posted 04-10-99 01:12 PM ET
I'M NOT CRAZY!!!Now that thats out, i'd also like to say that i'm NOT a newbie. I've had the game basically since it came out, and I play MOSTLY as Gaians.
I recently played a game as Zhakhov...
- Large map of the Planet
- Accellerated start up
- As university
This is turning out to be my best game yet, as I have conquered the Believers and the Hive. The Spartans are all alone on a giant middle continent and are very dangerous, while the Gaians, Morgans, and PeaceKeepers share the far left continent.
I have many many cities (probably around thirty or so, i havent counted) all with an average pop of 8 (3 being the smallest, 19 being the biggest).
Why am i telling you this? So my situation is more believable.
I'm at 50% econ 50% labs. On Police state/Planned/Knowledge I get around (I think, its a rough estimate) 300 or 400/turn. Breakthroughs every 6 turns.
When I switch the Planned Econ to Free Market economy, making me Police State/FreeMarket Econ/Knowledge, I get to 900 A TURN and breakthroughs everY TWO TURNS!!!!!
A very smart person said a while back in a response to a comment I made about Morgan being an iddiot for using FME, "Morgan does suck but its not because of him using FME. He just doesn't know how to use it."
Its so true!
Try it, go load your biggest game where you have your max cities, and switch to police state/FME. Your money will skyrocket, research double, and with police state that will counteract some of the negetives of FME.
I once managed to get myself -7 support, which translated into 2 extra drones for every unit away from its home city. I was in the middle of a war so this nearly cost me the lead spot 
Anyway, Free Market Econ gives you +1 ENERGY PER SQUARE (or is it per base?
, which is INCREDIBLE. Thats so much money, who cares if your citizens can go mad, you can buy them rec commons, holo theaters, punish domes, anything they want.
In less than 7 turns I had over 5000, I was SHOPPING for Secret Projects
It was great.
I don't plan on using FME all the time, but only when I need a burst of cash.
-EEder