Getting Started

But I still came up short in games due to simple mistakes or perceptions. The FAQ was not thorough enough. It's been a constant lament at sc-talk (an e-mail discussion group dedicated to the game) for nearly two years. See SC Talk.

Many players, especially new players, want to know more! So the following is a quick start, boot-patched, fire drill, of a method to get you started in the game. Once you have played a few games, I bet you will return to the FAQ to study specific areas of the game.

1. First Moves: You start with three ship types - science, colony and attack. As you get stronger, you can select other ship types from the Tech Menu.

   For the early part of the game, science, attack and colony ships are the only ones you will need. It's best to conserve your tech selections. I don't use anything until I absolutely am sure I will need it. I start choosing at BR3, generally picking terraforming. I try to keep in reserve two selections, which I use for satellite and minefield if I get in trouble. Of note, you start with BR1 shipts ‹ BR meaning Battle Rating. Learn more at the Ship Menu.

   This may be a little advanced for some, but you have two choices throughout the game on building ships. You can build so that the ships are immediately at full strength, or you can (whisper) over build.

   Building only full strength ships each turns gets you to the next ship strength (next BR) quickly. You can check on the strength of your ships by noting after you have built them if your tech level is 1.00000 or higher.

   Over building means the number of ships you built will not be a full strength after you built them. Over building is important to understand because if you land on someone's home world, you want a fleet that your opponent can't match in strength in one turn. Though your ships aren't at full strength after the first turn, they may well be at full strength after a turn or two.

   There are various openings, borrowing on a chess term, for SC. Openings are dependent on how much the tech level advances each turn. These ideas may not hold up well in a High Tech game, where tech advances at 4.00 a turn. But for games of 1.00 to 2.00, these are pretty good openings.

2. CONSERVATIVE OPENING: Turn one: build two science. Turn two: build an attack and a colony. Turn three: build an attack and a colony. Turn four: don't build or build a science ship to explore if you had more than two links from your home world, and none of your original two science ships still are available. I use the attacks to protect the colony ships. There's nothing worse then sending a colony ship out and having it destroyed some someone's science ship.
   This is a conservative opening because you have never over built. You will have a technical maintenance level of 1.00 or higher every turn. This is important because you remain on track for getting to BR2, a much more powerful ship. An empire that reaches the next highest ship strength first has an advantage.

3. OVER BUILD START: Try building three science ships on your first turn. (Or maybe four?) This is overbuilding, since each ship will be approximately .667 of full strength. Turn two: send the science ships out, without building anything else. The ships will be full strength as they land on adjacent systems by gaining strength on the turn. This is really helpful if you find yourself with three or more links from your home world.

   Most players send out a single science ships at the start. Your two science ships will destroy the single one. The more you can see of the universe, the better you can anticipate an attack and mount an attack.

   I try to limit my tech ratio on overbuilding to approximately .500. It can be a bit lower if you have a lot of colonies that are adding strength to your empire.

   Turn three: build an attack and a colony. Again, the attack to protect the colony. Attacks are the cheapest moveable ship you can build. ALL ships attack with the same intensity, but some cost more to build. Turn four: build one colony. You probably will find one link from your home world that is a dead end. Send the single colony there, since it doesn't need an escort. If not, build a BR1 attack to protect the colony.

4. First encounter: It's a toss up what comes first, meeting another empire or colonizing. So let's talk about diplomacy.

   If you are playing a game where diplomacy is allowed (some games don't allow the use of truce, trade or alliances) you must make a decision when you meet another empire. (See Diplomacy Menu to learn more).

   You can offer truce. You can send a message to an empire saying you have posted truce. You can remain at war.

   In a blitz game, it's wise to try for an alliance with the first empire you meet. When you go through the diplomacy process and reach trade (second level), both empires will gain 10 percent each turn in resources (very valuable). Two nearby empires can better fend off other empires. You know, I'll watch your back if you'll watch my back. You may well keep other empires from meeting each other, meaning they won't receive a 10-percent boost in economy.

   If two empires go to alliance, it's considered by MOST players as unbreakable. However, not only are there empires that will break alliances at the end of the game, but there are times when it would appear prudent to break an alliance. You might want to check someone else's views at SC Etiquette

   Personally, I might break alliance to make a game even. For instance, in a three player game from the start, I might go off alliance so we can all fight individually. It's also OK to have everyone agree to an alliance, which is the diplomatic way to go. Normally called allying out, it cuts down on the whining because everyone gets a win.

   I also might break alliance if my ally leaves me in the lurch in a game for over 10 minutes or doesn't support me in fighting the other foes. A useless ally is someone who should be nuked.

5. Colonizing: You won't gain strength without colonizing. Your enemies will want to nuke (destroy) you colonies, so you need to defend your colonies.

   Here's a couple important things to consider:
   First, you can build on ANY system where you have population of 50 or more. I generally set one of my planets I colonize that's close to my home world, so I can defend it, to a population level of 52. (See Systems Menu.)

   Once I have 50+ population on a planet, what is commonly called a builder, I can build ships there. For each colony you build, your population will go down one on the system where you built the colony. The population should go back up to 50+ on the update. I just find it easier to set pop at 52. This way I don't have to worry about the order in which I build ships.

   Secondly, too many players raise the pop levels on their home worlds and not on other systems. Putting pop levels over 100 on your home world is a waste. You want to build away from home, and closer to your foe to save time moving ships.

   There is something called popping, or the pop trick. When you are safe from being attacked by your foes, you can set population levels on your planets and home world to build quickly, a system with 50+ population. These systems are called "builder" planets.

   To learn more about pop tricking, see Dread's Advanced FAQ.

   To learn more about SC terminology, visit SC Jargon.

   Of note, popping is not an option on most games at the CyberNex server, where you play version 2.9. You can still change population levels, and still create a builder with 50+ population.

6. Using tech, defensively: I said earlier that I prefer to wait until I have BR3 ships before opting to take a tech. The reasoning is that I may have to defend myself early, and the best defense is a bevy of satellites and a minefield.

   Now minefields are tricky little devils, so be careful with them. When they go off, they cut in half the population on a system, including your home world. I generally spend my tech to build just satellites when defending. If a foe manages to get past them and lands on a system, I will again build satellites with a BR1 minefield. Make sure all the ships are at full strength. You are trying to knock out at least one ship, and satellites that are less than full strength won't work.

   Your satellites fight first. If they win, fine. If they lose the battle, then the minefield will explode, taking out all ships EXCEPT a minesweeper. If a minesweeper is amongst the ships attacking your system, you probably are out of luck.

7. Using tech, offensively: On the other hand, you might want to be more aggressive.

   I was nuked once by an empire that built only sciences at the start of a game. My foe didn't build anything while exploring, allowing him to reach BR2 (4.00 or higher on tech) before I could. My enemy then built a fleet of a couple colonies, 3-4 attacks and TWO minesweepers. Now this is over building!

   What had happened is that he was able to explore my home world while my single science ship had been destroyed at least one turn from his home world. As he advanced towards me, and without me seeing him for two turns, he used the two colony ships to colonize systems, giving him a boost in tech. I had been playing it safe, building attacks to go with my colonies. I had yet to reach BR2 due to building so many ships. His superior, full strength ships nuked me on update 9. Man, was I surprised.

   This was a case of using a tech, a minesweeper, early instead of the often choosen terraformer.

   Many players use terraformers early, leaving themselves one tech development until they reach BR3. So if a fleet arrives, they can build satellites or a minefield, but not both. I build my terraformers when I reach BR3, keeping those valuable two techs available for defense.

8. On attacking: I used to make a lot of the right moves when I first started but still couldn't get a nuke. I'd build, get a builder, move a big fleet through an empire's systems nuking away only to land on a home world and fail in getting a nuke.

   My problem was that as I set my ships to nuke an empire, I would build something on my home world. Wrong! When your attacking fleet takes a hit, don't build that turn. This allows your ships to regain strength. You can move them, just don't build anything.

9. Final thoughts: Take serious these ideas I have presented. Many great players took months learning them. A few empires - Doome, W.A.R. come to mind - were gracious enough to hint or give outright this knowledge. For the most part, I've learned it the hard way.

   There's a lot more, including sneaky strategies that really foul up a game. But I will keep them for another night.

10. Brief History: I have written A Brief History of SC.

    Add to that a little about early names in the game. For instance, BigB. Note that there is no space between the first and second part of the name, and the second part is capitalized.

    This was is a little mentioned, or noticed aspect of the game. For some reason, the best players incorporated this way of writing their names. For instance, BugLady, BirdDog and FisOsten were early empires that used this naming method. Others chose to use initials, such as C.H.A.O.S., C.O.R.E. and W.A.R.

    Some players keep the same empire name. I like using several empire names. In role-play, with one empire nuking anything that comes along. I recently took over an empire from someone with a lousy record. I feel like a wolf in sheep's clothes, hehe.

    When I name an empire, I like to use old movie names such as Never a Dull Moment or Private Popsicle. The more obscure the move the better. Lately I've been trying to pick names that completely fit in the naming window. This way there can be no way to duplicate my empire name. (See Bird's Cheats and Feats to learn more about various cheats of the game).

    In the old days, if you got 100 wins your empire was retired. I was there for Dr. Doome's 100th win at LibertyNet, a server now defunct. I also was there when I talked several empires to gang up on Doome. I've since learned this is not very sporting (Sorry Carl).

    I started a nuke diary a long, long time ago. Actually in April 1996. After a year or so, I found the diary was getting way too large. About that time several servers stopped carrying the game. So I started a nuke diary off my SC Room page, chronicling my nukes and ever expanding record.

    At first I included nukes from beginner games. I stopped that because I didn't want a reputation for beating up on the weak. I now only include games that are open to all. I really like blitzes because they can be fast. People who manage to drag them out for hours are high on my intolerance list. I once played a four player blit that lasted seven hours. When I got the upper hand, the lone remaining foe would leave for 15 minutes. When he returned, he built more satellites, then left again. I was unable to get faster updates. We were even on economy for most of the game. Ugh!!

    I used to have a NOS (Nuke On Sight) list. I no longer do that. I considering each game a new adventure. It's only a game. No one gets hurt. You will live to fight another day.

    A final piece of advice before you venture into the Stellar realm: Never trust an empire completely. And more so if they do not go to alliance but hover at trade for several updates.

    So with those swell words said, I bid you adieu, and happy nuking.

    
    BoP