Terror Stars are too slow and defenseless!!!

Probably.

I know, it's kinda stupid that Stardock made the terror stars like this. After all, they said they wanted the Terror Star to become a part of a regular game, and not a superweapon that isnt practical and would only come into play your victory is almost guranteed. Well, Terror Stars fall into the second category.

I bet if you open the files for the Terror Star, you can fix the speed and/or defense.

The power can probably be fixed through editing the StarbaseModules.xml, but I don't think it is possible to mod in speed increases.

No, Terror Stars are hardcoded to only get one movement point.

Dang, that sucks.

CariElf, if Stardock wanted Terror Stars to become a more powerful and accessable weapon, why did they make them so slow, defenseless, and expensive? They are like what they were in the previous games: Slow, easy to destroy, and an absolute money hole. For me, they really aren't worth researching, and if I do, I've practically won the game.

It should be easy to give them the weapons and defenses. But it looks like I'm going to have to a) hope Stardock fixes the speed problem or get into the .exe myself once updates stop.

The Ascension bases also shouldn't be defenseless. On that note, I have never seen an AI build one. And why can't we trade Ascension points like credits and influence points??

Cuz, i could certainly buy anything leading to a Win but never would sell something for a straight outright Loss!
And, so does your opponents (AIs, included).

You could say that Twilight was broken on release, with the AI Ascension issues and the research bug. Dang, they delayed the game for five months and they stilllet bugs escape?!  

Ascension starbases are defenseless by design last I heard.

Are you sure the AI doesn't build ascension bases? The last few games I played they did. You don't automatically see them through the fog of war though, so it might appear as if the crystals are still unclaimed.

As for the Terror Star subject... that was brought up a million times during beta. They aren't meant to win games, they are meant to show off your power. Although I have to admit, the speed IS slow - best way is to assemble them near the star you want to blow up.

It always says that Ascension starbases have mods that can be installed, but it won't let a Constructor upgrade it. I think I can fix that pretty easily. I'm not saying the AI won't use them, I'm just saying they haven't in any game I have played.



Then what is the point? I'd rather ignore the Terror Star techs and just attack people normally the way things are. I think they should move 1 space normally, and have upgrades (which require techs branching off of Terror Star IV) to be installed something like this:

Enhanced Terror Star Propulsion: +1 pc/wk, 500 bc
Advanced Terror Star Propulsion: +1 pc/wk, 800 bc
Superior Terror Star Propulsion: +2 pc/wk, 1000 bc
Ultimate Terror Star Propulsion: +2 pc/wk, 1200 bc
Supreme Terror Star Propulsion: +3 pc/wk, 1500 bc

I also notice that if I try to put a Terror Star in a fleet, the game crashes.

Guess someone needs to learn total evilness. Place them around your outlying colonies and if one colony ever falls to the enemy, by military or influence, blow them up. The empire doesn't need deserters or anarchists..

The only current use I have is to blow up a system with no usable planets in order to get more asteroid bases for planets of neighboring stars. On second thought, maybe 7 pc/wk is as fast as they should go. 10 pc/wk may be too much...that would discourage conventional play rather than augment it.

I use them mostly for the same reason CoBBQ does. More for RP purposes I suppose. Also, if a race particularly made me mad one game, I will destroy it's empire piece by piece, until finally using a terror star to destroy their home world (via it's star). It's not just about winning the game, it's about being evil and cruel along the way. Heh. 8)

I like using spore ships on enemy homeworlds, that way I still get to use them

Put that in the bug reports or Twilight forums. Stardock will (hopefully) see it.

I would recommend building special TerrorStar-Constructors. Build a constructor with range and speed and take 6 of them. Have the TS techs researched and guard the constructors with fleets. (Or if you want add constructor module to battle ships) Fly directly into the enemies territory and construct it directly at the place you want to use it. 10 wks is quite some time, but at least you can do some damage this way. It for sure is not intended to smash the whole immense galaxy in a few weeks, it is a terror "star", be happy it does move at all.



BTW,

does anyone know what the influence of the TS on the game mechanics is? I am speaking of military power, relation to other races etc. Logic would tell having such a weapon of mass destruction should be very frightening to the other civs either weakening your relations or strengthen them - depending on the diplomatic situation. I can not notice in my recent game - i am just too military over the top compared to the others.

The one game I actually built and used one, suddenly the entire galaxy either declared war on me or went hostile - and it's not like I was attacking the Altarians, it was the freakin' Yor.

But yeah, I destroy one little star and suddenly six other races declare war on me next turn. It was NOT pretty.

I have approximately 50x the military power of my enemies - no reason to get frightened. Feel my wrath, civs, and SUFFER! MUAHAHAHA!