I don't know if anyone in here plays on Hardcoded, and was playing in the B(StarTrek) game, but if there was, what did I do wrong? I know that I have been beaten, but I would like to get better, and seek input on how I could play better. I know that I didn't get cash(and thus figs) fast enough, but what could I do better, as a single, blue player, to build cash and figs?

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean the world's not out to get you.

quote:
I don't know if anyone in here plays on Hardcoded, and was playing in the B(StarTrek) game, but if there was, what did I do wrong? I know that I have been beaten, but I would like to get better, and seek input on how I could play better. I know that I didn't get cash(and thus figs) fast enough, but what could I do better, as a single, blue player, to build cash and figs?


Ick, solo blue? Either get some corpmates or be solo red. Solo blue is probably the most challenging way to play against skilled players, since you'll always be behind in cash/figs/etc.

I'm not familiar with the game you're talking about, so I'll just give some general strategies. I'm assuming it's a turn game, not unlimited, since in an unlimited no strategy matters, just good fast scripts. And I'm assuming there are no planet edits; if there are, completely ignore the planet type recommendations.

The key to solo blue (or any all-blue team for that matter) is just survival until you get some lvl 4 planets. Planetary trading will supplement your income in a vastly superior manner to the standard pair trading you'll have to survive on until then. An organics farm or two can help in the early game, but you'll spend a while pouring all the profits right back into port org buy upgrades anyway, so again it takes some time to pay off (how much time depends on the daily port regen rate).

You have two basic options. If you aren't looking to win and just want to survive as long as possible and try to (eventually) build enough resources to have some fun, forego building a home sector altogether. If you can be online at extern every night, stay Fedsafe, buy figs with every credit you earn, and sit in Fedspace with all your figs anytime you're out of the game. If you can't be online at extern, find a dead end no one visits often and drop all but 100 of your figs there before twarping to Fedspace and quitting for the night. (And hope you don't get AMTRAK'd. Being able to be online at extern is unfortunately rather key to TW gameplay in a competitive game.) With a little luck and smart play, you'll eventually have a maxed ISS to drive around in and maybe even be able to invade a newbie sector or two, or at least put the fear of god into some cashing reds as you warp on them whenever they hit one of your figs.

If you want to go the "real" route, though, at least as much as a solo blue *can* be any real competition, you need a good toll fighter grid (to protect your home sector(s) from probes), and you need to ZTM and probe some dead ends as early as possible to find some 1-to-2 sector deep deadends with NO PORTS. That last is important so that you can defend your homes without blocking a port report and firing off a beacon that says, "Hey! Come conquer me!" Drop toll figs *immediately* in at least ten (depending on universe size; go for at least 2 per 1000 sectors, minimum 10) of those qualifying dead ends, all the way from gate to deepest sector, but don't build any planets yet.

Now, you just pair trade in a Merf, dropping toll figs in every single sector you travel through, taking note whenever your toll fighters in one of those dead ends are destroyed. Once you have enough cash to get commissioned and buy and equip an ISS, hopefully at least one of those deadends you figged on day one hasn't been touched. Go ahead and build planets (an L and an O minimum, plus an H preferably) in up to three (if at least three dead ends remain figged and carrying no tolls) of these dead ends, and start colonizing. Colonize JUST enough to start level one citadels on every planet, and get enough resources on them to start them upgrading. Build SBS ports over each home sector and make sure you supply enough extra equipment to keep the port building every day (you should have enough of the other resources for the port just from the L/H ore and O org production).

Once they're colonized to level 1 citadel levels and are upgrading, pair port trade again. You need every credit you can get, and until those planets are level 2, they're basically defenseless and therefore you do not want to overcolonize and get those colos stolen out from under you; you'll just be helping a solo red if you colonize too much. (If Terran colonists are extremely limited, however, you DO want to "overcolonize" just so you can get your fair share of those colos. In fact, if Terran regen is extremely low, you may even want to build a class M and max its colonists, since it'll then generate colonists better than Terra (you know, the birds and the bees method of colonization ;>). Just keep in mind, that M, and any other planet with a lot of colos, is defenseless until it has a level 2 citadel.)

Once they reach level one, colonize just enough to start the level 2 upgrade, and again, spend every turn not colonizing or providing product to your planets pair port trading and laying figs.

Once planets reach level 2 (L's should be the first to this level by a large margin), colonize them to level 3 levels and start the upgrades, but now you have a choice to make. You may have lost one or more of your original three sectors by now, you may not. You should probably start focusing on one of the three regardless of how many remain unscathed, though; the main reason you've been developing in more than one place is insurance against being found and destroyed. By focusing on just one home sector, you can better defend it instead of spreading your figs extremely thin. Throw 5k figs each on level 2's in other homes (so at least someone has to fight to take your colos, and they might actually believe it's your main or only sector), continue to colonize just enough to keep your other homes upgrading (if plenty of colos are available, there's no need to waste the upgrade time if they by some miracle aren't discovered), and otherwise start focusing on one home. Hopefully you can choose a home based on fig hits by now. Pick the one in the least traveled area, furthest from sector 1 and/or Stardock, nowhere near the MSL's, etc. Staying hidden is very important until you get level 4 planets.

Now that you've chosen a primary home, that's the one you'll colonize above minimal levels. The class L doesn't really need more colos than minimum--H's will build ore at a much better rate--but you may choose to colonize some equipment production to help fuel future upgrades. When your H hits level 2, some extra colos in ore production is nice, since you want it at a million ore as soon as possible for solid defense. Once your first O hits level 2, you're in real business! Your L ought to be one day away from level 3 when the O hits 2, at which point you'll turn on some sector level cannon defense to help keep the O safe. (Just keep in mind, photons will make q-cannons worthless until your planets reach level 5.) Make sure you have plenty of figs on the O's surface (at least 10k per 10k colos, more if you have plenty of figs available--this will depend on the number of turns in the game; make someone PAY for those colonists, and always always always use 0% military reaction rate--the figs will get far superior odds) and colonize organics production with every turn you have. The O will also serve to build figs for you at a fairly good rate.

Where you go from here will vary a great deal from game to game based on whether or not your location is known, what the port daily regen rate is, what the planetary trade nego % is, etc. Your basic strategy though at this point is to make as much of your money as possible off organics sales (buy a Colt and sell it 250 at a time (and buy 250 equip to drop on the class L for sale elsewhere when it reaches level 4 as you sell it) if the planetary % is default 60 or less; nego sell if it's 75 or more; in between 60 and 75 make the call, it'll change every day) until your class L reaches level 4, then spend extra turns warping the L around buydumping equipment, selling it off (and possibly buydumping organics as you sell the equip 250 at a time if nego % is low), and so on. You'll probably want at this point to build an SBB port in the sector outside your home if it's a 2-deep deadend (or SSB if the planetary % is low and you have enough upgraded organics buyers already to cover your O production), so you have a relatively safe port pair you can upgrade all the way with your proceeds.

As you can see, the game starts to branch so much by this point a generic strategy no longer suffices. The strategy above is just one way to go, and I'm sure some experienced players will come in and start shooting down various parts of it now, but it's a good place to start; you can hone from there as you lose games and learn lessons. Losing is the only way to really learn and grow.

Happy trading!

"since in an unlimited no strategy matters, just good fast scripts"

actually, a month ago i would have agreed with you

but join the unlimited on campus party tommorrow night and repeat that same statement saturday night.....

Chris Rose
http://www.geocities.com/camaro81rk

Camaro, see my reply in the Smack Talk forum. I want this thread to stay reasonable rather than turning it into "Turns vs. Unlimited Part 381489234".

quote:
Camaro, see my reply in the Smack Talk forum. I want this thread to stay reasonable rather than turning it into "Turns vs. Unlimited Part 381489234".

Thank you for a basic stratagy & guidline for new players.

I wish more players would be helpfull instead of killers but that is the game

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