Imperium Three - Head of the Class

[barron of ideas]

And of couse, when you have a mature planet with aritfacts, its advantage in research should be reinforced with enough of the reserve to double research there. Ultra rich and then rich planets then are obligated to provide enough reserves to give the aritfact planet double research.

And standing up the artifact planet as fast as possible is the correlary of that obligation. Even when every other planet is building something, you should use the artifact planet for research. and an (ultra) rich planet to feed it reserves. Unless there is something dire happening to your empire. Circumstances alway alter cases.

[Factoid]

Hi all, Zed-F,

Eco will dump to industry if you have factories left to build, otherwise it will dump to research.

It is gems like this that set Moo1 apart. I just never knew this.

Note that you don't need to bribe, as in giving gifts to butter them up. Just ask.

In my game I fixated (far too much) on the Meklars as the ones I wanted to beat up on as they had Rana. The Meklars had an alliance with the Bulrathis that seemed to last forever. I wanted to break that alliance and get the Bulrathis to declare on the Meklars before I went to war, or else I feared Bulrathis then Humans then Klackons and Darloks would declare on me. I did *nothing* to break the alliance, just waited. Another error.

Leaving aside the strategic blunder of fixating on the Meklars (a hard nut for me to assault early on, had the best tech, better than Psilon), I lack the tactical experience in driving a diplomatic wedge between allies. I will go out and practise.

OTOH, I will sometimes give up a tech that improves on an existing capability if it doesn't do so too dramatically (e.g. giving up BC IV when the other guy already has BC III, for instance.)

Yes, I gave the pathetic Klackons IIT 9. I am building my pet list of things to give away, *obsolete* range, terraforming, eco restore, colony base(?), IIT and waste reductions (in that order)... obsolete gropo techs too, non-weapon by preference. Maybe old ECM?

I shouldn't give things away that I would gleefully accept if given to me. That old weapon or BC or engine type might be just right to shoe-horn into a small/medium hull.

In terms of obselete gifts effects apart from miniaturisation and cost reduction are (have I missed any):

+1 computer tech helps espionage/counterespionage.
+1 construction adds 2% to hull space.
+1 force field doesn't do anything much.
+1 planetology adds *minutely* to population-based production.
+1 range nothing much.
+1 weapons stronger miniaturisation of scary new weapons.

Are there "poison" gifts? Would giving Robotic Controls 3 to the Meklars really early on hurt them? Give death spores when possessing bio toxin antidote? Ooh, I like that thought, a diplomatic penalty too.

Cheers,
Factoid.

[Zed-F]

+1 construction adds to hull space and miniaturizes construction techs like armour.
+1 propulsion miniaturized engines. Since power is the major component in the space requirement of beam weapons, if you are going to watch weapons, you might consider watching this one too.

Personally I would never sweat a +1 from giving an old tech away if it will get me something I can use now, like driving a wedge between two AI races.

Giving scatter pack V when you have reasonable shielding tech and/or fast engines might be a poison gift, if the AI uses scatter packs that are slow and inaccurate over regular missles that might be fewer in number but at least have a hope of connecting. Giving away scatter packs when you don't have the means to counter them yourself is of course not a good idea.

[Selentine]

Are there "poison" gifts?

Energy Pulsar and Cloaking Device. The computer's ship designs will be even worse if they have these lemons available.

Would giving Robotic Controls 3 to the Meklars really early on hurt them?

To Meklars, no, because their factory costs don't increase. To anyone else, no, because at the stage where RC3 would hurt them, you won't have contact.

Give death spores when possessing bio toxin antidote? Ooh, I like that thought, a diplomatic penalty too.

The penalty for sporing applies to the computer too??

I'm not a big fan of cheesing the audience screen, but surely there are times you want to give an enemy planetary techs. Such as Atmospheric so you can invade their radiateds, or Enrichment so you can stand planets up faster after you invade.

Selentine

[Factoid]

Hi all, Selentine,

To Meklars, no, because their factory costs don't increase. To anyone else, no, because at the stage where RC3 would hurt them, you won't have contact.

Ah, so true. If you do have RC3 to give to them (early enough it could hurt them) it isn't doing YOU any good. I've picked up RC3 from an artifact world in 2302, that was interesting...

My perspective is flawed by never playing hard or impossible before now, so never having to cope with a serious tech disadvantage. My military tactics are underdeveloped.

The penalty for sporing applies to the computer too??

Well, I *hoped* the sporing penalty applied, but you will know much better than I. I was more enchanted by the prospect of races using death spores on each other and not being able to use death spore-heavy fleets on me. I see a *lot* of races learning death spore technology in some games, I guess that is the roll of the dice.

I'm not a big fan of cheesing the audience screen, but surely there are times you want to give an enemy planetary techs. Such as Atmospheric so you can invade their radiateds, or Enrichment so you can stand planets up faster after you invade.

Yes, you hit the mark again. This may be the corollary of what I said before (don't give away techs you would gleefully accept) - I have had had games where I was reluctant to learn atmospheric terraforming 'cos of those low-tech Bulrathis lurking beside my rich radiated planet.

So do think about giving away techs you wouldn't like to receive? I sometimes *defer* learning RC3, planetary shield 5, soil enrichment and atmospheric terraforming because these techs can "hijack" my current interest in building missile bases or increasing planet size (or RC3 is too expensive for my current IIT, core worlds still building to RC2 level).

Looking forward to Imperium 4, hoping to make a decent fist of Impossible level!

See you all,
Factoid.

[Zed-F]

Heh, I wouldn't give those techs away.

Cloaked AI ships are annoying, they can bypass your defending repulsor ships designed to stop incoming bombers.

AI ships with energy pulsars are potentially a threat to my favourite anti-planet stack, the small bomber.

[Griselda]

Results can be seen here. We weren't sure who qualified for "head of the class" status, but if you feel like you should, please reply here or send me an email and I'll put that in.

Also, Imperium Five has been announced, and it will start next week. Enjoy.

-Griselda