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The Art of Engineering/Building/Putting the Stupid Diamond on the Planet |
Borgie
Chief Marshal
Pitch Black
Joined: August 15, 2005
Posts: 2256
From: close by
|  Posted: 2006-01-28 00:36
good work but man you have too much time on your hands
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GothThug {C?}
Fleet Admiral
Joined: June 29, 2005
Posts: 2932
| Posted: 2006-01-28 00:59
sheesh and i thought my father was long winded lolololol anyways nice work grim keep it up 
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Fatal Command (CO)
Marshal
Fatal Squadron
Joined: November 27, 2002
Posts: 1158
From: over here in New York noticing some ppl are like canoes.....they need to be paddled.
| Posted: 2006-01-28 05:33
aint a planet built that cant be wiped by a bombing pres whore....SOLO bombing I should add.....Unlike previous versions where SKILL and TEAMWORK were required.....a feature sadly LACKING in DS anymore,along with numerous other things I wont mention
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Crim
Fleet Admiral
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: March 16, 2003
Posts: 1336
| Posted: 2006-01-28 06:12
Command, you suck the fun outta life..Go in the corner and cry about it., not here...anyways, bloody good job Grimey
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Ospolos
Grand Admiral
Joined: January 31, 2004
Posts: 567
From: ON, CANADA
| Posted: 2006-01-28 09:42
Quote:
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On 2006-01-28 05:33, Fatal Command *CO*(On Strike) wrote:
aint a planet built that cant be wiped by a bombing pres whore....SOLO bombing I should add.....Unlike previous versions where SKILL and TEAMWORK were required.....a feature sadly LACKING in DS anymore,along with numerous other things I wont mention
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Better to improve more then
*Very N'o'ice Grim.
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Honoured,
Osp
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Bobamelius
Grand Admiral
Galactic Navy
Joined: October 08, 2002
Posts: 2074
From: Ohio
| Posted: 2006-01-28 09:59
Don't let this thread descend into negativity, folks, or you may find your negative posts deleted. This is a thread about planet building techniques, not for whining about bombing.
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Grimith
Grand Admiral
Templar Knights
Joined: August 09, 2003
Posts: 836
From: Your local future farm.
| Posted: 2006-01-28 10:50
Thanks to the continued positive comments. Building is my business (and, if it's not, typing is), and business is good. Thus, I'm pleased to see such comments about my business. I would also enjoy more comments and criticisms involving what I've typed about - Ragglock is a fine example, and I'm happy for his addition to this thread here. This won't (hopefully) just remain my work, but be something that other people can add to as time progresses.
I will note that, when the new patch comes out, there's going to be an upheaval in Grim's world of building. I'll have to adjust myself to dealing with only having one resource type... and, I must admit, I don't like the idea of that. But I suppose it could work out. Many games function on having one or a few types of resources, and I can imagine that having one central functioning resource in DarkSpace, named something like "ore" or "minerals", could work out. You can imagine that this one central resource could be used to buy a myriad of other resources that would be used in the construction of a building. Smuggling would begin to make more sense...
Digression there. It's time to go onto the topic at hand...
What do you do now with that barren planet of yours? (split into two numbers)
NUMBER ONE: For planets with limited resources, which can be found mainly in the scenario servers, I made the comment about not waiting by the planet and going to build up other planets in nearly the exact same fashion or exactly the same fashion as you did the first. Eventually, you'll want to return to Planet #1... hopefully, with enough metals to build. Alas, you're not going to want to wait until you get ninety tech in scenario servers. The time limit is too short, and the bombers are too close. You're going to have to improvise.
You're going to want to secure cryometals, hypermatter, and urdanium. Pick up some darkmatter if you're ICC. If planets with these are in well-defended enemy hands, you may have to rush over there and mine under the curtain of ECM and hope that they don't spot you. Or, salvage parts from enemy ships, which can have goodies hiding within them. No matter what, make sure you get the cryometals - you're going to need them.
Why do you need cryometals, Grim?
Defence Bases. You'll have to build some I's. If memory serves me correctly, DBI's cost 20 cryometals a pop (in addition to some metals). I say to never settle for I's, but you're going to need some form of defence on the planet in order to safeguard it while you make your way to II's.
Follow the same pattern for spacing your defence bases as you did for your other buildings (i.e: if there's three spaces between the South Pole rank and the rank immediately above that, then put three spaces). Generally, this'll put your starting defence base at or near the equator. Instead of following a straight line, however, what you'll want to do is alternate the height at which you build your defence bases.
This is going to be hard for me to explain without a picture, but I'm worried that, if I go into DarkSpace to take a picture, I won't be logging out of the game any time soon, and my current roll on posting will be lost. So, I'm going to try, anyway, and hope for the best.
FIRST DEFENCE BASE -----------------
(Insert Spaces, If Any)
RANK ABOVE SOUTH POLE -----------
(Insert Spaces, If Any)
SOUTH POLE COLONY HUB ----------
You'll want your second defence base to have the same amount of spacing from the first as the normal spacing rules as you've followed... but you'll want to move the height down by a number that isn't that same spacing number... for example, if there's three spaces between the first defence base and the rank of buildings below it, use two or four. Go down, then back to the center, then up, then back to the center, then down, then back to the center, then...
...oi, I've got a feeling that I'm going to have to get a picture. I'll either take a snapshot later or draw using paint. If you don't understand what I'm talking about, it'll be explained soon. Trust me.
Now, in the scenario servers, when resources are little and the enemy is close, you're going to have to speed build this stuff. No time for hokey-pokey antsy-pantsy lemme-get-all-the-prestige, or you may find yourself starting from scratch. In between having to have space for mines and research labs, you won't be able to build many defence bases... but anything is better than nothing.
Also make a habit of upgrading your farms. If you're following my standard sixty rule, you'll need a biosphere condenser and an automated hydro farm; the former required hypermatter, the latter requires cryometals.
Quantum generators require urdanium.
Your eventual target is a tech rating of seventy, when you can build an interdictor base. Sixty tech is good enough for DBIIs, and you won't want to go up any higher on the totem pole in research - DBIIIs just aren't worth it in the scenario servers. You may want to scrap the mines; you may not. You may want to scrap the research labs; you may not. Just keep the planet as well-protected as you can, and don't assume for a minute that a planet is self-capable of defending itself against a determined bomber... you will need to step up to the plate. If a bomber comes your way, mow the bombs over, or shoot them down. Attempt to tractor the bomber into the planet he's attempting to bomb (won't save the planet from being hit by bombs, but it makes the bomber think twice before bombing more of your planets).
Once all is said and done... congratulations! You've finished a planet that has had little in the way of resources. Not only that, but you built one of the hardest planets to build.
I did forget something, though: sensor bases. In the scenario server, liberally place four to six of them on all of your barren planets. The only exception to this rule is if there's a cluster of planets together; you can slightly lessen the load, then. But... other than that... don't underestimate corvettes, scouts, and frigates when they're working together.
Now, to summarize all you should do for an absolutely barren planet with few resources, because I know about my long windedness and ability to confuse.
---Build a colony hub, four barracks, a starport, a fusion generator, a mine, a research lab, a dome, and a hydro farm. Do it as fast as possible while following my rules for spreading your structures out. Your build should be finished working on the colony hub in time to work on your research lab.
---Build several more structures: mines, barracks, domes, hydro farms, a research lab or two. Unless you have no other planets to build or you're really worried that leaving the planet alone will result in the loss of it, go build other planets at this point, and eventually come back to this one.
---Build an automated hydro farm when you can. Build DBIs. If you're ICC, use 10 darkmatter and some metals to build a shield generator, which will save you much heartache in the scenarios, and almost completely secure the life of the planet, barring large clusters of neutrons.
---Build a biosphere condenser, bringing the total farms required on your planet to two. Upgrade your fusion generators to variance generators.
---When your tech reaches seventy (met by 6 research labs and a hub), build an interdictor base. Upgrade your DBIs to DBIIs. Any space not used up by other needs can be devoted to mantle extractors. Keep at least one of these on all planets with darkmatter, hypermatter, and urdanium.
---Scrap your research labs to make room for more barracks and sensor bases.
---Hope for the best.
Finishing up planets with tons of resources and not near enemy folks will have to wait... until tomorrow, most likely. In my long-windedness, I'm afraid I might have confused people with this post of mine. You must understand, though, it's really hard for me to explain my tactics. For one, I feel like showing rather than typing would be the best subject - any new players that want to learn how I do my engineering work should go no farther than finding me in-game. Look at how I place my structures, and how I build things. It's honestly... just... too hard for me to type out all of the calculations that go into my mind.
Which brings me to point number two of why this is hard for me: Everyone should develop his/her own system of building. Following someone's pattern may be all right, but you have to create your own formula. With time, you'll become comfortable enough with engineering to be able to make decisions about this stuff on the fly.
Hope any of this above post has helped someone. If it hasn't, and I don't think it has at all... well... at least it allowed me to vent. And that's good, right? Right!
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Grimith
Grand Admiral
Templar Knights
Joined: August 09, 2003
Posts: 836
From: Your local future farm.
| Posted: 2006-02-02 17:47
In my experimentation time as K'luth (and as a bit of a way to avoid the chatter of FS and CEC because... nothing against you guys, but that is way too many lines of text to read  ), I have discovered a special something about K'luth defence bases that I find to be a rather important bit of information.
They're very painful.
"But, Grim! We already knew this information!"
Yadda, yadda, shuddap, shuddap. Maybe the new players didn't, and maybe some of the veterans have had the luck of not facing any K'luth defence bases.
Well, let me describe to you how painful they are. No, no, no... better yet... I'll use a picture, and just write a few more lines of text. What a novel idea for Grim!
That snapshot was taken about ten seconds after the firing of the bases just hit. I was still hanging on. Barely. I had expected my armour to hold up well enough, but, once again, in traditional style, I was ramming my ICC-refined logic into a K'luth situation. Don't get me wrong; I knew plenty well the dangers of K'luth defence bases before I tried this expedition... but, somehow, I thought that, with the two supply ships nearby, combined with my own three reloads, I'd manage to survive.
The AM torpedoes from the planet finished me off before the disruptors fired again. And, I'm assuming that my explosion killed those poor, sweet, innocent infantry pods.
Brave K'luth, they all were.
*eyes his prestige with a sigh*
My first station loss since 2004, and my first major ship loss in several weeks.
An expensive lesson for the Master Engineer, and one all of you can learn from: When it comes to defending planets against enemy ships, the K'luth Defence Bases are your best option. I assure you, with how many kills they've racked up since they've grown in power, it's as if you're spraying pesticide directly onto the bodies of flies and ants. Unless the enemy hides under the cloak of ECM and delivers a payload of bombs against the planet... you... won't be having problems in the way of enemies buzzing around your planets.
No, sir. Not as K'luth.
...*looks at his fallen prestige total and sighs one more time* Going to take quite a few planets to get that back up.
Grimith out.
---Edit: Posted image in thumbnail format. Will note that this may be my shortest post on this thread of mine.
[ This Message was edited by: Evih Rekrow on 2006-02-02 17:50 ]
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DMC-13
Admiral
Evil Empires Inc.
Joined: February 16, 2008
Posts: 187
From: Huntington Beach, California, USA
| Posted: 2008-02-18 23:30
WOW, that's a lot of excellent info that I will definitely have to re-read a couple of more times so that hopefully one day I'll be a master planet builder too. Thanks!!!!!!!
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Bardiche
Chief Marshal
Joined: November 16, 2006
Posts: 1247
| Posted: 2008-02-19 09:48
I can't believe I just spent two hours reading all of this. x_x
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LobbyZombie
2nd Rear Admiral
Sanity Assassins
Joined: August 06, 2007
Posts: 191
From: Sweden ftw
| Posted: 2008-02-19 11:55
kewl! But this is 1.483 Not 1.480 .. Recheck your first post.
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Grimith
Grand Admiral
Templar Knights
Joined: August 09, 2003
Posts: 836
From: Your local future farm.
| Posted: 2008-02-19 21:02
You can't believe you spent two hours reading this? I can't believe I saw this thread on the Latest Topics list. I mean, I know I was just working on a revised Engineering post just last week... but, seriously.
Also, to put this thread into perspective for LobbyZombie (an incompetent person), I shall state the following:
This thread was started long before you joined this game.
Oh... and not even I feel like reading everything I wrote. I'm afraid that Past Me will own Present Me... and that won't be too good for Future Me.
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Grimith
Grand Admiral
Templar Knights
Joined: August 09, 2003
Posts: 836
From: Your local future farm.
| Posted: 2008-02-19 21:14
This double post was brought to you because:
I did just read my posts. Well, portions of them. I skipped over the structure list. And, yeah. Reading what I said as I attempted to explain my building style was rather... interesting. Especially since I wrote that stuff two years ago. And the Past Me impressed the Present Me with my knowledge of engineering... as it turns out, I was reminded of a few things that I had forgotten.
Go Grim, indeed.
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Code Red
Chief Marshal
Non Omnis Moriar
Joined: September 08, 2007
Posts: 184
| Posted: 2008-02-20 01:54
Wow what can i say apart from thank you for the information , much appreciated by a noob who still has much to learn
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Grimith
Grand Admiral
Templar Knights
Joined: August 09, 2003
Posts: 836
From: Your local future farm.
| Posted: 2008-02-20 11:30
So, after looking through my library of DarkSpace screenshots, I came across one I took back on January 3, shortly after I started playing this game again. I popped in on the K'luth side, saw planets in Sirius that had been wiped and just had simple structures on them... and got to work fixing them.
After I had finished, this was how the planet looked:
There are some flaws with this ending design. The most minor of these is that the spacing between the non-defensive structures around the poles is a bit off. This was due to the planet already having starting structures and me not wanting to scrap all of them in order to make symmetry.
There are also some other errors. Take your time to find them. I'm talking about fixable errors by an engineer ship that would improve the abilities of the planet - not errors like hahalolsoeasilybombed because that's just stating the obvious.
Once you figure you've taken enough time, click on this thumbnail:
Hope this screenshot helps to clarify what the hell Past Me was talking about.
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