Gameplay tips & tricks

[Fyron]

Slick said:
I have only seen the order fail very rarely. I usually only use a single Troop Transport in my fleets, though. Could it have to do with multiple transports?

Yeah, Yeah, I know...use more transports. Old dog, new trick...

Slick.

I have been using 2 troop transports to conquer planets with a moon in the same turn, and using the move to next planet trick, to great affect in the PBW game P&N on PBW, take 2. Yes, it is using SE4 1.49, so it is possible that some bug appeared in a later Version. I have a lot of carriers, due to fighters being useful in P&N Mod, and I haven't seen any of them load the troops up rather than the transports. I do occasionally have problems with all troops going on a single transport, as it is actually possible to lose troops in ground invasions in P&N Mod, so I only attack a single sector with 2 planets once per turn to make sure I don't glass the second moon. But other than that, I have had no problems at all conquering 3-7 planets in a turn (depending on system layout of course). The only time a problem occurs is when my invasion forces are unable to defeat all militia in a single combat (once again thanks to P&N Mod, this is actually possible). If there is just one planet, the second transport drops troops and it is usually enough. If it isn't, the fleet will do nothing further, as it will be unable to load troops. It will _not_ continue on it's merry way, leaving the troops behind on the embattled planet.

This is, of course, not the only game I have done such things in, but it is the one that I am doing it in currently.

[iaen]

Instead of building resource storage facilies, you can also build insanely expensive bases, and mothball them. When you're lacking in reserves, scrap a few. Becomes a lot more efficient with recycling facilities. It is also a perfect excuse for keeping hundreds of sunkillers around.

[Gandalf Parker]

iaen said:
Instead of building resource storage facilies, you can also build insanely expensive bases, and mothball them. When you're lacking in reserves, scrap a few. Becomes a lot more efficient with recycling facilities. It is also a perfect excuse for keeping hundreds of sunkillers around.

WOW and the light goes on!
I had excess materials, I wanted to have stupid tiny worlds at home do some sort of building, so I used precious planet slots making a cargo storage so I could buildup stockpiles of mines or drones. And sats/ftrs before I saw something here about autolaunch.

BUILD STORAGE BASES! They can be emergency resources as mentioned above, allows for full use of the planet building up possible use items, and if things get tight in that area the base can be retrofitted some something with weapons/shields.
And they have only .1 more build time than a cargo facility (in the check I just made YMMV)

[Slick]

Here's another one I use. Say I am in dire of need more minerals, and who isn't? I just colonized a planet and the resource percentages are 107%M, 123%O, 160%R and my empire has a Resource Converter III (30% loss on conVersion). I'll make Rad Extractor II's on that planet until it's full then upgrade to level III's. (I believe that monoliths take too long to pay back, so let's leave that discussion for another time.) I can get more minerals after converting Rads, even accounting for the conVersion loss than I can get with Mineral Miners. 160 * 0.7 = 112% which is higher than 107%.

Slick.

[Aiken]

But if your Mining aptitude is greatly tweaked (up to 120% or higher, which is standard for pbw) you get 107% * 1,2 = 128% minerals from such planet, and this number is higher than 112%.

[Slick]

very true. There were two points to make there and I didn't factor in all the various variables on purpose. That was assuming all other variables being equal. First, the quickest way to fill up a planet is to fill it with level II facilities (for min, org, rad, research, intel) assuming unmodified construction rates and no spaceyard, then upgrade to level III after the planet is full. This is because a level II is the most productive facility that can be built in 1 turn. Secondly, that you can pre-calculate your resource income after accounting for resource conVersion. There are several things that I calculate during the game and I normally have the Windohs calculator open during the game for a quick number crunch.

Slick.

[Alneyan]

Slick said:
assuming unmodified construction rates and no spaceyard

I am just nitpicking, but that might be helpful to someone else, so. Your construction characteristic does not alter your planetary construction rate if you do not have a spaceyard on this planet. No matter how low your construction characteristic is, a planet without a spaceyard will have a standard construction rate.

So if you happen to have a lower than 100% construction aptitude, building a Spaceyard I will actually decrease your construction rate, even for facilities/units, which do not require a spaceyard. Population modifiers should work fine without a spaceyard though; the should is here because of an odd bug, but that's another story.

[Slick]

Just for clarification, when I said "unmodified construction rates" I meant that the base construction rates are unmodified from the default values in the data file "settings.txt". Those default values are to be able to construct with no spaceyard up to 2000 Min, 2000 Org, 2000 Rad per turn.

Slick.