Best Faction to Relearn the Game?

The Spartans and the Peacekeepers have the fewest unique attributes and the most standard playstyles, I think, which it sounds like is what you're looking for.
 
Yeah, the Peacekeepers can do just about anything, and they prevent you from getting too screwed over by the council. They're a great way to learn, but arguably also the best faction there is.
 
Go as Pravin Lal of the U.N (No big deal, no big disadvantage) ;)
 
What is a good way to learn to how to use pop-booming and crawlers? Should I make a game with blind research off? I don't want to abuse too much but I do like learning these tricks like eco-damage trick. Thanks in advance
 
Just try using them. Pop-booming isn't really required in SP games, or at least I've never needed it on Transcend, but that's usually on bigger maps. Perhaps if you had Santiago, Miriam and Yang breathing down your neck right off the bat, you might need it.

As for crawlers, you might want to try it with targeted research, just so you can beeline for Industrial Automation (B3). But that's just to show how you can completely outplay the AI with them. Whenever you get IA, just start cranking them out. You'll immediately realize how awesome they are. And don't forget that you can later cash them in to rush Secret Project, so it helps if they can get back to your bases quickly.

Good spots to use crawlers are any squares producing a lot of just one resource. So a flat, rainy, nutrient square with a farm and condenser is 7 nutrients (7/0/0) if I recall. It makes far more sense to have a Crawler collect the nutrients, then work a Borehole (0/6/6) instead, since you can only have one crawler assigned to a square at once.
 
Go for the Hive. Free non-native defences, along with growth and production bonuses for easy start to relearn the game. You also have the chance to build Command Nexus before every other faction. You also have immunity to inefficiency, meaning you can get police state and planned for no inefficiency whatsoever, meaning increased unit support to 4 free units per base, +3 growth rate, +3 industry and +2 police. Protip: do not build too many facilities that require maintenance too early or you will get budget issues.

Don't go for spartans, because production is a bit slower.
 
I always found that the Spartans were significantly easier to use than the Hive, at least on the higher difficulties; probably completely different on low levels. With the Spartans, you can compensate by emphasizing mineral production a bit heavier, but the Hive's economy is just so damned bad, that you need to pull out all sorts of tricks (ICS, with all crawlers and 100% specialists) to really compete in a game that doesn't involve military victory in the early game.
 
As Hive, you can stockpile resources (get a base to turn every 2 minerals into 1 energy) if your economy is bad. It can only become bad if you build too many costly buildings like research hospital, which costs 3 energy credits per turn per base that has it. If you don't build any maintenance buildings, your Hive economy should be in tip-top shape. Make sure you build about 10 bases in your early stages.

The peacekeepers are also suitable for relearning the game because they are quite balanced. However, I am always concerned of getting democratic as Peacekeepers too early because that reduces unit support. Combine that with free market and pray that you do not encounter an aggressive faction (Hive, spartans, believers) or swarms of mind worms, whilst your economy grows rapidly through talents, some efficiency and higher economy.
 
Is having a city dedicated to unit maintenance a trick anyone uses? Like make a city, all specialists, and have other cities build units and then support it from there? I have heard people advise using this but I don't know if anyone has gotten it to actually work. I think this is mostly for being in free market.
 
It's not about the mineral costs, it's about eliminating unhappiness for overseas units under Free Market.

You set up a base, set all of it's population to specialists (which mean none ever become drones), crawler in enough food to support them, and start rebasing units there. Crawl in whatever minerals you need to support the units.
 
Yeah, it's a lot of crawlers, but the whole idea is to allow you to run free market. So you should be able to rush buy a bunch of crawlers on sequential turns.

Not sure if you can build crawlers elsewhere and then change their home base.
 
When is the best time to use alien artifacts to pop for research? I was thinking of holding on to them until I get close to fusion power, because that area of the tech tree can be very helpful to allow rapid expansion, either from copters or tree farms or super formers.


Does anyone use them right away or save them until the more expensive techs? Or heck, does anyone use them to rush secret projects?
 
I usually save my AAs until researching Environmental Economics and Bioengineering (assuming directed research). If blind research is enabled, I'll use them right away. I might use them for SPs if I don't have crawlers and I think I'm in danger of losing a key project.
 
I just use them ASAP. On what depends on the opportunities around, but it seems to me that an early tech (when they tend to cost the most in turns), or 50 minerals on an early project are worth more than a 3-10 turn rush to a tech later on.
 
I'd say university, provided you grab the virtual world, adding UN like psych resilience for developing cities. Developed ones would benefit from the +2 research.

Since their emphasis is "research", more play styles become available with tech advances, which I guess favors experimentation.

On the other hand, having extra money to buy things favors experimentation and so does insistence on the requirement of staying alive in fights.
 
I learned the game as the Gaians and think they're very beginner friendly. It surprises me nobody mentioned them. They only lack in the growth (as in food needed to grow, food production is good) and military department (-1 morale, as if you feel that when you get extra minds worms to fill in your military).

Best beginners factions: Pravin Lal, Chairman Yang, Lady Deirdre. I already know that as a 'noob'.
 
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