Shame on me (or help me!!!)

[Taera]

Thanks for the tips.
I do not realy like the PPC, but guess its the only mean to survive early on. I think that this gun is overpowered.

Now about the OA, its a new thing. I always had thought that it regenerates the damae points every turn, doesnt matter was it destroyed or not.

About the weapon pick, actually i prefer to play 3:1 when 3 are direct fire and 1 is the missiles.
I am also trying now how effective is to have several such small fleets - three organic-based direct fire ships (destroyers) and one missile (parasite) which is a frigate. Early on it should be the defense i need.

As for ship capturing, i remember i used that thing alot in SE3, and guess should do so here too.


I'll try the tips from here in my next game, thanks.
But any future comments are welcome.
Take to note that my problem is not survival, no.
I can dig that way that no AI could possibly ever breach my defenses, but thats not the way it works.
I always keep about 3-4 place in 10 players game (6-10 are neutrals), but i hear people complaining MEE comes to early, so i see how poor my gameplay is. Though a side note, for 14 planets today i managed to get ~30k research points, thats not too bad.
I might post my latest savegame tomorrow... its a lucky game, straight from the start i got huge breathable and in two closest sectors two more large.
Another thing that i play combined strategies, once im on high tech im unstoppable. full-tech games against the AI are worthless because i simply have better designs.

Thats my strong point - designing and countering enemy ships. Hell, i realy need a PBEM game..

[Suicide Junkie]

quote:

---

Now about the OA, its a new thing. I always had thought that it regenerates the damae points every turn, doesnt matter was it destroyed or not.

---

That's mostly true

Every turn, each OA piece generates 30 points or so (IIRC, BIDM).

At the end of each turn, if you have any components with the OA ability that are destroyed, and have fewer hitpoints than the healing points stored up so far, then that item is repaired, and the hitpoints subtraced from healing storage.
If you have no Organic Armor breeding stock, then the regeneration dosen't work.

In Classic, losing all copies of any particular component with OA ability means you lose all healing. (Having 0/3 OA2's and 3/5 OA3's on one ship means nothing will ever heal)
In Gold, any component with OA can heal any other component with OA.


I agree that the PPB is quite unbalancing; you should try a mod that fixes that

[Taera]

Well then, lets check this out.
(launches SE4, sets up a full-tech game).
True...
Well, at least something new is added to my knowledge storage

As for PPB..
In SE3 its damage was 4, meaning 40. It made it a little more powerful than Meson BLaster, and quite less powerful than APB. Now that it has the almost same power, almost same cost, same size and cheaper to research (only lvl.5 and not lvl.12 like the APB) its the most powerful.. hm, perharps efficient weapon in the game.
Given that is passes through normal shields, its unstoppable in the early game and quite fast to research.
I sent this to MM, but doubtfully that they'll change that in the future Versions of gold/se4.

I'll get some training in the game, and then go for PBEM games. Thanks for the advices.
Anything else that could help me in my quest for galaxy conquest??

[dumbluck]

Sure, check this out for PBEM action without all the fuss of handling and executing turns.

Play By Web

It rocks!!! I never play single player games anymore, unless I'm trying to get the feel of a new mod or testing a new strategy out. After playing against humans, AI is just ... unsatisfying anymore.

[Taera]

I know about the site. I just think it is useless for me to go there untill i reach at least an average level.
See you there soon

[ 01 March 2002: Message edited by: Taera Hive Imperium ]

[Will]

I will suggest this: don't attempt full-scale attacks, it isn't needed!

Your first general priority is to secure what you have; pile mines on warp points, have defense fleets ready, have more mines/minelayers ready. Like SJ suggested, be sure to utilize empty systems, the more supplies enemies use to get to you, the fewer they have to hit you with.

After you are fairly secure, create raiding fleets, as this would seem to fit your strategy perfectly. Use your 3:1 fleets, and throw in a few boarding parties to bring back technology/ships. These will work best if you create a small base for the areas your raiders will be working in. A moon will work fine, keep a resupply depot on the planet, and have a SYS stationed there, or build a BSY with it. If you get 3 or 4 of these going, you should do fairly well, and since they would be fairly easy to replace (just have a few mothballed raid fleets with a colonizer and SYS included, or if you're like me and look on mothballing as an unfair human advantage, keep one such fleet in reserve).

While in the "raiding" phase, develop infrastructure and research Troops and Stellar Harnessing. Once you have max tech for troops, your frail little insects can be pilots of high-tech battle tanks, and your vastly stronger foes will wither before you The design I use is LgTroop,1xCockpit,1xShield,5xLightningRay. Build up a good number of these troops, 500 should be good. Then build a Medium Transport that is protected for battle; either lots of OA, or my method, a Stealth Armor and shields. Also build a "Supply Transport" or two, just a medium-sized hull (LC-BC) filled with the essentials, a few supply storages, and the rest Solar Panels. You can do the math of the most efficient ratio of storage/panels for your fleets, keeping in mind that only the supplies that can fit in the supply ship itself will be generated for the rest of the fleet. Put the transport and supply ships in a fleet with two Raiders, then send them to attack the enemy (it is also a VERY good idea to send a minesweeper and repair ship...). It is suprising what a small, ~10-15 ship fleet can accomplish . If you use strategic, be sure to set your fleet strategy on one that captures rather than glasses a planet. I posted mine somewhere... Once you capture one planet, turn it into a base; build a BSY, build a resupply depot, launch a few defensive mines, build replacement troops, and defensive ships. Proceed to take every planet in the system, and fortify it like one of your own (be sure to keep some troops on all captured planets to prevent rioting). Once the system is secured, you can begin rebuilding the planets to fit your purposes, and using this one captured system to spawn a few more Invader fleets, ones that won't need the supply ships, since you're right on your enemy's borders.

Then, by the time you have conquered a few AIs with the Raider/Invader attack, you will be closer to full tech, and have the size to send all-out assult fleets (think one Invader fleet for every planet in enemy system, and take all at once) to the remaining enemies. From this point, it can get boring sometimes, as the AI will be no challenge

After you get a few "practice" games in with this strategy at your current settings, start making things more difficult. Things you can do are make a smaller quadrant, more difficult AI, higher bonus, no neutrals, custom AIs. Then the really fun ones, which can either be enforced for everyone, or just for you (a lot harder if it's just you): Colonize Only Home World Type and Colonize Only Breathable Atmosphere. Also be sure to take all the precautions you would take with a human opponent, to prepare for something like PBW. Humans keep going after one layer of systems is captured/destroyed, while there have been few reports of AIs going further. Humans will constantly redesign their ships to match yours.

Hope that helps

[Taera]

Wow, thanks!
Thats helps alot. Never actually used the raid strategy, will surely try that out.