[Slynky]

Some (perhaps empty) pointers for KOTH players in case you didn't know.

First of all, I don't like to be presumptious but forgetting all that, I will offer some tips to the newer players in case they haven't thought of them. These may be small things but things I feel have gotten me as far as I have gotten. I don't want to sound like a genius 'cause people who know me know I'm not that great...just adequate.

(1) Design your colony ships with a variety of engines. There is no need to build a colony ship with 5 engines if the target planet is 5 sectors away...use the design with 3 engines on it 'cause it's going to take 2 turns to colonize it anyway. Of course, adjust this if you have taken "propulsion" as a trait. In other words, don't waste resources on engines if you don't need it.

(2) Don't settle the colony with the most facilities on it in the early game. Settle the one with a single or double fac ability. Build a SY immediately. Later, settle those 5 or 6 fac places and build minerals or resources as you need them. But get those "worthless" single fac places into shipyards as soon as possible.

(3) Spend a 1,000 points for ancient ability if you and your opponent don't agree to outlaw it. It's the best 1,000 points you can spend besides Advanced Storage. Why?

(a) If your opponent has the same colony type as you, you can watch his colony growth by clicking on the appropriate icon;
(b) You don't have to stop at unexplored warp points...keep moving to where you want to go and don't waste movement points...especially useful when you are 1 sector away from a warp point and would otherwise stop after warping.
(c) You can see where the opponent is located and plan your game accordingly. He may be far away or close but knowing is your advantage.
(d) If the game should get to the stellar manipulation point...which it has for me sevaeral times, you know just where to open warp points and move in to attack planets in the same turn. Remember...the game plots your movement at the beginning of each day of the month for the shortest route to the destination. So you can open a hole and move to a planet on the same turn.
(e) You know exactly where the choke points are and exactly where the best planets are to colonize. NO need to run around guessing just to see a nebula.

(4) Destroyers. Best ship design you can get. Why? Defensive bonus. Make them into a colony ship (they move faster than colony ships or transports in the early game). Give them a fierce name so that your opponent will guess if they are warships or colony ships. LCs are good later...just because of the larger mount but find the right spot for them. A game can be won with destroyers! Just ask Rex.

(5) Mines, then PD. Of course, this is not a solid rule. If you have taken Ancient and see that your opponent is far away...make other decisions. But if he is nearby...this is your best choice to protect colonys, warp points, and defend against fighters. PD 4's are enough. 5's are expensive and can wait for some time.

(6) Deception. Several reasons for this. As I mentioned above, "mean" ship names on colonizing destroyers. Empty sats in orbit (nothing like making the enemy guess if they are loaded or not). Ships with no weapons if "facing off" with an enemy who has a colony with you in the same system. Bluff him!

(7) Expand, expand, expand. Expand till your colonizers get killed.

(8) Find that "sweet" planet during expansion. The one that can have 2 facilities...a SY and a resupply point. Make sure you choose the right one...the one that is in the path you expect your ships to journey past on the way to the front.

(9) Where to build the Space Port. If you haven't chosen Natural Merchant, you need to consider where to put that Space Port. Do NOT put it at the point in the system you expect the enemy to enter. Put it in the rear. No need to have your enemy take out the nearb planets if he should invade a system and take out your Space Port. Make him travel the distance to get to it.

(10) Training! NEVER neglect it! When expanding, look for the "sweet spot" where you can double or triple your training facilities. I love to see those planets with 2 moons that I can settle on. Ship training is the most important. You can always keep a "ghost fleet" training but getting ships trained is a different matter. Sometimes, I build what I call a "Fleeter" ship that has no engines and sits above a fleet fac just to train...then I swap ships out and put the "Fleeter" ship into a new fleet to start "ghost fleet training" again.

(11) Empire design. Forget happiness! Put it at 51% I will not go into explanation. Forget Environmental Resistance. Forget Repair. All others, you can adjust as your empire/game dictates. Keep your total offense/defense somwhere around 130% Remember the KOTH "clone"...but don't "live" by it. But get close to it. Intel? Depends on your game play...but remember it takes a lot of points to really make a difference in intel work...level 2. Anything else is just a nuissance. That's a lot of points that are easily countered. Better spent somewhere else. Just my opinion.

(12) ECM 1 and 2 and sensor 1 and 2. Candidates for research as early as it is possible. As soon as possible, get your ships to ECM 2, Sensor 2, and 20/20 training. Doesn't matter if you have LCs yet. Refitting ships with either component is worth the one-turn wait. It will hit better or NOT be hit as easily...depending on what you are refitting to.

(13) Pay attention to your shipyards in the rear of the conflict. IF (IIIFFFF!!!) you have the resources to spend, build warshjps and send them to the front. If not...let them sit. No need to spend resources on ships when resources are tight only to have them take 5 or 6 turns to get to the front. For me, these shipyard served their purposes by building colony ships to colonize things close by. Sometimes, depending, I scrap the SY and build a mineral fac if needed.

(14) How are things going? By turn 25 - 30...if you are doing things as you should...assuming your opponent was not "next" to you, you should have a number of colonies close to the number of turns that have elapsed. You should also have an amount of research in thousands equal or better to the number of turns. After turn 30, things start to go up wildly. Expansion is usually nearing an end. You've met your enemy and have made decisions on attack or defense points. So, after turn 30, depending on your position, research should start going up fast. For example, in my current KOTH game with Parabolize, it is turn 43 and I have 80,000 in research. I haven't neglected resources and neither should you. But, don't build research facs and neglect minerals! Minerals are very important! Besides building ships, they are the most important component in building more facs.

Well, hope I have helped some. The vets among us probably know this already. Given equal starting positions and systems, the winner will be the first to recognize the strategic points on the map, the time to defend and the time to attack, the time to upgrade shipyards or mineral facs, the time to use fighters or not, the time to recognize things are at a standstill and to work on stellar manipulation ("openers"), and the time to get another colony type. For me...I choose mineral 2 followed by SY 2. I get the resources updated in order to upgrade the SYs right after. But knowing it is the right time to spend those several turns is crucial. Again, all things equal and everyone practicing some variation of what I have said, the winner will be the first to recognize important points in the map and the right time to attack/defend/upgrade.