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Author Topic:   Starting Out

KaiN_ZerO posted 04-10-99 03:01 AM ET
Help! I am having trouble starting out. I play UoP, and can't decide which strategy. In the beginning of 2 games I played, I used two strategies. Expansionist failed, as my bases were taken by rogue mind worms. Conquer also failed, as I fell prey to two counter offensives by the believers and the black shielded people=) Sorry, but this is on Talent too... I need a beginning strategy to help me focus. Probably a research strategy or build order would help me out.
Kf6 posted 04-10-99 04:41 AM ET
You don't have to expand THAT much, you should basically just make only a handful of cities and build them up and terraform them and everything, always have at least one person protecting the base. Remember STEADY expansion don't be in such a rush, it's sometimes better to build up first, then once you have a good network of cities then expand some more, if you're the university go all out research and blast ahead of everyone else in technology!
dbrodale posted 04-10-99 11:00 AM ET
Hmmm ...
Play to your strengths as the Univ., as Kf6 suggests - in order to boost labs, you need to increase the energy flow to your bases - so, maximize energy production through use of mirrors, being selective in which tiles you work, targeting high elevations and rivers for new bases, improving energy bonus tiles first, etc.
Terraforming in the early game should be balanced - remember that terraforming does not do much good if you do not have the workers to reap the bounty ... at game start, you will have to decide which tiles in the base production radius are "best" for your needs and prioritize them first ... since pop grows slowly at game start, terraforming more than two-three tiles a base at the very start is a wasted effort - work on chaining your bases with roads after those first, *few* tiles are improved, so that you can get units around quickly when needed.
Also, be aware that when you begin building bases the trade-off to keep in mind [when not maximizing energy, which boosts both labs and reserves from which to hurry production] is mineral output v. nutrients. You want your bases to grow quickly at first - more laborers = more production in the long run - so you usu. want to favor high-nutrient tiles over high mineral tiles. The ideal preference is to go with high nutrient/high energy tiles, using the larger energy reserves gained to hurry production when necessary to offset lowered mineral intake. And do not forget forests for those arid, flat/rolling tiles! Quickest way to get them productive in the early game.
I usu. play Gaians on Transcend, so I'm coming from another angle, but I usu. start my first few bases [first ten] in this order: scout, former, colony pod. When I get recycling tank tech, I will insert it either before or after the former and hurry it when the cost is below 50 energy creds. Clearly, I expand quickly at first ... the idea is that I will only build up military when I know where I have to do so. In the early game on a continent shared with another faction, you need to establish the broadest borders possible (= good spread of bases) so that you can choke the other faction into some corner and prevent them from doing the same to you. Odds are that you can attain treaty status with them and hold off on a war, so if you can grab hold of more territory to develop during peacetime, you will have the upper hand.
Boosting energy production whenever possible is always a sound approach, no matter which faction you play.
Feel free to disregard, as I know my style of play may be a bit off when compared to others,
d.brodale
JT 3 posted 04-10-99 12:27 PM ET
Alright, I am a diehard UoP player, only played another Faction twice. First off, they are right. You shouldn't mass produce pods. Here's my usual plan:
2101: Build base(obviously), move other colony pod to where I think it might be rainy
2102: Base builds scout patrol. Now I build a colony pod, or, if my food is low, a former. We'll say pod for this scenario.
2107: Build second base.
2108: Base2 builds scout, start building pod/former.
2110: Base1 builds pod, I switch it to pod/Rec. Tanks(I _always_ have them by now)
2115: I build another base
2116: Base3 builds scou, switch it to pod/former. Base2 builds pod/former, switch it to tanks/pod.
I keep going on like this. Build defender, terraformer, then pod, then tanks, then Project. There are obviously some exceptions, like if a base has three nutrient resources inside of its radius, I might build 2 or 3 pods with it before I build tanks. But this is basicly what the start is like.
It works.
sandworm posted 04-10-99 02:33 PM ET
JT3 is right, building a couple of other things between colony pods allows your base population to rise before you build the next pod - building pods drops your population by one each time. Try it, you'll like it.
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Author	Topic: Starting Out
KaiN_ZerO	posted 04-10-99 03:01 AM ET Help! I am having trouble starting out. I play UoP, and can't decide which strategy. In the beginning of 2 games I played, I used two strategies. Expansionist failed, as my bases were taken by rogue mind worms. Conquer also failed, as I fell prey to two counter offensives by the believers and the black shielded people=) Sorry, but this is on Talent too... I need a beginning strategy to help me focus. Probably a research strategy or build order would help me out.
Kf6	posted 04-10-99 04:41 AM ET You don't have to expand THAT much, you should basically just make only a handful of cities and build them up and terraform them and everything, always have at least one person protecting the base. Remember STEADY expansion don't be in such a rush, it's sometimes better to build up first, then once you have a good network of cities then expand some more, if you're the university go all out research and blast ahead of everyone else in technology!
dbrodale	posted 04-10-99 11:00 AM ET Hmmm ... Play to your strengths as the Univ., as Kf6 suggests - in order to boost labs, you need to increase the energy flow to your bases - so, maximize energy production through use of mirrors, being selective in which tiles you work, targeting high elevations and rivers for new bases, improving energy bonus tiles first, etc. Terraforming in the early game should be balanced - remember that terraforming does not do much good if you do not have the workers to reap the bounty ... at game start, you will have to decide which tiles in the base production radius are "best" for your needs and prioritize them first ... since pop grows slowly at game start, terraforming more than two-three tiles a base at the very start is a wasted effort - work on chaining your bases with roads after those first, few tiles are improved, so that you can get units around quickly when needed. Also, be aware that when you begin building bases the trade-off to keep in mind [when not maximizing energy, which boosts both labs and reserves from which to hurry production] is mineral output v. nutrients. You want your bases to grow quickly at first - more laborers = more production in the long run - so you usu. want to favor high-nutrient tiles over high mineral tiles. The ideal preference is to go with high nutrient/high energy tiles, using the larger energy reserves gained to hurry production when necessary to offset lowered mineral intake. And do not forget forests for those arid, flat/rolling tiles! Quickest way to get them productive in the early game. I usu. play Gaians on Transcend, so I'm coming from another angle, but I usu. start my first few bases [first ten] in this order: scout, former, colony pod. When I get recycling tank tech, I will insert it either before or after the former and hurry it when the cost is below 50 energy creds. Clearly, I expand quickly at first ... the idea is that I will only build up military when I know where I have to do so. In the early game on a continent shared with another faction, you need to establish the broadest borders possible (= good spread of bases) so that you can choke the other faction into some corner and prevent them from doing the same to you. Odds are that you can attain treaty status with them and hold off on a war, so if you can grab hold of more territory to develop during peacetime, you will have the upper hand. Boosting energy production whenever possible is always a sound approach, no matter which faction you play. Feel free to disregard, as I know my style of play may be a bit off when compared to others, d.brodale
JT 3	posted 04-10-99 12:27 PM ET Alright, I am a diehard UoP player, only played another Faction twice. First off, they are right. You shouldn't mass produce pods. Here's my usual plan: 2101: Build base(obviously), move other colony pod to where I think it might be rainy 2102: Base builds scout patrol. Now I build a colony pod, or, if my food is low, a former. We'll say pod for this scenario. 2107: Build second base. 2108: Base2 builds scout, start building pod/former. 2110: Base1 builds pod, I switch it to pod/Rec. Tanks(I _always_ have them by now) 2115: I build another base 2116: Base3 builds scou, switch it to pod/former. Base2 builds pod/former, switch it to tanks/pod. I keep going on like this. Build defender, terraformer, then pod, then tanks, then Project. There are obviously some exceptions, like if a base has three nutrient resources inside of its radius, I might build 2 or 3 pods with it before I build tanks. But this is basicly what the start is like. It works.
sandworm	posted 04-10-99 02:33 PM ET JT3 is right, building a couple of other things between colony pods allows your base population to rise before you build the next pod - building pods drops your population by one each time. Try it, you'll like it.