How soon do you research Intelligence?

[Arkcon]

Originally posted by Elowan:
How many facilities/planet? Or is it only so many/system?

Someone else has begun to quote SunTzu, I feel compelled to make make a feeble attempt myself:

To lift an autumn hair is no sign of great strength;to see the sun and moon is no sign of sharp sight;to hear the noise of thunder is no sign of a quick ear.

Discover for yourself what works, and treasure that information, it is a more valuable weapon than Wave Motion Gun III

[Elowan]

Originally posted by Arkcon:

Discover for yourself what works, and treasure that information, it is a more valuable weapon than Wave Motion Gun III

Thank you, oh wise one! But Last time I checked - I wasn't a grasshopper.

[Gryphin]

I would tell you but then I would have to have you terminated.
Other than that, Against the AI, I wait till they strike first. By the time they start to do damage I can build up sufficent counter intell.

[Kimball]

I start to research/build them almost immediately. Intelligence is a very potent weapon against the AI. Right now, I am 235 turns into a game and generating and generating 672,000 intelligence points. The next closest player is about 110,000 points. Using Puppet Political parties, I am taking over a planet from the AI every turn or so.

Granted, this is against all AI players, and probably wouldn't work agaist a human player if you set the game to "view all players scores."

[capnq]

It depends what race I'm roleplaying. A pacifistic race or one that values honor won't research it until they start getting attacked; a more aggressive or xenophobic race will start researching at first contact.

I try to build enough intel centers to produce enough points to do an offensive project in one turn; beyond that, I try to balance my research and intel output.

[Baron Munchausen]

Against the AI it's not a big deal to wait a while for Intel level 1. The AI is usually terrible at building up either research or intel points. Against humans you'd better have at least level 1 so you can defend yourself very soon after first contact. Before is better.

[ August 10, 2002, 20:44: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]

[Q]

I research and build up intel as soon as possible, mostly around turn 20-50 and I use only planets with low value for that. My experience was, that if you are getting hit by intel completely unprepared you are in big trouble. Don't forget the AI bonus, which can increase its intel points by factor 2-5!