Question on Empire Status screen in Vanilla game

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MarkXXX
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Question on Empire Status screen in Vanilla game

Post by MarkXXX »

So I'm playing a vanilla game on impossible difficulty, I'm the Feds, at war with the Ferengi, while the Ferengi are also at war with the Romulans. The other major powers had all been at war with each other in the early game and after awhile they had wiped out the Cardassians, while I stayed out of it and built up my fleet. I have a fleet of 28 Heavy Cruiser 1's and I'm very close to the Heavy Cruiser 2 upgrade. I have 10 colonies, the Ferengi have 14. I check empire status and under "military" I'm at 82% and the Ferengi are at 6%. So I figure, cool, not much to worry about there. They're a solid ten percentage points behind me on science as well. Maybe this means they don't have War Cruiser 2's yet either, I think. Great! I declare war on the Ferengi when the Romulans, whom I'm affiliated with, propose a war pact.

Then the Ferengi come at my Bajor colony with 90 ships, comprised of almost entirely War Cruiser 2's and I won't be able to get my fleet of 28 measly Heavy Cruiser 1's there in time to do a damn thing. I scrap everything in the Bajor colony except for food-producing structures (I'm the Federation after all, I won't just let them starve) and the Ferengi attack, destroying all life on Bajor.

So, a couple of questions: first, what does "military" mean on the empire status screen? Because it sure doesn't mean relative fleet strength. It doesn't seem to mean ship tech upgrades either since they have War Cruiser 2's and I haven't gotten Heavy Cruiser 2's yet.

Second: I saved the game and tried not scrapping everything on Bajor and when I did that the Ferengi still took the colony but they left about 70 million people alive. I'm just wondering why this is. Are Bajorans using the structures for shelter? And did the Ferengi decide to just wipe them out and recolonize when I scrapped everything and they saw all the rebuilding they'd have to do?
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Spocks-cuddly-tribble
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Re: Question on Empire Status screen in Vanilla game

Post by Spocks-cuddly-tribble »

1. Intel empire status percentages are somewhat bugged (and only updated 3 turns after first contact or via espionage): viewtopic.php?p=32273#p32273

2. System bombing damage heavily depends on (pseudo)random 'seeds'. Loading a saved game vs. a running game will change things, but loading the same save twice and change nothing causes always the same result.

Also if there is more structures to share the bombing damage there is a chance for lesser population damage.
I don't know how many bugs is too many but that point is reached somewhere before however many in BotF is.
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slickrcbd
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Re: Question on Empire Status screen in Vanilla game

Post by slickrcbd »

Also I've noticed that things like subspace scanners and shipyards contribute to your military strength estimate. So do orbital batteries, bunker networks, and shield generators. As do outposts and of course starbases.
It's possible to have your fleet reduced to scrap, but still be considered to have a higher military rating than the computer controlled empire that beat you because it just built a big fleet of ships while you built shipyards in practically every system to extend your range while the computer cheats.
Last edited by slickrcbd on Fri Jan 21, 2022 6:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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MarkXXX
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Re: Question on Empire Status screen in Vanilla game

Post by MarkXXX »

Thanks for the help! Right now I'm lucky the Ferengi are more interested in attacking the Klingons and Romulans than me. It gave me time to research Defiants, bring in some important minors, and build lots and lots of orbitals. Next time the Ferengi send 90 ships at one of my colonies they'll be in for a nasty surprise.
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slickrcbd
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Re: Question on Empire Status screen in Vanilla game

Post by slickrcbd »

You said vanilla, but I never see fleet numbers that high, especially from the computer.
When you say "Vanilla", that means to me the game without any mods beyond the official patches. Just what you get after installing from the CD.
I'm curious what you actually mean in this case.
Bear in mind that there is a task force size limit of 9 ships, and I rarely see the computer send more than 5 task forces, one of which is usually troop transports.
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Re: Question on Empire Status screen in Vanilla game

Post by thunderchero »

I never trust those Empire Status screens, I send scouts out and check out enemy fleets before a major invasion.
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MarkXXX
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Re: Question on Empire Status screen in Vanilla game

Post by MarkXXX »

slickrcbd wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 6:24 pm You said vanilla, but I never see fleet numbers that high, especially from the computer.
When you say "Vanilla", that means to me the game without any mods beyond the official patches. Just what you get after installing from the CD.
I'm curious what you actually mean in this case.
Bear in mind that there is a task force size limit of 9 ships, and I rarely see the computer send more than 5 task forces, one of which is usually troop transports.
This is the version of the game I downloaded from this site, the regular version with no mods that I know of. I'm playing on impossible difficulty though, with a large galaxy, and the huge fleet sizes are only in the case of the Ferengi.
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