Some newbie questions

[Randallw]

Originally posted by Marcin Nowak:

1) I am getting tech trade deals from the AI, where is gives me "unknown tech", and it mostly is a tech that I already know. How to prevent that?

unknown tech means you are asking for any tech the AI knows which means if it knows the same as you it will give you a tech you already know. Look at enemy ship designs for technology you don't have (excluding racial tech) and try asking for tech you don't know.

2) I am able to attack a planet 6 times per turn. So I can kill a homeworld with the most puny ships. That looks a bit strange to me.

A game turn is one month. The number of attacks you get is the month divided by your movement (I think. Someone else could elaborate). You will fight any enemy in a sector until they are destroyed. As such, each time you get another action you will attack again if the enemy still exists. If you are killing a planet with a puny vessel obviously your enemy has inadequate defences or ships. There are some mods which reduce the civilian death caused by weapons as a result planetary populations take more damge.

3) The missiles seem to be an uber weapon. I win all combats (tactical) with no loses, due to their superior range. Again feels strange.

Wait until you meet someone who has actually researched PD (and to high levels). missiles like mines become useless once your opponent has managed to research the maximum in PD.

4) I have read the tip about getting other "breathers" to colonize other types of atmosphere. Having no better idea how to get these guys, I tried to trade for a planet. And the AI sold me its homeworld!! It had some colonies, so this seems to be a completely braindead behaviour. I started to worry if the singleplayer aspect of the game is working.

Simple answer, The AI is stupid. Try TDM modpack.

Edit: ahh, I knew if it took me so long to format my reply others would get in first.

[ July 23, 2004, 11:05: Message edited by: Randallw ]

[Marcin Nowak]

Thanks for all the answers. I see I will have to get the TDM mod you mentioned and play on hard difficulty. And maybe forget about tactical combat and trade. That's a bit of shame, but if anything it will at least speed up things.
Cheers.

[Raging Deadstar]

As some one pointed out already, if the AI is still not hard enough for you then try Play By Web. It should be infinitely more challenging.

[Yimboli]

About tactical combat, you might want to take into consideration that on Play By Web, you can only use strategic combat. I love tactical combat cuz you can really woop the computer's @$$, but if you're planning to use PBW, you should try to ween yourself from tactical combat and learn about ship strategies, breaking formation, and other stuff that comes into play in strategic combat

[Ragnarok]

Originally posted by Yimboli:
I love tactical combat cuz you can really woop the computer's @$$,..

That is funny, because that is the exact reason I do not like tactical combat. The AI is generally easy enough to beat as it is but then to add a bonus that is tactical combat only makes it easier. So my solution for that? PBW!