How do you do that, Dragonlord?

[Dragonlord]

When to go to war? Depends on the victory conditions. If those call for galactic domination then all alliances are temporary, though they may Last for over 5 years. Usually when I run out of room to expand I pick a target which is close by and a threat to my frontier, and start provoking them. However I must do this in-char (roleplaying) so it isn't always easy, unless you play a xenophobic berzerker race
What sometimes works against humans is demand they give you stuff or reduce their fleets or such until they get fed up an break their treaty Or, make friends with an enemy of your target and find a reason to help that enemey against your target, e.g. if you are merchants you could say you were bribed with promises of tech and colonisation rights...
etc etc, be creative :-)

[Gorgo]

Oh, I messed up something: It's Heretic who's leading in War and Diplomacy, Shujo is 8th.

Has stellar manipulation tech ever played a crucial role in one of your PBW-games, in a way that it was decisive for victory or defeat? In SE3, you could build a star destroyer or a ship with an open warp component in a really short time, now it's taking forever. Do you guys really use this tech area on PBW, or do you concentrate on building stuff that can fight?

Gorgo

[Puke]

stuff that can fight. i only build that stuff in huge games against the AI where i want to wipe out their systems and dont have time to deal with all the planets.

on the other hand, in high tech games on PBW, i could see the warp point components coming into play a great deal, maybe even star destroyers if the game was running long. basically tho, star destroyers would only be worthwhile if planets were too well defended to crack with less than 50 or so ships. I would guess that any low-cost technology game that ran over 200 turns would see alot of SM.

------------------
"...the green, sticky spawn of the stars"
(with apologies to H.P.L.)

[Puke]

stuff that can fight. i only build that stuff in huge games against the AI where i want to wipe out their systems and dont have time to deal with all the planets.

on the other hand, in high tech games on PBW, i could see the warp point components coming into play a great deal, maybe even star destroyers if the game was running long. basically tho, star destroyers would only be worthwhile if planets were too well defended to crack with less than 50 or so ships. I would guess that any low-cost technology game that ran over 200 turns would see alot of SM.

------------------
"...the green, sticky spawn of the stars"
(with apologies to H.P.L.)

[Shoujo]

I'm 8th in Diplowar because I surrendered for personal reasons

Well Dragonlord and I appear to be doing mostly the same things. I must thank you for starting this thread cause now I know what his secret is

Anyway, here's what I tend to do in games...
1) Get increased mineral extraction because you can never have too many minerals in a game
2) Get increased ship construction to crank out ships faster
3) Get advanced storage because more facilities = more resources
4) Never let surplus resources go to waste. Some people build storage facilities. I tend to build/retrofit ships, and then build storage only if I can't spend my surplus.
5) Units are a waste. Fighters are point defense fodder. Satelites are just for cloak detection. Don't bother with mines unless there's AI in the game, or you want an invisible scout between you and the enemy. When a human player attacks, he usually brings a couple of sweepers with him.
6) Trade colonization tech as early on as possible. If you delay, somebody else is gonna get the tech.
7) If there's AI grab their colonization tech then declare war as soon as you're ready. They're only taking up space on planets you could be using. Not to mention your very existence is usually good enough reason for them to declare war. No need to let such scum live
8) (optional) Get organic tech - This tech lets you crank out ships at a cheap cost FAST. Dreadnoughts in 3 turns without emergency build or SY III is possible. Since most people use PPBs, Organic armor gives you quite an edge.

I don't declare war unless one empire is building too many ships or colonizing too many planets. Other people are most likely worried about it as well, so there won't be any shortage of allies.

Stellar manipulation - I haven't been in a game that Lasted long enough for this to be of any use. It's usually Last on my list of research priorities. Monoliths take too long to build, other techs are too expensive to research.

[Gorgo]

You surrendered in Diplowar? Your empire is not marked as dead yet, so this comes as a surprise!

That part about trading colonization tech raises some questions: How do you get humans to trade that, as it immediately produces competition in colonizing the same planet types? I would think twice to trade this tech, unless the other player is at the other end of the galaxy.

What about weapon platforms? I used to think they're good for their range and power (and zero maintenance), and as you can't do the missile dance in PBW, they should be much better than any bases which tend to orbit on the wrong side of the planet when attacked. Or do you rely mainly on ships for planetary defense?

[Shoujo]

Should show up next turn. It probably hasn't shown up as dead because it takes a turn to send a message, and another turn for it to be accepted.

I used to think just like you, until in one game I found myself being the only player who didn't have more than one type of colonization tech Yes, trading it does create competition, but people are generally don't establish colonies in your systems because they don't want to start any wars early on in the game. So the only competition you have is over systems that aren't yours in the first place

Weapons platforms - I use them against AI if I don't have mines yet. While there's a good chance that AI will attack your planets, the exact opposite seems to be true with people. Even human players that are psychotic berserkers don't want wars so early on in the game.