the_spyder

As far as "Trade Goods" like Xanthium hulls (for instance) that impact your ships, do you build these on your Manufacturing Capital world? Or elsewhere? I find that I like to have pretty much every colony self sufficient. Not sure if this is the right direction to go, but when I look at the Civ Monitor, if I see a planet that is economically in the red, I will often try and build an Econ building and/or Farm there just to boost the income.

My thought is, that if you win via a surrender, you should have the option to deny the surrender. Terran Alliance: The Drengin Empire has resoundingly beaten us to within an inch of our lives. We humbly surrender to your tender mercies. Drengin Empire: Pah! Puny Earthling Scum. We reject your pitiful surrender utterly. We will continue to Pound your planets with our Mass Drivers until your people are no more.

I have found that they can make the difference when invading space with a Militarily similar Civ. Set up two or three Military star bases in the center of a cluster of enemy planets and bring in a fleet. The boost you get for ship assist can make the difference in your fleet battles. Also, the -warp upgrade can really slow down an advancing fleet long enough for you to prepare. I will sometimes set up an "Exclusion Zone" around the main body of my colonies with Sector Scanners and -w

See, I find that, even if I am in a militarily superior position, some enemies simply will not go for the peace treaty. What I mean is, I can usually win 19 out of 20 encounters with no losses what so ever, invade multiple planets and not be able to elicit a Peace Treaty. Am I over-thinking it? Current game I am playing (Thalans in a Huge Universe on Challenging with 5 opponents) I am in control of about 1/4th of the galaxy. My tech rating is something like 200 and my military is w

From this thread, obviously I am doing something wrong and i would appreciate input/feedback on what/how to fix. I usually put Economic Capital on my home world because it is the planet that I am most guaranteed to have a high population. I put some Econ buildings on it as well, to jack up the income and this becomes one of the main sources for income for me. If I need to ship people off world (for invasion purposes) I do, but I always keep an eye on the income as it were. I

Can I tax the bread and water?

There is lots of good advise here. I wish to add my two cents, so here goes. First of all, learn what the tech trees do for each race. this will help you better choose what techs to pick and in what order. Econ and Diplomacy are obvious early choices, but keep in mind that the further along any given tech tree you go, the more expensive (and time consuming) it gets. As far as weapons are concerned, look at what your opponents are researching. If they are using shields of

[quote]~15 Stock Markets Then guard it with your life because it will win the game for you.[/quote] This has always (since before computers were invented) been a curiosity to me. So I, as a happy little dictator, tax my poor citizens (read Slaves) at 60 or 70 % to sustain my empire. On top of that, I have Financial institutions on my planets. So I am drawing an accumulative 12% per institution income above and beyond that tax rate. If I do my math (12*15) or 180% on top of

[quote]I'm just some guy on the internet. [/quote] Or are you?

Yeah, I found that out with the Yor last night. It is an interesting phenomenon, which I plan on exploring further.

I have to agree that amongst the worst is the Drengin super dominator. Early on, you only get a very few ships. Later on, the ships are all but useless. As for best, as mentioned above, it depends on your play style, but I think that Diplomat and First Strike are both VERY powerful.

Tangentially related too this, is there a formula surrounding peace treaties? I have had a number of races that I have had on their knees, where they SHOULD be begging for peace, yet don't. I always figured it had something to do with relative mights of empires, coupled with the outcome of X engagements. Possibly some rankings thrown in there and maybe a calculation based on previous dealings with the "offending" race, but I can never gage if a race is going to ask/beg for peace. <br

[quote]...snip...By the time you get to that 29th spy, at 5500bc, per your example, you can easily be bringing in over 10000bc per turn. I know that some players can generate ~50000bc per turn, so this is really just a drop in the bucket in a robust economy. ...snip...[/quote] Obviously you and I play different strategies of gaming as I can not think of any instances where my economy was robust enough to be bringing in that much cash. LOL. Thanks though, for the advise. I wil

Thanks. that is what I was looking for. Much appreciated.

Yeah, it can sometimes be a boon or a bane. Had one game where one of the races surrendered like 10 planets too me. Not a one of them were economically balanced. Almost totally ruined my economy. Other times it is like mana from heaven. High research/econ planets just from the ether. Also, the event isn't always repeatable. I had one game where a race surrendered to one of my enemies. Game CTD (for unrelated reasons) and I had to reload. Next time, the surrendered to ME.

Most of the mega events can change the balance. As frustrating as they can be, that is the nature of it. Makes it challenging (IMHO). And fun. Jagged Knife is one of the tougher ones, but then you can't build an empire without scrambling some eggs. And there are a number of ways out, as described before. Personally I like the one where all of the empires gang up and go to war against you. That's fun.

I routinely use Colony Ships (and later Troop Transporters) to relocate colonists to my frontier worlds. But I would strongly reccomend that, as soon as possible, upgrade your colony ships to carry TWO colony pods and give it some better engines. Otherwise, you will be taking a LONG time getting anywhere. The great thing about this strategy is you can leap frog your colonies. And later on, you can convert any un-used colony ships into Transports.

[quote]The latest example being Crysis, everyone has got to wonder if there's actually a highly complex plot devised by a mysterious conglomerate of Hardware_Software manufacturers to enforce consumers into a griddy spending pattern, constantly. Paranoia? Please do prove it, otherwise. Thus, the deception shown by the OP might not be soooo rare afterall in our modern world.[/quote] It isn't actually that highly complex. Ask any marketer. And as for who is at the head of that parti

I kind of like the Star Gate idea. Set them up as two way star bases. Something that you could research. A star base that could be destroyed? Maybe even something where you could charge for usage? Definitely something that had little or no defenses and needed to be defended. Just an idea.

I am looking for some assistance in how to play this. Basically, when I play, I usually play Drengin, or some other equally soldier heavy race that is really good with ground pounders, slowly stomping the rest of the civilizations under my jackbooted heal. Now I want to play a different style. So I tried the Krynn Consolate. The problem is, I can't get a handle on how to best use the espionage in game. Ok I get it that they are really good for short term strike

I generally go 80/20 on my attack/defense strategy. I also try to go bigger ships earlier than my opponent. Then, if I still have some extra space, I do actually make use of +hp modules. I start off with missile and research straight through to Harpoon. Then I go bigger ships and some miniaturization. I throw in some Logistics as well so i can get more ships in than my opponent (and also invade planets with more than just 1k of troops). then I go defense. I focus on whatever defen

[quote]Well, you do at least have the option to turn off auto-upgrades and/or build the old version of buildings, right?[/quote] Yeah, but it's a dicey road. With larger empires, I don't want to have to manually upgrade every structure once a new tech becomes available. On the other hand, there are certain techs that I simply would never use beyond a certain point (due to cost/benefit). I am not saying that there is a mid-ground to find, but I want it, whatever it is. <br

So it depends on your ultimate goal. If you "Eventually" want to play the campaigns, best to get used to the base game. So pick a universe you like and conquer it to your heart's content, on DL. Then progress through DA and finally to ToA. You will find each game is different enough and unique enough that you will have to modify your strategies for each change of game. I personally was very intrigued by the changes that DA and ToA brought, specifically the changes that make the race

that is an excellent side effect. You can take planets that were formerly owned by another race without cost or penalty (other than the troops necessary to invade). Over all, I don't see the Jagged Knife as that bad. ::watches for the lightning bolt to hit::

[quote]Also if you trade a planet to another player would they gain a tech ?Can the code distinguish between a flip and a trade?[/quote] Would you want it too?