I'm working on a race for the Beginners game. My question is:
My race has a 1 in 5 Hab set
Kepp in mind, these question apply to early, and beginning of game.

What percent hab level planets do I colonize?
---I hear of many article talking about 20 planets real fast, but for me to do that in any reasonable amount of time, I have to colonise yellow and low percentage planets, OR colonise green planets that a sparse all over.

Should I colonise yellow planets early?
--- I have figured to make terraforming a priority early, it this the right way to do it?

How should population MM be handled?
--- I just read parts of a thread talking about transferiing colonists when the population reaches %25 of the planets total.. Did I understand this properly?

What is a 'Producer Planet"?
--- A planet used for gaining colonists? ???

Ummmm, I have a lot more questions, nut I'll post them as they come to me...
Thanks!
Strat

[Updated on: Tue, 16 March 2004 21:58]

Report message to a moderator

Okay, I'll apply my limited experience.

1. With 1 in 5 hab you should not have trouble finding plenty of planets to colonize, unless you're in a small universe and the other players are going to be close.

2. This really depends on your growth rate.
As a general rule, colonize any nearby greens (although this really depends on your PRT). Colonizing yellows and reds really depend on your PRT. CA have no yellow planets. ARs produce a lot of resources on small colonies, so if you're AR you can afford to colonize a good number of yellows and reds.
If you're not CA or AR it might make sense to avoid colonizing yellows until some time in the mid-game when you can afford to relocate a large amount of colonists. And you might consider colonizing a few reds in the late game when everyone's starved for minerals.
Of course if you find a planet early on that's only 1 or 2 percent outside your hab range, you might try colonizing then setting that planet to send only leftover resources to research until it's green.

3. Your planets' growth is at a faster rate before it reaches 25% of its total possible population. Don't send any colony ships until your homeworld reaches 25%. If you have a good growth rate this is fairly easy.
Never send just 2500 colonists at once (unless you're AR, but you're probably not, so I won't go over that part). Send a colonizer and merge it with a medium or large freighter (and if you don't have ramscoops, add a fuel transport. Maybe add one even if you do, if it helps you get there faster). Fill the fleet with colonists and send it to colonize a planet. Before it arrives there, split the fleet (the colonizer in one, the freighter and fuel ship in the other). Turn off colonize for the freighter fleet, but let it reach the planet the same turn. The next year, after the planet's colonized, dump the colonists and send the freighter back to get more. Keep it going between the two planets as long as the HW stays at roughly 25% and the colony doesn't grow exceptionally large. If the colony gets large enough to support itself, stop transporting colonists.
You should have a number of small colonies going through this process at once.
A colony with a population of only 2500 is an easy target for a neighbour and in a mixed skill game a more experienced player will say to themselves "Hey, a n00b" and will probably come after you.

4. A producer planet is a planet geared towards producing as many resources as possible. This is a planet with a high population and a LOT of factories. There should be a starbase, as you'll probably want to use a producer planet to build warships when you need them.

Now, I'm not the most experienced player in the world, so someone else might come along with better, simpler, and less wordy advice . Listen to them.

Report message to a moderator

Report message to a moderator

In that case;

AR colonists die in space when being transported, down to a minimum load of 2200 (or 22 kt).
Send AR colony ships with 22 kt of colonists and maybe fill the rest with boranium. Follow up with freighters for the greens.
For reds, colonize them then just leave them alone. They generate a lot of resources for their size, and it will still take quite some time before they die off completely. You need extra resources early on. Research a lot of energy tech.
Yellow planets will have to be a judgement call. Either treat them like reds or treat them like greens, depending on which would seem more viable. Remember though, that it takes a long time to terraform planets unless you have a CA ally .
Prioritize greens, then start colonizing yellows and reds when you have all the greens within arm's reach.

Here are some very good AR articles.
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Springs/3660/ar/
http://www.starsfaq.com/articles/ar_guide.htm

Report message to a moderator

Report message to a moderator

AR? One immune 1 in 5 AR should have piles of planets to colonize. More, than it can afford mineral-wise. I can give some suggestions that may or may not improve your score from testbed these are needed to win against humans with AR.

PBEM AR-s colonization strategy is not based on some economy or pop percentages and breeding and production. AR should spread like wildfire. The only acceptable excuse for not taking something useful is that despite you summed up all minerals from all planets you could not build one more pinta. That never happens. Planet that is now red but will be yellow 30 years later is quite useful. Do not forget that you need to keep being agreeable and friendly with your neighbours going that mad speed colonization.

Sure, you must not turn all your minerals into pintas. Otherwise your central colonies will overgrowd because then you have no minerals for freighters. Build as lot of freighters you need to avoid growing over 25% anywhere. It is the population that mines minerals early. AR should distribute it as evenly as possible to gain more minerals.
AR can not pop-drop. Plain and simple. Better avoid thinking something like "later" if you can take it now. Once your neighbours are somewhere before you ... you may only try to speak them to leave ... it is next to impossible to kick them out with force.
On the other hand 21kT of pop on pinta is enough to claim a planet for AR. AR colony has orbital immediately, you can upgrade it gradually and make it harder and harder to destroy it.

It is quite cheap to build docks. AR has few minerals early (repeat that sentence 100 times by yourself. ). You must reuse your transport vessels for making more transport trips. The more refuel docks you have all over the place the easier it is to do it.

Keep in mind that AR should build freighters and pintas everywhere it only can (at docks) because it has low econ per planet early (like -f) and its HW cannot make all the vessels it needs.
Usually it is possible to gain ultrastation technology (construction 12) before all your docks are 25% full. Building stations is waste of resources and minerals. Go from docks to ultras directly.

If somewhere is more iron than other minerals (high iron concentration), carry it back to your homeworld. Homeworld has station and so it is the only place you can build remote miners early. As soon you reach construction 8 and electronics 4 you should start to build some remote miners (that consist mostly of ironium) too. You may mine any good mineral planet around HW if HW has low mineral concentrations.

Finally ... homeworld is the long-term treasure box of AR. No HW = No Fountain. So ... AR should do all it can to avoid someone getting too close to and endanger its HW. Colonize everything around HW, fill the space around it with small minefields and ships with scanners ... etc. It cannot be too safe there.

Report message to a moderator

Hi!

Strat wrote on Wed, 17 March 2004 03:57

Should I colonise yellow planets early?

My rules of thumb for colonizing planets/sending pop are:
1. Biggest planets first, no matter the distance (well, with some reason) or minerals. They will become new breeders.
2. Best/closest planets next.
3. If there's a green planet that needs pop 3-4 turns of travel or closer to a breeder then I send pop there,
4. else I start working on yellows (from best to worst). When they have 150k pop then
5. I start backfilling inner breeders (minerally best planets first). If I'm not playing an IS then poor breeders may not be maxed for a very long time.
6. An exemption is a big yellow planet. It's usually colonized and filled with pop before farther small greens.
My .
BR, Iztok

[Updated on: Wed, 17 March 2004 07:30]

Report message to a moderator

Report message to a moderator

Kotk wrote on Wed, 17 March 2004 04:55

The only acceptable excuse for not taking something useful is that despite you summed up all minerals from all planets you could not build one more pinta.

This is the main thing I'm am trying to arrive at... What is considered a useful planet and why?

From my limited understading, I do know that it being AR and all, a planet with less than %25 hab will generate resources still as a %25, just a pop difference.

Still though, don't you lose coloists on a red/yellow planet? Should I initially send more people to a red planet, so they last longer? OR should I do the opposite, keep it to a minium to they die slower, but get less resources and mining? Hmm, I guess I should keep it high.....

How red is too red?

I really appreciate yall's post and the detail you included, I'm all about detail. Heh, I just hope I'm asking the right questions. Please always let me know of something you think I need to know.

Again, thanks for help,
Strat

Report message to a moderator

Report message to a moderator

Hi!

Strat wrote on Thu, 18 March 2004 06:34

In a Medium, Dense map, would it be better to go with IFE, or drop it since things are a little closer?

Fuel Mizer is for most races the only thing that allows to expand quickly almost from the start (only con-4 and prop-2 needed, gives 2 W9 jumps with Medium Freighter, 3 W9 jumps with PVT). The only two races that came close are HE with its Settler's Delight engine, and IT with starting prop 5 (DLL-7 engine) and 2 planets to expand from. If your race isn't HE or IT you have to invest in prop quite a lot of resources before you are able to move your pop fast. And when you're ready, races with IFE already got the best planets and 've built much more factories...
There's one small niche you can use: RadRam-6 engine, but it requires investment in en-2 and 1.8k in normal (which is by many players regarded as a waste of points) prop and very high rad (85 or more) or rad immunity in order to move pop without losses. Is still worth only 2/3 of a FM (one W9 and one W8 jump with a PVT) much much later than FM.

I'd suggest you to try a "standard combo" IFE + NRSE + expensive prop + (maybe) grav immunity. This way you could invest your resources into economy or warfaring techs instead in a non-productive propulsion, and buy prop-9/12 only when you really need that.

My .
BR, Iztok

[Updated on: Thu, 18 March 2004 02:32]

Report message to a moderator

Strat wrote on Thu, 18 March 2004 07:34

This is the main thing I'm am trying to arrive at... What is considered a useful planet and why?

Good greens are as-soon-you-only get to them useful. All greens are must-to-have useful. Most of yellows are very useful. Any red that you can terraform into green one day is worth-of-pinta useful early. Rest of the reds are not-too useful early if you do not want to block your neighbours from taking them. Later when you have deathstars you may send 3 large freighters of pop to each red... that makes your territory easier to defend.

Quote:

In a Medium, Dense map, would it be better to go with IFE, or drop it since things are a little closer?

In medium dense go with IFE+NRSE+expensive propulsion+gravity immunity. Always learn the easy style first.

The other ways are signfically harder. These are usually taken only because of the not-so-visible-in-testbed-bonuses.

AS one example... Radiation immunity+no IFE+no NRSE+normal propulsion tech is usually more expensive in race wizard than IFE+NRSE way. So why to take it?
1) Radiation immunity is often giving you very different hab from your neighbours so you have more hope to get more planets or trade them with neigbours.
2) Your economy should have lot more "spreaded" nature than that or your neighbours and you might want to have stargates soon for defensive purposes. Early propulsion helps with it.
3) As AR, your ironium is limited (with germanium you are OK) and so ram scoops are significally more pleasant price-wise than the IS-10.
4) The hard to attack and easy to build orbitals and almost gateable beamer BB-s are the backbone of your midgame military doctrine. Midgame AR is the weakest. BB-s are lighter with rams and so they are easier to gate.
5) If allied victory is allowed you may risk and take weapons normal or even expensive and hope to find ally who supports you with weapons tech. You do not need weapons for terraforming with radiation immune and so such plan is at least ... thinkable.

Just dropping IFE and hoping for your docks to help and getting large freighters quick so you can build qj5 large freighters and fly them underfilled at ~warp 7 is pain to manage... but doable in packed environment and certainly gives some RW points too.

Report message to a moderator

Report message to a moderator

[Updated on: Mon, 20 September 2004 06:40] by Moderator

Report message to a moderator

Report message to a moderator

Report message to a moderator

As far as I can tell, there are two places to hold a planet: 25% or 50%. 25% gets you the best growth rate for your pop, whereas 50% gets you a lot of resources without sacrificing too much pop growth. 1/3 is a number that has been floating around, because it is at that point that a planet produces the greatest volume of people. As someone pointed out though, it is not very efficient. You have 25% of the planets capacity growing at their full capacity, whereas the last people used to fill it up from 25% to 30% are only growing at 16% of the max growth rate, and this is not a very good number. So, for maxing population, use 25%, and for maxing resources without sacrificing too much pop, use 50%. Does this make sense? Am I babbling?

Report message to a moderator

icebird wrote on Sat, 20 March 2004 07:39

... So, for maxing population, use 25%, and for maxing resources without sacrificing too much pop, use 50%. Does this make sense? Am I babbling?

Perfect sense, for races with factories. Maximizing AR's resources involves spreading pop on as may worlds as you can, giving them square(hab%) pop of the HW. If your HW has 250k pop then any planet below 25% should get 0.25% * 0.25% of 250k or 16k pop and a 90% planet 202k. In practice you start filling planets from best to worst in order to do as much terra ASAP, keeping most greens at 25% of orbital's capacity.
BR, Iztok

[Updated on: Sun, 21 March 2004 04:03]

Report message to a moderator

I completely missed the fact that we were talking about AR. I guess I will read the rest of the thread more carefully next time.

Report message to a moderator

Oh ... do not worry. Actually i have found that the only difference between AR and others is spreading as quick as possible early. HW is maybe still good to keep at 25% because it is only place you can build miners.

As late pop management the 50% is probably the best for AR too. With the only difference to fill the high value worlds first instead of low value worlds like others.

It is because the resources that people generate get low at higher fills.
See yourself:
Last 500kt of pop in full filled deathstar at 100% planet generate 23 resources at energy 26.
Last 500kt of pop in 50% filled deathstar at 70% planet also generate 23 resources at energy 26.
Last 500kt of pop in 25% filled deathstar at 70% planet generate 33 resources at energy 26.

Conclusion: If we carry pop from 25% filled 70% value planet to fill 100% planet we actually lose resources but from 50% filled 70% planet it makes sense.

Most planets for 1-immune AR are above 70% when fully terraformed.
It might be profitable to keep planets below 50% value at 25% hold while filling 100% planets, but such low value planets are probably still terraforming and developing and under 25% anyway when AR starts to fill the deathstars at 100% planets.

Report message to a moderator

[Updated on: Sun, 21 March 2004 13:27]

Report message to a moderator

Report message to a moderator

[Updated on: Sun, 21 March 2004 19:40]

Report message to a moderator

Report message to a moderator

Yep, I've rechecked and my growth figures were wrong. It was late at night here when I wrote that

The two maxed out planets are already taken into the calculation (it's the 10*100 bit in the resource calc).

So all in all, I'm now converted to the "33% is dead" camp.

Report message to a moderator