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A testbed is simply that. A testbed. Remember, the bed you make, you also have to sleep in. A race that does well in a test bed can and often will do poor in a real game. The game is the ultimate testbed. In a game there are human competitors that change the variables. There is diplomacy and basic human unpredictability to deal with, whereas in a testbed all you compete with is yourself. In a testbed you simply go for all the planets you want, but in a real game you don't have that option as other races are grabbing their planets and territories also.
they set borders they attack unexpectedly, etc. I have played a Ducknoid type AR in testbed that did extremely well, even against expert AI in follow up test, but in a real game this kind of race did poorly. The only thing that saved it in real game was an alliance with a strong IT living next door, that protected the AR.


A good article posted by Leonard Dickens on RGCS Subject: AR Guide.
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&a mp;th=b49f527008e0b961&rnum=1

Here is part of it:


Outline
-------
ARs Compared to Normal Races
Game Strategy
Game Parameters
Race Design:
LRTs
Hab and Growth
Coefficient
Research
Playing ARs
Early game
Mid and late game
Special AR problems
Warfare


ARs Compared to Normal Races
----------------------------

ARs work very differently than the other races in Stars. This section touches on each significant difference, and its effect on race design or game play.

** Starbase Habitat: ARs live in starbases. Thus, while they use the planetary compat as do normal races for purposes of determining the growth-rate modification of the pop growth formula, they do *not* have the same planetary maximum populations. Instead, they get a fixed maxpop determined by the starbase type:
orbital fort 250000
space dock 500000
space station 1000000
ultra station 2000000
death star 3000000

** No factories: ARs cannot make factories, but rather, get resources based on other factors (see below). As with any factoryless race, this means that the need for early minerals is modest.

A less obvious effect of being without factories is that settlements are cheap. Though they can be lost easily, they are also fast to set up. If a normal race loses a planet and it gets bombed out, that race may have to spend 10 to 20 turns to get the factories back up. The cost in germanium (G) is large, probably requiring imports. An AR can have a planet back in business in 2 turns, costing only a few minerals.

** AR mining: unlike normal races, an AR gets a small number of "mines" just by being at a planet. The amount is 1/10sqrt(pop); thus, a planet with 250000 pop has the effect of 50 mines. Not very much. Offsetting this weakness is the special rule about remote mining for AR planets: unlike any planet occupied by normal races, an AR planet may always be remote mined.

** Infinite mining: Unlike the normal races, when an AR remote mines a homeworld that it owns (meaning, has colonized), the homeworld floor of 30 concentration applies to *all* of the AR's remote mining fleets at that planet. This means that an AR can mine an almost unlimited amount per turn, each turn, needing only the remote miners to do so. (Remote mining for all players is subject to a limit of 4000 mine-equivalents per fleet; thus, ARs are limited in remote mining by the 512 fleet limit.)

Thus, if the AR makes it to the late game, where tech is maxxed and minerals are tight, he is a great position. Other races will be spending most of their resources doing highly inefficient alchemy. ARs will be spending all of their resources building, assuming they set up their mineral distribution network properly. This is potentially a game breaker.

** Resource Formula: the formula for AR resources is:
resources-from-planet = hab * sqrt(pop * energy / pop-coefficient)
where:
hab = the planetary habitat
sqrt = square root
pop = the pop at that planet
energy = the AR's energy tech
pop-coefficient = the value from the race wizard
There are effects to all of these, so I will discuss each in turn.

hab: unlike normal races, the planetary habitat directly affects the production of an AR. This means that, all other things equal, an AR will do better with fewer, higher hab planets than with more low hab ones. The value for "hab" is never lower than 0.25; if the planet is lower value than that (or red), then 0.25 is used instead. This, combined with the pop limits based on the starbase, make ARs good at working up reds.

sqrt: the effect of this is huge. It means that all the factors
inside it -- pop, energy, and pop-coefficient -- are "squelched" in effect. The larger they get, the less they matter. You will see the "square root effect" mentioned several more times in this guide...

pop: with the sqrt, this factor means that an AR gets fewer and fewer resources as a planet's pop increases. Normal races have a tough problem with their planets: do they want to use them to grow pop on, or to run factories at? If they decide to grow pop, they have to hold the planet between 1/4 and 1/2 full; obviously that cuts the possible production by the same amount. ARs grow using the same formula, but the effect on them is much less: if the AR leaves the planet at 1/4 pop, he loses only half the resources (sqrt(0.25) = 0.5). If he leaves it at 1/3 maxpop, which is the level yielding the largest pop/turn, he loses only 42% of the resources.

This effect, combined with the raised planetary maxpop obtained from starbase living, means that ARs are considerably less dependent on a high growth rate (%grow) than normal races. A typical (OBRM) normal race has a planetary max pop that tops out at 1100000. (JOATs get 20% more.) In order to grow on average at a competitive rate, say, 10% or so over the first 50 years, a normal race needs to have a much higher growth rate -- 17-19% is typical. ARs can grow their pop much more easily, especially after they get the larger stations.

Another very important aspect of the sqrt(pop) effect is its effect on the maximum rate of economic growth possible for ARs. If pop is growing exponentially at rate R, a normal race can increase its economy at rate R. (Usually factories will lag pop, so the effect is somewhat delayed in the early game, but over time this is the case.) What holds back a normal race is crowding and low planet values. An AR, though, growing at the same rate R, gains econ at only rate (R/2)! Crowding holds an AR back somewhat less, low planet values the same. But in general, this fact means it is much harder to grow the AR economy than the normal race economy.

One final aspect of the sqrt(pop) factor is spreading. A normal race gets no immediate benefit for spreading its pop out, as long as all planets are below maxpop. (Spreading can increase the rate of growth, though, for planets above 1/4 maxpop. Thus, it is certainly a good idea, but not imperative.) For ARs, though, because of the sqrt(pop) factory, spreading immediately increases the economy, as well as potentially increasing the growth rate. For example, assume an AR has two 100% planet available. If he puts 1M pop on one, and zero on the other, he gets sqrt(1M*energy/eff), or 1000sqrt(energy/eff). If he puts 500K on each planet, he gets 2*sqrt(500K*energy/eff), or 1414sqrt(energy/eff). 41% more, just for rearranging where the pop is!

Note, though, that the amount an AR gets from spreading drops off, again as a result of the square root. Spreading his pop from 1 planet to 4, an AR can double his econ. But to quadruple it, he needs 16 planets. And to octuple it, he needs 64. Obviously, this process is only good for a relatively small amount of growth; getting 16 planets is possible in most typical games. Getting 64 is unusual. Getting 256 is very unlikely -- if you are playing in a galaxy that large, you are an idiot.

*** TT: sometimes. Recommended for 1/25 ARs.

TT is a very nice thing for an AR to have, because of the way
terraforming works in the resources equation. That is, that the value of a planet directly produces resources, unlike normal races. Thus, terraforming is a straight investment for ARs, in addition to a means of increasing the rate of growth. As with any investment, making it cheaper is good. Consider an average green for a one-immune: it might start at 50% hab with each point of terraforming increasing the value by 3%, say. Let's say there is enough pop there to produce 100 resources/turn. Spending that 100, you could increase the planet to 53% and thus the resources to 106. Without TT, the rate of return from the terraforming is 6%: not great. With TT, the rate is better: 8.6%. By comparison, normal races invest in factories. A typical 12/9/x race gets 13.3%, given G.

TT also helps the AR work up yellows. Yellow colonization is
typically much more important for ARs than other races, since they are so desperate for resources.

With all that good stuff to say about TT, why only "sometimes" take it? Because it is very expensive. I recommend TT more readily to 1/25 ARs in part because they have fewer resources from pop, but also because they have the extra points to invest.

Also, unlike normal races ARs have a hard time taking cheap bio,
because they need cheap energy and con (everyone needs cheap weapons). Thus, the higher levels of TT will be out of reach of the AR until the very late game.

*** ARM: Often. Good for any AR, but not necessary.

ARM provides several things beyond what you get with "normal" mining (neither ARM nor OBRM). First, you get the two potato bugs to start with. These are nice, but not necessary except perhaps for very low growth ARs. You also get the ultraminer hull, which is the cheapest way to buy mines, but not gateable. And there is the miner hull. Not amazingly useful.

The main thing you get with ARM is superbugs: the midget miner hull and the ultra miners. Superbugs are gateable, and very cheap.
Having miners be gateable has three benefits. First, you get the
minerals in places other than the homeworld. The minerals at home are cheap, but the planet will quickly drop to its 30 min con. And so at many places the minerals will be even cheaper. It also costs to distribute the minerals out from the homeworld; you must buy freighters or packets.

Second, gateable miners allow you build them anywhere, then gate them home to mine. This means you can increase your mining very quickly, if need be, by having all planets build miners.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, is the fact that *other*
players can use the minerals in your planets quite nicely. They just have to kick you off of the planets. Thus, one aspect of the gateable superbugs is defensive: to quickly drain out any new planet, so as to deny the minerals to enemies or would-be enemies. I would advocate leaving a fleet or two of superbugs on every planet until it is
considerably below 30 con, for this reason.

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ZZZs gave me an odd thought:
Tri-immune AR
Colonize the 30 some planets immediately around your home world.
Ignore Min. concentrations, the planets are for resources.
Use colony ships w/ fuel pods to move populations (22KT)
If you see HE buy his freighters .

Use Packets and remote mining at home to keep any bad planets set up. AR with death star can have triple growth(1million at 33%)

So early game hurts (after initial colonizations of like 100 people)

Mid Game, at-least you are very compact so you can be less valuable a takeover than other races(I could conquer you but he's got less defense/planet and more planets. So I'll bother you.... until its too late if you're good at diplomacy)
The home world builds up min-font until about 200-300 fleets (or more) exist. It can start pretty early with this design, advantages of the design being compact empires.

AR can definitely recover low growth most easily of all stars! PRTs. (Maybe excluding CA)

Almost forgot, The tool of diplomacy: Hey, want 30,000 Kt Boranium to not kill me? People won't right away and later they'll love you since (for tech mebbe) you give out minerals like theres no end. And you can use packet flingers for freight(small empire+W10 packets because of Energy research of the AR means possibly W13 freight)

[Updated on: Sun, 08 December 2002 20:25]

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The only way to get a half decent tri-immune AR is to drop down to 7% growth rate - which is gonna kill you

However, drop it to 6% and you've got a highly capable race... but that slow growth will kill you.

Granted once you get death stars that 6% becomes the equivalent of 18% which is nice. You'd be totally dependant on kind neighbours. You'd have to give them minerals and tech and get very little in return. And by the time your race got going there'd be no room left to expand into.

A bi-immune race is plausable, I have a 12% growth one that can ease into 20k by 2450 and nearly triple that by 2465.

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ZZZ, all this discussion about AR's has got me designing and testing one AR race after another, but darned if I can see what you all see in that PRT. Everyone I perceive to be expert Stars players seem all aglow about AR's, but to me AR seems absolutely the most hopeless of any PRT by a huge margin.

Please don't tell me it's because I'm ignorant and don't know how to play Stars (I already know that).

Obviously, not having to build factories and mines is nice, but I've seen races that seem to be monsters by comparison that can mitigate the time and resources needed to build those mines and factories to the point where that is inconsequential, and have a booming economy from the start, and only growing stronger with time. The formula used to determine the resource production of AR's seems so weak, I feel like ANY PRT without factories and mines is just about as capable. I've tried various settings of the ONE factor you're allowed to adjust, and it makes little difference that I can tell. Same with the Energy tech, it just doesn't seem to have that much affect on the formula. I also know that planet habitability is a factor, and population is a factor, but NOTHING seems to have any SIGNIFICANT affect for producing resources.

Please don't tell me it's because I'm a mathematical IDIOT who can't work the formula (I already know that).

While it's apparent to me that this race is no quick starter in any form, I can find little benefit in the long run either, aside from the oft-mentioned "mineral fountain". Surely that is not what makes people (the same who think HE is the worst PRT) speak kindly of the AR PRT, because some have disparaged the 3% tri-immune HE's and we know they have plenty of minerals too, more than enough for the end of a huge game. Strangely absent from all this discourse (which often points out that AR saves lots of resources and minerals by not building factories and mines) is the fact that lots of minerals and resources are used up building scads of remote miners. One mig

[Updated on: Thu, 12 December 2002 04:18]

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All of your points are fairly valid. However you miss a few great reasons in favour of AR.

1. You are not dependant on Geranium. Ironium is quite essential for miners but excluding that you are dependant on very little. This lack of need for Geranium means you can trade it with other races. Lets face it you need it, AR has it... in abundance.

2. Losing a planet is not such a huge cost. It may seem that way but it's not. Enemy sends in the cavalry and you rip all but the very last unit of your population. If you lose the planet you lose the starbase, defensive ships and one unit of people. If you were any other PRT you lose your factories, mines, defenses, any terraforming (if CA which is likely from beginners), defending ships, starbase, etc... In other words you have more to lose.

3. The further spread your population the better resources. The resource formula is based on square root. The higher your pop the more you lose out. This is not the same for other races. Once again, losing 1 planet from hundreds is minor compared 1 from 20.

4. Miners can rip a planet dry of minerals and move on. Mines on planets cant. They just sit there and try to bleed the last drop of minerals out.

5. Max population growth is achieved at 33% capacity, i.e. 333,300 on a none ORBM none JOAT race. With AR and a death star it's 1,000,000 - basically you can export 3 times MORE population per turn from major worlds. Nifty eh?

6. Total immunity from mass packets - I'd like to see a mass packet kill AR populus - if it does then something MAJOR went wrong

7. Faster research. Since you can donate easily 50-80% of your resources from fully terraformed planets without losing out you can research much faster. AR can have the technology for Juggernaught BB's with Gorilla sheilds and Valanium armour by 2450. 25k by 2450 is impressive, but those BB's are something entirely different.

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Not ARM, take NRSE. You'll find you have a few more points to spare Maybe enough to afford an immunity or take weapons normal in case your diplomacy falters...

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Apelord wrote on Sat, 14 December 2002 09:28

Strength of an AR rests in it's ability to build a substantial tech advantage

This must assume that an expert is playing the race and knows how to design it and play it, while the race is so bizarre that I can't figure out a productive design, nor realize how to play it. I can't find a way to get points to cheapen tech research, nor find a way to produce resources for ANYTHING playing AR.

Quote:

what other race can bomb planets into oblivion and then turn around and be producing 2,000 resources from that world in only 2-3 years?

What race indeed? You mean AR? You're kidding me! Arn't you? It's all I can do to acheive 2k resources in 100 turns of a testbed with AR!

freakyboy once said that he "is lousy playing an AR"; all I can say is, "you have no concept of the meaning of that phrase until you see my AR testbeds".

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Thanks for an example, freakyboy. I'll have to give your design a try, just to see if I can get some idea of where I've been blowing it and how to get going in the right direction with an AR race. I mean, everything I've tried so far doesn't come within a billion light years what you acheived; obviously I'm doing NOTHING right!

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[Updated on: Fri, 26 January 2007 06:10] by Moderator

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