That sounds like the MoO2 techtree and i really loved that one, you could be researching engines and the next step would be a powerful weapon, or planetarys improvements followed by defenses etc...infact it made alot of sense, as both improvements belong to the same field of technology
i really don't think cost is a significant factor to be honest, massdrivers are cheaper but the difference is quite unnoticable if you can only put one ore two weapons on the hull, why would i build a ship that will lose every fight but costs maybe 20bc less? why wouldn't i build a ship that wins every fight but costs 20bc more?
As I recall this is the TA forum, so i'm obviously talking about TA techtrees and it really makes no sense to get anything else than missiles other than having most of the AIs going for missile defenses which is nearly never happening...
Usually in my games i go for Missiles all the way, as the first Massdrivers are usually the worst weapons when it comes to damage per space and still they are the longest too research. Lasers are actually the best early weapons but the AI will usually get these and Beamdefenses first, so there is no real point getting them.
in TA i usually keep my low quality planets at 8 and capitals at 16 with one or two morale buildings, higher quaility planets get one farm due to their morale bonus...that way i can usually set taxes at 75-80% and still have an approval of 75-85%
one thing to remember though is that in GC2 high populations on a planet are not very desirable because you get a big approval penalty from too high populations, thus you can't set tax rate as high to keep your people happy. while in MoO2 a higher population effectivly means more production- and researchcapability, in GC2 your population only generates money, but not in a linear way...taxes are calculated from the square root of your population however high popu
my newly designed qaidam corvette(small):
Is there any reason to actually upgrade your Manufacturing Centers to Industrial Sector in TA? MC is 10mp for 6bc and IS is 12mp for 10bc, so you get a 20% manufacturing increase for a 67% cost increase... That's a real hit to your economy for a small benefit, i rather build a quantum power plant on my production planets. Still that way i miss the last upgrade for my mining starbases. I even downgrade IS to MC when i conquer a planet... I hate it when i grab the
those rangers can really turn the tides in TA, in a recent game the drath got a ranger with 180/120/120 attack and 120/80/80 defense, i was just about to conquer their last planets with my ships having 15/0/0 attack 35/0/0 defense, no point in continuing here, just reload the game from the last save point...
but have you never played bigger maps? usually when you get things running it's no problem to spend a few turns on the sensor techs...
Mine has to be Eyes of the Universe. The tactical advantage is enormous, no unexpected invasion fleets or starbase attacks...you have to love it
Huge:
Large:
Medium:
Medium:
Small:
