Help! I can't win

[big_canuk]

Originally posted by Traumahawk

(iii) Drones! In "bee-lining" straight to IA, I skip over Social Psych and Rec Commons. I can only use 1 unit as police, so how can I keep people orderly? I'll usually convert a worker to a doctor, but then I starve my cities out . Any suggestions?

This is the route I go with many factions. It is very difficult with all but the drones and PKs. I also like to go FM, as soon as I get Ind Econ. So... How to control the drones?

The first worker is no problem.

The second worker is a drone. How to control him:

1. Allocate some psych. That extra worker on a forest in FM will generate 2 energy. If that is allocated to psych, and no energy is lost to inefficiency, and/or misallocation(3 energies, or 1 energies to psych), then you have a net gain of 1 nut and 2 mins. (The loss of 1 ec or rp for this 3 FOP gain is usually worth it as well)

2. Make the extra worker a doctor. This solves the problem temporarily. It is fine if only a small percentage of your bases are size 2. It does *require* that you have at least one 2 nut square in the base radius, and for that reason, I build some farms at a few bases early on if I have to.

As you decide between and in fact switch back and forth between the above two methods, build CPs to bring bases back to size 1, or keep them at size 2, as the situation requires. By the time you have to stop building CPs, you should have crawlers, and then shortly thereafter rec comms. The crawlers can crawl nuts to help temporarily support extra doctors. Then when your comms is built, switch back to mins.

The decision to go FM early for the extra ecs and rps, or Planned early for the extra growth, and production is a tough decision. Remember, tech for its own sake is useless. You have to be able to do something with it, once you get it. Also, if you lead in tech, it costs more, and if you are slightly behind, it costs less. Therefore, sacrificing a few rps, to get more mins, production, ecs, and/or growth often leads to a more robust future prospects.

[Velociryx]

Not much I can add to that! And btw, thanks Blake, for the plug for the strategy guide!

-=Vel=-

[Scipio Centaurus]

Didn't even attempt to read all the responses... so everything I say here is probably already in there somewhere.

After crawlers, the next paradigm shift in my own play, came from learning the 'correct' use of advanced terraforming techniques - i.e. drill to acquifer, thermal boreholes, condensors, and echelon mirror/solar collector farms (energy parks). You'll also need to simultaneously acquire the 3 techs that release the resource restrictions (can't remember their names) to tap the full potential of your countryside.

After you've got all that handled, raise additional land in the interior of your landmass and start expanding the energy park area for the late game.

In the early game, the trick seems to be getting some combination of at least 2 nutrients and 2 minerals coming out of a single square at each base. A monument does this automatically, otherwise a quick forest build in a rolling square will suffice for the minerals. If you are lucky enough to have a nutrient resource bonus on non-rocky ground in your base's production radius, plant a forest right there right away. If a base starts with a monument, I'll usually immediately send its former off to prep a new base site with a forest and optional sensor array. Bases can be built on such a square and the forest acts like a substitute recycling tank facility to give your new base a little boost.

- Scipio