I just got the game and have a million questions

[Willowburn]

Ok, not a million but quite a few.

I've worked out the sliders and have been leaving the majority to research, but leaving minimal to build ships and buildings. Having read some threads, it seems it is better to have no money going towards the buildings. Is this a good idea, or should you leave a dribble going towards building infrstructure on your planets?

Why do each and every race breed like there is no toomorrow? I keep a close eye on my moral and try to stay at 100% and have a few game options to give me a breeding bonus, but when all the races come to the round table, my population is always the smallest and by a significant margin and my voting power is basically nil. I was pumping out colony ships like there was no toomorrow, but then I found I had ships but no where to send them to, and they ended up being very expensive scouting ships. I thought at first this was the reason why my population was so low compared to other races, but then I didn't pump them out until I had somewhere for them to go, but still I was always tail end charlie on the population scale. Is there something that I am not doing correctly?

I've read about rush buying and understand the concept, but it always seems to get me into trouble. I lease for example a colony ship and then have to pay a certain amount each month. To keep my head above above water and not go spirialling downwards, I have to reduce the sliders and so slow research. Is rush buying such a good thing and if it is, what is the best way to manage your economy when you have to start paying it all back?

Finally (for the moment ), what is your strategy for building ships & planet buildings? I have mine but I think I have been going wrong in a number of ways. Any guidlines on any of above would be appreciated.

[Harry Seldon]

1. When you vote, that's not pop, that's influence. Try to build social projects with influence or mine an influence resource.

2. If you don't have any place to send your colony ships, move them back to one of your systems and the population will get off. At least then they'll be productive.

3. Try not to rush buy anything you don't absolutely need and focus on building money generating social projects as soon as you research them.

Oh, and I constantly readjust my sliders on the domestic screen to reflect what I'm trying to do at the moment. Don't lock yourself in to any particular spending pattern.

[bonscott]

Originally posted by Harry Seldon

Oh, and I constantly readjust my sliders on the domestic screen to reflect what I'm trying to do at the moment. Don't lock yourself in to any particular spending pattern.

Exactly, different spending ratio's will be needed at different points in the game and depending on situation.

A common strategy is to start the game at 50% taxes, 100% spending (yes, you will lose money each month) and set the sliders to 80% military, 0% social, 20% research. This allows you to pump out colony ships at 2 turns on Earth and very quickly elsewhere. You have no need for social improvements for a while.

Once you have settled every system you can, I then usually go about 50% research and 25% each for military and social. This will allow me to get caught up in tech, start building some buildings like soil and habitat improvement, banks, etc. and still get a constructor or two out to get the early resources.

Here is where it varies by game: If I'm in for an early war or it's an early race to resources I'll bump my military up to get ships faster. If none of that is happening and it's a race to trade goods then I'll pump up social spending. Really depends on the progress of the game.

Once you go in the red with your money you will want to even out taxes and spending so that you aren't losing as much or gain a little bit. Start trading as soon as you can and get trade routes going because you can then increase spending again without losing money.

Have fun!

[Willowburn]

Thanks for the replys.. ..Muchly appreciated.

Trade was something I was totally ignoring, and after a game last night I can see how important it really is. This has now answered a number of my other questions, but I do have a couple more.

I am about to try and invade a minor races planet. It's a 22, in a system where livable planets are rare as hens teeth. Thier population is over 16B. What sort of number of troops will I need to sucessfully take over the planet? I guess it will depend on how far down the military reseach path I have gone, but as a rule of thumb do you need a majority sized invasion force to sucessfully bring the the planet under your banner or does troops have certain military advantages which will you allow you do take over a planet with a lessor force?

And on a small side issue.....I set the different races to a random allignment, and when I start a new game thier allignment reflects my last game. I know the ET look-a-likes an't evil, being good but can someone tell me the orginal allignments for the races?

[Harry Seldon]

drengin - pure evil
yor - chaotic evil
arcean - neutral
torian - chaotic good
altarian - pure good

[bonscott]

Originally posted by Willowburn
Thier population is over 16B. What sort of number of troops will I need to sucessfully take over the planet? I guess it will depend on how far down the military reseach path I have gone, but as a rule of thumb do you need a majority sized invasion force to sucessfully bring the the planet under your banner or does troops have certain military advantages which will you allow you do take over a planet with a lessor force?

There are quite a few factors that go into this, in particular any soldering bonuses you might have.

Assuming that you use Traditional Invasion, a fully loaded Combat Transport of 5 B *might* take the planet but it will be close. I'd say more then half the time you'll need a second follow-up invasion of another transport to take it.

You increase your chances of course by having a lot of bonuses, if the planet has low morale (thus they resist less) and of course you could use Mass Drivers or something as well.

If this planet has high morale (which a minor usuually has) it will be tough to take it with 5 B troops, but not impossible.

[Harry Seldon]

Be careful with the pre-invasion attacks, though. It doesn't do you any good to win a planet if you lower the PQ below 14. A good tactic for a planet that size or for an incredibly powerful foe is to send in transports and use the tidal disruptors or mass drivers to wreck a planet. That way you don't have to take it by combat and you can saddle your enemy with a money losing planet.

[bonscott]

Agreed. I rarely use any of the invasion tactics except maybe Tital Disruptors. I just come in by mass force. But if I'm at the end of my transports and I only have one planet left to take, I may suck up the cash and use one of them. But I never use one that lower PQ. Just not worth it unless it's to kill a very key AI system.

[Harry Seldon]

I was able to beat an enormous disadvantage against the Altarians using tidal disrupters and mass drivers. I simultaneously attacked eleven systems and wrecked each world; I even took a few. He immediately came back and wiped the floor with me but within fifty turns the Altarians were paying me major tribute.

[anofalye]

*giggles*

Topic: techs

Well, if you are technologically behind, you should focus as well to send your scouts ships to find all minor races (and major), you can always find some nice trading, you don`t care trading more tech for 1 tech, ater you end up trading that tech to all other civs to get more and so on...

You can sell techs for pure cash, this help maintain you at 100% spending longer, a lot longer...you don`t care if a minor race have the techs all have...and once you sell to 1 race, make sure you sell it to all, more cash is good...


**********************

Topic: Minor races

You will gain a lot more ressources by selling them the techs everyone have then by actually invading them, which in turn will make you able to invade a major power, all the while they may very well trade with you, wich is improving your revenues. I don`t think attacking a minor races is worth it unless you play on a very long term without any major conflict. But you can always fight 1 particuliar major race and remove a threat while improving your situation.

Minor races are a weird form of ressources, taking the planet by force is the very very long term investment. Just don`t let a computer invade them before you, I invade before my allies after they kill the warships(leaving transports near if necessary, even blocking his transports pathway) or go to war with some major neutral power and take their planets while assuring some ressources, the minor races already at war with the major power will usually back you.

Taking a sector from the Drengin might cost a little more, have a planet a little less productive, but if you add on the economy benefit from the minor race, you are a lot richer and more powerfull and crippling the Drengin at same time in that exemple. The Drengin are easy to cow to pay HUGE fee to remain alive in peace later on if your military outshine them, which in turn might provide you the option to crush another empire out of competition, finishing a foe is usually an awfull waste of ressources in the race to power, once your power is secure, you can finish all the races you want.

***************************


Topics: Rush buy

Rush buy a wonder unless you have a HUGE lead in the tech and can afford slow building...this is later...but ...can be nice....starting a wonder that everyone can build is like asking for wasting your ressources, always rush buy them if you care for it(now if you don`t any other improvement you care and don`t care much for it, why not...)

Rush buy is very nice if you can afford all now with raw cash(can do that first turn), that 1 turn you save on 1 ship might mean a HUGE difference on colonizing the borders first...but up to you, I love to colonize a sector that was not adjacent to me but was to another race before they do, as it cut them a lot! For the long term lease, you need to make sure you will colonize something, basically when you rush buy it is: 1 - you know you will get a planet 2- you really need a colony ship asap on that sector to cut a bigger frontier(another race can be unable to progress if you have all the planet in 1 sector without a starbase, which basically mean you win that front completely(can be a far away border that turn nicer then expected)) (Exemple, you colonize a sector that is on a border of the map(left for exemple), a race is 1 side of it(bottom), not the other, and there is 2 yellow star in it, no yellow in any other(the few sector higher on the map from that 1) that race can reach to get further on that border of the map) f you need to rush buy a colony ship on a planet with 50 millons peoples to colonize the only yellow star that block another race and not rush buying will be to late, then rush buy even if need to lease the 5 bc a turn forever, if that stop all progress on 1 side for it and you are likely to get a few more nice stars that way)

Ano