I picked this up from the AC General Strategy forum when someone asked about how to play the Spartans.
CEO Aaron responded :
Spartans are one of the more challenging factions to play, imo. They do have a great deal of flexibility and their military can be quite potent, but the industry penalty and lack of wealth SE choice makes growth comparatively slow. The key to succeeding is to commit to a strategy which works around those problems.
I prefer to play the Spartans with a Police-centric ICS strategy. Get ahold of Doctrine: Loyalty and switch to police state. With +3 police you spread far beyond the bureaucracy limit without worrying about drone problems, and the extra support will allow an impressive early crawler fleet. These two advantages should allow you to get enough bases to increase your tech and production power to the point where you can compete with the more builder-centric factions.
Sooner or later, you're going to encounter a rival faction. When this happens, don't delay, start immediately planning their demise. The industry penalty means you can't afford to be reactive, you have to control the tempo of any conflict, so make sure you have the initiative. Make judicious use of artillery when taking bases, the damage they inflict on enemy garrisons will help preserve your very difficult to replace troops.
Facility-wise, you want to keep it lean. Rec-tanks, Creches, Commons and Command Centers will be the order of the day. Try and get the Command Nexxus, it will save you money and time and go a long way to ensuring the superiority of your ground troops. Put of building labs until your bases are collecting at _least_ 4 labs base. If you have less and are at a loss for what to build, crawlers, colony pods and garrisons are never a bad way to go.
Tech-wise, stay focused on weapon technology. Air power is your first big tech goal, learn to rely on probe teams and/or tech trade to reach parity in non-military technology. Infiltrate your rivals and watch what they research carefully, and you'll be able to make them complete your research for you.
Just to reflect upon
CEO Aaron responded :
Spartans are one of the more challenging factions to play, imo. They do have a great deal of flexibility and their military can be quite potent, but the industry penalty and lack of wealth SE choice makes growth comparatively slow. The key to succeeding is to commit to a strategy which works around those problems.
I prefer to play the Spartans with a Police-centric ICS strategy. Get ahold of Doctrine: Loyalty and switch to police state. With +3 police you spread far beyond the bureaucracy limit without worrying about drone problems, and the extra support will allow an impressive early crawler fleet. These two advantages should allow you to get enough bases to increase your tech and production power to the point where you can compete with the more builder-centric factions.
Sooner or later, you're going to encounter a rival faction. When this happens, don't delay, start immediately planning their demise. The industry penalty means you can't afford to be reactive, you have to control the tempo of any conflict, so make sure you have the initiative. Make judicious use of artillery when taking bases, the damage they inflict on enemy garrisons will help preserve your very difficult to replace troops.
Facility-wise, you want to keep it lean. Rec-tanks, Creches, Commons and Command Centers will be the order of the day. Try and get the Command Nexxus, it will save you money and time and go a long way to ensuring the superiority of your ground troops. Put of building labs until your bases are collecting at _least_ 4 labs base. If you have less and are at a loss for what to build, crawlers, colony pods and garrisons are never a bad way to go.
Tech-wise, stay focused on weapon technology. Air power is your first big tech goal, learn to rely on probe teams and/or tech trade to reach parity in non-military technology. Infiltrate your rivals and watch what they research carefully, and you'll be able to make them complete your research for you.
Just to reflect upon
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