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I can really turn a game around when I try. Transcend-level against the AI, I've got no trouble pulling into dominance after a while (and IA!). In PBEMs, my team usually does quite well with builds and often comes into its own in the midgame (though we don't generally win). But I have a problem, a big problem.
I see these insanely fast starts, people getting to IA or just getting well-established ages before I've even passed a handful of bases. I'm always misjudging growth, never sure what to build, how much to dedicate to defense or police, etc. In short, my startup sucks, and while I can recover once there are more tools available, in the early game I can't seem to get much done in a reasonable amount of time. I see people talking about how good their setups are in 50-100 turns, and that's usually just when I'm getting started, even if I get IA quite early (I always beeline).
In practice games I was able to expand like a weed in every direction as Yang, but usually fell hopelessly behind in tech until the midgame when I could build enough probe foils to steal my way to parity. But I have these problems with many factions. Morgan, Lal, heck, anybody. By the time I can get my pop boom going, my bases are practically big enough not to need it (I still boom to 14, but people talk about booming to 7 early and I can't manage it). I'm not sure when to stop, might be part of it, but in general I need some pointers, because while I think I have a generally good grasp of the game, my early work is sluggish and it's lengthening the time it takes me to win. I also have trouble making contact with anybody, as it seems like I'm always too far away from people, and even when I do make contact, AI or Human, I have nothing to offer them by that point.
So, here we go, folks: Help me with the early game. Tips, pointers, general rules of thumb for build orders, how to know when it's time to switch over to something else, etc. In a few weeks I'm going to be on a Hive team in a PBEM and I'd like to be sure my supervision of infrastructure (one of the things I'm good at, I love those formers) in the early game pays off for us in the long run. I want to know how to start fast and keep up momentum so that I'm not wasting a lot of time in the early game when I could be building and expanding. We're going to be playing on a Huge-sized or similar map, directed research (as always).
Anything you can think of would be great. I always hear "once you have IA, then you can do..." and it's really helped me, but there seems to be a dearth of info on the early game except "build colony pods." I'm doing that, but it's not working fast enough. What do I do?
I see these insanely fast starts, people getting to IA or just getting well-established ages before I've even passed a handful of bases. I'm always misjudging growth, never sure what to build, how much to dedicate to defense or police, etc. In short, my startup sucks, and while I can recover once there are more tools available, in the early game I can't seem to get much done in a reasonable amount of time. I see people talking about how good their setups are in 50-100 turns, and that's usually just when I'm getting started, even if I get IA quite early (I always beeline).
In practice games I was able to expand like a weed in every direction as Yang, but usually fell hopelessly behind in tech until the midgame when I could build enough probe foils to steal my way to parity. But I have these problems with many factions. Morgan, Lal, heck, anybody. By the time I can get my pop boom going, my bases are practically big enough not to need it (I still boom to 14, but people talk about booming to 7 early and I can't manage it). I'm not sure when to stop, might be part of it, but in general I need some pointers, because while I think I have a generally good grasp of the game, my early work is sluggish and it's lengthening the time it takes me to win. I also have trouble making contact with anybody, as it seems like I'm always too far away from people, and even when I do make contact, AI or Human, I have nothing to offer them by that point.
So, here we go, folks: Help me with the early game. Tips, pointers, general rules of thumb for build orders, how to know when it's time to switch over to something else, etc. In a few weeks I'm going to be on a Hive team in a PBEM and I'd like to be sure my supervision of infrastructure (one of the things I'm good at, I love those formers) in the early game pays off for us in the long run. I want to know how to start fast and keep up momentum so that I'm not wasting a lot of time in the early game when I could be building and expanding. We're going to be playing on a Huge-sized or similar map, directed research (as always).
Anything you can think of would be great. I always hear "once you have IA, then you can do..." and it's really helped me, but there seems to be a dearth of info on the early game except "build colony pods." I'm doing that, but it's not working fast enough. What do I do?
So far I have every SP, the AI has none. I'm so far ahead of the AI, all the other factions have pacted against me. That's right, the University is pacted with the Believers against me....I must be doing something right. 
The original idea is Ogie's, I think. I've got it pretty off pat now though.
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