Updated the FAQ

[Nocturnal]

In my late-game, I now use this more expensive (takes two turns to build in most worlds) colonizer for colonization at any range, though the overwhelming majority of my colonization is short-range:
Bridge, life support, crew quarters, colony pod, cargo bay, one (1) best engine (quantum III), solar sail, best emergency propulsion (emergency propulsion V).
This has an effective one-turn speed of 12 allowing it to reach any planet in its system the same turn it’s built, but it runs out of fuel quickly. If I’m colonizing long-range, I usually send a bulk transport full of population along with it, and my bulk transports generate unlimited supply. So I don’t bother designing another ship. Or, I use an “obsolete” colonizer. I call this design simply “Rock Colony”, “Ice Colony”, and “Gas Colony”, and you may use it if you like. Feel free also to cut out the jabber from this post if it makes it into the FAQ.

[JLS]

Sounds like a great design, squeeze a reacter or some steller harness on that and you will be in buz, Nocturnal.

[ November 18, 2003, 22:49: Message edited by: JLS ]

[Nocturnal]

Thanks! You'd need to take out the emergency propulsion V or the cargo bay to make it a longer range design capable of self-resupply.

One advantage for remote mining that I didn't see discussed was that it costs you no space on your planets at all. Playing a race of god-like researchers, I got a HUGE advantage in tech very early by getting well over 60% of my minerals from remote mining ships, and stuffing every planet I could find full to the brim with research centers.

Now later in the game, remote mining only gives me about 30% of my minerals income because I've maxxed out all my research. (My colonies are focusing on intelligence now, but I'm already the Mega Evil Empire and pwn the azzes of all teh mofos wtf lol. Smaller empires sometimes capitulate immediately at my "Resistance is futile" speech that I give as soon as I get a new "first contact.")

Of course, this is against the AI, and such a plan may have weaknesses that a canny human player can exploit. However I feel that vigorously mining asteroids before you have the tech to build planets out of them can give a gigantic ROI in terms of resources and also planet space. For best efficiency, use the largest hull available for your miners - until the late-mid-game, my mining fleet was a bigger drain on my economy than my battlefleet, but the payoff was fantastic.

Note: Remote mining with other than satellites or bases is COMPLETELY USELESS on limited-resource games. You can never make up both the upkeep costs and the initial investment in a timely manner, unless you can reduce upkeep.

[ November 18, 2003, 23:36: Message edited by: Nocturnal ]

[Fyron]

One advantage for remote mining that I didn't see discussed was that it costs you no space on your planets at all. Playing a race of god-like researchers, I got a HUGE advantage in tech very early by getting well over 60% of my minerals from remote mining ships, and stuffing every planet I could find full to the brim with research centers.

You can't mine a colonized planet though...

[Nocturnal]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:

quote:

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One advantage for remote mining that I didn't see discussed was that it costs you no space on your planets at all. Playing a race of god-like researchers, I got a HUGE advantage in tech very early by getting well over 60% of my minerals from remote mining ships, and stuffing every planet I could find full to the brim with research centers.

You can't mine a colonized planet though...

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You can't colonize an asteroid belt either, early in the game. And most small moons can be exploited much more through mining than colonization. What's your point?

[AMF]

Argh....stupid question that I *know* has been answered somewhere before, but here goes:

Under the Allegiance Subverter section, the FAQ says "In Versions earlier than 1.80, ships with a destroyed master computer CAN be captured [by allegiance subverter]."

So, am I to take this to mean that in Version 1.8, a ship with a destroyed MC *cannot* be captured by my AS?

Thanks,

Alarik
(biting my nails until PBW gets back up)

[Phoenix-D]

That is true, yes.