What options do YOU pick? - Attempt #2

Totally depence on your playingstyle and what experience your looking for.
I like long games, were i have to fight to win.

So huge or immense galaxies for me. (they can last 20 hours)
Difficulty is at 9/12 but i adjust several races.
At difficulty 9/12 all races get a small resourche bonus, (120% i believe), but i gave the drengin a 150% bonus (so 50% more than me) and some other races a bit more.
I always give ALL AI races max CPU and every bit of algorithm that they can use to give me some competition.

Hope this helped a bit.

You'll probably get answers across the board for what you asked, not sure if that will help you. But I'll tell you what I usually do.

I started on a mid level difficulty, I'm on my 11th or 12th game now and I'm winning/ won on Obscene. Im not sure If I'm ready for Suicidal yet. If you got bored and won too fast you should definitely up the difficulty. In this game normal isn't really normal. If you really want to make it intereseting, start at the hardest level and work your way down until you can win. Or you can just keep up-ing it from where you are until it gets challenging.

If you want the game to last longer play on larger maps (ie gigantic and huge) with more planets. Personally I like large galaxies with tight clusters, (great for using economy star bases for production bonuses) occasional stars, and common habitables. I play witha lot of minors and something like 5 or more majors.

If you want to be able to get to larger, more powereful ships you can increase the tech speed so you (and the AI) will get the better techs faster. This along with a very big galaxy will mean that the militaries in the game will be substantial. You proabably wont be winning wars with just medium hulls as you can do in shorter games.

And i only play sand box mode from scratch. I've never tried gods of war or the other set ups. Not sure if they are even Metaverse compatible. I don't think they are.

I suggest you up the difficulty level to "Painfull" (or probably "Crippling" from your description of your experiences to date.) At Crippling you start to "earn your money", and the game is far less forgiving of inefficient gamer strategies. The top three levels you will really get into hassles, but do a few Crippling ones first.

Not ignoring the rest of your list, its just that until you have played at a level commensurate with your current ability, its hard to comment meaningfully, you would just get banal generalities. Once you've hit a level that you get repeatedly vapourised on, back off one level, then settle down to work on Strategies.
- I play on Painful with TA (used to be Crippling on DA, but backed off a level, the TA AI is much improved)
- Map size DA Gigantic, map size TA Immense.
- Check mark "yes" to max CPU for all AIs, that gives them the best chance of giving you a hard time as they have more "thinking power". If the PC splutters a bit, uncheck it
- I Always play sandbox, abundant all, very fast tech, no mega events(I hate those things )
- Bigger ships etc - the smaller the map, the quicker you finish and the less likely you get to the later techs, crude but broadly true. If you want to guarantee 100% all the later techs, play very fast tech, and if still a bit short increase map size to gigantic.

Normal is far too low, its a very forgiving game at that level, hence the easy wins you had.

Also concentrate a little on the opening setup screens, there are lots of options that change the whole character of the game, dont be too hasty to hit "next", read through the screens a little more, there's a few gems lurking there depending on your personal preferences of game style.

Once you found the level you get zapped at, and have backed off one level, I suspect your question list will have changed markedly, hence the importance of finding the right level first, before hitting strategy/configuration detail.

Last but no means least, the game is all about the Economy, its absolutley crucial to really wrap your head around how it works. Unless you really get the economy right you will forever be firefighting, and will not enjoy it in the long run. There are Zillions of threads about the economy on the Forum, particularly in the "Strategies" section.

Regards
Zy

I tend to go a notch or two above normal, as my games tend to be interrupted for extended periods of time. IF I were able to stay with it daily it would probably be a little higher, but having to load a game and try to remember WTH I was doing and who's what where when etc. hurts too much. By staying down a level I can relax, make a few "uh-ohs" and still have a shot.

I used to play smaller maps for the same reason, but with TA a larger map really shines. Large map, 8-9 opponents and random minors. I started with everything common, but I kept getting stuck in a corner of the galaxy with 2 planets while everyone else was surrounded, so I started abundant everything, and it's better. I'd like to go to the next size eventually... (giant?) I tick the spread out option, not clusters.

I don't use Mega Events at all, I hate them. I also do not use super abilities. In fact I think allow tech trading is the only box I have checked... maybe tech stealing too. I turn off all victory conditions except conquest. I can usually get an influence victory easily, and tech is easy if you get the right planet(s)... I turn off the allowed to surrender box too. Nothing ruins a game like 3 empires folding to the same guy.

If you can swing it, TA is well worth the expense. The economics are much better, translated harder. The AI are better. The game seems to flow better too, and really is balanced for larger maps/more opponents etc. On the harder difficulties you'll earn your victory.

Hope you can get into it!

T

Try setting all the comps you play against at different difficulty levels. If you usually play normal set one or two of the races at that level and the others at higher level. It make for a vastly different experience. The best game I play are usually set up this way. I had one game last me over 60 hours, it took about a month to finish!

That may seem weird - but, i usually trust a random figure about everything and anything possible. First, i dunno what's gonna happen and must adapt and secondly, the gameplay variations always fill a wide array of results which i wouldn't get to experience having it pre-determined by setting it up consciously.

Although i mod a lot for this game and i must admit to use a very special type of custom race; no bonuses, no ability, personally designed neutrality party(No bonus, again!)... heck, i'd even stack the deck against with a bunch of harsh negatives to up the slant further more if i could. But, wait - i **can** do that too. See?

The challenge is IN your mind(s) and how you can perpetually handle that much, in fact. To me.

Astute comment - and very true about many things in life. A confident positive outlook is an essential one to foster and nuture to gain better opportunities out of life, let alone TA. Being negative as a permanent attitude in general, is the easy route, doesnt take much, certainly not brains, and gains even less.

Regards
Zy

Excellent words spoken by all of you.

A big thankyou to everyone for the advice.

I'm just handling a bit of a meltdown on my computer, but as soon as I get going again next week, I will be using these tips to the utmost!

Cheers,
Galain