Extant Faora

Join Date 08/2008

Buying Miners (What Do You Think Of It)??????????

So I started out a game as a Custom Civ (which for some reason, are very "disliked" by "experienced" players). The race stats, techs, etc. don't matter; point is I decided to be an (Idiot, Arse-Hole, Dick With Ears, Take Your Pick) to everyone and on my first turn Technology Whore the crap out of myself (which I do often). By doing so I racked up all the trade techs, some colonization techs, diplomacy, research, etc. and ended up with some 30 000 B.C. along with Econ treaties with each Major and Minor Civ (Not having to give away any of my own treaties in the process). So after all that clicking and bartering, I decided to buy out the Colony and Survey ships of each Major Civ with no success. However I did buy every space miner there was out there!!! And so my question is................

Is what I did beneficial in any way???

If given the time (and not being so godsdamned lazy) I would figure out a bunch of positives and negatives to this "strategy" if you will. I'm just trying to get an opinion on my early game decision makeing and wondering if anyone else has done or tried this.

Come to think of it, I just figured out a "No-Factories" strategy.

God I Love this game.

Technology Whore critisizm is allowed, however not exactly wanted.

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Well, depending on the cost of the miner...

If the cost is less than fast-buying one and also upgrading it to a constructor or colony than it is to just buy a constructor/colony...then the answer is yes it is beneficial.

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Extant Faora

Join Date 08/2008

No I get that, what I meant is wether or not having Miners going around and "capturing" asteroids is really worth it, or if instead it's more cost effective to Culture-Bomb the asteroids into flipping to your side.

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I wouldn't try to get asteroids in another's ZOC for that very culture bomb issue. They produce zero influence, thus why they flip so easily. I'd focus more on asteroids w/in your ZOC and get others when you can.

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Extant Faora

Join Date 08/2008

Thanks for the insight.
I was trying to formulate a "No-Factories" strategy in my mind, but I guess it won't work out the way I thought it would.
Thanks any ways.
Let's Rage!!!!!1

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I wouldn't consider space miners to be worth the money so early in the game. Unless you're going to convert them into spore ships or transports for a blitzkrieg invasion very early on...

Something to keep in mind: if you trade away and diplomatic techs (include those from the "trade" branch), you're giving away a diplomatic bonus which will lead to less good deals with the AI from that point on. Therefore very few players ever give those techs away. The additional cost from worse deals later on, is too high compared to the initial few 100 bc's you get from trading those techs.

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Extant Faora

Join Date 08/2008

Okay, the early "Blitzkrieg" has been noted Noctilucus.

The part about not trading Diplomacy techs has been well noted as well. However, I believe that being a "Technology Whore" makes the game more challenging for me. That's because I still play on Normal and because I am doing what I am doing, the game actually gets slightly more difficult.

Either way, thanks for the comment.
LET'S RAGE!!!!!

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I like buying out miners. It means I get production bonuses, and it deprives the AIs of those same bonuses; seems like a win-win that's worth some cash to gain a fairly meaningful long-term benefit . I just sail 'em back to my own space before turning 'em loose.

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Mumblefratz

Join Date 07/2006

+139

Buying miners is a great idea but it has nothing to do with how much they cost or how much they cost to upgrade, but in *where* they are located.

I consider it a critical part of any successful early game all tech type strategy. However you also need to make sure you've acquired a planet or two from each AI as well.

The thing is that you can acquire all 9 opponent miners along with a planet from each opponent by April 1st and upgrade the miners into a cargo hull based survey ship. The fact that you can upgrade the ship near your recently acquired planet in a single week along with the fact that you now have 9 survey ships fairly evenly distributed over the entire galaxy means that (assuming you have Eyes of the Universe by this time as well) you can easily have the entire galaxy explored before the first 6 months of the game are over.

This usually allows you to gain *all* of the galaxy's resources without having to fight an AI for them. It also ensures that you quickly discover all 8 minor races in the game which is important because minors can be critical to maintaining your tech spending early on.

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On the colony rush phase you could always use your first space miner to be upgraded to an colonyship. The cost is really cheap, it only costs 69 BC. After one week you have two colonyships! I don't value that much the use of asteriod field but maybe this is not a good idea. But I have been doing this mostly this days on my games. You will only focus on building colonyship in this phase so you won't get the nice manufacturing boost from the minings if you upgrade the space miner. Its a sacrifice without doubt.

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what interests me more about this tactic is what it denies the enemy. my question is does the AI realise its lost its miner and build another and how much does that set them back by? even if you dont have a close by planet uppin them to cargo sensor boats and sailing back to influence should explore a fare amount of map and reduce the need for built/rushed scouts so i think its good idea any way but if it can confuse/delay an AI production rampping then it is a great idea even if it is costly.can any 1 who has used this in game testify to its effect on the AI rather than what it gains you?

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Quoting Lttrog,

reply 10

No, they don't. I can't recall ever seeing them build miners, actually, although it has been some time since I've actively played a complete game.

A large number of players ignore the mines-they're not particularly useful (except perhaps in early game TA as Thalans), and although some people have incorporated them into their playing style, not having mines isn't something most of us would notice-nor does the AI seem to be unduly bothered by it.

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well next sand box ill give it a go right now im giving the campains a go they are bastard hard arnt they

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Quoting Sole Soul,

reply 11

No, they don't. I can't recall ever seeing them build miners, actually, although it has been some time since I've actively played a complete game.

A large number of players ignore the mines-they're not particularly useful (except perhaps in early game TA as Thalans), and although some people have incorporated them into their playing style, not having mines isn't something most of us would notice-nor does the AI seem to be unduly bothered by it.

I buy miners when they're reasonable about the price; I feel it gives me production and takes it from the AIs, both good things, though I've never done cost-effectiveness calculations. But AIs will replace bought-away miners -- sometimes several fold. I've seen AIs with as many as five miners.

Of course, by that time I had twenty.

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You can upgrade their space miners to constructors (my choice) or colony ships (but they'll only have a population of 1) cheaply.

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