question

[d=me]

How strong is the university? Can the university always have the lead in technology and secret projects? By leading in secret projects I don't mean by winning the most number, I mean they can be pretty confident that they are going to get the ones they want.

[Kataphraktoi]

For your first question...very powerful.

After that,it's a little complex...number of players,start position,etc...in a 1v1 the univ should always have a tech lead, whereas a standard 4-player game...get too far ahead and people will readily ally vs you, and your tech lead is for naught. I would say that if you really want a single SP in particular,there isnt much the other guys can do about it...but you could end up sacrificing for that SP, in crawlers, cashed in units,etc. The only univ game i am in,i have all the SP except CBA\WP mostly.

always have the lead? maybe you can often have the lead,but 'always' is so rarely aplicable. in any case, that tech lead wont happan just because your faction is 'univ' on the turn tracking list

[Leon Trotsky]

Well, the university is quite strong. Yes, they are better prepared to have the technology lead, but don't take that for granted, especially in multiplayer. Have in mind that research is fueled by energy, and in turn, energy is harvested by your population (before Industrial Automation, that is). In single player, you can be sure you get the projects you really want, which is not true against other humans.

I'm sorry for not being clear, I haven't slept in days.

[Commy]

Here's the thing...the biggest bonus in the early game isn't the +2 research, it's the free network nodes...

Say a base produces 3 energy...2 would go to research, and 1 would go to economy...

Now, if you just had +2 research, that would actually be 2.4 energy per turn for research...

A network node alone would make it 3 energy per turn for research...

However, combine the two, and you have 3 energy (2 original, 1 from network node) x 1.2 (+2 research) = 3.6 energy per turn...

Essentially, insteading of taking 7 turns to research your first tech with 2 lab points (which usually costs 14 tech points), it would only take 4....

The thing is, the University can very, very easily get all the level one and two technologies...other factions, perhaps with the exception of Morgan, are forced to choose very carefully between technologies that give military benefits (weapons, armor...) and those that help infastructure (recycling tanks, recreation commons...)...also, other factions must be very careful what technologies they choose if they want a certain Secret Project...

The University has much more flexibility in that they don't have to be quite as careful...

IMO, the University is unequalled in science in technology...Given equal starting positions and skill of player, it would practically be impossible for somebody to surpass the University in tech...

I would say that, assuming you are playing against the AI or human players of the same skill, you would rarely not be in the tech lead...however, it is highly unlikely that somebody won't happen to have a technology you don't...

Basically, you will almost always be in the tech lead, but somebody will almost always have a tech that you don't...

[Flubber]

Well

A university player's advantage, tech, is temporary in that others can trade for it or steal it. If the university uses his tech lead unwisely such that all they lead in is tech and have not grabbed a few key early SPs or an infrastructure lead, they are in trouble.

Humans are well aware of the uni abilities and once meetings have occurred, good players will easily agree to some tech leapfrogging to keep up or surpass the university research.

Its probably the strongest single-player faction since you can most easily build to victory. In multiplayer, people are so very aware of the tech situation that a uni player better secure some other advantages or they are in for a very tough game

[d=me]

I'm playing on the librarian difficulty.

70-90 percent ocean
Dense atmosphere
High erosive force
Tech stang
No economic victory

I'm always going to play on the librarian difficulty because it's the most balanced level.

I do have a few SPs in mind that I really want. They are the rare and unique ones that their effects can't be replaced or partially replaced by other SPs or techs or anything else. Like the virtual world can be partially made up by actually building the hologram theatre and the CDF can be made up by actually building the premieter defences so I don't really care that much about them. But special ones like the hunter seeker alogrithm and the space elevator can't be replaced by anything else. So I really want those.

And about the techs, the morgans are leading somehow. We currently have the same discovery and explore techs, they have a bit more production techs and I have a bit more military techs. And sometimes even I'm better than them they are still leading somehow. I don't know how that screen judges who is ahead for the tech. I want to lead in discovery techs.

How can I be able to achieve those?

[Kataphraktoi]

Single player? b-line for IA. ICS a small bit,then planned\wealth and crank crawlers. head for PEG next is what i do,then research up towards Planetary Economics.i have singleplayer savs here as univ with every SP,and in the same city even,if thats your goal.

Actually if your playing singleplayer i can say for a fact they are the bext faction, for speedy transcends or otherwise. Flubber already covered the MP above, and the fact that people need\desire to ally to counter them shows they are good candidates for 'best'

[d=me]

What do the abbreviations mean? I so far only use knowledge/cybernetic and that's all because I can't take the negatives of each social model.

[Kataphraktoi]

IA: Industrial Automation
PEG: planetary energy grid
SP= secret project
MP= multiplayer

I strongly urge you to learn taking,as you say,the negative effects. in particular wealth and free market will really put you over the top on the AI,for little loss.police?morale? pssh.

[d=me]

What happens when every base is having drone riots? Then if a base is at size 5 like 3 of them have to be doctors. Then production suffers and I won't be able to compete in the SPs and build units quickly enough to fend of the aggressive ones. Even though it's an island map. I think that I chose knowledge over wealth. I didn't really care for the morale either but Wealth contradicts with knowledge. But can't the PEG be replaced by actually building the energy banks? I chose blind research so I can't direct the research. I just left it as a checkmark for pure knowledge. I don't know what ICS is.

The univ is the best faction? I thought the morgans are because they are likely to have the most money.

In many games the gaians always lead in tech somehow.

[d=me]

If there is an energy ball on a square should I build the base right over it or beside it?

[Kataphraktoi]

See the attached zip. its from a game im currently running, my objective is a sub-2200 transcend. im having some problems with production but i suppose this sav is respectable enough to show. there are a number of things i would like to improve upon here.

you see,i keep the bases at size 1[no drone shields,and doctor if size2] or size 2 [human genome project] or size3 [planetary transport system]

im not an authority on base spacing, but this 5 on a die system is the tops

[d=me]

I don't understand how your game works. How come you can see into everyone's base? And how can you tell the bases NOT to grow? And if the bases don't grow how can you have enough workers to harvest resources? and placing crawlers around, I only have a few of them. If you place them in a square then the base can't harvest in that square. And why are all of your bases empty? What if mariam comes? How can you fight her? And how did you get so much energy for your base? Like 6, 7 and 8+.

[d=me]

The game always end so quickly. It reduces the fun of the game. Like before the game gets interesting where the strong units and weapons and satellites are popular every one is already dead. Like there is a mode of intense rivary there should be a mode of every one acting more "carefully" of not going to war that easily.

[Commy]

Originally posted by d=me
I don't understand how your game works. How come you can see into everyone's base? And how can you tell the bases NOT to grow? And if the bases don't grow how can you have enough workers to harvest resources? and placing crawlers around, I only have a few of them. If you place them in a square then the base can't harvest in that square. And why are all of your bases empty? What if mariam comes? How can you fight her? And how did you get so much energy for your base? Like 6, 7 and 8+.

Let me try and answer your questions...I know this looks long, but please read the whole thing, it will help you tremendously...

1. He can see into everyone's base because he has an "infiltrator" in every faction...basically, by infiltrating an opponent, you can see their military, the bases (including production) as well as other things like what techs they have, how much energy they produce per turn...

You get an infiltrator by one of 3 ways...the most common is to send a probe team into an opponent's base...one of your options should be "infiltrate...". If you choose this option, and your probe team suceeds, then you get an infiltrator in that faction no matter what. The second way is to build the "Empath Guild" Secret Project, which automatically gives you an infiltrator in every faction for as long as you possess the project. The final method is to maintain the diplomatic status "pact"...this is a step above a simple "treaty", and as long as you maintain the pact, you get the infiltrator.

2. You can't exactly tell your bases not to grow, but you can choose which squares to work within your base radius...you can work all squares within 2 squares of your bases. This is known as the "fat cross" due to its shape, as you can work the 20 squares surrounding any base. In the city screen, you can see how many nutrients, minerals, and energy each square produces. Clicking on any given square in the city screen will cause one citizen, or worker, to work that square, providing the bonuses indicated by the city screen. By choosing squares that don't provide nutrients, or by having some of your citizens become specialists, you can limit the amount of nutrients you produce, effectively preventing the base from growing.

3. Just because a base doesn't have a lot of workers doesn't mean it can't be productive. This is mostly due to crawlers. A small base with 5 or 6 crawlers that convoy minerals from forests or mines to the base can become quite productive. An advantage of crawling resources to a small base instead of using workers from a larger base is that the small base will have less drones. This way, you won't have to worry about drone riots while constructing your Secret Projects.

It is usually wise to have either your crawlers harvest minerals or energy, and your workers harvest nutrients, or to have your crawlers harvest nutrients, and your workers harvest minerals and energy. Basically, you either want to convoy lots of nutrients to a base, and have that base work mines, boreholes, or forests (high mineral yield, few nutrients), or, convoy minerals from forests or faraway mines, and have the workers of your base concentrate on squares producing a lot of food. As long as your crawlers are convoying the appropriate resources, they can work very effectively.

4. As far as all his bases being empty, that is a personal decision...some players choose to build facilities, formers, and Secret Projects as early as possible. By doing so, your infastructure will be much better, and you have a better chance of getting early Secret Projects. However, you also are taking a huge risk. You mentioned Miriam. Aggressive players will usually take advantage of empty bases. However, if you are playing on a large or huge map, you won't have to worry about other players. Instead, you will only have to worry about native lifeforms like mindworms. Generally, only a few units, maybe one per base, are needed to defend against the native life. You just have to choose which idea you like best: build early military units, you minimize risk, but also lower your potential; build facilities and formers earilier, and you carry greater risk, but also higher potential. It is all up to you.

5. Finally. There are several ways to get large sums of energy for a base. One is pure luck. If your base is by a river, each square the river runs through produces one extra energy. Also, bonus energy resources can boost a base's energy considerably. However, the easiest way to get large amounts of energy in small bases is through social engineering. By choosing choices such as free market and wealth that give you + economy, each base will produce extra energy. For example, +1 economy will give you one extra energy per base (shown in the base square). +2 economy (obtained by doing free market) will give you an extra energy per square. Free market is the easiest way to obtain quick wealth. While you do have -5 police, it really isn't a big deal. Keep your bases small by using crawlers to get lots of minerals and by constantly building colony pods (which subtract 1 population when completed). Higher levels of positive economy add more energy to the base square and give you bonuses on commerce between other factions.

I hope this helps...