Getting Started

Important information to keep you from getting nuked!

I wasn't sure where to put this section. It really should be read after a player has learned about each ship type and each menu entry. That's a lot of reading. I know I skipped ahead and went right to playing on a server. When I got nuked a lot, I then came back and read each section.

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

Many players, especially new players, want to know more! So the following section will get you started quick. Once you have played a few games, I'll bet you will return toTech 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 picks. When I do select a new ship, the terraformer normally is my first choice. I ALWAYS try to save one selection in case I need to select a minefield. They can wipe out ALL ships except a minesweep. A lot of people don't know this in beginner games. You can wipe out a whole fleet with a BR1 (BR=Battle Rating, where BR1 is the weakest ship) minefield. Learn more at the Ship Menu.

This may be a little advanced for right now, 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/Battle Rating) 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 build will not be at full strength after you build 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.

CONSERVATIVE OPENING: The conservative opening strives to build ships that leaves technical maintenance level at 1.00 or higher every turn, meaning the ships will be at full strength when built. Turn one: build two science. Turn two: explore with the science ships and build a colony and/or attack. Turn three: continue exploring, send the colony and/or attack out to colonize. I use the attack to protect the colony ship. You may want to build another colony. Turn four: don't build so that you might reach the next BR (Battle Rating. You start at BR1. A BR2 ship can destroy four BR1 ships, so there is an advantage of building ships sooner than your foe at the next higher BR). I use attacks to protect colony ships. There's nothing worse then sending a colony ship out and having it destroyed by someone's science ship.

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 (less than 1.00) of full strength. Turn two: without building again, send the science ships to explore. 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 ship in any direction at the start. Your two science ships will destroy the single one. You will be allowed to advance while they have been stopped from exploring further. 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 at the start. Later in the game, you can overbuild a bit lower, say .450, as long as you are still gaining strength due to colonies adding economy.

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. Some players find colonizing farthest from their home world the best way to start a game. Others find colonizing near their home world at the start to be an advantage, since they can protect the system(s) easier.

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 in economy which is very valuable. Two nearby empires can better fend off other empires, helping to support each other. 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 other foes. A useless ally is someone who should be nuked. Afterall, you are doing all the work while the other empire sits and gets an easy win.

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 ships on ANY system where you have population of 50 or more. I generally set one of my planets I colonize to population of 52. This planet may be close to my home world so that I can defend it while it is growing in strength. (See Systems Menu.)

Once I have 50+ population on a planet. - these planets are commonly known as "builders" - 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 population levels on their home worlds and not on other systems. Putting pop levels over 100 on your home world is a waste (I sometimes put home world to pop of 101 so that it won't dip below 100 when I build a colony, but this is more superstition than fact). Your economy increases as your popultion approaches the highest resource number. Since you have a maximum of 100 in any resource on your home world, having more population than that does not help your economy. Also, you want to build away from home, and closer to your foe to save time moving ships. I sometimes stop population growth at some colonies to increase my agriculture ratio so that I get better growth on a single colony. where I am making a building.

There is something called popping, or the pop trick. When you are safe from being attacked by your foes, you can use the pop trick to create a builder (50+ population) in two turns. To learn more about pop tricking, see Bird's Blitz Tips or Peter Grauer's Pop Trick Primer.

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 to create a builder with 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 single minefield. These require two tech advancements, which you will have at BR2. I like to terraform, so I might wait until I am nearly BR3 before choosing terraformers. It all depends on how the map lays out, and how your neighbors are treating you. If you are at war, you will need satellites and minefields.

Minefields are tricky little devils, so be careful with them. When they go off, they cut in half the population on a system. Imagine losing half the population on 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 again will build satellites with a BR1 minefield. Make sure all the ships are at full strength, as they work best that way. Sometimes this will work even against a fleet that includes a minesweep (which nullifies the affects of a minefield). If you can take out the minesweep with the satellites, the minefield will take out ALL the rest of your foe's ships. It's all 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. 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 that was 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 economy that helped his overbuilt ships get to full strength fast. 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 at the start. 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.

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 the next turn. This allows your ships to regain strength. You can move them, just don't build anything as they move.

Final thoughts: Take serious these ideas I have presented. Many great players took months learning them. A few empires - Doome and W.A.R. come first 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. Here are my favorite maxims:
A single fleet is more powerful than several split up fleets. Consider this before building cloakers or when you have to decide if you need to split a fleet.
Never trust anyone, even if allied. I don't mean for everyone to be paranoid in the game, but be prepared if an empire turns off alliance to war. And ALWAYS be suspicious of empires that go to trade but not to alliance. Many consider it proper to gain the advantage of trade, then go back to war later after finding a better ally (read that as friend). Some empires just want to nuke everyone in a game.
Over building is a powerful tool. Learn when or when not to use it.
Pop tricking is a quick, powerful tactic. You can create a builder in two turns. And if you do it the way you normally do it, by dismantling ALL ships, then your tech will advance for one turn at the maximum amount. You get increased economy and beat your foes to the next BR level. Now that's a trick worth learning!

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 keep the same empire name. I like using several empire names. One empire may play the role of never talking and trying to nuke everyone in a game. I recently took over an empire from someone with a lousy record. I feel like a wolf in sheep's clothes now. It also gave me the confidence to enter a game late, after the first update. I didn't worry if I got nuked, because no one knew it was me (I'm always expected to win) and I could leave the game any time I wanted without worry to my psyche.

When I name an empire, I like to use old movie titles such as Never a Dull Moment or Private Popsicle. The more obscure the movie 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. The new code for v2.8 games now keeps empires from adding spaces or blanks to a name, which stops people who used to create multiple empires with what appeared to be the same name.

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 (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. That grew tedious, too, and ended.

I used to have a NOS (Nuke On Sight) list. I no longer do that, at least not with an official list of names. I do remember certain people who play in inconsiderate ways. I remember playing a seven hour blitz (blitzes should last about two hours) with four players. When I finally got the upper hand over the last foe, he would leave for 15 minutes, then return, build more satellites and such, then log off again. This kept him from reaching auto update, meaning I would have to wait the full five minutes between turns. Since we were equal in economy, it took me a long, long time to earn the win.

Try to remember, it's only a game, no one gets hurt and you will live to fight another day. If you find yourself getting too involved in how the game unfolds, just quit. You will feel better and others won't have to put up with your grumpiness.

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

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BoP

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