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Author Topic: Game finishes early, what can do?  (Read 3218 times)

roofiodude

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Game finishes early, what can do?
« on: October 16, 2021, 02:06:36 PM »

Hi there
Quick question. I play with Nexerlin and my problem is this: quite often the game "finishes" and announces that one party, mostly Hegemony or Persean League, have won. Normally this happens in the first 5 cycles even before I start my first colony. Is there anything I can do to delay or avoid the game from doing that?

Any thoughts and tips appreciated.
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JUDGE! slowpersun

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Re: Game finishes early, what can do?
« Reply #1 on: October 16, 2021, 02:30:14 PM »

Play a Nex game with more faction mods... or don't use Nex.

Nex author has pointed out that since vanilla game lacks underlying diplomatic code logic between factions, his mod can only do so much.  So without a few extra faction mods to even out the power balance between alliances, Hegemony usually fulfills victory conditions very quickly (sometimes Persean League, or "both" if they ally).  Same reason why Sindrian Diktat generally gets rolled first...

Also can't remember if you can use Nex agents to do false flag operations to break up alliances or lower relations between other factions.  If not, that would be cool to add...
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roofiodude

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Re: Game finishes early, what can do?
« Reply #2 on: October 16, 2021, 02:42:59 PM »

Yeah Nex agents can do that, normally I`m so busy I totally forget to use them. But thanks anyway.

One other thing. Is it just me or has the faction name generator drastically changed? I`m used to the goofy pilot name generator (Apollo Saturn etc.) but I was always quite impressed how well sounded the faction names were the game used to spit out. Now with the latest iteration of the game, instead of 3, 4 or sometimes 5 good names in 10 rerolls, it`s more like 1 in 10 if I`m lucky.

Am I crazy?
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IonDragonX

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Re: Game finishes early, what can do?
« Reply #3 on: October 16, 2021, 03:30:52 PM »

AHEM : This is probably a better discussion for the Nexerelin thread itself instead of 'general discussion'
Here's what I dug up in that thread:
So here are the relevant Nexerelin settings with some info. My comments in [here] though it's fairly self explanatory.
Spoiler
    # if false, replaces NPC invasions (including revenge counter-invasion mechanic) with raids
    # for now, also prevents player invasions
    "enableInvasions": true, [if disabled no invasions, and can't invade as player either]
    "legacyInvasions": true,   # old invasion system before v0.10.3 revamp (if I haven't released v0.10.3 yet, this is a beta feature) [10.3 not released yet, no need to touch this]
    "allowInvadeStoryCritical":false,    # block NPC invasions from targeting story-critical markets
    "allowPirateInvasions": true,
    "retakePirateMarkets": true,   # allow factions to invade markets that pirates currently hold but didn't at start of game, even if allowPirateInvasions is false
    "fleetRequestCostPerFP": 400,  # used for player-requested fleets
    "fleetRequestCapMult":1,
    "fleetRequestIncrementMult":1,
    "invasionFleetSizeMult": 1, [this makes invasion fleets bigger or smaller depending on multiplier]
    "responseFleetSizeMult": 1, [this makes response/defending fleets bigger or smaller]
    "invasionGracePeriod": 90,  # factions won't accumulate invasion points for this many days at start
    "pointsRequiredForInvasionFleet": 27000,    # bigger = longer delay between invasion fleets
    # invasion points are added daily
    "baseInvasionPointsPerFaction": 30,
    "invasionPointsPerPlayerLevel": 1.5,
    "invasionPointEconomyMult": 0.5, # multiplier for invasion point gains from economic assets
    "creditLossOnColonyLossMult": 0.4,
    "allowNPCSatBomb": true,   # NPC factions can launch saturation bombardment missions in place of some invasions, raids and vengeance fleets
    "allowRepeatBlueprintsFromRaid": false,   # if false, each blueprint can only appear in raid loot once
[close]
You can disable victory conditions (note that "victories" don't end your campaign) in settings. Most parameters including factions colonizing new worlds can be disabled or adjusted (i.e delay before colonization efforts start, frequency of invasions), usually what config line does what is explained next to it. Main parameters are spread between "exerelin_config.json" and "settings.json" - make sure to look at both!
You can go into the mod's settings and effectively 'turn off' colonization by cranking up the amount of time before/between colonization attempts.
It's one of the settings I usually mess with myself; while having the AI colonize places makes some degree of lore-sense, it works poorly with gameplay; exploration as the player is rather slow, while the AI can just pick wherever it likes.
...Also, I've seen the AI cheerfully colonize medium or high hazard systems, and unless I'm right there when the colony fleet arrives, they tend to succeed at this, rather than getting blown out of the sky by the remnants like they ought to.
That all said, it's a setting I'm also happy enough to revert to original values once I've got myself comfortably settled. I know Nex is kindof made with the assumption that the player starts with either a colony or a commission, but I prefer to go with free start - and would really like an option along the lines of 'no invasions, alliances, or colonization until the player has a size four colony and is ready to play the game on that level'.

* One other thing, if you read the README.txt of this mod: Starpocalypse you find "Factions are armed to the teeth. Any non-hidden market has at least an orbiting station, ground defences, and patrol HQ." This means that NEX invasions are NO LONGER attacking markets with pathetic defense, which reduces snowballing.
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Phenir

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Re: Game finishes early, what can do?
« Reply #4 on: October 18, 2021, 11:09:49 PM »

You could play random sector instead and disable faction weighting so heg and league don't start with a ton of colonies.
If your fleet is stronk enough, you could also try intercepting their invasion fleets in hyperspace to avoid tanking your rep or if you don't care about your rep, just help whatever planet they happen to invade.
Alternatively, LET THEM INVADE and then intercept their suppression fleets. These fleets always have like 2k+ heavy armaments as loot (make sure you pursue their cargo ships) which you can then turn around and sell on the black market to the planet they just invaded. Not only does this net you a million or two credits but it also helps insure that the rebellion succeeds and that faction gets their planet back. This will hurt your rep with them a bit but it won't immediately cause war unless your transponder is on for some reason. Just keep an eye on the intel notifications because they will usually send one or two more suppression fleets if the first one fails.
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6chad.noirlee9

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Re: Game finishes early, what can do?
« Reply #5 on: October 19, 2021, 05:00:05 PM »

I ALWAYS, every time, I play with derelict sector custom start and random weight factions.

If you like I would be happy to include my active mod list.

It's.....extensive.

By adding one or two factions you can mitigate your issue.

I recommend Diable Avionics, Kingdom of Terra, Dassault Mikoyin Engineering (not sure I spelled that right), and HMI.

Really though just adding one of the major mod factions is generally enough to change the landscape to the point where things will be ok.

Actually, if you run the game with custom start: derelict empire and faction weight: random you shouldnt have any issue, regardless of adding factions.

If you want a brave new world the likes you've never seen, I'd be happy to provide my active mods.
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edit: edit: maybe were just falling with style LOL.  make a bubble, make the space in front of it smaller and just fall forward