CyCon: The ultimate hybrid faction!

[Net Warrior]

CyCon: The ultimate hybrid faction!

The following thoughts are based on a PBEM I’m in the middle of (my 1st time ever playing CyCon):

They can research as well if not better than the University.

They can run FM and rake in the energy and then push the slider well toward labs thanks to their efficiency. Once their crawler fleet is in place, they can nursemaid new bases with them, and so can run Demo for a paradigm efficiency. This further enhances research (slider efficiency), and provides good bdrone control as they continue to expand.

They should get to the early SP’s 1st and can cherry pick which projects best suite their playing style. I particularly like the Transit Authority for them since they can’t pop boom, it really helps counter Demo’s penalty for new bases, and it’s good for early FM drone control. Next they need to beeline to Airpower; maybe get to MMI 1st and grab both SP’s. Then they should get to Cyberethics to run Knowledge for another timely boost to (bdrone control) efficiency and research.

Once they have Air Power, they are ready for war. Now once again they get to cherry pick but this time it’s tech they get to pick and chose thanks to techsteal. Assuming they’ve infiltrated their victim(s), they get to leapfrog some tech, they get to solve mod 3 problems on the fly, and they get to pick up valued bypassed tech. Finally, if their opponents manage at any time to get a dangerous military tech, they can simply techsteal it to maintain parity

So, is there a better hybrid faction out there? (flame away)

[Googlie]

Harrumph is all I have to say.

(one of the "about to be victims" in said PBEM)

GGLIE

[CEO Aaron]

There are plenty of better Hybrids, imo. Aki's got advantages to be sure, but they come with a rather significan't disadvantage, namely slow growth and troublesome pop booming (it's not impossible, just requires a huge diversion of resources).

Aki is only going to be able to cherrypick SPs when real builders like Morgan and Zak have passed on them. The research bonus is nice, but you still need to have the infrastructure and industry to turn your knowledge into power, and early on, efficiency's only virtue is the ability to run planned or police with fewer drawbacks. Sure, eventually you'll be able to run a larger, more profitable empire with less corruption and waste, but getting there in good order is the trick.

If anything, I think Aki is most suited, of all things, to momentum play. Grab Centauri Ecology, Mobility and Weapon techs, and go hunting. Trade in your efficiency bonus to run planned at zero penalties, and bring home the bacon with a mess of free bases and tech. Then with a significant population and tech advantage, you'll be better suited than a traditional momentum faction to leverage your gains into a large, flourishing empire. More than any other faction, weaponry can substitute for research for the Androids. As long as you have missiles when your enemies have plasma steel, your R&D department isn't going to need a great deal of funding.

For a true Hybrid faction, I think the Peacekeepers still hold the title. Their free talents allow them to build fast and broad early, while still staying in free market for ragingly fast tech and cash. Their ease of expansion quickly leverages itself into a competitive advantage with the true builders, yet they don't have the support drawbacks of Morgan or the drone problems that plague Zak. Stack the extra hab limits on top of those advantages, and you've got a faction to be reckoned with.

[Net Warrior]

CEO Aaron,

I should have prefaced the above with the facts that I only play PBEM's these days and on a huge map almost exclusively. Momentum style wouldn't fit well under those circumstances because you just couldn't count on finding a victim soon enough to do you any good.

Your point about Planned SE is a good one. Looking back on my game, I was in Planned until 2140 or so, when I finally switched to FM. If it was a smaller map I could see how remaining in Planned at that point and going into conquer mode would be viable. But for a huge map hybrid still works best, IMHO. Bottem line, though, is that correct strategy depends on which factions your are playing against and which human opponents are playing them.

Regarding the PK's, I never thought of them as a hybrid faction. I'll have to give that some more thought....

NW

[CEO Aaron]

Well, to be completely frank, I find the term 'hybrid' to be somewhat misleading. Every faction can flucutate between isolationist building and expansionist conquest, with many strategies in between, and even the most aggressive momentum player must still spend some time building his industrial infrastructure so that she can field units and reinforcements. So saying a faction has a 'hybrid' playstyle can mean a great many things, depending on who you ask.

I definitely see how on a huge map you'd be forced to spend more energy developing your infrastructure before switching gears into conquest mode. In fact, I'd expect even Yang and Miriam to spend a good amount of effort on building on such a map.

[Kataphraktoi]

Cycon dont really research faster than uni. Getting to key techs faster like IA and free netnodes is bigger than +2\+2 research\effic for research.

Are we forgetting -1 growth? Worst penalty ever except for that, cycon would probably be among the best. That means no popboom=no way that you can compete in a pure builder war 1v1 imho and it slows early game

[CEO Aaron]

In practice, I'd put both Zak and Morgan ahead of Aki in terms of real-world research speed. Zak's free netnodes and Morgan's extra base square energy will deliver higher tech rates for some time, until the Cycon bases catch up in terms of infrastructure. Early on, Aki's far better served building bases and promoting industry and growth than blowing money down network nodes.

As a side note, Aki CAN pop-boom, it's just a huge pain. Planned/Demo/Creche/Golden Age isn't impossible, provided she's picked up the Human Genome Project.