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.
- First Moves: You start with three ship types - science, colony and attacks. As you get stronger, you can select other ship types from the Tech Menu.
For the early part of the game, these really are the only ships 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, around BR3. (You start at BR1. BR meaning Battle Rating. You can 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) overbuild.
By building with your ships at full strength, you build tech faster. That means you will get to the next strength level as fast as possible. You can check on the strength of your ships by noting after you have asked to build them if your tech level is 1.00000 or higher.
By overbuilding, you can have a larger fleet than your opponent can build in one turn. Overbuilding is simply building more ships than you can support, leaving them under full strength (less than 1.000 when building, less the full BR as seen at the Ship Menu). But as the ships move, they will gain strength.
- Safe Start: A good, safe way to start a game is to build two science on the first update. They will leave your home world at full strength. On the second update, build an attack and a colony. They also will be a full strength. The attack, the best ship for any fighting due to its cost, will help protect the colony ship. On the third update, you can build another attack and colony if you want, with both ships again being full strength.
- Unsafe Start?: Or you could start by building a lot of science ships, say three or four, on the first update. On the second update, don't build anything as the ships go out and explore. This will allow the ships to get to full strength. I seldom overbuild so that tech (upper right of build menu) is less than .500.
Now consider, if you meet a safe starting player. His lone science ship may meet two of your science ships. Guess who wins the battle? Right, you do. You stop his science ship and can continue exploring. Knowledge of your opponent's systems is vital. You can see your foe coming. He has limited sight of the field of battle.
- 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 technology (very valuable). Also, two close empires can better fend off other empires, possibly keeping them from meeting each other and getting the advantage of trade.
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 (cuts down on the whining, too).
I might also will 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.
- Colonizing: You won't gain in 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.)
This eventually will allow me to build colonies there (For each colony you build, your population will go down one for one update. So if you had set your pop at 50, you would have pop of 49 on the update. That's one short of being able to build there. Imagine if your foe landed on the system. You would be defenseless!
Second, too many players fiddle with the population on their home world. Putting all your population on the home world means you will not gain in strength, nor be able to build on an outer planet. You want to build away from home, and closer to your foe to saves moving ships.
Now, 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 hour 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.
Of note, popping is not an option at the CyberNex server, where you play version 2.9. You have to let systems build naturally to reach 50+ population.
- 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.
It appears that your satellites will fight first. If they win, fine. If they lose the battle, then the minefield will take out all ships EXCEPT a minesweeper. If a minesweeper is amongst the ships attacking your system, you probably are out of luck.
- 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, then waited until his tech was at BR2 (4.00 or higher on tech). You go by squares to each tech level, hence 2, 4, 9, 16 and 25 for BR1, BR2, BR3, BR4 and BR5. The player then built a fleet of a couple colonies, 3-4 attacks and two minesweeps. Now this is overbuilding.
What had happened is that he was able to explore my home world while my single science ship had been destroyed at least turn from his home world. As he advanced towards me, 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 was behind in tech advancement and had not reached BR2 yet. His superior, full strength ships nuked me on update 9. Man, was I startled.
This was a case of using a tech, a minesweeper, early instead of the more normal 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 they can't build both. I build my terraformers when I reach BR3, keeping those valuable two techs available for defense.
- 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 you 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.
- 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 hand down some of that knowledge. But 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.
- 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 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 like to use the same empire always. I like to use several empires. I may use one to nuke 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.
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 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, 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.
I started a nuke diary a long, long time ago. Actually in April 1996. After a year or so, I found it was getting way too large. About that time several servers stopped carrying the game. So I started a nuke diary off my page, chronicling my nukes and expanding record.
At first I included nukes from beginner games. I stopped that when I started to get reputation for beating up on the weak. I only include games that are open to all. I really like blitzes, though people manage to drag them out for hours are high on my intolerance list.
I used to have a NOS (Nuke On Sight) list. I no longer do that, considering each game a new adventure. Let by bygones be by bygones. After all, it's only a game. No one gets hurt. You will live to fight another day.
But some players don't ever leave the brain cells, if only because of their style of play. Those that come to mind include Centaur (recently), cull, dar, Fortress, Gaea (aka Klorox), seafood, Smoking Joe.
Never trust an empire that will not go to alliance. Actually, never trust any empire until the game is over, completely.
So with those swell words said, I bid you adieu, and happy nuking.
BoP
