Alfonse

Join Date 02/2006

+12

Advice on 1.0x game

How to improve my position.

OK, I'm on a Large galaxy in 1.0x, on the difficulty level just above Normal. I have 7 races (including me), so it's a bit crowded, but not much. Here are the players:

Modified Yor (me)
Drengin
Korx
Altarians
Terrans
Iconians
Arceans

Now, I played on a a map with modest numbers of habitable planets. However, I got seriously planet-screwed. I only got 5 worlds, including my capital and my "Mars". Fortunately, two of the other worlds were high-class planets (made higher by Neutrality, of course).

Oh, and I'm playing with a hacked-in version of Neutrality Learning Centers.

Here's the situation.

The Drengin are dominant. They expanded like mad, and have probably 1/3rd of the worlds in the galaxy. Meanwhile, I was surrounded by at least 8 star systems with no habitable planets. Oh, and I'm right next to the Drengin.

Obviously, I figured that this was going to be a losing game, but I'd play it out to see what happenned. The Drengin came to power, but the Altarians were wary of them. So, knowing that I don't have the 1.1 AI improvements (and the fact that I was in no position to build a decent army), I decided to occupy the Drengin. With the Altarians.

FYI: my modified Yor have serious diplomatic skills, outclassing everyone who isn't the Terrans, so most people are happy with them. Even the Drengin were happy with me when I was still leaning Evil.

I paid serious money to start the Drengin-Altarian war. When I started it, the Drengin actually didn't have much military. Then, over the course of something like 30 turns, they went from virtually nothing to the clear military leader. Yet the Altarians are holding their own. To some degree.

Now, the Terrans are nothing. They're less than me; they've got 3 worlds to their name, and one of those is Mars. Fortunately (for them), the third planet is like a class 19 or something.

The Iconians are in no better shape. They've got 3 worlds too, and they don't have that extra class 19. What they do have are a number of galactic resources that are far closer to me than to their space.

The Korx and the Arceans are on the other side of the galaxy, and even though the Arceans have great military might, they aren't willing to do anything about the Drengin threat. Pretty much, no matter what.

My problems are these. I know that the Altarians are probably going to die without help. I can't even touch the Drengin (even though, for a 7-man game, I'm doing 25% of all galactic research). And if the Drengin take and use Altarian territory, they'll be unstoppable. The Terrans and Iconians (the two races near me besides the Drengin) are weaker than me, so they can't help. And the Korx and the Arceans aren't willing to help for any sane price.

However, I know that, given time, enough starbases, and my Neutrality Learning Centers (and focus on research), I can probably take them, even from a weaker position. The problem is that I know I don't have the time or the resources to acieve parity with them.

Unless, of course, I were to get a sudden infusion of several territories. Like, perhaps, the Terrans. Earth and that 19 planet would really be a boon to me. However, Iconian territory would be nice, because they have a couple of resources that I'd be very interested in.

My problem is this. I know that if I sack Terra (from past experience), the Terrans are going to surrender. And they're probably not going to surrender to me. I REALLY can't afford to have the Terrans surrender to the Drengin; that woud mean death. Which means that if I take Terra, I need to immediately strike at their class 19 world. Oh, and one mroe thing: I need to do it all quickly, declaring war and conquering Terran space, so that the Drengin don't take advantage of my "weakened" flank. They might take my declaration of war as a sign of weakness and launch a sneak attack. I've already had to pay them off to get back to them being neutral towards me.

However, I can go into a low-intensity war with the Iconians, just for their resources. I can blow up their stations easily enough and then declare peace. However, that probably won't be enough to win me the galaxy.

Any suggestions? Have I missed something, or is a blitzkrieg-style offensive against the Terrans my only real hope?

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Just so you know, the Yor have an in-built diplomatic disadvantage in the game code, that can't be changed. Don't go expecting miracles from diplomacy, the Terrans still own your ass

But, since you aren't on intelligent, just park transports outside their worlds, and just end the war quickly.

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I try to go from the nearest weak neighbor to the next, then finish with massive wars with the remaining large empires. Maybe, Iconians first, then consolidate, prep for war and take on a slightly bigger fish? Also, if you are worried about them surrendering, you might try getting them down to half of their planets or so, then try to do a massive final assault. It is really hard to make you first attack or two take on their whole empire, but I've found that steadily wearing them down to their final 3-7 planets then overwhelming them yields good results. Usually this leads to a surrender of max 1-3 planets which I can deal with. Especially if the empire that gets them can't handle the new responsibility, heh.

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That sounds like a fun game. And yes I think a lightning war against the Terrans and the Iconians at the same time(If possible) would be a great strategy. You should focus on a tech victory, becuase it seems the Drengin are pretty much invincible at this point. Also if you haven't already some of the diplomatic trade goods and wonders would really help you out. good Luck

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Which to go after depends on if the starbases that the Iconians have are worthwhile. Are they economic/morale/research? Useful but probably not game winning. Influence? Very nice if you are currently having problems with planets threatening to flip to the Dregins, but if not then better than the first three but not by a lot. Military? Well, if you're looking at being out gunned by the Dregin then these would be worth gold by making a much smaller fleet (yours) capable of fighting a much larger fleet (Dregins). So depending on what starbases they have you might want to consider this.

Terrans have 3 worlds? Hit all three (or at least the two you are interested in) at the same time. Two fleets, two planets, one turn. If the Terrans surrender Mars no loss. Remember you don't have to defeat their fleets, only whats defending the planets. Generally a faction will not surrender until a large portion of their fleet has been destroyed.

Personally, I'd hit the Terrans taking their two good planets (three if I can pull it off) first. Then go for the starbases. Remember that planets can be surrendered to another faction, starbases can't. They have to be built from scratch so first one there wins. So I'd take planets first.

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Achronous

Join Date 03/2006

+29

Well, if you don't want to move your finger you could pay off another powerful civ, eg the Drengin to wage war on them. Then ally with the Terran Alliance. This should keep you off the war. The Terrans might see that they are doomed and then surrender to you, as you are their allies. This assuming that they don't lose their worlds to the Drengin first oe even surrender to their military might!

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Definitely take out the Terrans first, as was said, by hitting all their planets on the same turn. It won't take much to take three planets even if they are defended (and two would be enough to cripple them). If you decide to attack starbases, don't do it blind--check them out first in case they are armed so your ships don't get a rude surprise.

Also, get the new version--why are you still playing the old one?

P.S. I have never seen anyone surrender to the Drengins yet, myself. Though maybe they do.

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Take the terrans, then if you can build up a few constructors and another army for the iconians. Make sure you can take them in one or two though.

Another good tactic, buy out their starships if you can. This is particularly usefull if you just want one of their worlds, just buy the ships in orbit around it.

I've seen the Korx surrender to the Drengin before, they were being attacked by me and the Drengin were my allies (though they weren't involved in that conflict).

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If you're worried about the AI surrendering to the wrong enemy, take out at least one planet in each star system.

This way, after they surrender, the rest of the planets will culturally flip to you.

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Take on the terrans in a "1-turn war" focusing in the class 19 planer but also get Earth to if possible. Just move a whole bunch of fleets to beside their planets for a few turns before you attack so your sure you can take em. Normal AI's wont move.

Just a side question. You can set up forces rite beside the planets of normal AI's and then attack em the next turn without a reaction. But does this also work with a bright Ai?

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To whom it may concern:

So, I took everyone's advice and slaughtered the Terrans. I conquered all three of their planets. Earth and Posiden II (Class 19) fell on the same turn. Mars died to a left-over transport ship.

During the buildup and invasion, however, the Drengin-Altarian war took a turn for the worse with regards to the Altarians. So, I tried and failed to get the Arceans involved in the war. Since they wouldn't fight, I just paied the Drengin to attack the Arceans. It took some convincing, but money for me was easily acquired.

The combined Arcean-Altarian assault was able to delay the Drengin (I noted that the Altarian AI was distracted by a Drengin planet. They kept 3 fleets out of the primary battle so that they could constantly attack this world). But they couldn't stop the Drengin. Particularly when the Korx decided to intervene... on behave of the Drengin.

Since the Arceans were sandwiched between the Korx and the Drengin, they were in a bad spot. Eventually, they surrendered... to the Iconians. Who were a nothing power with only 3 planets. Now they have 6, and they still have no idea what to do with them.

In any case, I built up a huge network of Economy starbases around my 5 planets. Each planet (except for one) is now under the influence of at least 4 +35% production bases.

Suffice it to say that building ships isn't even close to a problem for me now.

Since the Arcean/Altarian-Drengin war's ability to slow the Drengin down was faltering, I decided to end the matter. I pumped out some powerful medium-class ships and some invasion craft, and took Drengi. And a class 19 planet. Kona turned to my side on its own a few turns later.

And that's where things stand at this point. The game is probably effectively over now, since I'm literally doing 60+ percent of the research in the galaxy. It may be a bit boring, but I think I'm going to go for a conquest victory this time around. Though, since I hold 3 capital worlds, I imagine that conquest will also involve quite a bit of influence turning.

But does this also work with a bright Ai?

It did seem to. However, in their defense, my ships had 9+ speed, so I sat them well outside Terran sensor range until the final attack.

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