Re: Are You Addicted To SE IV?
 

ROES (Rapid Over-Expansion Syndrome), otherwise known as "galactic sprawl" get's 'em everytime ;-)

Re: Are You Addicted To SE IV?
 

Not me. I colonize more slowly and focus on economic considerations. Especially research thrives under my rule. If a planet has 100% or more value of a certain resource, I'll buuld the appropriate extractors, but if all values are under 100% I only build research... even on a huge breathable planet. That way my research is HUGE. Once, I had researched EVERYTHING in a Low tech game - I scrapped all my research centers and built intel facilities instead..... CIA meets the SW Empire anyone?

Re: Are You Addicted To SE IV?
 

monolithic technology is the way to go... depending on how resource-rich my starting system/sector is, i usually try to gain the monoliths as early as i can. by colonizing a few planets that have 100%+ to boost production in each of the three resources, i can usually afford to begin converting my homeworld or richer planets to monolith facilities in very little time. of course, building orbital spaceyards is key to maintaining an adequate level of defense during the industrial buildup.

once the changeover of ONE resource-rich breathable planet is complete, i usually have enough resource-income to pump up defenses massively while continuing to build monoliths on any decent planet.

a key here is to only build monoliths on planets where you will earn a decent return in at least two of the three resources. i would recommend building them only on planets with 100% or more in at least two of the three resources. (if your sector is resource-poor, ofc you can work with lower numbers like 90-80%.)

because monolith facilities are so expensive, building them on planets with weak resource ratings is usually impractical, as their income will not be sufficient to recover the building costs (in SEIV both the time and the resources not able to be allocated to other projects/maintenance can be critical in early turns.)

Re: Are You Addicted To SE IV?
 

I got max PPB tech. It was 1 dreadnaught vs about 6-8 light and battlecruisers.

Re: Are You Addicted To SE IV?
 

And the DN was Phong?

I don't usually build Monoliths, as standard extractor facilities give you better production at a much lower price. Also, I often research Atmosphere Converters ASAP, and when I get Lvl 3 Converters I scrap all of my moon facilities and one facil on every non-breathable planet to build a converter. Cripples my economy for 3 years or so, but in the end I get to have a large domain of breathable planets. I don't usually start to build warships in earnest until I encounter a hostile species.

Re: Are You Addicted To SE IV?
 

Monoliths give vastly more production than standard extraction facilities. 2.7 times as much, in fact. Even if you just want to produce minerals, that extra 1700 can be converted to minerals with a Resource Converter I and you get a total of 1850 minerals every turn, instead of 1000 for Mineral Miner III. Standard facilities don't even come close to the production of Monoliths.

Now, the cost of Monoliths is a concern. It does take a while for them to become profitable compared to standard facilities. But once they do, your economy will be so much more powerful than normal empires' that you can easily overwhelm them. Assuming same sized empires and that the others did not use Monoliths.

Re: Are You Addicted To SE IV?
 

The dreadnaught was mine http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Most of my B-Destroyer's space is utilized with shielding and PDCs.

Re: Are You Addicted To SE IV?
 

I assume you're talking about some mod here Fyron... in stock Monolith III produces 700 of each resource per turn, and as I often get into slight economic trouble early on (nervous laugh) when my Min stores hit rock bottom and I'm forced to put all but one queue on hold, I prefer to go with the 1k Mineral Miner III (or am I mistaken here) to produce more resources... also getting hi-lev Miners/Farms/Extractors requires less research than getting Monoliths.

(And btw - I never build Monoliths on gas giants. Everytime I do, they seem to multiply and turn the planet into a small star system http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif)

Re: Are You Addicted To SE IV?
 

His point was, Monoliths produce minerals and organics and radioactives, so 2,700 resources in total. You will not need that many organics and radioactives, but they can be converted into minerals, for 1,700X0.7 (about 1,200 minerals I would say). So a single Monolith is almost twice as productive as a Miner, provided all planet values are equal; but then, you won't be building Monoliths on planets with 0% radioactive and 3% organics.

The problem of Monoliths is, of course, the time needed to get them up and running. But nothing prevents you from first building the regular facilities and then switching to Monoliths; they only require SM III, and you *want* that technology as soon as you can afford it, while the other economic techs (Mineral Extraction, Organics and Radioactives) do not give a lot of benefits, unless you are willing to sink a *lot* of research to get all the way to level 9 (where, at least, they beat the Computer facilities, and only since 1.91).

Re: Are You Addicted To SE IV?
 

That would be the Monolith II. The Monolith III produces 900 of each. Mineral Miner III produces 1000. Monoliths are far, far more productive than normal miners. They just cost a lot more, so it takes a while to get the monolith economy going.

Monoliths are an added bonus for the required stellar manipulation technology. I never build them in the early game, more of the mid to late game. I usually only start building them around the time I can support a sufficient fleet to start conquering my first neighbor...