MoO version 1.3.
Medium galaxy, Impossible, 5 opponents.
We play as Alkari.
Start on SW corner of the map.
I open sending colony ship + scout to the purple star to the east, and the second scout to the blue star SW.
Make 3 new scout2's to explore the red at 4 parsecs SE + the 2 stars to the N / NW.
2302: Turns out both stars at 3 parsecs are hostile AND Ultra-Rich!
So no colonizable planets at range 3 !!
(I thought that was not even possible, is it a bug!?)
Well, how would you play from 2302 on?
Attached the 2300 savefile for those who would like to give it a try.
(January 11th, 2021, 17:26)haphazard1 Wrote: That is very odd. I also thought you were guaranteed to have a habitable, non-Orion world within range at the start.
It happens occasionally - I think it's that distance is calculated with slightly different functions in some places, so the nearest habitable is like 3.01 parsecs and rounds up to 4.
I think that green world is just out of range but is habitable? Due north/south is when I've mostly seen it be an issue.
(January 15th, 2021, 08:09)SpaceOWL Wrote: As we are Alkari, R4 (if available of course) will cost 210 RP only, is it really worth to scrap the colony ship?
If it was 2300 and you knew it was this situation, then yes. But given it's been a few turns, I think it just tips in favor of keeping the ship. You get 142 BC now, and save on maintenance costs, which are another 13BC a turn - and because factories return 5% of their investment per turn, it does add up quickly. Scrapping the ship pays for itself in ~17-18 turns (rounding plays a role), but because of timing, I'd think anything <20 turns to get your Range is good enough.
I would not build LR Lasers immediately, just scout screen - you have to cover every single world the AI could reach though. You'll get to these worlds in plenty of time for scouts to be sufficient. The AI rarely sends armed escorts pre-2330, and 2 LR fighters ~ the scrap value of the colony ship, they're expensive.
Just make sure to well-seed Range 4 if that's an option (like max spend on it immediately, maybe even do a 2nd turn) - if it's range 5, scrap the Colony Ship, and you might have to make an LR or two before starting the Colony Ship.
I decided to run a little experiment, even though I think I couldn't quite replicate the strategy suggested by TheArcheduke.
Two DOSBOX running MoO side by side.
Same opening until scouting the two hostiles in 2302.
From there, left screen scraps colship and reserve spending, and right screen just pushes R4 at full speed.
Left seeds R4 in 2306/07 with 60+60 BC (too much seeding maybe?) after the reserve infusion ends. Trickle research from there on (10 BC / 12 BC / 15 BC etc).
Curiously enough, R4 hits the left game in 2310-2311, as soon as it enters percentages (7%). In the right game, it didn't hit at 14% (2308), 32% (2309), 50% (2310)... oh the RNG...
I left only 2 BC in research and started factories, and R4 hit next turn.
So this is the status at 2312. From here, the left game window will rebuild the colony ship (567 BC) we started last year in 7 more turns, and settle in 2323.
The right game window will settle in 2315.
I'd be cautious about falling too much in love with that second case. It gets a second colony established very quickly, true, but it makes tremendous sacrifices to do so. The homeworld has done nothing but research an increased range tech and hasn't built a single factory yet a dozen turns into the game. You're trading off a fast second colony for much slower colonies at every planet afterwards. This can be worthwhile in some circumstances (if the planet in question is Rich/Artifacts/large in size/has a critical strategic location on the map) but I think it comes out behind in the typical case.
I would likely go with a third option not modeled here: scrap the colony ship once it's clear there are no habitable worlds within 3 parsecs, use Reserve spending to boost factory production, and not open research spending until factories were close to 2x population. With no second colony to support and Reserve spending to boost factory construction, this will max out the homeworld around roughly 2320, then increased range is a very fast research and new colony ships can be built in 4 turns apiece. The second colony is established much later but the homeworld maxes out in production far sooner. Again, it depends on the quality of the second planet in question and the wider strategic picture but I always like to max out planets ASAP unless there's a compelling reason not to do so.
FYI the 4 nearest planets are:
- green 4p to N = minimal 30
- red 4p SE = jungle 80
- purple 3p E = tundra 30, ultra-rich
- blue 3p SW = dead 20, ultra-rich
Also, I continued that simulation to the point where both colonies were established, 2322:
