Hi, I'm new, having trouble >.<

[Garth Vader]

I can see the point in this instance because you have no cost in moving people from planets in the same system.

I tend to build all buildings first and do housing after so I like to get a second pop and often partially rush the auto factories.

But I often also have problems with food and not enough production on the HW until I get soil enrichment if I do that. But the colonies will be productive fairly quickly.

[vmxa1]

Yes the food issue can be a hassle early in the game unless you are a rock. If you are going to colony blitz and are not creative, you will not have Hydros or Soil, so it is a strain for a longer time. If you have radiated planets, it can be a big problem. You got to have some issue to deal with or it is no fun.
You can trade problems for weakness by taking creative. By weakness I mean you will be less productive for the same period, you would have been struggling with food. So its one thing or another.

[Whoha]

I generally go for Soil enrichment instead of cloning though, is there a benefit to cloning with housing in the game?

[vmxa1]

Yup, about 90K more.

[Garth Vader]

I always go hydros and soil. By the time I can use biospheres I can usually get it anyway.

[vmxa1]

If you are sending pop to the HW you will need that Bio very soon. If you are repulsive you have no way to get the missing tech, except steal it and that is very iffy.
Soil vs Cloner is is not always so clear cut, I would almost never take hydro over bio. Of course some races do not get to research hydro anyway and creatives get both.

[Garth Vader]

I seldom take repulsive, I take lowg instead. The 2 free food I get from all the colonies adds up and really helps.

This is what I like so much about this game. We play quite different styles, research different techs, build different kinds of ships but still manage to be successful on the hardest levels.

[vmxa1]

I do not recommend repulsive as a "better" pick, I only use to enforce a no extortion policy. I feel it is too easy to do and I get the bonus of not having the AI contact me all the time for chit chat and trades.

Two extra pop produce how much food on a terran world? Once you get to SubFarms or Weather food is no longer an issue and now you have two more researchers.

[Iasius]

Also, if you're not subterranean or creative, you'll soon be at your colonies max population. Having two more reasearchers on all your early colonies can be easily fed by the two extra farmers on the homeworld. Especially for a unification race.
I may opt for hydroponics if I'm democratic though.
I'm usually either creative and dictatorship or not creative and unification (or aquatic).
So I don't have that much of a food problem early on. Later it is not a problem with pretty much any race.

[Crabz]

Again I came to thinking, and the thought on my mind was this.

Why is lithovore so much better than subterranean? By end game you don't need 1/2 ur population farming, in fact far less, and with 2x the pop you'll easily be able to feed radiated colonies...

But aye, the problem lies in just that - end game. So much of this game is early game... It's yukky.

I didn't realize just how powerful feudalism is if you choose charismatic and telepathic >.< You can just trade for all the tech you need, and then exploit the tech u can't trade for LOL. That's only 9 points, and improved feudalism reduces ship costs to 1/3! That's far superior to unification (in terms of ship production) numerically about 1/6th better, and there is a 10point spread between them, (namely lithovore :P)

Yikes. I just don't understand this game like I'm supposed to, do I? The problem with the cha/tele is the reliance on running into friends, and being powerful enough for them not to destroy you instantly. The easiest way I've found to buy favor is to offer useless tech to non-creative races, if you are creative, like fusion beam or rifle, depending on their choice.

Does anyone else have an effective feudal build? If anyone wouldn't mind chatting, I think my msn/icq are in my profile, I'd love it if someone wanted to teach me something .

[Whoha]

Because the best late game boost is an early game boost. It takes a long time to get to late game.

Confed also has morale on top of its ship building bonus, but again, late game vs early game.

Feudal/lith/creative
feudal/lith/tol
are two really good feudal races races i've found, well really they are two really good lithovore races :P

[Crabz]

Yep I'm beginning to look at Tol, it's beautiful. I am considering a sub/tol race, but again, it's powerful LATE game, I need to either have incredible skill to get there, or luck with my early planet choice.

[Crabz]

I've come to a new conclusion, it is quite amazing.

The only thing you need to win a fight is weaponry. If you are feudal, as I was, ship creation is a very unimportant, and fast ontaking. I am currently trying to figure out a balance by which I can produce easily, and also tech aswell... I'll keep everyone posted if I find an uberpowerful option ^_^

[vmxa1]

The only feudal race I would play is a tele blitz. Feudal mean no research and research is punished at impossible level as it is.

DemoLith LHW RHW is a very strong race. Played on a huge map with mineral rich makes it a real brute (prewarp or avg tech).

The lith vs sub is really all about food. Liths don't need any and can get working on ind or sci.

[Crabz]

would you be able to define tele blitz? I know that tele is telepathic... so It could have to do with mind controlling lots of colonies fast, right? What is the other part of it?