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if you pay protection fee to pirates, they will often offer a permanent alliance when it is over. you pay them a monthly fee, they never attack your ships, and attack every empire that hates you instead.

if you try to colonize a planet with ruins and it triggers a "pirates" trap, pause the game, check out the pirates to see which faction they are, go to diplomacy, pay them protection fee, unpause the game. Watch as they protect your colony ship as it colonizes said planet... while attacking any AI who tries to do the same

*edit* I was wrong here. Post deleted.

Just a little useful one I've found for upgrading ships, now that under 1.03 you can upgrade fleets:
Go to teh ships screen mouse drag all the ships you want to add to a fleet, use the fleets option at the bottom right of this window to allocate them to a fleet (upgrade fleet - whatever). Select the fleet and right click give them orders to upgrade at the nearest starbase.
Especially useful for escorts and frigates, which i usually have on auto. No need to chase them about the place now.

Has anyone noticed the independant smuggler ships as your empire grows? Not sure what there upto but they seem to always be very fast ships. Must be linked to piracy in some way.

[font="Arial"]did u kno , out of all the 20 alien races , only about 3 of them can colonize volcanic planets . and out of even a galaxy of 1400 star systems and 50,000 planets , moons , and asteroids only one or two of them will be a volcanic planet that contains zentabian fluid , and one or two of the desert planets will contain korabbian spice and a single one planet in all the universe will contain loros fruit .

well i didnt kno and i learned the hard way , LOL ! i started a game with a race that i didnt kno couldnt live on volcanic planets and i set the AI to make two random races and not a single one of those random alien races ended up being 1 of the 3 races that can colonize volcanic planets that contain zentabian fluid . i explored the entire universe after hours and hours and not a single independent alien race that could randomly be found in sleeping stasis or already on a planet was 1 of the 3 volcanic planet races . none of the lost colony ships were one either . none of the advanced level colonization modules could make u able to colonize volcanic planets either . so i and my opposing empires were out of luck ... for the most part .

BUT , the other two empires were smart and my empire's private sector AI was not so smart . their private sector built mining stations at the volcanic planet to extract zentabian fluid and then WOULDNT trade it with me . those stingy bastiges . LOL

i waited forever and my private sector never built a mining station of our own at that planet . =(
i suppose i could have blown their mining station to kingdom come and hoped and prayed my private sector would build a mining station there , but meh , i scrapped the game to start a new one .

so the lesson learned here kiddies ... is that if u r like me and start each game with one goal in mind which is to explore , locate , colonize and control the planets with the SPICE [korabbian spice] and other extremely rare resources like loros fruit and zentabian fluid which by the way are also extremely useless and act as just a regular resource to help colony development levels as well as the occasional ruins providing empire-wide bonuses , then make sure u include somewhere in your empire or opposing empires to be a volcanic planet-friendly alien race .

also , did u kno , in humongous galaxies , u can find more than one world annihilator ships BUT can only own one of them at a time . after trying everything i could to repair and own the second one , it just was not gonna happen . therefore , i decided to just destroy it so the oppsoing empires didnt get any bright ideas and repair it for themselves to start taking over my colonies HEHE

last one . did u kno , u can keep your reputation satisfactory by never going to war with another empire . every time they declare war on u , immediately go the negotiations screen and pay them the measley 15,000 - 20,000 credits to shut them up . then when u r absolutely good and ready or just plain fed up with their war threats , the next time they declare war on u , tell them to " bring it , fool ! i crush u like a soda can ! " LOL preferrably with a world annihilator in your possession [;)][/font]

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[font=arial]i waited forever and my private sector never built a mining station of our own at that planet . =( [/font]

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[font=arial]You can use the expansion planner to request a mine be built on a specific resource. Select the resource from the list then the planet with the resource. Then send an existing constructor or build a new one. Easy.[/font]

[font="Arial"]wth ?! that is easy !

that's exactly how i handle colonizing planets . ><

didnt kno that u could do that with mining stations .

good thing this thread is here ! =D

good to kno , cuz knowing , is half the battle


-thx !

[:)][/font]

ORIGINAL: DigitalPhoenix
also , did u kno , in humongous galaxies , u can find more than one world annihilator ships BUT can only own one of them at a time . after trying everything i could to repair and own the second one , it just was not gonna happen . therefore , i decided to just destroy it so the oppsoing empires didnt get any bright ideas and repair it for themselves to start taking over my colonies HEHE

Stupid, artificial limitations.

ORIGINAL: Davor

You can right click on your own mines now, and retire them now. Not shure if this is because of the 1.03 patch now.

I can't do that in 1.03

did you know, if you absorb an alien race into your empire that can colonize worlds not normally colonizeable (ex: volcanic, ice, ocean, etc), you would immediately be able to colonize such worlds (but only with colonizers build by worlds containing that race).

You can acquire new races into your empire by trading worlds with alien empires, sometimes newly established colonies with little strategic value can be bought very cheaply... a highly developed world can cost upwards of 5 million, but a poor world that was just colonized can cost under 10 thousand. Paying 20k in cash for a 10k priced world with a race that can colonize unique planets 10 minutes into the game is highly worthwhile... it is worthwhile at any point of your empire's development, but extra worthwhile at that point.

ORIGINAL: DigitalPhoenix
well i didnt kno and i learned the hard way , LOL ! i started a game with a race that i didnt kno couldnt live on volcanic planets and i set the AI to make two random races and not a single one of those random alien races ended up being 1 of the 3 races that can colonize volcanic planets that contain zentabian fluid . i explored the entire universe after hours and hours and not a single independent alien race that could randomly be found in sleeping stasis or already on a planet was 1 of the 3 volcanic planet races . none of the lost colony ships were one either . none of the advanced level colonization modules could make u able to colonize volcanic planets either . so i and my opposing empires were out of luck ... for the most part .

BUT , the other two empires were smart and my empire's private sector AI was not so smart . their private sector built mining stations at the volcanic planet to extract zentabian fluid and then WOULDNT trade it with me . those stingy bastiges . LOL

i waited forever and my private sector never built a mining station of our own at that planet . =(
i suppose i could have blown their mining station to kingdom come and hoped and prayed my private sector would build a mining station there , but meh , i scrapped the game to start a new one .

so the lesson learned here kiddies ... is that if u r like me and start each game with one goal in mind which is to explore , locate , colonize and control the planets with the SPICE [korabbian spice] and other extremely rare resources like loros fruit and zentabian fluid which by the way are also extremely useless and act as just a regular resource to help colony development levels as well as the occasional ruins providing empire-wide bonuses , then make sure u include somewhere in your empire or opposing empires to be a volcanic planet-friendly alien race .

Did you know, the private sector cannot build mines, only mining SHIPS. The state has to build mines (can be automated via AI window). You need to maintain a solid fleet of constructor ships who can then build mines and gas mines as needed (but only if you turn on the responsible AIs)

also , did u kno , in humongous galaxies , u can find more than one world annihilator ships BUT can only own one of them at a time . after trying everything i could to repair and own the second one , it just was not gonna happen . therefore , i decided to just destroy it so the oppsoing empires didnt get any bright ideas and repair it for themselves to start taking over my colonies HEHE

Did you get the research bonus while "building" the incomplete world annihilator projects? if so, it would pay greatly to place a repair ship on it and place a few super star bases around it to protect it from AI incursions... that way you get a permanent +100% to weapon research POTENTIAL (which is far more valuable then research capacity; remember that actual reserach is the LESSER of captacity or potential, capacity you can increase with star bases... potential increases from how many colonies you have and has diminishing returns... a 300 planet empire would need MORE then exta 300 more planets to double their research capacity... making the +100% research rate bonus unbelieveably good... also acquirable via some planets).

Did you know, if you trade for a technology, all prior technology is also acquired... for example, if you had the 4th shield tech and you traded for the 7th shield tech, you will get shield tech 5 through 7. The price of the tech reflects how far behind you are. Techs that you are currently research will cost progressively less to buy. So if you are 95% done researching a technology, it will only cost 5% of its normal price to buy it from an AI.

Did you know, if you trade your maps to the AI, it will immediately send ships to claim any discovered but not claimed derelict. Such as incomplete world annihilator projects, worlds with valuable ruins or resources, etc... never ever trade your maps to the AI.

ORIGINAL: FerretStyle

ORIGINAL: Davor

You can right click on your own mines now, and retire them now. Not shure if this is because of the 1.03 patch now.

I can't do that in 1.03

OK, sorry I made a mistake there. My mine was a resort/mine base. I used it as a mining base and forgot it wasn't labled as a mining base. Sorry about that.

Did you know, you can pay the pirates 5000 credits to get the location of an independant colony. A great way to acquire new races (and thus bonuses) for your empire, as well as accelerating development of newly established planets.

Did you know, you can (although it is VERY difficult to; save, pause often and practice) target constructions ships that is building the world destroyer... it will immediately cease construction and escape (if not be outright destroyed)
you can then finish the world destroyer yourself and gain control of it.

While only one of my ship can world on a world annihilator project, i have seen multiple AI ships work on one... and even constructors from multiple empires all working on it together (specifically, i saw one being worked on by 2 constructors from empire A, 1 from empire B, and 1 from empire C... i shot all of them and then took it myself).
I could tell they were all working on it because they were all emitting sparks, and they covered different "portions" of the world annihilator (my constructors always go directly to the center, they were on the outskirts of it)

save about 2 million credits when you are able to. The AI Will occasionally offer to sell you their race unique technologies (which are very powerful) for about a million and a half credits. they will never sell them at any price if you ask to trade for it, you have to be able to pay cash, in full, when they make the offer

Yeah I found that the hard way taltamir. I thought I could colonize Oceanic planets now, made a colony ship and found out I coudn't colonize. WTF? So I went into the planner screen, clicked on the send colony to an oceanic planet and found out that it was being made at the oceanic planet that had the race that was there.

Apparently you can have 'resupply ships' and 'resupply fitted capital ships' act as in/at fleet 'resupply tanker/tender ships'. Can such ships be automated to go refill fuel and return to refuel the fleet?
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2432568 (Whats a good tip of refueling?)

ORIGINAL: Davor

Yeah I found that the hard way taltamir. I thought I could colonize Oceanic planets now, made a colony ship and found out I coudn't colonize. WTF? So I went into the planner screen, clicked on the send colony to an oceanic planet and found out that it was being made at the oceanic planet that had the race that was there.

But that race would move to all your other planets with time, right?
Due to migration

I have no idea Resan. I thought that would be the case, but havn't seen it yet.

ORIGINAL: Resan

ORIGINAL: Davor

Yeah I found that the hard way taltamir. I thought I could colonize Oceanic planets now, made a colony ship and found out I coudn't colonize. WTF? So I went into the planner screen, clicked on the send colony to an oceanic planet and found out that it was being made at the oceanic planet that had the race that was there.

But that race would move to all your other planets with time, right?
Due to migration

yes.