Strategies

[soulerspexx]

Hey everyone,

I am new to playing the game, I have actually been keeping track for sometime, waiting for it to go on sale [:)]

Now that I am starting to play and getting a feel for things, I have started a few games trying different options. So far I am allowing a lot of it to be automated and just taking my time trying to learn everything.

A couple of questions though.

What strategies are fun for you, is there any particular strategies you use?

Second, do you recommend keeping research settings on auto, or do you prefer to manage research yourself? Does the computer do a good job of research, its seems a bit overwhelming.

Is there anything else you highly recommend to do manually besides design and fleet postures?

A few observations as well that I would like to see, and wasn't sure if I was just missing it.

I would like to see a way to pin various important locations on the map for easy access, and even have a pop up sticky where I can make notes for certain locations, as the game progresses sometimes there is so much information and situations coming up its hard to keep track of locations.

Anyway enjoying the game, probably will have more questions and observations as I play.

Soulerspexx

[Bingeling]

I think the AI designer does a decent job. For research it can be a bit too "wide", for instance researching the first step of all kind of hyper drives, when it only plans to use a single type. The sensible human would stick to one type, and research the used one to the second step before focusing on the other types (you need all researched to get the final, and best hyper drive). And there is of course also more to the world than hyper drives

I prefer to have diplomacy, attack targets, and the military on manual control. I like spies on suggest, as I tend to forget them otherwise. You can gain some early development from manual taxes, since the AI taxes colonies of little or no revenue, which hampers their population growth, and gives little to no money. It can be fun to manual design some ship types, but others are not so interesting to me. You can now choose which ones to design yourself in the empire policy screen.

If you play many games, it can be fun to try switch things around. Let the AI run most things and control only the military. Or leave all things military to the AI and do most of the other stuff (that is not too tiresome) yourself.

[Fishers of Men]

Welcome to the forum, soulerspexx.

I take handwritten notes as to record locations of special resources, independent colonies, abandoned ships, restricted areas, etc. After I explore each one, I check it off in my notes. Yes, there is a lot of info to remember and I don't want to miss anything of value.

[Algon]

ORIGINAL: soulerspexx

Is there anything else you highly recommend to do manually besides design and fleet postures?

I pretty much do everything manually - I guess I'm a control freak [:'(]

One thing which I'm doing now and which has huge benefits is to microcontrol my explorers. I have two waves of explorers: the first wave's job simply is to visit each system, then move onto the next (no surveying of planets) unless there is an abandoned <whatever> or a ruins, which they will explore. The second wave's job is to fully explore the systems closer to my colonies.

This markedly speeds up basic knowledge of the galaxy map, including where the other factions are, and gives a decent chance of being able to reach 'specials' before the AI does.

[Bleek]

I personally manage everything manually. It's not as bad as it sounds.

As for research, don't just auto it, take some time to understand the paths and what you want to achieve such as different weapon routes. I'm not sure how the auto AI handles research but it can't be as effective!

Stick to a certain weapon tech early on, re-arm ships appropriately.

[Bingeling]

I find construction and explorers to be a bit of a chore to manage in detail. The best advice is to find out what you enjoy...

Also, in my experience, the problem is not that the AI is too bad, but for empires apart from my own that it is not good enough So letting the AI control some important pieces helps keep the playing field level...

[gargoil]

I do everything manually (use the suggest setting, just to get reminders). Let me give you a "get set up" strategy, for once you start a new game:

1) Pause the game.
2) Go to you ship design screen, click "all non-obsolete designs". Sort on role. You may now change any of the designs you have. It is not necessary, but you may not want your destroyers to have troop carrying capacity, you may want you military ships to have more fuel storage, etc. Take your time, the game is on pause, lol.
3) Go to your research screen. In each tab, click what you would like to research. Develop a plan, like I will be using fighters, but not missiles. Research accordiingly.
4) I then use the left quick find lists to stop every Constructor, Explorer and every military ship of frigate or larger, and take them off auto. I let escorts stay on auto.
5) Run the game for one second. This will update orders. Constructors will now show on your expansion planner. Set them to build mines and gas extractors according to your empire priority. Set explorers to go explore nearby unexplored systems. Get you military (frigates and larger) into one fleets. Assign an admiral.
6) Thats it, your on your own now, kid, lol.

[soulerspexx]

Thanks for all the great advice!! Do you have any recommendations for the best weopons tree to research first?

[Fishers of Men]

I research the missile branch first. I like to develop a long range weapon to compliment the short range blasters. Torpedo weapons are also good, but slower to the target.