Newbs: Ask gameplay questions, get answers

[Ron_Lugge]

A few quick rules.

1. This thread is for GAMEPLAY questions, not arguements like "refit should be in" and "why can't I do XXX"
2. Acceptable questions should be how to do something, and they will be answered to the best of our abilities.
3. This is not a "how do I mod?" or "Whats a good strategy thread" - though the second one may pop up.

For example, "How do I (Or what IS) back-fill(ing) my empire?" Is good, whereas "Whats a good race to backfill with" isn't.

Also, feel free to ignore certain basic pieces of netiquete. Newbs are NOT required to wade through all the posts here to see if something has been answered before they ask it; they just have to check the last couple posts and make certain it isn't being discussed. This is because this is supposed to be an easy resource, not a textbook, and I know *I* find wading through large threads trying at the best of times...

Got the rules? Then go ahead and ask questions...

Note, this thread grew out of http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums...hreadid=283185 that thread.

and tell me, how do u ask a question if you cant play the game?

Ok. How is this for a question?

What should I be doing exactly for the first, lets say, 10 turns?

I just got the game yesterday, and as expected from reading forums and reviews, I am boggled.

Ok I start the game, I pick my race (liked insect looks so choose Tachti or something like that), and start, so the first turn roles around and I really just have no idea what to change.

I know I can't change research stuff till next turn when I have some points, so all I really do is send out my two scout ships to two of the three stars around me to explore them, and if I have green planets in my starting systems I change my military build que to build however many number of system colony ships.

After this I am lost (Oh the shame, lol). I have no idea if I should change my research levels, it seems when I have, that my economy goes whack (This may be due to me lowering economic research to 15% or so). I find myself clicking turn over and over sending colony ships that I produce to new places that I find that are green, and reading the sit reps, but with no idea what I should really be worrying about as far as actually micromanagement is concerned.

New research is completed and items become available, but I have no idea what to do with them, or if the VR is doing it on his own. My planetary build que stays empty and I don't have anything in my lists to add to it. I set up development plans for my empire based on some threads I read here, and the logic behind them makes sense, I got to turn 50 or so in like 10 minutes had a bunch (like 6 or 7 I think) of new colonies, but no idea if they really were good besides being Green 1 or 2, and just was hoping that my dev plans were leading thier development in a way that was good, because I really didn't even know how to check thier progress, because I don't know what to expect from a good healthy producing planet.

I have read a bunch of threads around here, but am still totally lost as to what I really need to be doing to get my empire off to a good start. If there are threads already on this that I am missing, (even though I looked) please post a link here if ya would, but even better would be a list or some sort of guidelines to what I need to really concern myself with as a total newbie, and what I need to know so I would make the proper decisions for those things I must manage myself.

[Craig P.]

Musts:

• Dispatch scouts (and possibly the colony ship, depending on how much you want to gamble) to adjacent systems
• Evaluate the current system - do you want to set up outposts or colonies? If so, go the the MBQ (military build queue) at your home planet and stick in one or more system outpost ships / system colony ships (note that a system outpost design doesn't exist initially).

Things you'll definitely do once you get more comfortable:

• Set up some initial development plans.
• Tweak your initial ship designs to augment your initial capabilities, or replace the initial designs altogether if it doesn't suit your combat preferences

Things you may do once you get more comfortable, depending on your play style:

• Zone out your homeworld.
• Adjust empire-wide policies to suit your play-style.
• Adjust tax rates to suit your play-style.

good idea for a thread

Originally posted by Craig P.
Evaluate the current system - do you want to set up outposts or colonies? If so, go the the MBQ (military build queue) at your home planet and stick in one or more system outpost ships / system colony ships (note that a system outpost design doesn't exist initially).

1) what's the benefit of building an outpost over a colony ship (system or starship, same argument seems to apply)? outputs drop a 1/4 of colony ship's population, then you have to wait it out until it reaches a 1000, which could take who knows how long on a Red 1/2, in order to make it productive. i realize an output is cheaper...but is it really worth the wait until the new planet actually evolves?

2) i get very frustrated with starlanes around turn 50 and on or so. by then, to deploy a colony ship to, what looks like a close system, takes the most roundabout route to get there due to the starlanes, and winds up taking close to 20, or even 30 turns. i've seen that when you try to move from one star to another that you haven't gotten a connected starlane to, it displays some absurd ETA, like ~100 turns. is there any way to "get around" this? am i missing something? incidentally, i know that if you play a cluster, there is, what seems to be, depth involved, but i've mostly played Arm galaxies since....well, it was the default

3) i'm in the same boat as the above poster (Rellin) - i feel like i sit there, turn after turn, and do absolutely nothing. i realize this was built towards macromanagement - that's fine, i can (try to )accept that. but a turn whips by, a bunch of SitRep's pop up...and i'm just as clueless and useless as i was a few seconds ago. i guess this is less of a question, and more of a general comment....i've read Alexfrog's preaching, but that's just convincing me of something i already know - this is not about micromanagement.

(p.s. - a quick note, and not a question....i'm new to both the game and this forum, and i must say this is the most civilized and sophisticated forum i've ever been a part of )

I do have a FAQ, referenced at my sig line. I think it helps. Other people have told me it does. Feel free to check it out and I will try to check in here from time to time.

Zhaneel

Thanks Zhaneel, your sig link is the type of stuff I am looking for. Anything else of that nature would help. I noticed in your Macro vs. Micro chapter you wrote about setting economic sliders and such referring to chapter [#-#]

I am assuming these are yet to be wrriten? If so, those sliders, and how setting them in certain ways affects the game is what I am really interested in. When I see the way the Vicroy is spending funds, it sometimes seems crazy. I often see very low research and low military spending, and like every bar is in the orange or red even when set at very low spending levels, is this a function of being a new colony, or is there something I can do to make my money spent be used more effeciently?

Anyway, I will go try to play now for a few hours and see if I can figure this game out once I finish reading your guide.

Yes, to be filled in later.

As for slider stuff, you can check out the thread here on Development Plan Guides and Micromangement settled, but those are pretty deep. Basically, we don't know and there are varied opinions on what is best.

Zhaneel

[Ron_Lugge]

good idea for a thread

Not exactly my idea however, if you check the link I provided at the top of this thread. I just took the basic idea/format of an old thread, and ported it into a brand new one, and got it turned into a sticky.

(p.s. - a quick note, and not a question....i'm new to both the game and this forum, and i must say this is the most civilized and sophisticated forum i've ever been a part of )

Thanks, we try... but unfortunatly, I have to prove you wrong... But first, to make CERTAIN I'm right about something.

Originally posted by Sillycoid
and tell me, how do u ask a question if you cant play the game?

Just to make certain, that isn't a wise-*** remark because you feel this game is boring, and you are working not playing? Because if so, I'm really, really, REALLY, upset. I'm tired of those; and this thread is NOT the place for it.

If it wasn't, and was serious, please rephrase. It might be that I'm so friggen TIRED of seeing that type of post, and am seeing it were it doesn't exist.



Also, for those that are curious, I DO intend to edit my opening post, but I do *not* intend to make it a be all end all. You will note a rephrase on it; specificly, making note that you are ALLOWED to jump ahead, read the last couple of posts, and then ask a question without wading through the whole thing. I'm going to ask that people accept this suspension of normal netiquete to help make things easier for the newbs who need help. You will also notice the beginnings of a FAQ, for quickie questions that are often asked, and tend to be one liners.



Ok, now that I have all that junk out of the way...

In *my* early turns, I tend to micro my opening planet by setting up all its DEAs, and microing the build que for a few turns (depending, somewhere up to 30). I que up however many system colony ships are needed to fill out my opening system, and send my colony ship and scouts out exploring (all three of them if there are 3 (or more) lanes; if not I keep my colony ship home and either split up the scouts or send them out together depending on the number of lanes.)

Also, I obsolete ALL the pre-built designs EXCEPT for the colony/system colony ships. I then create a lancer sized system ship, equiping it with as many 1 shot missle tubes as it can hold, and reducing engines to minimum. I also remove all armor/shields.

I then try to make nice to all neighbor's I'm in contact with, barring unusual circumstances. For example, I have a shoot on sight order for any and all Ithkul.

I construct spies, and micro the DEAs on planets I colonize from thereon out, at least untill mid/late game.

Usually, I have an average of 2-3 sitrep items a turn needing my attention; though these tend to come in spurts between spurts of dozens.

I check all diplo, colony established, spy created, and (unless there are a lot) revolt messages. I also keep an eye on some others, but I'm too tired to remember which.

When I conquer a planet, I tend to strip it of the just-landed armies, and replace them with a baby-sitting detachment.

[Craig P.]

Originally posted by ursketchy
good idea for a thread

1) what's the benefit of building an outpost over a colony ship (system or starship, same argument seems to apply)? outputs drop a 1/4 of colony ship's population, then you have to wait it out until it reaches a 1000, which could take who knows how long on a Red 1/2, in order to make it productive. i realize an output is cheaper...but is it really worth the wait until the new planet actually evolves?

The outpost ship is MUCH cheaper, so you can build it pretty quickly. Once your population starts to take off, I think you'll find these things turn into colonies pretty quickly, at least if they're good planets. I don't colonize aggressively enough to have much experience with the red planets (one of my known failings, actually).

[Ron_Lugge]

Sorry 'bout the doublepost, but I realized no one had answered some of these...

Originally posted by ursketchy
1) what's the benefit of building an outpost over a colony ship (system or starship, same argument seems to apply)? outputs drop a 1/4 of colony ship's population, then you have to wait it out until it reaches a 1000, which could take who knows how long on a Red 1/2, in order to make it productive. i realize an output is cheaper...but is it really worth the wait until the new planet actually evolves?

Well, depends on the strategic situation. A colony ship is a VERY expensive proposition, and an outpost ship is much cheaper. You can land it on a planet and use "set migration" to create a colony there in a couple of turns after landing. This can be usefull when you want a planet, but not badly enough to send a full colony ship after it. Or, when the planet is red2 and 3/4 of the colony ship's guys are going to die on landing anyway, so you might as well send in a fewer number and use migration to fill it.

2) i get very frustrated with starlanes around turn 50 and on or so. by then, to deploy a colony ship to, what looks like a close system, takes the most roundabout route to get there due to the starlanes, and winds up taking close to 20, or even 30 turns. i've seen that when you try to move from one star to another that you haven't gotten a connected starlane to, it displays some absurd ETA, like ~100 turns. is there any way to "get around" this? am i missing something? incidentally, i know that if you play a cluster, there is, what seems to be, depth involved, but i've mostly played Arm galaxies since....well, it was the default

OK, Don't forget that even arm galaxies have depth - the arms are more of less flat, but the core is rounded. Thus, you could have 2 seemingly nearby stars be MUCH farther apart that anything else you see. This is even worse on cluster maps, where you essentially have a giant sphere to deal with.

Also, try upgrading that basic colony ship to have a better engine, or placing mobilization centers towards the edge of your empire. Other than that, get used to long waits. This game has VERY large maps, especially in early game when your engines are slow. Even in late game, it frequently takes my ships 40-80 turns to cross my entire empire - WITH starlanes. This is because I tend to play 3-arm galaxies. The speed is sufficient (on small maps) to give a transit time between any given two points of 5 turns or less... very reasonable, but it gets VERY slow on larger maps.

3) i'm in the same boat as the above poster (Rellin) - i feel like i sit there, turn after turn, and do absolutely nothing. i realize this was built towards macromanagement - that's fine, i can (try to )accept that. but a turn whips by, a bunch of SitRep's pop up...and i'm just as clueless and useless as i was a few seconds ago. i guess this is less of a question, and more of a general comment....i've read Alexfrog's preaching, but that's just convincing me of something i already know - this is not about micromanagement.

Try to find the messages in the sitrep you need to deal with; this is usually stuff the viceroys won't touch. Eventually, you'll get the hang of which sitreps you need to look at and which ones not. I can personally say that most of the time I *DO* have a sitrep to look at. Also, I have to deploy TFs, move them, engage the enemy, etc etc.

What are DEA requirments on a planet? How many of what do I need on each planet? I was going to try to Micro DEA production on my first few planets when I realized I don't even know what amount of each I need or what is best to have.

How many Government DEAs do you need? One per system or one per planet or more? Would putting two mining in every mountain area be good, farms in plains, and research, gov, recreation, and the like in broken?

Any advice on the frequency and diversity of different DEAs on a planet/system/empire level would be great.

Also, what exactly happens when I gain the new technologies from researching stuff?

Do I need to go redesign all my ships when I get a new type of engine or something along those lines so that it will be used, or does the ai handle that on its own?

About how long should it be till i see the ai adding stuff to the planetary build que?

[Ron_Lugge]

A) Do NOT double post - its against the rules.

B) My replies:

Originally posted by Rellin
What are DEA requirments on a planet? How many of what do I need on each planet? I was going to try to Micro DEA production on my first few planets when I realized I don't even know what amount of each I need or what is best to have.

DEA requirments vary from planet to planet. *I* prefer to have one government and one recreation on each planet, plus two industrial DEAs. Smaller planets may recieve just one industrial and the government DEA, however. Rec and gov are to handle unrest, as well as produce money (currently broken) or allow system seat buildings respectivly.

Past that, it depends on the planet. I tend to give large planets lots of industry DEAs, with some bioharverst or mining (as appropriate) to provide money. Remember that you have to BUY the PPs that your planet generates to create stuff. Just like the US government has to pay civilians to get them to give it the steel and manhours to produce its ships - sure, the capacity is THERE but you still have to pay to use it.

Smaller planets I focus on things that don't require focus. Since bioharvest needs, mining, and research are handled on an empire level, unlike industry they don't need to be focused.

How many Government DEAs do you need? One per system or one per planet or more? Would putting two mining in every mountain area be good, farms in plains, and research, gov, recreation, and the like in broken?

Generally, I use one a planet. But, each person to his own taste.

Any advice on the frequency and diversity of different DEAs on a planet/system/empire level would be great.

I usually have enough mining/bioharvest DEAs to keep ahead of demand (in early game, not by much because of low yield) and then build research to fill in on small planets and industry to dominate larger ones. Note that in late game, you will have a major overabundance of resources unless you remove some DEAs. You may be tempted to do so, but I'd recomend against it. A) too much micromanagement, B) you earn money for selling it.

Originally posted by Rellin
Also, what exactly happens when I gain the new technologies from researching stuff?

Tech tree works like this:

1) you research up to a given tech level.(ie, you're doing "blue-sky" research into theory, and exploring the universe. Its "pure science" instead of applied.)
2) You begin researching the applications for that tech level (ie the stuff you can actually use, or applied science)
3) You get the stuff. Depending on what it is, you have to install it in ships, build it on planets, or just enjoy its effects empire-wide.

[qutoe]Do I need to go redesign all my ships when I get a new type of engine or something along those lines so that it will be used, or does the ai handle that on its own? [/quote]

You have to do ALL redisigns; though the AI will do a decent (but not perfect) job of autobuilding when you tell it to.

Meaning, that while YOU have to initiate the process, its usually a matter of selecting the ship size/mission/type you want and hitting auto-design.

Note that I tend to use auto-design to get the name, then pull everything out and design the ship myself - when you get more familiar with the game, you can try that. I tend to do things VERY differently from the AI, speccifically:

A) I always max out armor/shields on my interstellar ships
B) I usually add light guns of some type to my ships for PD
C) I usually use light mounts for PD
D) When I design a carrier, I have a few fighters designed to hit hard, and a LOT designed to help create the swarm effect needed to saturate PD.
E) On larger IF/Carrier ships, I tend to add a few large beams to help deal with any enemies that get in close

About how long should it be till i see the ai adding stuff to the planetary build que?

The AI usually adds stuff automaticly; however, remember that the planetary build que won't always have anything FOR them to build. And some things they won't build because theirs no need. For example, the AI will NEVER build an imperial seat (one per empire) or a system seat (once there's already one in system).

What do you mean by bioharvesting, mining, and research are handled on an empire level? You mean all the food I produce is shared on all planets throughout my empire without me doing anything?

I played Civ 3 a ton, and in that food is set per city, and if this is different and food is shared, as well as research and mining, that would be nice.

Also, thanks for those fast replys, helping me out a ton in the game I am playing.

I keep seeing an exclamation point and do not enter symbol on my sliders for normal econmic devlopment, I am thinking the do not enter means something like it cant spend any more money on the planet cause all DEAs that could fit were built and I had nothing to build in planetary que thing, is this correct?

What is typical percentage you put into military spending on a planet and normal economic development when there are thing to build? Should I be trying to save money and massing a large bank, or spending every dime I get in a race to build a power base and expand quickly?

Gah, so many questions, I could go on and on, but Ill stop here and go mess around some more with it...

[Da_Blade]

Food and minerals are shared on an empire level, without cost or penalty, so you don't need bioharvest and mine on every planet. Research is naturally also added to a large pool, production is on a planetary basis, though every ship and ground troop produced gets added to a big pool, the reserve, which can be mobilized in any system with a controlled mobilization centre.

Now, the exclamation mark means you are spending more then what is needed to complete the whole planetary queue. Do not worry, money never dissapears in MoO3, if you ever spend too much on a slider, the extra money will be returned. The "do no enter" sign means there is nothing more to build, or that you do not have the apprpriate technology (in case of terraforming).

Saving or spending? Well, there is discussion about that. It's a strategy. I'll explain the consequences of both and let you make your own choice.

Industrial spending has a return that depends on the amount of industry there is on a world. The industry points are a indicator for the industrialization of the world. Spending money on the production sliders yeilds Production Points, which are actual production. The more industrialized a world is, the cheaper Production Points will be.

When a colony just starts, it gets a planetary grant from your empire. The amount your empires gives out as a whole can be controlled under the finances tab, under planetary grants. You cannot control which planet gets exactly how much. Now, because of this grant new colony's will often have money a-plenty. The trouble is, your new colonies do not have (much) industry yet.

Now a colony that just started does not have much industry yet, so if you spend all that money, the return gives very little extra to spending say 30% of all that money. While if you save it and spend it later on, you get better returns. However, spending it all means the colony does develop faster, while saving means a slower development. So you stand for the choice to develop fast but expensive or slow and "cheap". Personally, i like to develop fast and expensive. Mostly because you will hardly ever run into real money problems. MoO3 is a system where money is very important, but you will almost never run into bankruptcy or real shortages of it, though you can always use more. For this reason i prefer to spend a lot of it and save just a little bit, but there is some major discussing about that. MoO3 is a game of so many good strategies that discussions about strategy almost seem useless, since there are a ton of good strategies, and they're all equally advantegous or disadvitageous (are they words actually? sorry me no english have first language ).

So try out either one, spend a lot and grow faster or spend little and grow slower. My personal advice is spend a lot, though i'll probably get crucified by some people now

It seems as though the AI agrees with your advice though, I just set up a new colony (started a new game, actually seem to start a new one every 20 turns, but anyway...) and I let the ai handle it to see what it does as far as spending and DEAs.

The AI had my Planet Dev spending at like 93% which was dark red bar, and very little military and no research. I switched it up a bit so it was like 80% and some military and no research cause Id like to get a few more ships (which leads to another question later in thos post).

I actually use your dev plans that I saw in a few threads Blade, using them, the first thing the AI built on my new colony was a Industry DEA, is that good? I know you prob need some more info, but it was a Green 1 Planet.

Which ship types should I be building, and how many, in the begining of the game? I am building now, like 5 scout types, some colony ships, 5 system defense sr type, 5 starship lr attack type, and built one orbital defense long range thing. I don't know at all how many of these things I need if I get attacked or want to do some attacking. How many Orbital Defense things do I need? And do they defend the system or the planet? Do I need both LR and SR types or weapons, or should I make two seperate more specialized versions, etc.

How important is ECM and ECCM and Detection Arrays and other assorted special items to have on your ships? I like having certain numbers of weapons, not just what I cam fit, so if I have extra room I have been putting in ECM or Detection, or whatever on the ship to fill in the space, is this worth it? Should I make it a cheaper ship and leave off those items if they arn't needed or used much?

Hopefully I am not asking questions easily found in a thread two below this one, feel free to kick me in the head if I am.

[Da_Blade]

Well, if you are playing a single player game (which i assume you do) i would advice you to be easy on the defensive ships. that is system and orbitals. The current opponent AIs are quite unable to do some reasonable damage so the only reason you should build system ships is to batle piracy and stop a minimum assault.

Now, in the beginning your main focus should be expansion (as most TBS games). So build a lot of colony ships and i keep the number of star ships in the beginning to 50-80% of number of new colony's. That way you can mobilize several fleet to bash enemy scouts out bloackading your systems.

Later on, military becomes more important obviously. Designing ships is another strategic choice. Personally i like very specialized roles for my ships, so carriers carry fighters, recons recon, long range ships have beam weapons etc. I find it adds both to gameplay and to fleet effectiveness, the mix of ships lets you decide what you rely on most, and you can easily change if that is needed.

In the beginning both ECM, ECCM and sensors are not of much use yet. once you progress a bit in technology, and get a few extra beam weapons i'd think about puttin a sensor on some of your ships. Once cloaking device technology hits, be prepared to do make dedicated sensor ships to weed out those pescy cloaked buggers, and bash some missiles in their hull before they get close.

Combat is something where i'd rely on the autobuild for now if i were you. Though the autobuild is far from perfect, it does yield some good ships untill you get the hang of combat yourself first. Stay away from stealth untill you get cloaking devices, after that i'd advice always using a cloaking device...

Edit: oh and i forgot: system ships will be able to defend any planet in the system and intercept fleets travelling to or through the system. Orbitals will only be able to defend the planet on which they were build.

[Bhruic]

Originally posted by Rellin
The AI had my Planet Dev spending at like 93% which was dark red bar, and very little military and no research. I switched it up a bit so it was like 80% and some military and no research cause Id like to get a few more ships (which leads to another question later in thos post).

I actually use your dev plans that I saw in a few threads Blade, using them, the first thing the AI built on my new colony was a Industry DEA, is that good? I know you prob need some more info, but it was a Green 1 Planet.

Building an industry first is generally looked at as a Good Thing. Every type of "construction" that a planet does uses production points (PPs). The number of PPs a planet produces is a factor of two things: the amount of industry, and the amount of money being spent. So in order to build things faster on a planet, you want to either increase the amount of money you are generating (and spending), or increase the amount of industry the planet has (or both). However, increasing just the money runs into diminishing returns. The more money you spend, the less effective that money is. So the best way to produce more is to build industry.

With that in mind, building an industrial DEA first means that everything else you want to build on a planet is built faster. The computer will almost always start an industrial DEA first on a planet, and you'll probably want to leave that alone.

As for your tinkering with the sliders, you might find that you are being a bit premature. A newly colonized planet is many, many turns away from contributing to your military. You need to get a decent infastructure built before that can happen. Increasing the MBQ (military build queue) slider at such an early point will result in that money effectively being "wasted".

Bh

Originaly posted by: Ron_Lugge
For example, "How do I (Or what IS) back-fill(ing) my empire?" Is good, whereas "Whats a good race to backfill with" isn't.

Ok, let's see if I can follow these simple rules:

What is back-filling?

[Da_Blade]

Assuming you ment your question, backfilling is colonizing uncolonized baitable planets in your empire. I usually do it after conquering somebody else's empire. You have a sitiuation that looks like this then:

You have a large portion of space under your control, inhabited by one race, and another by another race. Both portions have uncolonized planets that are suitable for the other race, while unsuitable for the race inhabiting that region.

So what you do is go to planets screen and click the "similar environment", "uncontrolled" and "Within borders". You then select your race from the species list. This gives a list of all planets within your borders suitable by your main race. You then flag all these for colonization and build a batch of colony ships from your main race.

When they are colonized, you do the same, but this time choose the conquered race and start building colony ships on the conquered colony's.

This way you conquer one empire, and effectively expand another 2 empires This way you quickly gain control of a lot of planets, enabling you to get huge production going in the end, since with a few races you can colonize just about every planet in your controlled space.

I have a few questions too, regarding blockading systems:

What exactly does blockading a system block? I think food and mineral supplies are, but is the money that the blockaded system should receive from the empire or the taxes going from that system to the empire also blocked? And does the blockade only affect everything trying to leave/enter the system, or also the transfer of goods within a system (ie between planets in the same system)?

The reason this is important to me is that I like to make specialized planets, but try to make each system more or less self sufficient, in an attempt to keep my planets working even during a blockade. So, is this strategy working, or will the specialized planets be in big trouble when blockaded because they're totally cut off from the rest of the empire, even from the other planets in the system?

Originally posted by Ron_Lugge
Well, depends on the strategic situation. A colony ship is a VERY expensive proposition, and an outpost ship is much cheaper. You can land it on a planet and use "set migration" to create a colony there in a couple of turns after landing. This can be usefull when you want a planet, but not badly enough to send a full colony ship after it. Or, when the planet is red2 and 3/4 of the colony ship's guys are going to die on landing anyway, so you might as well send in a fewer number and use migration to fill it.

ah ha! see, i knew i was missing something...this whole migration thing. completely blew by me. just re-read Zhaneel's section on General Tips, and it had a blurb about migrating.
me don't feel so smart no mo'

OK, Don't forget that even arm galaxies have depth - the arms are more of less flat, but the core is rounded. Thus, you could have 2 seemingly nearby stars be MUCH farther apart that anything else you see. This is even worse on cluster maps, where you essentially have a giant sphere to deal with.

Also, try upgrading that basic colony ship to have a better engine, or placing mobilization centers towards the edge of your empire. Other than that, get used to long waits. This game has VERY large maps, especially in early game when your engines are slow. Even in late game, it frequently takes my ships 40-80 turns to cross my entire empire - WITH starlanes. This is because I tend to play 3-arm galaxies. The speed is sufficient (on small maps) to give a transit time between any given two points of 5 turns or less... very reasonable, but it gets VERY slow on larger maps.

that's another thing i missed out on, the purpose of mobilization centers...yeah yeah, i'll RTFM some other time

few questions about technology...

i thought i remember reading in another post that the tech's you receive are random (similar to MoO2, uncreative...sort of), and that the requirements for certain techs to "unlock" them are not necessarily random, but different from game to game. i know this sounds absurd, and i probably may have misread it.

also....what in the blue hell is "overrun"? i was always big into being a tech giant, so choosing Creativity: Original (or whatever the highest pick is) seemed like a must....but i just can't tell a difference in how my tech's progressing (speed-wise).

thanks for all your help guys

[Bhruic]

Originally posted by ursketchy
i thought i remember reading in another post that the tech's you receive are random (similar to MoO2, uncreative...sort of), and that the requirements for certain techs to "unlock" them are not necessarily random, but different from game to game. i know this sounds absurd, and i probably may have misread it.

That's not exactly how it works. When the game is started, your tech tree is "populated". Depending on your race and creativity level, you get a certain percentage of the techs in your tree (to a maximum of 90%). Each tech is assigned a level that is +/-2 of the "default" level.

i was always big into being a tech giant, so choosing Creativity: Original (or whatever the highest pick is) seemed like a must....but i just can't tell a difference in how my tech's progressing (speed-wise).

The Creativity pick doesn't actually speed up your research at all. What it does (or, one of the things) is increase the number of techs available in your tech tree. To increase your research speed, you'll want to bump up the Research ability.

Bh

[zanzibar]

Originally posted by Craig P.
Musts:

• Dispatch scouts (and possibly the colony ship, depending on how much you want to gamble) to adjacent systems
• Evaluate the current system - do you want to set up outposts or colonies? If so, go the the MBQ (military build queue) at your home planet and stick in one or more system outpost ships / system colony ships (note that a system outpost design doesn't exist initially).

Things you'll definitely do once you get more comfortable:

• Set up some initial development plans.
• Tweak your initial ship designs to augment your initial capabilities, or replace the initial designs altogether if it doesn't suit your combat preferences

Things you may do once you get more comfortable, depending on your play style:

• Zone out your homeworld.
• Adjust empire-wide policies to suit your play-style.
• Adjust tax rates to suit your play-style.

Don't forget to:

1) check the foreign relations screen, and make diplomatic offers
2) recruit some spies. Even if you are alone on the diplomacy screen, you will soon be encountering other races.

(I still wish refit was in, for turn 1... 'cause the initial hawk defense designs totally blow...)

[zanzibar]

Originally posted by Rellin
What are DEA requirments on a planet? How many of what do I need on each planet? I was going to try to Micro DEA production on my first few planets when I realized I don't even know what amount of each I need or what is best to have.

This is usually what I go for on DEA's for each planet (of course, it depends on the race you are playing...):
1 Government/system (more about this later)
1 Military/planet (allows certain stacking bonuses and faster beam bases, etc... later in the game)
1-3 Bioharvest (depending on the size of the planet, etc...)
Now, I evaluate the mineral richness... if it's:
1) Mineral rich or better: 1-2 reasearch DEA's, fill the rest of the planet with mines
2) Average: 2-3 research, equal amount of mines and factories
3) less then average: 2-3 research, fill the rest with factories

How many Government DEAs do you need? One per system or one per planet or more? Would putting two mining in every mountain area be good, farms in plains, and research, gov, recreation, and the like in broken?

See above for general strategy. I only use recreation on planets that are losing money. This allows a higher tax rate, etc... and then, I only use 1 at the most. And you really only need 1 govt./system.

Any advice on the frequency and diversity of different DEAs on a planet/system/empire level would be great. [/b]

You're welcome!!

[zanzibar]

Originally posted by Rellin
Also, what exactly happens when I gain the new technologies from researching stuff?

It really depends on the technology. Some are planet enhancements, some are ship enhancements, etc...

Do I need to go redesign all my ships when I get a new type of engine or something along those lines so that it will be used, or does the ai handle that on its own?

First, no, the AI doesn't completely design ships for you. However, it can do it, in a limited way. More on that later. Generally, I only design ships when I see quite a lot of ship technology become available, or a new hull size is around. For example, I micro my entire military build ques (sorry, I don't need 5,000 troop ships...), so when it's time to build a new ship, that's when I design. Now, how do you get the AI to design a ship? Simple: Click on fleets, click on the design new ship tab, and there is a button for auto-build, after you decide what kind of ship it is (Ship size, system, orbital, or starship, and mission in life). However, clicking this button doesn't really give you the best possible design (for example, a carrier won't have any point defense, and a long range attack may not use those spinal mounted rail guns with armor piercing warheads). So, after clicking auto build, I examine the computer's suggestion, modify the ship to how I want, then click confirm design. Next, I go and obsolete whatever ships this new design is replacing.

About how long should it be till i see the ai adding stuff to the planetary build que? [/b]

It really depends on your production and spending sliders on any given planet. Generally, the tech is available the turn it says it is, and you can usually see the direct effects 1-10 turns later.

[zanzibar]

Originally posted by Kahless
I have a few questions too, regarding blockading systems:

What exactly does blockading a system block? I think food and mineral supplies are, but is the money that the blockaded system should receive from the empire or the taxes going from that system to the empire also blocked? And does the blockade only affect everything trying to leave/enter the system, or also the transfer of goods within a system (ie between planets in the same system)?

I believe it blocks all trade within that system. This is why it's a good idea to build a few bioharvest DEA's/planet in case you get blockaded. I haven't allowed the computer to blockade me for very long, so I can't say whether it blocks empire grants or not.

The reason this is important to me is that I like to make specialized planets, but try to make each system more or less self sufficient, in an attempt to keep my planets working even during a blockade. So, is this strategy working, or will the specialized planets be in big trouble when blockaded because they're totally cut off from the rest of the empire, even from the other planets in the system?

Generally, it's a good strategy, if you build a lot of system defense in that system. I wouldn't go with specialized planets, without a good system defense.

[Aardgoya]

Does the planet destroyer mission ship have any planet destruction ability without a stellar converter?, i.e. is a stellar converter the only weapon that destoys a planet?

Also, what is the effect of adding multiple Locator systems to a ship (I know that multiple ECCMs increase the detection of ships) - but what 'bout the Locator systems (any of the 4 available)?

Only Settler Converter will autobuild there.

I have considered experiementing with creating custom Planet Destroyer ships that are good for harvester clensing just so I can tell them apart from my combat IF ships.

Zhaneel