Little diplomatic snags and other MOO1 problems.

[vmxa1]

One more, research. The AI is not affected by the level in terms of research, but you are. So in effect, it gain a big edge as you move up. I will ignore racial traits and tech cost, ut they are factored by this:

20 Simple
25 Easy
30 Avg this is what the AI uses in all games
35 Hard
40 Impossible

So you can see it will be twice as hard to research a tech at impossible, as it would have been at simple. You will pay 33% more than the AI at imposible.

[Elok]

Strangely enough, as we talk about difficulty levels, I'm sooo close to becoming a "Prince" here at 'poly...

I've gotten a voted victory from the other players before. It's actually not that hard. You just play against the Darloks and declare war against them at the very last minute. The other AI players will want to have your baby.

How do your rates affect spying effectiveness? Even playing as the Darloks, with superior computer tech levels, I'm having a heckuva time stealing techs. I know they start to use spies more themselves at higher levels, but do they gain an advantage security-wise as you go up the ladder?

[vmxa1]

Spy cost are a function of your computer tech. The first spy is 25BC + 2x tech level. Each additional one cost double the previous one at your current tech level.

In the main when I want to steal tech, I set my allocation to 4.4% and let it ride until I have stolen everything they have or I am about to start taking their planets.

The one the impact to the AI is that as you go up levels they get production bonuses and hence have more to spend on spies.

[vmxa1]

I see you made Prince, congrats.

[Elok]

Thank you. What does researching advanced Planetology do for the player? The other five fields all miniaturize some useful ship component or other, plus computers also makes you a better spy. If Planetology just makes colony bases or bioterminators smaller...meh. Does it make terraforming cheaper somehow, or anything like that?

[vmxa1]

Two other things it does is:
1) reduce the cost of pop (this is small)
2) increase productivity of workers.

This is huge and the Klacs get a bonus in this area.
Level 8 planetology 1.48 for Klacs
Level 50 is 4.00 for Klacs.

[Ljube]

If you are having trouble with the AI attacking you early on, there is a very good strategy you can employ to avoid their attacks altogether. You should establish trade with the AI and watch how your relations with them improve over time.

It's not always easy to trade with other nations. If you're Human, it's piece of cake, but if you are Darlok everybody is going to hate you. In these circumstances a friendly gift of an outdated tech can do the trick.

One more thing: Never trust a race whose leader is erratic. They can attack out of the blue quoting their famous author: "Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war". These erratic races are No 1 on my hit list when I get strong enough. Klackons and Bulrathi are usually erratic, and Psilons, Humans and Meklars can sometimes also be erratic.

[Elok]

Yeah, I played a game as the Klackons to test, and man does production take off after a few planetology levels! It probably helped that I was playing against the Mrrshan and Alkari though. What a bunch of vermin. Is there any player, besides the humans, weaker than them?

How do trade routes work? Do you just both get extra BC for some reason? I usually agree to them in the rare instances when the AI asks, just to shut 'em up, but I don't start them because I don't know what they do.

[vmxa1]

I always avoid trades. The main reason is that you start out losing on the deal and once it goes positive they will probably declare war. Either way, not much use to me.

[Elok]

Uh, lil' confession: I downloaded the game from an abandonware site. I basically figured out the game as I went along. I don't even know what they mean by "trading X BC per year." What exactly do they do?

[vmxa1]

Races can either contact you or you them and offer a treaty. It can be research or trade. You offer an amount and agree on it. Once that is done some BC's will be used to fund that trade. Over time you will start to make money on the deal and the trade will bring in money.

If you are playing as a Human the trade will tend to do better and more likely to be accepted. I have not checked on the impact of the level, if any. I would expect that the lower the level the more likely the AI will be to accept deals.

[Elok]

So basically, when I make an agreement, the other race and I are purchasing stock in Alkari-Klackon Relations, Inc.?

[vmxa1]

I was using my old PC to play some games that do not run in my XP system, so I have not been on the net the last few days. Just a quick in and out.

So I should have mentioned that trade will also potentually boost DP relations. You can only trade bewtween 5-25% of the smaller races GNP. You must have at least 100BC gross encon to trade.

Trade profit goes from -30% to 100%. It will start for -30% and grown bewtween 0-5% per turn. The rate of growth is d200 + current relations + 25 (rounded down).


Note that as you increase your trade, you get a hit on profitability.
Note also you could actually have -1% growth if you are at Fued with your partner.

I cannot say if the reason the AI will go to war with you after you get to the plus side is due to that or other factors. Probably the other factors as unless you are playing as Humans it won't take long for the AI to not like you. This is even more so for me as I mostly play on small maps. This means contact sooner and lack of free planets very soon.

[Ljube]

The AI hates you when you become strong (the strongest) regardless of the trade agreements. But trade keeps the AI from attacking you early on while you are still relatively weak.

When you become strong, trade is not an issue any more. You can, however, pick one race to be your loyal friend (preferably not humans, erratic or peaceful race cause they'll switch sides without notice) and remain allied with them, trading and boosting your economy.

I usually follow this strategy.

[vmxa1]

No trade for me as I want to be at war at all times with all races, unless I had to sweat a vote.

I need them to attack me from time to time to keep those fleets in check.