industrial base and i'd focus my industrial exploitations there.

The more I read on various aspects of the game and all this planning, the more I want to dive into a game and start learning hands on, come on random hero lineup!

Also, helpful advice Rudest, going to make a note on that ^_^

0badgesSend private message

Niteshade

Newcomer

Niteshade

Newcomer

13 years ago

Aug 11, 2012, 5:15:31 PM

I just picked up this game late last night, and have been mildly studying things in the forums and the tutorial screens in game as well as the manual, etc. Not sure if I'm posting this in the right area or not, my apologies in advance.

Ive just trying to get a feel for various aspects and I was hoping maybe some more established players might offer up any random tips/advice for someone wanting to tweak a custom faction/race. I do know that based on the affinity chosen your ship style is affected.

So I guess I was just looking to hear some tips and/or advice from some of you more established E.S players as to ways of setting up a custom race/faction. Major pros/cons, I'm assuming that regardless of affinity chosen the basic ship 'class/hull' between each affinity are the same stat wise? Or whether as a new player its best to try to get a feel for the game by learning the ropes through one of the default races then branching out from there, etc.

I searched around a little but didn't see any threads that i immediately noticed referencing what I was looking for, though I will be continuing to look through the forums in between checking the game out.

Sidenote: So far it seems like a very nice overall community here on the forums and I look forward to being here.

Edit: Though I seem semi partial to the U.E. , and Sheredyn styled ships as well as the pilgrims somewhat, so many choices @.@

0badgesSend private message

Niteshade

Newcomer

Niteshade

Newcomer

13 years ago

Aug 13, 2012, 2:17:48 AM

I'm not 100% sure, but I do say I think you have a decent assumption there. Sometimes I'm not overly good with getting what my thoughts are into words to where it makes sense lol.

With my personality I think such a style may be what would fit me best, at least to start in Endless Space while I get a feel for the game and mechanics. I guess also in this case the affinity I chose due to ship style certainly wont have any huge negative effect.

A question regarding some of the early game portion. During all the thread reading I've been doing( in between starting new maps over to shuffle the initial hero choice lineup @.@) I've been seeing how there are alot of players who think having a hero with the Administrator class is extremely helpful to get things started, etc where on the opposite hand some dont seem to like the Corporate ones that give a boost to dust and science. So what I was wondering here is, is it still possible to do just as well early game without an Administrator class hero and instead using a Corporate one?

I ask since part of my re shuffling the initial hero lineup is I was originally hoping to pull up a draw that had an administrator class hero i liked and the Endless Hero which was a corporate one but had some bonuses across food/industry as well, just lacking traits that would benefit food/industry. I'm getting to where I may just settle for starting my next game the first time the Endless Hero shows up, which seems to show up FAR less then any of the others lol.

I'm trying to not over think how I even have access to the Endless Hero and Sheredyn Affinity when I only purchased the Admiral Edition.

0badgesSend private message

Rudest

Newcomer

Rudest

Newcomer

13 years ago

Aug 13, 2012, 2:02:05 AM

I'm not really sure! This is just my assumption!

It sounds like you want an adaptable race with a potent military, that is self sufficient and relies on minimal trading if any at all. The problem you seem to be having is that you aren't exactly sure how you want achieve that! Tilting FIDS to meet your ends can be done in several ways! Here is sort of a quick explanation of what I mean by that:

1. An emphasis on dust/economy can let you fast buy to complete ships and system upgrades, and allow for faster retrofitting of older fleets.

2. Science and research focus can gain a powerful tech lead that can be applied to your infrastructure, war, and science victory.

3. A heavy emphasis on industry lets you build a powerful infrastructure when at peace, and can be turned towards producing massive amounts of cheap ships during war.

4. Emphasis on population. Everything is increased with population. It increases tax money, research, and production in a well rounded way. Allows you to expand quicker and utilize new planets faster.

All of these leanings bring out a different source of adaptability. Industry adapts by applying it's production advantage to the situation at hand. Science likes to stall the enemy long enough to get a tech that stacks the situation in their favor. Food/Population has a smooth start and solid foundation to work with. Affinities can also really change how things play out too. Take Craver and Horatio for example--They are both expansionists, but how they accomplish it is different.

0badgesSend private message

Niteshade

Newcomer

Niteshade

Newcomer

13 years ago

Aug 12, 2012, 3:10:17 AM

Scubasage wrote:
Spirals are also good because usually you are stuck behind a wormhole...making super early zerg rushes not work very well (not that the AI really does that), buying you some time to set up your fleets.

From what I was reading on the forums and wiki and such I thought they sounded like a good galaxy style to work off, think ive been looking at the Spiral 4 type.

I'll use that coupled with setting as many factors that I can to random like galaxy age. No harm in quick restarting if I absolutely dont like my starting home system

Edit: Would it be wiser to start off with only 2 to maybe 3 other factions opposed to facing to many?

0badgesSend private message

Scubasage

Fanatic

Scubasage

Fanatic

13 years ago

Aug 12, 2012, 3:08:01 AM

Spirals are also good because usually you are stuck behind a wormhole...making super early zerg rushes not work very well (not that the AI really does that), buying you some time to set up your fleets.

0badgesSend private message

Niteshade

Newcomer

Niteshade

Newcomer

13 years ago

Aug 12, 2012, 2:34:28 AM

Admittedly its been some time since i sat down to put time into a game like this, but i suppose my play-style would lean more toward a military/combative one, possibly very minor diplomacy(but in the case of ES probably not enough to use traits toward it), mild balanced expansion. and as far as the military goes, i'd want to keep those two traits (Knowledge gathering/dust recycling) and having a more jack of all trades style approach to my fleets, maybe some sort of guerrilla tactics instead of just relying on pure brute force to my approaches. I guess really, im not quite sure. Its been far to long since i sat down and tried to develop a strategy in this genre of game.

I'll probably make some tweaks to the trait setup,maybe affinity and play various rounds and just see how I move/act and then edit the traits from there, may be the best way to go. I think trait wise I want to lean into something self sufficient(relying only on minimal trade) and trying to utilize some solid military based traits to compliment my approach. Would it then be probably worthwhile, especially for a newer player to invest in Entrepreneurs in my trait lineup? I'm guessing traits like Terraformed Planet are totally up to the individual though. I suspect if I'm understanding command points and such, the more there are the overall larger a fleet could be. In which case I may be able to take traits to lessen that if I'd rather build up and utilize smaller more mobile fleets

So i guess i really need to get in there with some kind of setup and get a game going so I can start learning the ropes. Trying to set my map setup to have as many random factors as possible, but galaxy age i may put on normal or random, and leave # of factions to 3 with for sure 1 'evil' aligned faction.

Thank you guys for all the input! Certainly is a nice community here

and sorry if this last post rambled on a bit :/

Edit: would you guys reccomend a certain galaxy shape/etc for a beginner? Was thinking the Spiral type's would to alot for adequate starting space

0badgesSend private message

Chibiabos

Newcomer

Chibiabos

Newcomer

13 years ago

Aug 12, 2012, 1:30:48 AM

A nice complement to Blockade Breakers is Merchants, which gives you free trade routes at every colony, and I actually put at 2/2 (so I get 2 free trade routes at every colony). Not only that, but I do it with Amoeba, which means all I ahve to do is make contact with a faction and I instantly can trade with all of their colonies, since I don't need to scout them.

0badgesSend private message

Deleted account (8142)

Newcomer

13 years ago

Aug 12, 2012, 1:27:07 AM

Interesting setup. As you mentioned, you are a bit spread out, as almost all your traits are just one levels, as opposed to a few. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I prefer specializing my faction to certain traits. It would be helpful if you could tell us what your play style is like. Are you big into research? Expansion? War? Diplomacy? etc.

Furthermore, I suggest you take off xenobotony. While it is nice to have some research right off the start, it honestly is not worth the points. Not only is it pretty easy to research yourself, it doesn't help in the long game. Once you get it, that's it. For example, for those 10 points you could get another level of optimism, which doesn't help just at the start of the game but helps to the very end of the game. The only one that is possibly worth it is N-way fusion reactors, as titanium 70 is fairly useful. Even then, I personally don't take it.

0badgesSend private message

Niteshade

Newcomer

Niteshade

Newcomer

13 years ago

Aug 11, 2012, 10:18:31 PM

I do so enjoy being able to try and plan out and think up methods and things to try out, and games like this cater to that so well ^_^

I have a broad concept of the style I'd likely utilize, just a matter of incorporating it into this game.

Are Kinetic and missile type weapons still feasible later on? I can see myself not wanting to rely purely on beam/laser weaponry just as a personal flavor sort of thing. May even try to design a few ship designs to shine specifically during the melee phase.

So much to learn ^_^

I appreciate the responses thus far and direction to that custom faction optimization thread

Edit: Am I looking at this right, that I could offset the space cadets -science penalty by using something like knowledge gathering? I'm in the process of making some tweaks to a custom faction now using the above mentioned thread as reference in a few areas.

This is a somewhat random pieced together trait setup on a custom faction I was working on

Blockade Breakers

Builders 1/3

Dust Impaired 1/2

Dust Recyclers 1/2

Growth Plan 1/3

Knowledge Gathering 1/2

Legendary Heroes 2/2

Militarists 1/3

Optimistic 1/2

Sloppy Sawbones 2/2

Space Cadets 1/3

Wasted Space 1/2

Xenobotany 1

I'm sure this is hardly the most efficient setup, but i was just pulling random things that seemed appealing while trying to stick to my point limit

0badgesSend private message

VIPflipstar

Pro VIP

flipstar

VIPflipstar

Pro VIP

13 years ago

Aug 11, 2012, 9:49:10 PM

Ideally you want to choose a bunch of positive traits that reinforce your playstyle, and pick negatives to maximize faction points that have the least effect on your playstyle (i.e. do your heroes never die, then sloppy sawbones was a popular choice).

Alternatively you can handicap yourself by doing the exact opposite, and choosing negatives against your strengths. Up to you

0badgesSend private message

Niteshade

Newcomer

Niteshade

Newcomer

13 years ago

Aug 11, 2012, 9:38:27 PM

Epimethee wrote:
I think you can find all the answers you need there :

/#/endless-space/forum/33-strategy-guides/thread/14023-optimizing-custom-factions

Ah thanx, i'll look that over see what kinds of tips and such it offers.

Think I'll try to build my custom factions off the U.E. , Sheredyn and Pilgrims affinities. Reading over that thread may give me some points since on the custom faction setup I have now I just made a few trait tweaks off the Pilgrims lineup

0badgesSend private message

Epimethee

Newcomer

Epimethee

Newcomer

13 years ago

Aug 11, 2012, 7:03:52 PM

I think you can find all the answers you need there :

/#/endless-space/forum/33-strategy-guides/thread/14023-optimizing-custom-factions

0badgesSend private message

VIPSpaceVC

Newcomer

VIPSpaceVC

Newcomer

13 years ago

Aug 11, 2012, 5:26:02 PM

Niteshade wrote:
Sidenote: So far it seems like a very nice overall community here on the forums and I look forward to being here.

Welcome to the forum Niteshade!

Nice community indeed, that's the Games2gether spirit.

0badgesSend private message

?

Click here to login

Reply

Comment

Characters : 0

0badgesSend private message

PostCancel