My first BE war...

[ProphetMaster]

Coming to this game from Civ4, I am unfamiliar with these "ranged" units but can see why they must stay behind the other soldiers.

Anyway, I want to try my hand at warfare. CEO Suzanne Fielding has her capital right where I want my next city. She has no other cities. I have two cities and two outposts. She is at 5 energy per turn. I am at 20 energy per turn. Her science is at 8 and mine is 17. I have level-2 Harmony. She has zero. So I should be able to take her out. Right?

Question: What units will I need to take her out quickly? I absolutely HATE long wars!

 

[Shafi-is-back]

get to Harmony 4 quickly and use Xeno swarms to take her out.

 

[Mutineer]

get to Harmony 4 quickly and use Xeno swarms to take her out.

Or just build 4 ranges? do not remember there name, should be easy. If you can get upgrade for them (L3 affinity I believe) even better. Trick is to set up so all your range units can move and fire same turn, if possible. You still need 1-2 marine to actially take city(only melee units can take cities).

 

[ProphetMaster]

get to Harmony 4 quickly and use Xeno swarms to take her out.

So, I am not strong enough yet. Let's say she is at level-2 by the time I get to level-4. How many Xeno swarm units should I build? Anything else needed? I don't want to screw this up! Thanks.

 

[ProphetMaster]

Or just build 4 ranges? do not remember there name, should be easy. If you can get upgrade for them (L3 affinity I believe) even better. Trick is to set up so all your range units can move and fire same turn, if possible. You still need 1-2 marine to actially take city(only melee units can take cities).

The level-2 range units are Gunners. I also have an alien Drone that I dug up in an expedition, so he can help. Do you think 4 Gunners, 1-2 Marines, and the Drone can take her out?

 

[Mutineer]

The level-2 range units are Gunners. I also have an alien Drone that I dug up in an expedition, so he can help. Do you think 4 Gunners, 1-2 Marines, and the Drone can take her out?

Yes. should not be a problem.

 

[Xenotitan]

get to Harmony 4 quickly and use Xeno swarms to take her out.

The level 4 affinity units are not nearly as good after the patch. Even if they were, it sounds like he can take out Fielding quickly anyway and shouldn't need to spend the time getting to those units. His marines and gunners are both a tier above hers.

 

[ProphetMaster]

The level 4 affinity units are not nearly as good after the patch. Even if they were, it sounds like he can take out Fielding quickly anyway and shouldn't need to spend the time getting to those units. His marines and gunners are both a tier above hers.

Thanks guys. It went well and I have won my first war in the game.

I know how to build an Institute, but what about "Academy" that the user manual says is built on a tile to increase science. I see no command for my Worker choices to do that. I assume there is some tech prerequisite, but I can't find it in the manual.

Also, I am playing around with the "favors" option on the trade screen. Is this just a joke or will they actually do me a small favor? How many gifts do I have to make to get one favor? IMO the trading formulas in this game are much more tilted in favor of the AI compared to Civ4. It seems useless to propose anything less than a robbery in their favor to get anything.

 

[Mutineer]

favor is not thin you really want. They ask for favor when they have nothing and they want a bit for that. I believe favor most useful to instigate war between ai ( you can trade favors for war decs),

Trade vise early on before you can really use resources you can sell them for cash.
yes, about academy, just search tech web and it will tell what tech you need to build them.

 

[Shafi-is-back]

dont remember the name of the tech but the tech that allows building academies is somewhere on the upper right of the tech web ... maybe 2nd / 3rd ring tech.

 

[Xenotitan]

It's called cognition. It has an icon with a graduation cap in it.

 

[ProphetMaster]

It's called cognition. It has an icon with a graduation cap in it.

Thanks for the info. Next question: I built my capital on the coast and my first city on the coast 4 tiles away. The program will not allow my trade vessel to leave port. The "exit" tile from the port has algae with a Work Barge on it. Does that mean that a trade vessel can't pass through that tile? Or what?

 

[Mutineer]

no, it does not mean that, but again you need to see water way try and there could be obnly 1 trade route between 2 cities
so, if you have land route, sea route will not be avalible

 

[ProphetMaster]

no, it does not mean that, but again you need to see water way try and there could be obnly 1 trade route between 2 cities
so, if you have land route, sea route will not be avalible

Okay, I think that explains it. I wanted the sea route to get the extra trade value. So, does that mean that once I have the tech to spread miasma on tiles, I could use miasma to block up all land routes to a city as a way to make the sea route available?

 

[Shafi-is-back]

If you are not using the land trade route, then the sea trade route is available.

Also with the patch, the yields of both land and sea trade routes are the same i believe.

You need to see a clear path between yhe two cities to set up the trade route, if you have not explored those tiles you will not be able to set up the trade route. So move a unit along the coast from your capital to the other city to reveal the tiles.

 

[Mutineer]

yes, you can block trade with miasma, but any ability that give miasma immunity will let trade routes to go try. In addition, if you spread miasma near ai city they will become unhappy with you.

 

[sylvanllewelyn]

Post-patch, not sure if 4 gunners and 2 marines can invade anyone anymore.

I suspect, under some conditions, the AI enters a "war" script and things get very nasty. Someone please confirm.

Like the game I am on. Turn 80, everyone had 5-6 cities, I had 3 plus an outpost, very normal. The faction next to me, only had the starting two cities (AI starts with extra settler). In fact, that faction had a lot of space to expand in the other direction, but actually did not do so at all!

Instead, that faction declared the next turn (81) with like 12 gunners and 6 combat rovers, spread out around. I know because I scouted. What a waste of everyone's time too. Ironic, because it came from the leader that keeps saying war is a waste of time!!!

 

[Gort]

Post-patch, not sure if 4 gunners and 2 marines can invade anyone anymore.

I suspect, under some conditions, the AI enters a "war" script and things get very nasty. Someone please confirm.

Like the game I am on. Turn 80, everyone had 5-6 cities, I had 3 plus an outpost, very normal. The faction next to me, only had the starting two cities (AI starts with extra settler). In fact, that faction had a lot of space to expand in the other direction, but actually did not do so at all!

Instead, that faction declared the next turn (81) with like 12 gunners and 6 combat rovers, spread out around. I know because I scouted. What a waste of everyone's time too. Ironic, because it came from the leader that keeps saying war is a waste of time!!!

Given that the OP has never had a war in Beyond Earth before, I think it's unlikely that he's playing on Apollo difficulty like you apparently are.

4 gunners and 2 marines is a fine city-assault force in the early game (affinity 2 or so) - obviously the force required increases as the game goes on.

 

[CraigMak]

You want gunners. Make a bunch of rangers just before you get that 2nd affinity point so they all upgrade to gunners with far less production invested. 4 - 6 gunners plus some token melee units should take down cities in the early game.

If they get any defensive buildings it can be really nasty though. Defensive buildings in this game are crazy good and increase city strength dramatically.

 

[ProphetMaster]

Post-patch, not sure if 4 gunners and 2 marines can invade anyone anymore.

I suspect, under some conditions, the AI enters a "war" script and things get very nasty. Someone please confirm.

Like the game I am on. Turn 80, everyone had 5-6 cities, I had 3 plus an outpost, very normal. The faction next to me, only had the starting two cities (AI starts with extra settler). In fact, that faction had a lot of space to expand in the other direction, but actually did not do so at all!

Instead, that faction declared the next turn (81) with like 12 gunners and 6 combat rovers, spread out around. I know because I scouted. What a waste of everyone's time too. Ironic, because it came from the leader that keeps saying war is a waste of time!!!

How can I tell whether my version has this "patch" or not? I purchased the game on December 15, and play through the Steam website. They claim they keep the game automatically updated to the latest version, so may I assume that I already have this "patch", or do I need to download it somewhere?