Doctor or psych

[Snowflake]

Ok. So you have reached your first b-limit. When you set up more bases, you are going to get b-drones with your second population (first in some bases). And sometimes even two polices won't be able to quell the super drones. What do you do? You can't build more colony pods since you already are over b-limit. You can't rush rec commons since you don't have social psych (Yes you were beelining to IA). You can set the second pop to be a doctor or increase your psych allocation. Which is the better way to go?

[Chaunk]

Set the second pop to be a doctor & rush a colony pod. Then research biogenics and rush the HGP. Then expand to your hearts content in FM.

However, if you've finished expansion, then set some psych. Tis no great loss, and NN can quickly undo the research hit.

[Snowflake]

Before you get IA and crawlers it's hard to rush the HGP. So I chose to go straight to IA. But when I get my crawlers and ready for SP production, HGP and WP were all gone. (Yes Googlie's challenge.) I had thought about whether to build VW or PTS, and chosen PTS since it gives 1 less drone immediately for bases less than 3 pop (which all of my bases are), while for VW to work you got to have nodes first.

However my question is before I were able to build PTS, I had to set doctors in at least three bases, or set psych to 30% to 40%. I alternated the two methods but still didn't figure out which is better.

[Jamski]

Doctors are extremely useful. I use doctors in every game.

-Jam

[Chaunk]

Doctors then for sure. In Googlies challenge, he's been nice and given you scads of land. I expanded to around 30 bases by 2160 IIRC, ignoring the b-drones and building scouts for the first drone, then doctors for the second citizen. I missed every SP that could have helped to be fair, so I'm using doctors where needed, and riots where necessary - I don't have IA yet either. I have got police infantry in my bases though - completely unconventional beeline I know, but such is life - and it's somewhat working. Need to get some probe ships out, but that'll happen soon enough - techs every 4 or 5 turns atm.

Psych at 30% is horrendous. I'd much MUCH rather have a rec commons for 1 upkeep than loose all that tech and cash. I loathe setting psych to more than 10% at any time other than for a GA boom.

[Mongoose]

Doctors - no doubt. Psych allocation will be all but useless in newer bases...there won't be enough energy to round to enough psych points with any reasonable allocation while your core bases will be wasting scads of raw energy allocated to unneccessary psych points. Further, without a creche at the newer bases, inefficiency will probably be eating a largfe portion of their raw energy yield anyway...which loss precedes allocation.

If you have the PTS and are running FM, Psych MIGHT work. Since you mention police, I presume FM isn't in place now.

[CEO Aaron]

As all the other posters have pointed out, Doctors are a mortal lock. Psych involves too much waste to be a viable alternative. Doctors let you address the problems where they appear. Just make sure you have accesss to sufficient nutrient production, and doctors will get you taken care of until you're able to build more police units, pods, whatever.

PS: I definitely recommend stepping off the IA beeline to grab psych. Crawlers are good, but being able to expand freely is better.

[Snowflake]

I didn't have police units yet, sorry for the confusion. And no I am not running FM. I often chose to directly beeline to IA and forgo the social psych since I would be able to grab the drone quelling SPs most of the time. This time I was able to get VW 2 turns after PTS. Time to expand again I suppose. However my beeline is all fouled up right now. Somehow I got AP and HEC and am researching Init (2147). I wanted to get soc psy or EC from Aki but she gifted me nonlinear instead, and didn't even ask if I wanted it.

Anyway, are there any occasions where setting psych is worth of? I'm aware that it may be needed for GA pop booming. Are there other occasions though? For example if you have to set a doctor in more than half of your bases?

[Commy]

Pysch allocation, in the long run, is much better, but it requires a wealthy economy, which only fits some playing styles, and is not worth it if bases aren't providing enough energy, and if they are too low in population.

Ultimately, doctors are easier, and for early on, more practical, because they don't affect the overall economy, just the individual base, so that you only budget for psych at the bases that need it, and don't waste the energy on the small bases that don't.

[Santiago_Claus]

Psych allocation doesn't really come into its own until you have some "amplifying" facilities like Research Hospitals, Holo Theaters, and Tree Farms, and can use the extra psych to promote Golden Ages.

It also always goes to super-drones first, so if you're heavily bureaucratized a lot of your psych spending gets "swallowed up" without much apparent effect. Boost efficiency with a switch to Green or even Knowledge and all of a sudden that 10% psych budget makes a huge difference.

Lastly there's the cap: 2 psych per population I think. With enough b-drones the cap makes it impossible for some bases to enter Golden Age at all.

The reason doctors seem to work so much better is that a doctor actually removes 2 drones: one from the doctor's psychiatric skills and one being the doctor himself. Of course that's also the price: doctors don't produce anything else.

Specialists in general are never drones, but then you already know that, as I remember reading elsewhere that you are a proponent of specialists.

They also never farm. It was Jamski I think who said the best early-mid game drone-reducing strategy is to crawler nutrients and trade workers for specialists.

Some unrest-reducers work regardless of super-drones. Military always quell 1 drone and police always 2. The Rec Commons and Holo Theater seem to always pacify 2, as well. Most SP's like HGP seem to only make 1 change, from super-drone to drone, drone to worker, or worker to talent.

But your tech level is before all that. In your case I'd go with 2 military units & 1 doctor. A colony pod is a good build. Without WP specialist bases will be tough until Gene Splicing.

[Snowflake]

The problem with spcialist bases is that I don't have size 5 bases.

[Santiago_Claus]

That's kind of what I meant: getting to size 5 without WP or Gene Splicing isn't practical.

[Snowflake]

That's right. Just two turns ago I was thinking losing WP was no biggie. And now I kick myself for not being able to build condensors and boreholes.

[Santiago_Claus]

Incidentally, are you playing Googlie's "June Challenge"?

I oughtta give it a whirl.

[Snowflake]

Yes you should definitely try that. You'd have so many resources in the beginning to play with and you thought "wow I'm growing like a weed" and then you met the AIs and you took a look at their tech list and you felt that you are going to faint.