Playing at impossible difficulty...

[vmxa1]

I like prewarp the best, but adv should speed the game if you are short on time. Just another of the many ways to get more replays.

[da_hal]

i like to think of charismatic as the great balancer. outside of a few really expensive combos (lith/tolerant), charismatic makes just about any setup playable.

don't worry about repulsives either. they are always behind in tech and if you refit your scouts, they'll leave you alone long enough for you to enslave them and they usually have great workers.

if there are more than 3 on a small map, that negates charismatic's advantage, but otherwise, it allows me to mess around with unusual setups.

[da_hal]

to the person using repulsive + telepathic (heh if you ever come back ) why do that? telepathic gives a diplomacy bonus that i find just as effective as charismatic (except against other telepathic races. I pick elerians now.) unilith is another one where a racial bonus is negated, ie. uni's food production bonus.

i love unitele, however. you can pick -spying and still have a substantial +to spying off the bat.

[Harry Seldon]

I tried impossible the other day and used the Psilons against four other opponents. I was crushed. I tend to focus on research until I get some good industrial tech because their production is so bad but got way behind on ship building. Does anyone have some tips for playing Psilons at this level?

[Iasius]

I usually select telepathic when I play unification and repulsive because otherwise I might as well bombard every planet I conquer. 20 turns to "assimilate" foreign population is bad enough, but 40 with repulsive? Games are over before I'd assimilate everyone even on a medium planet.
BTW anyone ever tried democracy+1 BC bonus? You can buy just about anything. I call that race style Morganites.

[vmxa1]

Originally posted by Harry Seldon
I tried impossible the other day and used the Psilons against four other opponents. I was crushed. I tend to focus on research until I get some good industrial tech because their production is so bad but got way behind on ship building. Does anyone have some tips for playing Psilons at this level?

I forget what the traits are for Psilons, but you can play an OCC game and wait until you have most of the techs and then break out.

One of the threads has a step by step of this, where you stay on one system for most of the game.
You have to battle massive fleets, once you start.
Otherwise, use the std methods. Build up all planets on your sysytem, scout and expand carefully.
Is this a prewarp or what?

OCC = One City Conquest from Civ. In Civ you are challenge to never build a second city and win.

[Harry Seldon]

I always play prewarp with Psilons because I feel I can get a better advantage with my research skills.

[vmxa1]

I play prewarp in all but special runs.

[da_hal]

low grav (which stock psilons always come with) is a big pain in the butt. try a custom race with creative plus other stuff. my friend likes creative/uni/+2 sci, i like creative/uni/telepathic. he rushes gravity generator when he uses low grav, i usually only use low grav when i'm messing with single planet strats, and even then only if i have telepathic.

actually, psilons aren't very good for getting and keeping early tech leads. they are creative, but they don't have as much net research as uni, lith, artifacts world, or democratic races.

one psilon strat that might work is comps for research labs, then 2X chem for mirv nukes. try building a few destroyers or if you feel safe, cruisers, and use them as a deterrent for turtle mode.

the computer has a pretty much set research path:
construction 80
beams 150
shields 150
construction 150
chem 250
chem 650
chem 1150
chem 2000/beams 900, 1500/biology 1150/computers 900
all of this usually by turn 80-90 or so, with some minor variation among races/games. also, i usually give them all the research tech so they get stuff sooner.

one thing i found is that trading is key to getting and keeping leads until you get to orion, then you tell everybody not to steal your death ray. best case scenario is that they give you all the tech you need from a particular tree (usually for me it is chemistry, sometimes biology), worst case scenario, you have to research pollution processor and/or merculite missile or fusion rifle because nobody has it.

generally i have up to construction 900, chem 2000, computers 2750, socio 150, biology 1150, engines 150-250, and shields 150 by turn 90, with or without creative.

when my friend and i discovered the joys of trading, we cut our end time in half roughly, and it even works with uncreative...in fact, trading works even better with uncreative if you have minimal research. they seem to offer more sooner if you are uncreative.