going for flex instead of IA first

[dmm1285]

anyone regularaly do this with the builder factions (morgan, uni., etc)? I have in my most recent as morgan, and it utrned out to be a pretty powerful gambit, I got 3 intabuild pods in 3 turns in the early 20's, not to mention comlinks and all the other goodies in the pods, plus you need flex for d:ap later anywyas, anyone else have expereince with this?

[Leon Trotsky]

I usually do that in SP, as it guarantees you will grab every pod in Planet's waters. It also helps playing tech broker (yes, I stole Aaron's phrase).

[Sikander]

Tech Broker is a pretty old term.

[CEO Aaron]

Well, I'm a pretty old guy. :P

[Frankychan]

I think you should coin that phrase, man.

[Kirov]

Re: going for flex instead of IA first

Originally posted by dmm1285
anyone regularaly do this with the builder factions (morgan, uni., etc)? I have in my most recent as morgan, and it utrned out to be a pretty powerful gambit, I got 3 intabuild pods in 3 turns in the early 20's, not to mention comlinks and all the other goodies in the pods, plus you need flex for d:ap later anywyas, anyone else have expereince with this?

I'd never stray from IA path, unless I play a tiny map or Spartans with a neighbour close at hand. Apart from that, it's almost always better to get Wealth, do at least one or two crawlers and then go navy or pick NLM.

You say you got 3 instabuilds, but you could as well have got 3 IoDs...

[CEO Aaron]

Yeah, as to the topic at hand, I don't think I'd divert from IA unless my circumstances absolutely dictated it. Even if I wanted early boats, getting it after IA seems much wiser to me, as I can deploy my fleet faster once I have a handful of crawlers working to increase my mineral income.

[dmm1285]

Originally posted by CEO Aaron
Yeah, as to the topic at hand, I don't think I'd divert from IA unless my circumstances absolutely dictated it. Even if I wanted early boats, getting it after IA seems much wiser to me, as I can deploy my fleet faster once I have a handful of crawlers working to increase my mineral income.

After trying both ways, I agree

[bluetemplar]

I've played a 1vs1 PBEM game when I won mostly because of my naval superiority.
I was Spartans vs Planet Cult, but I think the same scenario could happen to any faction: When I got my 2nd or 3rd boat, I started sniping on his improvements. IMHO it's one of the most cost effective methods in the game to disrupt someone's progression.
Of course it works only if your victim has a small island or creates most of it's bases on coast.