A handful of MOO2 questions...

[vmxa1]

"Carolus Rex"
"I think I'm about to win my first game at Impossible (and no tactical combat)... "

Congrats

"Do you micromanage a lot? I check the "colonies screen" (where all the colonies are listed) and if an item is one turn from completion I shuffle workers around to maximise science output (mostly) while still being able to build the item next turn... After a while this becomes quite boring... How do the pros micromanage? Or don't you? As the science output needed for a break-through isn't exact, perhaps noone cares?"

I tend to do it for the early part of the game, say till turn 80 or so and then not much. Unless you are trying to do something special, it is more work than is required.

"Do you lose production "shields" for the next item if you have created a build list and you shuffle workers around to maximise science output? Suppose I don't shuffle them around... Are the extra "shields" (i.e. production units beyond the ones needed for the completion of the item) wasted or are they used to build the next item?"

I do not queue things up, as I want to see what is needed after each item. It makes more work, but ....

I only shuffle in the early part of the game. I think hey are rolled into the next project, unless you go to wealth.

"Is there an optimal way to cycle through systems or colonies? I don't know why, but I quickly lose track of my empire..."

I use the colony view where yu can see all the colonies at once or scroll up and down to see them.

"Is there a strategy to grow your planets quickly? For example, I build hydroponic farms and clonic centres to speed up population growth. However, it seems unintelligent to build these on every planet (well, the clonic centres at least), so I've tried to do it in a few places and then transport colonists to other systems... I'm not sure, though, whether I should do it on the planets that are Gaia/Terran and ship people to more sterile systems or the other way around (after all, you empty the good planets, at least initially)... The former way seems better... Is there a consensus on how to do this, or a better way?"

I may not have cloners, or have them soon enough to matter to me. If the planet is not going to be sending pop off and is at max cap when I get teh tech, I won't add cloners.

Shifting pop is a matter of need. Most of the time I don't bother after the conquer phase starts. Just one to get the trait benefit for the most part.

It i smore useful in Moo1 than Moo2 imo, but not useless. It is just more work that I can get by without.

"I terraform quite a lot as I like to have perfect planets... It takes some time and often I neglect my military capacity... Which planets do you choose to terraform? The ones that need it once or twice and then are quite good, or the really bad ones? Or not at all?"

It is fine either way. I like to do it on the strong planets that can gt large production and add ships to the fleet. If you have nothing better to do on the planet let it rip.

[Aabraxan]

First, congratulations!

Truthfully, I don't micromanage nearly enough, which probably explains why I don't consistently win at Impossible. For a very long time, I played only huge galaxies. Micromanaging with that many planets is a nightmare. It's been a while since I played and I can't remember right now if there's carryover of production or not, so I'll have to defer to someone else to answer that one.

For growing planets, you're on the right track. Build "breeding centers" and ship the colonists out. You'll hear a lot of the pros talk about "one-pop housing." Somewhere I've seen the equation for how the program calculates pop growth and it is at its most efficient if there's only one colonist on the planet. So when I settle a new system, I claim the best planet first. Then maybe an automated factory. Then a couple of colony bases (if there are other planets to colonize). The first planet begins building its infrastructure or ships, as needed. All of the other planets are set to housing. Every time one of those planets gets one new pop, I immediately move it to my primary planet, until it reaches max population. Then the second planet begins building its infrastructure. Rinse and repeat. Obviously, that's under ideal conditions. If I'm under heavy pressure from a war, for example, I can't do that.

As to which planets to put the breeding centers on in any given system, as always, it depends and your results may vary. Generally, I'll colonize the most mineral rich planet as the primary, and the most habitable becomes the first breeding colony. So If I have: (1) a medium rich barren; and (2) a small ocean ultra-poor, the first gets settled first and the second becomes a breeder. On the other hand, if I have: (1) a tiny ultra-rich barren; and (2) a large abundant tundra, I'll settle the tundra fist and use the barren as the breeder, just because a tiny world fills up so quickly.

Terraforming: I like terraforming. Not because it has any special military applications, but just because I want my people to have the best. As I don't even settle things like tiny ultra-poor toxic planets, they obviously don't get terraformed. Otherwise, I'll terraform almost any planet, under the right circumstances . . . and that's the key. What do I need my empire to have? In a tiny or small galaxy, you're looking at early conflict and a fast race to fill space. By the time you get to battleships, the game may be in the bag, so no time for terraforming. In a huge galaxy, I'll terraform almost any huge planet because I can almost always use one more breeding colony or one more world of 30 working on trade goods.

I prefer soil enrichment to hydroponic farms, so I rarely build the latter. Frankly, it's usually one of the first things I destroy when I take over a planet. Cloning centers rock, especially for the breeding colonies, but don't forget to scrap them once they're no longer useful. You're paying upkeep, after all. And you'll get a few BC back from scrapping.

Edit: And the colony view will let you sort colonies by name or by production item, which is very handy.

[vmxa1]

In the main you should always take Bio over hydro as 2 more pop is beter than moe food. it won't be long and you will have more food than you can use.

[Carolus Rex]

Hm... I've almost always picked hydroponic farms between the two...

But many (almost all) of my planets usually do not allow farming until I've terraformed them... And without farming I'm often experiencing negative population growth (unless I produce housing)...

Hydroponic farms seem like an ok option early on (and they are built fast)... Why build biospheres if there isn't enough food to grow the current population? Or do you rely on a good farming planet and freighter fleets to meet food demand?

Perhaps I colonise lousy planets (but that's what I usually have to deal with )...

A question about managing the population... At first I closely followed the growth rates of all planets, making sure I didn't lose newly acquired population units... In Civ 2, a food deficit is devastating as it empties the food storage box (IIRC), unless you have a granary, and it takes some time to build the city back up...

In MOO2, I've noticed that should a planet lose a population unit, it only loses the amount stated (50k, for example) so it grows right back the next turn. If left unchecked the cycle then continues (lose population, regrow, lose population, regrow), so the planet hovers around that population number... It doesn't seem to make much difference and perhaps doesn't need monitoring?

I also thought that negative growth right away will kill your newly established planet... So I've always first produced some housing (until I'm close to 2 million people) and then I switch to automated factory... However, yesterday I noticed that the first million people cannot die due to negative population growth... But it's still recommendable to produce housing, I suppose? I don't like producing housing very much... Feels like the colony is idle...

Do you rushbuy a lot? I do it all the time, except perhaps in the beginning when I want the cash to hire colony leaders...

Are there any tricks/exploits that have been agreed upon as ok?

Thanks for your interest!

Carolus

[Aabraxan]

Originally posted by Carolus Rex
Hm... I've almost always picked hydroponic farms between the two...

But many (almost all) of my planets usually do not allow farming until I've terraformed them... And without farming I'm often experiencing negative population growth (unless I produce housing)...

Hydroponic farms seem like an ok option early on (and they are built fast)... Why build biospheres if there isn't enough food to grow the current population? Or do you rely on a good farming planet and freighter fleets to meet food demand?

IIRC, hydros go up against biospheres. Unless you're creative (a very expensive race pick in the grand scheme of things), you won't be able to research both. Later in the tech tree, but in the same category (again, IIRC), soil enrichment competes with cloning centers.

First, hydros increase food by +2 per planet. Biospheres increase pop max by +2. Typically, you'll be able to get more than the +2 food out of 2 more pop. Biospheres may not be useful in the short run, but you get more out of them in the long run. The 2 extra pop can be 2 extra of whatever that planet needs: farmers, workers, or scientists.

As I mentioned earlier, cloning centers rock, but if you have to choose, I'd go with soil. No upkeep on enriched soil and it gives a huge boost in food production. As fond as I am of cloners, they have a limited span of utility and you pay upkeep.

And yes, I build farming planets and tons of freighters to meet those needs.

A question about managing the population . . . . However, yesterday I noticed that the first million people cannot die due to negative population growth... But it's still recommendable to produce housing, I suppose? I don't like producing housing very much... Feels like the colony is idle...

It's been so long since I really took a look at the mechanics of pop and housing that I'm going to defer most of your questions in this area. I will say, however, that I cannot recall ever losing the first million colonists to starvation. Perhaps that's because I panic and try not to let colonies starve.

Do you rushbuy a lot? I do it all the time, except perhaps in the beginning when I want the cash to hire colony leaders...

I don't rushbuy unless it's an emergency, or the game's pretty much over. Primarily that's because I run with an overloaded military that eats up all my BC . . . I couldn't tell you if that's advisable, but that's how I usually wind up playing.

[vmxa1]

"Carolus Rex"
"Hm... I've almost always picked hydroponic farms between the two..."

I would suggest you stop that now as was expalined above. Frieghters until you can get some of those planet to do their own, if that is what you want.

You may be better off feeding them from some place else if they have a bonus.

"A question about managing the population... At first I closely followed the growth rates of all planets, making sure I didn't lose newly acquired population units... In Civ 2, a food deficit is devastating as it empties the food storage box (IIRC), unless you have a granary, and it takes some time to build the city back up..."

This is not civ. A housing planet with 1 pop cannot starve to death. The fastest growth is before you get near the middle of the pop limit, ignoring production boost.

"I also thought that negative growth right away will kill your newly established planet... So I've always first produced some housing (until I'm close to 2 million people) and then I switch to automated factory... However, yesterday I noticed that the first million people cannot die due to negative population growth... But it's still recommendable to produce housing, I suppose? I don't like producing housing very much... Feels like the colony is idle..."

You can send to pop to another colony in that system or to another system. I like to let it get to size 3 before going into production, unless I have reason to start sooner.

"Do you rushbuy a lot? I do it all the time, except perhaps in the beginning when I want the cash to hire colony leaders..."

Yes I tend to buy the first few item, if I have the money. this is because money is best spent, same as Civ.

"Are there any tricks/exploits that have been agreed upon as ok?"

Only if you count moving pop from research to somethign else once you get a high percentage for a breakthrough.

[siron]

Originally posted by Carolus Rex
Do you micromanage a lot? I check the "colonies screen" (where all the colonies are listed) and if an item is one turn from completion I shuffle workers around to maximise science output (mostly) while still being able to build the item next turn... After a while this becomes quite boring... How do the pros micromanage? Or don't you? As the science output needed for a break-through isn't exact, perhaps noone cares?

Do you lose production "shields" for the next item if you have created a build list and you shuffle workers around to maximise science output? Suppose I don't shuffle them around... Are the extra "shields" (i.e. production units beyond the ones needed for the completion of the item) wasted or are they used to build the next item?

Excess Production Points are stored for the next item. So it doesnt cause further micromanagement.

When you have no further item in the build queue it is converted to tradegoods and simultaneously stored for the next item. That was the most important unfixed bug in 1.31. This so called credit cheat is fixed in the 1.4 patch. So vmxa will probably have a lot of extra cash when he plays 1.31.

[Carolus Rex]

Ah, I didn't know there was a more recent patch (I have version 1.31)... I'll look for it, thanks!

Carolus

[vmxa1]

There is not a further patch. The patch siron is talking about is a user created one.

[siron]

Originally posted by vmxa1
There is not a further patch. The patch siron is talking about is a user created one.

Even if LordBrazen is just a user: It is still a patch then, isn't it?

It is here in his DL section:

http://lordbrazen.blogspot.com/2005/01/download.html

[vmxa1]

Just so he understood it was not Microprose. I like user patches, Mok made a great one for MM6/7/8 so it works on XP.