Any hints for a newbie?

[Rheinmetall]

I'll see if I can find one for you.

[EDIT] I haven't got such save on my hands right now. I'll start another game saturday, and probably drift again into a situation I can't handle. I'll upload a save then.

[EDIT2] I played one game on average as the insects on sunday, but somehow managed to win it quite easily. I'll try hard next time and try my best to get into trouble so I can post a save. I don't think it takes much trying.

 

[I-Kaiser]

It isn't too hard to win on average once you figure out what you're doing, particularly as the Klackons or the Psilons.

This is kind of a non-sequitar, but I find that I can generally focus on a few kinds of ships and get great sucess.

-The Auto-Repair Special World Killer
This is basically a Huge design with ARS, the best shields and computers available, the small version of the best beams available, and some bombs. These can wreck enemy empires but aren't as valuable on the defensive. The best part about them is the attrition rate they create; one ARS ship can mow down tons of enemy ships without needing to be replaced.
-The Gunship
This is simply the ARS without the bombs. A particularly devastating version of this ship is a gunship with the large version of the best beams available and the repulsor beam. This design can fend off huge enemy fleets are ideal for guarding key planets. It's even more deadly with the High Energy Focus special. I find that if the player can field a gunship with the HEF special and megabolt cannons, the AI doesn't stand a chance.
-The bomber
This is a very intuitive design. Basically it's just a small/medium ship loaded up with the best engines available and as many bombs as possible. These stacks are even more devastating with the Inertial Stabalizer and Cloaking specials that render the stacks essentially untouchable.

I'm not a big fan of missile boats, though I can see how they'd be useful in large quantities. However, I'm not a fan of a weapon that can run out in the middle of a battle, and it doesn't seem like the missiles are ever strong enough to compensate for that deficiency. Exceptions are when the enemy is fielding huge numbers of small ships that can be eaten up by missile boats and when the player is lacking in any good beam tech, which will happen. I also prefer Huge designs over medium/small designs. While I can appreciate the flexibility of the small/medium designs, I prefer building a few Huge's that defend my border colonies and allow my main planets to focus on research without having to devote resources to endlessly rebuilding small/medium ships.

 

[Galdred]

Missile boats are much better at attrition: the idea is not to defeat the ennemy fleet, but to reduce it drastically:
you load these with 2 shot missile racks, unload both racks during the first 2 turns, and retreat ASAP (you need to stay until the missile hit through, if I recall).
That allows you to inflict heavy damages without losing much of your fleet, and work ok against fleets with a slightly better tech (although there will come times when the psilon shields will allow them to stop all your missile fire...)

The good part is that they don't need any armor, shield, or even good tactical engine technology...

Huge designs are usually not worth it until late in the game cost wise (repair scales horribly), and then are only good as support, especially if you lag behind the AI in the technology department (which happens a lot in impossible) and should only be used for the special super heavy toys (and yes, they work much better with high energy focus).

 

[Megafrost]

Hi guys, I'm another newbie to MoO. Played MoO2 for ages, then decided to find out if the original was better (which in my opinion, it is). Been reading around these forums, and various game reports (including Sirian's) to learn how to be a force to be reckoned with.

I've managed to win a few games on Average difficulty. I usually do okay, except when I find myself in close proximity to the Alkari. How do y'all usually deal with land-grab competitions with these hard-to-hit birds?

 

[vmxa]

Basically you can either go hard on expansion or you can build up what you have till you are strong enough to deal with them. Expanding is the best way as it mean less for the AI to have and means they cannot get techs as quickly or fleet as large a number of ships.

 

[Megafrost]

Alright. One more question: What do you do if the computer boxes you in, and you end up with fewer planets than your competition?

 

[vmxa]

What size map are you on? Basically you have to hunker down until you get a decent design that can hold off the AI after you storm a planet. Usually you will have some trait that can give you an edge.

You may be able to swoop in on a planet that is being fought over by others and grab it and hold it.

The only time you should be boxed in though is on a small map. Even on impossible you can get plenty of planet on all the other map sizes. I often have to make do with 4 planets on small maps for a long time.

 

[Megafrost]

It happened a while ago on a large map, where I was unlucky enough to start with no stars in colonizable range and had a planetology tech tree that even the Meklars would laugh at (I was Sakkra, go figure). The Alkari managed to spread and block my expansion, and under pressure I tried to take some systems from them. I've since learned that it is not a good idea to attack the Alkari early if your computer tech tree hasn't given you Battle Computers.

Ah well, at least each loss is a learning experience (My only other one so far taught me to be scared of early human diplomatic victories).

 

[vmxa]

You can get some bad maps. Probably the most dangerous is a Human race, with a good start as they can get an early vote. BTW if you run into a map that give you trouble, post the save and you can get some feedback that is specific.

 

[Horizon]

Something i learned the hard way is that you need to expand your empire very quickly and as big as possible starting from the beginning of the game.

If you turtle early or wait too long before expanding, the AI will take the place and most of the good systems, they will then progressively be more advanced than you , will then resist to any of your attempt at stealing techs and will have bigger fleets.

And if they do not destroy you, they will defeat you in the amount of vote.

So it is important you get a good sized empire to avoid being left behind quickly or to be defeated by vote without being able to do anything about it.

Building planetary defenses when you can and is another "must do" to avoid losing systems on your frontier.
Later, do not forget to build such defense in your more internal systems, as the AI will have better propulsion and fuel and will be able to strike deep into your territory.

I remember losing my proud but undefended rich homeworld just after having finished to build lots of missiles bases on my border systems

Reading most of the AAR on this forum is another good idea, i learned a lot from the people playing those challenges.

 

[Megafrost]

I've got a save game I'd like some comments on. I did win this game, but I'm just wondering if anyone has any pointers on what I could've done better.

Psilons
Hard Mode
Medium Galaxy
5 opponents
Victory: Diplomatic (year 2425)

Ukko should've been mine, but I left it unblockaded for one turn and the Alkari took it during that brief period (the Klackons invaded it later). Otherwise, I'm pretty sure I did okay.

Slot 1 has my save at the beginning of the game, slot 2 has my save right before the election.

EDIT: Removed the attachment, don't need the save game up here any longer.

 

[vmxa]

Winning is always good. Will look at it tomorrow, trying to finish my turn set in an SG.

 

[vmxa]

If you are going for a quick diplo win, then you did everything fine. I did wonder why you are putting all the spending in that huge ship at Mentar? It has no engine and uses lasers, I would not build it.

I would up my spending on planetology to get that soil. I would up my spending on Propulsion to get the engine. You can reduce Force as you already have shield.

If you did not get the vote, you could expect the AI to get uppity once the trade goes positive for you, so a war would probably be coming.

 

[Megafrost]

I was only building that ship to build up my reserves so I could bang out a whole bunch of small bomber ships once fusion bombs came in (does this count as an exploit?). I was specifically spending on force fields in hopes that I could render the Klackon's merc missiles useless, but I suppose they get new weapons faster than I get shields.

Thanks for the tips, hopefully it won't be long before I feel ready to tackle Impossible.

 

[vmxa]

One of the things that is a catch 22 on shields to me is that, the time needed to get a missile up is too long as you get better shields.

The other thing that struck me is the terraforming. With +10 only, it is hard to do anything. Research takes longer and bases take longer as does ships. So I like to get either +20 or +30 to get more pop and hence more factories and ultimately more income.

You also will be asking to lose the planets with so many going up with no defenders at once and so far apart. You only have nuc engine, so could not get to any planet, if you did have ships.

Your bases would not be very effective with hyper x missiles, so that is another issue.

I do want to mention that I do not allow myself to make trade or tech packs or use alliances. That colors my choices, since I will not have any friends. Also I rarely allow peace, once a war starts.

These variants are just preferences, not recommendations. You can do impossible now.

 

[RefSteel]

...so I could bang out a whole bunch of small bomber ships once fusion bombs came in

Though I haven't had time to look at the save, I suspect you wouldn't have been able to fit an F-Bomb on a small yet; you need a fair amount of miniaturization (superior weapon and construction tech - especially weapon tech for bombs) before you can manage that. Also, as vmxa points out:

You only have nuc engine, so could not get to any planet, if you did have ships.

On the combat screen, a stack of bombers with nuclear engines and maximum maneuver still takes something like four volleys from missile bases (and may be attacked by enemy ships) before it can even attack for the first time. That's potentially a lot of attrition, especially since (with such low maneuverability) the ships will be hit pretty often.

Basically, in the games where Fusion Bombers appeared to lead SG teams to victory, endgame wasn't achieved with the acquisition of F-Bombs; rather, the teams went back for F-Bombs (or used Omega-Vs or whatever when necessary) when their economies and research levels were endgame-ready.

 

[vmxa]

RefSteel,
I was not talking about bombers or attacking anyone. I was talking about defending all the planets he has that have neither bases nor ships and will not have any for a long time.

They were size 10 and had just barely started and he had only+1o terraforming. Many of those planets were at the far end of the empire and had other races on all sides.

You would not even need an attack there, just someone sending in troops and the planet is gone.

 

[Megafrost]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the AI generally doesn't attack planets that they don't have the tech to colonize, right? Most of those undefended planets were dead to toxic, and the AIs were up to about barren/tundra. I figured I had a little time to get these planets going on their own.

I find that I tend to prioritize controlled hostile environments over terraforming so I can grab as many planets as possible. Do my planets need the extra industry that much?

 

[vmxa]

Not if you are going for a vote and are not a race that is likely to not have friends, read Darlok, Klacks and such. I just do not like to go for a vote. I also think that is not a given that I will have access to colony tech as a race other than the brains. So I cannot rely on colonizing toxic and such while others cannot.

You can expect the AI to be able to match and exceed your research at impossible, so I do not want to rely on them not being able to land on my planet. What if you have Silicoids?

They have bombed me on planets they did not even try to colonize. I am not sure if they could or not.

To me, I want more pop and more factories as that leads to more of everything. Again, I am not going to have vote, I will abstain regardless of the vote. I will not even vote for someone to get browning points.

 

[Sullla]

I disagree with much of what vmxa is saying here. You should alway strive to colonize as many worlds as possible. Colony ships are cheap in this game once you get past the initial turns; if there's even the slightest chance that you can take and hold a world, it's worth doing, IMO. Sometimes that means prioritizing the hostile environment techs, sometimes it doesn't. Much depends on the map, race, and situation you find your self playing. But it's almost always better to stretch your neck out too far and make the AI take it away from you, rather than sitting back and letting them colonize worlds unopposed.

I also don't want this to come off as a criticism, but vmxa has a very unorthodox style of play, as evidenced by this comment:

I do want to mention that I do not allow myself to make trade or tech packs or use alliances. That colors my choices, since I will not have any friends. Also I rarely allow peace, once a war starts.

Cutting out trades, tech exchanges, and alliances neuters the diplomatic side of Master of Orion. (It also often makes the game much harder, since the player can usually work diplomacy much better than the AI.) Again, I'm not trying to criticize vmxa, only point out that some of his suggestions are a little bit off for someone who is not playing his particular style of game. (We called this the "tactless" variant in Civ3 when following similar rules.)