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Early Game Colonising Strategies Thu, 26 January 2012 09:03 Go to next message
BeeKeeper is currently offline BeeKeeper

 
Officer Cadet 1st Year

Messages: 214
Registered: December 2007
Location: Devon, UK, GMT
In all previous games I have not sent out any colonisers until a suitable planet has been found. However, it occurs to me it might make sense to have a coloniser following up scouts so they are closer when a green planet is found.

Range of the coloniser will be a problem so it may need to move with engines at "economical revolutions" or have another ship with it for fuel.

I can see the obvious problem that colonising a planet with say 2.5K pop leave the colony very vulnerable to pop dropping, but in the early stages of the game there must also be advantages in seizing planets as far away from your HW as possible in order to secure as much territory as possible.

It will also depend on hab settings of course, and this tactic would not be applicable to tri-immune but for races with hab settings around 1 in 10 or worse it could perhaps pay off.

Does anyone have any views on strategies for colonising planets in the early (scouting) stages of a game? Do you, as I have done in the past, wait for a planet to be discovered or perhaps even send out large fleets of transports, scouts and colonisers together.



[Updated on: Thu, 26 January 2012 09:08]

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Re: Early Game Colonising Strategies Thu, 26 January 2012 09:59 Go to previous messageGo to next message
iztok is currently offline iztok

 
Commander

Messages: 1202
Registered: April 2003
Location: Slovenia, Europe
Hi!
Usually there are closer greens/yellows to dump excess pop on, but I've also been blindly sending colonizers + pop freighters on far clusters, but only after I settled closer planets I wanted. Settling with just 2500 pop far away from a zone, where I can enforce my will is IMO asking for trouble. Colonizing in force (with 50k+ pop and support of light skirmisher to destroy their pop transports) is IMO a viable tactics. OTOH such a far-flung colony must dedicate first several years (even decades) to defenses, not resources.

BR, Iztok


[Updated on: Thu, 26 January 2012 10:04]

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Re: Early Game Colonising Strategies Thu, 26 January 2012 12:28 Go to previous messageGo to next message
nmid

 
Commander

Messages: 1608
Registered: January 2011
Location: GMT +5.5

There is an advantage, even if minor, depending on your colonisation style.

The only advantage imo, is that they will use lesser fuel travelling at a safer warp 6/7 instead of warp 9 that your booster aided colo fillers use.
That would mean you do colo stamp your planet, with backup on the way... Thus securing against even a normal pop drop attack that might happen from a race that decided to go to war with you...
If you don't send out booster-aided colo fill ups in the same year as your coloniser, then it makes sense...
(but do remember even if ur coloniser colonises and ur colonists are in orbit for a year, next year due to wp0 drop, their effect on building will be taken into account.. Thus the overall advantage might not that great.

Not practical more so due to ...
1. there is a cost to those colonisers in the early years... At times being 20-35% of ur early yearly production. An important point which makes the idea not really worth it.
2. bleeding 2500 (25kt) which would mean about a Loss of 5kt pop growth per year. Ignorable.



I know my minefields.. but I'm a chaff sweeper.
I used to curse when I got stuck in traffic... till I realised I AM traffic.

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Re: Early Game Colonising Strategies Thu, 26 January 2012 13:56 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Altruist is currently offline Altruist

 
Commander

Messages: 1068
Registered: August 2005
Location: Berlin
BeeKeeper wrote on Thu, 26 January 2012 15:03

Range of the coloniser will be a problem so it may need to move with engines at "economical revolutions" or have another ship with it for fuel.


Pop=resources
You don't want your pop idle in space but moved to the destination at high speed. So economic is not fuel-economic but mostly to get your pop fastest to where you want them to get them working again.

Quote:

I can see the obvious problem that colonising a planet with say 2.5K pop leave the colony very vulnerable to pop dropping, but in the early stages of the game there must also be advantages in seizing planets as far away from your HW as possible in order to secure as much territory as possible.


See itzok's comment above with which I would 100% agree.

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Re: Early Game Colonising Strategies Thu, 26 January 2012 16:00 Go to previous messageGo to next message
BeeKeeper is currently offline BeeKeeper

 
Officer Cadet 1st Year

Messages: 214
Registered: December 2007
Location: Devon, UK, GMT
Thanks for the replies and comments. I suppose what I am trying to find out is what is the best strategy for the early part of the game. It sounds as if it is simply to scout for suitable planets and then colonise them in strength - which is what I have been doing so far. I was wondering if there are alternative strategies - but of course there are so many variables - PRT, growth rates etc.

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Re: Early Game Colonising Strategies Fri, 27 January 2012 09:57 Go to previous messageGo to next message
LittleEddie is currently offline LittleEddie

 
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Helped track down one or more Stars bugs

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Registered: February 2011
Location: Delaware
For me it just depends, each game is different but I've found one place where I will send out a colony ship in the blind.

At the start of the game I will zoom out and take a look at the universe, thinking about

Where I'm at on the map.
Where I guess other players my be located.
Is there any place that I just need to control.

The last one is where I may send out a colony ship without knowing which planet it will end up at, just an area, one or two years behind my scouts(if not playing JOAT).

An example would be an area near my HW that is void of planets and takes 2 or more years to cross at warp 9. I may want to get a planet established on the other side early so I don't have to fight my way across later in the game.

But it has to be a good bet, because your spending a lot now with the hope of getting a good return on your investment. In one game I send out 2 DDs & 2 Pvt following 2 scouts early, it hurt and slowed me down for a while, but I was rewarded with a soon to be 100% planet on the other side of the void. Other times you just get slaughtered.

Roll the dice and see what happens

Little Eddie



[Updated on: Fri, 27 January 2012 09:58]

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Re: Early Game Colonising Strategies Fri, 27 January 2012 16:40 Go to previous message
Anonymous Coward
Assuming we're talking the early game (i.e. the first 25 to 50 years) it really depends on a number of factors, like your habitability range at the moment and in relation to your growth %, the distance of planets, and the positions of other players (i.e. how far and in which direction they are).

Generally - try to hold your colonizing back until one of the following applies:
- you're hitting 25% cap of your HW (in which case you'd be ready to expand anyway), or
- you fear that the particular planet you scouted might be snatched off by some other player who happens to be too close for your comfort (in which case you'll want to grab it quickly and reinforce), or
- a planet that is green enough would also serve as a good sally port into the previously unexplored sector of the galaxy (in which case, you'd want to grab, reinforce and set up a refuel base on it).

Starting too early will really cut into your growth - play a few testbeds and see how the resources graph goes flatline when you start kicking out your colonists overboard too much. On the other side, scouting aggressively to find as many planets as quickly as possible can never be bad - at least you'll be able to make more informed choices when you know which of your findings are more valuable. This is even more important for races with poor habitability ranges.

Lastly, while you may be tempted to colonize a near-100% breeder far away from your HW, don't do this just for the sake of that. It takes time to reinforce the planet and bring it up to speed (unless you plan in advance), and if you plan to make such an outpost, be prepared to defend it from ferocious attacks - especially if it encroaches on someone else's "perceived territory".

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