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Opening moves
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I've seen a couple of posts from ppl who are saying they are getting killed even on Cakewalk. This got me to thinking of the first game I played. I would've killed to have a list of "opening moves" to get me started on the right track. Since everybody has a little different strategy, I figured it would be good to have a few suggestions from players who have played a while to help some of the newbies.
My opening: (I play on Challenging/Huge/Uncommon although this is a pretty standard opening for me)
~Set Spending to 100%
~Set Military Spending to 60%
~Set Social Spending to 20%
~Set Research Spending to 20%
~Increase taxes to 50%
My research order every game:
~Communication Theory
~Universal Translator
~Diplomacy
~Trade
~Weapons Theory
~Phasers
~Photons
After this, I generally research Medical Theory, since the AI doesn't seem to research it and I can tech whore it pretty well.
Build order:
Colony ships from Sol - Send them on their way with 100 million colonists and keep building them continuously until all nearby yellow stars are colonized. Then, colonize any 14 PQ planets.
Soil Enhancement
Banking Center
Embassy
I build one scout after I colonize the first planet and send it out to explore. Then I start building Constructors. I try to start building a Starbase at the highest PQ planet as soon as possible. This will be upgraded with all Trade modules when I get freighters, but now I'm looking for production modules. Gotta be able to build Wonders, Acheivements, and Trade Goods fast!
Well, that's my opening moves. Probably a lot like everybody else's but I thought it might start some discussion if anybody does anything different!
Happy Gaming! 
          
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#1
by Veteran vincible - 8/28/2003 5:55:08 PM
Here's mine. I primarily play maso.
100% to military for first ships (colony ships and scouts, ratio and order depends on star density, clustering, and details of the star distribution)
When I feel like I have "enough" colony ships, switch to 100% social and get soil on every world. Excess production goes to entertainment.
Switch to 100% research, and adjust main spending slider to minimize waste.
Research communication and universal translator.
Research medical theory, trade it. Hopefully trade for Diplomacy and turn to Republic (the AI seriously undervalues Diplomacy for some reason).
Research Basic Environment. Trade it.
Switch to 100% social. Build Habitat, Banking Center on all or almost all worlds. Excess production goes to Entertainment Networks and whatever else looks good.
On maso, I would next get Improved Environment, and trade it and also use it to start some fights among the AIs. On lower levels I might do things differently.
After this, play it by ear.
[Message Edited]
    
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My opening moves:
~Set Spending to 100%
~Set Military Spending to 100%
~Increase taxes to highest level yet maintain 100% morale, I will mantain 100% (or very close) morale for most part of early game
~Build 1-3 scouts as needed, otherwise all colony ships, no constructors until mid game unless really needed for range extension to a juicy patch of planets
~Stay in colonizing mode until all in range PQ15 and above systems are tagged. I don't go for PQ14 yet because of the 5bc maintenance which is a lot in the early game.
~If communication with majors and minor is needed for tech trade, research Comm Theory, Univ Trans and Diplo before colonizing is finished, else I will wait till later
~Switch to 100% Social to build Soil and Bank
~Research Medical and Basic Env and build Basic Env
~If I get get Basic Env early, I will build Habitat before Bank
~I usually then go for Interstellar Refining and Zero Grav Research having gotten the pre-requisites through trade
Focus during this phase - Colonize planets, build PQ, pop growth, industry and research capabilities while trying to minimise maintenance. I will also get entertainment network quite soon to boost morale.
 
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Great post. Thank you.
Rick
  
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#5
by Citizen LDiCesare - 8/29/2003 10:49:34 AM
Here's mine. Mostly maso, up to medium size maps.
~Set Spending to 100%
~Set Military Spending to 100%
~Increase taxes to highest level yet maintain 100% morale
~Build a few colony ships, using the first and the survey ship to explore. On bigger maps, use one or two scouts too.
~Colonize all PQ 15 you can, and MAKE CONTACT with other civs.
~As soon as another race is met, switch to 100% research and get Comm Theory, then Univ Trans (you can usually put some funds back to military at this time since it's cheaper than Comm Theory) and see what the other civs have to trade. Trade whatever they have for your own techs. Most often at this point you can't do much trade, except if you met the Carinoids or Alexians.
Then I go between 50% social/50% science and 100% science to get PQ boosts, entertainment networks and banks, and research whatever tech the ai may want (medical theory, industrial theory are good choices). I'll often try to get Diplomacy and Trade from teh ai, switch to Republic, and research the TG tech (the one which allows 2 TGs and requires industrial theory, can't remember teh name), and trade it because the ai loves it.
Then, I may start building trade goods and pump social because I lagged in PQ enhancements.
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I don't go for PQ14 yet because of the 5bc maintenance which is a lot in the early game.
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I should've mentioned I take racial pick of +5% PQ, so when I colonize PQ14s they actually are PQ15s. 
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I don't think +5PQ can do that for you, Theoden. 14X1.05 is 14.7 which rounded down is 14.
However, it would go to 1.6 once Soil is built, which can be quite soon. So you may not need to be paying the 5bc for too long, which is ok.
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#8
by Citizen Bernie_au - 8/29/2003 8:14:31 PM
Theoden I am amazed to read ur opening moves, u dont get attacked?? I'v done almost the same as u on a much lower level and other civs get systems around mines, what happens after that is my systems get a red faced simbol which means they are turning over or I get attacked very quickly. I'v read somewhere in this forum that when other Civs see that u have a weak military or none at all, they start asking u for money, it is true for me, it isnt for u?? do u pay tribute??
 
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Hmm, I've just discovered something very interesting for myself. PQ14 planets are not penalised with the 5bc maintenance while PQ13 planets are. So I will be taking my PQ14s earlier than usual. Don't think there is a rush though as AIs are still slow to grab those.
Well, we learn a new thing everyday don't we?
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#11
by Citizen Bernie_au - 8/30/2003 8:26:26 AM
Noted Berserk74, tnx for the tip
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I don't take the PQ14 planets because I like to pump my tax rate up. I'll take them after I have a good economy going, but not until then. I can afford to wait because the AI does not go after those at all in 1.05. I'm not sure if this has changed in the beta.
 
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Sorry for taking so long to get back to this, but Labor Day weekend led me far away from GalCiv!
Ray: Yes, 14s don't penalize you enough to worry about. Plus, Soil Enhan. is the first item in my build list on every planet, so it gets bumped up pretty quick.
Bernie: yes, I play bigger maps. But if you notice, after I rush trade, I jump right into military techs. Usually, I can get a strong enough military to deter the AIs from attacking me.
Loth: I've found that the 14s don't hurt your morale bad enough to matter. Just build Soil Enh and Ent. Network, and bang! You've got a happy productive planet, eager to pay 50% taxes!
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Ray,
I used your strategy (outlined in an earlier thread) for 100% morale very effectively for several crippling and Maso games. Your unsight in to Econ was inspired. I noticed my score wasn't very high, because I couldn't afford to build a military. The populations maxed out too fast and required very low taxation to maintain at their high levels.
I experimented by playing a Crippling map over again but changing my target morale to 75% (instead of 90%). What a difference! I had 100x as much money to spend, while still keeping ahead of the AI's in the growth curve. My score was nearly twice as high due to a much stronger overall economy and substantial military.
Cheers!
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Note that the pop growth rate for morale between 54% (or 55% can't remember) to 99% is the same - 3%. Pop growth doubles to 6% for 100% morale. So personally I keep it at 100% for the early game but once it doesn't become economically viable to maintain 100% morale, I will let it fall to 60%+ levels. Still wins you elections at that level. Morale naturally recovers to a higher level once I build those morale and PQ boosters.
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I used to settle PQ 14's early game. Then I did the math. Population = taxes. At 100 percent spending, each planet gets [(total spending/total production)*planets production] in taxes to spend on production.
Population growth (taxes) is fixed, therefore the more you spread the population out in the early game, the less each planet will get to spend on production. The less taxes they get, the longer it takes to build morale/industry/habitat improvements that increase the pop growth rate (Taxes!)
To this end, I no longer settle PQ 14's (there is no hurry since the computer usually won't) and in addition I don't settle the extra pq15+ in a system I already own. Once my economy gets going and I have some trade income, I can then do a second wave to sweep up the nearby PQ14's and extra PQ15+'s. As long as I can maintain something close to 100% spend rate, the second colony wave doesn't really hurt the core world production much. Alternatively, you can build transports and capture worlds from whichever AI 'volunteers'.
on a 12x12 map, I try to get 8 to 10 core planets and another 5 or 6 in the second wave.
Given that population produces taxes, and higher PQ worlds produce more tax money, my favorite racial picks atm are +70 percent pop growth (5 points), +5 percent PQ (3 points), creative (1 point), and, for when all else fails, Luck (1 point).
Initial game plan is max spending, 40 to 50 percent taxes depending on PQ size of the homeworld, 75 percent military/25 percent research until I get my core worlds, then 20/40/40 building freighters/constructors/enviroment.
research list:
All the techs to Trade so I can get freighters moving.
Industrial (Manufacturing Plant)
Propulsion
Cold Fusion
Interstellar Refining (Fusion plant)
Then the techs needed for Corvettes/research centers/wonders/trade goods in whatever order I think I can trade with the AI or beat the AI to building.
Build list (Core Worlds):
Soil Improvement
Manufacturing Center
Entertainment
Banking
Research
For the second wave:
Fusion Plant
Soil improvement
Habitat (if I have it)
Entertainment
Manufacturing Center
Research
Banking
Yes, I lead with fusion plant. I can afford it at this point and I want to get the second wave up to the first wave development wise.
I won't play on less than crippling anymore using the above. Even Crippling is too easy.
I find starbases with production modules don't really help all that much until late game. Starbases mostly seem to redistribute the taxes by increasing one sectors production so it gets more than it's normal share of the tax money. Total production doesn't change, or it changes minimally if the production module adds 'free' production. You don't really NEED them until you start producing Avatars/overlords/Excaliburs. I find it more beneficial to use constructors to develop resource points which IS free production or develop military starbases at key points to help make my ships last longer in combat. +6 attack/+1 defense is very nice.
Build lots of Corvettes and keep them near the military starbases. 4/2 becomes 10/3 which is very nice for 1 maintenance. You can afford a LOT of them. This doesn't hurt your military rating either which helps keep the AI off your back.
Also, note that attack/defense/movement bonuses are assigned at the start of a turn, moving/attacking OUT of the SB sector doesn't change the bonuses until next turn.
Never destroy an enemy completely unless you just HAVE to. Destroyed enemies don't send freighters that help your economy. Try not to let the AI destroy the minors for the same reason. Give/sell the minors enough tech to keep them level with the majors.
Next game, I'll give Maso another try. I 'won' my first try a while ago, but it was more like a draw. I survived long enough to give half my empire to the AI that was kicking butt in return for an 'alliance'.
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| To this end, I no longer settle PQ 14's (there is no hurry since the computer usually won't) and in addition I don't settle the extra pq15+ in a system I already own. |
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I suggest you consider colonizing pq16+ planets in those owned systems to take advantage of the free tax revenue for higher PQ planets. Couple of bcs per system but they all count in the early game.
| I find starbases with production modules don't really help all that much until late game. |
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The free production is rather significant for production SBs. I build them for my TG/wonder production world. Here's a test result by building production SBs on a PQ20, 1B pop planet.
Without SB, System Prod 19+0=19
With 1 +50%Prod SB, System Prod 24+6=30
With 2 +50%Prod SB, System Prod 28+14=42
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I have noticed that not a whole lot of folks push the tech as much initially. I personally bump up the tech and solial porduction. Specifically, the propulsion techs in order to be able to get my colony ships out quicker. I only use one colony ship per system initially, even if there are a bunch of colonizable plantes in it. This way I try to grab as much real estate as possible and when I build other solony ships, they don't have far to travel.
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My general start strategy is:
spending 100%
taxes as high as 100% morale yields
Military (Colony) to whatever gets me 1 ship/2 turns
rest to Research
I go straight for Banks, then Manu... after that I tend to go for my favorit TGs.
I settle all PQ15+ worlds I can find, of course. That's the point to the initial land grab. I'll drop a colony on ANYTHING to extend out my range to something juicy, and get rid of that world as soon as I've got that juicy something. I find it's worth it to me.
On large and huge maps, I'll switch over to making a scout or two, depending on the gaps. Normally, I use Hero and the colony ships as my main scout force.
Once all reachable sectors with stars have colony ships targetting them, I swap my Military build over to Social, and Soil up. Depending on the particulars, I may have Banks by then, and if so, pop those off. Then it depends on what the galaxy and my local area looks like.
I always go for Diplo techs, to have the edge I want to negotiations. And I go hard for manu improvements, range and speed, picking up military to pop a few military boosting ships (Star Fighters/Corvettes) if the AI is "close" enough to give me trouble.
I think getting Freighters up is the #2 concern after yellow star rush, if you only play at Normal levels. Trade goes in cycles of expansion (take what you have possible, and go toward longer lines (more money) and send out lines to your expected trouble makers when you find them to bring them around to liking you).
Of course, I'm just an average joe... but that's enough for most people to get started...
The main thing early on is learning to use ALL the sliders... setting a decent tax rate, 100% spending until you have no extra money, and adjusting the Military/Social/Research as you need at the time.
  
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#23
by Citizen Timlagor - 10/10/2003 6:38:45 AM
Bernie was complaining that their people got upset if he didn't build up his military. Did you try just lowering your tax rate a bit? (that sends morale up and stops your planets defecting -won't help if the monsters actually attack of course)
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"I put 300 colonists on the colony ship, build two colony ships there then move on to other units. Using the minimum of 100m per planet, this works out nice."
How do you adjust number of colonists?
  
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