Re: Jumping in at the deep end
 

If you use Low Tech Start, yes. But if you use Medium Tech Start, which the game in question is using, you start with 1 level in most of the theoretical tech areas. AMS and PPBs are impossible to research on turn 1, since you need level 2 in the theoretical reqs. But you can get them a lot sooner than on a low tech start, as you only need to research level 2 instead of both level 1 and 2.

Re: Jumping in at the deep end
 

Ahhh, okay, I was worried I was missing some way to set it to research level 1, then go direclty to level 2 when it was done. Glad to know I haven't been shooting myself in the foot.

Re: Jumping in at the deep end
 

I've sent off my first turn in accordance with what we've discussed. Unfortunately, it's looking like a very crowded game and my 3 system empire has 6 "border" warppoints not including internal ones. I'll send the first colony ships out praying for dead ends, but there's nothing obvious that way (although I suppose there's no way of knowing.)

Although this clearly gives me a disadvantage at turtling, my tech aims (PPB) seem to accord with that strategy. So, next turn I'll be designing (if not sending out) minelayers.

The design I noticed in the FAQ was a small transport with 2 layers and cargo space. This struck me as a lot of cargo-to-laying ratio for a defensive minelayer. If I am near to my mine-producing worlds - in system - wouldn't devoting more space to laying components and less to cargo make sense? I'm not sure if advanced storage has an impact on this particular cargo issue.

EDIT: Also, I can put 1 or 2 small warheads on my 10kt mine. Would putting one in to get more (harder to sweep) or two for a harder hitting mine make more sense in the early game? Some players are smart enough to sweep, but on the other hand, simply annihilating wayward visitors also has a certain appeal.

As well, although I realize this would most often depend on what one discovers in neighboring systems, how early should I start slipping other constructions into my (EB) queues on the three homeworlds? Space stations for extra construction would be done in one turn, as would most any ship I could design.

There are some things I don't know when I'm meant to start with - mines, troops, weapon platforms - well, units, really. I am a peaceful 81 ER 102 Hap Berzerker race, so I don't expect my people to be naturally despondant. But I've also not experienced an in-game reverse to know how many troops I need and when.

Re: Jumping in at the deep end
 

Doesn't a basic mine layer hold exactly as many mines as it can deploy in a turn? If you've got them near your colonies on repeat orders, you probably want to have it jsut full of layers. (Differnet story for sattelites, though, as those can drop... four a turn, IIRC, but only hold one.)

Re: Jumping in at the deep end
 

That seems like a rather imbalanced design to me, too. My first minelaying design is typically a small transport with 5 layers, 2 cargo bays, and stealth armor. This allows laying 10 mines per turn, gives 40 mines worth of cargo space, and allows cloaked deployment. You'll be getting stealth armor soon enough that I'd recommend waiting for it.
Fill your mines full with warheads. Enough of the cost is in the mine hull itself that it really isn't worth cutting their explosive power in half just to get a little bit more numbers. Also, I forgot to recommend getting Explosive Warheads 2 on turn one. Put it in the queue between Armor and Physics. It will double your warheads damage with only a minor increase in cost.
Well, with a pretty crowded galaxy, you'll probably establish your borders before your homeworlds run out of emergency build. Once borders are established, build a base space yard or two at each homeworld and start them on mines and minelayers. If your neighbors get off to a slower start and your borders keep expanding, keep on building colonizers until the last two turns of emergency build, then switch to the base space yards, and maybe put in a minelayer too. Note: you actually get 11 turns of emergency build before you're forced to stop. Once your homeworlds are on slow build, have them work on mines.
Well, in the really crowded galaxy you're describing, it would be a good idea to have each colony put as many mines as it can build in one turn in orbit, but hold off on building for minelayers until you have your base space yards ready. With your happiness settings, troops shouldn't be necessary for quite a while. I usually don't bother with weapon platforms at all. You need too many of them to make a real difference, especially if the enemy can afford enough minesweepers to sweep your biggest minefields.

Re: Jumping in at the deep end
 

As it so happens, I accidentally loaded a testbed turn and played it instead of my normal turn. The actual game is in a large universe, but as my empire happened to be a bit dispersed and the geography a bit kinder, I can probably block off 6 ok systems at a cost of 7 external warp-points to guard. If I stretched, I could make it 7:7, but it would involve risk and my only breathable in the 7th system has lousy stats.

Re: Jumping in at the deep end
 

Well in that case, add Explosive Warheads 2 to your turn one research queue before Physics.
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif How do you know about that? Did you take Ancient Race, is the map available to everyone for viewing, or what? (Edit: never mind. I forgot that multiple planet starts also give you a few extra system maps.) And do those "lousy stats" include size? If it's medium or larger, maybe even small, it's values don't really matter as far as how valuable it is. Good values = good resource producing planet. Bad values = good research/intelligence planet. You need plenty of each. What really matters most for how valuable a planet is is how many facilities you can put on it.

Re: Jumping in at the deep end
 

I just meant min/org/rad values. It has some largish ones, when I get different colony types in trade hopefully. I actually may gun for 7 systems / 7 guarded warppoints. It is a 10 person, 74 system galactic edge, so that's really just my fair patch of turnips. The 10k for warheads struck me as a bargain and is done. The planets are working doubletime on colony ships. Meeting the neighbors is next, I guess.

Re: Jumping in at the deep end
 

Don't settle for your "fair share" if you don't have to. If the random placement gave you some extra room or your neighbors are slow expanding, take full advantage. The more territory you control when initial borders are established, the better.

Re: Jumping in at the deep end
 

Hey - things are going fine. Not much contact now, but I lucked into ruins that had Fighters on them - thanks, 100k research item!

One thing I'm curious about - it is looking like Gas Giant colony tech will be hard to come by in this game. I can still capture existing gas giant worlds with troops, right?