~Academician Voltaire for Director of Science~

[AdamTG02]

Based on a simulation I have run (Peacekeepers on Thinker in Huge Map), Voltaire's plan seems reasonable.

I attempted to get Doctrine: Mobility as the first tech. The next two tech choices, Social Psych was not available, and another faction (I forget which) was able to get the Secrets before me.
The next simulation, I went straight to Social Psych and then Secrets, and was successful.

Because the Secrets of the Human Brain give such an important advantage in the technology race early on, I would support aiming for them before Mobility. After Secrets I would support Ethical Calculus -- the Growth bonus from Democracy seems more vital early on to me than does the availablitiy of Scout Rovers, simply because by the time Secrets is done our Scout Patrols will likely have found a Unity Rover or two. After Democracy, support costs go high (although we are amply compensated for it by the ability to out-grow Yang), so Scout Rovers are less of a priority.

Even so, I would prefer getting Mobility before, say, Industrial Base. (In a pinch, two Scout Patrols will defend as well as an equally-experienced Synthmetal Garrison, although support cost is double.)

Candidates, your thoughts?

[Zakharov VII]

To me, at least, the Growth bonus of Democracy is worthless early on (although much better for Peacekeepers than anyone else, due to the easy handling of size 2 bases) because of those lost 10 minerals...it delays everything by about 5 turns, and in this early period of expansion, we'll be bouncing back and forth from size 1 to size 2 anyways as Colony Pods are built, as the emphasis is not on growing base sizes but base numbers.

That 5 turn advantage builds and builds...if at first there's a 5 turn difference, then the new bases finish their pods 10 turns earlier, then the next, 15. If the expansion phase is now over, Democracy can be turned back on, and these outer bases are now 20 turns ahead of a Democracy (and, now, benefits from Democracy's growth itself), if the Democracy player bothers to continue expanding.

Also, even if Democracy's Growth and Efficiency were to give a slight benefit over the lack of the 10 minerals, it seems to me that using the Social Engineering money to buy a pod 5 turns earlier (not sure the exact amount on Thinker...32 EC's?) creates a sizable turn advantage itself. And, this is all neglecting the -1 mineral per turn this would cause, as surely each base would soon have a Former, and if not a Scout Patrol, a Colony Pod running around?

Then again, on the Mobility front, I find building Rovers rather pointless - wastes time at the base, and costs minerals. Popping Independant Rovers (with the Independant Scout) is much more fun .

AdamTG02 also brings up an interesting point about the two Scout Patrols being like a Synthmetal. In rather extreme circumstances, two Scout Patrols may well be better than one Stasis Garrison...just for the single extra turn the Scout Patrols would last (if the attacker were Singularity/Singularity/Elite Gravship Singularity/Singularity/Commando Infantry, for example, the Stasis would get killed off one turn, and if nothing could be done, the base would be captured next turn. The two Scout Patrols, however, would last two full turns, as it would take a whole turn of the attacker to kill off one measly Scout (that is how it works, right?)). That could, possibly, be enough time to move your own Singularity whatever to kill off the attacker.

That last bit was rather off-topic, but oh well. I think more than half had something to do with this discussion .

[Method]

Originally posted by AdamTG02
Based on a simulation I have run (Peacekeepers on Thinker in Huge Map), Voltaire's plan seems reasonable.

I attempted to get Doctrine: Mobility as the first tech. The next two tech choices, Social Psych was not available, and another faction (I forget which) was able to get the Secrets before me.
The next simulation, I went straight to Social Psych and then Secrets, and was successful.

Candidates, your thoughts?

first of all, my first tech is ALWAYS centauri ecology. Adam, your test proved that its possible to get secrets by skipping ecology and going to social psych, then secrets. IMO its best to have the formers out first, then to have the secrets, and if we can't get secrets if we take ecology first, then i'd be willing to choose something else.

*sigh* i like free tech, but, oh well

[AdamTG02]

Ecology was not as high a priority for me because the AI researches it so often. Given that there is such a strong support for geting Formers early, though, I do agree with both candidates that ought to be our first tech.

Sorry if I'm threadjacking; this and the previous post are meant to be relevant to the discussion underway.

[Voltaire]

Originally posted by AdamTG02
Based on a simulation I have run (Peacekeepers on Thinker in Huge Map), Voltaire's plan seems reasonable.

I attempted to get Doctrine: Mobility as the first tech. The next two tech choices, Social Psych was not available, and another faction (I forget which) was able to get the Secrets before me.
The next simulation, I went straight to Social Psych and then Secrets, and was successful.

Because the Secrets of the Human Brain give such an important advantage in the technology race early on, I would support aiming for them before Mobility. After Secrets I would support Ethical Calculus -- the Growth bonus from Democracy seems more vital early on to me than does the availablitiy of Scout Rovers, simply because by the time Secrets is done our Scout Patrols will likely have found a Unity Rover or two. After Democracy, support costs go high (although we are amply compensated for it by the ability to out-grow Yang), so Scout Rovers are less of a priority.

Even so, I would prefer getting Mobility before, say, Industrial Base. (In a pinch, two Scout Patrols will defend as well as an equally-experienced Synthmetal Garrison, although support cost is double.)

Candidates, your thoughts?

True, if we go for Social Psych as our first tech assuming it is available we greatly increase our chance of getting SotHB; though seeing as so far everything is just speculation we will have to wait to see the conditions we find ourselves in before we make the choice of whether we will go for SotHB on if we should just steer away form trying to get Secrets first. IMO if we find ourselves in favorable conditions getting the free tech through Secrets should be a priority (and I also consider Centauri Ecology to be crucial as well, therefore if we do research Social Psych first and get the free tech to offset not having researched Centauri Ecology before we should acquire it thought the free tech).

[Maniac]

I will not vote for any candidate that doesn't support CentEco as the first tech.

[Zakharov VII]

All this fuss about Mobility...

The People have decided that Retro-Engineering is acceptable, so...just get Planetary Networks and retro-engineer Probe Teams!

Everyone that wants Planned is satisfied, everyone that wants Wealth (and Industrial Automation for other reasons) is satisfied, and our Comissioner is satisfied with his Rovers.

Z

[Method]

i'm all for it, but its cheating. that's not exactly reverse engineering...

[Zakharov VII]

Nevermind, then...

I've never played a PBEM game (and there's never been a reason for any of this in succession games) so I don't know the "official" rules .

Z