Peoples start preference

[zgrssd]

ORIGINAL: wodin

OK what are your preferred start preferences?


Tech Level?

Councils?

Amount of starting zones?

Troop strength?

To those who have tried different starts what settings have been the most enjoyable?

Thanks

- TL4. It limits the need for research, gives me plenty of unit options and I start with Truckstop and Scavenger Privatized (higher TL also accelerates your economy)
- Just supreme council.
- 1 Zone
- 1 Army/Zone
- currently I play mostly on planets without atmosphere, so my units at least start with a Ennvirosuit as armor. Oherwise would have to get teh Model council 1st or 2nd.

[76mm]

ORIGINAL: EuchreJack
I've been using complete map...

Yup, me too, same reasons.

[76mm]

ORIGINAL: lloydster4
What?! You hate fighting creatures with low-tech, but you ONLY roll Siwas with low-tech?

Well, in one game it was very difficult, but possible, to kill the creatures; in that game I had NO immediate neighbors, so the first 50 turns of the game were devoted SOLELY to killing creatures. That game was actually kind of fun.

In my next game, there were creatures that are impossible to kill, and I'm surrounded by several minors and a major. That was a restart...

ORIGINAL: lloydster4
Are you masochistic or just stubborn?

Yes![8D]

[Fleshbits]

ORIGINAL: LordAldrich

I've tried a whole lot of different conditions. I've found that I do NOT like regular difficulty games on the lowest tech/zone/army settings. It's too volatile, you're basically a minor regime and your success or failure is dependent on too much randomness: what neighbors you have, and especially how much access you have to metal. For "apocalypse tribe growing into a civilization" games I really like the beginner difficulty setting: the guaranteed metal deposit and slightly reduced minor regime aggression are just about right. (regular difficulty with 1 starting army is close, but you still run the risk of never finding any metal and losing around turn 40-50 when you get steamrolled by a major regime that had more luck than you).

Almost any increase to tech/zone/army settings will reduce the relevance of minor regimes (they don't get the same bonuses) and push you into conflict with major regimes much faster.

From a governmental perspective I've found that Meritocracy/Government/Mind is a very powerful combination, excellent leaders (who get good results on many common events) and excellent passive bonuses where they matter most can snowball pretty quickly.

All the different planet conditions are fun. I usually use a small world simply for performance reasons. I often like having a breathable atmosphere simply because it makes a variety of unit equipment (e.g. filters, thermo-gear) relevant. Environment suits are too good, they should be nerfed - but that's a different topic.

Same experience.
RNG metal = win
RNG no metal = loss

No strategy, just a three hour game of high card.

[Ekaton]

Dune-like, very low population. Rebuilding civilisation feels like a huge accomplishment.

[zgrssd]

ORIGINAL: Fleshbits

ORIGINAL: LordAldrich

I've tried a whole lot of different conditions. I've found that I do NOT like regular difficulty games on the lowest tech/zone/army settings. It's too volatile, you're basically a minor regime and your success or failure is dependent on too much randomness: what neighbors you have, and especially how much access you have to metal. For "apocalypse tribe growing into a civilization" games I really like the beginner difficulty setting: the guaranteed metal deposit and slightly reduced minor regime aggression are just about right. (regular difficulty with 1 starting army is close, but you still run the risk of never finding any metal and losing around turn 40-50 when you get steamrolled by a major regime that had more luck than you).

Almost any increase to tech/zone/army settings will reduce the relevance of minor regimes (they don't get the same bonuses) and push you into conflict with major regimes much faster.

From a governmental perspective I've found that Meritocracy/Government/Mind is a very powerful combination, excellent leaders (who get good results on many common events) and excellent passive bonuses where they matter most can snowball pretty quickly.

All the different planet conditions are fun. I usually use a small world simply for performance reasons. I often like having a breathable atmosphere simply because it makes a variety of unit equipment (e.g. filters, thermo-gear) relevant. Environment suits are too good, they should be nerfed - but that's a different topic.

Same experience.
RNG metal = win
RNG no metal = loss

No strategy, just a three hour game of high card.

You start with a guruanteed metal spot. Plus Scavenger. And if you need to save metal: Gas Powered Small arms. Good firepower, barely any ammo consumption.

[Grotius]

I thought the guaranteed metal spot was only on Beginner difficulty. Maybe I remember wrong?

[LordAldrich]

You're correct, the gaurenteed metal deposit is only on beginner difficulty and (like I discussed in my original post) is a good part of why I enjoy the beginner difficulty for low tech start games.

Scavenging only works if your planet had a high population (and so has lots of ruins), and they run out quickly in any case.

I stand by my point: games where I don't have the starting metal deposit are too random for me to enjoy them.

Which is fine, it's a personal preference and I have the tools (through the difficulty settings) to deal with it.

[76mm]

seems like it would be reasonable for our regimes to start near a metal deposit not only in beginner mode...after all, people are more likely to settle near important resources, such as water, metal, whatever else. So why should our regimes be missing resources when the game starts?

[LordAldrich]

Well TBH that metal deposit is pretty much the only difference between beginner and regular difficultly, per the rulebook. The minor regimes also have slightly reduced aggression, but that seems to be it.

I'm all for more customizable options during setup, so if Vic were to turn all these into checkboxes or sliders I would be quite pleased.

[demiare]

ORIGINAL: Grotius

I thought the guaranteed metal spot was only on Beginner difficulty. Maybe I remember wrong?

Take in mind that this guaranteed metal/water spot will overwrite any existing hex resource. Very funny to see a single ice/glacier hex with finite water or even no water
But seems that anything but Siwa wasn't tested at all.

[jimwinsor]

I generally prefer TL4, as this guarantees I'll have at least one power producer (Power Plant or Solar Power). At TL3 I have had games where my Econ director was utterly clueless as to how to discover those two all-important techs.

And I start with one zone with one regular brigade, to deal with unlucky starts with many raiders, nomads or slavers that I need to cover. Both of these choices are geared towards reducing bad RNG that can end a campaign before it really gets going.

[zgrssd]

ORIGINAL: Grotius

I thought the guaranteed metal spot was only on Beginner difficulty. Maybe I remember wrong?

I also get it on Regular, even with a mine.

Plus a rare metal spot. However those may be due to my T4 start preference?

[LordAldrich]

ORIGINAL: zgrssd

ORIGINAL: Grotius

I thought the guaranteed metal spot was only on Beginner difficulty. Maybe I remember wrong?

I also get it on Regular, even with a mine.

Plus a rare metal spot. However those may be due to my T4 start preference?

Yeah, the higher tech level starts also give you additional resources and assets.

The higher starting army settings come with agridomes to feed the troops.

And the higher zone settings come with rail and roads between the zones.