Starting Position Woes

[Dukie]

Hoping to get some tips on how to handle game starts. It usually takes me 3 - 4 restarts before I get a game that I find tenable. I always play beginner/any planet/1 zone/1 army/slower tech/medium map size/tech level 3. These games always seem to start with me having no water, not enough food (more being consumed than grown) and negative cash flow (and the militia always wants their 400 credit donation on turn 1). How do you play out of that?

[Maerchen]

I found this thread interesting

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1154840/ ... 499163470/

[FarAway Sooner]

If getting water is too difficult, start out on a planet with a little more naturally occurring water. Every planet type has its own challenges and opportunities, but buried in the manual is a section that talks about how much water you get simply from having access to a Sea hex, a lake hex, or even a river. As soon as you take over one hex adjacent to a sea, you get 5,000 water, which is enough to grow... PLENTY of food! And you don't have to build anything to tap into it or ever worry about running out.

If you're playing on a map with modest rainfall, I'm pretty sure just expanding your territory yields more Water as part of your organic zone production.

Even playing only one notch up from Beginner (is that "Normal"?), if I start out without enough water or food, it's a tough hole to dig out of. The only path to bootstrap myself up I've ever found is 1) Water & Food first; 2) Metal next; 3) Industry after that... In the games I've been playing (typically with at least 100mm/yr of rainfall), I find myself hosed if I can't find any Metal deposits in my first Zone, as I just can't afford to pay Worker salaries for all the Scavenger Zones to generate that much metal.

[zgrssd]

ORIGINAL: Dukie

Hoping to get some tips on how to handle game starts. It usually takes me 3 - 4 restarts before I get a game that I find tenable. I always play beginner/any planet/1 zone/1 army/slower tech/medium map size/tech level 3. These games always seem to start with me having no water, not enough food (more being consumed than grown) and negative cash flow (and the militia always wants their 400 credit donation on turn 1). How do you play out of that?

I hope you actually ran a few turns, before quitting? The Turn 1 values can be pretty faulty.

Getting water can be pretty trivial (automatically collect rainfall), a minor thing (just mine the icesheet) or a major challenge (desert planet, moon). Generally you should have a Water Spot detected when starting the game. Just grab it.

For money, selling rare metals (~5 a piece) is a giant cash cow. I generally get the Private Recycling Asset Nationalized asap to secure myself some supply of it.

You should get reimbursed for any Food, Fuel and Ammo send to the Militia units, so those should be no drain at all.
If you got issues with food and credits, maybe your mistake is too many workers?
Workers cost Credits to pay and need to be given Public Food, like your Soldiers.

If you want a easier start, jsut increase the tech level. You get some more buildings build and nationalized, making for a much easier start. TL3 is really more of a extra-hard mode.

[BlueTemplar]

I'm surprised that you're lacking water, isn't there *always* an underground ice spot in the hex next to the capital ?

Aren't recycling worker's salaries paying themselves (and more) with the rare metals (and maybe fuel/machines/high-tech parts) they extract and that you will be able to sell ?