Single System Maso. Any hints?

from Stardock Forums
Gigantic is too much of a chore for me, and played enough Huge/Large games, so I am attempting a Single System Maso game. Playing Small/Common first up. I dropped my +Speed pick as it would be useless obviously. Went for Influence and Social/Military Production plus Economy.

I cheated in that I Ctrl-Ned until I got a PQ20 Sol.
No resources in my home sector unfortunately.

My self imposed limitations are
- can only colonise the Sol system. (ie if I happened to get any yellow stars in my home sector I can't colonise them and must leave them for the AI - hence the Influence bonus to help me resist them) I have a PQ14 on Sol well which I will colonise.
- can only build 2 starbases in my home sector. No SBs in other sectors.
- can not invade planets. Any that may flip to me I must immediately hand over to the weakest AI I am at peace with.
- Military ships are not allowed to leave my sector. Only my survey ship is allowed out.
- I've enabled all the victory conditions as Military Victory is not allowed.

I know some other players have tried single sector/system/planet games so any hints would be appreciated.
thanks.

With no Military Victory (and small galaxy at first) I'll get a crap score so I hope my emporer forgives me :). Letting the ANZACs down abit here.
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Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
KseAli played single sector/system before. You can find his AAR by searching for "KseAli".

The keys in this type of scenario are Diplomacy and Alliance victory.

Alliance victory will give you a decent score. You can still complete alot of the tech tree by trading techs.

Have fun and post an AAR if you can.

~SDC~
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Letting the ANZACs down abit here.
End of quote


yeah RIGHT....

LOL LOL
Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
Not at all Jeff.. Enjoy yourself.. thats what its all about
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
I put an AAR of a single-sector game in the Maso strategies thread.

Your start conditions are much harder than mine though.
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
If you take the diplomacy bonus pick, make sure you research diplo translators and don't give them to anyone, then give 1 influence to each civ every couple of turns you can't lose.

This goes for every game not just your single system game but it certainly seems the easiest way to win your particular setup.
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
don't colonize the pq14. the difference in your taxable revenue is far higher having just the 20 IMHO, and the military production is useless. Granted I haven't run the numbers thoroughly yet . . .
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
You should pick diplomacy and influence bonuses. Social/Military Production will not be very useful as you will have no military worth anything on maso. Social might be useful to get the wonders built.
Economy bonus will be useless because you will get more money from trade if you've got a single system.

The key is to get allied with whoever is stronger, and bride the ai's to go at war against each other. Research victory seems hard so you will need an alliance victory. You will need the influence wonders to keep alien influence in check.
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
Hmmm I play maso and manage a nice military force, the key is numbers and keeping up with tech.
Though I do play each turn though it is my last (constant changing % spent and the like).

I usually don't have a military to begin with instead I colonise my system and a sector neighbouring - hopefully. Then I set about getting any early wonders, also trading techs with minors.

I then set up trade I should do this earlier but I forget... plus I notice every time my freighters are launched with no military I get attacked....). Then I build star bases in my systems to keep my current star systems (as I spend most of the time seeing someone elses influence greater then mine). If someone declares war, gift to your closest friends and they probably will come to your aid or give you ships. If you survive that (I mostly do, to my delight)

Then I build combat transports and some battleaxes for defense, then I scavenge planets at war... with only 2-3 planets each player depending on size of the map (tiny or small) I gain nice planets (lots of production) and possibly they are building ships I can't yet :D, plus any techs I get from invasion are nice. I also make sure the ones I am at war with now are kept busy or peace with them and get any extras if I can.

Next I look who is left.... if they are allied (Torians and Altarians) then I try to out tech them to excalibur. Otherwise I save up some money and build rangers and transports then, blitz them... I don't always win the first war but I manage to demand peace after conquering a few planets, from there it just gets easier. I sometimes mingle culture conquest into this to make me even with who ever is left.

Thats how I play off the top of my head and I enjoy it! Thats what I love about this game, the variety of ways to win you don't have to lock yourself into the same tactics. Also try playing a few games on abundant and spend the first few turns building colony ships only.

Industrialist (+20 social +20 military productions) +20 economic, +10 social production, +10 military production +50 diplomacy. I didn't always play like this but hey I churn out ships and build up wonders like you wouldn't believe... I make up for the other areas by securing and protecting starbases. This isn't the best way but it matches my latest style of play and keeps me interested. Sorry for the long post! :D

~SDC~