New Game(Advanced Setup) Step 1: Specify the Universe
More of New Game(Advanced Setup)
Create the universe, using the following options:
Game Name
Keep the name Stars! offers or type in a name for your game. This name appears in the Stars! titlebar when the game is running.
Tiny Universe
400 light years in size. The tiny universe is only recommended for a 2 or 3 player game. Players will encounter each other very early.
Small Universe
800 light years in size. This universe will comfortably accommodate 4 players for an intimate game. If early encounters with other players are desired, 5 or 6 players can play in a small game.
Medium Universe
1200 light years in size. This is a relatively large universe for 4 or fewer players, giving them plenty of room to expand. A full complement of 16 players can comfortably play a game in a medium universe, though early contact is likely with more than 12 players.
Large Universe
1600 light years in size. This universe easily holds 16 players. Four or fewer players will often be able to build substantial empires before contacting another race.
Huge Universe
2000 light years in size. This really, really big universe will allow even 16 players quite a bit of time to expand before running into other players. Since the huge universe can have up to 1000 planets, even 16 players could colonize about 60 planets each before needing to battle to expand their empires.
Density
Normal planet density in Stars! is approximately two planets for every 10000 l.y.^2. That is, if you divided the universe up into squares 100 l.y. on each side, there would on average be two planets in each square.
Selecting Sparse decreases the density to approximately 1.5 planets for every 10000 l.y.^2.
Selecting Dense increases the density to approximately 2.5 planets for every 10000 l.y.^2.
Choosing Packed increases the density to approximately 3.75 planets for every 10000 l.y.^2.
However, the combinations Large/Packed, Huge/Dense, and Huge/Packed have reduced density (most noticeable for Huge/Packed), likely because of engine limits on the number of stars allowed.
Player Positions
This allows you to specify how close players start out relative to each other.
The result of these selections are affected by the number of players, the size of the universe and the density of the universe.
For instance, playing a 16 player game in a tiny universe severely restricts your chances for expansion, since a tiny universe typically has only 32 planets. More than two players in a tiny universe will be a very short game. You can increase the pace and length of a game in any size universe by selecting Dense in the planet Density box. You'll have more planets to colonize with short distances between them, and a rapid increase in resources and technological development.
⇒ If you want plenty of time get the feel of the game and to plan before you run into your opponent(s), choose Distant player positions.
⇒ Distant player positions is considered to be the option that gives the most fair(or rather least unfair) Player Positions
Beginner: Maximum Minerals
The starting concentration of all minerals on every planet is 100. This option is for beginning players who don't want to deal with mineral shortages. Not recommended for advanced players, this option reduces the quality of advanced game play substantially.
Slower Tech Advances
Choosing this option will make research twice as expensive. This will extend the game, making long-term strategy a more important element of play.
Accelerated BBS Play
When you check the option of Accelerated BBS (also known as ABBS or AccBBS), the following happens:
Players start out with a population 4 times larger than normal.
(Normal start in a non AccBBS game is 25,000 pop. Growth Rate makes a difference in this calculation. A rough approximation comes up with 5k pop for every 1% GR. For example - 10% GR will start with 75,000 pop, 20% GR will have 125,000 and 19% GR will have 120,000.)
All planets have 20% more minerals. Planets with poor mineral densities are improved by a few percentage points.
This means you can build 5 to 10 ships your first turn, complete research up to 2 tech levels a year, and in general jump-start the game. You don't have to worry about running out of colonists if you want to send out a large number of colony ships early in the game.
In games started with this option you'll need to make many more decisions from turn 1 on. The first 10 turns accomplish what otherwise takes about 30 to 50 turns. These games usually have a winner emerging before turn 100. A disadvantage to this option is that some of the subtlety of Stars! is lost. You don't have to make as many of the early resource tradeoffs that have a large impact on your strategy later in the game. Most BBS gamers will find that this disadvantage is outweighed by the faster pace.
No Random Events
This disables all random occurrences such as new mineral and artifact discoveries, comets, habitability shifts, and traders.
Computer Players Form Alliances
Checking this box will cause the computer players to prefer attacking you over attacking each other. This will make the game significantly more difficult.
Public Player Scores
All players' scores are displayed in the Score sheet (press F10) after the first 20 turns of the game. This gives players in games with this option time to disguise their races adequately.
Player scores are also displayed once the victory conditions are met, so a technique for making scores visible at a particular turn after 20 is to set victory conditions that are met at that year, then keep on playing after that.
Galaxy Clumping
This clusters or clumps star systems, allowing for faster initial expansion.
