OSG-35 - Social Distancing

[Ianus]

In my opinion, unless it is late in the game and there won’t be time to actually build the factories it is almost always worth it to build up poor worlds. At least then you can build a planetary shield and some bases given enough time. Plus while poor worlds aren’t good for building ships they can research just fine. It’s also totally true what was said about the situational nature of this kind of decision. Keep Out has been on research ever since it was founded in 2303, and is only NOW starting to build factories now that Nazin and About Time have (finally) transitioned to research and as a result those 50RPs just aren’t worth as much anymore. To think that it was producing >50% of our total research budget ten turns ago...

[shallow_thought]

It's nice that the Silicoids seem to be quite small (based on all the other races colonies that we can see) and that the races seem quite balanced. We're probably going to have to cede the Dead and Radiated worlds on the edge of our space (temporarily), as it will be a while before we can spare forces from keeping worlds we can actually live on.

And we have a vote in 10t. Hmm. We may end up with half our population in space for a few turns . It's a shame we can't see the Silicoids' bars. I guess that may change if they do push more colonies our way!

I'm thinking that I might value II8 over Duralloy if it's available once RIW80 pops - we have so many factories to build. Fortunately, I like building.

Got it!

[Cyneheard]

I'm thinking that I might value II8 over Duralloy if it's available once RIW80 pops - we have so many factories to build. Fortunately, I like building.

Tempting. I think that also depends on the war status - Duralloy missile bases are so much more resilient if it comes to that.

[utwig]

We are OK. I think our biggest problem at the moment are Alkari and they are also in possession of artifacts world Kailis. Perhaps those artifacts could aid our quest for cure to the doom virus plaque blighting the galaxy.

[shallow_thought]

Question: how do the cost increases for IRC work?

My understanding (double checked by re-reading the OSG: actual correct understanding not guaranteed) is that IRC increases the cost of the new, extended factories but not "basic" ones.

That is, if you have IRC(x>2), but are building factories on a new planet (pop P, assume fixed for simplicity), you only pay the "normal" cost for the first 2P factories. Then you "REFIT" your existing factories (paying a cost, the OSG says 1/2 the original factory cost), and then you pay a revised, higher cost for each new factory after that.

The key thing being that it is never a bad idea to pick up a new IRC level in cost terms (the fact that you can't pump the reserve for a while is a potential issue, but that's tactical, not overall economy, level). You can still build the first 2P factories for the same cost as before (so long as you're careful about the order of pop growth and factory building).

Is that right? (I'm choosing between seeding IRCIII and Duralloy next: other factors may apply, but I want to pin this one down).

[Cyneheard]

Question: how do the cost increases for IRC work?

My understanding (double checked by re-reading the OSG: actual correct understanding not guaranteed) is that IRC increases the cost of the new, extended factories but not "basic" ones.

That is, if you have IRC(x>2), but are building factories on a new planet (pop P, assume fixed for simplicity), you only pay the "normal" cost for the first 2P factories. Then you "REFIT" your existing factories (paying a cost, the OSG says 1/2 the original factory cost), and then you pay a revised, higher cost for each new factory after that.

The key thing being that it is never a bad idea to pick up a new IRC level in cost terms (the fact that you can't pump the reserve for a while is a potential issue, but that's tactical, not overall economy, level). You can still build the first 2P factories for the same cost as before (so long as you're careful about the order of pop growth and factory building).

Is that right? (I'm choosing between seeding IRCIII and Duralloy next: other factors may apply, but I want to pin this one down).

I'm not sure, partly because there's three different implementations:
Rules-as-written in the strategy guide
Game-as-originally-programmed
Kyrub's patch.

So I don't know because I can't keep the behaviors in all three straight.

[utwig]

I played a solo game with Meklars hard difficulty, small galaxy where I popped robotics 3 from nearby artifacts world with first scout.

The cost of initial factories has been the same (planet was building ~3.5-4 factories/turn after settling first colony). I was playing on Kyrub's patch.

AI on kyrub's patch is more challenging than on vanilla. Maybe you have transitioned gradually to kyrub but I played on kyrub now for the first time and the jump in difficulty is notable.

So since AI is more competent than what I'm used to and building and sending missile boats to enemy world and redirecting them back after 1-2 salvos is considered an exploit, how do we plan our first invasion?

Meklars have 5 Hyper-X bases on Jinga and by the time we can send something that can take them out they will have 10-15. So we will need 70+ sub light fusion bombers and something to hold the world while it builds bases.

[Ianus]

We are desperate enough for production so I would absolutely recommend IRC3 but your mileage may vary

[Bionic Commando]

This is actually a really brutal ruleset, since there's no way to catch-up or steal tech. I don't think it would be possible to win this variant on Impossible with Kyrub's patch.

[Ianus]

No on Impossible we would be getting absolutely crushed right now. I get chills just thinking about it 
I’m a little worried that the game will turn into a slog the way things are going right now. We need a plan for quick action to get ourselves going before we stall out!