First time on hard hood tips wanted

[SvenBent]

So I'm going for my first time on hard
Average I had a pretty hard midt game vs frogmen and their amazing size in planets. (i am playing Psilon)

I'm looking for more tips to do or way to optimize my science/production output best possible way.

Tips i use so far:

Ultra rich >>> planet reserve >>>> Ultra rich or artifacts or rich planets building ships
Rich building ships or putting into reserved

I try to build up factories fully on my starting planets before going to research.
in the beginning i check to see if i have more than double factories than population and then i adjust it slightly to give more population.

Once a planet is up and running fully i shoot of some population to nearby new planet to get them up to 33-49% population so get benefits of max growth bonus
Should i do this as soon as i make my 2nd planet or wait for planet 1 to go up first ?

i recently changing my starting technology to aim for away from robotic technology and instead reduced waste and improve eco Restoration as well as factory cost. i think it more useful in the very start and reduce the cost form Imp. Robotics

Should i predump some science from the very start and ride the small 7.5% bonuses while building up me very first planets ?
or wait until my first planet is fully operation and start science there ?


Anything else good tips to do ? i usual play the longs strategy which is why psilon fits me so nicely.
expand as fast as possible avoding war
Then rinse and repeat "get production up. research for better production."
Break out the big fleet and run over the enemy

[SvenBent]

TY for you info and you are totally right.

i order the offical strategy guide usedform amazon 2 bucks + shipping a coupel of days ago and should arrive tommorow.
and I've been reading around alit hence why i found the UR/artifacts reddistributions trick.

alot TBS have alot of math involved for optimal ressource manange /utilization and i was hoping to grab a bit of other hardwork :D
like Xcom 1 for dos i sat and calcualted in/out of what i could produce to maximize profit/turn.

i think me weak side is actually the war part of it cause i love just sitting back and micro managing my planet and researching building up a bit of defense and then steam roll at the very end.

but if i get in a warfare to early iim pretty unprepare at i need to move ressarrch unto warfar technology instead of ressource improvements and i have a bit of cath up to do on that front.


you link is 404 sadly

[RefSteel]

Try this link instead: Sirian's MoO site
Some other great ways to learn are by playing a succession game with lots of discussion or posting a game report on which other players can offer comments. It's certainly true that MoO will rarely let you get away with a pure farmer's gambit on the highr difficulties; you need to be aware of potential threats and have a plan for meeting them.

[Ianus]

Ooh! Did someone say Succession Game? I had a blast last year and would love to play another. Maybe with more people this time?
Anyway the OSG is a GREAT resource (does anyone want to host it or should we not now that the original poster of the pdf had taken it down?) but I would say that while the OSG is great it doesn't really get a player all that far without a good understanding of the game and why they should do what when. For that I second the suggestion to read Sirian's tutorials and reports. Also Sullla's game reports are both fun reading and contain great tips on gameplay.
http://www.sullla.com/MOO/moo.html
Before I found Sirian's and Sullla's pages I was struggling to win on Hard and Impossible was, well, just that even though I had been playing MoO for more than a decade. Now I can win on Impossible fairly regularly and enjoy the game so much more!
Also, SvenBent welcome to RBOrion!

[Molach]

Some points from your OP:

I try to build up factories fully on my starting planets before going to research.
in the beginning i check to see if i have more than double factories than population and then i adjust it slightly to give more population.

If the IND slider read "max" you will have more than 2x factories after next turn is processed.
Also, instead of adjusting ECO slider for more people, why not use the leftovers for research instead?

Once a planet is up and running fully i shoot of some population to nearby new planet to get them up to 33-49% population so get benefits of max growth bonus
Should i do this as soon as i make my 2nd planet or wait for planet 1 to go up first ?

Do this as soon as you make your second planet! You main colony can regrow the relatively small number of pop you send off quickly. The new colony will also grow better, instead of sitting at 2-3 pop 10 turns. The AI does this.

Also, try to not send off pop from a fully running/up planet (I presume this means full pop/factory world). Sending off pop from a full world means empty factories, and pop grows slowly the last bit up to max. 3rd planet will often be filled from 2nd planet, for example.

i recently changing my starting technology to aim for away from robotic technology and instead reduced waste and improve eco Restoration as well as factory cost. i think it more useful in the very start and reduce the cost form Imp. Robotics

Agree, in the start the first IT tech, eco tech and % waste techs often come before the imp robot tech. Depends on tech tree of course. But I almost always start spending construction/planetology/propulsion in a typical game.

Should i predump some science from the very start and ride the small 7.5% bonuses while building up me very first planets ?
or wait until my first planet is fully operation and start science there ?

Someone more deeply involved in the math should answer. I start with building scouts 1-2 turns, depending, then all factories some 5-10 turns, then start research in those mentioned fields. How much to invest depends on what is available and what I need (to settle). But research rather than spending on grow pop, I think that should be a general tip. For early game. Also, second planet can do some research, as it doesn't want to be full of factories since it should ideally support next planet

Anything else good tips to do ? i usual play the longs strategy which is why psilon fits me so nicely.
expand as fast as possible avoding war
Then rinse and repeat "get production up. research for better production."
Break out the big fleet and run over the enemy

Much covered by the links provided. But there is something to say for quick low/mid tech strikes against weak spots (low shield tech/low missile tech on enemies)

[SvenBent]

Thanks for all the info.

I will defiantly try to use BC on sciences instead of pop when I'm hitting max factories per population. thta way i hopefulyl can get reduced waste and reduce factory cost a bit early while im still buiding the very first planets. and before i need to upgrade robotics level.
also it seems like im best to just get the cheapest stuff in each research block for shield weapons and propulsion so I can get those up fast when i need to.

I guess my big weakness is the weapons part of the game but its improving. looks like getting energy focus is a big boost in military power.

Also my OSG finally arrived today... its a lot bigger than it thought ~400 page of stuff to read. but nice to get some numbers on what was mostly guesswork and half estimate in prior games.

also learned that planetology level improve populations own production i did not now that so maybe get at bit of that in the beginning will help the early growt rate.

I'm very focused one my starting growth i always find that important in strategy game


Is there some weapons techs that are really god for there tech level?

[Ianus]

Neutron Pellet Gun will carry you a REALLY long way in the early game. I almost always go for it when it's available. Then pack it onto a small hull and swarm the enemy's fleets to death. If you can get to it Megabolt Cannon is pretty good in the mid-game although Fusion Beam comes in a bit earlier and is quite powerful too. I find that right around the time I get up to Fusion Beams I have all the pieces in place to take the war to the rest of the galaxy. If you play late enough Gauss Auto Cannon will wreck just about everything, especially if you get High Energy Focus, and of course Mauler Device is called that for a reason, but if your game lasts long enough to reach those levels you aren't playing aggressively enough!
All that being said, the greater challenge and most fun part of the game is coming up with a winning strategy WITHOUT access to the most powerful toys. Can you field a winning fleet without bombs? Without beams beyond Lasers? Can you defend your planets with ships because you are stuck with Nuclear Missiles? Because those things will all happen at some point. Man I love this game!

[SvenBent]

Thanks for all the help I'm still going through the OSG
and yes i do tend to paly very passivly and just try to imrpove my production and not go to war to much until i get my tech advantage and then rool through them.


just need to fininsh HAlflife episode 2 and then im back to orions for a couple oftries on hard and imp