Your favourite faction(s).

[CEO Aaron]

Damn it.. Tech choices are a pain in the neck. If I choose biogenetics, techs to get planned and democracy are taken away. Based on what you say, I should get planned as soon as possible to get the industry bonus and the growth bonus. Then, once I cross the second bureaucracy limit, I should switch to Democracy.

Sure, but 'as soon as possible' takes into account that you might not get it on your third tech choice.

So, taking into account the fact that I'll be spreading like weeds, I think my best bee line would be :

CE -> Information Networks -> Planetary Networks ( Switching to Planned ) -> Social Psych ( I can start having big bases ) -> Ethical Calculus ( Switching to Democracy ) -> Biogenetics.

What do you think?

Sounds good in principle, but without looking at your base expansion at the time of each choice, it's difficult to speak with authority.

Also, why is HGP not important to you? Isn't that a great SP? Talents stop drones, right? Having the HGP is a little like having Social Psych, it neutralizes one drone, right? Why do I find this extremely useful when playing in the hardest difficulty setting a base with 2 population starts rioting asap with HGP or Social Psych?

I don't think it's unimportant, but I don't think it's worth giving up founding 5 more bases to get, early on. That's what a 200 row Secret Project costs you. What HGP gives you is one talent per base. But if you don't NEED that talent to keep everyone in that base productive, it's not WORTH anything. Later on, it can be highly useful in helping you get golden ages more easily, something that's certainly useful for low-growth factions like Sven.

Basically, my attitude about SPs is this: Build the ones you NEED so that you can take away the ones you WANT. If your strategy pivots around getting a big mid-game golden-age population boom, then by all means, grab HGP. But building every SP and neglecting your basic development is an invitation to get rolled over in multiplayer.

[Mensonge]

"If your strategy pivots around getting a big mid-game golden-age population boom"

Yes, that is the strategy I'm currently considering. I've been thinking about the Pirates, one of the main advantages of dwelling on water is that nutrients and energy are easy to acquire. On top of that, there's a huge space to expand and sea units can roam the map quicker than anyone else in the beginning of the game. I believe this can compensate for the lack of an industry bonus, like the Free Drones, and allow the Pirates to be one of the best building factions.

At first I was obsessed with the inferior yield of sea bases, and the lack of industry bonuses, then I realized my expansion was held off during my last play with the Free Drones because of fungus, slow movements on land with my colony pods, and eventually rivals making me turtle and prepare for a military assault. Being caught in the middle of two factions can be a hassle and plummet any desire for fast expansion.

The Pirates are not restricted by these things, they can simply avoid all these problems with mobility and loneliness on water. Deep down, this might constitute a better advantage than any industry bonus you could get during the game.

I was thinking that I should opt for an aggressive expansion strategy, based on a focused-nutrient & energy civilization. Simply put, I should set up bases as fast as possible, covering the largest territory before anyone shows up on water, use my formers to terraform kelp, tidal harnesses everywhere, and benefiting from the +1 mineral on shelf by lowering the level of the sea all around my bases where the ocean is deep to get shelf instead, which can be done soon if I get the Weather Paradigm asap. All of my bases should grow rapidly and end up with a huge number of population, by focusing on nutrients and energy and by way of middle-game pop boom thanks to golden age.

The mineral yield will be my nightmare at first, but big bases will compensate that with a lot of workers, and the huge amount of energy I'll make should allow me to beeline more rapidly than anyone else to get the technologies I need to produce tons of minerals. For instance, when launching satellites, any base can become a flourishing outpost. So in the end, it really doesn't matter if it's a sea base or not, the one who has the most ideally placed bases and the most bases win, and that should be me considering that the whole ocean is for me to take, and to defend on favorable conditions given my factions abilities.

Now, what is the best way to get talents and therefore to reach a golden age? Very early, I can have +5 Growth thanks to Planned, Democracy and Children's Crèches, what else is required?

I was also thinking scouting the map would allow me to spot the moonsoon jungle and settle down there, get all factions comlinks before anyone else, trade, and form a sea blockade between continents to make other factions stagnate after filling their continents.

Having the biggest population, I should obtain and retain the most votes in the Planetary Council, and vote for the increase of sea level so that others bases are flooded and the space for other factions to expand on land diminished. I shouldn't care that shelf disappears once I get satellites, because in the end it will only affect minerals and I'll mass produce them from a distance. This also means I should start polluting like crazy, any ideas?

[CEO Aaron]

"[COLOR=#000000]If your strategy pivots around getting a big mid-game golden-age population boom"

Yes, that is the strategy I'm currently considering. I've been thinking about the Pirates, one of the main advantages of dwelling on water is that nutrients and energy are easy to acquire. On top of that, there's a huge space to expand and sea units can roam the map quicker than anyone else in the beginning of the game. I believe this can compensate for the lack of an industry bonus, like the Free Drones, and allow the Pirates to be one of the best building factions.

Good, good! Yes, you're paying more for your units, but you're also GETTING more. Sea formers move 4 squares, where land formers will only move 1 or 2.

At first I was obsessed with the inferior yield of sea bases, and the lack of industry bonuses, then I realized my expansion was held off during my last play with the Free Drones because of fungus, slow movements on land with my colony pods, and eventually rivals making me turtle and prepare for a military assault. Being caught in the middle of two factions can be a hassle and plummet any desire for fast expansion.

The Pirates are not restricted by these things, they can simply avoid all these problems with mobility and loneliness on water. Deep down, this might constitute a better advantage than any industry bonus you could get during the game.

I was thinking that I should opt for an aggressive expansion strategy, based on a focused-nutrient & energy civilization. Simply put, I should set up bases as fast as possible, covering the largest territory before anyone shows up on water, use my formers to terraform kelp, tidal harnesses everywhere, and benefiting from the +1 mineral on shelf by lowering the level of the sea all around my bases where the ocean is deep to get shelf instead, which can be done soon if I get the Weather Paradigm asap. All of my bases should grow rapidly and end up with a huge number of population, by focusing on nutrients and energy and by way of middle-game pop boom thanks to golden age.

I think you mean 'raising' here. Shelf is higher than deep ocean, not lower. It's also a bit pricey. Which is not to say it's never worth doing, but bear in mind it's a lengthy investment in your former armada's time. I'd focus on expanding to available ocean shelf (and unoccupied islands) first, and postpone the manufacture of new shelf til you've reached the limits of where you can grow organically.

The mineral yield will be my nightmare at first, but big bases will compensate that with a lot of workers, and the huge amount of energy I'll make should allow me to beeline more rapidly than anyone else to get the technologies I need to produce tons of minerals. For instance, when launching satellites, any base can become a flourishing outpost. So in the end, it really doesn't matter if it's a sea base or not, the one who has the most ideally placed bases and the most bases win, and that should be me considering that the whole ocean is for me to take, and to defend on favorable conditions given my factions abilities.

It's not as bad as it seems at first, with regard to mineral income. That putative 3 pop base working forests gets 8 minerals. A Sven seabase gets 5. The difference being that your seabase gets +3 nutrients for growth, which means it will be a 4 population base that much sooner.

Now, what is the best way to get talents and therefore to reach a golden age? Very early, I can have +5 Growth thanks to Planned, Democracy and Children's Creches, what else is required?

Booming is only really necessary for short bursts, but you will probably still want to get HGP if you're planning on doing an early boom. So, you want to equip a few exploration teams early on. That's a foil, a transport and a rover. The transport is there to pop sea pods and carry the rover, which pops land pods. The foil is there solely to escort. Alien artifacts will take the sting out of the early SP. I would probably pass on Weather Paradigm, though. I file it under 'nice to have', rather than necessary. I mean, if you've got a huge base footprint already and nobody's built it, sure, grab it, but don't hamper your development to get it. I'd consider it after 12+ bases, maybe more depending on your map size.

Oh, and if you whiff on HGP, all is not lost. Just make getting to Cloning Vats your priority after you've unlocked your resource caps and researched fusion power.

I was also thinking scouting the map would allow me to spot the moonsoon jungle and settle down there, get all factions comlinks before anyone else, trade, and form a sea blockade between continents to make other factions stagnate after filling their continents.

Yes, scouting is one of your critical advantages which you give up when going Free Market, so in a strategy that doesn't use it, make the most of your scouting.

Having the biggest population, I should obtain and retain the most votes in the Planetary Council, and vote for the increase of sea level so that others bases are flooded and the space for other factions to expand on land diminished. I shouldn't care that shelf disappears once I get satellites, because in the end it will only affect minerals and I'll mass produce them from a distance. This also means I should start polluting like crazy, any ideas?

Well, I think the governorship is nice to have, but hard to clinch. Usually a consortium of AI players will contrive to deny you the boss chair. I'm personally a fan of the military side of the game, so I rarely do such shenanigans as flooding out my rivals. Also, just because you're building seabases doesn't mean you can't build the odd land base. You should! As long as its out of the way of rival factions, build on it! Also, your most productive bases will have a flyspec island nearby with a thermal borehole on it. As routes to Armageddon go, I'm much more fond of planetbusters. The rest of Chiron gets to see the big giant crater of those foolish enough to resist my enlightened rule.

[Mensonge]

Yes, I meant 'raising', sorry!

Good advices. Also, what are the best ways to get talents? The HGP is good for that, but I recall allocating energy to psych could create talents, how so?

Usually, in my games with Morgan, I play very differently. I keep small bases with +3 Economy and do the ICS stuff, I don't really care about nutrients and psych, now things are completely different.

[CEO Aaron]

In the economics pane, you can set the ratio of your energy expenditures. Set a percentage of your energy input to go into psych. Like labs and credits, there are certain facilities that multiply the effects of your psych expenditure. Also, specialists can produce psych for your bases as well, this can be a more effective method if you have a base which is high in nutrients but low in energy production. Once you've got your psych production for a base, every 2 psych produced will turn one citizen into a talent, or turn a drone into a normal citizen. There's also a 'super-drone', a citizen so unhappy/deranged that it will take 4 psych to mollify them.

When a bases has no drones, three or more population, and at least half of the population are talents, it enters a 'Golden Age'. This gives, among other bonuses, +2 to growth, which for certain low-growth or SE-restricted factions, is required to achieve a population boom. This is a crucial mid-game strategy for every builder and hybrid faction, it's simply that powerful.

[Mensonge]

So how much should I allocate to psych in the economics pane? 10%? 20%?

[CEO Aaron]

So how much should I allocate to psych in the economics pane? 10%? 20%?

It depends on too many factors to say for certain, but you can change your expenditure ratio at will, and look at the effects in your society pane. More important than having a magic number in mind for psych expenditure is to have a plan to keep your golden-age pop boom as short as necessary. That means having Hab Complexes built, and the wherewithal to feed and quell the new additions to your population. My preferred method is to crawl nutrients from condenser/farm squares and convert the new additions into doctors. Once you're done with the pop boom, you'll no longer need the psych, and should convert them all to lab-producing specialists, so you can commence rocketing up the tech tree towards spaceflight, satellites and hab domes. That's endgame for the nutrient-strategy.

[Mensonge]

I guess I'm all set for my next game in three weeks!

So, what factions have you played lately?

[CEO Aaron]

I guess I'm all set for my next game in three weeks!

So, what factions have you played lately?

My current game is a Spartan run on a large map. It's 2232, I've got 21 bases, the Virtual World, The Citizens Defense Force and The Command Nexus, and am working on The Maritime Control Center. I'm on an island by myself, with Miriam my nearest neighbor to my south. University is far to my southwest, with The Human Genome Project, The Empath Guild, and The Planetary Datalinks. Morgan is far to my east, with The Planetary Transit System, The Planetary Energy Grid, and The Weather Paradigm, and they're working on The Ascetic Virtues. Way off somewhere to my southeast is Yang, with The Merchant Exchange.

However, I'm just coming into my population boom phase, so my power graph has been pulling away from my rivals, and once I'm done developing my home island and neighboring archipelago, I'll consume Miriam, then go conquer Morgan for his Secret Projects.

[Mensonge]

Why are you playing the Spartans? The industry penalty means you'll have to go with planned most of the time just to keep up with the most basic factions regarding industry, and then compensate the energy decrease from SE with children's crèche, all of this for military supremacy which is only useful at the start of the game on small maps.

Or is it challenge you're seeking?

You're skipping the opportunity to fight a relatively good AI, in comparison with Morgan for instance who is no fun at all to play against. Every time I include him in my games, he's ridiculously weak. This is the faction that probably needs micro-management and terraforming the most, which the computer is terrible at.

Worse, while conquering his bases is very easy it gives the best rewards, lots of credits. So I think it's kinda cheap.

Because of this and my liking for the faction, I used to play Morgan. Now I always play one of the SMAX faction, so I have to remove one of the original factions to match the 7 factions requirement. 75% of the time I remove Morgan for the reasons I described above and because a game with Santiago, Miriam, and Yang on your ass is almost always the most entertaining.

Lal is also usually weak, except for diplomacy, which is why he's out only 25% of my games. The green lady can be good, the mad scientist too.

Now I know you're an expert at Morgan playstyle, maybe you got fed up, I can understand that.

Also, one more thing, should I build my sea bases right next to a land tile or space my base with 1 sea tile from land?

[CEO Aaron]

Why are you playing the Spartans? The industry penalty means you'll have to go with planned most of the time just to keep up with the most basic factions regarding industry, and then compensate the energy decrease from SE with children's crèche, all of this for military supremacy which is only useful at the start of the game on small maps.

Or is it challenge you're seeking?

Why not? Yes, the industry penalty definitely hurts, as does the inability to run Wealth, which is probably the best value choice in you can get in society effects, but the Spartans do have some interesting strengths. The most obvious is their bonus morale. The Spartan military is second to none, period. But more powerful, I would argue, is their +1 police rating. The ability to quell extra citizens is very strong, and allows you to to support the same kind of sprawling empires I've been pointing out Sven is able to get, except that Santiago can also population boom without resorting to psych expenditures. So no HGP necessary, you can just park yourself in Planned/Demo the entire game, unless you're gearing up for a war, at which point you'll dip into Fundamentalism to get the morale boost to your troop quality.

You're skipping the opportunity to fight a relatively good AI, in comparison with Morgan for instance who is no fun at all to play against. Every time I include him in my games, he's ridiculously weak. This is the faction that probably needs micro-management and terraforming the most, which the computer is terrible at.

The key word here is 'relatively'. All the AI opponents are weak when you've mastered the game. The AI tends to overbuild units and under-develop terraforming. I did a hotseat game experiment where I played Morgan for 100 turns then went into the scenario editor and switched to the weakest faction. It turned out to be Sparta. They hadn't even researched Centauri Ecology. No formers, for 100 turns. But that didn't take the cake. The Morganite empire I had built was a marvel. I had condenser farms, thermal boreholes, and crawlers working to rake in the riches. Shortly after taking over Sparta, I did some reconnaissance of my former colony. The AI had cashed in all my crawlers (on I'm not sure what), filled in all the boreholes, and replaced my terraforming with its own farm/solar dross it always stamps out.

Bottom line, I don't play this game because of it's challenging AI.

Worse, while conquering his bases is very easy it gives the best rewards, lots of credits. So I think it's kinda cheap.

Because of this and my liking for the faction, I used to play Morgan. Now I always play one of the SMAX faction, so I have to remove one of the original factions to match the 7 factions requirement. 75% of the time I remove Morgan for the reasons I described above and because a game with Santiago, Miriam, and Yang on your ass is almost always the most entertaining.

Lal is also usually weak, except for diplomacy, which is why he's out only 25% of my games. The green lady can be good, the mad scientist too.

While I find Miriam and Yang slightly more consistent, due to their ability to compensate for the unit-happy AI, I find that the real determinant of AI strength is their starting position. It's why I always make my worlds rainy, because otherwise the AI will never build condensers and never grow to be of any significant size.

Now I know you're an expert at Morgan playstyle, maybe you got fed up, I can understand that.

Not so much fed up as trying something else.

Also, one more thing, should I build my sea bases right next to a land tile or space my base with 1 sea tile from land?

I like hugging right up next to land, personally. Just because you can make sea tiles work for you doesn't mean you should just let the dirt lie fallow within your base radii. Getting the odd forest and borehole going on your islands will definitely not go amiss, delivering additional mineral income. But in the end, my philosophy is 'build everywhere'. Every scrap of dirt, every shallow tidepool should be settled, terraformed and put to work building your empire.

[Mensonge]

Yes, as any faction (well, almost) they can be powerful if played correctly in a proper context. On small maps, Spartans are kings. From the very start, you can launch your rovers and quickly roam the map for unequipped players. That's such a thrilling rush, I've done it once and it was great. When met, you can steal their technology, make them bow, control them, exploit them, make them work for your benefit while concentrating on getting bigger guns to keep making them work for you.

That being said, isolated they're less interesting to play unless you want a challenge.

Back on AI, it's absolutely true the AI keeps popping up farms + solar most of the time, a few mines here and there.. I don't recall seeing much - or any - enemy thermal boreholes anywhere.. I guess one solution could be to restrain from building them as well, just to keep the game balanced.

Also, I had never thought of raising the standard of resources to increase the AI..! I always play on medium settings, because it seems balanced to me but next time I'll switch to higher resources to help the A.I develop and compensate for bad terraforming. Thanks for the hit, you're very helpful.

Finally, I was wondering something. I know the Pirates get a +1 mineral on shelf, does this mean a sea mine - after restrictions are lifted - that produces 3 will produce 4 with the pirates thanks to the +1 mineral bonus? Does it stack up?

[CEO Aaron]

Yes, as any faction (well, almost) they can be powerful if played correctly in a proper context. On small maps, Spartans are kings. From the very start, you can launch your rovers and quickly roam the map for unequipped players. That's such a thrilling rush, I've done it once and it was great. When met, you can steal their technology, make them bow, control them, exploit them, make them work for your benefit while concentrating on getting bigger guns to keep making them work for you.

That being said, isolated they're less interesting to play unless you want a challenge.

I think they get MORE interesting to play when you're playing outside their niche. Also, no faction stays isolated forever. All I'm planning on doing is positioning myself to quickly probe-crash and conquer Morgan. From there, it's all gravy.

Back on AI, it's absolutely true the AI keeps popping up farms + solar most of the time, a few mines here and there.. I don't recall seeing much - or any - enemy thermal boreholes anywhere.. I guess one solution could be to restrain from building them as well, just to keep the game balanced.

Also, I had never thought of raising the standard of resources to increase the AI..! I always play on medium settings, because it seems balanced to me but next time I'll switch to higher resources to help the A.I develop and compensate for bad terraforming. Thanks for the hit, you're very helpful.

My normal map settings are large map, wet world, high natives, I find that winds up working out well in terms of game length, fostering decent AI opponents, and just generally playing the sort of game I find interesting. Smaller maps tend to devolve into a race for impact rovers, or at best, missile noodles. Even Morgan is pretty simple to play in that scenario, just get early Biogenics, buy tanks, plant bases til you find a neighbor, then switch to 2/2/1 infantry and start bashing face while you tech up toward Impact rovers. Larger maps and you'll have Fusion Power before you run out of room to expand.

Finally, I was wondering something. I know the Pirates get a +1 mineral on shelf, does this mean a sea mine - after restrictions are lifted - that produces 3 will produce 4 with the pirates thanks to the +1 mineral bonus? Does it stack up?

The maximum potential output of a mining platform with Sven's bonus is 4 minerals, but it's a crummy deal. The supporting base facilities are more expensive, the terraforming is more time-consuming, and the long-term output is lower. Why? Because with Satellites and Hab Domes, every nutrient you collect supports one specialist, and each specialist will produce its own output, plus one mineral and one energy. So, your Mining Platform square maxes out with 3/4/0, that's with an Aquafarm, Subsea Trunkline, and Sven's bonus. It supports +2 specialists over the one to feed the guy working the tile. Let's assume they're Engineers. That's 6 econ, 4 labs, 7 minerals, and 3 energy, for one square, and let's not forget you're paying 4 upkeep for the trunkline, plus one for the aquafarm.

Now compare that to a tidal harness tile. 4/1/4 is the base output, with aquafarm, sven's bonus and the thermocline transducer. With satellites and specialist engineers, you'll produce 9 econ, 6 labs, 5 minerals, and 8 energy, for the same one square, and your base upkeep from supporting facilities drops to one credit per turn. And best of all, you'll get a much bigger dividend from your energy income when its pushed through Banks, Fusion Labs, Research Labs, etc.

[Mensonge]

Indeed!

But until I get satellites and hab domes, should I build mining platforms to produce quickly enough to not fall behind? I could reterraform later, no?

Also, what are the conditions to get spcialists?

[CEO Aaron]

Indeed!

But until I get satellites and hab domes, should I build mining platforms to produce quickly enough to not fall behind? I could reterraform later, no?

My point is that mining platforms MAKE you fall behind. They're more expensive and produce fewer resources.

Also, what are the conditions to get spcialists?

Your first four citizens can only become doctors, empaths or transcends. Everyone else can be a different kind of specialist. Just take them off tile duty, and click on the idle citizen to choose their specialty.