Typically huge, random, abundant life, average everything else. Lately I'm adding strong erosion and sparse rainfall. Look for not starting on a tiny island or peninsula. I build about 3 squares apart and figure I want at least 6 bases in order to continue. If I don't have elbowroom on a continent, I'll continue play and see if I can successfully rush the neighbor before rerolling.
Rarely I might try a small map if I'm trying to play momentum from the start.
Typically huge, random, abundant life, average everything else. Lately I'm adding strong erosion and sparse rainfall. Look for not starting on a tiny island or peninsula. I build about 3 squares apart and figure I want at least 6 bases in order to continue. If I don't have elbowroom on a continent, I'll continue play and see if I can successfully rush the neighbor before rerolling.
Rarely I might try a small map if I'm trying to play momentum from the start.
I'd only build that close in SP when I'm trying to play momentum from the start, and then I do small maps. I like to have room for my bases to grow to their fullest (or close to it; depending on the circumstances, sometimes I'll have their radii overlap a little to avoid wasted space).
And if I start on a tiny island or peninsula...I'd just expand either to the sea or across the sea.
3 apart on a diagonal isn't much overlap.
And if workers have no squares to work, they become specialists. I tend to build a ton of clean formers, so eventually they find spare squares to put farms & condensers on, and I crawl nuts.
Of course abundant fungus means 3 apart is a guideline, not a rule, and sometimes pushing borders dictates base placement, as does terrain.
Yeah, if I can see a nearby coast, I'll try to expand there, but I don't think I've tried many land starts, early sea expansion. Who knows, maybe I will. And it takes so long to build stuff.
Firstly, I didn't realize you meant 3 diagonal.
Still, that's 8 squares overlap per base (2 with each of its 3-diagonal-apart neighbors). I can get down to 2 squares overlap per base without "wasting" any space.
I don't really like making heavy use of crawlers in SP (it doesn't feel like the way the game was designed to be played).
You mean because sea bases are low on minerals? Try terraforming them with kelp/tidal harnesses, building the appropriate facilities for those, pop booming the sea bases, and working the squares (with extra food going to support technicians or engineers). Once you get energy bank/tree farm/hybrid forest up as well, you'll be amazed at how fast the cash rolls in. It won't be enough to hurry at the sea bases every turn...but unless you put a substantial portion of that energy on labs it should be enough to put them on par with nonborehole-using land bases.That would be something to try. But in addition to low mineral production, I meant there are often fewer forests from which to crawl mins. :D
Well, I didn't necessarily mean diagonal. it all depends on where the coast is, where the fungus is, etc. I do diagonal if I can, though that's not a rule, either. It's probably rare to have many bases with 8 squares of overlap.
That would be something to try. But in addition to low mineral production, I meant there are often fewer forests from which to crawl mins. :D
I would, of course, try to settle next to a coast to land formers and plant forests.
Yeah, but with energy bank/tree farm/hybrid forest you can get better facility production even in a forest by crawling energy and rush buying than by crawling minerals (assuming no genejack factory to boost your minerals and assuming you set your tech level to keep total tech production the same). With sea spaces (which are much better for energy than a forest, especially with a thermocline transducer), it gets totally broken, even before specialists.
Boreholes are probably a better bet if you've only got a few land squares to use.
Most of you seem to choose abundant native life. Why is that? Is it to farm mind worms or for some other reason?Farming, sure, though for me it's more about making things a little harder: you're constrained in base location and moving around the map (but build Xenoempathy Dome, and you're zipping around). There's also the 25% bonus to score.
Most of you seem to choose abundant native life. Why is that? Is it to farm mind worms or for some other reason?
"Kevin Costner time"?
You pissed away your career being a bad director?