Questions about all-factory

I've been tackling suicidal games lately, and after finding that my usual gamestyle doesn't work well enough, I've been trying out other strategies. I have won a couple suicidal medium/common maps (50 to 75 total planets) now using all-factory, but I've also lost on smaller maps. I am avoiding larger or abundant settings though (too much micromanagement). I have some questions.

1) Is there a minimum number of planets you need for all-factory to work?

I've found that smaller maps simply don't have enough planets to provide the necessary infrastructure to pay for all that production and output enough research. It isn't enough to just focus research on all the planets when you only have a handful. The suicidal AI techs very quickly, so all-factory usually has to win through sheer number rather than quality. But if there aren't enough planets, teching is snail paced.

2) Conversely, does all-factory get better with more planets?

Other side of the coin to question 1. From what I can tell, the more planets, the more you can devote to infrastructure and the faster the research.

3) Do most people stick to all-factory throughout the whole game?

I know some people like 'flipping' between different strategies, but is it really necessary? In my games, I initially win my first war through quantity. Stacks of my weak ships can beat the AI's more expensive smaller fleets. The tech stolen during the planetary invasions help immensely to close the tech gap, which makes the next AI easier to tackle.

4) Does anyone else build any labs?

I found on the maps with 50 to 75 planets, tech speed is sometimes too slow for my purposes. This is really apparent when teching for planetary invasion, mind control center and the higher governments. You want them as early as possible, and the infrastructure just isn't ready yet. I find that having at least one tech specialized planet (with the tech capital) and putting labs on all the bonus tiles means that I can up the research slider when it is critical I get the next tech as quickly as possible. This might not be necessary on huge maps.

5) How well does this strategy transition to ToA?

From the 2 beta games I tried, it seems that maintenance is through the roof. I also heard that focusing doesn't work as well in ToA, especially when going from production to research and vice versa.

6) Any other helpful suggestions?

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What is your research rate? When I play all factories I set the research rate to very fast. I don't play this strategy on anything less than a medium map with everything abundant. On smaller maps you are probably better off playing the all labs strategy.

In this game the medium map had less than 50 planets with 6 AIs and myself.
Detailed Suicide Medium Map DA AAR! Rise of the Lexionians

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I usually play with normal research rate or slower. I'm not fond of the faster research speeds. Techs go by too quickly, especially weapon techs and ships become obsolete before you have a chance to even build one.

Yup, I have noticed that smaller maps seem to fit the all-labs strategy better. It's basically the same reasoning for why all-factory works better on larger maps, except in reverse.

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I looked through the AAR. Thanks for the writeup. Interesting just how different your medium map experience has been from my own.

For me, I do a ton more in the first year.

First, I finish my colony rush far earlier because I don't research the extreme colonization techs. They are far too expensive to research at that stage in the game. I steal them from the AI when I invade their extreme planets. If I conquer an extreme planet without the necessary techs, I just buy a farm or two and keep the planet empty or slowly building economic buildings. I usually play with super breeder, so these planets can be a nice source of income very quickly.

Second, I research mind control center, star democracy and planetary invasion all within the first half year.

Third, I go to war before the first year is over. I want to kill at least 1 AI the first year. I fight my first war with stacks of defenders. My first attack ships actually have a strength of 1, with 2 or 3 movement depending on my teching. Usually by the time my first war is over, I'll have upgraded to stacks of medium hulls, using weapons I stole from the AI.

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