Distant Worlds : Shadows . . . (4x Space Game) - Released

[wanderer27]

Yes I don't know. Everything installed fine and the game loads and plays fine. Just crashes randomly for whatever reason. My Legends install never crashed so I wonder if it's related to the new graphics engine.

i7-2600k
8GB ram
Nvidia 570 GTX
Windows 7 64-bit Pro

If you can get a crash log to them, I'm pretty sure the Dev will fix it.

They're putting together a list of fixes and enhancements for the game already.

For a small Dev, they've been outstanding throughout the whole DW process (beginning 2010).


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[Anteaus]

Will do. Tomorrow is Friday so I'm hoping to put in a bit of time this weekend and see how things work over a longer period of time. Thanks for the info.

BTW, I'm loving the Pre-warp. It was fun discovering the abandoned ships and unlocking the research. It does take a bit longer to get into the meat of the game but I like it.

 

[wanderer27]

Will do. Tomorrow is Friday so I'm hoping to put in a bit of time this weekend and see how things work over a longer period of time. Thanks for the info.

BTW, I'm loving the Pre-warp. It was fun discovering the abandoned ships and unlocking the research. It does take a bit longer to get into the meat of the game but I like it.

Yeah, I think the Pre-Warp adds a whole new dimension to the game.

You can spend years and years just focused on your own system, and then suddenly, with Warp Drive, you can start looking at the whole Galaxy

I think this is a very good expansion to the game, and it seems to be going over well with DW followers.

. . . and I'm just looking at it from the Empire side (haven't played as Pirate).


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[wanderer27]

Hotfix to version 1.9.0.1 is available.

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3331949

This fixes a few crash issues, adds a few quick tweaks.



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[Anteaus]

Since the last small patch I don't seem to have any Colony or Passenger ship designs and the game is balking. I'm assuming it's because those designs require tech but I might not have researched but I don't know. Has anyone seen anything like this? I tried designing my own but because the original designs are missing it acts weird.

 

[wanderer27]

Since the last small patch I don't seem to have any Colony or Passenger ship designs and the game is balking. I'm assuming it's because those designs require tech but I might not have researched but I don't know. Has anyone seen anything like this? I tried designing my own but because the original designs are missing it acts weird.

With the problems you mentioned from Legends and now think, I'm starting to think you might have a corrupt/incomplete installation.


Do you have the option to build a Colony ship in the Colony screen Construction Yard menu?

How about in the Design screen if you change to Show Non-Obsolete designs, does it show up there?

If none of that is helpful, you can check All Designs and see if it somehow got obsoleted.


With some of the other issues you've mentioned, I'd uninstall DW, delete the folders and do a clean install.


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[wanderer27]

While I'm here, here's a short thread with some player thoughts on the game so far:

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3333231


Overall pretty positive impression, some minor issues, but their track record at fixing these is exemplary.

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[aigomorla]

Isnt this supposed to be a 100 dollar+ game with all the addons?

That is kinda too expensive for this game with the visuals its presenting regardless of the content i feel.

 

[wanderer27]

Isnt this supposed to be a 100 dollar+ game with all the addons?

That is kinda too expensive for this game with the visuals its presenting regardless of the content i feel.

While the Promo is running - $69.96 for the original and all the expansions, including Shadows.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=35055474&postcount=22


Alternatively, you could just pick up the Original at $19.99 to see if you even like it.
Each additional expansion is $14.99, and they each enhance the game in different ways.

I'd recommend you start with the Original and the first expansion (Return of the Shakturi) since it changes so much to the original UI (virtually a new game).

I have to say, Shadows is a pretty darn good expansion, if you really have any interest in these type games quite a few players say this is the true successor to MoO2.


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[aigomorla]

While the Promo is running - $69.96 for the original and all the expansions, including Shadows.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=35055474&postcount=22


Alternatively, you could just pick up the Original at $19.99 to see if you even like it.
Each additional expansion is $14.99, and they each enhance the game in different ways.

I'd recommend you start with the Original and the first expansion (Return of the Shakturi) since it changes so much to the original UI (virtually a new game).

I have to say, Shadows is a pretty darn good expansion, if you really have any interest in these type games quite a few players say this is the true successor to MoO2.


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Ive been following this game because i love space sims.
However i am failing to see how its worth something like 3x more then X3 for example.
I understand theres more options one can do, however, as said, those options feel limited because of the way the visuals are presented in the demo's im seeing.

 

[wanderer27]

Ive been following this game because i love space sims.
However i am failing to see how its worth something like 3x more then X3 for example.
I understand theres more options one can do, however, as said, those options feel limited because of the way the visuals are presented in the demo's im seeing.

This is one of those games that's not about graphics, I'd put those at about 6/7, but that's mainly because they're 2D based, though they don't look all that bad (check out some screen shots).

This is a fairly deep/complex game with a lot going on under the hood.
You've got multiple AI Empires, each with hundreds of Military ships, hundreds of Private sector ships, several types of bases (few hundred more per Empire).
This can run into thousands and thousands of items to track, and it does it pretty well.

The Economy and resource system is pretty interesting too with Strategic and Luxury resources needed for different things.

Ship design has gotten more complex with each expansion, with new weaponry and other Techs added.

You can micro or macro manage your Empire, it'll even run the whole thing by itself if you just want to watch (can be good for learning about different areas of the game).

You might want to poke around their Forums and see some of the things going on, check out some of the AARs.

I've had some totally epic games on the earlier expansions, and I know I'm going to have more with this one.

I've played GalCiv2, and while it's a good game it can't keep my interest as well as DW has.
Probably my biggest gripe with GC2 is that while you can design your own ships, when actually use them in combat it's just a movie.
In DW, the ships actually fight head to head based on design and tactics - this is where things get really interesting for me.

 

[wanderer27]

Here's a good thread I just ran across about setting up an "Easy" game in the Age of Shadows.

Here you can see a lot of settings and options that can give you an idea of some of the things going on in the game as well as options for automation:

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3333889


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[Anteaus]

With the problems you mentioned from Legends and now think, I'm starting to think you might have a corrupt/incomplete installation.


Do you have the option to build a Colony ship in the Colony screen Construction Yard menu?

How about in the Design screen if you change to Show Non-Obsolete designs, does it show up there?

If none of that is helpful, you can check All Designs and see if it somehow got obsoleted.


With some of the other issues you've mentioned, I'd uninstall DW, delete the folders and do a clean install.


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It's possible. I'll do a clean install of DW and see what happens. After that last small patch the crashing issues went away, but then again before th patch I didn't have problems with my ship designs haha.

The colony and passenger ship designs don't show up anywhere, even when I set it to show everything. The construction station menu doesn't give the option to build them.

Edit : The problem seems to be isolated to a Pre-Warp start. The ship designs are there with a normal start but they are completely missing from Pre-Warp. I understand that some technologies might need to be researched to build some of the ships, but the ship designs are missing even if you do have them. Very strange. It's gotta be a bug. I've read stories of on the official forums about similar situations with capital ships.

 

[wanderer27]

It's possible. I'll do a clean install of DW and see what happens. After that last small patch the crashing issues went away, but then again before th patch I didn't have problems with my ship designs haha.

The colony and passenger ship designs don't show up anywhere, even when I set it to show everything. The construction station menu doesn't give the option to build them.

Doh!

I just realized . . . if you're playing Pre-Warp, you haven't researched Colonization yet, so you don't have the Tech to build them

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[ThinClient]

I fell asleep watching the preview videos.

 

[Anteaus]

Doh!

I just realized . . . if you're playing Pre-Warp, you haven't researched Colonization yet, so you don't have the Tech to build them

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You see thats the interesting part. I had researched colonization and swamp colony tech before I went to build my first colony ship.

I think either one of two things is happening. One, the game removes the design for pre-warp but for whatever reason even if you get the necessary tech the designs never get pulled back in. Or two, there is other tech that I need research to bring those designs back in but I have no idea what those are because I don't have the design to look at.

I'm sure you're right it's probably some oversight on my part, but whatever it is isn't obvious. I have the appropriate colonization and storage research complete yet no colony ship or passenger ship designs have showed up in game. I can actually design a colony ship and build it, but since it's my design and not the original game design the game keeps complaining about it. I don't know...hopefully I'll figure out whats going on.

I

 

[wanderer27]

You see thats the interesting part. I had researched colonization and swamp colony tech before I went to build my first colony ship.

I think either one of two things is happening. One, the game removes the design for pre-warp but for whatever reason even if you get the necessary tech the designs never get pulled back in. Or two, there is other tech that I need research to bring those designs back in but I have no idea what those are because I don't have the design to look at.

I'm sure you're right it's probably some oversight on my part, but whatever it is isn't obvious. I have the appropriate colonization and storage research complete yet no colony ship or passenger ship designs have showed up in game. I can actually design a colony ship and build it, but since it's my design and not the original game design the game keeps complaining about it. I don't know...hopefully I'll figure out whats going on.

I

My bet is you also need one of the advanced Construction Techs for increased ship size.

I still think you had some problems that a clean install would help, but it could be something else too.

What warnings do you get when you try to design a Colony ships?


Here's a little something about what you don't have when starting out Pre-Warp:

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3327129


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[Anteaus]

I fell asleep watching the preview videos.

Distant Worlds is marketed in the same category as War in the Pacific and other hardcore strategy games. This is one of the reasons why it's sold on Matrix Games and not Steam. Chances are it will bore the hell out of people who are expecting flash and plot to carry them through a game.

It's not for everyone. It took me awhile to finally take to it. It's got all of the social grace of a university textbook, but if you take some time get into the details it's pretty good.

 

[Anteaus]

My bet is you also need one of the advanced Construction Techs for increased ship size.

I still think you had some problems that a clean install would help, but it could be something else too.

What warnings do you get when you try to design a Colony ships?


Here's a little something about what you don't have when starting out Pre-Warp:

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3327129


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You may be right. I'm going to start a new game to go with the new install and see how things go. With any luck I'll figure out that it was simply a research issue and things worked as they were meant to.

 

[wanderer27]

Distant Worlds is marketed in the same category as War in the Pacific and other hardcore strategy games. This is one of the reasons why it's sold on Matrix Games and not Steam. Chances are it will bore the hell out of people who are expecting flash and plot to carry them through a game.

It's not for everyone. It took me awhile to finally take to it. It's got all of the social grace of a university textbook, but if you take some time get into the details it's pretty good.

That's pretty much what I've been trying to get across.

Too bad they don't have better Marketing for the game, a lot of the sites that actually review it give it pretty high marks.

Problem is, not a lot of exposure so it's not really in the mainstream.

For hardcore Strategy gamers, this is a gimme.


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[Anteaus]

Wanderer, you were right about the research. There is also a bit more to it which is why I missed it the first time through. Once the research is done and the designs start coming into the game, sometimes they come in marked as obselete which is what happens in this situation. Once I researched colonization, I kept getting the "Warning: Missing Civilian Ship Designs" warning for Colony Ship when I entered the design screen yet I couldn't seem to find it at first because it didn't would pop up if you sorted by use.

Also, if you don't have the materials to build the ships they won't show up in the Build Order screen even after they do start showing up in the right click menu at the planet.

The short of it is that the ships are working, however a little work by the developers will be needed to make sure the player knows whats going on. It doesn't bother me too much because Pre-warp is a new mode but I hope it gets some attention. It's not much of a bug as much as a design flaw.

 

[ThinClient]

Distant Worlds is marketed in the same category as War in the Pacific and other hardcore strategy games. This is one of the reasons why it's sold on Matrix Games and not Steam. Chances are it will bore the hell out of people who are expecting flash and plot to carry them through a game.

It's not for everyone. It took me awhile to finally take to it. It's got all of the social grace of a university textbook, but if you take some time get into the details it's pretty good.

I play Crusader Kings 2.

This game still puts me to sleep.

 

[wanderer27]

Wanderer, you were right about the research. There is also a bit more to it which is why I missed it the first time through. Once the research is done and the designs start coming into the game, sometimes they come in marked as obselete which is what happens in this situation. Once I researched colonization, I kept getting the "Warning: Missing Civilian Ship Designs" warning for Colony Ship when I entered the design screen yet I couldn't seem to find it at first because it didn't would pop up if you sorted by use.

Also, if you don't have the materials to build the ships they won't show up in the Build Order screen even after they do start showing up in the right click menu at the planet.

The short of it is that the ships are working, however a little work by the developers will be needed to make sure the player knows whats going on. It doesn't bother me too much because Pre-warp is a new mode but I hope it gets some attention. It's not much of a bug as much as a design flaw.

I believe you should still be able to build the ship, even if you don't have a source for the resources.

You start with a stockpile, plus you can offer Smuggling missions to Pirates for missing resources.
But even so, you should be able to build it, but you'll get a "Stalled" construction message until you get a delivery/source for those resources.

I haven't seen any issues with the ship designs, so I'm a little puzzled about that.

I do know that there are some reported Tech support issues that aren't Tech support issues, they're strategy change issues.

A lot has changed when playing Pre-Warp, look at me forgetting about the research for Colonization, and there's more than just that


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[wanderer27]

I play Crusader Kings 2.

This game still puts me to sleep.

I've seen this mentioned on the DW Forums (CK2), and it's actually been a compliment to the depth of DW.


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[Anteaus]

I play Crusader Kings 2.

This game still puts me to sleep.

CK2 puts me to sleep. It didn't at first, but once I realized that I spent the vast majority of my time farming Casus Belli and answering the same multiple choice questions over and over. I grew tired of it quickly. It doesn't surprise me why it's such a mainstream success, especially when by comparison its sister titles are so much more comprehensive.

Using CK2 as evidence that somehow you've got street cred to judge DW is silly, especially since all of your experience with DW is the preview video.

I do see your point thought, however I guess we all get our giggles in different places. I can see how DW could be super boring to some people, but it doesn't make it a bad game or that it doesn't deserve praise.

Some people also read non-fiction books and novels with more than 1000 pages. I guess they'll never learn what's cool and what's not.