my first game...

well that i completed anyway

Hi, I'm relatively new to this game, i purchased it a couple of months ago, and then about a week later got the hardware to run it. Anyway, with my sophomore year of college absolutely killing me i have not been able to play a complete game until just recently. First I would like to congratulate the devs on a steller game. and having only played version 1.3, I have no complaints regarding the update.

anyway, all that is un-important, being a newb I figure I should see how well I did.
I played on a small map with beginner difficulty and normal research rate, myself and 9 other randomly selected races. I used a custom race with luck and extra research, a green thumb and the universalist party. I ended up winning the game via diplomatic victory after eliminating the drengin, the iconans, the drath, the alterans, the torians, and one other i can't remember. anyway, i was allied with the arceans, the terrans, and the thalans. My final total score was 2100 (about 500-600 more than my nearest competitor)

so first i ask, does it seem like i did okay?

second, how do you guys play on larger maps? any tips or tricks? i could barely keep track of my inital 3 planets, much less my later conquests toward the end of the game. How do i specialize planets? i understanding building more research in one place, but what about production and population?

anyway, thank you for whatever advice any of you might have, and i'll be seeing you around i hope

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Yea, this is an amazing game. There's a lot of negative posts about the latest update, but even with the changes people don't like (including myself), the game is still awesome and a bargain at twice the price.

Sounds like you're doing well. The options for adjusting the way the game plays are vast. As you go biggier, the games get longer and the scores get higher. It really depends on how much time you have to put into the game. Games get very involved when you play on a gigantic universe with higher abundancy of planets. If you don't have a lot of free time to play, better to stick with the smaller universes.

A gigantic universe with everything on abundant yields around 500 habitable planets. The most I've been able to handle is around 300 and that's pretty tough for me. One trick is to rely heavily on the colony manager. That makes handling large numbers of planets much easier. Also use the tactical view a lot. That's where the zoom is set all the way out for an iconic representation of the universe. Hit the numer 5 or hold the "-" key to get that view. I'm usually hitting the 2 key and minus key a lot.

As far as how to build planets, in my case I tend to build a lot of factories on higher PQ planets. Lower PQ planets get a lot of stock exchanges. I run 12b populations on all planets except very low PQ. None of this is anything you HAVE to do. There are so many ways to play this game, it's best just to find what works for the strategy you're playing.

Have fun!

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Good advice from CraigHB.

If I were u, I would try a medium map, common everything at tough level. U will then find out what level u r comfortable with, map size, no. of planets u can cope with etc...

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Here is how I build on my planets:

All planets < PQ10 focus on research or factories depending on the numbers of planets available. since research is primarily controlled by the spending sliders research buildings can go anywhere and be effective, and you don't need as many to generate tons of research.

all planets > PQ12 focus on Economy buildings. its easier to house large populations and keep them happy on larger planets. this makes econ buildings more efficient.

planets in the 10-12 range can be set up to meet your civilizations needs.

all planets start with 4 factories unless physically unable to support them. you can always retrofit them to other structures when you want to specialize in something else. Starports on every planet bigger than 5.

Exception: if a planet has 2 or more bonus tiles of a specific type, that planet will get that focus regardless of size.

Since *everything* is tied to the amount of money you generate, economy buildings and population are important to focus on.

Hope this helps some.

Cheers,
Reaver

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thanks for the advice guys, i'll tinker around and see what works for me

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yes, Craig's advice is great, I tried it myself, I would recommend it

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One thing to remember is that the galaxy type settings can really change the way you play the game.

For example, if you set sparse stars in tight clusters, you end up with a galaxy with very defined areas of "ownership" with vast amounts of empty space between. Colony rushes are not that important and you have LOTS of time to stabilize your economies and work on social building and research. Mounting an assault on your enemies will involve either researching and building ships with better life support or building starbases to extend range. A military campaign becomes a very deliberate event that requires a lot of planning.

A galaxy with more abundant, scattered stars will find you butting up against your neighbors quickly. Colony rush becomes more important, and you may even find other races colonizing planets in "your" territory. You may find that you are forced to build militarily fairly quickly, or at least react to other civ's actions. If you have good diplomacy skills you can attack targets of opportunity and quickly end the conflicts when you have what you want.

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