strat guide info

[Alex-C]

Thanks for the info, its good that you really can develop these traits rather than them remaining "set in stone", gives a lot more freedom

[ashbery]

What are the laws in the senate and does it explain what santions mean in game terms.

[Barshy]

what do they say is the hardest race to play? easiest? why?

[Bird-O-Prey]

Barshy

From what little Ive read from the guide so far, it depends on allot of things. A few races at the first have the upper hand... Later that could change because of their inherent weaknesses...

[Yolky]

Barshy I don't want to ruin it for any people here who want to have it as a suprise.

If it is ok with Mark, he can start a poll to see how many poeple want to know things from the strat guide and how many people who don't want to know and keep it a suprise. (If he makes it then I know it will be ok, and not deleted. from the forums)

If people say it's ok and want to know, I will start a new thread that people can look into and those who don't want to know won't have to look, but I want to know from Mark and the rest of you that it's ok to do so.

Davor

[playshogi]

I bought the guide at Best Buy and I live in Ohio. The senate laws work as described in the data dumps; there are 25 different ones listed in the guide. The Harvesters are described on page 14 with no photo, although I found a (likely) photo of them on page 30.
The book as someone else pointed out is more like a preview/manual than a detailed walk-thru. Here's what it has to say about the opening setup (p. 150): "If there are no new prospects [ie. colonizable planets] in your home system, consider restarting the game until you hit a favorable distribution." Doh!

[BleedTheFreak]

Originally posted by playshogi
I bought the guide at Best Buy and I live in Ohio. The senate laws work as described in the data dumps; there are 25 different ones listed in the guide. The Harvesters are described on page 14 with no photo, although I found a (likely) photo of them on page 30.
The book as someone else pointed out is more like a preview/manual than a detailed walk-thru. Here's what it has to say about the opening setup (p. 150): "If there are no new prospects [ie. colonizable planets] in your home system, consider restarting the game until you hit a favorable distribution." Doh!

Yeah, but the author never did that during any of the 16 walkthroughs, in more the on case his starting system sucked, but he seemed to have the upper hand after each play through story...

[playshogi]

The Imsaeis scenario is a funny one. For some reason, the author allowed the AI to handle the home planet and by the 7th turn "By the time we pay close attention, our population is dropping like flies." p. 219

Of course, he uses that as an example of how to deal with emergencies and is not necessarily a reflection on AI ability.

[Baro]

Building list

Any chance of getting a list of all the "buildings" in moo3 and their effects from the guide? Arg maybe I should just go out and buy it.

Someone should type up all the most important tables and such on a web site.

I'm very interested in reading all the races stats and abilities, and race bible bits if they have them, even the harvesters (get a life or lock your self in a box untill you play the game surprise obsessed people).

[playshogi]

There is no such "building" list in the guide. However, you could create one by close reading of the technology lists For example, the Arts and Entertainment Megalopolis is a Social Science Tech Advance. It's effect is +1.5 to Recreation DEA and -1 to Unrest. It doesn't say if the effect is automatic upon discovery of the advance or if you have to build something.

Race customization -- the cost in points for each modification is not given except for those used in the example given in the book. They'll probably change with playtesting anyway. The total must add up to ZERO, so for every advantageous tweak you must take a disadvantage.

[Yolky]

Re: Building list

Originally posted by Baro
Any chance of getting a list of all the "buildings" in moo3 and their effects from the guide? Arg maybe I should just go out and buy it.

Someone should type up all the most important tables and such on a web site.

I'm very interested in reading all the races stats and abilities, and race bible bits if they have them, even the harvesters (get a life or lock your self in a box untill you play the game surprise obsessed people).

Gota be careful who ever types up all some some of the important tables because of copyright laws. Apolyton could get in trouble if someone listed them here without permission.

Davor

[Guffawing Crow]

Just picked up the strategy guide on Saturday (Electronic Boutiques, Eaton Centre, Toronto - - looks like someone else already picked it up at that location). The store only had four guides left in the store as they were selling fast. Quite the testament to the anticipation for this game, I would have to say!

I guess us lucky Canucks are supposed to tease the rest of you, but at the same time, leave most of the juicy details out.

So, my teaser of the day regards combat. It really looks like ground combat will have a more prominent role as well as fighters. Lots of individual tech seems to be devoted to these two, so it looks like having carrier fleets will be a very viable option.

The sample scenarios they gave really struck me that you get immersed in very important decisions right away. Looks like it will be very fast paced.

[Barshy]

keep pumping out those teasers...

graphically, what do you see for ground combat?

Casus belli--- when we see this rating, will actually KNOW WHY it is rated this way?

About the only thing good with Civ3 was that when you clicked on the faces they would tell you %es of why people were unhappy

[Guffawing Crow]

"graphically, what do you see for ground combat?"

It doesn't say. There looks like there are plenty of options, but no show of graphics.

Planets are conquered by taking over regions holding the government infrastructure. So, it looks like there will be some strategy as to where you play your infantry/marines/commandos/tanks/air units/etc.

I would imagine that purging a planet has severe diplomatic consequences and that is why ground combat is more prominent.

This is just speculation as the guide is still rather vague.

[Xentax]

My advice to everyone: *IGNORE* comparative race rankings in the Strategy Guide.

Remember that the information the author used was from several weeks ago, at least, and among the things the Beta Testers have been testing and commenting on is balance among the races; I know for a fact that at least some tuning was done -- possibly before the author evaluated the races' relative power, but quite likely since as well.

And besides that, it's all but a given that patches will seek to balance out the races.

So, basically, I'd recommend you play the race that suits you, or that you like, and evaluate it for yourself. Play around with customization (there's more to customize, as you've seen).

It'll take awhile to really identify which races, if any, are too powerful or not powerful enough. I'd hate for a fairly speculative and likely outdated ranking in the Strat Guide to bias such a process.