First "Real" Game AAR
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Okay, after playing some smaller maps to learn the ropes, I started a game with the default AI alignments, normal intelligence, gigantic 24x24 galaxy, scattered (I don't like clustered), common habital worlds. I disabled alliance and cultural victory (cultural is so easy to get) and went straight for research. The game played mostly under 1.03A but towards the end I upgraded to 1.04. I played straight up Good... I select the A choice every event.
My main goal early was expansion. I set my tax rate at 39% and kept it there almost the entire game. I tried to grab as much territory as possible as early as possible while researching tech. Most of my planets build colony ships, but I would also build a few scouts to help me scope out territory faster. My plan was to colonize anything PQ 13 or higher. In retrospect this was probably a bad idea, as I wound up making too many colonies that I just didn't need even after they had soil enhancement and habitat improvement. I still think PQ 14 worlds are worth colonizing, however.
I started in the upper left corner of the map, about 1/3 of the way down. My initial expansion was to the "west"... big mistake. I ran into the Arceans right away... their home world was only a few sectors away from Sol. I tried redirecting my expansion southwest, but soon I ran into the Drengin Empire as well. North and East were clear, though, and after a slow start I got going well.
The Altarians turned out to be south and the Yor east. The Torians, meanwhile, had the southeast corner entirely to themselves and grew quite large. By the time the mid-game was underway, they were in the clear lead, holding about 1/3 of the galaxy and dominating the UP. I continued to pursue a peacful strategy and colonized as much as I could to expand my territory. I used cheap Scouts (unfortunately they have a maintenance fee now) to explore for anomalies and such and in the mid-game began to build lots of survey ships to get me lots of bonuses.
The mid-game was remarkably peacful. The Yor were relatively quiet and the Altairians and the Torians teamed up. The biggest problem was the occassional war between the Arceans and the Drengin, because they were pretty well contained along the west side of the map and had difficulty expanding.
Once I finally stopped colonizing and concentrated on building up infrastructure and research I really started to take off. My cultural influence became quite strong and my economy, thanks to heavy trade, soon outpaced everyone else.
I haven't mentioned starbases. That's because I don't really like them, especially early on in the game. Here's why:
1. Sure, they provide bonuses. But almost nothing I can't get just as quickly through tech advancements or local improvements.
2. Constructors cost a TON of money, money which is better spent on research and social spending. Not to mention that it takes several modules to really exploit a starbase, many of which aren't available until later in the game.
3. Building constructors takes up military build queues better spent on building scounts and survey ships and a military strong enough to deter attackers. By the time I actually have "free" military slots, it's well into the mid-game.
4. Starbases are frequently destroyed in wars. Thus I might as well not risk mine early on and wait until later... I can easily grab some from the AI players when their bases are destroyed.
On to the late game...
The Drengin were the first to collapse. They lost about half their systems when the Fundamentalists revolted from them and after that they were never a threat; they couldn't even defeat them in a war. They eventually surrendered to the Arceans, but by then they only had 2 systems left. The Altarians, meanwhile, slowly ground the Arceans down in war after war. The Torians and Altarians were allied for almost the whole game, and the Arceans eventually surrendered to the Torians to spite the Altarians. This catapulted the Torians back into considerable influence, and towards the end of the game I actually lost 3 planets to defections to the Torians because of this, but by then it was too late to matter. The Yor never seemed to do much; the Torians kept them in check militarily and they seemed to get into money problems and could never catch up.
I won with a tech victory. It was fun, but in retrospect, it took way too long. Gigantic galaxies are too large, and I spent too much time making lots of little colonies that I didn't need. I'm definitely playing on smaller galaxies now with stronger AI. I don't like the fact that tech victory takes SO LONG, and smaller maps won't help this. However, I'm not interested in military victory, alliance victory seems cheap to me, and cultural victory is just too easy to achieve. So I'm a little frustrated there. Perhaps the tech costs of some techs should be lowered, particularly the mid-level (1000 - 4000) ones?
Bruce
My main goal early was expansion. I set my tax rate at 39% and kept it there almost the entire game. I tried to grab as much territory as possible as early as possible while researching tech. Most of my planets build colony ships, but I would also build a few scouts to help me scope out territory faster. My plan was to colonize anything PQ 13 or higher. In retrospect this was probably a bad idea, as I wound up making too many colonies that I just didn't need even after they had soil enhancement and habitat improvement. I still think PQ 14 worlds are worth colonizing, however.
I started in the upper left corner of the map, about 1/3 of the way down. My initial expansion was to the "west"... big mistake. I ran into the Arceans right away... their home world was only a few sectors away from Sol. I tried redirecting my expansion southwest, but soon I ran into the Drengin Empire as well. North and East were clear, though, and after a slow start I got going well.
The Altarians turned out to be south and the Yor east. The Torians, meanwhile, had the southeast corner entirely to themselves and grew quite large. By the time the mid-game was underway, they were in the clear lead, holding about 1/3 of the galaxy and dominating the UP. I continued to pursue a peacful strategy and colonized as much as I could to expand my territory. I used cheap Scouts (unfortunately they have a maintenance fee now) to explore for anomalies and such and in the mid-game began to build lots of survey ships to get me lots of bonuses.
The mid-game was remarkably peacful. The Yor were relatively quiet and the Altairians and the Torians teamed up. The biggest problem was the occassional war between the Arceans and the Drengin, because they were pretty well contained along the west side of the map and had difficulty expanding.
Once I finally stopped colonizing and concentrated on building up infrastructure and research I really started to take off. My cultural influence became quite strong and my economy, thanks to heavy trade, soon outpaced everyone else.
I haven't mentioned starbases. That's because I don't really like them, especially early on in the game. Here's why:
1. Sure, they provide bonuses. But almost nothing I can't get just as quickly through tech advancements or local improvements.
2. Constructors cost a TON of money, money which is better spent on research and social spending. Not to mention that it takes several modules to really exploit a starbase, many of which aren't available until later in the game.
3. Building constructors takes up military build queues better spent on building scounts and survey ships and a military strong enough to deter attackers. By the time I actually have "free" military slots, it's well into the mid-game.
4. Starbases are frequently destroyed in wars. Thus I might as well not risk mine early on and wait until later... I can easily grab some from the AI players when their bases are destroyed.
On to the late game...
The Drengin were the first to collapse. They lost about half their systems when the Fundamentalists revolted from them and after that they were never a threat; they couldn't even defeat them in a war. They eventually surrendered to the Arceans, but by then they only had 2 systems left. The Altarians, meanwhile, slowly ground the Arceans down in war after war. The Torians and Altarians were allied for almost the whole game, and the Arceans eventually surrendered to the Torians to spite the Altarians. This catapulted the Torians back into considerable influence, and towards the end of the game I actually lost 3 planets to defections to the Torians because of this, but by then it was too late to matter. The Yor never seemed to do much; the Torians kept them in check militarily and they seemed to get into money problems and could never catch up.
I won with a tech victory. It was fun, but in retrospect, it took way too long. Gigantic galaxies are too large, and I spent too much time making lots of little colonies that I didn't need. I'm definitely playing on smaller galaxies now with stronger AI. I don't like the fact that tech victory takes SO LONG, and smaller maps won't help this. However, I'm not interested in military victory, alliance victory seems cheap to me, and cultural victory is just too easy to achieve. So I'm a little frustrated there. Perhaps the tech costs of some techs should be lowered, particularly the mid-level (1000 - 4000) ones?
Bruce