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Post by faygo on Nov 10, 2018 20:35:26 GMT -5
Hey everyone! Hope everyone's having a good weekend  Anyway I am pretty new to ST4x and I was wondering if there was a good starting strategy? Couldn't find what I was looking for so I figured I'd post! I'm not looking for things involving mechanics tutorial or anything! I'm basically looking for what one would do to get the best start possible! Basically my strategy ATM is Colonize yellow systems, research, Colonize red systems and build mines, and I mean basically that's all I've got haha. Also off topic but if I leave the Zeno's uncheck for a long time and simply protect what I have will they continue to expand!? I really hope so because I want to basically grow my empire into a massively strong power, and eventually once the Zeno's are basically as good as they're going to get then I want to face them. |
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Post by ntsheep on Nov 10, 2018 21:25:01 GMT -5
Welcome. The games tutorial is pretty good at getting you started on the basics of game play. Once you understand those, there's really no wrong or right way to play. The enemies will leave you alone until they find you for the most part. Try and focus on steady building of the colonies and research at the same time and you should be ok. The size of the maps has a lot to do with how long it may be before you find each other and start warring. On small maps and low difficulty, you can start taking over the quadrant pretty quick with only around a third of the research tree done. Have fun and experiment with things till you find your own style.
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Post by infernaltexts on Nov 10, 2018 21:28:42 GMT -5
There are 3 distinct phases to any 4x game, st4x is no different.
Phase 1 - Pioneer/Exploration Phase
This is a massive land grab where you try to expand as much as possible without angering your neighbors. Don't forget about your explorer, it's a nice boost to your early game and much more important in higher difficulties. You should normally construct a decent number of ships without overwhelming your economy. You want to try and expand your empire, in this game, on the same rate. Try to avoid having too many planets with just one faction or else they will squabble like children and make you easy pickings for the xeno. You are most vulnerable in this phase to in-fighting and sudden xeno incursions.
Phase 2- Industrial Revolution
This phase is when you will use the economy expansion and research production to finally restructure your empire, putting factories and hab units up like crazy, while also finishing up research that allows you to make the most out of your planets. In this phase you need to focus on forming a fleet that can protect your borders from the xeno ( this game doesn't allow you to easily field a fleet that can protect every system ). When you finally get up to around hab unit 4 and battlecruiser tech you are nearing the end of this phase normally. Never forget that spice dens will make your research go faster, and staying ahead of the Xeno is KEY!
Phase 3 - Victory Phase
If you have laid a good foundation of expansion, and industrialization in the game, then by this point you should be focusing on going for things that really matter to stay ahead of your empires needs, while also fielding a terrifyingly powerful fleet to snuff out the enemies of Shalun! This is when the legends your empire will speak of for milennia to come will come from. Terrible battles of space hulks firing high energy beams, fueled by massive mines and industry on your planets. Your people will be happy and buying all of your trade goods up. Research heavy invasion fleets, and sack the xeno worlds.
A summary: At the beginning expand quickly, explore anomalies ( send ships to scout the map! ) and build up a small defense fleet while the xeno are weak. Make sure you build mines and factories! ( Getting the exchange 2 from the first tech tree is also nice)
Phase 2 begins when expansion stops, at this point you need to really get your economy going by focusing on building your mines into their better variants, getting your factories rolling, and polishing off a shiny new fleet with all that delicious RP you'll start teccing out with. Remember to balance your research between infrastructure and economy, don't forget about your faction buildings, in this phase they are very powerful.
Phase 3: Use your past choices and crush the xeno! At this point you've either already won or lost usually, focus on research and squeezing the last out of your economy.
As an added note, having an exact strategy in a 4x game is difficult because the AI often does strange things. Most of the time you are reacting to problems ( or hopefully predicting them ) as they happen.
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Post by resistor on Nov 10, 2018 21:33:02 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum! People's strategies tend to vary by the map and the factions they have, so it's hard to say what the best starting strategy is. Personally, I usually rush down the space colonization tech tree to be able to get upgraded colony ship modules before expanding. "Also off topic but if I leave the Zeno's uncheck for a long time and simply protect what I have will they continue to expand!?"The xenos will spread to nearby uninhabited systems if left unchecked, but sometimes that is necessary to tolerate that while you build up your own strength. If it helps, here's a link to a let's play video series on this game made by LordofSyn : www.youtube.com/watch?v=jenJTsThTpI&list=PLnGkjN5d2F3IlMAwO-Ww5YmAHlAIPNc_m |
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Post by faygo on Nov 10, 2018 22:08:40 GMT -5
Hey! I would just like to start by telling you I seriously appreciate your help, and the effort you went through to help me! Seriously thank you! And also what I'm about to say is not mean in any type of way other than me trying to give you info about where I'm at at this point with the game! I've done the tutorial! Had to play it twice I'm slow af. 😂 Yeah I figured out they'd leave me alone for plenty of time to build a fleet! I actually found them super early on the 150 sun's map! First map I played (still my first game other than tutorial) then so had this huge war I was semi unprepared for 😂 I actually had a decent sized fleet but it was all the cheapest ship I had! Then they caught me by surprise and started kicking my butt so I started pumping out stronger ships and finally finished off their fleet! And again thank you! But what I meant about the Zeno's is do they expand until eventually they find me or do they only colonize a set number? I ask because I want them to expand as much as they can, and we will race for systems until we have to fight for territory xD Welcome. The games tutorial is pretty good at getting you started on the basics of game play. Once you understand those, there's really no wrong or right way to play. The enemies will leave you alone until they find you for the most part. Try and focus on steady building of the colonies and research at the same time and you should be ok. The size of the maps has a lot to do with how long it may be before you find each other and start warring. On small maps and low difficulty, you can start taking over the quadrant pretty quick with only around a third of the research tree done. Have fun and experiment with things till you find your own style. |
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Post by faygo on Nov 10, 2018 22:09:46 GMT -5
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Post by faygo on Nov 10, 2018 22:12:43 GMT -5
Sweeeeet thanks alot!! 😊 Welcome to the forum! People's strategies tend to vary by the map and the factions they have, so it's hard to say what the best starting strategy is. Personally, I usually rush down the space colonization tech tree to be able to get upgraded colony ship modules before expanding. "Also off topic but if I leave the Zeno's uncheck for a long time and simply protect what I have will they continue to expand!?"The xenos will spread to nearby uninhabited systems if left unchecked, but sometimes that is necessary to tolerate that while you build up your own strength. If it helps, here's a link to a let's play video series on this game made by LordofSyn : www.youtube.com/watch?v=jenJTsThTpI&list=PLnGkjN5d2F3IlMAwO-Ww5YmAHlAIPNc_m |
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Post by brentaur on Mar 8, 2019 19:15:41 GMT -5
My best advice for the early game is just to build mines. Don't worry too much about overcrowding in the short term. Address it, but no matter what else is going on, keep building mines. This is the best way to maintain your revenue stream when bad politics and other in game factors take a chunk out of your profits per turn. Even on impossible I have little trouble with income if i continuously keep increasing mining.
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