Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

I'd be honored to set up the next game, Asmala. That is, if it's OK with Joachim. I think Joachim might go for the Balance mod...I've played him twice on it and he's darn good on it!

I will post the PBW game expecting it is OK with Joachim but if not, all I would need to do is delete the game and someone else could do it.

I'm off work tomorrow (I will be in and out with doing chores) and could get the game started just about any time tomorrow if you guys are ready.

Now, I'm off to update the Ratings site.

PS: Hope the map worked out despite the wieird spiral map (with 2 choke points). At 51 turns, it's hard to tell if the map affected the game too much. By that, I mean if the game had gone, say, 75 (or more) turns, that would indicate the map didn't have much of an effect.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Yep, sounds like an excellent set up.
Happy to lose rating points http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Good luck Asmala!

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hill\"?
 

Sup peeps. So far I'm in five games... two are newbie games, one hasn't started yet, one I'm playing as a replacement and one is that RTV Osshod thingy...

I'd like to start at the base of the hill... Preferably matched up with an opponent with a couple days or a day of spare time a week... I'm not too keen on taking half a year to finish a game (already playing five of those sorts of games lol), so my idea is to have once a week "blitz" where we play for 4-6 hours together... if anybody wants to join the hill that has the same idea, and wouldn't mind matching up against a newbish opponent then holler... I'll try my best, I've been reading a lot (dubious, newbie guide, txt files to familarize myself with components) and obviously playing a lot... sending an e-mail to Asmala...

Heh heh http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hill\"?
 

Hi, brianeyci.

Welcome to the madness!

As opponents go, take a look at the rules of KOTH and you'll see you're paired up against the first available on the bottom of the hill. That person might like to set aside some hours to play (and might not). Regardless, games generally go pretty fast here (you can check the KOTH site for some examples). It's a good place, usually, for fast-paced playing.

And good luck!

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hill\"?
 

BBegemott climbes up the hill.

After expansion stage Katchoo had colonised 7 systems and me- 23. That was a decisive adavantage. The rest is simple. Build ships & send them forward.

Thanks for the game Katchoo.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

You were quite near me. I had 796 K points, 228 K resources, 119 K research, 111 ships and 4 bases.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

IMO the weird spiral map didn't have much of an effect to the game. We still had two choke points, and you often have two choke points in a normal map.

Joachim: I'll upload my empire file soon. I also agree this to be a rated game.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Koth page is updated.

Welcome to Koth league brianeyci. Your first match begins now, and the opponent is Katchoo.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Idle thought #1: I haven't played a Koth match since February, and I'm still in the top 3 in number of games played.

Idle thought #2: I hope Nodachi returns some day and finally gets a Koth win. It would be a shame to retire 0 and 12. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

OK, guys, gamefile is up. Not sure if you are still awake, Asmala but if you aren't, maybe Joachim will submit a turn today to make sure the game will run right.

Have a good game, guys!

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Then there are the people like me who need a life. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/redface.gif

Yep, it would be nice to see. He was a good sport despite his losses.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Bwhahahaha, "First Blood!" Beware my 175% construction rate combined with my temporal space yards III and my organic weapons Katchoo!!!!!!!!!!!! 20k/20k/20k construction rate with emergency build!!!!!! Fully loaded baseships in 1 turn!!!!!!! hahahahahahahaha (yes, I have a race like that in a game, without the organics though, not enough with 2k points, and that game has just started, hopefully I live long enough to get those temporal space yards lol)

Oh well too bad said race can't be competitive. Here comes the standard Hardy Industralists/Advanced Storage Techniques/Propulsion Expert/+30% bezerker culture to attack/defense modifier supermen.

I wonder if any other players have a race using traits other than this. I was fooling around with Organics/High build rate...

Anyway, GL Katchtoo, I know I will need it =)

Brian

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Sorry! I had a lot of work this week and did not have a chance to reply, as for my screen name it is "Rodan" of course http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif. Now who will I be facing? I do have to say that from around the 20th to maybe the 1st will be VARRY busy at work so I might not get my turns up vary fast during that time(If I can get them up at all http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif)Other than that I am ready to play http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smirk.gif

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Using Racial traits can be done actually, but you will need some breathing space to research them without being too far behind in "regular" technologies. You shouldn't even dream of getting temporal space yards or high-end organic weaponry though.

Another random thought: if you happen to live in the States and would like to get that crown, think again. Rex seems to be the only player from the US on level III and above (unless Gravey qualifies as well). So it looks like your best bet is to consider moving away, to a country near the Baltic Sea for example (two Kings came from there after all, so that may mean something. Asmala? What's your secret? Why is 42 the Answer?)

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Warning OT.

Well. It doesn't look like certain racial traits can be useful at all. For example, religious. What is religious good for other than talisman. What is temporal good for except for temporal space yards? The only racial traits I'd consider taking is psychic for allegiance subverter, or organic for organic armors. The 50k research setback might not be too much, if you start with 100k resources and a good starting planet. Maybe on first turn, 50k for chemistry, 50k for your racial tech, and 20k for your hull size, and viola, you have your organic armors.

I'm assuming most people play with 100k starting resources and good starting planet value. Bad planet value and low starting resources seems to just unnecessarily delay the game... 100k starting resources seems to let people open up a couple theoretical areas early, and good planet value lets you research some useful tech early other than DUC... gives more options/strategy rather than forcing everybody to go for the 5k DUC's early on. (Maybe spending 100k on weapons platforms and going "land rush"? lol. 50k for early pd's? 50k for early fighters?)

Brian

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

And isn't it 47?

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy or something.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

You're facing Rambie. Just agree settings and upload your empire files and I'll kick off the game.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Thanks, everything seems perfect http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

First, its 42 not 47. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif Second, you definitely haven't been playing long, heh. The talisman is quite possibly the single most evil component in the game, and even the other religious stuff can be quite useful on its own.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Religious gives very nice shrines that make this trait virtually free (or give you an edge, if you do not want to pay for the trait by lowering some of your characteristics). You have the War Shrine, at +15% offence in your systems (enabling you to lower Aggressiveness a bit without getting trashed in the first offensive), the Time Shrine and its bonus to resource production, the Nature Shrine that might be useful to you, and the Fate Shrine that saves you the trouble of researching UPCs. It isn't worth 1500 points alone, but it isn't nothing either.

Temporal is another matter; their weapons aren't so great (unless you are fighting someone only using shields, and/or an Empire warranting the use of their Null Space weapon), but they have some interesting support facilities. One increases offence by 30% in a given system (nice if you are being attacked, or managed to keep a planet near that wormhole you plan to break through), and an UPC-like facility working twice as well. The space yards cost a lot of research, and require you to scrap your own space yards, and only then can you begin to build them (I can never recall if they need five or ten turns to be built). They may be worth the hassle if you have enough time, but you shouldn't bet on this in KOTH. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Be careful when using the Psychic trait: Computer I costs 100,000 points to research (nothing at all), and makes the Subverter fully useless, and contact will likely be made before you can do any significant damage with them (if you have them researched at all). Besides this, they have some decent weapons (which is rare enough to be mentioned) and can give improved training rates, but nothing to write home about for the price tag.

I will let the case of the OA for a defender of the Organic trait, as I would be hard pressed to say anything in its famour (well, besides saying it is virtually free, and has the highest hitpoints per kt rating). Some players did take it under other circumstances (such as a 2vs2), but you will have to ask them about the why. Crystaline doesn't seem too great in this kind of games however (like other traits, not enough time to do research).

The default settings is one normal planet and 20k starting resources, but you will find some players going for one good starting planet. Increasing the starting resources isn't too common however; I would say its only use is to make the initial theorical research much easier (and too easy even), as with only 20kt it is a bit harder to research the main ones (Construction, Chemistry, Physics and Military Science early on).

Oh, and 42 is the answer. What is the product of six and nine? 42 indeed! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

How are the games on the bottom of the hill going? I am getting anxious for another player to go against. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I might get rusty sitting here in the middle of the hill and my one game winning streak might be at risk... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

I was looking at the stats and I stink at KOTH! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif I am 4 and 9 in my 13 games played. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smirk.gif

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Ah yes, 42
The untimate answer of life, the universe, and everything.
Of course, the real issue is what is the question!
thus we have the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything, that being :"what do you get when you multiply 9 by 6? 42.
Thus it becomes readily apparent that there is something ultimately flawed in life , the universe, and everything.
So long, and thanks for all the fish. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Well, Master B. is beating the crap outta me. Won't be long now.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Well... although I have advantage because expanded somewhat better, and this time had some luck with the galaxy (many breathable planets availables!), think still the game is not decided.
In some turns we will see if I can conffirm my advantage...

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Slightly OT.

Thx for the advice... hrm, organic trait is the only trait I would really consider taking in this kind of game. Combined with a high build rate and organic weapons, you could build ships really fast.

I wonder if anybody has figured the exact optimal percentage to put your build rate to. (4/3) * (3/2) (build rate percentage of 134% times emergency build) gives you 2. So a 2 turn colonizer would take 1 turn with a 134 percentage rating in build. Combine with hardy industralists, and you only neeed to beef up your build rate around 10% or so.

However there's population modifiers too. And, maybe ships that will take 3 turns will take two turns with emergency build with 33% setting... it would be advantageous to be able to build a destroyer in one turn in emergency build. Does anybody know the min/org/rad rate of an average destroyer (basics, armors, ecm, engines, sensors, self destruct and DUC equipped) and how much your build rate has to be beefed up to do this properly? I could figure it out, and probably will end up doing it too lol.

Would also be nice to know the min/org/rad cost of an average organic destroyer (organic armors and weapons) and how much you need to beef up your build rate to build one of these in one turn... I imagine far less than the standard destroyer.

Anyway if nobody is willing to share this stuff, I'll start doing field testing on my own and post my results =)

Brian

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

I just did a quick check... with 175% build rate, 150% for emergency build and 2k spaceyard, you get around 5250. I made a quick destroyer with max tech and standard 2 PD's and 4 APB's, and all the standard stuff, and it costs around 8500 mins. So, if you wanted the destroyer out in 2 turns, 4k build rate... not that hard to do, would need about a 145% build rate, so if you take hardy industralists you would need about 20% construction rate to do this... of course this is ignoring population modifiers.

Getting a destroyer out in one turn seems impossible, unless you tank all your other stats and put build rate to 150% AND choose hardy industralists for a total of 175% build rate, combined with the 1.5 emergency build and you get around 5250 which isn't nearly close to 8500... even with a 40% boost around your homeplanets, you still don't get enough.

So, my dreams of making a super race pump out destroyers in one turn is over lol. Oh well. Unless organic weapons turn out to lower the cost extragavantly... which I think they might... possibly combining organics with a high build rate and you could have the 1 turn destroyer.

Very rough so far, tell me what you think.

Brian

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Well; pretty sure your calculations are right, but what would you need such a destroyer for ? It would be obsolete before it could hit the frontlines http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Some free tips, use them or loose them http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif
- Don't build too many useless warships (like the ones above), the maintanance will kill you.
- Buildrate, You only need enough to be able to do 1 turn colonizers on HW on EB, and in 2 turns on normal build on new colonies. Anything more is nice to have but not needed.
- Spend your points on Aggressiveness/Defensiveness, Maintanance and Propulsion Expert. Use the rest to Minerals and Research.
- If you do use organic, get OA III ASAP and Ram your opponent.


And have fun.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Yeah, prop expert hardy indus and adv storage are what I use now... but getting organics and having a high build rate means I'll sacrifice one of those, probably prop expert...

I didn't mean that I would build destroyers and stockpile them... rather stockpile resources, and once I encountered an enemy, I would build my fleet rather quickly... I got the destroyer idea from someone who suggested to me when I thought up of a crazy idea to build 200+ escorts in 20 turns lol, didn't work cause I didn't know that BSY only have 1k build rate... oh well.

Went something like putting scattering/stealth armor on destroyer, combined with normal bonus and ecms and you'd get around 5% more dodge modifier than a frigate.

I like the idea of many small ships...

How it would go is this, by the time I encountered my opponent/s, I would have about 5-10 planets capable of building destroyer in 1 turn, and get a quick fleet out and annihilate them =)

Brian

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Of course, there's the problem of training them just as quickly http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

K.O.T.H. Gandalph vs Parabolize
Game Date: 2409.5
Gandalph Surrenders!
Good Game. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Sorry, forgot Advance storage. Thats a must http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

The small ship idea wont work unless its a total supprise for the other guy.
First you need to spend time training. If the other guy trains his ships, you can't hit them if yours are untrained.
Then there is the scattering Armor: Put that and 8-10 ordinary Armors on a LC or larger and your little gnats won't do much damage http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

GrandPakim surrendered at the turn 43. As I said, the galaxy map was very favorable to me... GransPakim did a great effort but he was short of supplies.

Then, think I go with Parabolize, right?

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

What can I say? Master B. got there fustest with the mostest. He simply played better than me in all aspects.

Congratulations and good luck on your climb up the hill. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Asmala, please take me off the hill for now, but as usual, I'll be back. ...(Hmm, that would be a good line in a movie http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif )...

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Keep in mind Organic weapons are also pretty weak (until the end of their tree at any rate), and so the Emissive Armour can ruin the day of any organic ship fairly easily (for example, the Lightning Ray only does 10-20 damage at medium range; even with a Large Mount, you will have a very tough time doing any damage against a ship equipped with this Armour). Their armour is much better, but I don't see so much of a difference with regular armour (well, it regenerates, but if you are lucky ships will get banged on and so there won't be much to regenerate after that. And if you aren't, the AI will attempt to scratch every single ship in the battle without actually destroying one).

Also keep in mind you can retrofit your ships, removing one or two turns of build time. You will need to keep a decent repair rate for this however, and you need to be fairly wealthy (a retrofit costs 20% more and you need to pay maintenance while retrofitting). Still, with fairly high construction bonuses (around 135%), you can easily build Battleships in three turns with a retrofit, provided you use armour instead of shielding (shields tend to bring the build time to four turns).

So having Organic may remove one more turn from the build time, but that implies you have the resources to build them that quickly and to maintain them. I had a very tough time using all my spaceyards with the design above, at least until the end game (where half the galaxy was virtually under my iron grip). High construction rates may appeal you because they allow to build colony ships more quickly (with a retrofit), but how much of an advantage it gives depends on your mileage. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

I read somewhere that emissive armor doesn't work properly... that the damage from one attack "stacks", for example two shots of 30 from the same ship will get through an emissive armor with 30 KT res... is this still true? (I think it was in the newbie faq or something) As well, do multiple emissive armors stack? So 10 emissive armors will have 300 points of damage always negated? (Shouldn't work that way because that seems pretty broken lol)

You mean, high construction rates will appeal because they let you build a ship WITHOUT a retrofit right? And I don't exactly know how to start with retrofitting. If retrofitting works the way I want it

1. build a colony ship that takes two turns
2. have a BSY in orbit that will repair
3. retrofit
4. move the ship

Now, will the ship RETROFIT then move, making it the same as if you had built the ship in 1 turn? If so, I wish I had known earlier, I could have saved some points on build lol. As well, do multiple repair bays in the same hull stack their repair rate? (I know that multiple BSY on the same hull aren't able to)

Also, I have a question for Imperator Fyron. On your max/min tutorial, you showed several techniques for max/minning... for example, the lowering environmental resistance to get 575 extra points. That doesn't seem to work anymore, as lowering -1% actually lowers your environmental resistance by 1%... you said that lowering your environmental resistance by up to 4% did nothing, and that you could make your environmental resistance 51% and your happiness 109% and get the same result. Doesn't seem to work.

Oh and Asmala, I'm in the Osshod game with you. How do you like me ramming your frigate with my colony ship =)Interesting lowering your repair rate and happiness and environmental resistance to nothing... what does environmental resistance actually do, lower reproduction rates? I guess you're going to keep your population happy with troops... I read somewhere that 100 troops is enough to make a planet jubilant. Is this still true, so that if you have 50% happiness you can get a jubilant population just by keeping a couple hundred "skeleton" troops on the planet?

I wonder if lowering your repair rate will come to bite you in the ***... I read somewhere that lowering your repair rate really handicaps you later... maybe in high-tech games when retrofitting is important to keep up with the later tech... you sure max-mined to the max lol, and crystallurgy was an interesting choice, to get thru the armor lol. Your research, build rate and minerals are all maxed out, and you somehow managed to get crystallurgy... [censored] lol.

Brian

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Emissive armors won't stack. I think if there is an emissive armor 3 in a ship, 30 dmg is taken from every shot. Remember fighter stacks are considered as a single weapon.

Every five points of environmental resistance is equal to one point of reproduction. IIRC environmental resistance doesn't affect to happiness.

Happiness is a strange characteristic. I'm sure how it works but most people don't believe it (especially Fyron http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif) Every five percentage points you increase your happiness makes 0,1% people happier every turn. For example if you increase happiness 10% it's the same effect if you have one troop on your every planet. So, if I put 5 troops to every planet it negates the -50% happiness.

No it won't be a problem. Couple of battle stations filled with repair bays will repair an enormous amount of components, even if I have a low repair rate.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Koth page updated.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Okay well. I'm off to create my super race now. Gee I wish I had known certain things before, then I could have made a better race for the RTV game lol. Remind me how it works again, is it only the first place player that gets to advance in every game?

Katchtoo hurry up I want to start my KOTH match!

Brian

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

I have a KOTH game with Gandalph. I had a Koth Game with Longhornxtream. Well the Game with Longhorn was dropped after a few weeks because(from my viewpoint) He dropped out after 4 turns but he had e-mailed me and I never answered. he went several places and turned in a few turns several days apart and it took a long time just to set up the game. Well here I am with Gandalph and it appears the same thing is happening. I am here and ready to play a standard KOTH game. So I am waving my arms and saying I am ready to play. And I mean no disrespect to Longhorn just explaining the situation.
Gozguy

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

I replied to your email about the settings for the game and you never replied to it. An email from you would be better than trying to hash things like this in the open forum. I am, and always have been, very good about getting turns done and communicating with other players in the games I play. In the future, if you have a problem, please use email and not hte public forum!

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Koth page is updated.

Welcome to the league, Intimidator!

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Thanks Asmala,

Time to kick some ***, so who wants ?????

Inti,

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

OK I discovered my error. The e-mail filter was filtering out a bunch of e-mail I wanted from unwanted e-mail. Sorry about that. Steps have been taken to ensure that won't happen again. I am ready to play. Good Luck Gandalph. I ment no offence.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Asmala could you take me off the hill, please?

I have got a job and I want the things to settle down a little to see if I have enough time remaining for SE4.

As the game with Gravey hasn't started yet, I still can withdraw, right?

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

K.O.T.H. Parabolize vs Master Belisarius
turn 2404.5
MB wins.
He was all setup for a early contact and thats what he got. I did not think he would come that fast.
Good game

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Hey Guys,

I still need some opponent, who is interested..........

Inti,

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

While I cant KOTH you as Asmala [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/VikingHelm.gif[/img] is slowly killing me, If you are part of Slynky's Ratings site I am up for a rated 1 on 1 game, KOTH style.
[img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Dagger.gif[/img] http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/Injured.gif

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Hmm, it looks like I didn't post it here but I moved a few days ago and I got an internet connection to my new apartment today. Now I'm able to update Koth page again... but now it's so late I'll go to sleep. So update coming tomorrow http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

I received the following message from my opponent in my KOTH game as an in-game" message.

"[/i]Lord \/ ~ says: I have had enough. My resources are almost gone. You were right I got ripped by have Ice planets. Why continue when your ships have technology I dream about! (if you can't colonize you can't research!) I will tell Asmala soon. You might have to wait a little bit. Just be patient. I want to e-mail him about few things anyway. Thanks.
Lord, \/ ~[/i]"

I gave him the courtesy he requested but it's been nearly 10 days now with no notice from him that he has surrendered the game. You can look at my turn if you need to.

So, please credit me with a win and move me to the next level when you get a chance.

Thanks.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the \"King of the Hi
 

Koth page updated. If I have missed something, please point it out.