Learning how to play Distant Worlds

I'm done this semester of school and finally have some time to try some new games and get back to playing some of the other games I've been craving. After done some reading, I've found out about Distant Worlds, which is a space "real time" 4X game. It's not quite real time, it's something more like the paradox games like EU3 and Victoria where you are playing in real time but are also encouraged to pause and speed up the game at points. It seems like there are a lot of great reviews of this game out there so I decided I should give it a shot. After all, I love the civilization series and this seems similar but with even more depth.

Anyway, I'm finding it quite difficult to find a good walk through of the game or a thorough guide, so I decided to put here some of the things I'm learning about it as I go. Maybe having this come from the perspective of a noobie will cover a lot of the noobie challenges.

Starting a game

Once you have clicked "Start New Game" you are prompted with a bunch of options:

Galaxy shape:
I believe this affects mostly how the map will come out, in a way a bit like the kind of map you pick on civilization for instance. Here is a breakdown of it from the wiki:

• Elliptical : In this configuration, the center and rim of the galaxy have the most stars per sector. Two wide radial arms move out from the center to the rim laying a loose trail of stars. The farther out these arms are from the center the less dense the star trail until finally reaching the rim. Beyond these areas you will find many sectors with little or no stars to explore.
• Spiral: In this configuration, the center has the most stars per sector. Two very wide radial arms move out from the center laying a loose trail of stars. The farther out these arms are from the center the less dense the star trail. Beyond these areas you will find many sectors with little or no stars to explore. In the center
• Ring: In this configuration, the rim of the galaxy has the most stars per sector. You will also find that the center contains a limited cluster of stars in a few sectors. You will find that between these two areas the star density is extremely sparse and will create a challenge in expansion.
• Irregular: There is no set pattern for the galaxy and the distribution is spread out evenly.
• Even Clusters: Stars are grouped together in constellations and spread out over the galaxy. These groups are relatively the same size. You will find that the sectors between these constellations are very sparsely populated with stars.
• Varied Clusters:Stars are grouped together in constellations and spread out over the galaxy. These groups are varied in size with some very large while others tiny. You will find that the sectors between these constellations are very sparsely populated with stars.

Star Amount and Physical size:
These affect how big your game will end up being, which also means if you don't have too much RAM you may want to avoid Large or Huge star amounts.

Expansion:
This dictates how advance your enemies will be in terms of development. So picking starting will put the AI at the same level as you in the beginning if you also pick starting, while mature and old will definitely give the AI an edge over you.

Difficulty:
Pretty intuitive... it affects specifically the the colony income ratio between the player and the AI. So harder settings will increase the income for AI. I sort of see this as an artificial way to benefit you or the AI, expansion setting might create this gap a little more naturally if you prefer it.

Aggression:
Affects hostility and expansion behaviour from the AI.

Colony prevalence:
Has to do with how common inhabitable planets will be, so in a way I guess it should be kind of tied to the star amount and physical size sliders. If in doubt just choose "Normal"

Research Cost:
Affects the speed in which all players and AI develop technologically

Independent Alien Life:
Affects the prevalence of more developed species that can trade with different groups. So you might want to have some of these around for different purposes.

Space Creatures:
How common space critters are in your game... I think for the most part these are hostile creatures

Pirates:
Having more pirates doesn't necessarily make things harder since less pirates affects your reputation to AI, meaning more pirates around makes you look better overall, hence making them somewhat less aggressive towards you.



Choosing your race will be a matter of flavour of course, however it does have a bit impact on your game. As I'm new I can't comment too much on this but for instance, if you start with an aggressive race, AIs will have a negative opinion of you right off the bat. I'm going to pick Kiadian because I want a rage that's not too agressive and fairly technologically oriented. These seem like a good one to pick right for my game.





Your Empire

First few options are mostly aesthetic such as colours and empire name. Now the Galaxy Starting Location is an important choice. Basically it affects what's around you and where you are in the galaxy. So the effects of this choice is influenced by what kind of galaxy you chose. In my game, since I'm playing a spiral galaxy, I think I'm going to chose the Outer Core option because I want to be somewhat close to the denser clusters of the galaxy, but not necessarily in the middle where I will potentially have to deal with more threats right away.

Home system:
Seems like an intuitive option, where Harsh involves giving you a harder starting location and Excellent will provide you with more to begin with. So it basically is a difficulty setting.

Size:
Another difficulty setting, where Starting means you start off a bit more behind in terms of development. This is related to the expansion selection from before. So previously you picked the tech level of the AI, here you are chosing your tech level. So to start more evently, pick the same level as the AI.

Tech Level:
Simple enough, just how advanced you are.

Corruption:
Obviously, more corruption will be more difficult for you. It's basically how much of an income hit you will get from corruption.

Government type:
This is a neat selection you can make which will affect not only how your empire will behave with bonuses and problems involved with each one. But it will also affect which empires will be more or less friendly to you. For a more full and detailed list of these visit Distant Worlds - Legends.

Other Empires:

Here you can chose the number of empires in your game. This affects the difficulty of your game, but not in an intuitive manner. Having a lot of different races around doesn't necessarily make it harder. If you have a friendly race, having a lot of other empires may actually make the game easier since you can trade tech more aggressively for instance. However, if you are playing a very aggressive race it may make the game more challenging. Starting with fewer races will usually mean that you will play a more independent game in general.

Also allowing independent races to form empires is a neat little option that allows races that last long enough to develop their own empires, which adds "fun" to the game.