HK's MOO1 v1.2 Strategy Discussion Thread

[hegemonkhan]

(i know there's other MOO1 threads, but I wanted to make my own in hopes of getting help and it all being in this one thread for me to look at. so my apologizes for this thread, but it hopefully will be helpful for me in making and hopefully in allowing this thread to stay open/non-deleted)

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I got bored and so I decided to replay some of my old computer games, and I've took this game back up.

I am really enjoying it now, for its challenge aspect, as compared to turn-based games nowadays it's quite a simple game. so, it would be boring, but its level of challenge is making it still quite fun and enjoyable!

I've decided to take it slowly, playing on the easiest difficulty level and the smallest map size and only against 1 opponent, just trying to use and get to know each race and get a victory with them, before I try other game options to make it harder.

I've played the Humans, Sakkras, Silicoids, Klackons, Psilons, and Mrrshans so far.

I just messed up my 2nd most recent game, as the Psilons against the Bulrathis, expanding too quickly (getting next to the Bulrathis) without making any ships, and they started to transport conquer me, and then I quit the game, lol. I didn't think they would... very foolish obviously of me.

Lesson Learned:

when against the Bulrathis, MAKE COMBAT SHIPS! (or missile bases... but ships are really ALWAYS better. tzu sun 's art of war. mobility, doing both offense+defense at any colony with ships, vs non-mobility of missile bases doing only defense at that single colony) to go along with your expansion game, lol.

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so, if anyone's "here" (looks at this board still) I'd love strategy inputs!

from very generalized to more specific to race specific to race vs certain race specific and even uber turn for turn specific

 

[vmxa]

http://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/

Lots of threads there with active players last I looked. Will try to get something up this week. I am up in a massive SG right now.

 

[hegemonkhan]

ya, thank you, I had just recently looked at that site, it has some good threads/posts there by you and others, hehe.

though, it too didn't have much strategy race-oriented stuff.

it has some good posts on early game expansion and game mechanics/maximizing your colonies' economies. but that's not really race-specific.

also, there's got to be ways to do early game combat, to even possibly great effect on impossible level... using conquest to expand in early game, taking over colonies instead of making them from your colony ships.

we need to make those "low tier" combat races, Bulrathis/Darlocks/Mrsshans/Alkaris, higher tier, hehe

well, if you'd post any strategy stuff, I'd be very thankful!

just beat the game with Bulrathis, only a few more races to go/try, before I move on to trying harder game settings, hehe.

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p.s.

do you guys/girls have a thread up on that other site for your SG you're in? if yes, which is it, as I'd be interested in reading/following along with it, hehe

(and I made a similar post to this thread on that other site. I had to necro a dead thread though, as I can't make threads yet, being a new member of that other site. I guess there's a post count requirement before new members can make new threads)

 

[vmxa]

Here are two items I have that are FWIIW:

 

[vmxa]

Hum I seemed to have missed one. I see it had a filetype of rtf. I changed it to txt, so you can rename it.

 

[hegemonkhan]

thanks!

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for colony development:

(regardless of mineral penalties, poor and ultra poor)

factories (IND) -> max -> factories (IND) + population (ECO) -> max -> research (RES)

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and here's my post from that other site:

"
awesomely informative post, thanks!

I generally do most of that stuff you talk about, though I'm still playing "sand box" games, just to try each race and get used to them. before moving onto harder settings games.

generally how I play my sandbox games:

Turn 1:

*look at where I am in the galaxy, through galaxy "world" map.
*send colony ship to colonize a 2nd star
*send my 2 scout ships to the 2 furthest stars in the "best" directions (from looking at map). I try to go at the rest of the map and/or towards the A.I. for the REX of game, like is done in many such games like this, like civ and such.
*I build (usually 2) scout ships instead of factories for: (1) "recon/scouting/knowledge" of planets(2) possibly finding/getting to artifact stars first for free techs (3) preventing colonization by the A.I. with the "scout sentry" trick
*my prefered tech from an artifact star is propulsion techs that give the more travel (parsec) distance (whatever they called, the warp drive techs). As this I feel gives the most benefit; allowing me to scout and "sentry" more of the galaxy with scout ships. allows my colony ships to go farther. allows my combat ships to go farther. allows my transports (for transport sieging A.I. stars, especially if Bulrathis) to go farther.
*I change the tech screen so to only be researching propulsion tech (though I'm not making any research points yet)
*every turn I micromanage every star I have, to prevent economy to going to the planetary reverse (as if I remember right it gets halved when done so, and in the very early game, you don't get any planetary reserve funds, completely wasting all those unspent funds going to your planetary reserve)

Turns 2-A:

*I keep making scouts until I have enough to leave 1 scout on ever star that I can reach. again I micromanage any excess funds into making factories.
*I then keep making factories until I can build a colony ship in 7 turns.
*I also keep making factories, and then once they max, I drop factory production, just one less then max, and put all the excess funds into ECO to raise population, as that then lets me build more factories. I try to max my stars' economy as quickly as I can
*I do NOT send pop transport to my 2nd colony (or any colony actually, unless I really need to or it's now beneficial to do, which would take too much to explain my reasoning in this regard), just letting it grow on its own instead. I do this because, I like having/getting stars at max output, to do stuff, such as spam colony ships or do lots of research or to make or be ready to make combat ships if need/opportunity arises for doing so. I feel this is worth the cost of the possible benefit gained from maxing pop growth.
*on my second colony, I make factories, even if poor or ultra poor. As I think in getting more pop (ECO pumping), just make idle workers, wasted funds, no increase in production. Ya, I could have them do research, but it's really so minimal without factories' production increase anyways. So, I see it's the most beneficial to make factories even for ultra poor stars.

Turns A-B:

*I'm in REX mode, pumping out colony ships and scouts (and/or my second colony is making the scouts) and finishing maxing its economy (factories and pop-ECO pumping) with home star colony.
*with my second colony, I'm making also maximizing economy, making factories and then pop-ECO pumping and then factories. And/or making scout ships too.
*When I can, I research propulsion tech, which allows me to go further, scouting and sentrying more stars with scout ships and colonize more stars too. Also I can move my combat ships or transports to attack the A.I.'s stars. Also, I like getting the engine techs, for faster ships traveling on the "world" map. good advantage for/of colony ships, transports, scouts, and combat ships, epsecially over the A.I.

Turns B-C:

*At this point, I can usually win the game as I got more colonies and thus more production, and I can usually now reach the A.I. too; by pumping out combat ships (a missile type ship to destroy all opposition and a bomber type ship to nearly raze or raze their colonies' factories/pop, if not the Bulrathis)

*though many times I keep playing instead, for fun/longer/perfectionist game.
*at this point, I nearly have the entire map colonized that I can. so now it's about enhancing those colonies and expanding onto hostile stars. this is done via researching Planetology (TerraForming, EcoRes, HosEnv's), Construction (RedInd, RemIndWas), and computers (ImpRob).

Turns C-D:

*basically building up my "empire" and researching, and defending.

Turns D-E:

*Conquest/War Campaign or Combat Ship "Flooding"

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when I meet the A.I. (as in being able to do diplomacy with them):

I actually usually do maximize my internal security, as the A.I. will steal my tech, allowing them to keep up with me tech wise, even though I completely out produce/research them.

preferably, it's nice to get RIW, ER, and TF, before doing so, as this greatly helps you able to afford it, as these techs greatly enhance your economy.

I really don't like spying on them, because this early in the game, my Comp Tech isn't very high, and my spies get caught like every turn, it's too annoying a hassle, having to save and load like ~10 times, to prevent your spies from getting caught. The only time I'll spy is if I don't have a vital tech, and they do have it.

since it's 1v1, I usually ignore trade, as they usually break the trade agreement anyways going to war with me, from my REX and attacking them and/or maybe my spies.

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I don't do the "infinite funds" planetory reserve trick, as I feel it's too exploitive/cheatful.

I actually usually completely ignore the planetory reserve, trying not to build it up, lol. though if a get a wealthy merchant event or accumulate a reserve, I'll leave the funds in there, for an emergency, instead of pumping them back into my colonies, as I can afford not taking advantage of this benefit were I to do so, as I'm only doing "sandbox" race-learning games right now.
"

-HK

 

[vmxa]

I have no experience with less than 4 in the game or if I do I have forgotten it. Only things I could mention are that your race impacts the strategy.

If you are Klac, pop is more powerful than others. You are actuallly better off with more pop than more factories. The early lack of reduction of factory prices and eco makes them a more production/cost effective than other races.

Hence you want to prioritize terra techs as a klac, even more than others. They give a small boost to the effectiveness of your pop.

If you are not klacs and even if you are you are better off to send some pop of to then new colonies. I sometimes do not bother, but it is a better move. You want to realize that there is a growth curve and as you get closer to max pop they grow slower.

You also want to consider that citizens can only manage so many factories. At the start races other than Meks can have 2 per pop. So if you are size 66 and 20 factories, you have a lot of idle citizens.

May as well send off a few each turn, till you have enough factories to keep everyone employed. Later in the game you may choose to send off lots of pop to new worlds or as invasion troops and just take the hit on idle factories.

Overriding all of this is the need or lack of a need to stand up a new colony. If you are in contact with other races, you will want to get the planet up to full porduction asap. Hence you send fleets and pop to that planet.

I find spying to mostly be a waste of funds for defense. I prefer to use the money elsewhere or on stealing myself. Remember that it is basically a function of your relative computer tech strengths.

If your is better you steal better, if it is worse it will cost you more to steal or defend.

 

[hegemonkhan]

I still like doing factories first with the Klackons. While you get the same production bonus from pop as you do factories, the problem is that your growth rate is still slow compared to factories.

for the same amount of "economy points" (EPs), I can build like at least x2 the # of factories from increasing the IND bar compared to the # of +pop I can get from increasing the ECO bar.

now, on a poor or ultra poor, then I'd definately do pop instead of factories.

or is this mechanically wrong and/or inferior to do factories first instead of pop?

 

[hegemonkhan]

hey I just thought of this for the Darloks:

what if after you steal techs, you then exchange them for more techs. Ya, it makes everyone equal, and undoes your possible spying tech advantage, but it could be a way to improve relations with everyone, and because everyone is equal, they can eliminate each other... as you frame them into going to war with each other, hehe

 

[vmxa]

I do not allow trades in Moo1 or II. Just my rules, not a strategy. There is nothing wrong with making factories at the start. You are getting 2 or 3 pop per turn early in the game iiirc. The thing is they will need cleaing and you won't have any eco techs for a time. May as well send the new pop off to a new planet, while you have idle pop.

 

[hegemonkhan]

just a quick comment about trades:

as a human player you have the power/control to make equal trades, as you know what techs would be fair to trade with each other and which would be abusive to the A.I.'s detriment, and thus not do those trades. You are in full power/control to abuse trading or to not abuse trading.

 

[vmxa]

Here is a little run to show the effects of not sending out pop to the new colony.
T0: Fact 30 pop 50 growth +0 Production 69(82) Ind 5.3 tech 0
T1: Fact 35 pop 52 growth +2 Production 76(89) Ind 5.8 tech 0
T2: Fact 41 pop 55 growth +3 Production 86(99) Ind 6.5 tech 0
T3: Fact 48 pop 58 growth +3 Production 108(108) Ind 8.2 tech 0.
Found Morrig Min UR pop 40 max Fact 0 pop 2 growth +2 Production 2(2) Ind 0.6 tech 0
T4: Fact 56 pop 61 growth +3 Production 120(120) Ind 9.1 tech 0.
Morrig Min UR pop 40 max Fact 0 pop 2 growth +0 Production 2(2) Ind 0.6 tech 0
T5: Fact 65 pop 63 growth +2 Production 131(131) Ind 9.8 tech 0.
Morrig Min UR pop 40 max Fact 1 pop 2 growth +0 Production 3(3) Ind 0.9 tech 0
T6: Fact 75 pop 66 growth +3 Production 143(143) Ind 10.0 tech 0.
Morrig Min UR pop 40 max Fact 2 pop 2 growth +0 Production 4(4) Ind 0.9 tech 0
T7: Fact 86 pop 69 growth +3 Production 158(158) Ind 11.0 tech 0.
Morrig Min UR pop 40 max Fact 3 pop 3 growth +1 Production 5(5) Ind 0.9 tech 0
T8: Fact 98 pop 72 growth +3 Production 174(174) Ind 12.0 tech 0.
Morrig Min UR pop 40 max Fact 4 pop 4 growth +1 Production 8(8) Ind 1.8 tech 0
T9: Fact 110 pop 74 growth +2 Production 188(188) Ind 13.0 tech 0.
Morrig Min UR pop 40 max Fact 6 pop 4 growth +0 Production 10(10) Ind 2.1 tech 0
T10: Fact 123 pop 77 growth +3 Production 203(203) Ind 14.0 tech 0.
Morrig Min UR pop 40 max Fact 8 pop 5 growth +1 Production 12(12) Ind 2.4 tech 0
**************************************************************************************************
no change to eco, but sending some pop to Morrig

T3: Fact 48 pop 58 growth +3 Production 105(108) Ind 7.9 tech 0.
Found Morrig Min UR pop 40 max Fact 0 pop 2 growth +2 Production 2(2) Ind 0.6 tech 0
Send 3 pop
T4: Fact 56 pop 58 growth +3 Production 116(116) Ind 8.7 tech 0.
Morrig Min UR pop 40 max Fact 0 pop 2 growth +0 Production 2(2) Ind 0.6 tech 0
T5: Fact 65 pop 60 growth +2 Production 127(127) Ind 9.3 tech 0.
Morrig Min UR pop 40 max Fact 1 pop 2 growth +0 Production 3(3) Ind 0.9 tech 0
T6: Fact 74 pop 64 growth +4 Production 137(140) Ind 9.4 tech 0.
Morrig Min UR pop 40 max Fact 2 pop 5 growth +3 Production 6(6) Ind 0.9 tech 0
Send 3 pop
T7: Fact 84 pop 63 growth +2 Production 150(150) Ind 10.0 tech 0.
Morrig Min UR pop 40 max Fact 3 pop 6 growth +1 Production 9(9) Ind 2.1 tech 0
T8: Fact 94 pop 66 growth +3 Production 162(162) Ind 11.0 tech 0.
Morrig Min UR pop 40 max Fact 6 pop 8 growth +2 Production 14(14) Ind 3.0 tech 0
T9: Fact 106 pop 69 growth +3 Production 178(178) Ind 12.0 tech 0.
Morrig Min UR pop 40 max Fact 9 pop 11 growth +3 Production 19(19) Ind 4.2 tech 0
T10: Fact 118 pop 71 growth +2 Production 192(192) Ind 13.0 tech 0.
Morrig Min UR pop 40 max Fact 14 pop 13 growth +2 Production 26(26) Ind 5.7 tech 0
****************************************************************************************************
Adjusted eco up in this test

T0: Fact 30 pop 50 growth +1 Production 69(82) Ind 4.2 tech 0
T1: Fact 34 pop 53 growth +3 Production 77(90) Ind 4.7 tech 0
T2: Fact 39 pop 56 growth +3 Production 84(97) Ind 5.2 tech 0
T3: Fact 44 pop 59 growth +3 Production 106(106) Ind 6.5 tech 0.
Found Morrig Min UR pop 40 max Fact 0 pop 2 growth +2 Production 2(2) Ind 0.6 tech 0
Send 3 pop to Morrig drops INd to 6.3
T4: Fact 51 pop 59 growth +3 Production 113(113) Ind 7.0 tech 0.
Morrig Min UR pop 40 max Fact 0 pop 2 growth +0 Production 2(2) Ind 0.6 tech 0
T5: Fact 58 pop 62 growth +3 Production 122(122) Ind 7.5 tech 0.
Morrig Min UR pop 40 max Fact 1 pop 2 growth +0 Production 3(3) Ind 0.9 tech 0
T6: Fact 66 pop 66 growth +4 Production 134(134) Ind 8.3 tech 0.
Morrig Min UR pop 40 max Fact 2 pop 5 growth +3 Production 6(6) Ind 1.2 tech 0
Send 4 pop to Morrig drops production 130(134) ind 8.0
T7: Fact 74 pop 65 growth +4 Production 142(142) Ind 8.8 tech 0.
Morrig Min UR pop 40 max Fact 3 pop 6 growth +1 Production 9(9) Ind 2.1 tech 0
T8: Fact 83 pop 69 growth +3 Production 155(155) Ind 9.6 tech 0.
Morrig Min UR pop 40 max Fact 6 pop 8 growth +2 Production 14(14) Ind 3.0 tech 0
adjust Eco down and INd up a tad to 10.0
T9: Fact 94 pop 72 growth +3 Production 170(170) Ind 11.0 tech 0.
Morrig Min UR pop 40 max Fact 9 pop 12 growth +4 Production 21(21) Ind 4.8 tech 0
T10: Fact 106 pop 74 growth +2 Production 184(184) Ind 12.0 tech 0.
Morrig Min UR pop 40 max Fact 14 pop 14 growth +2 Production 28(28) Ind 6.3 tech 0
********************************************************************************************************



Note that Klac workers get 1.4 RP per pop at planet tech level 8 and it goes up.

 

[hegemonkhan]

thank you! I'll transport pop now, hehe

I finally beat the game on easiest settings with all the races, time to make the game a little harder now, hehe. not sure exactly what I'm going to do though. maybe I'll keep the same "sand box" settings, but try 3 or 5 opponents.

 

[vmxa]

Unless you play on a small map and I do often, go with 5. On small maps I sometimes use 4. On medium or larger maps there are so many planets, so use 5.

Fastest way to play on a given map is to pop out scouts and park them on every planet you can reach. Research one tree at a time and look to take the last tech in your list, if nothing critical is presented.

I do not play that way as I am not in a hurry to win. That is in regards to tech research. You want to sit on planets for sure. Design a new scout right away to save a bit on cost.

In medium maps I may arm the scouts early with a pop gun and if it is a choice planet, may send over a stronger ship, if it looks like it is in range of others.

Be aware that you often see the AI make temp alliances that let them extend their range. These tend to be broke soon though.

 

[hegemonkhan]

well, I just tried my first new setting type of game:

easiest difficulty and smallest map, but did 5 opponents. so, the same "sand box" setting, but with 5 opponents.

I thought I had the correct strategy (see below), but I was wrong, lol. Need to learn how to play correctly against 5 opponents, lol.

if you can/know of any helpful information/strategy/tactics for this type of game, please share!

I'm still trying to figure out what to do differently, for this type of game, with 5 opponents on the smallest map (and easiest difficulty).

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settings: easiest difficulty, smallest map, 5 opponents, I played as the Humans, and the 5 opponents were Klackon, Psilon, Sakkra, Meklar, and Alkari. My position in the Galaxy was 6 o' clock (middle bottom), so I had pretty good coverage of the Galaxy to spread over.

My plan was to use the Humans' Propulsion to expand quickly with colony ships and/or take over undefended opponents' stars. I did manage to settle 2 or 3 stars via colony ships (I only had 1 star in range for my initial colony ship-2nd colony, and everything else was out of range, though I researched warp 5 Propulsion tech after I maxed my home colony. I did send pop transports to between my colonies this time) and take the Psilons' 2nd colony with combat transport (thanks to my large pop thanks to using pop transports between my colonies thanks to you for explaining that it is especially now so clearly advantageous to do so, lol).

However, right next to the Psilons' 2nd colony (which I had taken over, with ~5 or 6 colonies total now), was the Klackons home star and they had a massive fleet and some missile bases too. I should have tried to make trade agreements/alliance with them in hindsight, but I didn't know when I started the game (I had planned to use the Humans' Propulsion tech to conquer as much as I could, instead of a waiting game using the Humans' trade bonus, though this quick conquest didn't work that well, only a single colony was undefended, which I got, but then everyone else had a massive fleet of combat ships, ending my plans to take colonies with pop transports, lol, and I didn't have any combat ships of my own. so you can see how bad my strategy was, lol). Needless to say, I have a lot to learn now for playing against 5 opponents, as I failed epicly in my initial strategy. need to figure out a new strategy, that works much better, lol.

(my initial plan for why I chose the Humans: Propulsion+Force Fields for strong combat transports conquest/ground combat game and thus play like the Bulrathis... though why I just didn't be the Bulrathi, I don't know, lol. well, I did want to be the Humans, for my first game at these new settings)

 

[vmxa]

I cannot recall the lower levels, but I would imagine you should be able to match them in research from the start. You could trade and stay in good shape, till you want to take someone out.

I would think the issues would be to attack a HW fairly early in the game would require many bombers as you would likely not have great speed. They will probably have a fair number of missile bases and get several rounds of missile fire. If they manage to have their fleet there you will get even more ships shot down.

At hard or impossible I would suggest you grab as much as you can hold and stand those planets up asap. Put up missile bases as soon as you get the planet at a decent pop size or if you are at war.

Once you have gotten what is the low hanging fruit, you have to build up a bomber fleet to slam into the planet of choice. Then get up defenses and fighters to defend. Rinse and repeat.

There are several methods to use, but the easiest is to design a small bomber or even a tiny one with the best speed you can get to get to the planet in as few turns as possible. You can either just harass by glassing the planet over and over, while gettting up a fleet to defend or try to hold the planet.

It depends on how things go, but frequently I just keep sneaking in to glass a planet, when the AI sends its fleet out. I will not have the ships to take the place and hold it or even keep them away.

I build up till I can hold it, unless it is one I do not have the tech to terraform. Then I just want to deny it to them.

Eventually I can take a planet and hold it and stand it up and move to the next one. This is just one possible avenue.

 

[vmxa]

hegemonkhan I ran a little game log for you to see, if it gives you something to use as a yard stick. It is just one method, not even the best one.

When you said you were playing on the easy level, I was not sure what that was as I know they have a tutorial. The selection offers the lowest as Simple. Is this the one you meant? It will display Master Notes as you play. I do not remember them, but they are not really advise as much as a reminder of considerations.

Example I do recall is it will soon tell you that you have a good start or something and suggest you make missile bases. This is way too early for that. If you are being attack already, you have a real bad draw. I would think it is likely that you do not need missiles on the HW at this level and most levels at all.

It would just be diverting production and cost maint. Maybe at hard with a fairly center of the map start, you may need a few bases later. Often you will start in a corner and never see any action at home. Talking about small maps now as that is what you said your game was currently.

At the Simple level and a corner start you may be limited as to what you can reach for a time. Send out the scouts and colony ship to whatever they can reach. The star colors offer a clue as to the best direction for the colony. You may only have one that it can reach anyway.

In a small map holding off scouts is more useful. You have a choice of how to play. You can take advantage of the AI and park an unarmed scout and attack ships that arrive. If they are unarmed, they will flee. Some consider that an exploit. You will not need many scouts, so go ahead and arm them.

Once they send out any ship you probably want to get up some popguns to prevent them from bring in a popgun and running you off.

Depending on where they are, who they are and the vlaue of the planet, I may put up a better defense in preparation for colonization.

If this were a hard or impossible game you probably would want to start making a large stack of popguns. You do not need that at this level. It will be a time, before they can get the range to send colony ships, if you are in a corner. I do not know how they do on alliances at this level, so if you are in the middle, you want to pay attention and alter things, if you see activity. They can get alliance that let them travel great distance at impossible.

So in a corner at simple and I can only reach 2 starts with a colony. I skip the one that is the least likely to be in contention. IOW it is farther away from all the rest of the galaxy and if they get that one, I lost anyway. This gives the best extension for the other ships as well. A good thing. IOW I will be able to reach more stars with it.

I will probably only send out 2 rounds of pop, if the planet I skip is habitable and I cannot reach a third tier of stars with scouts.

Here I mean, I found a planet. I send the scouts out and they can only reach the 2 at 3 parsecs and two other within 6 parsec of that new planet.

So no need for more scouts right now and my next thing is another colony ship. I would probably get the planet out to near max factories and 3/4 pop and start a colony ship. I would not wait that long on a hard level. At this time I will get some RP going and what you select to research is game and race dependant.

Using the Klacs. I like to go with planetology and hope for a +10. That is a nice production boost and will be quick to apply. If this was a larger map, that would not be my pick. I probably want a range boost.

If I have planets that are habitable and 4/5parsecs out, then even on a small map I would want the range boost. Here we have a another planet at 3 that the scout found and a Barren at 4.

So now I have two planets to grab. Terraform comes in and is applied at 50%. Need to adjust the ship build to get it done in 1. Need that ship out soonest. BTW all RP are direced to one tech (not much anyway).

Eventually the colony ship is done and reaches its home. I take a chance and work on the next colony for that near planet. I do not make armed scouts as I figure my location means they have already scouted the other stars. I want to get on to making a small defense for the new planet after the next colony. I will send out pop when the colony ship is done.

I had already bulbed the next tech, so allocate research to all fields now. This would not be the case for a high level game. I also have spent the cash on the first new colony.

Eventually I increase the spending on the ship to get it out. My weapon option is no option, just hyper V. So I decide to put up a medium laser with 5 guns. They cost 79, while a tiny cost 14 for 1 gun. I can have 5 tiny or 1 medium. The medium has 18HP, while the tiny are 3 each.

This means the medium will be at 5 guns, till dead, while the tiny ships stack will get smaller each 3 points. The medium figures to win againt 5 tiny. No BC or armor or anything. I relocate to the newest planet and send it some pop. The new ship heads for the nearby planet that is safe. All I am going for at this time is to try to prevent scouting the new planet with a popgun escort.

If they scout it they will send large numbers of transports and I will be unable to do anything. I am hoping that by the time they can reach me with a real gun, I will be able to handle them.

I start on a 2 laser scout.

Send 8 pop to newest planet. No cash.

Pop finally reaches Kulthos the second colony. I got range 4 in so I send the scout at Kul off. The popgun had arrived. Tyr the 1st new colony finished and sent off pop to Kul. The lastest planet is Nitzer. I had send pop from HW, but will not sned more as it is safe and size 60, so can do the rest on its own.

It is 2338 and no contacts, must be the level as even a corner start should make some contact by now. I should mention that I got about 63BC from Tyr and put in whatever Kul will take each turn, till gone.

Master notes say I now should design a new ship as I have a better gun. The thing is I have no need of a fighting ship right now and they are so slow. BTW Kulthos was a size 40 minimal.

Deep Space Scanners comes in and I see Mrrs have a scout at my next target for scouting. I see Yarrow is a Coid planet and they have a ship on a red star. The bad news about coids is the can land on all planets. The good news is they are crappy at everything. It also often means more hostile planets than the norm, but that may just be my imagination.

On hard and impossible medium and up maps they can get enough planets to win a vote. If you have lots of inferno/toxic and radiated they get to plant many flags. I am sending 4 pop from Tyr from time to time, each time to Kul. It is the only planet close enough to use.

Scout finds Fieras and bugs out. BTW I now have Reduce waste 80%, very nice.

Mrrs scout runs from my popgun. I scrap my two unarmed scouts as they have no place to go and could do nothing anyway. Put the 4BC into Kul.

Research I skip over to get dead landings as there is a Tundra not too far off and I will try to get it.

Armed scount runs into Guardian and is able to run, before it could cook him. I hate to have Orion close on a small map. I would rather it block someone else.

2351 waiting for Construction and Weapons to finish to make a new ship. Construction will hopefully let me fit a little more in the design and weapons as it is NPG and I want to mount them.

I actually got two breakthroughs, but not Construct as it is 45% now. Got contact with Mrss and Coids. Start MB on Kul as it is finsihed with pop/fact. Found Gorra and three planets send it pop.

I drop in on the new neighbors to see what techs they have, but they claim we are too backward. At this level that would surprise me. It really means no deals are possible.

Design a NPG large to sit on Anrag as I am sending a colony to the Tundra world soon as it comes out the door. Tyr is making the NPG boat.

Smiling Humans stop by and do not care for our toys either. I have half a notion to put a spy to see where stand.

Nitzer up and starts a scout to see what the planet is beyond Orion.

2368 Anraq triggers the vote and we have 4 to Coids 2, so I doubt they are on our level of tech. Two large NPG's are on station.

Send off pop from three planets.

Gorra finishes factories and starts on MB.

Mrrs want a trade deal for 25BC, no deal. Now I just prefer to not make these deals. You may want to do it in a tough game to buy some time on voting. It could mean the difference between an abstain or them voting against you. In this game, I do not care about the vote as I am fine with total war.

What happens with trades when you are not playing as Human tends to mean soon after the trade goes positive for you they will break the deal and often via war. At low levels, that is fine, but on tough games an early or ill timed war could be a problem.

The Coids were the other canidate and they are not likely to have friends, till I am a hated race. I have sent scouts forward.

2375 so another vote and I even pick up the humans.

Next turn the Coid DOW. I am not going to put up a spy right now as I am sure they have little of value and I can wait. I probably i'll never make peace with them. At least as long as they are the other canidate, no need for them to be friends.

Two techs come in and this is a good time to mention that I have had mostly no options on what to research. Both of these fields did offer two picks. In both cases I took the one that would open another list. This is often the best way to go, but I do not always do it, even when the tech is a good one and the one I pick is not critical.

Normally you should skip to the last tech in the list, unless you have to skip over something important that is needed soon.

The value is mainly that you will have a longer list to pick from and be farther down the branch towards really important techs. But, if you need a missle right soon, then you take that. Speaking of which, I now have Sub Light. I am not wanting to make alot of ships at this stage as I do not have enough production to wage a war.

I have not gotten any Factory control to boost my empire. I can reach Yarrow, but I do not know if it is habitable or not. I do not want to glass it for someone else to grab and I a do not want to weaken the Coids to the point that they are not the canidate.

If I did, the Humans looks lke the likey replacement and they may have lots of friends to vote for them. +30 is about due.

Scout find Thrax and it is an asteriod. BTW a nice rexx app was created that lets you turn some planets into asteriods. This is useful for me as I can gen a large map and run that and drop the number of planets down by a percentage. This makes it so you can play without taking as much time. I have not used in a long time, but it does work. I just have not played on anything larger than medium.

I skip a few techs and go for Soil as no planets are available near me that I have scouted. One chance left as a scout nears an unexplored one.

Got hit by the virus and lost some research. I normally do not play with events on as they are so boring, after nearly 2 decades.

Tranor was a radiated planet, so I leave the scout there and start to consider a fleet build up for a run at someone.

I find Esper 9 parsec away, so I leave the scout there as well. Spies show what I figured. Coid have three fields with only the starting tech. Two with a second tech and weapons with 4 techs. I have all, except the Fusion Bomb and I will try to steal it. Given my better comps, that should be easy.

I design a large with 22 Ion Cannons. Battle Scanner, class II shields and ECM for planetary missiles. Sub light and whatever movement I have. I have only the default armor. No bombs, but I doubt they have any shields. Three planets start building them and relocate to Kul as it is closest.

To be continued:

2392 finally steal the bomb. Stop spy spending and set remaining spies to sabotage.

Spies blow up 4 bases. Mrrs DOW.
Spies blow a few more and blame the Humans.
Mrrs have only range 5 and 2 techs in each field, with 4 in planetology. Shut off spies there as well.

2400 Humans are up, but I have 6 votes, enough to stop it. Bases blown up on Mrrs and Coids. Bomb Yarrow after 11 large ships kill all MB and boats. I think they had 4 armed colony ships and 130 medium heavy Ion boats. I now sent troops as I was not able to before. Had not scouted it. Yarrow is fertile steppe, but size 20.

Capture Yarrow. Get Soil and start on Atmos. I skipped Rad for now as I have no need to colonize a new planet right now.

2410 Yarrow is size 90 now. Stingers are in. I would say the game is in hand now. I have 1 Lancer (med), 2 Pegasus (armed scouts med), 12 Avengers (large Ion cannon). Fusion drives are in now, so I would normally make a med missile ship for each palnet in range of enemies.

The main purpose is to entice ships to stay around and attack the ship, while the planet tries to get in a round or two of missiles. Any bait ship would do, but a missile is going to hit someone and a beam may never get off a shot. You can make them 2 shot racks to save money. Later I may make 5 shots as I may send them on and invasion. My main point is that not many ships are needed to deal with this level. No one has even attacked, if you do not count the one stack from the Coids that came to Yarrow.

Design a missile boat and will make 4 for the front planets. Design a large with 14 mass drivers, only 1 planet will make them for now.

Going to hit Coids at home. I still have not had any armor in the tree. Scrap the Lancer and Pegasus.

2422 Coids are gone and we add Cryslon to the fold. Turn out the lights.

 

[vmxa]

2425 vote and I have more than half. Humans have DOW and they only have Duralloy on me and have few techs. Cryslon is now fertile size 155, but not finished with pop/fact yet.

2427 steal armor and turn off spy spending and put them on sabotage.

2431 Atmos terra in and I have two planets that use it. Cryslon is now making MB. I am researching Bio Antidote as the AI is fond of death spores. Now would be the time to design a new ship and hit Fieras.

2437 Got advance scanners and now see many more planets, but still no contact with Meks or Darloks.

2439 capture Fieras with about 214 factories. Get range 5 and RCIII, yahoo.

2448 Fieras up, so off to grab Hyboria from Humans.

2450 vote again, I have 11 of 18, so not going to be any issues there. Captured Hyboria and gain Stabilizers. Note I am now timing invasions so all troops arrive at once. That was not always possible and not really needed before now.

2451 Humans ask for peace and I say no. They offer 425bc, so I take it. In hard/imp they will decalre soon anyway. I am researching radiate landings.

2461 capture Laan and lost contact with the cats. Stargate and Rad in. Gates are not real useful in small maps.

2474 grab Esper and Mrrs are gone. Now have contact with all. Class XV planet shields in.

2475 vote myself the boss, game over.

 

[hegemonkhan]

I'm actually playing this on an old MAC computer, so it doesn't have any tutorial or "hints/quick tips" in-game, at least not that I'm aware of.

I mean the lowest-easiest difficulty level, whatever it is called, and simple does sounds familar (too lazy to pay attention what it's called, lol).

also, I thought I said this in my previous post, but again I'm at 6 'o clock (middle down) in the galaxy.

the problem is that:

2nd colony star is 3 range (so I can get this, but it's at the edge of the galaxy so it doesn't allow me to now be in range of more stars).

3rd colony star is the next nearest inhabitable star is at 4 range. (so I have to first research warp 4 tech at ~140 RPs, then build a colony ship, then wait for it to get there)

4th+5th colony stars are now in range once I colonize that 3rd colony star. one of these is the terran ~115 pop and the other is an ocean 35 pop star. the good terran ~115 pop star is right between me and the klackons... and this also means they can get to my home star and wipe me out with their massive fleet

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well, when I restart the game from turn 1, it changes/randomizes what the A.I. opponents do.

I got one game restart where it seemed like all the A.I. weren't doing anything, lol. but I messed up it up badly and didn't have any backup or old save (except the initial req restart save), argh!

but usually they (the KLACKONS argh!), as they're the only ones who are near enough to take "my stars", have a fleet of:

~250 laser small ships, ~140 other type of laser small ships i presume, and a ~150 HP (hit point) large-(I think) combat ship, and of course a colony ship with them

so it's not like I can "trick chase" them away... from colonizing "my stars".

and it's a REALLY GOOD star too, terran ~115 pop capacity (I have trouble taking it with transports if I can luck out and time them along with their fleet moving away... though usually to bomb my other colonies into oblivion, lol) as my stars don't have as high populations (and you can only transport half over first turn and then "diminish returns" less each following turn).

I can't compete with this at all, as I'm busy trying to to research warp drive 4 just to be able to colonize the nearest inhabitable star at range 4 (my 3rd colony), make contact with the Klackons, and then with it, now that range 5 REALLY GOOD (terran, ~115 pop) star is now in reach. but this is usually too late... and/or I can't hold it or my survival, as again the Klackons have a massive fleet, despite being so early in th game too, on turn ~ 30-60.

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in some of my restarts:

the Klackons have also allied with their (other, as I'm the Klackon's neightbor too, argh) neighbor, the Psilons... argh... who also had a decent fleet as well, argh!

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I'm only interested in conquest (Xenocide = total elimination of all races/opponents) wins.

getting a democratic/diplomatic win, feels like I'm getting robbed of a glorious win and/or game, lol.

 

[vmxa]

I used to only win by conquest, but nowadays I sometimes decide there is no point to taking them out. Sometimes at the point where I could win by vote, I just send out a few fleets and glass all the planets.

At the point I was at I could do whatever I wanted, they could do nothing. When you have 2/3 or more of the votes yourself, they are doomed.

Post a start save and we will see what needs to be done.