Do you do it?

[Shai-Hulud]

What's the problem with Ironman? You can use autosave if you're suffering from crashes. I always play "Ironman" even though I don't always choose it in options...saving&loading to improve gameplay is lame anyway

[RedFred]

You only get one save per turn with autosave. This can be really irritating if you are getting towards the end of the game when micromanaging can take upwards of ten minutes per turn. If you crash you have to replay your entire turn. With Ironman=off you can save anytime, particularly when you are about to do something risky like moving at the top or bottom of the map. This often causes crashes for me.

I would never save and reload just to cheat, as in get a better outcome in a battle or pod pop.

[mrdynamic]

Originally posted by wheathin


I don't select tech stag, but I altered the tech rate in alpha.txt, so I guess it's the same thing.

Curious: What value do you use ?

Blind Research
No Pods
Abundant Worms
Random Factions
Win by Conquest or Peace in out time only
Tech Stag
Standard Random Planet
No Random Events
Flexible starting locations
Invisible Map
Fog of War:
Maximum Cloud Cover: diminishes effect of Monsoon Jungle

[Adalbertus]

Yes, I do it !!!

On:
all victories activated.
blind research
tech stagnation
random events
invisible map (no unity survey}

Off:
double blind research
select more agressive oponents (an option in the rules at start)
spoils of war (steal tech when conquer base)
flexible starting locations
no scattered pods
accellerated start
iron man
randomised faction personas/agendas

About research, I think that blind research is the most realistic: You can decide who to support, but the actual results are uncertain. Perhaps even the classical division in fields like Physics/Chemistry, Biology/Medicine, Maths/Computers, Economics/Society, Philosophy would give a better "blind research" because I would hope that the usefulness of the results would be more mixed up. As a builder/hybrid, I find that I nearly never research the conquer techs, except for when I shoot for the SSC SP's.

Acelerated start: This is the place where you gain most of your turn advantage. Perhaps this option would make for a tougher game? Any experiences?

[Yxklyx]

For Double Blind research do people check all four category boxes or do they leave it as is (the default for that faction)?

[Blake]

Almost always ON:
Higher Goal: Allow Victory by Transcendence.
Total War: Allow Victory by Conquest.
Peace in Our Time: Allow Diplomatic Victory.
Mine, All Mine: Allow Economic Victory.
One for All: Allow Cooperative Victory.
Do or Die: Don't restart eliminated players.
Look First: Flexible starting locations.
No Unity Scattering: Supply Pods only at landing sites.

Sometimes ON, sometimes OFF:
Spoils of War: Steal tech when conquer base.
Blind Research: Cannot set precise research goals.
Bell Curve: No Random Events.
No Unity Survey: World Map not visible.
Tech Stagnation: Slower rate of research discoveries.

Always OFF:
Intense Rivalry: Opponents more aggressive.
Time Warp: Accelerated Start.
Iron Man: Save/Restore restricted to exit.
Randomize faction leader personalities.
Randomize faction leader social agendas.

Apparently I am one of few who play regularly with the map revealed. I kind of figure that atleast some sort of surface survey would be done by the unity, or the landing pods themselves.

When playing BLIND I almost always leave it at faction defaults.

[wheathin]

Yx: in the text file for each faction, there are five AI values in the first line: aggression, conquer, tech, build, explore. Blake had a couple of really good posts about how the AI survives longer and better as a builder, and suggested setting the build priority for all factions to one. Seems to work for me.

Mr. Dyn: i tried 70. Now I have progressive research penalties keyed off the more advanced SE choices (thanx agaim!) to slow down the late game techs, so I have it set it to 40, although at game start, each faction has an effective +3 - +5 RESEARCH bonus.

[moi]

what is double blind research? i dont remember seeing it as an option

[Yxklyx]

Setting Blind Research and then either not changing the default category preferences or setting/unsetting ALL category preferences.

[Cybergod]

Yey! Good responces received! hew: ) But I didn't know that you CAN have a multiple choice poll (d'oh!)

I myself use (mostly):

All victory condicions
Do or Die
Blind research but rarely double blind
Unity survey (yes, those who designed Unity wouldn't be so dumb not to know where to land there pods, or otherwise design sensors to scan surface)

Sometimes I turn these on:

Bell Curve (no random events) but only when playing builder
Look First (flex start locations) but I prefer the challenge of the dumb Artifical Idiot selecting my landing site
No Unity Scattering
Spoils of War (sometimes it is good to pillage!!! )
Co-operative Victory (I hate sharing out my points of the game with the pacts )

Never:

Tech Stagnation
Intense Rivalty
Time Warp (it is plainly stupid IMHO)
Random agendas/personnas

I also like to modify the AI personnality to make them build more. It seems to help them...

[MattyBoy]

ON
blind research (adds to atmosphere & tension)
random events (adds to atmosphere & tension)
invisible map (I think that's on. I can't see all the squares until I visit them, which adds to the fun of discovering the planet.)
flexible starting locations (if that's look first, I like it on - it makes things a bit easier, but it is a fun decision to make)

OFF
no scattered pods (easier, but popping is fun)
accellerated start (the start is the fun bit. I usually abort the game part way through anyway)
iron man (You must be talking about somebody else
double blind research (enjoy making that decision, as it forces me to think ahead)
tech stagnation (Gaining techs is too exciting to miss)
select more agressive oponents
spoils of war (leave that advantage with Aki)
randomised faction personas/agendas (too scared to turn that on)

[fluffy]

I find SP far too easy without using TechStag - at least with it set, all the factions all get an SP to start with. This gives them some help in getting started.

It also gives me a reason to capture their main base...

[RedFred]

fluffy was that accelerated start, not tech stag?

I agree that accelerated start makes for a more challenging game.

[fluffy]

Originally posted by RedFred
fluffy was that accelerated start, not tech stag?

I agree that accelerated start makes for a more challenging game.

oops! i should stop thinking about one thing when I'm writing about another - thanks for pointing it out...

[RedFred]

No worries. Off topic, but is 'Hitsville in UK' a reference to an old Clash song?