quote:
Originally posted by UmberGryphon:
I played a "no warp points" starting map, and some of the AIs did research and build resonators. I think they built 'em too early, though--at least one of the AIs bankrupted itself paying upkeep on its resonator.
When I first received SE4, I started by playing games with "no warp points connected". Depending on the size of planets you have in your starting system, it'll take quite a while to research up to Stellar Manipulation 3 (giving you the basic resonator (the 100ly one) and condenser to close points), in the neighborhood of 150-200 turns or so.
Basically, you can really hang yourself if you're not careful in how you use ships with stellar maipulation components (I typically begin with sticking either a resonator or a condenser on a frigate hull). What I had to do in order to avoid an economic crash is (turn 1)Send the ship to the edge of the system (assuming you don't click the "warp points can form anywhere in system" option) and open a warp point, (turn 2) head back to the shipyard and mothball the ship, to avoid being stuck with the enormous maintenance costs. Once I've build up a sufficient nest egg in resources, repeat as desired. I open warp points to every system I can reach with the particular class of resonator, then mothball the ship until I colonize as much as I profitably can (those monolith facilities really help on those sweet planets with lots of resources to extract).
At that rate, it takes quite a while before I can actually afford to keep my ships operating full time. Typically, I make a group of four ships (one with a resonator, one with a condenser, a ship with a repair bay, and a cloaked recon vessel with the best sensors and scanners I can afford). I typically keep two or three of these Groups active at most during the game against AIs.
Given my personal experience, I can see why AIs never seem to break out of their starting systems, since the ships just cost too bloody much when you're confined to the resources of a single star system. And they never seem to bother with Atmospheric Modification Plants to increase the number of facilities available on their planets, which you need (especially research facilties if you want to get the jump on everyone else).
In short, when it comes to these games, I get the tech first, and then either wipe out the AIs I come across, or, easier yet, just close the warp point and shut them out of the rest of the galaxy entirely until I'm ready to deal with them. Not very challenging at all, although I can build my empire unmolested.
Re: Do the regular Empires do Stellar Manipulation?
Hybrid Mode
