MOO2 - Guardian, Spying, First Turns

[jeffds]

Hello,
I have started playing MOO2 again after a few years and pretty much forgotten everything!

There was a strategy involving taking out the Guardian using missiles but I have searched on the net and can't find it. Anyone remember it?

Also can anyone explain Spying to me. Even first time around I never understood the details of it. Doesn't seem to matter how many defensive spies I have - I still lose Tech to other races.

Finally, what are the most important Techs you recommend going for. From memory I think I used to go for Research Lab, Hydroponic Farms and Automated Factories. (On Large Universe). Then started out on Ship techs.

I also pick -ve growth and then compensate for that with Cloning. Good? Bad?

Thanks for any hints.

[bakalov]

Read the Custom Race - Best Stats thread - there are lots of comments on your questions, the strat you asked for is there too - in an attached document posted by vmxa ;-)

[vmxa1]

Re: MOO2 - Guardian, Spying, First Turns

Basic run for tech on a prewarp game for a non creative race is dependant on what you are going to do in the game. Here is one list
labs r.hulls AF freighters std cells colony ships Bio
Do war ships stuff.

Spying is impacted by your traits. If you have Unification for instance you get a boost. If you pick +/- spying that also matters. So then next things is to learn as many of the spying tech boost as you can to increase your agents stats. After that you need to build some spies and keep them on reserve. If you are not going to eliminate the races by say turn 280, you will need to be cranking out spies more less non stop at impossible level. It is true that even with 63 spies they may get a steal, but is usually comes to a big slow down if I have 6 and am on par with the spy boost.

Here is the one that was used by some in the olden days, I have not used it:

The Guardian can be killed with two frigates and two cruisers, and no research beyond fast missile racks, zortrium armor, and emissions guidance system.

First cruiser has:

1 2-shot ECCM ARM FST merculites
4 2-shot ARM merculites
6 2-shot MIRV ECCM merculites
battle pods
fast missile racks
reinforced hull

Second cruiser has:

2 2-shot ARM merculites
6 2-shot MIRV ECCM merculites
1 2-shot MIRV ECCM EMG merculite
battle pods
fast missile racks
reinforced hull

Frigates have:
1 2-shot MIRV ECCM EMG merculite
battle pods

How this works: On the first turn, the Guardian will fire on one of the cruisers with both death rays and target it with both of its torpedoes. Regardless of which cruiser is hit, the frigates should fire and move forward eight to ten spaces. The EMG cruiser should move forward one space, fire both racks of ARM missiles, then both racks of non-EMG, then both racks of EMG, and sit still. The other cruiser should move forward one space, fire the ARM then the MIRV missiles, move forward two more spaces, fire the ECCM ARM FST missiles, and sit still. The Guardian will react by moving forward, killing the wounded cruiser with one death ray, a frigate with another, and about seven of the ARM missiles with its Point defense particle beams. The remaining frigate should then move about 6 more spaces toward the Guardian, and fire its remaining missile. The Guardian will charge, trigger its spatial compressor on the ECCM ARM FST missiles, leaving the non-fast missiles unharmed, and continue to plow into the pile of missiles. The MIRV missiles will usually clear the shield, and most likely, the EMG will blow the engine. If you want to be sure about the kill, add another frigate into the mix and do the same. Given the appropriate race and universe conditions, such a fleet can be assembled and sent close to turn 100 in a pre-warp game. Several races can pull this off by turn 120. When I get around to updating my races page, I'll fill in the details. The Guardian-kill can obviously be done more quickly in an advanced game given the proper parameters. In particular, a subterranean creative race in a 2-player huge universe can often finish off the Guardian before turn 20.

Other Considerations:

If you have good scanner technology (i.e. Neutron), you should be able to clear the shields with fewer missiles, so if you're the gambling type, you can drop the frigates from the fleet and put another EMG missile into the second cruiser. If you have serious command point difficulties, you can kill the Guardian with a single kamikaze battleship with the following:

2 2-shot ECCM ARM FST merculites
4 2-shot ECCM ARM merculites
11 2-shot MIRV ECCM merculites
2 2-shot MIRV ECCM EMG merculites
battle pods
fast missile racks
reinforced hull

Unfortunately, this fleet is strictly inferior to the cruiser fleet above in terms of probability of killing the Guardian for two reasons: only 4 MIRV ECCM EMG missiles are fired, and at least 4 warheads need to make it through the lightning field and ECM to blow the engine, and only 22 MIRV merculites are fired, so the shield might not be cleared. Without neutron scanner technology, your chances are slightly less than 50%. Furthermore, if you do decide to add some frigates to the mix, the Guardian will fire on those first, so you need at least three to make any kind of difference in outcome. In addition, this fleet will generally lose all of its ships, while the cruiser fleet will not. Of course, the cruiser fleet will be relatively out of date once Orion is taken, anyway.

Loknar's Tech:

Damper field - Quarters all damage, but eliminates shields (Watch for EMG)
Xentronium armor - Very cool - 10x armor and structure, resistance to armor-piercing beams, +30 ground combat
Death ray - Very cool - Good in general, unrivaled damage in EMG time frame
Black hole generator - Implodes ships, but takes space
Particle beam - Cool - Ignores shields, kicks butt with fighter garrison
Reflection field - Pretty cool - Random chance for a beam weapon return-to-sender
Spatial compressor - Sort of Cool - whacks incoming missiles, fighters, and stupid ships
Quantum detonator - Not so cool - Decent protection against capture
Neutronium bomb - Not so cool - Ground Bombardment

Players on Intel-compatible machines will receive death ray technology every time and three random techs, while Macintosh users will receive a random selection of four. In addition to the technology listed above, you can get some unannounced "freebie" techs which range from useless to insanely cool (I've received Sub Space Teleporter more than once).


I also pick -ve growth and then compensate for that with Cloning. Good? Bad?

Thanks for any hints. [/QUOTE]

[jeffds]

Thanks for the help guys.
I had forgotten how addictive this game is.

Also thanks for the posting the taking out of the Guardian with Missile boats. That was the article I was thinking of, and have beaten the guardian a few times with that.