Home » Stars! 2.6/7 » The Academy » Automating gameplay
| Automating gameplay |
Mon, 27 June 2011 13:54  |
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 Void |
 | Ensign |
Messages: 369
Registered: January 2011
Location: California, GMT -7 | |
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In reading the forum, there are numerous tips to new players on how to optimize gameplay. Things like setting scouts to colonize, or setting up a default queue (100 mines, 100 factories, etc.).
A fellow member suggested the use of AutoHotKey to expedite the setup of games. That prompts me to ask the following two questions:- First, what other tools do you use to make gameplay easier?
- Second, how do you use any of those tools? Looking for specifics on this one.
Cheers,
Void
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| Re: Automating gameplay |
Mon, 27 June 2011 22:44  |
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| magic9mushroom |
 | Commander |
Messages: 1369
Registered: May 2008 | |
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| Void wrote on Tue, 28 June 2011 03:54 |
In reading the forum, there are numerous tips to new players on how to optimize gameplay. Things like setting scouts to colonize, or setting up a default queue (100 mines, 100 factories, etc.).
A fellow member suggested the use of AutoHotKey to expedite the setup of games. That prompts me to ask the following two questions:- First, what other tools do you use to make gameplay easier?
- Second, how do you use any of those tools? Looking for specifics on this one.
Cheers,
Void
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I usually use no tools besides Windows Calculator and my brain.
Occasionally I'll use Posey's Spreadsheet to calculate fuel use, but I don't think that's what you're looking for, is it?
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| Re: Automating gameplay |
Thu, 30 June 2011 09:15 |
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| goober |
 | Chief Warrant Officer 3 |
Messages: 175
Registered: December 2003
Location: +10 | |
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| Void wrote on Thu, 30 June 2011 14:04 |
| goober wrote on Wed, 29 June 2011 20:58 |
I use Excel, using a cannibalised version of Posey's habitability spreadsheet, to automatically trawl through planetary data from other players to determine the habitability of planets.
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That sounds quite useful. Care to share?
Cheers,
Void
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No objection, but it isn't pretty.
I believe I once gave a "prettier" copy to Ptolemy, that even included some instructions in the spreadsheet to go with it, but I have never been able to find it since 
If you'd like to email me, I'll send it on with rough instructions.
I keep meaning to sit down and codify it properly, but since it is only really useful in the early years, its never seemed worth the effort.
Goober.Report message to a moderator
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| Re: Automating gameplay |
Thu, 25 August 2011 10:15 |
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| Void wrote on Mon, 27 June 2011 19:54 |
- First, what other tools do you use to make gameplay easier?
- Second, how do you use any of those tools? Looking for specifics on this one.
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- almost yearly: a small bundle of txt-files in which I store a lot of data I just can't keep in my mind (eg: phaser damage at range 3), infos about the game (rules, players etc), a logfile.
- almost yearly: Stars! Notebook by Andrei Romanov - creates maps and stats from your p-files. I use it for mainly 3 purposes:
1) The map together with "show territories" gives a much better tactical overview than the Stars display when it comes ot decide where to strike.
2) To get an easy overview over my total minerals on ground and what's yearly mined.
3) To mark some spots on the map or to add info (eg spotted enemy colonizers towards a planet with probably colonization)
- surprisingly often: Stars! Help, the latest update with the "search"-option. The inbuilt Stars-Help is still very helpful.
- occasionally: Per's Terra-Hab-Tool, V 1.03 by Per Rindom - click a button and automatically your and your allies' p-files get loaded, sorted and a hab-value-comparison of the planets will be calculated for you and/or your allies (extremely helpful in alliances and much easier to use than the other tools I know). Additionally see how much improvement 1-10 units of terraforming give to a planet.
- occasionally: Stars Calculator v3.06 by Mathias Dellaert, modified by Raven
- seldomly: PLC - Packet Location Calculator v1.0.1 by James McGuigans - Program for predicting the future location of mass packets and fleets.
Before a game starts and while I am still in the process of thinking about a race design and developing a strategical approach I do dive into the wealth of available Stars articles... some of them I reread a 3rd time.
Gameplay:
For planet queues of factories and mines I always use auto build orders but right after colonisation I give them the number (as a reminder to me) how many should be operated at 25% capacity (or 33% etc.). Occasionally I go thru the planets and switch to static (no auto build) orders when the planets comes close to those numbers.
Until about 2430 I do almost no automated ship orders. The workload is still very easy to handle and automation comes usually at the price of less efficiency.
From on about 2430 this turns around: Efficiency becomes less important. Automating some orders allows more concentration and time on the tactical important situations. Especially for colonized red planets or yellows I try to totally automate their steady supply with colonists and the transportation of minerals to the nearest production center.
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| Fleet and production orders |
Thu, 25 August 2011 11:14 |
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Depending on the game but mostly from on 2440 the number of ships starts to get quite high. If one is fighting an SD many of those ships are also wildly scattered all over space.
Everybody develops an own approach how to handle all those fleets. I tend to do it in 2 steps for ships plus another 3 combined steps for production/logistics/freighters:
1) A holistic view on the hot spots where I have main attack fleets at work. Usually all those ships need to be viewed as a group which needs to be used in an integrated way:
* the main fleet: usually one big chunk
* advance scouts, minesweepers, escorts
* reinforcements
* fuel supply
* freighters to bring a steady flow of colonists for colonization purposes or additional pop-drops
* escorts to guard your lines of logistics
2) All other ships... those to handle I have found the easiest with the fleet scanner filters (top right). From on mid-game each ship design tends to fulfill a specific role, so I filter out all ships except one design and then I make the orders for those. Afterwards I switch to the next design. Freighters are made last, step 4)
3) Production:
Sometimes during step 1) or 2) I already put some obviously missing ships in the production lines of some planets.
In step 3 now I switch from planet to planet (from biggest to lowest producers after sorting them in the planet summary report (F3))) and fill the production lines. Sometimes I have written down a list what type and how many ships in total are needed or should be aimed to produce.
4) Pop-/mineral balancement:
During step 3) it often becomes obvious what planet is running low on minerals: which should prompt some freighter action. Planets with a huge abundance of minerals might get orders to carry them away.
Usually there are whole regions with a lack of one mineral and a surplus of another, possibly complementary with a neighbouring region. Some freighters with automated orders or at least a name hinting at their purpose might carry those mienrals to and fro.
Pop management: Again I sort the planet in the planet summary list, this time for value. Planets above the present generally or specific chosen pop capacity, need a freighter to collect pop or should prodcue some.
5) General strategic adjustments
Every few years it might be interesting to decide what was missing lately: pop, minerals or production power. I adjust my production orders accordingly:
* more better breeders needed: emphasize terraforming on some planets
* more minerals: choose planets with the best mineral concentration and give priority to mines
* production power: Well, tricky... usually there are reasons why the economy is lacking... war, too many ships (are really all needed?). If in the middle of a war, I try to finish it asap or decide that the last sent fleet is more or less the last resource dedicated to that task but now it's time again to build up, get my planets upto 33% or 42%, more research, next fleet should be a next-generation-fleet.
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| Re: Fleet and production orders |
Thu, 25 August 2011 12:05 |
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| m.a@stars |
| Commander |
Messages: 2768
Registered: October 2004
Location: Third star to the left | |
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| Altruist wrote on Thu, 25 August 2011 17:14 |
2) All other ships... those to handle I have found the easiest with the fleet scanner filters (top right). From on mid-game each ship design tends to fulfill a specific role, so I filter out all ships except one design and then I make the orders for those. Afterwards I switch to the next design. Freighters are made last, step 4)
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Fascinating. But I find the plain Fleet Report works best for me. Must be something with my eyes. 
I sort by Name, which tends to sort by design/role too. Ships outside the usual role for their class get assigned special-purpose names. Freighters tend to get "reminder" names a lot too. 
Once all tasks are assigned, I sort again, by ETA, which allows me to spot idle ships, wrong warps, lack of fuel, gating mistakes... 
Then I often sort by Destination, which lets me check for wrong coordinates, and also the overall logistics, particularly when there's a few hot spots receiving lots of ships. 
The best thing with this approach, is it allows me to do the job in convenient "chunks" instead of forcing me to handle everything in one go. 
So many Stars, so few Missiles!
In space no one can hear you scheme! Report message to a moderator
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| Re: Fleet and production orders |
Sun, 28 August 2011 13:56 |
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| Void |
| Ensign |
Messages: 369
Registered: January 2011
Location: California, GMT -7 | |
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| Altruist wrote on Thu, 25 August 2011 08:14 |
Everybody develops an own approach how to handle all those fleets. I tend to do it in 2 steps for ships plus another 3 combined steps for production/logistics/freighters:
large snip
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Very insightful, Altruist. Thanks for sharing!
Cheers,
Void
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I use Excel for sorting reports by multiple columns and adding up totals. 
