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Author Topic:   How many bases do you guys build?

Zanatar posted 04-13-99 02:05 PM ET
In your average game, how many bases do you guys tend to build? Do you stop
at a specific number, or do you keep bulding new bases?
Also, do you guys ever use your colony
pods to increase there population
by one? In what cases would you
use this strategy?

trippin daily posted 04-13-99 02:47 PM ET
I build as many as possible, whether it be 10, r 50.. however many bases i can have, i try to achieve... more bases mean more population, more population means more money, science, military, and such... so i never stop building bases.. i may slow down to allow my infrastructure to build up at times.. but i will rarely if ever completely stop buiilding bases
Mistweave posted 04-13-99 04:57 PM ET
The only time I ever use Colony Pods to increase the pop in an existing city is when I am _moving_ the city. In my last game, I went to war with the Hive in mid-game, and found that he had built one of his cities at the Borehole Cluster. Not a bad idea, but he had built the city on top of one of the boreholes. Since I wanted to use all three, I had to move the city. So, I just built Colony Pods as fast as possible, trundled a couple of spaces away, and plopped them down. Moved the whole Pop 5 city in about 8 years.
BTW - A weird strategy occurred to me when I did this. If you have the Planetary Transit System (so your bases start at pop 3), you can actually manufacture population. The process: 1) Build a city somewhere with a large mineral base. 2) Build three colony pods (thus abandoning the base). 3) Use the last colony pod to found a new city on the same spot (again at pop 3). 4) Repeat as necessary. You get 2 free colony pods each time.
evil_conquerer posted 04-13-99 05:05 PM ET
You can't increase population with colony pods because your bases shrink when you build them (except on the lower difficulties). You can only transfer population between bases.
About those bases:
You want to build AMAP (as many as possible). Bases give you territory, wealth, and production capacity. The only "magic number" of bases to build is infinity.
Plato90s posted 04-13-99 06:37 PM ET
Mistweave is correct. Plantetary Transit System does create 3 population points from a single colony pod. With sufficient minerals, you can take those 2 additional population points and recreate a size 3 city with the last colony pod.
Shade posted 04-13-99 06:52 PM ET
The only time I stop building bases is when I start taking them from someone else.
Usually I fill up my land mass. I tend to play development games on large maps with an emphasis on diplomacy instead of war, so I try to give each base elbow room. I usually end up with 30-40 bases. I tend to avoid sea bases. Don't know why, I guess I'm just a land-lubber.
Shade
Nell_Smith posted 04-13-99 10:30 PM ET
I also try to keep building bases throughout the game... even small bases can be useful in the late game, if only to add a few votes in Council elections and to provide useful stop-off points for Needlejets etc. I try to space them out reasonably, but usually find that overlapping a couple of the base radius squares makes for faster expansion and easier road-linking: this can be a worthwhile trade-off for the fact that bases with overlapping radii may not be able to become mega-producers in the late game.
As far as the number of bases goes, in an average game (using a Huge map) I guess I build between 25 and 50, depending on how good my terrain is.
Re sea bases: they're a bit of a pain as far as mineral resources goes (unless you build them with at least one land square within their radius and sink a borehole), but they're gems for producing population and energy, once they're surrounded with kelp farms and tidal harnesses. Real energy goldmines then!! And another good point about them is that the AI often seems reluctant to capture them (the AI's not great at sea warfare), so they can provide you with a good "fall-back position" if your land bases are taking a hammering
jazzfan27 posted 04-14-99 01:51 AM ET
I had an idea for a strategy. Get to pop boom in at least one city. After the city reaches max size (7) start building colony pods. You probably wont' build them faster than you grow. Use the pods to transfer to smaller bases.
I haven't used this strategy to any success myself, just a thought.
Jazzfan27
Travathian posted 04-14-99 02:02 AM ET
I expand, until there is no more room to expand. Once you fill up a continent, move to another. Nice ocean squares? Use them too.
Currently, I am playing on a 256x256 with mostly medium and small sized islands. I got lucky and got one of the biggest islands and now have it covered with bases, I moved to the next and keep growing.
I use the simple formula. As soon as a new city reaches 2 population, the next turn it should complete a colony pod. Once that new colony pod builds a base, when it gets to 2, it should create a pod next turn, and on, and on. Sometimes if I find an area ripe in nutrients, it becomes a colony pod bonanza!
K posted 04-14-99 02:32 AM ET
You can increase the pop. of a base beyond the base 7 with colony pods, but you must have sufficuent food to feed the new pop. or you go into shortfall and shrink.
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Author	Topic: How many bases do you guys build?
Zanatar	posted 04-13-99 02:05 PM ET In your average game, how many bases do you guys tend to build? Do you stop at a specific number, or do you keep bulding new bases? Also, do you guys ever use your colony pods to increase there population by one? In what cases would you use this strategy?
trippin daily	posted 04-13-99 02:47 PM ET I build as many as possible, whether it be 10, r 50.. however many bases i can have, i try to achieve... more bases mean more population, more population means more money, science, military, and such... so i never stop building bases.. i may slow down to allow my infrastructure to build up at times.. but i will rarely if ever completely stop buiilding bases
Mistweave	posted 04-13-99 04:57 PM ET The only time I ever use Colony Pods to increase the pop in an existing city is when I am _moving_ the city. In my last game, I went to war with the Hive in mid-game, and found that he had built one of his cities at the Borehole Cluster. Not a bad idea, but he had built the city on top of one of the boreholes. Since I wanted to use all three, I had to move the city. So, I just built Colony Pods as fast as possible, trundled a couple of spaces away, and plopped them down. Moved the whole Pop 5 city in about 8 years. BTW - A weird strategy occurred to me when I did this. If you have the Planetary Transit System (so your bases start at pop 3), you can actually manufacture population. The process: 1) Build a city somewhere with a large mineral base. 2) Build three colony pods (thus abandoning the base). 3) Use the last colony pod to found a new city on the same spot (again at pop 3). 4) Repeat as necessary. You get 2 free colony pods each time.
evil_conquerer	posted 04-13-99 05:05 PM ET You can't increase population with colony pods because your bases shrink when you build them (except on the lower difficulties). You can only transfer population between bases. About those bases: You want to build AMAP (as many as possible). Bases give you territory, wealth, and production capacity. The only "magic number" of bases to build is infinity.
Plato90s	posted 04-13-99 06:37 PM ET Mistweave is correct. Plantetary Transit System does create 3 population points from a single colony pod. With sufficient minerals, you can take those 2 additional population points and recreate a size 3 city with the last colony pod.
Shade	posted 04-13-99 06:52 PM ET The only time I stop building bases is when I start taking them from someone else. Usually I fill up my land mass. I tend to play development games on large maps with an emphasis on diplomacy instead of war, so I try to give each base elbow room. I usually end up with 30-40 bases. I tend to avoid sea bases. Don't know why, I guess I'm just a land-lubber. Shade
Nell_Smith	posted 04-13-99 10:30 PM ET I also try to keep building bases throughout the game... even small bases can be useful in the late game, if only to add a few votes in Council elections and to provide useful stop-off points for Needlejets etc. I try to space them out reasonably, but usually find that overlapping a couple of the base radius squares makes for faster expansion and easier road-linking: this can be a worthwhile trade-off for the fact that bases with overlapping radii may not be able to become mega-producers in the late game. As far as the number of bases goes, in an average game (using a Huge map) I guess I build between 25 and 50, depending on how good my terrain is. Re sea bases: they're a bit of a pain as far as mineral resources goes (unless you build them with at least one land square within their radius and sink a borehole), but they're gems for producing population and energy, once they're surrounded with kelp farms and tidal harnesses. Real energy goldmines then!! And another good point about them is that the AI often seems reluctant to capture them (the AI's not great at sea warfare), so they can provide you with a good "fall-back position" if your land bases are taking a hammering
jazzfan27	posted 04-14-99 01:51 AM ET I had an idea for a strategy. Get to pop boom in at least one city. After the city reaches max size (7) start building colony pods. You probably wont' build them faster than you grow. Use the pods to transfer to smaller bases. I haven't used this strategy to any success myself, just a thought. Jazzfan27
Travathian	posted 04-14-99 02:02 AM ET I expand, until there is no more room to expand. Once you fill up a continent, move to another. Nice ocean squares? Use them too. Currently, I am playing on a 256x256 with mostly medium and small sized islands. I got lucky and got one of the biggest islands and now have it covered with bases, I moved to the next and keep growing. I use the simple formula. As soon as a new city reaches 2 population, the next turn it should complete a colony pod. Once that new colony pod builds a base, when it gets to 2, it should create a pod next turn, and on, and on. Sometimes if I find an area ripe in nutrients, it becomes a colony pod bonanza!
K	posted 04-14-99 02:32 AM ET You can increase the pop. of a base beyond the base 7 with colony pods, but you must have sufficuent food to feed the new pop. or you go into shortfall and shrink.