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Multi-Player Strategy <generalmain.html>
By : Jason Cawley
osborne2 wrote: I am a slow player, I take a while to build a powerful empire, then I
> move out. This works great in computer games, but my first human game
> I got killed quick my TWO enemy advance forces. How did they build
> these up and still be able to build strong planets and
> infrastructures?
Well, I don't know how they did it of course, but I know how I do it :-)
Some general timing things. Assume an Acc BBS start, thus more starting colonists.
The fastest races, econ-wise, will be ones with high pop efficiency (like the default 1/1000)
and high pop growth. In Acc BBS, you start with 120,000 colonists with a 19% growth
rate for example. Pop growth is free, so such races get a lot of econ growth even if they
spend their resources on other things. Can also help to start out with decent tech for things
like shipping (e.g. IT, or JOAT, or expensive construction tech with the start at 3 box
checked) - or with cheaper construction expense if you don't have that. Either way, you
can get decent shipping fast. Also helps to have IFE, since then you can start with or
quickly get the great fuel mizer engine. With enough fuel, those are quite fast (warp 8-9 for
settling runs e.g.).
Then some stuff about starting play enters. Like first 4 turns just build factories, scouting
with the starting ships. Then one turn building scouts all out, to scout just about everything
fast. When the starting G runs out, one or two turns buildling mainly mines to get enough G
(and iron) for shipping demand.
Then by around turn 6 or 7 you are good to go :-) You have scouts finding new worlds,
enough mines to bring in minerals for shipping, which you already have the tech for. Your
pop will have just entered the "crowding" range on the homeworld - like 250-330k pop
say. Leave that pop on the homeworld and export the growth to the new greens found.
Loop the freighters back to carry more pop loads, saving iron. When you have enough of
those to take the growth each year, buy con 4 if you don't have it already and switch to
privateer colonizers and transports, with added fuel pods, for the farther out places.
Everything not going to shipping is buying factories then mines (Auto lot's 'o fact, auto lot's
of mines in the q). Research is 0 except when you need a particular level, then dial it up for
the HW only to get what you need in a turn (or two), then back to zero.
That'll typically run until the late teens. Around that time, you'll usually see on of the
autobuild lines (factories or mines) turn green - meaning "to be completed the following
year". This happens pretty fast with all the pop growth leaving the HW. When it does,
stop exporting pop and just let the HW go up, building factories and mines the pop can
operate as soon as the pop grows there. When you get to around 50% of capacity on the
HW (years 20-25 typically, at 500,000-660,000 pop for most races) clear the q and put in
whatever remaining factories and mines you can operate at that level of pop. Start
exporting the excess pop growth again, along with the Germanium.
With the HW q clear, it'll do research by default. Can get things like weapons 6-8, con 6
sometimes, bio 4. Then you can make decent early warships - DDs with bazookas, say, or
shielded beam frigates. Those ships are real cheap - 50-80 resources typically, skipping
extra armor on the DDs usually. A 1/2 sized HW might bring in around 1500 resources a
year, give or take. One or two turns making those light warships gives you a decent fleet
for the era - 25-60 light beamers. Some can do "gunboat" work, keeping out enemy scouts
and colonizers, raiding shipping, and the like. A big stack or two ("horde") can go after a
slower enemy's HW, especially one close by. Or back up pop invasions, etc.
On the colonies, some other things can sometimes get them going faster too. If you have
ISB, they can build a simply spacedock for around 80 resources. Then they can build ships
to add to a horde when needed, make minelayers and settlement shipping, etc. With ISB
and good pop efficieny, can have several worlds in that category (dock, ~200 resources or
more, able to help out with shipping etc) by year 20 typically. Without ISB, a little slower -
but can get an extra base or two in the 20's certainly.
Now, sometimes it can make sense to hit someone even sooner - e.g. if you are a
warmonger you start with decent fighting tech sometimes; if you are close to someone and
he looks vunerable, can try an early HW strike as a gambit. Idea is just to blockade him on
his world (or wipe him out if he's AR); then his pop can't move and his growth gets messed
up, while you can try to invade his colonies etc. Maybe he breaks the blockade fairly soon
(after getting weapons tech for a decent base e.g.) but the delay will hurt him a lot. For
these sooner hit ideas, can try launching them in the teens, say, once you have the minerals
for it really. One common attempt is a few beta DDs before other people have them to put
on their own bases. But that's really just a gambit. But anyone with the HG econ settings
(1/1000 pop eff, 19% pop growth e.g.) can get off a little horde attack in the 20's in Acc
BBS.
The idea of those early ships is mainly air-control. To let you settle farther in the
colonization phase, while keeping others from doing the same (with an occasional success
crippling one neighbor possible). The thing that makes it work is a tightly run first 20 years
culminating in a fully-developed 1/2 size HW (without sacrificing the settlement of other
places). It's the "free" resources ("disposable income") from that HW hold that pay for the
whatever the early attacks need - tech, ships - with some modest help from the bigger
developing colonies with bases or docks on 'em.
To get the hang of this, I recommend two things. First, try running just the first 30 years in a
game alone in tiny packed, using an HG style race (pop eff and growth as above). See
how fast you can get that HW hold, pick out an early ship design, and make the actual ships
you'd use for an early attack. Then try it again with 1 AI and see how fast you can get a
blockade over it's HW - his base dead and a fleet in orbit that can kill the new bases.
You'll get a sense of what the opposition can throw at you when that way.
One [additional] thing, the sort of HG style races I am thinking of typically take cheaper
factories and mines, in order to get them up sooner/faster compounding. Often use OBRM
too, for the added planet size (with a lot of cheap planetary mines and decent hab, that
works fine mineral-wise until fairly late). Often paid for with expensive tech in the
non-weapons fields, but with cheap weapons.
Perhaps the easiest race to do this with is a JOAT. WM's and IT's can also be quite good
at it; but JOATs have a lot of points to throw around and the bigger planets make for more
pop growth at held level, etc.
Here is a sample race that is good at the "fast out of the gate" stuff, with a minor variant.
Federation
JOAT
IFE, NRSE, OBRM, NAS
1/4 hab - 0.51/4.64g, -96/144C, 26/86mR
19% pop growth
1/1000 pop efficiency
12/9/16 factories, G box checked
10/3/15 mines
Weapons cheap, rest expensive and start at 4
4 points left surface minerals.
The variant would be to drop the factory efficiency one click to 11, then use the points to
widden the grav range to 0.25/3.92g. That gives 1/3 hab. Slightly smaller planets when
fully developed, and factory compounding a little slower, in return for more planets to live
on. If you are more comfortable with the better hab, say, or in a smaller game.
Either of those will give oodles of pop growth, big planets when fully developed
(3643-3854 max planet size in resource terms), and super-fast out of the gate. Start with
the ability to make fuel-mizer privateers for instance, plus 40 LY penscan to scout rapidly.
Econ growth will be stellar, especially early on. The cheap mines go up soon enough and
there are enough of them to not have any mineral problems until fairly late. The cheap
weapons lets you run high there with the huge economy pushing.
Once the HW is at it's 50% held level (660,000 pop) with the facts and mines done, you've
got 1800-1925 resources a year to throw at early tech levels and nearby enemies.
The only real weakness in the expensive tech in most fields. If you get enough space early
on, that won't be too big a problem - just get a big econ first then power up (can also trade
tech some o' course). But you do have to grab the terrain, so your economy will be able to
afford that expensive tech. You ought to be faster than most races, though, so just have to
use that to win early conflicts and establish the space you need. Well, one other weakness
later on - can't remote mine - but not a biggie with the decent hab and lots of planetary
mines per planet.
Other things one might try with this idea - working in ISB somehow (e.g. 11 fact eff and
narrower hab, and/or only 18% pop growth say) to get secondary worlds into the game
faster and more cheaply. But ought to be pretty darn fast even without that.
Just an example race that is designed for a rapid start.
Sincerely,
- Jason Cawley
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