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Post by odomi on Jul 20, 2015 20:27:30 GMT -5
I remember when I was young and played Pokémon, the difficulty is based on who you pick as your starter.
With that in mind, do any of you tried choosing the worst faction combo to start to make the game more difficult?
If I were to rank factions (not including the clans, I just bought them today)
1. Thulun - Speed - building/research
2. Cadar - Speed - building
3. Javat - Mining Bonus, tough choice between Cadar and Javat, but Javat is hard pressed at early stage.
4. De Valtos - Trade Econony, merchant academy (mid to late game money)
5. Rychart - research speed
6. Steel Song - Defense doesn't really work due to game mechanics (WK - OP). New vessel really not so much of an advantage with 5 exp.
I tried using the top 3, it was too easy on Hard.
I just finished with 1,2 & 4. Took a little longer but no sweat on Crazy.
I will try a game with no speed builders, but will probably use both money machines...or maybe just one?! depends on what I'm in the mood for.
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Post by dadacp on Jul 27, 2015 2:39:18 GMT -5
I tried starting with Cadar and Thulun, and found that I couldn't expand and colonize new worlds without running out of money. I asked myself, "What is the point of having extra Construction Points if I don't have the $ to use them?". I switched to starting with De Valtos and Clan Moklumnue for the $. Those two factions are fantastic for rapid early expansion. New colonies are profitable from the very beginning.
Playing on Hard on large maps, I spam new colonies as fast as possible, under the constraint of keeping the factions balanced. That gives me plenty of $, RPs and EPs. The Xeno don't develop World Killers for the first few years, so I can concentrate on expanding my economy. The only military research I do is the 2 techs needed to get stock Wolf Cruisers, which are good enough in the beginning. After exploring the whole map, I place my beginning ships and a couple of Wolf Cruisers on planets next to the Xeno, and keep poking them to keep their ship numbers down. I cut off the Xeno expansion early with my own colonies, and they don't seem to ever develop to be much of a threat.
So if I want a more exciting game, I would leave out De Valtos and Clan Moklumnue, crippling my early expansion and allowing the Xeno to develop into more of a threat.
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Post by euphorion on Jul 27, 2015 7:52:17 GMT -5
Hmmm....I found the opposite to be true. Especially early game Cadar and Thulun worlds are way more profitable than Javat simply because I can actually build tons of mines early on on them, whereas Javat worlds seem to struggle to keep up with pop growth until you could build some factories and some extra habs. Only then you can start building those Mines.
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Post by En1gma on Jul 27, 2015 9:41:28 GMT -5
Honestly one of my favorite combinations is the Javat/Thulun/Steel Song set.
My best combination is Thulun/Javat/Mokk. This set has more money than they can spend and it really helps in the end game when you need massive fleets to exterminate the Xeno.
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Post by En1gma on Jul 27, 2015 9:42:38 GMT -5
Cadar/Thulun/Javat is strong until they run out of money...
Really the only factions I don't play are Rychart and Zenrin.
-Rychart because I don't focus on EP. If I want RP I take Thulun.
-Zenrin because I don't ever worry about morale loss. If I lose a point of morale, a spice festival brings it right back.
Honestly the only reason I would take Zenrin would be for their Invasion Transports. Past that they're very meh for me.
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Post by elwoodps on Jul 27, 2015 10:15:02 GMT -5
En1gma, what difficulty level do you play on?
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Post by odomi on Jul 27, 2015 10:35:27 GMT -5
Honestly one of my favorite combinations is the Javat/Thulun/Steel Song set. Can you tell me what makes Steel Song a good choice? I will test drive steel song to see if they really are Boss in scrimmages. |
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Post by En1gma on Jul 27, 2015 10:48:57 GMT -5
elwoodps- Normal difficulty odomi- Having their ships start with 5 EXP makes them slaughterhouses right off the starting line. If I recall, each 5 EXP raises ships ability by a level, making them more accurate, powerful, etc. - SS also starts with defenses, and that's very helpful when making new colonies on the Xeno fronts.
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Post by odomi on Jul 27, 2015 10:50:01 GMT -5
dadacpI find Cadar very convinient throughout the whome game. I play on crazy and time is extremely important that we don't get behind in economy or ship count. I usually end up with 2/3 of my fleet as cadar and I use cadar colony to advance my territory towards enemy fronts or plant a colony in the middle of xeno network. Cadar builds as fast as Thulun. They can build max mines, and spice dens early game. Get factories and hab units up, to match a possible refugee flooding keeping morale a perfect 10 all the time. And if idle, CP helps for extra income. My cadar colonies late game (before I go total invasion mode) are sitting idle ready to make new ships once xeno advances in tech. Cadar fleet protects High income slow building colonies.
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Post by odomi on Jul 27, 2015 11:09:47 GMT -5
En1gmaIn my opinion, Cruisers and fighters (with high evasion) in a defensive formation is a better colony defender than defensive building. To be frank, I build orbital defenses for housing and trade points. One cruiser, Two 2AP fighters, One Assault fighter can defend really well. Plus One repair Carrier and One Refuel tanker with high torp ability. I would usually add 1 or 2 extra fighter to maximize Multi-repair tech. And have the templar defenders to support.
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Post by En1gma on Jul 27, 2015 11:32:51 GMT -5
Completely agree. I just like it for the 'what if'. Not to mention their Faction specific building is fantastic-by the end game they are generating tons of EP, making negative politics a non issue.
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Post by Cory Trese on Jul 27, 2015 16:23:29 GMT -5
odomi is definitely wrong about the Defense thing, however. I think Steel Song is often under ranked by players, especially true for people who are new to the mechanics.
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Post by En1gma on Jul 27, 2015 17:03:58 GMT -5
Cory Trese- Would you mind explaining exactly what improvements ships receive per 5 EXP?
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Post by Cory Trese on Jul 27, 2015 17:17:16 GMT -5
Cory Trese- Would you mind explaining exactly what improvements ships receive per 5 EXP? Effectively, in every way, they are 1 XP short of getting 1 full level. At 6 XP, that ship will receive 1 additional dice for EVERY test it rolls. It is like +1 to every stat, effectively, when used actively. That is to say, when skills are rolled in defense, this bonus does not apply. Emotionally the impact may be small but it adds up very quickly from a math perspective. If you are a player that doesn't believe in XP (for whatever reason) than Steel Song will not be attractive. If you are a player that uses the XP system to their advantage, think about Steel Song as having every ship start with 5 kills OR successful invasions. That's huge |
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Post by En1gma on Jul 27, 2015 17:39:59 GMT -5
Thanks! I thought it was 5, so thanks for the clarification! Such a crazy boost in power...
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