Game 3 Questions

[Captin]

Getting the hang of it, here are some ?'s for the experts.

1. How do I keep other AI from Colonizing Planets in my system

2. Can a Ship Sit on "sentry" forever

3. Whats the easiest way to keep tabs on a system? I have a lot of occupied systems nearby and I want to watch the traffic flow and colonization

4. Large System, 17 AI's, High AI
Is it typical to have to squash a few AI opponents early to keep expanding? This is my 3rd war I started in the first 100 turns, I am getting crowded,

THX!!!!!!

[Baal]

1. You need one of the red treaties I bleieve. War, non-intercourse, and non-agression. Otherwise ships can run your blockades being as you consider them a friend.

2. Yes

3. Satellites. Maybe stick some sensors on them and maybe a long range scanner, for added detection, and you have yourself a system watcher.

4. Yeah, sometimes you have to kill your neighbor in the early game for living space. Leibensraum.

[Suicide Junkie]

1) Either
- Colonize all the worlds before they do
-OR-
- Have a treaty of "None", "WAR", "nonagression", or "non interference", and station ships at all the warppoints with orders to destroy any colony ships coming through.

If you have boarding parties, you can take the colony ships for research or to colonize more worlds cheaply

2) Yep. Try not to forget about 'em!

3) At the beginning of your turn, you should see the ships traveling through. Otherwise, you can watch the "colonies" screen to see the facilities & production going up.

4) 100 turns, yes. I was playing something similar, acting as a neutral (never leave home system) and I only managed to get to turn 300 before I was forced to attack the second-place AI since my star was about to nova! They are very firmly entrenched around my homesystem.

[capnq]

quote:

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1. How do I keep other AI from Colonizing Planets in my system

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Colonize them first. If you can't do that, the only thing you can do is avoid making treaties, so you can intercept the colonizers.

quote:

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2. Can a Ship Sit on "sentry" forever

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Generally, yes. It doesn't use supplies if it doesn't move. The only exception I can think of is that I think an active cloaking device uses supplies while it's on, but I'm not sure of that.

quote:

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3. Whats the easiest way to keep tabs on a system? I have a lot of occupied systems nearby and I want to watch the traffic flow and colonization

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If you're only watching for enemies, put a ship on Sentry, and set Options to clear orders if enemy in system. F6 Ships/Orders will list all the ships; if an enemy enters the system, the order will clear.

If you want to watch for allies, too, just leave the ship with no orders, and use the Orders list to find the ship when you want to check the system.

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4. Large System, 17 AI's, High AI
Is it typical to have to squash a few AI opponents early to keep expanding? This is my 3rd war I started in the first 100 turns, I am getting crowded,

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An unmodded Large quadrant has 100 or less systems; that averages out to about 5.5 per empire with 17 AIs. You can't help running into somebody quickly with that many players.

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Cap'n Q

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"

[This message has been edited by capnq (edited 09 September 2001).]

[This message has been edited by capnq (edited 09 September 2001).]

[Suicide Junkie]

quote:

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Generally, yes. It doesn't use supplies if it doesn't move. The only exception I can think of is that I think an active cloaking device uses supplies while it's on, but I'm not sure of that.

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Active cloaks use supplies. A passive cloak (Stealth Armor) does not.

[Captin]

Thx, 1 more

I have alot of research points, 2x as many as the next AI. Am I foolish to have trade & research treaties?