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Author Topic:   Just beat level 4 -- Thoughts

Ank posted 04-28-99 11:08 PM ET
I just thoroughly trounced everyone on level 4 (librarian, I think), and have a few observations.
1) The Gaians gave me a good scare at first, rushing across my border, taking 2 cities and destroying two small others. BUT, while they had troops in my territory, they failed to press their advantage, and allowed me to not only take back my territory lost to them, but pretty much march across their whole nation while losing almost nothing.
2) The University, obviously outmanned and outclassed, and needing my help to deal with the Believers, sent a probe team into a city on our 3-way common border, and stole a tech. What's this guy thinking? I'm his only friend, the Believers are beating him down on one side, and the Hive on the other.
3) The "peacekeepers" ruthlessly attack all their neighbors, always finding some provocation.
4) The factions, with the exception of the PKs, make one wave of expansion early in the game, and then seem to sit on their laurels. Even with massive inefficiency (I had a military victory with -4 efficiency), the production advantages to massive expansion outweigh any disadvantages I can find.
5) My typical strategy when founding a base is to build a former, colony pod, sentinel, colony pod. Continual expansion early gives me such an advantage the computer can't keep up.
Does it get harder at level 5 and 6? How much?
Ank
trippin daily posted 04-29-99 12:18 AM ET
Play 6 (transcend, right?)... all I have to save is welcome to the real world... It's like the AI uses the scenario editor type of cheating... You 24/12/3 hovertank gets crushed by a 1/4/1 silksteel sentinel.
Beta1 posted 04-29-99 01:19 PM ET
Not to mention the missile from nowhere trick, or the probed to death routine. Even the mindworms seem selectively pick on me. Or maybe I'm just getting paranoid
trippin daily posted 04-29-99 07:33 PM ET
You forgot one, the defensless defense pods. They do virtually nothing in Transcend level. It takes so many to work it is almost worth letting them PB you.
Trippin Daily
-sad but true-
Al Gore Rythm posted 04-30-99 12:06 AM ET
Hmm, I don't know about your other settings, but continual expansion I find gets me killed. Rabid expansion = drones, drones = bad. While I tend to Punishment Sphere those damn drones anyway, too many cities mean even the size 1 will start rioting.
There are many disadvantages to rabid expansion, mainly that if you expand TOO much your other cities will never grow to be all that productive.
And I wonder exactly how in heck you were able to maintain a stable, far-flung society with -4 efficency. I find it tricky to do it with 0 or +1.
Plato90s posted 04-30-99 01:15 AM ET
Worth it to let them PB you? Are you kidding?!?!
On average, you need to have about 3 ODPs for every enemy PB to be safe.
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Author	Topic: Just beat level 4 -- Thoughts
Ank	posted 04-28-99 11:08 PM ET I just thoroughly trounced everyone on level 4 (librarian, I think), and have a few observations. 1) The Gaians gave me a good scare at first, rushing across my border, taking 2 cities and destroying two small others. BUT, while they had troops in my territory, they failed to press their advantage, and allowed me to not only take back my territory lost to them, but pretty much march across their whole nation while losing almost nothing. 2) The University, obviously outmanned and outclassed, and needing my help to deal with the Believers, sent a probe team into a city on our 3-way common border, and stole a tech. What's this guy thinking? I'm his only friend, the Believers are beating him down on one side, and the Hive on the other. 3) The "peacekeepers" ruthlessly attack all their neighbors, always finding some provocation. 4) The factions, with the exception of the PKs, make one wave of expansion early in the game, and then seem to sit on their laurels. Even with massive inefficiency (I had a military victory with -4 efficiency), the production advantages to massive expansion outweigh any disadvantages I can find. 5) My typical strategy when founding a base is to build a former, colony pod, sentinel, colony pod. Continual expansion early gives me such an advantage the computer can't keep up. Does it get harder at level 5 and 6? How much? Ank
trippin daily	posted 04-29-99 12:18 AM ET Play 6 (transcend, right?)... all I have to save is welcome to the real world... It's like the AI uses the scenario editor type of cheating... You 24/12/3 hovertank gets crushed by a 1/4/1 silksteel sentinel.
Beta1	posted 04-29-99 01:19 PM ET Not to mention the missile from nowhere trick, or the probed to death routine. Even the mindworms seem selectively pick on me. Or maybe I'm just getting paranoid
trippin daily	posted 04-29-99 07:33 PM ET You forgot one, the defensless defense pods. They do virtually nothing in Transcend level. It takes so many to work it is almost worth letting them PB you. Trippin Daily -sad but true-
Al Gore Rythm	posted 04-30-99 12:06 AM ET Hmm, I don't know about your other settings, but continual expansion I find gets me killed. Rabid expansion = drones, drones = bad. While I tend to Punishment Sphere those damn drones anyway, too many cities mean even the size 1 will start rioting. There are many disadvantages to rabid expansion, mainly that if you expand TOO much your other cities will never grow to be all that productive. And I wonder exactly how in heck you were able to maintain a stable, far-flung society with -4 efficency. I find it tricky to do it with 0 or +1.
Plato90s	posted 04-30-99 01:15 AM ET Worth it to let them PB you? Are you kidding?!?! On average, you need to have about 3 ODPs for every enemy PB to be safe.