|
|
Post by tenbsmith on Apr 2, 2015 12:53:18 GMT -5
Generally, in 4X games I try to get ahead on research. Once you're ahead on research you can "Crush your enemies. See them driven before you. Hear their lamentations."
I'm relatively new to ST4XE, but here are some of my early thoughts based upon limited experience.
Early in my current play through, I'm researching 2 Planetary Construction techs for every 1 Starship Construction tech. My rationale being that that economy, manufacturing and research are the foundations of victory. Starships are just an extension of those three. At some point I'm going to throttle back to a more balanced investment between the two main limbs of the research tree.
Another thing I'm doing is building extra Spice Dens as an inexpensive way to boost research points.
I'm looking for reactions, other approaches, really, any sort of commentary.
|
|
|
|
Post by hlo on Apr 2, 2015 13:40:56 GMT -5
Ok then, Conan the Barbarian.
The higher your difficulty goes, the longer you want to wait before going out to attach the xenos. For me I stick with the default research of "Planetary Construction 1" but switch over to "Starship Construction 1" once that is done so I can build colony ships for expansion. For the bigger maps it should be couple years before the xenos will find you, so focus on planetary side a bit more. You will need Hab 2 and some kind of Spice Den soon enough. It will not hurt getting "Starship Construction 3" so you can get the cruiser just in case. Once you can grow and maintain your systems, start research the better reactors, railguns, and torpedoes. That way you can customize the ships for harder hitting power.
|
|
|
|
Post by tenbsmith on Apr 2, 2015 15:17:13 GMT -5
Just updated the title to include colonization. I've been conservative with colonization, trying not to have too many new colonies at once. I'm at 2.32 in my current game with only 6 colonies (the original 3, plus 3 new ones). I'm about to make a push to add 3 more.
I focus on star systems that give me the best chance of reasonable high quality early on. (Later, technology offers solutions for lower quality stars systems.) So, I've been skipping the 2-20 quality star systems for now. I got burned on one of those once.
|
|
|
|
Post by tenbsmith on Apr 3, 2015 15:32:57 GMT -5
I was in a rush when I posted yesterday and didn't have a chance to say, thanks hlo . |
|
|
|
Post by bookworm21 on Apr 3, 2015 16:12:59 GMT -5
I find that getting the star port 2 and 3 colony modules are especially worthwhile; especially for the higher difficulty levels where you only get the star port.
I have found that some colonies are just plain old bad and sit at -50 income for ages until i can get them running properly.
Especially on the lower difficulties, i make a beeline for the exchanges 1 and 2, followed up by Hab 2. I personally find exchanges much more risky in higher difficulties, as there are many more negative conflicts which neutralise them and turn them into a money drain really fast.
Apart from the coloniser ships, I tend to leave ship upgrades until my current designs prove obselete, at which point I go to fighters 3.
When I decide to start a counter attack I will go all the way up to Planetary Invasion 3 (I think it is called that)
Usually mining is, after habs and the lvl2 exchanges, my main research focus.
With regards to ships, I really like the cruisers. It can be hard to justify their cost though sometimes, especially for local defense where the 2AP heavy barrage fighters rule.
Sorry for the rambling nature of this post, I will try to come back an clean it up later. :/
|
|
|
|
Post by CdrPlatypus on Apr 3, 2015 21:32:53 GMT -5
I tend to follow the current turorials initial research path it works really well for me. Planetary 1 -> starship 1 -> politics 2 to get exchanges -> hab2 -> space colonization. Initially I try to get most of my reasearch by expanding with multiple colonies and dropping an exchange on almost everyone. I also like to go for lvl 2 mines fairly early
For my initial military I like fighters 3, reactors 1, and then whatever it is where you get the paladin carrier design. I find 2-shot fighters backed up by a carrier make a great relatively low cost defense fleet. I tend not to run many cruises because they can't be repaired in the field and fighters specced in gun decks and captins with mostly gun skill can run on zero water fuel and hit consistently with just barrage
|
|
|
|
Post by hlo on Apr 4, 2015 0:31:42 GMT -5
Just updated the title to include colonization. I've been conservative with colonization, trying not to have too many new colonies at once. I'm at 2.32 in my current game with only 6 colonies (the original 3, plus 3 new ones). I'm about to make a push to add 3 more. I focus on star systems that give me the best chance of reasonable high quality early on. (Later, technology offers solutions for lower quality stars systems.) So, I've been skipping the 2-20 quality star systems for now. I got burned on one of those once. I usually play Hard. My 3 factions are: Thulun (+2 cp or +2 rp) , Cadar (+2 CP), and Clan Javat ( +4 credits per mineral). I believe your very first 3 systems are going to be maxed out. For me the Red stars have high mineral count and those will go for Javat for first colony. Look around anyway before deciding which 3 system you want to start off with. Send out the 3 ships to scout around to see what are out there. Keep balance count for the 3 factions when it comes to colonies as that will save you from lots of political issues. When time to pick the 2nd three colonies, go out further if I can. |
|
|
|
Post by elwoodps on Apr 5, 2015 10:12:59 GMT -5
..... Another thing I'm doing is building extra Spice Dens as an inexpensive way to boost research points....... I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that building more than one Spice Den or Hall per world doesn't further increase RP.  You only get the RP boost from one of them (hopefully the best one)..... |
|
|
|
Post by fallen on Apr 5, 2015 10:51:31 GMT -5
elwoodps - that is not the case. You get the bonus per Spice Hall.
|
|
|
|
Post by bookworm21 on Apr 5, 2015 14:42:07 GMT -5
Although you do need to make sure you have enough population to activate the RP, otherwise building more spice dens will not benefit you from an RP point of view  . I think max RP activated = population + 1 fallen could you confirm this? |
|
|
|
Post by elwoodps on Apr 5, 2015 21:04:32 GMT -5
elwoodps - that is not the case. You get the bonus per Spice Hall. Thanks for the correction! Where quality permits, I'll definitely take advantage of that going forward.  Three Spice Den 1s, compared to a Spice Den 3, cost 40% less to build, 40% less to maintain and give you 50% more RP!  |
|
|
|
Post by Cory Trese on Apr 6, 2015 13:47:57 GMT -5
I can confirm that RP is Population activated, and this is also in the Library.
|
|
|
|
Post by bookworm21 on Apr 6, 2015 15:00:44 GMT -5
Knew I'd seen it somewhere, thanks.
Speaking of the library, are the entries in boxes supposed to be category headings?
|
|
|
|
Post by fallen on Apr 6, 2015 15:07:42 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by tenbsmith on Apr 23, 2015 11:09:22 GMT -5
Could someone confirm a couple of observations I’ve made about RP?
--Early in the game, most colonies start with 2 RP: 1 for being a colony, and 1 for having a Starport.
--The +1 RP of a Spice Den only needs 1 population to be activated. So, the first Spice Den on a new colony with population of <5 will provide +1 RP (Even with a Prime Starport that entertains 5 population). Likewise, the second Spice Den on a colony with population of >=6 will provide +1 RP.
|
|
