Map Designer: Neutral Colony slider is cool

from Sins Forums

I've had Sins for over a year and I'm only now trying this? :X

In the Map Designer you can adjust the Neutral Colony slider back and forth on planets. In the red zone you will get your regular neutral colonies. They will just have your average defenses like a few frigates. Go ahead and slide that sucker over to the green and those neutral colonies will be dug in like little ticks and have 4 or 5 gauss guns, hangers with about 4 squads, and about 50% more frigates.

That ought to slow down colony rushes! I like it!!!!

22,173 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

cool.  i really need to take some time and check out the design tools.

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

The problem I find with these is that they slow down the game way too much, to the point at which the fastest way to colonize these things is with a starbase.  This usually means by the time you meet we're already 30 or 40 minutes into the game, and if I've been starbase expanding, then virtually all my planets are starbased.  It's going to be a LONG defensive game...

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Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

I can see where MP would not want that. However I'm in the midst of trying to create an "Epic" single player map with the Map Designer. I want to make the game long. I'd like the AI(s) to have to work a little before it decided to attack me. Of course I'll try a smaller map first to see if I like it or not.

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

From a lore stand point, I want to know what all these little neutral colonies are.

They have TEC design templates for their ship - but they are not a part of the TEC? How did they procure the designs then? Are they independent goverments? Are they Trade Order worlds that refused to be a part of the TEC Reforms? What? It's fairly obvious that they are all human colonies... and that almost every world in the game has at least some sort of human settlement on it... so... what the heck?

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

From a lore stand point, I want to know what all these little neutral colonies are.

I think it's implied that just about every planet is already occupied by some natives (mostly human settlers), and the planet militia are the local military force.  The TEC, Advent, and Vasari are the only major empire builders, but there are many smaller nations they'd be fully willing to absorb.  In that sense, I don't regard it so much as "colonization" as regard it is "subjugation".

If you read the manual, it implies that the colony frigates only have a few thousand people on board, mostly military personnel.  This seems to reinforce my interpretation.

Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top

Its an interesting change of pace to have a few of those neutral colonies scattered around a large map, or littered in an unoccupied system, or sometimes its cool to have them on any terran or desert planets in the system so someone cant just waltz in with a colonizer cap and nab the most valuable of worlds, throw up some turrets and leave.

Mbaron, check out my guide for custom map designer tips, its stickied in the mod section of the forum.