New player struggling

Gryphin · #1 April 3rd, 2002, 03:00 PM

Andy,
"I have got to the point where I have military alliances with everyone. They appear to fight amongst themselves and send me threatening Messages if I continue to be allied to their enemy"
"I of course just ignore all their Messages. They then do nothing and pretend they hadn't sent them...."

That is how I handle it. Meanwhile I:
1) Research as much as possible
2) Try to determine who;
A) Is the most likley to attack me
B) Who I could Asorb / Defeat
C) Make long range preparations to deal with "A" while keeping "B" in mind.
3) Build as few ships as possible since they will become obsolete quickly
During times of relative peace I research "Applyed Research" and other techs that lead to stronger overall foundation to build on.
I use this time to uprade all facilies.
Good time to start researching Intel. It can be a good initial defence when your ships are obsolete.
I hope this makes sence. There is more but overall, "Talk Softly and Research Big Sticks"

[ 03 April 2002: Message edited by: Gryphin ]

Andy Watkins · #2 April 3rd, 2002, 04:51 PM

Gryphin,

I tried that a game ago was going good for a few years then got hit by one bad guy and couldn't stop them.

Now doing basically the same except also keeping a good fleet in being.

Also sticking lots of satellites on all my warp points. My understanding is it should slow down an attacker AND you don't pay maintenance for them once built??

Andy

"Talk Softly and Research Big Sticks"

[ 03 April 2002: Message edited by: Gryphin ][/QB][/quote]

mac5732 · #3 April 3rd, 2002, 05:11 PM

Andy, also build several Med or Large Battlestations at your critical wormholes along with your sats and a small to average minefield. Be sure that you put a space yard, mine layer, satilite layer bays on your BS's, that way you can build them on site instead of trucking them across the system. Also put your best scanner on at least 1 sat or BS in each system so you can look for cloaked ships..

just some ideas mac

Andy Watkins · #4 April 3rd, 2002, 05:13 PM

Mac,

Still early in game, I haven't built battlestations yet. Do I build them and carry them in a very large cargo hold? Or do I build a ship with a spaceyard on it and build them in situ?

I presume the latter

Andy

Andy, also build several Med or Large Battlestations at your critical wormholes along with your sats and a small to average minefield.

mac5732 · #5 April 3rd, 2002, 05:18 PM

Andy, use ship with space yard to build your BS, then once its built both your BS and shipyard ship can both build at the same time at same location, also build BS over your primary planets and use those for shipyards, this frees up space on your planets for better facilities and if you have several, you can build multiple ships at the same location close to the same time frames. Remember they are expensive to maintain, so pick your locations carefully, also by having 2 or more together you can upgrade them 1 at a time without taking away all your defense.

just some ideas mac

tesco samoa · #6 April 3rd, 2002, 07:16 PM

Battle stations have a reduction in Maintance by 50%. (Then again it could just be the mod I am playing.)

So build them and use them.

A good stag is to build some space yard stations 500 kt size with the command units ( non computer core ) 1 ship yard and 2 point defences.

Then use these to build the larger space stations ( for defence away from planets or in conjunction with planet yards)

That way you can que up these yards and let them build away.

Gryphin · #7 April 3rd, 2002, 07:26 PM

Yes do keep fleets stratiegicaly placed. I guess I should have said build as few ships as possible.
mac makes some good points.
Here is my view of Space Stations at warp points;
Note: I hate a static defence so the following should be taken with that in mind.
1) Major investment that must be protected and can't be moved when you expand.
2) They take a lot of time to build so you will need a fleet there to protect the Ship Yard Ships
3) If you play tactical combat a Satellite carrier backed by a small ship can be very effective. The Satellite carrier can dispence the sats in smaller Groups so you can select your targets. I have actualy put "walls" of sats in front of my missle ships. The ship acts as bait to get the AI to come through the sats. The sats can inflict a lot of pain before the AI reaches the ship. This type of defence can expand as your empire expands. When deploying sats in tacticle put the older ones out in front to get chewed up first.
This defence will not work well in stratiegic mode.