If you want to just learn the interface and figure out how to set up an economy, best research paths, etc., I recommend setting up a game on a large map, no pirates and set the galaxy type to "spiral with X-arms" ... and then make sure the number of arms is more than the number of AI players you add to the map.
What you will probably have when you start the game is an entire arm of that galaxy to yourself. You will probably have a single choke-point exit from that arm, and that'll let you have relative peace for a long time. Diplomatically, be friends with everyone but don't let anyone have access to your space, this'll keep the other AI's from setting up camp in your back yard for a while.
A few other tips:
* pay attention to the planet types for the entire system when deciding what to upgrade your colony exploitation to. for example, if you have three lava worlds you should upgrade all of the planets in that system to the industrial option, which grants a bonus to industry on that planet but also an industry bonus to every lava planet in the system.
* pick up heroes that grant bonuses to industry and food production and then when they level up pick up the traits that give bonuses to satisfaction. then move these heroes around to systems as needed, especially when setting up a new system. this will speed up the colonization process immensely.
* when you have a few ship building systems set up, don't bother with "retrofitting" your smaller ships ... waste of cash. just scrap them and produce new ones, it takes one turn to produce one ( sometimes two or three, depending on your system ) of the destroyers .
I can't say as I'll keep playing this game much longer ... getting a bit bored of it, and I think it has it's fair share of little quirks and problems. But, it's pretty straight forward and looks nice. Card-based combat gets old, fast, though.
Log in to comment