Let's Play Distant Worlds: Shadows
It is a time of darkness and fear. Legends say that, centuries ago, races strode between the stars like giants, wielding unimaginable technologies the like of which we can scarcely imagine. Races spread out across the distant lights of the galaxy, bringing knowledge and advancement to all corners of the universe. It was a golden age. Yet, like all things, this golden age of stellar exploration came to an end – and, with its end, came the scavengers.
Now pirates ply the old space lanes, their warships an ever-present threat to the planet-bound races that still eke out a poor existence on the worlds below. All the high technology of the long-dead star travellers is forgotten, lost to the ages. And yet, there is hope. The planet-bound races have held onto their wits, their desire to face the challenge of the stars above, and they are determined for their species not to die with a whimper. The time is soon coming when these races will ascend to the skies, will seek out the pirates that have oppressed them so heavily, and will make them pay.
I've been playing DW:S for a while now and, having gotten a handle on (most) of the mechanics and gameplay
without having to rely on automation for every little thing, I thought I'd do a Let's Play of it. For those of you that don't know Distant Worlds, it's a very large, very detailed, and very expensive real-time-pausable space-based 4X game. It has multiple expansion packs, the latest of which is Shadows. There's also a fully-inclusive edition of the game due to be released soon, apparently, called Distant Worlds Universe, which includes all the expansions and is allegedly going to be a lot cheaper. Bear that in mind if you like the look of the game.
We will be playing as a normal empire in the Age of Shadows, before we discover spaceflight.
Large screenshot warning always applies, but I'll spoiler where practical.
So, without further ado, here's how the game is set up:
I like playing on huge elliptical galaxies, purely because it feels much more vast, for obvious reasons. We're pre-warp (pre-spaceflight, actually), and the galaxy is a restless place. Research is expensive (I'm a slow-paced player), space creatures are relatively rare (I hate space slugs) and pirates are a common sight (eep).
Colonisable planets are common (because I've also enforced colonisation ranges) and independent colonies are also plentiful (which works in favour both of us but also of the pirates!)
We are the Ikkuro – space monkeys, effectively! From our Galactopedia, the Ikkuro are:
Large, muscular primates with short brown-red fur.
Ikkuro have very large, widely-spaced ears that enable them to precisely determine the location of sounds. This ability gives them rudimentary sonar skills, allowing them to ‘see’ in the dark.
They tend to be intelligent and aggressive, though cautious. Ikkuro are often short-tempered. When provoked or threatened they can quickly become violent. Despite this they are generally gentle and affectionate to those they know well.
They are extremely capable mechanics. Ikkuro can repair nearly any type of machinery. They also confidently reverse-engineer new devices they encounter. In fact they often end up improving the machine when they reassemble it.
This natural mechanical predisposition has also led the Ikkuro to develop the S2F7 RepairBot, an advanced repair robot that can swiftly fix damage to star ships, even while they are in battle.
Ikkuro have a great fascination with trees and plants, and have extensive knowledge of the various types of flora throughout the galaxy. They use this expert understanding to create an array of highly effective herbal medications.
They typically live in tree-dwellings high in the forest canopies on Continental planets.We start in a normal system, randomly placed in the galaxy, as a republic. There are a number (which I'm not going to tell you) of other empires scattered across the galaxy somewhere, and independent alien colonies can also become empires if they develop enough. Keeps things interesting!
I have turned victory conditions on, but they're set incredibly high, so it's unlikely we'll ever get to that point!
And so it begins.
We have been stuck here too long. The Shatoon Federation (which we can rename should we wish) is just starting to find its feet in the galaxy, just starting to look up at the stars. But, at the moment, we are tiny and alone in a dangerous place.
Our homeworld:
From our astronomers and calculations we know that we are right on the edge of the galaxy, drifting amongst the cold gas that stretches out towards the void, far from the warmth and light of the galactic core.
This might actually work in our favour, long-term, as we only have to defend one border...but, in the short term, this is bad. Very bad. We are nestled in the middle of a giant gas nebula, a favourite hangout of pirates, and we are probably quite far from any colonisable systems. This could become a problem later on, once we get out of our star system. But for now, it means very little other than the fact that we're probably more likely to encounter pirates early on.
Our homeworld is comfortable (quality 88%) but not a lavish place. If we ever want to build a spacefaring civilisation and the industry that supports it, we will need people. Lots and lots of people. With that in mind, we cut the tax rate to promote population growth. A short-term hit for a long-term gain.
I've cut the tax rate down to 10%, which has given a positive approval indicator for tax rate, and should soon give our population growth a nice big bump.
This is especially important as our beloved leader has a 7% malus to population growth, although the mining and corruption reduction bonuses will be helpful.
Our potential ship designs are limited (and I've deliberately deleted some of the standard ones – hey, we should be designing our own, that's half the fun!), and are likely to be expensive and not optimised. Still, we have some possibilities.
Possibilities that will be expanded as we progress our research options! Currently, we are at the bottom of the tree (heh, monkey humour), but as time goes on we shall become a true powerhouse of knowledge! Unless pirates kill us all first.
Our current research options are:
WeaponsEnhanced Beam Weapons (we already have some standard pulse blasters)
Gravitic Weapons
Area Weapons
Energy Torpedo Weapons
Star Fighters
Ship Boarding
Enhanced Missiles (we already have some standard ones)
Rail Gun Weaponry (we already have standard long range guns)
Armor Plating
Ground Combat
Energy & ConstructionAdvanced Nuclear Fission (we already have some standard reactors)
Shields
Proton Ionization (we already have standard starship engines)
Enhanced Maneuvering (we already have normal thrusters)
Fast Mining
Energy Collection
Space Construction (we already have basic orbital assembly)
High Tech & IndustrialCountermeasures
Target Tracking
Proximity Sensors
Enhanced Resource Exploration
Colonisation
Transport Systems
Storage Systems
Coordinated Docking (we already have standard docking bays)
Crew Systems
Medical Systems
Entertainment Systems
Structured Research (we already have standard laboratories)
Coordinated Control (we already have standard command centres)
Enhanced Commerce
The full tech trees are available here if you want to see them:
http://distant-worlds.wikispot.org/Tech_treesOur home system has 10 planets and 11 moons. We live on Shatoon 2, a continental world. Other planets are Shatoon 1 (barren rock), Shatoon 3 (barren rock), Shatoon 4 (desert), Shatoon 5 (barren rock), Shatoon 6 (barren rock), Shatoon 7 (ocean), Shatoon 8 (gas giant), Shatoon 9 (gas giant) and Shatoon 10 (ice). We can rename these if we see fit.
So, with all this information, we have to decide
what do we want to do?
We need to identify some
research priorities (one in each area), decide whether we want to
design a spaceport and some ships, decide
what ships, if any, we want to build and then what we want to work towards in general.
Please, illustrious Bay 12 Advisory Council, give me your wisdom!
If anybody is particularly wanting a character, planet, ship etc renamed, post that here too. I can't guarantee anything, but you never know. You might end up as a drunk lecherous space admiral. And after all, isn't that everybody's dream?
) and if you've got any suggestions for the physical look of the character, I'll take them too, although the M&BW character modeller isn't exactly massively flexible. Also any thoughts on general in-game goals/self-rules.
