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Author Topic:   Slow Burn

Resource Consumer posted 06-29-99 05:45 PM ET
I tried this tonight with mixed success and wondered if anyone else had tried it this way.
Those of you who know me know that I always play Morgan (and maybe this strategy might work better with other factions). Anyway, I've always found that I get a lot of grief zooming ahead of the pack very quickly. So why not hang back and, when you're in the killer position, really screw the AI (this probably won't work in MP by the way).
So. Don't build any farms - just forest the hell out of everywhere, taking out a lot of fungus on the way, of course. Bet the farm on the Trees and then on Hybrid Forest. Of course, if you have blind research off then it's even better.
The result. You don't grow so fast (no big deal with Morgan unless you want to colonise a huge planet) but you hit a critical mass about mid game and nobody is seriously hassling you (I know you've got to pay off a few of these geeks but that's just a way of life). So by mid-game, you've got a key set of balanced resources, if you're energy short just hit into the sea. It seems to work for me but it's too early days to christen it a proven winner.
Anyone else got any thoughts on this one?
googlie posted 06-30-99 01:29 AM ET
RC: It's my usual strategy. Forest everywhere except on the energy or mineral bonus squares, where I'll borehole, or if I have Sunny Mesa, Pholus Ridge or Mt Planet I'll hedgerow mirrors and solars, and energy crawl from there.
Lack of food is my usual problem until hydropods, so the odd farm is needed, but as soon as I can I grow it over with trees.
G.
Resource Consumer posted 06-30-99 04:57 AM ET
Googlie,
Thanks. I forgot to say that I oput the other bits in the rocky squares etc.
The interesting thing for me abou thtis is
(a) maybe you can get by with less formers (I haven't tried by the way) as you allow the natural expansion of the forest to drive the terraforming. Just build the mines and clear the fungus.
(b) The AI doesn't see you coming. When they finally get pissed off and have a go, it's much easier (as Morgan at any rate) to hold them off.
What faction do you normally play as?
DrPhibes posted 06-30-99 11:28 AM ET
Also use the forest strat (probably not really worth the title strat) but to kick things along in the early game i crank out loads of crawlers to get my bases pulling 18 minerals and a lot of nutrients/energy.
When your population expands you can use the crawlers to help expansion or hurry SPs
At Transcend i think if you just waited for the tree farm/hybrid techs to come along and the population to grow, you'd be too far behind.
Also, you should try to put roads down before the forest as terraforming after takes longer and it's faster for the crawlers to get where they are needed.
Also, if you stick a couple of centauri preserves in your bases you can really boost the amount of minerals you can harvest without hoards of mindworms and fungus exploding in your face.
At the higher levels of the game eveyone will most likely be seething at you anyway, so you have to pay them off, but by the mid-game, as you say, you'll be out producing them in just about any department, so bugger 'em.
DrPhibes
googlie posted 06-30-99 05:57 PM ET
RC
'Normally' is a relative term.
Recently I've been playing only TI, blind, aggressive, abundant.
I've played more games as Miriam, but gotten my ass whipped more often as her, 'cos I really want to play a builder game with her research penalty
I'm finding Morgan, Lal and Zak too easy now, unless as a OCC or Forest challenge game, or something similar.
Yang and Santiago are middling for me - not quite the challenge of making it with Miriam ( ) but not as easy as the other three.
Most enjoyable game was one as Lal which formed the backdrop for Journal of Tazeem.
Favourite, though is Deirdre, but I don't play her as much recently
googlie
Koshko posted 06-30-99 11:06 PM ET
I'm a Morgan fan also. I do Foresting extensively. I'll verify that this way works.
Koshko posted 06-30-99 11:06 PM ET
I'm a Morgan fan also. I do Foresting extensively. I'll verify that this way works.
Koshko posted 06-30-99 11:06 PM ET
I'm a Morgan fan also. I do Foresting extensively. I'll verify that this way works.
Koshko posted 06-30-99 11:06 PM ET
I'm a Morgan fan also. I do Foresting extensively. I'll verify that this way works.
Koshko posted 06-30-99 11:09 PM ET
That was odd. It did this funky hiccup thing on me.
Resource Consumer posted 07-01-99 05:33 AM ET
You're just trying to get your post count up.
Earwicker posted 07-01-99 07:52 AM ET
Shameless.
If I can get a couple of sea-farm squares for any of those extensively-forested bases, it makes things a whole lot easier. 3-0-3 makes up for a couple of 1-2-1 or 1-2-2 (I'm a big fan of rivers). I can use crawlers for more minerals instead of more food.
Koshko posted 07-02-99 12:06 AM ET
I refrained from making that very same posting comment myself.
Koshko posted 07-02-99 12:10 AM ET
By doing this foresting technique, you can get away with just 1 former per city. I usually have only a couple of cities with more than one former. Usually those are the ones that have many farm/solar/road squares.
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Author	Topic: Slow Burn
Resource Consumer	posted 06-29-99 05:45 PM ET I tried this tonight with mixed success and wondered if anyone else had tried it this way. Those of you who know me know that I always play Morgan (and maybe this strategy might work better with other factions). Anyway, I've always found that I get a lot of grief zooming ahead of the pack very quickly. So why not hang back and, when you're in the killer position, really screw the AI (this probably won't work in MP by the way). So. Don't build any farms - just forest the hell out of everywhere, taking out a lot of fungus on the way, of course. Bet the farm on the Trees and then on Hybrid Forest. Of course, if you have blind research off then it's even better. The result. You don't grow so fast (no big deal with Morgan unless you want to colonise a huge planet) but you hit a critical mass about mid game and nobody is seriously hassling you (I know you've got to pay off a few of these geeks but that's just a way of life). So by mid-game, you've got a key set of balanced resources, if you're energy short just hit into the sea. It seems to work for me but it's too early days to christen it a proven winner. Anyone else got any thoughts on this one?
googlie	posted 06-30-99 01:29 AM ET RC: It's my usual strategy. Forest everywhere except on the energy or mineral bonus squares, where I'll borehole, or if I have Sunny Mesa, Pholus Ridge or Mt Planet I'll hedgerow mirrors and solars, and energy crawl from there. Lack of food is my usual problem until hydropods, so the odd farm is needed, but as soon as I can I grow it over with trees. G.
Resource Consumer	posted 06-30-99 04:57 AM ET Googlie, Thanks. I forgot to say that I oput the other bits in the rocky squares etc. The interesting thing for me abou thtis is (a) maybe you can get by with less formers (I haven't tried by the way) as you allow the natural expansion of the forest to drive the terraforming. Just build the mines and clear the fungus. (b) The AI doesn't see you coming. When they finally get pissed off and have a go, it's much easier (as Morgan at any rate) to hold them off. What faction do you normally play as?
DrPhibes	posted 06-30-99 11:28 AM ET Also use the forest strat (probably not really worth the title strat) but to kick things along in the early game i crank out loads of crawlers to get my bases pulling 18 minerals and a lot of nutrients/energy. When your population expands you can use the crawlers to help expansion or hurry SPs At Transcend i think if you just waited for the tree farm/hybrid techs to come along and the population to grow, you'd be too far behind. Also, you should try to put roads down before the forest as terraforming after takes longer and it's faster for the crawlers to get where they are needed. Also, if you stick a couple of centauri preserves in your bases you can really boost the amount of minerals you can harvest without hoards of mindworms and fungus exploding in your face. At the higher levels of the game eveyone will most likely be seething at you anyway, so you have to pay them off, but by the mid-game, as you say, you'll be out producing them in just about any department, so bugger 'em. DrPhibes
googlie	posted 06-30-99 05:57 PM ET RC 'Normally' is a relative term. Recently I've been playing only TI, blind, aggressive, abundant. I've played more games as Miriam, but gotten my ass whipped more often as her, 'cos I really want to play a builder game with her research penalty I'm finding Morgan, Lal and Zak too easy now, unless as a OCC or Forest challenge game, or something similar. Yang and Santiago are middling for me - not quite the challenge of making it with Miriam ( ) but not as easy as the other three. Most enjoyable game was one as Lal which formed the backdrop for Journal of Tazeem. Favourite, though is Deirdre, but I don't play her as much recently googlie
Koshko	posted 06-30-99 11:06 PM ET I'm a Morgan fan also. I do Foresting extensively. I'll verify that this way works.
Koshko	posted 06-30-99 11:06 PM ET I'm a Morgan fan also. I do Foresting extensively. I'll verify that this way works.
Koshko	posted 06-30-99 11:06 PM ET I'm a Morgan fan also. I do Foresting extensively. I'll verify that this way works.
Koshko	posted 06-30-99 11:06 PM ET I'm a Morgan fan also. I do Foresting extensively. I'll verify that this way works.
Koshko	posted 06-30-99 11:09 PM ET That was odd. It did this funky hiccup thing on me.
Resource Consumer	posted 07-01-99 05:33 AM ET You're just trying to get your post count up.
Earwicker	posted 07-01-99 07:52 AM ET Shameless. If I can get a couple of sea-farm squares for any of those extensively-forested bases, it makes things a whole lot easier. 3-0-3 makes up for a couple of 1-2-1 or 1-2-2 (I'm a big fan of rivers). I can use crawlers for more minerals instead of more food.
Koshko	posted 07-02-99 12:06 AM ET I refrained from making that very same posting comment myself.
Koshko	posted 07-02-99 12:10 AM ET By doing this foresting technique, you can get away with just 1 former per city. I usually have only a couple of cities with more than one former. Usually those are the ones that have many farm/solar/road squares.