Spaceships, Thrusters,Casing and Engines.

[Sjaramei]

So i'm in the middle of a space race, i got 2 casings 3 thrusters and 1 engine. arrival time-49 turns (marathon)

Isn't this a very long arrival time? Anybody know where i can find how more casings and thrusters affect things?
(i can build another casing in 11 turns a thruster in 16 or so, my production kinda sucks . I believe another engine won't matter much i think i read somewhere that it is only useful if you have 2 production cities making them at the same time)

I'm competing vs Cyrus who has vassalized the entire world and has full spaceship from the bottom at the moment. (he lacks engines and stasis bay)
So i don't want to launch if he beats me

I have spies and loads of EP to use, problem is because of his size i'm facing 140% cost and can't see where he builds/is gonna build engine so i need to figure that out manually. Any experts with space race victories give tips!
(this is the first one i've actually had competition from AI's, too fond of domination )

 

[Defiant47]

Each casing you build increases the chance of success by 20%. If you build with less than 5 casings and you get unlucky, your spaceship could be lost before it reaches its destination.

I'm not sure about the exact numbers, but I've heard that engines don't increase speed all that much, especially if you wait to launch the spaceship just because of building the second engine (unless you've got massive production and some gold to rush-buy*).

* - also not sure if rush-buying projects is possible... silly me

 

[Sjaramei]

Each casing you build increases the chance of success by 20%. If you build with less than 5 casings and you get unlucky, your spaceship could be lost before it reaches its destination.

What? I could lose my spaceship? I did not know that!
I should have made at least a couple more of them then.......
So i got 40% chance of success then? Or is it some default chance i don't know about too?

 

[obsolete]

Firaxis failed to put weight as a factor in this game, the way I understand it. So you can't go wrong by adding too many casings. Each give you 20% bonus success rate. So you better stack it up to the max cause you only start off with 20% chance.

Both engines give so little boost performance, it's better to not waste hammers on them. I understand that some ship parts should be super hammer heavy (to open up strategy), but because they are at the end of the tech-line, it is silly to build both.

It seems, one of the coders knew this, and this is why SOMETIMES an AI will launch before making both. But if the coders knew that, why didn't they fix the heirarchy in the first place? I don't know... someone dropped the ball on that one in upper management. Hopefully Sid will improve on this in the near future.

 

[Defiant47]

What? I could lose my spaceship? I did not know that!
I should have made at least a couple more of them then.......
So i got 40% chance of success then? Or is it some default chance i don't know about too?

0 casings = you can't launch, you dummy!
1 casing = 20% chance of success
2 casings = 40%
3 casings = 60%
4 casings = 80%
5 casings = 100% (apparently some things in uncertain environments and situations can be certain )

In the spaceship screen, it should show you the chance somewhere in the bottom right, I think.

 

[DrJambo]

The only time building the second engine might be worthwhile is if you can finish producing both of them on approximately the same turn.

To promote a more exciting finish, casings and thrusters should probably have been further down the tech tree than the engine, or, building the second engine should have made more of a difference.

 

[madscientist]

Not sure if this helps but if you really want to beat Cyrus, you can launch an all out war and raze his capital if you can reach it via the sea. This compeltely destroys his spaceship and you can pop out the last casings to assure 100% mission completion. Once teh SpaceShip is in flight it's only a matter of preventing total eradication by the Persians.

 

[fjordan]

you don't have to know where he builds his engine because you can destroy the parts he already built. Very expensive but you say you have loads of EP so this may help. Just find the cheapest city, turn up the EP slider and start the demolition.

 

[Gliese 581]

I'm going for a space race in my current game and I'm thinking about possibly gifting one of my smaller cities on my continent to the AI posing the only possible threat at this point in case the race is close.
Can I destroy any/all parts he has built in the gifted city at reduced cost since my enemy is on another continent?

Edit: If yes, wow, talk about an exploit.