Help with Aliens-early game

Sparrowsraven · Jan 3, 2015

Early game with Franco-Iberia on a Terran map and in the first 50 turns I am surrounded by aliens including Siege Worms which attack my colonists and trade routes. What's the best tech/Build path to deal with these? I always go Relic-->explorer-->clinic-->solider right away while going after Chemistry and Pioneering and Genetics. Then I go for trade stuff and a colonist while saving money to buy workers or get them from the virtues. Usually I try to get a map that has a lot of float stone for Purity or Fraxis for Supremacy.

RockMan · Jan 3, 2015

I place cities with four squares in between - then i use ultrasonic fences. This way i have no troubles with the critters.

With the fence technology comes a quest to protect trade routes from alien attacks.

docbud · Jan 3, 2015

Definitely get ultrasonic fence up asap. I usually start with an explorer so I don't have to build one.

Then I built earth relic, worker, and then get the fence as soon as I can. Sometimes I will go clinic first.

Sparrowsraven · Jan 3, 2015

thanks Ultra-sonic fences help but now i have to figure out how to level up fast enough to be strong enough to kill the aliens outside of my cities where i want to settle while still teching for wonders and culture. 1 step at a time

RockMan · Jan 3, 2015

Try to kill no aliens in the beginning, then they are far less aggressive. Stay away from alien nests at least two fields away. When you escort your colonists by one soldier, you should be able to settle wherever you like.

If you are not considered hostile by the aliens, they tend to attack only units, which they can destroy easily - soldiers are not easy to them.

Stop alien hunting, immediately! [emoji6]

Xenotitan · Jan 4, 2015

docbud said:
I usually start with an explorer so I don't have to build one.

You always start with an explorer. It isn't a seeding option. Some people prefer getting a second one out quickly to get more pods/excavations/reveal more map.

a space oddity · Jan 4, 2015

Xenotitan said:
Some people prefer getting a second one out quickly to get more pods/excavations/reveal more map.

I always build at least one extra explorer before any buildings, especially when starting with artists. Often even two, that way my city can grow a little before starting the more expensive builds.

heat · Jan 4, 2015

a space oddity said:
I always build at least one extra explorer before any buildings, especially when starting with artists. Often even two, that way my city can grow a little before starting the more expensive builds.

I do the same regardless of whether I have taken the artist option or not. I have found that having at least two explorers makes finding and obtaining pods, etc better and also reveals more map so that when I finally get that station choice, the station does not land where I plan to build my next city.

CivScientist · Jan 4, 2015

Another option is to get Scavenging (Might level 2). With it you gain science for every alien you kill equal to that alien's strength. Then attack every alien you see and watch your science surge.

This strategy is situational and not without cost since you have to spend 3 early virtues to get it. But, if you find yourself boxed in and your only option is to fight your way out, this is really the way to go. You end up with a superior early game army and you don't have to fall behind in science to get it.

sylvanllewelyn · Jan 6, 2015

RockMan said:
Try to kill no aliens in the beginning, then they are far less aggressive. Stay away from alien nests at least two fields away. When you escort your colonists by one soldier, you should be able to settle wherever you like.

If you are not considered hostile by the aliens, they tend to attack only units, which they can destroy easily - soldiers are not easy to them.

Stop alien hunting, immediately! [emoji6]

One soldier? Seriously?

Once they turn orange, they will ALL attack your settlements. Pray siege worms don't spawn, they *will* take out outposts in one hit.

Mutineer · Jan 7, 2015

actually seriously, if you do not attack them and not with 2 ties of nest you will not be attacked.

keldaur · Jan 8, 2015

What's wrong with the pic ? I only see a lot of science to be scanveged

Gort · Jan 9, 2015

The worst thing about that picture is how difficult it is to make out the location of the alien nest. It's probably the most important piece of information in that screenshot, but it's almost impossible to see.

Xenotitan · Jan 9, 2015

sylvanllewelyn said:
One soldier? Seriously?

Once they turn orange, they will ALL attack your settlements. Pray siege worms don't spawn, they *will* take out outposts in one hit.

Well, the other part of his advice was to not attack the aliens, so they probably wouldn't be going orange. Anyway, as long as you don't get too close to a nest a soldier can slowly escort a settler to an outpost site with lots of aliens nearby.

NukeAJS · Feb 15, 2015

I've had luck going might and just busting my way through them. Initially, you'll fall a bit behind, but once you get scavenging in might, you can get the equivalent of a free tier one tech or two.

That requires a might strategy which is probably not what you want to do though. Generally, it's just better to get fences and stay away from the aliens.

RedRover57 · Feb 15, 2015

Aliens will destroy trade routes, kill unprotected workers and pillage tiles (siege worms) even if you never attack them. Best bet is to beeline for the fence and hope that it doesn't take 30 turns for the Reverse the Polarity quest. But that won't help in cities without the fence (I never build them in more than one city), where aliens can blockade tiles and be a nuisance in general. I almost always end up just killing them, even if going for Harmony. It takes way too long to try to make them friendly - not worth the effort and an improved xenomass is so much better anyway. To kill aliens all you need is 1 affinity for marines (except for siege worms, where you need city bombardment and kiting with gunners).

tedeviatings · Feb 15, 2015

You only need the fence quest if you really need to trade through all the aliens.

RedRover57 · Feb 16, 2015

tedeviatings said:
You only need the fence quest if you really need to trade through all the aliens.

Which is 90% of games, unless you are only doing land-based internal routes and you kill all the aliens near your cities. Otherwise the fence is one of the most important early builds, particularly if you go down Industry for the "increased energy from trading with stations virtue". Aliens love to mess up station trades and it results in the stations going poof when trade routes are lost.

tedeviatings · Feb 16, 2015

RedRover57 said:
Which is 90% of games, unless you are only doing land-based internal routes and you kill all the aliens near your cities.

That's exactly what I do and I'd argue it's the best option to do so. Of course eventually other trade routes might get better than internal ones (station trade for lots of :c5gold:

for example) but by that time I usually can handle the aliens should they be in the way.

As for the topic of the discussion: Since aliens don't really do stuff besides being in the way ignoring them for the most part usually works. If they get close to cities or where my trade routes are I block and / or kill them but that usually isn't a lot of effort. Really the most annoying part is if you want to expand into an alien forest before you have good units. Probably just something I should stop doing.

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