How Many Formers?

[smacksim]

The whole 'Active Desktop' thing is just gross. Why the **** did they have to dump web-pages-on-desktop into the same barrel as jpeg-on-desktop or any other non-net thing? It's innane.

-Smack

[Enigma_Nova]

It's crazy, too. But then again...
Micro$oft.
Where would you like to Crash today?

[livid imp]

I use Active Desktop at my work 2000 and home xp computers. Only ever had one minor glitch with it. I dare say I like it even. You can always turn it off if it gives you trouble.

[Darrell01]

I build usually 2 per base, unless I have clean reactor, or I am on a warpath, then I'll have some of my border cities build formers to home on the newly conquered bases. I build 2 formers for landlocked bases, 1 former and 1 sea former for coastal bases, and usually 2 sea formers with sea bases.

I build rover formers exclusively if I can. They get +1 movement and they cost +30 minerals. This is 1.5 more cost to the former. My thinking on it is normal formers only have one movement. So, this extra 30 mineral cost has to make up for itself in the former. Well, the typical former will last until the end of the game, which can be from 250 to 350 depending on the settings. That's +140 movement, assuming I'm the Spartans and I can churn one out in 10 turns. So when I have no roads, the former can move in and start terraforming on the same turn, effectively doubling my terraforming for 1 turn. When there are roads, I can move 6 squares, as opposed to 3, again, doubling my terraformer for that turn. If I'm under Power, and built them with a Command Center and a Bioenchancement Center, they will have 3 movement, allowing me to road the Rocky areas in one turn. If not, 2 formers can jump in there while the others plant forests and sensor towers around the Borehole/Mine. Building road expanses helps with the rover formers. at 2 movement and with enuf formers, you can build roads out to 3 length per turn as opposed to 1 every other turn, or 2 every 2 turns if you do it with normal formers. And once I have magtubes, I can build magtube land bridges as far as I want as long as I have enough rovers and don't run into rocky areas. I count the speed of targeted terraforming more important that massive slow outgrowth in terraforming. Especially when I need to get my formers from one side of a huge continent to another without mag tubes. If I keep my T-1-1 formers, I like to stick superformer on them, of course, and at first clean reactor, then antigrav struts. If I have no elite rover formers, I use these to build my roads on rocky areas, as they have 2 movement and only cost 1 to move on rocky areas. I use the same reasoning with the sea formers, most of the time. However, once I get fusion power, its straight cruiser formers and rover formers. Fusion Rover Formers cost 30, only 10 above the normal former. And once I have a ton of formers, have more mineral efficiency because more of my formers get thier job done with the upkeep costs involved with just the normal formers. I completely skip fungicidal. My extra movement makes up for the fungicidal in the long run with all 6 or 3 with Xenoempathy Dome getting in the fungus at once. Sometimes I switch it up a bit if I have a lot of support and make T-1-2Drop for maps with a lot of little islands. Typically I never make my elevation higher and have yet to make an energy park.

Once I get gravships, I do not make any more sea formers. I make grav formers instead.

[CEO Aaron]

Hi, Darrell. Just a couple of things about your comments on rover formers. Having a few around for instant builds of roads is certainly commendable, but I prefer to keep a mix of my slow and fast formers. Why? Well, for one thing, the only circumstance in which a rover former is preferrable to a infantry former is when a) there's no rocks or trees and b) there's no road. By and large, the rest of the time, your formers are gradually spreading in an outward pattern. For another, by the time rover formers become economically feasible, I'm mostly out of the business of former building. Before Fusion, a clean rover former costs 8 mineral rows, and a clean former costs only 3. And by and large, if your formers aren't spending most of their time forming rather than moving, you're not making good use of them. True, rolling your rover former into a flat or rolling square will save one former turn, but even a modest terraforming plan of just roads and forests will keep that former there for another 4-5 turns (3-4 if you've got the weather paradigm). Assuming even optimal conditions, your rover will save one turn out of every 5, making it 20% better than a normal, slow former. But it isn't 20% more expensive to build, it's 150% more expensive to build, and that's before clean reactors, when the price delta is even more extreme. And if your terraforming strategy is more intensive, ie: building farms, condensers and boreholes, your formers will spend even more of their time forming instead of moving. The final nail in the coffin of the all rover former force is the fact that once a square is roaded, the turn advantage of rover formers all but disappears. If you're moving your normal former 2 roaded spaces or less, the last 1/3 of movement spent beginning a terraforming project counts as a full former-turn.

To sum up, yes, rover formers are good to have around. By all means, build a couple to accelerate your road growth. But building an all rover former force comes at too steep a premium to warrant the improvement you gain in their terraforming rate.

[Kataphraktoi]

Rover formers are utterly useless unless they are building roads.

Myself, i ussualy end up with 2 formers per every crawler. That is, hundreds. Im not sure why, and i dont try to keep it a simple 2\1 ratio, it just works out that way. More condensors, please.