Difficulty?

[M51]

Hi, I just discovered FreeOrion and think it is a beautifully made game. I'm running it on Debian and initially had a problem with the keyboard not working in text input fields, but fixed it by setting x11_keyboard_grab=true in OISInput.cfg.

Anyway, I've tried starting several games using all the default settings, but I can never get very far...the AI's radically oupace me on everythign from ship building to research. I often am lucky to colonize 2 or 3 planets before I get obliterated. Often I can't find any other planets to colonize because I am almost completely surrounded by enemies and monsters. I've read the quick play guide and the controls seem very intuitive. I just can't seem to get a foothold for my empire. Any advice?

Thanks

[Dilvish]

Hi, I just discovered FreeOrion and think it is a beautifully made game. I'm running it on Debian and initially had a problem with the keyboard not working in text input fields, but fixed it by setting x11_keyboard_grab=true in OISInput.cfg.

OIS had a problem with Alt-tab; if you had alt-tabbed out of the game and then alt-tabbed back in, it would be in a sort of alt-lock state which interfered with normal text input. If you hit the same alt key a single time that should clear the alt-lock-type state and reenable normal text, without needing to have keyboard_grab set. Also, the newer versions of FO don't use OIS at all (instead using SDL) and so don't have this problem at all. There are numerous other advances since the version I surmise you have; you can get a newer Debian version as described in this thread.

Anyway, I've tried starting several games using all the default settings, but I can never get very far...the AI's radically oupace me on everythign from ship building to research. I often am lucky to colonize 2 or 3 planets before I get obliterated. Often I can't find any other planets to colonize because I am almost completely surrounded by enemies and monsters. I've read the quick play guide and the controls seem very intuitive. I just can't seem to get a foothold for my empire. Any advice? Thanks

Please double check that your default settings include having AI max aggression set to 'Beginner' -- you should start there and work up. Also, you may want to set Monsters to Low. Additionally, specifying more systems (say up to 20-30 per empire) may also give you a little more breathing room to get started. As far as beginning strategy, there are some other threads on that, try using the forum 'Search' function towards the upper right of the page.

[M51]

Thanks for the advice. AI aggression is Typical, monster frequency is Low, 6 AI players, 150 systems, mature eliptical galaxyand everything else is medium.

I saw a forum thread about the keyboard issues you mention but mine was different. I wasn't switching out of the game, and hitting ALT would not fix anything. Running the game in either full-screen or windowed mode would allow me to type a few characters into a text box if I went straight there after starting the game, but it would stop working very quickly. Usually within 30 seconds or so. I'm running 0.4.4 [SVN 7640] on Debian Testing with an Xfce desktop and Intel graphics. Setting setting x11_keyboard_grab=true in OISInput.cfg fixed the issue immediately.

[Dilvish]

AI aggression is Typical, monster frequency is Low, 6 AI players, 150 systems, mature eliptical galaxyand everything else is medium.

OK, well starting out with AI Aggression at beginner will make the biggest difference. You're at ~21 systems per empire, so might want to try more systems. I also highly recommend the Irregular 2 galaxy shape; not necessarily easier, but I just like it better.

[M51]

Thanks, I took your suggestions and also proposed peace to all the AI's at the start of the game and I was able to win. It wasn't a cakewalk, but not too bad at all.

One thing I think would be really nice is a way to visualize the tech tree requirements for a particular ship or building.
Kind of like this:

Tech tree for Ship4

Tech1_____
Tech5_____\_____Building3___
Tech7______________________\_________Ship4