Could use some advice on a 'tough' game

from Stardock Forums
I'd admit that I was getting cocky since for my fifth game I crushed a challenging level game a couple months after getting frigates. Now, I'm amazed at anyone who can win on the more difficult levels.

I am playing a tough level game and I can't keep up in anything even with more planets, now I've even fallen behind on planets. I have two advantages an incredible diplomatic skill (+60 starting plus diplomatic translators and a starbase) that allowed me to trade diplo translaters, stellar cartography, and basic repair to the Alterians for Battleship Technology that would have taken me 60+ months to research and a laundry list of techs each civilization needs due to my tech / trade good brokering.

The Yor had an awesome starting position and I was able to bribe everyone else to eliminate them when they came after me. Now relations are slowly falling with both the Drendin and the Altarians, despite trade and technology sales. I may be able to fight the Altarians, but the Drendin would wipe the floor with me. With two hostile empires, I don't think I can bribe enough people to help me. Worse, I'm smack dab in the middle of a small map.

I also haven't been able to get up past a 'friendly' relationship with anyone to forge an alliance. I'm not going to win this game militarily or by influence - and I'm not even 0% on a tech victory, so it looks like I'm going to have to deal with either or both threats to stay in the game.

I'd appreciate any advice. I'm going to post this game to Metaverse win or lose, so anyone whose curious can see how it ended up.

Thanks,
Michael

~SDC~
203 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
Many posts by Staffa and RayChua on this subject.

At this point here is what I will do:

1.) Your military rating must be higher. Check your graph, how far behind are you?

-Make sure your taxes are below 50 percent. 49 tax with around 64 percent approval rate should do fine.
-If you aren't far behind, put military building to as high as you can and start building Corvettes, until your graph is higher than others. If necessary put social building to 0 percent. They will immediately stop bothering you when your graph is higher. Your relations with other races will immediately get better depending on alignment+military size. Keep building corvettes until your graph is higher than AIs. After your military is stable.

Building this military has stinted your social and research, but now nobody bothers you. Send out those freightors and start building research or social, whichever you want and see how that goes.

Hope RayChua or Staffa give you better advice and good luck.
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
J4 thanks for the advise. I did pull the game out. The Drendin attacked in mass a few turns later. I saw them coming and launched a massive counteract after seeing they left there planets were undefended. My faster ships took two of there best systems while there were cleaning up by corvettes and I was able to sue for pease before they took any of my systems.

Your advise worked well...
Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
I play games that come out to tough, usually now on medium maps. but they are actually "near painful" as many of my ai's are set to painful. It is possible to keep a tech edge, contrary to the posted opinions of others, even on painful and crippling while maintaining a decent (on paper) fleet. The Key to this level is to go for broke in the planet grab. And to find a Cash cow tech that the aliens don't get early and get it. Someone's been altering the Drengin Tech Tree. They now go right for my former cash cow tech. But It only took me two games to find another :)