After hosting
a few games I found that the first 10-20 turns are the most important for
the
economic and
military might later in the game. Nevertheless many players are doing better
than
others in this
crucial first part of the game. The following list is for the unexperienced
player
who is searching
some basic hints how to improve the expansion of his empire. (Download)
I] General tips:
In VGAP 3 the
economy plays a minor role compared to the military strength and strategy,
but 
it
is the fundamental basis on which you build up your fleet later in the
game. Therefore you should create a decent economy first: your aim should
be to build an economic powerhouse in which your homeworld and its starbase
is your first centerpoint.
1)
Draw an 81 ly circle around your homeworld (HW): in this area you'll find
your "core worlds".
Move out and
explore the surrounding planets, drop one or more clans with your first
ship(s),
than fly to
the next planet.
2) build 2-3 Large Deep Space
Freighters and
fill them with
colonists, supplies and lots of megacredits(!). Send them out to the worlds
you
colonized in
step 1 and where you found minerals and/or natives. In the early stage
of the game you'll need money (megacredits or supplies) more than anything
else! Look out if you can find a planet with Insectoid or Bovinoid natives
first! Check their governmental status:
"Monarchy"
will give you 100% tax revenues while "Unity" will give you 180% - Anarchy
20%...
Insectoids double
the collected taxes while Bovinoids will "produce" supplies each turn.
Make sure you
have enough colonists(!!) on this worlds to get the maximum out of the
natives: for each megacredit you wish to collect you need 100 colonists
(1 clan).
3) Even if you don't have cloaking ships in your inventory
you can "semi-cloak":
never ever
fly straight in open space between your planets! Use transwarp drives only
and jump
from one world
to the next. If you hide your ships in planetary orbit you may move around
a bit slower but it pays later when you can hide your location long enough
until you have built up
a fleet, that
is strong enough for self-defense. Ships in open space are visible up to
300 ly!
4) Don't build
mines (>9) or factories (>14) before you can shield their energy emissions
by defense
outposts. With 21 defenses you are preventing that an potential enemy will
be able
to scan your
location by doing a simple "Sensor Sweep" (up to 200 ly)! Don't build more
than 21 outposts
in the beginning - they are much too weak to defend a planet.
If you build
more defense outposts later in the game, know how much will make a difference:
# of planetary
defenses| # of beams| beam tech:
1
1 Laser
7
2 X-Ray
13
2 Plasma
19
3 Plasma
21
3 Plasma
31
3 Blaster
37
4 Blaster
43
4 Positron
57
5 Positron
61
5 Disruptor (weaker
than positron!)
5) After you
have blocked any emissions you should quickly build up an economy that
serves your needs and strenghten your industrial power:
50-100 mines
and at least 100 factories on a mineral rich planet.
This will cost
you:
100 mines x
4mcr = 400 mcr + 100 supplies
100 factories
x 3mcr = 300 mcr + 100 supplies
21 defenses
x 10mcr = 210 mcr + 21 supplies
total = 910 mcr and 221 supplies!
6) change your planetary and ship codes! All your new
ships will have
the same code!
Player 1 = AAA, player 2 = BBB, player 3 = CCC etc. If your enemy assumes
you don't have
changed the ship code he could prevent fighting and robbing simply by setting
the same code
than yours!
7) If you can't
avoid to cross open space with a non-cloaking ship than do not (!) fly
more
than 81 ly!
If you do, your enemy will see the vector in which direction and maybe
to which
planet your
ship is travelling. It's easy to calculate from where your vessel departed
too...
Split up a
longer distance in equal parts: for e.g, you'll have to cross 120 ly, than
fly 2x 60!
Another race
may watch your ship passing by with warp 9 (max. = 81 ly), but he can't
know
from where
you came or to which world you'll move on next turn. All he can do is
drawing an
81 ly circle around your ship and look which planets are inside this area!
8) to your center after you have build
up an economy on your new colonies! Now it's payback time :-) Your HW has
financed the infrastructure on the other planets now it should get the
profit! Let some of your freighters fly back and forth on a
standard route.
9) Build more
ships and choose a valuable planet >81 ly away from your HW where you build
your next starbase (Remember that some of the natives will give you tech
10 in one area when you build a SB above their planet!). Start at #
1 in this list.
Your aim should
be to build up a network of starbases, each surrounded by developed planets
which deliver
money and minerals.
10) With one large meteor hitting
each turn, imagine
what it could
do to your HW...! Limit the risk of being eradicated by sending out as
many clans
to as many
different worlds as possible!
And last but not least: you may not be strong enough to fight an opponent in the first 10-20 turns of the game but you can always negotiate and may reach a treaty/alliance...
II]
Specific hints for some races (use your race specific abilities!!):
1) Feds: ??
(Never played this race.)
2) Lizards:
HISS, cloak, ground-attack
3) Birdmen:
Cloak, choose your fights wisely due to cloaking(!), lay mines unpredicted
4) Fascist:
Pillage amorphous natives, cloak, glory device, ground-attack
5) Privateers:
Rob rather than fight(!), use your gravitronic(?) engines to tow your freigthers,
cloak
6) Cyborg:
Spread out fast and far away, be Mr. Niceguy first and send out cubes later...
;-)
7) Crystals:
Webmines for defence, Crystal Thunder and Diamond Flame combos for attack
(Diamond fights first!)
8) Empire:
Get a picture where every race is located, trade for some torpedo ships
9) Robots:
Lay many small to medium sized minefields rather than a huge one, trade
for some torpedo based battleships
10 Colonies:
?? (Never played this race.)
11) Rebels:
Use your Falcons(HYP!), ground attack, Guardian/Patriot combos, Rushes
later
Disclaimer:
The above tips are what I did in my previous games and found useful to
transform
minerals and
megacredits into a strong fleet. Different situations may force you to
create
your
own strategy! here.
If you think
there is much more a good player should do, you are right.
If you think
I have left out some important strategies and/or race abilities, you are
right too.
But do you
really consider yourself an unexperienced player...? ;-)
(c)Max Steller,
1999. maxsteller@my-dejanews.com / www.space-port.de