Colonizing other systems

[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...)

[Lerchey]

Another thing to keep in mind. The default colony module carrys 4 m people. Some planets, though "colonizable" just flat out SUCK. Because of this, there *appears* to be a minimum required population to survive. I've had colonies on planets with the 4m starting, and next turn, they were toast. I then used transports to drop 20m or so on them, and they did just fine. I have not seen the code, but this has happened in a number of games, and I just thought it was a feature.
<shrug>

John

[Mike Tremblay]

There's lots of neat little things you can do when you design your ships using SE's component system. One of the advantages of having played SE3 is that I have a better understanding of how the ship design system works for SE4 - this helps since there is relatively little help, unless you go to Malfador's site and read the Q&A's or visit this forum, in playing the demo (must be frustrating for newbies).

This is probably the best ship designing system I have seen for this type of game - far and above the next competitor MOO2.

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Mike Tremblay
"Bitter Mike"