Is Emergency Build useless?

[geoschmo]

When I first started playing SEIV I used Emergency build a lot. But it's been weakened so much in subsequent patches that I almost never do anymore. Does anyone else uses it anymore? If not, does that mean it's too weak now?

I just don't think the extra 50% you get during emergency build is worth the 75% hit you take during the slow period afterwards.

Opinions?

[ October 06, 2002, 14:27: Message edited by: geoschmo ]

[Rollo]

I still use it a lot. Depending on the game, I can use emergency build and churn out one colony ship or one base space yard per turn at the game start. It gives you a good base to build an empire on.
It is well balanced IMO.

Rollo

[Gimboid]

I agree, fast early expansion can be a decisive advantage in any game.

It can backfire for 2 reasons though. The first is what you have already mentioned with the 75% production penalty. the second is that if you expand rapidly and cant find enough mineral rich planets to support you then you are a sitting duck

[geoschmo]

What is the differance if you build ten ships in the first 10 turns and none in the next ten, or if you build 10 ships over the first two years? I could see if it was the differeance in 10 or 20 colnies. Do you really see a decisive differance in getting the same ten colonies a few turns faster?

Plus isn't the risk you run pretty substantial? What happens if an enemy race shows up about the time your homeworld heads into a 10 turn phase of slow build? You have no capacity then to throw up any sort of defenses. The enemy could attack with a couple of escorts and at the least blockade your homeworld. Wouldn't that about finish you off?

Geoschmo

[Gimboid]

If i have colonised planets earlier then you who developed slower then i will also have built up the infrastructure on those worlds to

My economy and research potential is bigger then yours by turn 20, and i can have my planets fully outfitted (with max facilities on each planet allowed) and producing WP, ships, whatever but also since those planets are fully outfitted they dont cost me minerals to develop anymore and i can divert those minerals to other uses like further expansion or ship production.

Therefore my entire empire is bigger then yours and has a lead in several areas faster by expanding this way.

The risk u mentioned is only slight, people using this strategy usually have space base yards built before emergency build wears off so they still have great potential to build ships to defend themselves. They can also retrofit the bases to have weapons to defend the homeworld...

Overall i'd say the risk is minimal because my production capacity far exceeds a player who doesnt do that, their one frigate is only an annoyance not the end of my civilisation

[Gimboid]

It is still a gamble though, i grant you that.

The emergency strategy can definately hurt you given the right set of circumstances

[Captain Kwok]

It's not bad to use with your homeworld at the beginning of a game. Since your planet is already full of facilities, you can build 5 space stations in ten turns where you can build a variety of ships including colonizers, explorers, and transports all at once.

It's also good if you have lots of resources and want to build a lot of units quickly at a planet that's already full of facilities and won't be building anything else afterwards.

[spoon]

Originally posted by geoschmo:
What is the differance if you build ten ships in the first 10 turns and none in the next ten, or if you build 10 ships over the first two years? I could see if it was the differeance in 10 or 20 colnies. Do you really see a decisive differance in getting the same ten colonies a few turns faster?

1) you'll have more resources at the end of 20 turns
2) you'll have more spaceyards at the end of 20 turns
3) you'll have been able to establish border colonies up to 10 turns earlier (this is what is most important to me... getting those huge greens before your neighbor puts a domed colony there, or getting to a choke point system before anyone else)

Originally posted by geoschmo:

Plus isn't the risk you run pretty substantial? What happens if an enemy race shows up about the time your homeworld heads into a 10 turn phase of slow build? You have no capacity then to throw up any sort of defenses. The enemy could attack with a couple of escorts and at the least blockade your homeworld. Wouldn't that about finish you off?
Geoschmo

1) few people rush
2) you should have at least 2-3 other spaceyards up and going in your homesystem.
3) if you spent at least one of those ten turns building a base spaceyard, you can emergency build defenses anyway
4) even on slow build, homeworlds can build enough sats or wps to protect from a small attack force

I almost always emergency build at the start, and have never regretted it.

-Spoon

[Gryphin]

I've been practicing using some variation of EB up through the first 10 turns. (Using FMQ 1.13).
As pointed out below it is a Risk / Expansion trade off.
So far I find I'm running out of resoursec within 5 turns. (unless I'm very lucky). By that turn I have reached Applyed Reasearch II. I put the systms on Facility Upgrade. If I get hit at that point I should have at least 3 Space Base Yards to put on EB. They can produce a Weapons Platform in 1 to 2 turns Each. 3 Frigate with early weapons will be hard pressed to survive the WPs.
(this is VS the AI set up 2 to 3 systems away)
Against humans, it could be ugly.

[disabled]

I've found emergency build useful for jsut quickly building some smaller ships and quickly finishing off large projects like dreadnoughts