Locked in?

from Stardock Forums
Is anyone else finding themselves largely locked in to a specific successful strategy? I find myself over and over following these basic steps no matter what kind of game I start out intending to play:

1. Using speed and possibly range picks, expand out as quickly as possible while doing absolutely no research or social production. Get more planets than anyone else by at least a factor of 10:7 or so.
2. When habitable planets are exhausted, switch all construction to constructors. Continue avoiding social or research spending.
3. When resources are claimed or other races begin to grow a military, rush to phasers, and convert 1/2 to 2/3 of the constructors to star fighters for an instant military deterrent.
Then concurrently:
a) Keep the star figher brigade growing just enough to keep the AI's away while switching mostly to social and research production.
b) Use massive tech-trading to catch up in tech. Sell techs to keep production/reaserch boosted to 75+%.
c) Use low taxes to keep a minimum of half my planets at 100% morale. Wait for my population to outstrip everyone else's and then own them all in any way I choose.

The last 4 or 5 games I've played have ended up being merely refinements of this basic strategy...my last game I built exactly 3 types of military units: star fighters, corvettes, and excaliburs. The first two kept the slimy aliens away while I got to the 3rd, and then I won. Of course, by that time my massive population's influence had culture-flipped roughly 2/3ds of each of the other empires to me, so the military win was rather superfluous.

Has anyone else found their "mode" and been unable to do things differently once they've found "what works"?

-EtherMage

~SDC~
2,283 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
What you've described is comparable to what I've fallen in to except...

2. When habitable planets are exhausted, switch all construction to constructors.
End of quote


With the expansion pack, the new anomalies make this a bit more of a risky venture, depending on how lucky you are with the placement of little green eggs. Starbases become shark food pretty quickly and it's more than a little irritating.

MC>

~SDC~
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
I use the exact same strategy for my games and it works fine on crippling as well. There is a possible window of misfortune when you are trying to catch up on military and research but I have not yet failed to do so.

In my next few games I'm going to either try masochistic (where I guess that the AI bonuses will make this strategy a bit harder to employ) or try rushing my neighbours. I usually never pick a fight unless I am sure to come out on top. :)

Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
When I fall into a rut, it's time to try some totally different racial picks. I was using +1 speed for a while. Lately I've been using +4 sensors.

If you haven't been putting anything into sensors, try it for a game to see if you like it. You'd be surprize at how easy it is to explore for good planets and resources.
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
I also use a very similar strategy and still find the game quite challenging. there have been quite a few games where I wasn't able to keep my "paper tiger" military built up high enough and was attacked and shreaded. Resulted in myself being more conscious of diplomacy as I have found some races will attack you even if you have a higher military rating than them.

Also, consider using corvettes rather than starfighters, as they provide a bigger military rating bang for the production cost.

Senator plephart
Come realize your 'Manifest Destiny' in The People's Empire
Join the Mid-Western Confederation at http://idle.thehueys.com/midwest
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
If you are getting bored with a specific strategy, my best advice is to go up to the next difficulty level. I still need to get bored at masochistic :)
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
I will go to masochistic as soon as the expansion pack is out! I can't stand tedious micro-management and I see rally points as a real exciting addition. My "crippling - huge" was a fairly easy win but going to war was a real bore having to micromanage all ships.

Mm... To be able to play gigantic galaxies!
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
never done any of what u said, and i have climbed up from beginner to normal and am now at above average difficulty.

the great thing about this game is the many ways one can find to win.

Have fun!