How do you do that, Dragonlord?

[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.

[Deathstalker]

I have been reading this thread with interest, and thought I would inject some of my own pbw thoughts (hopefully I don't intrude too much).

1: Weapon choices: VERY important, watch out for Engine Overloading Weapons, can be deadly!! (I always use them, very good against those who rely on short ranged weapons such as null-space). Don't rely on PPB too much, players develop Phased Shields earlier than the AI, APB almost seems a better choice (more range).

2: Armor: Definite must, stealth armor can decide a game early.

3: planet busting weapons: Plague bombs and such, good but watch out, using plagues seems to get everyone in a tizzy!

4: Shipyards! I tend to have one on almost every planet! (and watch out that you don't have only one Space Port per system, if it gets knocked out you could lose resources fast, getting half your fleet scrapped!!).

5: Planet/atmosphere type & Racial abilities. Very important to choose the right mix. I usually go for rock or Ice with none for atmosphere, moons everywhere!!, but Gas has min size of medium so they are good as well. If you do go for rock/ice none then the racial bonus for more storage/facilities is a must!!

Anyway, hope I havn't rambled too much, and hope I provided some points to ponder....if not just ignore and continue ....

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"And what the hell would you know about sanity?" demanded Beatrice. "There are depressed lemmings on the edge of cliffs who've got a better grasp on reality than you have. And more common sense."--Simon R. Green 'Deathstalker Rebellion'.

"We are all...the sum of our scars"....(paraphrased) Matt. R. Stover-'Blade of Tyshalle'.

[Shoujo]

While I like APBs (very cheap) myself, I've heard some compelling arguments why PPBs are better.

Even without the shield-penetrating ability they're good weapons in and of themselves. There's a table somewhere on this forum which shows that PPBs have one of the best damage/firing rate per kiloton ratios of all weapons.

PPBs cost the same to research as APBs (not including the cost for getting Physics II), and deal significantly better damage at equivalent levels. You need at least APB VIII or IX before you can even begin to compare its damage to PPBs.

[Dragonlord]

I liked the combo of Rock/none with Advanced Storage Techniques when Shoujo mentioned it to me (the moons! of course !) but now I am in 3 games with that race setup, and seems like *everybody* is doing it now, which causes a lot of competition for planets. It also makes it harder to find a human player you can exchange colonists with (cheap way to avoid atmosphere converters), and I sometimes have a hard time convincing a Gas player that his Gas tech is worth less than my Rock tech, (in a trade) because I cannot get breathable Gas planets while he can get breathable rocks.

[Shoujo]

You've brought up an interesting point... In one game both my neighbors have rock/none I wouldn't be willing to give up the moon advantage, so no gas for me. I've been considering going ice/none. Only problem is I'm not sure how common ice planets/moons are. In every game I play I have the odd feeling that for whatever reason there aren't enough planets of my type

In case you're reading this Deathstalker, how lucky have you been finding ice/none planets or moons?

If only I could find that one tabe (which I foolishly did not link) which had a full listing of the ratios of get rock/gas/ice planets and the various atmospheres you would be likely to see in a game...

[BeeDee10]

Hrmph. I chose rock/none and advanced storage for very good roleplaying reasons; my race were a race of self-replicating industrial robots that had originally created to do space exploration and development for an organic species. I was rock/none+adv. storage _before_ it was cool!

I think that ultimately the best atmosphere/planet type to choose for your race is "the one that nobody else is using in that particular game." Good luck guessing.