Colonizing other systems

[wingte]

Ok,, I have the Demo and so far I am intrigued. I went through the tutorial and that looked good. I started a game and found myself stumbling arround in the racial modifiers and characteristics but finally got it to accept my settings and start a game.
I picked start with 3 planets and as a result I had colonies in 2 systems.
I rather quickly explored other systems and found more supposedly colonizable planets. Designed a colonizer ship, built it, sent it and it gave me a message that I had established the new colony.. BUT,,,, in the facilities build page it says NEVER for a completion date for the things I have in the que. What gives?? Is this a bug in the demo,, or is there some special order I have to do the building in? Do I need transports ships to move population??

Wingte

[wingte]

Hmnnn,
Why didn't I have to move population arround when I started new colonies in the original systems??
Can I just add cargo modules to the colony ship??

[Richard]

Huh? You mean you started a colony, with a colony ship, and didn't have to move population there? This should always be the case.

Yep just redeisgn the ship. Take an extra engine or weapon off and slap in a crago module and your done...

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Sarge is coming...

Richard Arnesen
Director of Covert Ops
Shrapnel Games
http://www.shrapnelgames.com

[Grumbling Grognard]

Sorry, but I don't think so Richard.

You don't need any cargo containers on a colony ship at all. It has a 'built in' capacity to carry 4 mil colonists (I think this comes with the colony module). I had never thought of adding more cargo space though to boost initial size....a damn good idea, thanks!

The way the colonize order works is best explained from the Malfador site IN THE Q&A Section #23 and #24:

quote:

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23. I colonized a planet, but it says that it has zero population. How come?

Colonization has changed a bit from SE3. There are two things you need to colonize a planet, a colonizing component and population. When you build a colonizing ship, it has a colonization module on it. But before you send it off to colonize a planet, you need to load it up with population first. If the colony ship doesn't have any population on it, then you can still colonize the planet, but it will have zero population.

When you have a newly built colony ship, the best way to send it off is to give it the Colonize order. This order will automatically load population first, then send the ship to the target planet, then colonize that planet. If you use the MoveTo order on your colony ship, it will move towards its destination, without loading population first.

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quote:

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24. I colonized a planet, but its build time says "Never". How come?

Same reason as number 23.

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The Grumbling Grognard

[Richard]

Hmm then I need to stop adding those darn cargo containers then .

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Sarge is coming...

Richard Arnesen
Director of Covert Ops
Shrapnel Games
http://www.shrapnelgames.com

[JeffM]

Just put the mandatory components, one colonization module, 5 engines in the ship. Build one, then when done highlight the ship, hit the colonization button and then the destination planet. It automatically picks up colonists and colonizes the target planet. Easy.

[Grumbling Grognard]

I tried the 'extra cargo' module idea and its a keeper!

Before my colonies all started out with 4 million colonists. Now with a single cargo container added on (and I had the space to spare anyway!) my colonies are starting with 14 million. That is 3 1/2 times the population they were starting at before!

Thanks Richard.

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The Grumbling Grognard

[wingte]

OK,,
So the reason it worked in the original systems was because I used the colonize button. BUT when I sent the colonizer to a different system I used the "move to warp" button so it didn't load any colonists for the trip.
Hmnn wonder if it will load colonists in the cargo pods if I use the "colonize planet" button or will I have to continue the load population routine.

Wingte

[wingte]

Something else I discovered. You can use any ship size that is larger than the minimum 200 and make a colonizer ship without the restriction of having to use half the space for colonizing pods.
Using a Light Cruiser lets you build a colonizer that has the space for some planetary bombs so you can clean a planet and then colonize it.

wingte

[Baron Munchausen]

Wingte:
The ultimate colonizer, in the demo at least, is a medium transport. Fit it with basic equipment (ship control engines), a colonizing module, and fill the rest with cargo and/or supply (depending on the range you want). With level III cargo tech, you can make a colonizer that creates a colony II (200 million) on landing! Great stuff.

And, for you guys who just discovered putting a cargo module in a standard colony ship, there's really two options. The cargo module gives you a better starting population but you can also put a supply module in a get extended range. Very useful if you are reaching really hard for planets and systems. Also risky since you are putting your colony beyond help of your fleet. First facility you build had better be resupply. Early in the game, though, this might be the only way to get colonies out there where the scout ships and no others can reach. (Scouts, of course, are also full of supply modules and so can go further than a warship...)