FAQ...First 50 turns

[SunDevil]

I am new to this board, but I have been reading a lot of Posts, (currently on page three). I would like to say that there a lot of civil and intelligent people on this board and all the Posts have helped me a great deal. What I wanted to start was a FAQ for newbies (like myself) that would list different successfully strategies for the first fifty turns for this game. Thanks for any response.

[James Sterrett]

First thing you should build is a space Yard - a starbase that has the minimum required parts plus one Space construction Yard.

Now you have two ship construction facilities, though the one on your planet is faster.

Design a dedicated recon ship - smallest size, no weapons or armor, three supply crates; this is a cheapo ship to run and explore the map.

Design a colony ship; be sure to add an extra cargo crate to it so you can haul more colonists.

Design a missile boat: pack a CSM launcher onto an otherwise unremarkable small ship. Used correctly, this ship can demolish opponents in the early game (run away and pepper the enemy with missiles).

I tend to play in large galaxies, so I have time to expand before I'm in contact, so I build colony ships like mad, along with a few recce ships and missile boats.

Research Construction, then Mines. Build a mine/sat layer ship: a cargo vessel with one mine layer and one sat layer. Now you can mine your planets and warp points! 8) Large warheads (warhead tech 3) is a cheaper path to better mines than doing the mine research to get bigger mines.

Crank your CSM tech to 2 or 3 to make your missile boats good. For some reason, CSM 1 missiles don't seem to kill planetary weapons platforms, but CSM 2+ ones do.

Then work on the military science, chem, physics, and psych trees to get:

- Point Defence

- Armor

- Resource conVersion

- Applied Poli Sci (for pacification centers)

- Shields

- Phased Polaron Beams

Also crank up your ship tech for bigger hulls.

Alongside this, do applied research, then applied intelligence; alternate between these are long-term projects.

Expand like a rabbit; build mines to protect your worlds and systems.

Others will have different strategies, I'm sure. 8)

[This message has been edited by James Sterrett (edited 19 December 2000).]

[Daynarr]

Here are some military research tips for starting empire:
1. Go as fast as you can to the DUC level 5 (DUC - Depleted Uranium Cannon). That thing is cheap to research and gives you some fair firepower while you research better things.
2. Research Chemistry and then Armor to level 3. This is much cheaper to research then the shields, and only Shield IV and Shield V have better protection per tonnage.

This will give you very comfortable start and leave you enough time to research for some other things (most of them covered by James).
Hope this is of some help.

[Daynarr]

Here is another quick tip:
- When you decide on research NEVER divide points evenly. When you don't use it, all the research points are used on 1st tech in queue. If number of research points exceeds the required amount for that tech, then all the extra points are used on following tech. This is a point where dividing research fails (extra points are lost there). Also make sure that you have enough techs in queue to use all your research points.

[Grumbling Grognard]

Something not mentioned yet (AFAIK) is that if your race has a special technology (organic, crystal, etc.) then I would strongly suggest you invest in researching that early and often.

Your race paid a lot of points for that tech. and these techs (all of them) can be pretty powerful (esp. in the early game).

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The Grumbling Grognard

[Psitticine]

Propulsion can make an excellent early research area. I like to take it up to level 4 and get the move advantage over my opponents. Combine faster ships with long-range weaponry, and you've got a killer combo!

Also, remember that those 1 facility "dot worlds" in your starting system can be used for space yards. I tend to go ahead and settle one or two and use them to build up a military while my homeworld creates colony ships. I do it that way because the new colony won't have the population capacity to successfully "seed" new colonies and it is a needless delay to route them from another yard into the homeworld. Also, colonies will be more useful early on than large fleets.

Those small worlds'll also be breeding more population, which you can always skim off to build up those juicier worlds as you find them.

[rdouglass]

I agree with most things, but in addition I spend early research points on Stellar Harnessing. It gives you extra range by getting Solar Collectors and later extra move points by getting Solar Sails.

However, I personally DO divide research points evenly. My reason: I do a lot of upgrading of my ships and don't want to upgrade just 1 or 2 components. This way, I can upgrade 3,4, or 5 components at a time. I also want to be researching many areas at once. I do not experience the "lost research points" discussed earlier in the thread - I think that has to do with the fact that I "repeat" the research areas.

[Sessile]

I generally pump research points into the applied research field, until I get the second level of research facilities. Tech is such an important advantage in the middlegame that it's worth the initial loss of advantage. The first tech you choose to rsearch receives whatever bonus you picked initially, and choosing AR first makes a big difference in your research curve. The question is, can you hold out against the rest of the creepies till then? Well, CSM escorts can be cranked out pretty quickly, and you should also colonize like mad-- whoever has the biggest facility base in the middlegame will have the overwhleming advantage, since that player will be able to out-produce and research the others. If you have the initial jump in research, you can skew more of the facilities to production, which in turn allows you bigger fleets.

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If it floats and it don't say quack, sink it.

[Resident Alien]

quote:

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Originally posted by Sessile:
I generally pump research points into the applied research field, until I get the second level of research facilities. Tech is such an important advantage in the middlegame that it's worth the initial loss of advantage. The first tech you choose to rsearch receives whatever bonus you picked initially, and choosing AR first makes a big difference in your research curve. The question is, can you hold out against the rest of the creepies till then? Well, CSM escorts can be cranked out pretty quickly, and you should also colonize like mad-- whoever has the biggest facility base in the middlegame will have the overwhleming advantage, since that player will be able to out-produce and research the others. If you have the initial jump in research, you can skew more of the facilities to production, which in turn allows you bigger fleets.

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I like the idea of getting Research II early, will try next time.

Here's an example of a research sequence for discussion. This was in a Large Map (175 system) Low Tech start, one planet, Psychic Technology.

Ship (Frigate), Proj Wep, Physics, Psychic Studies, Industry, Proj Wep, Ship (Destroyer), Psychic Study, Proj Wep, computers, psychic weapons, Ship (Light Cruiser), Construction, Mines, Mill Sci, Psychic Tech, Psychic Wep, Astophysics, Stellar Harn, Shields, Point Defense, Sensor, combat support [2405.4]

Also picked up stuff from ruins that helped including one of the other colonization techs.

Had lots of fun with Psychic weapons later on in this game. With Alliance Subverter you can steal the enemy fleets as you attack them. Your fleet gets bigger, they get smaller and you use their ships against them. Nice. And you can send the interesting ones back to get analyzed to steal the tech as well.

[Nyx]

I have never yet built an exploration ship. I build exclusively colony ships and I explore with them. I don't build anythign else until I get destroyer hulls. The AI loves to attack my worlds, which I enjoy because the first thing I build on each is a Small Weapon Platform with capital ship missiles. That ends up costing the AI a ton of early production. I tend to get a massive early lead on even other humans with this technique. I vary this, depending on how many colonizable worlds are in my starting system, by sometimes building a base shipyard or two early on. If I've got several good worlds I can get three shipyards (one on my homeworld, and two in space) cranking out colony ships. I like to put my homeworld on emergency build and that gets me a colony ship per turn for the first year. It's an insurmountable lead against the AI and slow humans. It's risky against humans who are aggressive early on. Especially if they know I'm going to do it.

In research, I go for Point Defense Weapons, armor (unless I'm playing with Crystal or Organic Tech), and boarding parties. If I have a special technology, I'll pick it up early on, often in the first couple turns.

[This message has been edited by Nyx (edited 29 December 2000).]