Alright, this seemed slightly popular before and I figure it'll help me figure out what's up.
Game Setup
Everything's set to Abundant that can be, stars are Scattered, and research is Very Fast. Difficulty is set to Normal. I think the Thalans still have the +10% Planet Quality ability that I picked up while playing them; not sure as to government but I'd bet the Thalans are using Technologists and the Arceans are Populist. I picked up Planet Quality +10% with my extra points. Givernment's Federalist to help with my economy.
Beginning
The game set us up painfully- at least for me as the Drath. The Thalans got the far corner, and a huge section of the map. I got just off a corner, the Arceans were right next door. Distribution of planets- Arceans have five, Thalans have six, I have... two. However- I get a bit of luck. There's an econ resource just off my home planet. Juuust within the range of a freshly-launched Constructor.
Early Game
The homeworld gets an array of Factories, Markets, and Basic Labs, with space left for whatever I need. With the Thalans and the Arceans on the map I'm expecting to end up in an Influence war. Set my flagship to Autoexplore and Autosurvey- it decides to just explore and ignore the surveying for a while. Joy. Grab the PQ 7 planet in the corner, buy another colony ship. I'm in the lower left corner, I need to head up and to the right if I want to survive. First order of business, Xeno Research. Next we'll work on Communications, Basic Logistics, and Impulse Drive.
With Impulse Drive available, I build new colony ships. Speed across the map and grab a couple more planets- nothing above PQ 12 though. I ignore PQ 5 or lower for the moment- I need the most of the best planets. Checking my exploring/surveying flaghship's path, I find a PQ 16 on the border of Arcean/Thalan space. You won't mind if I grab that will you? Didn't think so. Ack- just out of range. General Life Support, upgrade the colony ships, grab it. Meanwhile I've expanded. I've got seven planets now with room to grow. Another one near the PQ 16 one.
Morale's low- that's not good. I'm trying to balance growth, morale, and income and it isn't working so well. I can't sustain 100% productivity. Not yet at least. Make sure every world has entertainment or an embassy, or both. PQ 6 planet gets turned into an Influence mine- Factory, Starport, Embassy, Entertainment, Farm.
Arceans appear to be in shock- they're in the lead with their treasury and their approval- but they haven't moved. They're surrounded, all the viable systems nearby have been grabbed- I think they're out of the picture. Might see what they think of an Influence Starbase next to the corner store. Thalans grabbed a PQ 11 planet I wanted before I could get at it- fortunately I have the other in the system. I'm sitting in a good position I think- assuming I can stay in the game. Second Econ resource is found and mined- and I've got an Influence resource and a Research resource within easy reach.
Trade's set up with the Thalans- they don't seem to like me at the moment due to a 'good' moral choice I made. I'm still mostly Neutral. More trade will help that I think. They're well ahead militarily but that's because I haven't been able to afford buying factories so my starbases are just coming online now. I've committed to the Missile branch, so we'll see how that goes. May replace/reinforce my Deterrent ships with Missile Boats to keep things friendly. I've little doubt this will be an influence war. Maybe I can blindside the computer with an alliance victory.
With most planets colonized I'm shifting production- I'll go with 1 Deterrent per planet first, then start looking at Starbases everywhere. Since I've got Constructors with twin Impulse drives, I should have no trouble getting those set up fast. Just a matter of if it'll be too fast. UP vote gave me two extra trade routes. I'm sure I'll put them to use.
Opinions?
