posted 03-30-99 01:32 PM ET            

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Well having a lot of bases is good, especially early in the game. Once you get your first colony pod you should look for a good place to toss a city. I think that the placement of this city is one of the more important decisions in the game. Keep terraforming and making colony pods throughout the game if possible (yeah I slack off near the end but who cares?). Once you have a pod move it a bit until you come to an acceptable piece of land. Think about how big you expect the city to be. If you go for smaller cities you can afford a lot of overlap but if you go for the big ones then you don't want any overlap. I go for cities in the 4-7 range so I can take a little overlap. It is good to try to place your cities in the best possible spots but you might have to lower your standards. I guess it is a matter of priorities.

Also heavy terraforming can make the worst land good. My friend practically started in the great dunes once so he had to forest the whole thing over. Also once you get supply crawlers things really start working out. In my latest game I made a lot of boreholes just outside of the area worked by my cities. Crawlers pull in the resources.

posted 03-30-99 02:26 PM ET         

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First, at the very beginning of the game, green is good. Look for another "lush" site to set up shop. You need population growth to exploit resources. Second, what's your long term strategy and where are your opponents? The closer other factions are to you, the closer together your bases should be. It doesn't matter at this time that the bases overlap. You won't have the population to develop the full potential of the underlying land. Defense is much more important.

If your opponents are farther away and you have breathing room, you can be more selective. Take the greenest spots first. Send a "Johnny Appleseed" former out to plant forests in the less attractive areas while you do this. These forests can spread. Sea formers can also do these with kelp farms. Don't overlook vegetation on the edges of the sea. Sea edges and colonies with a little terraforming can be very productive. Later, and especially if you get the Planetary Transit Wonder, the forest will be able to sustain new bases without everyone starving. Also, by this time, your established bases will likely be overdeveloped. Formers are usually able to out develop population growth. You'll have mines, solar, or farms that can't be worked because you don't have the people. Send the formers to the new cities, set the new city as home base, and auto improve it.

By the way, with an aggressive colony pod building program and the Planetary Transit Wonder (which makes all new bases a population of 3), you should have not trouble being elected governer or winning as Supreme Leader once Yang is wiped out.

posted 03-31-99 07:38 AM ET         

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I've found that the crucial thing is to grab the land nearest your neighbour before s/he crowds you into a corner of the continent. This is much more critcal on a normal-sized map, of course.

So, I tend to go for densely-packed, mutually-supporting cities along or near the border at first, and then cities with more expansion potential later. Also, I think it's
advantageous to plant your freebie, initial colony-pod quickly, even if it puts the second base in heavy overlap with the first. That way you get another scout team quickly, explore more, get to Unity pods first etc.