Starting out

[H6g4505]

Can I get a few starting tips please?
I can never decide what to research first. This obviously depends on the settings, but there must be a few basic technologies that should be researched first no matter what.

Same thing with virtues. I just don't know what's better to do at the beginning. I tried going with the might tree for the science bonus from killing aliens, but it didn't seem to help much and felt like a waste. Knowledge look good, but not until the city is bigger. I have no idea about Industry. Prosperity feels like a double edged sword as it gets me into negative health relatively quickly.

 

[Blue Emu]

Prosperity and Industry are the two +Health trees, but their value has declined a bit (relative to Knowledge and Might, which used to be distinctly second-rate) since the RT expansion opened up new ways to stabilize your health.

The "best" tree depends on your game plan. Going to REx (Rapid Expansion)? Prosperity or Industry. Going to spy for your science or cash? Get the virtues that give bonus spies or bonus to espionage. Going to buy your way to victory? Industry will greatly boost your cash-flow.

I find that after the re-balancing, all four trees are practical choices... with Might perhaps still the weakest (but containing some excellent picks, such as +1 Affinity and +20% Affinity virtues).

Research: Obviously, start with the inner ring. Then perhaps head for the tech that allows your spy building or the one that enables Academies.

 

[H6g4505]

I've also noticed the virtues cost raises in a really steep curve. Maybe I'd be better off with skipping those free worker/colonist units ones and invest into science tree instead?

 

[Blue Emu]

It's a toss-up. An extra city early on will improve your virtue gain and your science. Possibly your gold as well. It also allows you to start running those over-powered trade routes. As you point out, it makes your later virtues more expensive, though. Personally, I usually grab the free settler, and often the worker and the bonus expedition modules as well... there is a tremendous profit in collecting most of the ruins before the AI can grab them.

 

[Ryika]

It's a toss-up. An extra city early on will improve your virtue gain and your science. Possibly your gold as well. It also allows you to start running those over-powered trade routes. As you point out, it makes your later virtues more expensive, though. Personally, I usually grab the free settler, and often the worker and the bonus expedition modules as well... there is a tremendous profit in collecting most of the ruins before the AI can grab them.

Taking all of these also gives the first prosperity-bonus (10% growth or whatever it was) and completes 4/6 of the first synergy-bonus which gives a free virtue, giving a pretty good overall package when combined with a second tree where you only take 2 virtues in t1.

I personally would skip the free worker + Modules in a scenario where I want to take 3 virtues in another tree, the laboratory building quest can help with modules in that case.

 

[H6g4505]

The problem with Prosperity tree is that it quickly gets me to very negative health (like -8 or less), so I'm not sure I should invest in it. It's especially bad when I try to have more than two cities.

 

[Ryika]

It's not a problem to be in negative health, the bonuses from being able to expand quickly and getting all the ruins easily outweigh the small growth penalty.

 

[H6g4505]

Yea but at like -10? That's a lot of negative health. I found out it only takes two outposts to get this low.

 

[Ryika]

Yes, -10 is just fine. Anything above -20 is just fine (that's where production penalty comes in) as a general guideline. You should hover over the health number and take a look at the penalties, they're really mild. Going into serious negative health to prepare a strong midgame is how this game is played.

 

[H6g4505]

Heh, ok.
I've started about 5 games in the past two days with slightly different strategies, but being the perfectionist I am, I was never happy with the outcome. Obviously, being new to the game doesn't help much
Basically, I cannot decide between focusing on Prosperity or Industry first. The latter is nice, because with a bit of hoarding you can buy a lot of stuff within few tens of turns without having to spend time manufacturing them. But you still need some population. On top of that, I am in heavy doubts whether to invest a little bit (like the first two) in the Might tree just to give my troops a bit of a boost.
The other problem I have is my explorers are dying all the damn time, mostly to miasma and slew of aliens around nests which are absolutely everywhere. There are quite a few expedition sites around, but there's no way my units can last 10 rounds standing in that alien sh*t.
I guess part of my problem is inability to figure out production priorities, too.

 

[Blue Emu]

You can move onto the expedition site, start digging, wait until your health drops fairly low, then move off and heal. Move back onto the site and pick up where you left off.

This works even better if you keep your explorers in pairs, so one or the other of them is always digging... that way, an opponent can't come along and steal the last few turns of digging.

 

[manu-fan]

Heh, ok.
I've started about 5 games in the past two days with slightly different strategies, but being the perfectionist I am, I was never happy with the outcome. Obviously, being new to the game doesn't help much
Basically, I cannot decide between focusing on Prosperity or Industry first. The latter is nice, because with a bit of hoarding you can buy a lot of stuff within few tens of turns without having to spend time manufacturing them. But you still need some population. On top of that, I am in heavy doubts whether to invest a little bit (like the first two) in the Might tree just to give my troops a bit of a boost.
The other problem I have is my explorers are dying all the damn time, mostly to miasma and slew of aliens around nests which are absolutely everywhere. There are quite a few expedition sites around, but there's no way my units can last 10 rounds standing in that alien sh*t.
I guess part of my problem is inability to figure out production priorities, too.

Explorers should initially only be focusing on exploring and getting resource pods. Don't have them waste turns on sites, those are for later. IMHO.

 

[H6g4505]

Oh, I thought I was supposed to dig the hell out of the sites ASAP, before the other AIs do.

What about the virtues in my last post btw? Could anyone elaborate on that a bit?

Another thing I am never sure about is the cargo. I'm inclined towards Laboratory simply because it saves research time, but at the same time, it's not very useful right away.

 

[Erneiz Hyde]

If your explorer is having trouble with aliens, here's a tip: NEVER EVER EVER deal ANY kind of damage to aliens from ANY unit or city. They will then leave you alone even if you go through their nests.

As for exploring, I personally have 5 explorers and I do start digging right away because I use Electromagnetic Scanner. I generally find the bonuses from expeditions are a lot better than pods though I do get the pods first if there are any near the site. I guess you just have to try both approach and see what works best for you.

I always pick the extra expedition and settler virtue in Prosperity, but then I move on to Industry and get the more internal trade yield and magnasanti.

 

[mrmike1949]

If your explorer is having trouble with aliens, here's a tip: NEVER EVER EVER deal ANY kind of damage to aliens from ANY unit or city. They will then leave you alone even if you go through their nests.
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i.

That s interesting, does that work on all difficulty levels?

The bad part being no training for your troops

 

[Ryika]

Yes, works on all difficulty levels. Has some more benefits, Aliens will not attack trade routes for example.

 

[mrmike1949]

Ryika/Enertz
it may not be entirely true:
what I've seen the last hour is that aliens won't generally attack,
BUT:
1) If your Explorer or Soldier gets surrounded on at least 4 sides, the Aliens WILL attack it
2) Colonists get murdered whenever there is an Alien around

Note that even if they kill one of your troops, they are still not aggressive, i.e., an Alien next to another Explorer will not attack it

I did put in the Fence, mainly to keep them out of the way of my workers, and also chose to protect the convoys with the repulsor field

Update:
naval unit don't seem to get any benefit, they are attacked every time
a caveat, I do have 4 mods running, one of which is supposed to allow you to continue gaining experience for soldiers from Alien fights http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=331173063

base BE , no RT

 

[H6g4505]

How does the military units XP work, and what is it good for? I thought you needed XP for upgrades, but it doesn't seem to be that way.

Also, how do I get some affinity levels quickly? I got to around 110 turns and I think I have at most level 1 in purity.

 

[Ryika]

1) If your Explorer or Soldier gets surrounded on at least 4 sides, the Aliens WILL attack it
2) Colonists get murdered whenever there is an Alien around

Yes, Civilian Units still get eaten when they're outside of your territory. The AI doesn't count that as an "attack" (technically).

Other than that... no, I have sent whole armies through alien territory in domination games, without being attacked once. As long as you have never ever done damage to aliens they should not attack at all. This includes attacks with city bombardment and aliens killed by moving cities onto them (which happend to me by accident - twice. ). You can of course also not plunder alien nests.

Interestingly enough heavily expanding into "their territory" will make them go orange/red but still not attack you as long as they're in the initial "no attack"-phase.

 

[mrmike1949]

Yes, Civilian Units still get eaten when they're outside of your territory. The AI doesn't count that as an "attack" (technically).

Other than that... no, I have sent whole armies through alien territory in domination games, without being attacked once. As long as you have never ever done damage to aliens they should not attack at all. This includes attacks with city bombardment and aliens killed by moving cities onto them (which happend to me by accident - twice. ). You can of course also not plunder alien nests.

Interestingly enough heavily expanding into "their territory" will make them go orange/red but still not attack you as long as they're in the initial "no attack"-phase.

The attacks of "semi-surrounded" units happens very consistently, an explorer can be next to two aliens, no issue, get surrounded by 4 aliens, ATTACK! Happened at least a half dozen times, mostly re-loaded game and moved my unit a different path to avoid getting surrounded, and no problem

I was very careful to never have cities attack, but did stumble into some nests