So I have made the jump from crippling to Masochistic... and I need some advice, Basically I am getting my ass handed to me on a pretty regulas basis. Crippling I can deal with no problem (this is all 1.11 by the way I don't want to deal with metaverse cames not being counted)
Anyone who has made this switch got any advice? I'm having a brutal time of it here, the enemy AI's always seem to have more techs, and more ships. |
Yes, as Franco mentioned, the Metaverse thing was fixed with v1.2b2...
My only theory on why it was flagging all of the games was because of the negative abilities points you would have, but not see. (skip the next two paragraphs if you don't want to read my theory and go on to my advice)
When you created your race, you had some pre selected values for abilities that didn't always match a possible selection. For example, I think the Torians were given like a loyalty bonus of +25%, the racial abilities only gave you an option to select +10% or not, so you were getting a free +25%, but if you clicked on the box for it, you would lose a point and the bonus would drop to 10%. However, if you unchecked it again, you'd lose the bonus altogether (At least last time I tried it in v1.2b1), but get that point back.
So I am sure everyone figured this out, and we all thought, "Woohoo! free bonuses!". Well, I am guessing that when the game checked the abilities after selecting your race and playing the game, it would still subtract a point afterwards for any of the "free" bonuses. Thus giving you negative ability points even though it didn't appear to be that way when you selected your race.
Anywho, as for advice on how to play the game on Masochistic and above...
1. Your race: Pick whatever the heck you feel like picking. I personally go with a +30% Economic, +10% PQ, and a +15% influence for my picks. Some races come with extra abilities that don't use any ability points, so leave them be even if for some odd reason you didn't want them. I also like to pick a 'Good' race. This way I can do all of the "Evil", and very profitable, selections in the random events and have plenty of alignment to burn through before going evil.
*- I like to not get my ethical alignment leaning evil because good races tend to want to hunt evil ones, same goes for the evil hunting good ones, but evil isn't really concerned with alignment, they just want your stuff regardless of alignment!
2, Your starting position and where the A.I. opponents start as well can, and do, make a large difference. I prefer being distanced from them, but not in an area without any stars or planets. That is just my preference, just don't feel bad about re-starting the game to get a new map.
3. The initial land grab. You're not going to out grab the A.I., it just doesn't happen (On these higher levels at least) Concentrate on keeping planets bunched, not your whole empire so much, but try and get at least half of the habitable planets in each star system you hit. (When possible) Colonies that are secluded tend to be overrun by alien influence, unless you have a REALLY high natural ability. I usually set industrial capacity to full and put all capacity into research, then I use the startup money to get my homeworld the ability to produce colony ships one, AT MOST, every 4 turns, I usually get around 2, and sometimes every turn if I get good bonuses.
4. I try to research Impulse drive as fast as I can, then General Life Support. The +1 speed isn't extremely good, but early in the game, it is VERY nice to have. Once you research Impulse Drives, make your own Colony Ship design. I usually make two designs: one with as many engines as possible with life support using up remaining space, and my second one is as many engines as possible minus one, and then stuff all that space with Life Support Modules. Also, the range bonus granted from General Life Support gives your surveyor just that much more range. If your surveyor wanders into a wormhole and is on his way back into life support range, make sure to select him, and right click on him if you research any Life Support techs so that AutoSurvey will select a closer anomoly if possible.
5. Diplomacy is very important initially, not only can it add a + to your Report screen, but you can also trade for techs you don't have time to research. I try to make sure and get the Diplomatic Translators, even trade for them if I have to, the +25% makes a big difference early on. If you get the Galactic Showcase, that's another +25%. The Galactic Bazaar doesn't improve your diplomacy, it basically just makes the A.I. think that the stuff you offer on your side of the trade is more valuable than it is. (Hence Superior Deflectors for Phasors I, II, and III, and 134bc to boot!)
6. If you don't build up a large military at first, you will become the runt in the pack and you will notice races becoming hostile towards you and demanding stuff... Well, that's where the diplomacy part of the tech tree comes in handy again. The Spin Control Center at the very end can make your small "fleet" of 3 or 4 ships look like an armada of many times more ships. Build it on a planet near your main ship building, then park as many ships on there that you think will be needed to keep the A.I. off of your back. You can check your Military rating and see how much it gets modified with the Spin Control center if you look at it before you put the ships on the planet with the Spin Control Center, then watch it rise a lot when you put the ships on the planet.
7. Influence becomes your best friend once you have a strong enough army, or at least one that appears strong enough, to keep the A.I. from picking on you. I tend to be a jerk and make alliances with the strongest A.I. , or the top 2 strongest if they are of the same alignment. Then you can go take your builders and plant a few influence bases here or there... right next to their planets... and they won't complain since they're your ally oddly enough.
8. War is good, especially if you're not involved, in my opinion at least. War tends to free up enemy mining starbases from resources. Always keep a few fast Constructors on hand, don't worry about range if you keep a lot of them in stock since you could just build a starbase wherever to cover the distance needed to reach the resource(s).
9. A starting tax rate of 39% is good for the time being, if your race has a morale bonus, try going up some. I almost always stay on the 9's (39, 49, 59... etc. etc.) The approval drop over just the one percent from 39 to 40 is much worse than any of the other drops in the 40's range, the same applies to each tax level. Only exception of course being 80%. 80's approval drop and 79's are almost the same I think, but once you go to 81%, the drop REALLY drops... like -332% or something. Keeping your people happy makes them have a lot more se... I mean... creates a higher population growth... More people, more tax income...
10. Have your planets function whichever way you think is best. Personally, I try and have every planet start with 3 or 4 factories so as not to have to wait for money to buy everything. I have 4 types of planets, or specializations...
a. Ship builder - These are large planets with every tile devoted to manufacturing except for one StarPort and maybe one Morale booster to try and keep approval above 75%. I tend to pick them more on actual production capacity and not on class size alone. (Like noting wether terraforming techs give 1 or 2 tiles at each level and noticing any manufacturing bonuses on tiles) I almost always put my Manufacturing Capital on the one with highest manufacturing points.
b. Tech planet - These are also large planets. Every tiles is devoted to devoted to labs, with the exceoption of a space for the one where I am going to put my tech capital, and another one for trying to keep my approval about 75%.
c. Money Maker - These aren't always the largest planets, but are the ones I plan on stuffing a lot of people on. I use the planets with morale bonuses wether it be from tiles or from a random event for this type.
d. B**ch planets - These are any size planets that don't seem to stand out as anything great, but are important none the less because I will put any Super Projects and/or achievements on them that affect the empire as a whole and not just the planet so as not to waste a tile on one of the previous types. Usually these can have a decent production and/or research capacity, thus acting as more of a support role. In other words, they do the stuff that the other planets can do, just don't want to do...
11. It's getting late, so this is my last pointer... Grab as many trade goods as you think you might need and try and get all of the useful Galactic Achievements. Here is my list that I usually use to pick which ones to build, 1 is highest priority.
1. and 2. Diplomatic Translators and Restaurant of Eternity. (Diplomatic edge, and a 20% influence bonus, not important so much for you to have, just for you to keep from everyone else, I have yet to trade the Diplomatic Translators if I can get them)
3. Xinthanium Hull Plating (+15% hp, once again, not so much important for you, but also important to keep it from them)
4. Morale boosting trade goods. (A.I. is more willing to trade these to you if you don't build them)
5. Galactic Showcase (+25% Diplomacy skill)
6. Galactic Bazaar (Makes the A.I. think the stuff you're offering up in a trade is worth a lot more than it really is!)
7. Omega Research Center (+50% research boost on planet it's built upon, not so great since it's a smaller bonus than the tech capital, and even less valuable since it comes so late into the game, but it does help regardless)
8. Hypercomputers (Relatively easy to get, plus you'll probably already be going down that branch of the tech tree since the A.I. almost always seems to use Missle weapons at first)
Any others really are useful, but not vital. Although I tend to REALLY like getting the Eyes of the Universe, that way one doesn't need to have a scout ship actually scout.
Hope that helps some, but it has taken me WAY to long to type this and I need to learn when to stop!
Last bit of advice, a difficult game is a lot more fun, and often gratifying, when it is completed. Also gets you ready to go into the next one! So enjoy the game and you will get better so long as you don't give up.
