Early contact ...
 

... good thing or a bad thing?

If you remain isolated for some time with no contact - good or bad?

Then do you go looking or ...?

Re: Early contact ...
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The purpose of the game of SE4 is to conquer the galaxy. You can play for an allied victory, but IMHO you're fighting against the games' design. The AI doesn't really like you.

Within that framework, if you don't expand early, to acquire territory, resources, ruin techs and deprive the other players of the same -- you have already lost.

Is it bad that the Ammonkre or the Rage share your homesystem? Is it good that there are no enemy colonys for two systems out from the homesystem? It really depends -- but I've had both, and I know what's likely to happen in each case.

Re: Early contact ...
 

I think it's good to have fairly late contact. That way you will have more time to develop your forces. If you have a late first contact, that gives you time to build some decent back up int he form of a fully developed planet.
So for me a late first contact is alwys a good thing.
But it really sucks when you discover that a serie of black holes or something is causing your isolation. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Early contact ...
 

... good thing or a bad thing?
Good thing, assuming that I meet them in such a manner as to let me "make peace" with them. If it is war from the get-go then my answer differs depending on how many folks I meet early on. If it is only one AI empire, I am usually ok with it. If it is several from multiple fronts then life will get tough as the squeeze gets put on -- this is always tough in the early game. Too many resources are then spent to make war instead of improving the empire's economy and technology.

If you remain isolated for some time with no contact - good or bad? I like to remain isolated, though eventually I need trading partners or subject for conquest, so that I can continue to grow my empire. Active trading partners (materials and technology) substantially add to my empire's ability to grow and prosper, so isolationism is not my favorite way-to-go.

Then do you go looking or ...? If I remain isilated for too long (and am not sut off due to a lack of worm holes) I always go looking probably sacrificing several LR scout ships to accomplish the task. Hopefully I can encounter an AI player before we get too crowded and automatically go to war.

Cheers!
Trajan

Re: Early contact ...
 

In PBW games, early contact means that you can get T&R treaties established earlier. That is a very good thing. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif