Custom Race- Best Stats?

[bakalov]

May be aquatic is a good option only for organic rich galaxy .... Recently I played a game where only my HW and a small tundra planet were planets that could produce food in the 6 systems I had (on a huge map, normal galaxy, not organic) ... As my pop grow up everyone at the tundra and half of my HW pop had to be farmer and I lost the real benefit from the ultra-rich homeworld which had to feed these not so rich colonies ... But I needed them to generate RP & command points and cache to support the buildings ....

[originalbork]

Yep in a ave or min rich galaxy I like uni-tol-large-rich over uni-aqua. The one thing you usually need to commit to early in that type of setting is getting your mirv nukes and taking down the nearest monsters (4 for an amoeba up to 9 for a dragon with frigates) so your home can be used as a farm and that huge UR gaia can be loaded with workers at 12 base production per without pollution.

In ave or min rich, I agree aquatic is not the best choice.

[gramians]

Ok - so aqua isn't that bad, but if you note in my original post I still have 2 points left to spend, so I can add rich home world to my telepaths. I just usually don't as a handicap. Mu wu hahahah...

what I dont get about your "UNI-AQUA-+2 pro- large rich hw" (originalbork) is how you pay for it... do you have the low g, crappy spies and ground troops like my space vixens? Because that would make your ground troops fight like the French. Or are your guys some sort of anti-social (read: repulsive) variants?

As far as mixing telepaths with creatives I tend not to do that, since as a telepath you can just steal whatever techs you're missing. You end up paying for the ability to be better at spying, but having no need for it other than preservation of your tech. Why buy the cow when you get the milk for free?

Anyway - You've convinced me to give this aqua approach a try, as it does give a big production boost - though I gotta stick by my guns and say I still prefer the no fuss no muss telepath approach to out-production anyday. It's got more style.

[Destroyer]

Nah nah

Try this on a huge galaxy:

large home 1
+2 production 6
+1 science 3
creative 8
-20 ship attaack -2
-20 ship defence -2
-20 ground attack -2
-50 money -4

total = 2
plus 4 when you get the final bio tech
then spend 6 on subterrainian

This will do most to maximise your production - the most important aspect of the game.

[gramians]

Originally posted by Destroyer
Nah nah

Try this on a huge galaxy:

large home 1
+2 production 6
+1 science 3
creative 8
-20 ship attaack -2
-20 ship defence -2
-20 ground attack -2
-50 money -4

total = 2
plus 4 when you get the final bio tech
then spend 6 on subterrainian

Yeah - I used to do one like that a lot. I liked the whole subterranean-in-the-back-pocket "whootcha gunna do NOW?!" approach. Usually by that time my buds would give up. I still yell that at the computer though.

[originalbork]

I only use creative in advanced tech games. It gives me everything I need to kill them right after I get posi's and Cl3. One refit and you can go through them like butter.

Assuming anything else with SP speed kill as the objective. I never take anything but repulsive -def -gc. The -GC doesn't much play in because by the time I am beating their ass senseless I am sending droves of TP ships forward. Also my combat bonus's will rip theirs. I will have fusion rifle, zort and personal shield. Considering the computer is a friggin idiot I will overcome my negative easily. The base battleship is zort, pods, rein hull, augies, inertial and a boat load of 2 shot mirv mercs protected by regular mercs as chaff. There is always a runner (destroer with pods, warp disapator, augies and inertial) that assures that the missiles all find a home.

That base battleship will get improved but if I build it, I don't need to refit it ever.

Considering the advantage you have as a tele, I think you may be able to match the kill speed with a Uni-Aqua-Tele in an ave tech game. It would take great timing and your proximity to your first victim may have more to do with it. I know a laser cruiser can easily take down an early SB. That early pop steal would need to override the production defecit you would be experiencing. Noone dared play tele mp as it was a death warrant.

I use my uni-aqua race and a uni-tol variant as they are very effective in MP pre or ave tech games. There was one guy, Cybersaber, who could play an effective creative in ave tech (but he did it more of a change up in larger games) The basic plan was stay away from the furious killers like me until he got Cl3's and positronics. I attack creatives on sight, others don't understand that the window to kill a good creative ends around turn 90 unless you outnumber them over 2-1.

[bakalov]

You forgot the Powered Armor GC bonus (x2 hits +10GC) :-)

[originalbork]

The only way I will have powered armor is if I steal it along the way. I get robo miners fairly early, actually immediately before I run to supers (picking up neural scanners along the way). My home planet is at 15+15 per worker - pollution so ships can get built real fast.

[bakalov]

I completely agree with the kalbear's statement for aquatic benefits.

Some thoughts about what exactly aquatic does:

there are 2 types of planets in the galaxy:
water based and non-water based.
First are:

Tundra - teraforms to swamp //aquatic treat as terran
Swamp - teraforms to terran //aquatic treat as terran
Ocean - only can occur naturally //aquatic treat as gaia
Terran - natural or teraformed //aquatic treat as gaia

And the second are
Desert - teraforms to arid
Arid - teraforms to terran

If the planet is radiated or barren it may be one of the two types (It becomes known when you teraform it for first time)

Toxic - no obtainable bonus from the aquatic here.

So the main benefits from the aquatic:
-----------Without terraforming---------------
Gaia for naturally occuring terran & oceans
Terran for naturally occuring tundra & swamp
-----------With terraforming---------------
(!)Terran for 50% of the barren planets after only one terraforming cycle.
Gaia for everything terraformed to terran.

From this analisys is clear that an aquatic race will want to discover the terraforming at certain point for further benefit from the race bonus; and Chug (wasn't this the guy that brings terraforming) is one of the best leaders
for an aquatic race if he pops early on - dont miss him :-)

[originalbork]

Don't need terraforming

You don't need to research Terraforming with an aquatic. The game will no longer be in question before you would want to spend research to learn it or the production to terraform a planet in place of production towards a shiny new BB.

[bakalov]

And what about an 8-player game on huge map when there only 2 or 3 players remain probaly with warp interdictors in the play, and each of them holding 1/2 or 1/3 of the map? With 250 production you can turn a huge rich barren planet (with 6 pop) into a 20 pop planet, which can buld BB every 3-4 turns? If you ask where you will get pop to fill it - from your poor worlds. For 250 production which is the cost of 1/5 BB it is not too bad; and the terraforming is not so expensive to research (1500); it is only 2 techs form the soil enrichment which you have probably been researched anyway .... And if you get Chug you will get it for free. Chug is one of the higher leaders but he may join at turn 80-90 if you have another Famous leader. At the games I played recently I got him twice :-)

I agree that on the smaller maps in MP it is better not to try to research it except if you get the leader.

[originalbork]

Terraforming

Bakalov, in a huge evenly matched MP game I will eventually take terraforming but 2000 RP's (tele training needs to go first) can be costly in MP. I usually only do it when I am jacked at 900+ rp's. Until then it is entirely too costly to spend time there as opposed to most other techs. I try to get the tech with minimum investment and if I don't I switch to something bigger.

In SP the game is over before I would ever research it.

[bakalov]

Yes, certainly, if you make an investment it will be good to be certain that you will live long enough to see it bearing fruits :-)

[bakalov]

Another way to get Terraforming (it is more applicable for SP, or for MP with AI players in the game) - If you are not Repulsive, demand the Terraforming from the AI players - they seem to very easily to give it (in fact, they never refused it for me); the same is true for the Planetary Gravity Generator.

[bakalov]

A good-looking race for early attack (in prewarp):

Democracy
Lithovore
Artifacts

60RP from turn 1 ... It will have to attack with modded lasers as early as possible .... no battleships, only a few destroyers and frigates (will use the money from the starbase to build them, not colony bases or something else).

Its ideology is to try to catch another race like an uni aqua while it is settling, aiming for the homeworld. It should use an outpost ship to reach them ... If they land a colony ship at turn 25 near you, then you land a transport there :-)