A couple noob questions about colony ships

[haphazard1]

I'm a MOO noob, drawn to this forum by the new Imperia game. I've read the game reports and info on Sirian's and Sulla's pages, and am trying a couple games to learn the ropes before trying Imperia 10. Amazing how fun and addictive this game is.

My questions are about colony ships. First, is it worthwhile to arm colony ships? The AI certainly does, at least after the very early turns. But a couple comments in the game reports lead me to believe that AI colony ships do not get "consumed" like the players' do. Is this correct? It would certainly make arming them more useful if they weren't going to disappear upon reaching their target world.

Second, long range colony ships. Is it worthwhile to consider a huge model to fit the extended fuel tanks, during the early period before miniaturization allows a large to hold both specials? The expense is certainly big -- about 3.5 times a non-LR large model in my current game. For a 4-turn colony ship, that means about 10 additional turns of max homeworld production. But the LR would let me reach a very nice world, which has a bunch of stars beyond it which might mean a big expansion of territory. (Or they could be owned by someone I haven't met, of course. No scouting of my nice target world, though -- an Ocean 120!)

Do you ever use either tactic?

Also, final question: several posts have mentioned a strategy guide, which apparently contains all kinds of interesting info -- initial race relations, costs, etc. Where might I find this document?

Thanks for any advice you can offer this noob.

[Megafrost]

I usually never arm my colony ships. Weapons and armament increase the BC cost of the ship, which will go up in smoke when the ship settles. If I need weapons, I send escorts.

I also avoid using huge designs for colony ships, although I'm not certain if all the experts avoid this. Usually I research fuel cells so that I can grab as many planets as possible, and by the time I'm done grabbing those, I usually have enough tech to fit a fuel tank on a large colony ship. That said, I might use a huge design if circumstances called for it (like, say, all systems 5 parsecs away, I can only research range 4, and it is very early in the game. Just one example).

[haphazard1]

Thanks for your thoughts, Megafrost!

You have described my early game situation quite well -- I need just a bit more range to grab several more planets. My propulsion tree had Range 4 (not enough) and then Range 6 as my only choices.

I have not gone for the huge design, thinking my funds are better spent pushing as hard as possible for Range 6 instead. The 10 extra turns for the huge design is enough BCs to fund a significant chunk of the research I need, and will benefit me more than a one-shot ship longer term. At least that's my thinking. If those planets get claimed in the meantime, maybe I made the wrong choice.

But if range 6 had not been in my tree, I think paying for the huge design might have been my only option. A couple size 30 minimals does not a winning empire make.

[Megafrost]

By all means, if you feel that sticking extended fuel tanks on a huge is the only way to grab a decent amount of planets, then do so. Like everyone else says, the aim of the game is to grab land, and that means doing it in any way possible (short of aggression against an AI, since you won't have the economy to support a war early game).

[TheArchduke]

A huge for a planet? I think this only pays of if you can mange to reach several planets at once. I rather invest the money to get up the fuel cell research.

[Zed-F]

Arming colony ships -- no, I'd send escorts instead if I thought it warranted.

Huge colony ship -- usually not worth the expense. I'd say it depends on how badly you're screwed for planets otherwise. If you've got a handful of planets already and are looking to bridge a gap to a couple planets over yonder, it's probably not worth it compared to teching up, either grabbing enough range tech to bridge it or working on construction & planetology tech to get enough miniaturization to fit reserve tanks on a large colony ship. If you're stuck on your homeworld and you need range 7 to get to the closest habitable planet, you may have no choice.

[jmas]

Welcome to the forum, haphazard1!

I find the strategy guide very helpful, though it does contain some errors of its own, as I've learned by reading some people's posts. By the way, it contains a table that helps you figure out exactly what levels of construction, planetology, and propulsion tech you need to fit reserve tanks on a (large) colony ship (via the miniaturization Zed-F alluded to). When in doubt, refer to that table, more than once if necessary! I say that because in the midst of all the information I process in playing a game, more than once I have overlooked that I had a pretty easy method of getting to where I could build a long-range colship, till I've almost finished a harder course of action to get where I want to go, such as researching Range 6.

I got my copy of the guide on Amazon; it was unmarked and in good condition. Here's a link:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url...ide+emrich

[d0om]

I normally stick a laser on my colony ships. It adds hardly any cost and is much more effective at fighting off small laser ships than the equivalent cost (~4BC) in small fighters.

The Long Range Huge is quite pricey, and in most games you are better off rushing construction and planetology tech instead for the Large Long Range instead. (also getting you economic improvements) Although I have used a Long Range Huge in 1-2 games successfully, but its normally not a good idea!

I would be interested in seeing the table of techs needed for LR Large colony ships, if you wouldn't mind copying it from your book? (Its data, and so should be exempt from copyright anyway)

[dathon]

I would be interested in seeing the table of techs needed for LR Large colony ships

Actually, I came up with this on my own awhile back using a spreadsheet program that somebody else (sargon?) had written. Here are the tech combinations from the first two tiers that will give you an LR Large Col ship:

*Duralloy Armor(II) by itself.

*IIT8(II) + Improved Eco(I) or higher

*IIT8(II) + Range 4 or 5(I) + Controlled Barren(I) or higher

*RW80%(I) + Controlled Dead(II) or higher

*RW80%(I) + Range 5 (I) + Terra+20(II)

The numbers in parenthesis are the tier of that tech. I usually open the tech trees with Construction, Planetology, and Propulsion when my second planet can manage 9 RP (3 is needed to open a field) so I know what my options are, if needed.

On a side note, the cost of a tech is always DF * (TL^2) * RTP where:
-DF = Difficulty factor (20 - 40, Simple - Impossible)
-TL = Tech level
-RTP = Race Tech Proficiency (1.25 - 0.6, Poor - Excellent)
Tech levels/proficiencies can be found in the original MOO manual, attached for reference.

On a different side note, I generally don't advocate the use of extreme micromanagement tools in 4x games. I've never used the ship spreadsheet beyond finding the above combos, and now that I know them, I've never opened it since. I occasionally use a different tool to help maximize early research, but only for the first couple techs and on upper difficulties. And even then I've gotten a feel for the algorithm, and generally wing it.

dathon

[haphazard1]

Thanks for the information and advice, everyone!

I did end up pushing tech instead of building the huge LR colony ship, and eventually got that planet -- and three more beyond it. Made any number of mistakes (I am a noob at MOO!), but managed to win my test game in the end.

Now to give Imperium 10 a try, hopefully with at least slightly fewer unforced errors on my part.

Another question, based on my test game: How are events allocated? Do you get the GNN announcement of all events which happen, even if you do not have contact with the race affected?

I only heard about 6 events, all of them negative -- 5 of them happened to me. :mad: No positive events at all, although at least none of my opponents got a boost (that I heard about, anyway). The only negative event which did not hit me was the virus, which cost the Psilons a whopping 42 RP around 2425.

Plague, rebellion, mineral depletion, quake, and comet. Ack! And the quake hit my already mineral depleted world, detroying over 200 factories I had laboriously built up. I felt very put upon in this game, as it sure seemed like the events were targetting the human player. 5 out of 6 hitting me, all but the comet when I owned less than 1/4 of the total planets?

Can anyone tell me more about how the events work, probabilities, etc.?

Thanks!