Remnants of the Precursors - Initial thoughts

[RefSteel]

That looks promising - if only you can find a way to beg, borrow, or steal some terraforming technology! It looks like you did a great job of getting out of your corner on a map that made that difficult, but it remains to be seen if you can overcome that nasty-sounding tech tree! Did you at least have some decent engines in Propulsion?

[haphazard1]

I am currently moving at warp 2 as state of the art, so not really.

My tech progress feels very slow this game. I think a lot of that is the lack of clean up techs -- I am spending a ton on eco to deal with waste, so I don't have nearly as much production as this many planets would normally produce. But some may also be RotP's changes to the tech formula. The whole seed-and-trickle bonus research does not apply any more, if I am understanding correctly. So the slow but steady research spending I have been able to do has not been as productive as it would have been in MOO.

I am probably going to have to risk more aggressive spying on my neighbors. The diplomatic consequences could be very nasty, which is why I have held back so far. The humans are probably the prime target, as they are weak (and are not the shape shifters). I have new computer tech due fairly soon, so once that pops I will send in the spies.

[Ray F]

 The whole seed-and-trickle bonus research does not apply any more, if I am understanding correctly. So the slow but steady research spending I have been able to do has not been as productive as it would have been in MOO.

Yeah, as the result of a long conversation on RB years ago about MOO1 research, that research exploit has been closed. You now get a 25% bonus to research in a category on the first 1/6th of your total RP spending placed into it. It works sort of like a 401K, lol. You can put as much as you want in a category, but the game will add 25% for only the first 1/6th of the bar.

This was done specifically to better implement the intended MOO1 mechanic of rewarding balanced spending (as indicated in the OSG). In ROTP, your total empire RP will be maximized if you equalize your spending. The downside of this, of course, is that you are giving up the ability to rush research in a particular tech. If you want to do that, your overall research will drop. That's the research choice being given, and there's no way to micro an extra advantage out of it.

[rgp151]

Yeah, I usually take one click out of everything, except whatever the race is poor in, if anything, and then put those additional clicks into Computers, to speed computers along a little faster.

On another note, I just played a game on Harder Xilimi and that was pretty crazy. The Mrrshan started wiping out AIs. The Darloks were next to me but got screwed on planets, as they had one world and two irradiated next to them and then the next closest planet was like 7 parsecs away.

I was able to expand like crazy (I was Klackon) and I took like 15 planets, while the Darloks had 2. Yet, the Darloks led the game in Tech all game long, even when they had contact with only me and one other race that was way behind them. So I'm not sure what was going on. Yeah, as I was expanding my research wasn't amazing, but I kept it up and usually had at least 300 BC in research early on and then as planets started to complete I was hitting 4K research by turn 100 and the Darloks still had only 2 planets, yet they were out researching me, having lots of techs I didn't have, and they only had contact with one other race, that I also had contact with and I know they didn't have the tech the Darloks were getting. So I don't know how, with two planets they were doing so much.

Then they started attacking me and their tactics were impressive. Firstly, they had been able to produce a lot of ships somehow. They used Heavy Beam ships and Death Spores. Very hard to defend against. And the beam ships had Internal Stabilizers and they attack, then back up. They had 4 movement and most of my ships had only 2, and they had Auto Repair and I didn't get it in my tree. So yeah, that was brutal.

Then the cats wiped out all of the other races and turned on we so I was getting hit by both of them, and I didn't get Planetary Shields either. No planet could defend itself and I could only get one stack together good enough to take on either of their fleets, so it went pretty bad.

I mean I had a huge lead in terms of population and planets. And I also got every IRC and was up to IRC5 and had very low pollution levels. So I had really good production, but with like many times their population I was still behind on production and they were just churning out ships, and high quality ships at that. So yeah. Xilimi is no joke.

[Ray F]

 So yeah. Xilimi is no joke.

None of the AI's "cheat" but I would be very surprised if anyone could beat the Xilmi AI without giving themselves some sort of significant advantage. There have been cases of the player winning the council vote and then having a Xilmi AI rebel and eventually come back and win the game.

[rgp151]

 So yeah. Xilimi is no joke.

None of the AI's "cheat" but I would be very surprised if anyone could beat the Xilmi AI without giving themselves some sort of significant advantage.  There have been cases of the player winning the council vote and then having a Xilmi AI rebel and eventually come back and win the game.

Yeah, its weird. I've played against it a few times now, starting at Hardest, then Harder, and now Hard. In every case, playing as Klackons, I was able to get a sizable lead in terms of population and planets. And was even able to get on top in terms of tech most of the time, but when they start coming in with ships, the real difficultly is their ship designs and tactics. I had already figured out myself that pretty much an ideal fleet is a super defensive bomber along with space superiority. You cant ignore the bomber, you have to attack it, which then leaves the space superiority fighters to pick apart your defenses. But the Ximili AI does the same thing, but often using a Death Spores, or a combo of bombs and spores, along with highly mobile Large and Heavy fighters with Auto Repair. 

Its almost unstoppable. You have to have a ship with Repulsor Beams that can guard the planet, and also have enough fire power to take down the other fighters without getting worn down yourself. Sometimes Medium or even Large fighters with Internal Stabilizers can work, depending on the enemy's their attack level. But typically Huge with Auto repair is the way to go. 

But yeah, once they start attacking, its very difficult.

[Ray F]

To me, the Xilmi AI is to ROTP like chess engines are to chess. You don't play against them on a level playing field expecting to win... you won't. You play against them hoping to learn something from watching how they beat you.

[haphazard1]

An update on my lizard empire, and a question:

Finally found time for some more turns this afternoon. I have played through turn 206. Most of these turns were pretty quiet, as the overall situation has been stable. I developed my 15 worlds and researched, while shutting down spying attempts every single turn. (That does get a bit monotonous.) Quiet has been good for my lizards, as I needed time to tech. I now have decent clean up tech, IRC4, and finally got Terraforming+50, leading to an explosion in population and factories. I am now competitive with the birds in population and ahead in production, so the galactic situation is looking a lot more promising. I am considering preparing a fleet and going on offense, but for the moment I am upgrading my defenses with Planetary Shield X and Zortrium Armor. That will make me feel a bit more secure, then I can start pushing offense.

One odd thing I spotted:

How is the AI sending transports to an uncolonized world? I have scanner range on that system, it is not settled. That other ship may be a colony ship (the system is toxic and the bugs recently learned Controlled Toxic), but it should not be possible to send pop until the planet is settled. Any ideas?

[Ray F]

How old is your scouting report on that system? Was it ever colonized, and then destroyed?

[haphazard1]

I have advanced space scanners (7 parsecs range), so I should have visibility on what is there. I have not visited the system in many turns, but as a toxic planet no one had the tech to settle it until just the past 3-4 turns.