How do you do that, Dragonlord?

[Gorgo]

I've just been browsing through the statistics of all PBW-games and could not help but noticing, that you are the leading player in nearly every game you're playing where I could see the statistics.

If it's not a secret: How do you do that?

[Dragonlord]

Gorgo,

I am flattered that you would think I am such an experienced player that I always make it to the first ranking. I am actually in second place in 2 games where statistics are turned on, and am first in the Spiralus and Dark Wars game.

My strategy? Well, it's a combination of many factors, luck being one of them.
Starting position is *very* important, in fact in the next game I host I will pre-generate the map and fix the starting position of all players so that everybody has an equal shot at success.

I also tend to research Appled Research II and Minerals II early on, to save me the time of upgrading facilities later. I try to make T&R alliances with everyone, and have a good economy going. I spend racial points on things like political ability (more trade) and ship maintenance. I usually have many ships, which count (too) heavily in score.
In the beginning of a game I set all my starting planets on emergency build to make colonisers in one turn, and build a few space stations. By the time my planets go in slow mode my new colonies have spaceyards and can take up the slack, while my space stations make Mines, which is my primary defense in the early game. I've stopped wasting time on satelites, and often skip Fighters too. I pay a lot of attention to all the numbers and micromanage a lot, e.g. get 100 population minimun on all planets for that small bonus in construction capacity.

At the end of the day, these games are all about juggling the numbers to your advantage, something I like to do.
The second best part is the diplomatic roleplaying you get in multiplayer PBW games.

Hope that helps,

Dragonlord

[Phoenix-D]

"Well, it's a combination of many factors, luck being one of them"

Like how you came down on my being-retrofitted fleet?

"I will pre-generate the map and fix the starting position of all players so that everybody has an equal shot at success."

You'll need to know everyone's planet types and air type first, though.

Phoenix-D

[BeeDee10]

You don't necessarily need to know the planet types of players in order to give them fair starting positions. When you define a planet as a player's starting position in the map editor, the planet automatically changes to the atmosphere and type of the race that starts there.

The _size_ of the planet doesn't change, however. So make sure all planets are the same size. Alternatively, place the starting position markers in empty sectors; the game will automatically create homeworlds of the predefined starting size in that case.

Oh, and one more caveat; ringworlds and sphereworlds that are used as starting points will turn into Huge planets instead, but only if the atmosphere and type doesn't match that of the player. If you want a race to start on a sphereworld then you _do_ need to keep careful track of what planet type they require. But this is a special case that is unlikely to come up often in conventional games.

[Dragonlord]

Beedee, thanks for that info. I still have to figure out *how* to place those markers though, I haven't really explored the map editor yet.

Gorgo, you're better off asking these guys (Beedee and Phoenix) for their strategies, they are much more experienced players than I am.

(and yes, the occasional bit of big luck like with Phoenix's fleet being retrofitted does help in getting into 1st place :-)

[Gorgo]

Thanks, Dragonlord - you've made some really interesting points.

"I am actually in second place in 2 games where statistics are turned on, and am first in the Spiralus and Dark Wars game."

Yeh, and I if someone else is first, it's Shujo. How does Shujo play? Maybe if he reads this, he can contribute some of his strategies.

Thanks for your insights, I've just learnt a great deal.

I'm currently in three games, War and Diplomacey features you (2nd) and Shujo (1st).

In Ender's game, we're at the year 2406 and not a single combat has occured. It is obviously a great risk in this game to attack someone while not knowing if others will turn against you.

How do you people decide if it's time for war? What has to happen that you choose to attack someone?

[capnq]

quote:

---

How do you people decide if it's time for war? What has to happen that you choose to attack someone?

---

In my first PBW game, I maintained peaceful relations until I ran out of colonizable worlds in my claimed space. That game had Allied Scores turned on, so I knew that my two neighbors were in 1st and 3rd to my 4th. I decided to expel 3rd from a system that I had colonized first, and seize the two worlds he'd colonized.

In my second PBW game, I joined a partner's war against an AI that happened to claim most of the systems that still had colonizable planets available. In that case, I just poked at the AI until it declared war. Since then, I haven't been the one to declare war first, so I haven't had to make the decision.

------------------
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"

[Dragonlord]

When to go to war? Depends on the victory conditions. If those call for galactic domination then all alliances are temporary, though they may Last for over 5 years. Usually when I run out of room to expand I pick a target which is close by and a threat to my frontier, and start provoking them. However I must do this in-char (roleplaying) so it isn't always easy, unless you play a xenophobic berzerker race
What sometimes works against humans is demand they give you stuff or reduce their fleets or such until they get fed up an break their treaty Or, make friends with an enemy of your target and find a reason to help that enemey against your target, e.g. if you are merchants you could say you were bribed with promises of tech and colonisation rights...
etc etc, be creative :-)

[Gorgo]

Oh, I messed up something: It's Heretic who's leading in War and Diplomacy, Shujo is 8th.

Has stellar manipulation tech ever played a crucial role in one of your PBW-games, in a way that it was decisive for victory or defeat? In SE3, you could build a star destroyer or a ship with an open warp component in a really short time, now it's taking forever. Do you guys really use this tech area on PBW, or do you concentrate on building stuff that can fight?

Gorgo

[Puke]

stuff that can fight. i only build that stuff in huge games against the AI where i want to wipe out their systems and dont have time to deal with all the planets.

on the other hand, in high tech games on PBW, i could see the warp point components coming into play a great deal, maybe even star destroyers if the game was running long. basically tho, star destroyers would only be worthwhile if planets were too well defended to crack with less than 50 or so ships. I would guess that any low-cost technology game that ran over 200 turns would see alot of SM.

------------------
"...the green, sticky spawn of the stars"
(with apologies to H.P.L.)