Morgan - Transcendent Level

[Adam_Smith]

The PTS is overrated. It does work, but you need to build police units and formers ahead of colony pods which makes it not as great as some people think it is. You also should have good support and efficiency SE ratings.

[Adam_Smith]

I think that PTS only pays as you can build bases and develop them. If you can develope them then more power to you. On transcendent level your going to create more and more drones as you take better and better advantage of the PTS. The more bases you build the higher the cost will be to develope each one and defend it. No matter how you look at it.

[UnityScoutChopper]

Here's one more vote for the PTS, at least if you are ICS'ing. It is indeed best for Morgan (ICS pays well since growth beyond 4 is expensive) and Deirdre (2 food for fungus), but it is powerful even if you can't manage to pre-send crawlers and formers. The important thing to pre-send is scout or police infantry, as generally by the time the PTS is built, you will be forced to use Demo for efficiency. Theoretically, you could pump them out from core bases, but I've always been too reluctant to distract them from things like SP's, military, and pop-booming. Sometimes I just let the new bases flounder or even fall to pop 2 (still better than starting at 1) -- the penalty for my laziness. But in a pinch, and if you are willing to micromanage a bit, you can always rush-build the last turn of a pod's production. The base's carried-over "natural" production then makes the rush-build of new infantry in the pod-producing base quite cheap if you are in planned/wealth. If it's still too expensive for your taste, you can allow the colony pod a one-turn lead on the infantry, as the infantry will still reach the base in time to quell riots. However, the buddy system is best, as numerous mind worms have taught me. Grrrr.

A great hidden advantage of the PTS, BTW, is protection of new bases from random mindworm attacks. Losing the garrison and a population point is a lot better than losing the whole base -- and if you are true ICS'er, having other "insurance policies" for your new colonies is often out of the question.

Yes, the PTS *IS* a good wonder for a huge map -- the point where I build it is usually marked as a 100-200% jump in my powergraph.

Erik P