-=DREADLORD=-
BATTLE MANUAL
Ramutis Giliauskas
Dec. 18, 1994
edited--Tim Vanderhoek
This was written to help players survive, be more effective, and more
innovative when playing VGA PLANETS.
TARGET AUDIENCE: Beginner (one game) to Intermediate (five/six)
This can also be a good reference text for experienced
players.
If you print this out, it makes about 55 pages of great bathroom reading
material; it is also easier to read.
You'll notice that the WP51 version of this has margins set for easy
printing, whereas the .TXT version has margins set for easy viewing on your
moniter.
CONTENTS
I. Preamble
II. Aggressive decision making
III. Battle and Convoy Groups
IV. Weapons
VI. Basic Strategy
VII. Individual Race Examples
VIII. Strategy for Privateer and Crystalline
IX. Team play
X. Fleet planning and guide to playing for the new player
XI. Hyper-drive
XII. Documents and utilities
XIII. Credits
XIV. Terminator utility
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I. Preamble
Contrary to popular belief, there is only one way way to win VGA
PLANETS. The strategy and tactics were written 2500 years ago by Sun Tsu in
"The Art of War", translated and rewritten by Samuel B. Griffith.
Though the first part is quite dry, the latter third of the book has
all the principals of warfare that apply directly to VGA PLANETS. During
the last 12000 years, the only thing that has changed is technology.
Successful strategic and tactical ideas have never changed. They were the
same in 500bc China, 400bc Greece, 100bc Rome, 1200ad Mongolia and during
Napoleonic times. The rules for winning a war are simple but seldom
followed.
Victories against forces larger and more powerful are usually due to
skillful application of these two principals of war --- surprise and
concentration of forces.
In the history of warfare speed and daring has always won the prize.
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II. Aggressive decision making
When to attack or not?
A bold operation is one that has no more than a chance of success but
which, in case of failure, leaves one with sufficient forces in hand to be
able to cope with any situation. This type of operation gives the best
promise of success.
A gamble, on the other hand, is an operation which can lead to victory
or to the destruction of one's own forces.
When defeat is merely a question of time, when the gaining of time is
pointless, then the only chance lies in an operation of great risk and a
gamble can be justified.
Normally there is no ideal solution, but each possible course of
action has its advantages and disadvantages. Select the one which seems the
best from the widest point of view, then pursue it, and accept the
consequences. Any compromise is bad.
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III. BATTLE AND CONVOY GROUPS by Doug Suerich
A. Definition
A BATTLE GROUP or a CONVOY GROUP is a specific group of ships that
complement each other in a task. By keeping the ships in each group
standard, it is easier to manage your forces. Keeping track of 30 ships is
hard; however, if the ships are placed into similiar groups of 3 ships, the
task is much easier.
B. How to Create
1. Ships
When trying to pick out ships that will work well together, first
decide on exactly what you want them to do. In the example that follows, we
are trying to create a battle group that will be able to run along the
border of enemy territory and take out most ships that it meets, causing
general disruption, destroying enemy ships and resources, and putting the
enemy into a defensive frame of mind.
After choosing a purpose, we will try to weed out the useless ships in
our arsenal from those that can be put to good use in our battle group.
a. Ships to Consider for your Battle Groups
There are certain criteria that will make a good general-purpose ship.
i. Cloaking
A vessel that cloaks will allow you to go undetected in your
activities, and is especially useful for spying on your enemies. A cloaking
ship can sneak into enemy territory and attack undefended freighters. If
the cloaker has two engines, it can tow small capital ships or frieghters
right off of planets, into space, and then attack and defeat them. After
this the ship will recloak, enter into orbit, and grab another ship! There
is, however, a way to counter this. If the enemy sets one of his capital
ships to intercept the ship that you tow, he will intercept the ship you
towed, and, since you are in the same place as the ship you towed, you will
get blown up. Also, you won't be able to tow a ship that is set to warp 9
and has a waypoint that is more than 81 light-years away.
ii. Large Cargo Hold
With a large cargo hold you can carry enough torpedoes or fighters to
last a long attack. You can also carry supplies to repair in space. 5
supplies will repair 1% of damage on any ship. A large cargo hold can also
be used for freighting.
iii. Large Mass
A hull that has a heavier mass will have a better resistence to beam
and torpedo damage, as well as to deep space mines.
iv. Large Crew
A large crew size will prevent you from being captured. Crew size is
not a problem on most large ships, but on the smaller ships the crew is
sometimes small enough that a determined enemy can capture your ship, and
use it against you.
v. Firepower
A large number of beam weapons can knock down fighters.
When you are planning to capture planets, ships that have 8 X-Rays,
and 3 Mark 6 or Mark 7 torpedo tubes will work well, for the simple reason
that planets depend on fighters for defence--they can't launch enough
fighters to overwhelm a ship with 8 beams. The torpedoes will capture the
planet before you have to worry about the planet's beams damaging your ship.
Fighters can destroy large ships.
Torpedoes can help in the capture of vessels.
Determine what type of weapons your ship will need in order to be
effective in its planned role.
b. Good All-Purpose Vessels
Here are some good all-purpose vessels:
BEST OVERALL FREIGHTER....LARGE DEEP SPACE FREIGHTER
SOLAR FEDS....NEBULA CLASS CRUISER
VENDETTA CLASS FRIGATE
LIZARD........REPTILE CLASS DESTROYER.....cloaking
LIZARD CLASS CRUISER........cloaking
BIRDMEN.......SWIFT HEART CLASS SCOUT.....cloaking
FEARLESS WING CRUISER.......cloaking
DETH SPECULA CLASS FRIGATE..cloaking
FASCIST.......GOLDPAIN CLASS CRUISER......cloaking
D7 COLDPAIN CLASS CRUISER...cloaking
D3 THORN CLASS DESTROYER....cloaking
DETH SPECULA CLASS FRIGATE.cloaking
PRIVATEER.....BR4 GUNSHIP..................cloaking, accelerated
BR5 KAYE CLASS TORPEDO BOAT..cloaking, accelerated
METEOR CLASS BLOCKADE RUNNER.cloaking, accelerated
DWARFSTAR CLASS TRANSPORT....cloaking
CYBORG........B200 CLASS PROBE........HYPER-DRIVE
FIRECLOUD CLASS CRUISER
BIOCIDE CARRIER
ANIALATION CLASS BATTLESHIP
CRYSTALLINE...RUBY CLASS LIGHT CRUISER
EMERALD CLASS BATTLE CRUISER
EVIL EMPIRE...PL32 PROBE..............HYPER-DRIVE
H-ROSS CLASS LIGHT CARRIER
MOSCOW CLASS STAR ESCORT
SUPER STAR FRIGATE
SUPER STAR CARRIER
ROBOT.........CAT's PAW CLASS DESTROYER
INSTRUMENTALITY CLASS BASESHIP
Q-TANKER
REBEL.........FALCON CLASS ESCORT.......HYPER-DRIVE
GEMINI CLASS TRANSPORT
PATRIOT CLASS LIGHT CARRIER
GUARDIAN CLASS DESTROYER
LOST COLONIES.GEMINI CLASS TRANSPORT
TRANQUILITY CLASS CRUISER
PATRIOT CLASS LIGHT CARRIER
Whichever ship you select, KNOW what role you will use it for and
build it with the weapons that will be most effective. Don't mix and match.
Having 7 identical ships is easier to plan with than having 7 non standard
designs of the same ship. When you start building BATTLE GROUPS keep them
standard as well. A BATTLE GROUP is a collection of ships that complement
each other as a fighting force.
ALL ships are designed for a specific purpose, and when used for that
purpose are very effective. The above list is a general guide, other ships
may be more cost effective and better suited to your needs than those shown
above.
Remember, obtaining an effective fleet may take take 21 to 28 days.
Because of losses due to battles, after 21 days your initial 7 capital ships
will probably be gone, thus the need for planning ahead.
2. Uniqueness
Next, we will decide on exactly which ships will be in our battle
group, taking into account what we are likely to be be fighting, as well as
our unique resources and circumstances. It is particularly important to be
able to put our race's special advantages to use, and to take advantage of
our enemies disadvantages. In our example, we will be putting together a
fairly general-use battle group, and neither our enemy's special
disadvantages or our unique circumstances will have a large effect.
C. How to Use
If you have several capital ships travelling together, also have a
supply ship. On this ship carry extra fuel and supplies. By carrying
supplies, repairs can be made to damaged ships far from a starbase. Five
supply units repair 1% damage. Always carry the minimun fuel and
fighters/torpedoes required for battle on a capital ship so that if the
capital ship is destroyed your resources in the form of extra
fighters/torpedoes and fuel aren't lost as well.
D. The Colonies of Man's Ships
The COLONIES OF MAN are an often overlooked race in VGA planets; here
is a short lesson on how to use their ships effectively. For the purpose of
this supplement, it will be assumed that you are using an UNREGISTERED
version.
First off, it is vital to know about the better ships in the COLONY
arsenal. Here are some notes about the best COLONY ships:
1. PATRIOT CLASS LIGHT CARRIER
- 6 Fighter Bays
- 2 Beam Weapons
- 30 KT Cargo Capacity
This ship is a deadly killer. It can destroy virtually any small to
medium sized ship and take no damage. The secret to its effectiveness lies
in its 6 fighter bays. In a battle, an opposing ship will only be able to
fire each of its beam weapons twice before the first fighters arrive; in
this same period of time, usually 18 - 20 fighters will have been launched
by the PATRIOT. Therefore, unless the opposing ship has 9 - 10 beam weapons
(which is rare), you can be certain of causing damage to the enemy.
Against a medium size ship, if only 10 - 12 of the PATRIOT's fighters
are destroyed, the remaining fighters are usually sufficient to destroy the
victim; therefore, unless the ship has an extremly high mass, a PATRIOT
CLASS CARRIER can destroy most medium sized ships with less than 7 beam
weapons, and 2 PATRIOT CLASS LIGHT CARRIERS working together can destroy
virtually any TECH 7 or below ship that does not have fighters of its own.
Best of all, it is a component of the COLONY BATTLE GROUP, described below.
CAUTION: The PATRIOT CLASS LIGHT CARRIER is virtually useless unless
it has 30 fighters. Although you may be able to get away with 25 or so,
with much less you are giving up the only advantage the PATRIOT has --- the
ability to put a large number of fighters in the air very quickly.
NOTE: If you need to save money, you can get away with TECH 1 beams
on the PATRIOT --- it rarely uses them, and when it does, it is to destroy
enemy fighters (and for that TECH 1 is as good as TECH 9).
2. GEMINI CLASS CARRIER
- 1 Fighter Bay
- 4 Beam Weapons
- 400 Cargo
This capable little ship is great for 2 missions:
a) Transport: With 400 cargo capacity you can load a lot of
minerals onto this ship, and, with its Fighter Bay and 4 Beams, it is
capable of defending itself against smaller ships; therefore you can send it
on short journeys unescorted.
b) Fighter Production: When it comes to building fighters,
nothing beats the GEMINI. To build a lot of fighters quickly just put a
GEMINI around a mineral rich planet (preferably one with a starbase), and do
the following:
i. Load these on board:
120 - Tritanium
80 - Molybdenum
150 - Supplies
ii. Set the mission of the GEMINI to `Build Fighters'
iii. Next turn you will have 40 fighters! Without paying even
a single mega-credit!
3. TRANQUILITY CLASS CRUISER
- 2 Torpedo Launchers
- 4 Beam Weapons
- 380 Cargo
The TRANQUILITY is a hardy ship that is also a good transport;
slightly more powerful than the GEMINI, it can be trusted to move cargo to
anyplace you need it to go. 'Nuff said.
4. LITTLE JOE CLASS ESCORT
- 6 Beam Weapons
- 20 Cargo
The LITTLE JOE is an excellent ship, but only if used properly and
never when used alone. Proper use of the LITTLE JOE is described below, in
the COLONY BATTLE GROUP section.
5. CYGNUS CLASS BATTLESHIP
- 4 Torpedo Launchers
- 4 Beam Weapons
- 50 Cargo
This ship is the third component of the COLONY battle group described
below. It is the perfect addition to this battle group because it's a cheap
torpedo carrier that holds enough torpedoes to last a long campaign.
E. The Colonies of Man General-Purpose Battle-Group
1. Ships
1 x PATRIOT CLASS CARRIER with 30 fighters and TECH 6 Beams.
1 x LITTLE JOE CLASS ESCORT with DISRUPTORS.
1 x CYGNUS CLASS BATTLESHIP with TECH 6 Torpedoes and Beams.
These 3 ships, when sent out together, combine to form one of the most
powerful battle groups available to the unregistered player, if used
properly.
When this battle group is about to attack an opponent, set the ships
to attack in a certain order that depends upon the type of ship being
attacked.
2. Against a TORPEDO carrying ship: Set the attack order to
the following:
- PATRIOT 1st
- CYGNUS 2nd
- LITTLE JOE 3rd
This is for an obvious reason; the PATRIOT can destroy most ships, but
if it does not succeed, the LITTLE JOE would be mincemeat against a TORP
ship.
3. Against a FIGHTER carrying ship: Set the attack order to
the following:
- LITTLE JOE
- CYGNUS
- PATRIOT
The LITTLE JOE will likely be destroyed, but it will take a lot of
fighters out with it. Then the CYGNUS with it's 4 beams and 4 torps, can
clean up.
4. Against a BEAM only ship: Set the attack order to the
following:
- CYGNUS
- PATRIOT
- LITTLE JOE
In this situation you don't want the PATRIOT to attack first, since
you could expect to lose a lot of its fighters needlessly.
5. Against an UNARMED ship
Send in the LITTLE JOE first. This is the reason why the LITTLE JOE
should be armed with disruptors: so that it can capture enemy freighters.
Obviously against an unarmed ship, no other ships will enter the battle.
If you want to boost the number of ships in this arrangement, you
should first add an extra LITTLE JOE to the group. The LITTLE JOE is
likely to be destroyed first, and it would also be helpful to have 2 LITTLE
JOE's around for stripping fighters off of large enemy fighter carriers.
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IV. Mass, Weapons, and Planetary Defence
A. Ship Mass
Every race has the NEUTRONIC REFINERY SHIP (mass 712) and the MERLIN
CLASS ALCHEMY SHIP (mass 920). Above a mass of 180 there are only 23 other
ships, all the remaining 145 ships have a mass below 180.
B. Fighters
1. Use
At weights lower than 180 the beams and torpedoes are very effective,
but as the mass increases their effectiveness decreases. Fighters have the
same effect on every weight of ship after destroying the shields. Between
masses of 450 to 980, the fighters are more effective at destroying ships
than the beams or torpedoes.
2. Ordnance--How Many?
On a large carrier, carry at least 80 to 90 fighters, while a smaller
carrier about 30 to 40 fighters is sufficient. However, if you are attacking
several targets with a single ship (not wise) more fighters may be prudent.
C. Beam Weapon Selection
Against fighters the LASER is fine; however, it is wise to choose the
X-RAY LASER in case you need to capture a freighter. In ships that have a
mass up to 180 use 4 BLASTERS as a minimun. The BLASTER is the best value
for your money. For masses 180 to 450 a higher tech and a larger number of
beam weapons should be used. Above 450 never rely on beam weapons alone to
destroy a ship; you will need fighters or torpedoes to supplement the beam
weapons.
D. Torpedo Selection
1. Which Type?
As a general rule torpedoes are more effective at destroying the
shields of a ship than causing hull damage. The best torpedo for both
sheild destruction and hull damage is the MARK 8. Unfortunately, though,
your resources at the beginning of the game are limited, and are often best
used elsewhere.
Above 450 mass, a minimun of 5 torpedo tubes and high-tech torpedoes,
to destroy the shields, are needed to do any appreciable damage. It is
possible to use Mark 7 or 8s to destroy the shields of a very heavy ship
(ex. Fed's Super Nova), and then to use Proton Torps, which always do at
least 1% damage, to destroy the hull, but the conditions needed to make this
worthwhile are rare. Above 450 mass carriers with fighters are the best
choice.
There are only 5 useful torp types.
a. The Gamma Bomb
The only real use for the Gamma Bomb is putting it on on ships (often
low-mass cloaking ships) that will be trying to steal freighters.
b. The Mark 4
For destroying ships that have a hull mass up to 180 the Mark 4 gives
the best bang for the buck, but, in the long-run, the amount of minerals
needed may offset this. However, at the start of the game it is best not to
be overly-worried about the long-run, or you may not be around to see it.
The money saved by using Mark 4s at the beginning of the game can go
elsewhere and be better used (than on Mark 7 or 8s), usually. Besides, you
may regret having upgraded your HW torp tech level to 10 when you find a
Siliconoid planet that is perfect for a starbase the next turn.
c. The Mark 6
The Mark 6 can provide a useful amount of explosive in a package that,
while not as effecient as the Mark 4 or Mark 8, does not have a large start-
up cost; to upgrade from tech 7 (the Mark 6) to tech 8 (the Mark 7) costs
700mc or 2400mc to upgrade to tech 10 (the Mark 8). The Mark 6 is the torp
to use in a one-time application that requires something with more BANG than
the Mark 4. If you are not planning a one-time application, consider the
Mark 7. This is also the minimum torp to use if you are destroying ships
with a mass of 180 or more.
d. The Mark 7
The Mark 7 offers almost as much BANG as the Mark 8, and at a much
lower start-up cost (1700mc less). This torpedo can easily replace the Mark
8 in most applications. The Mark 8 itself, however, is a must if you have
lots of money, few minerals, and weak ships.
e. The Mark 8
Switching from Mark 4s to Mark 8s (or Mark 7s) can make an incredible
difference in under-180 mass ships; however, it is only worth the extra
money if you are on a Siliconoid planet, or if you are planning to produce a
lot of Mark 8s. When producing over-450 ships, the heavier torpedoes (Mark
6, 7, and 8) are almost always used in favour of the Mark 4.
2. How Many Launcher Tubes?
In most torpedo ship combats, usually two salvoes will be fired. To
get the most damage from these salvoes the following MINIMUN combination is
recommended for targets that have a mass less than 180:
Ships with 4 torpedo launchers....... MARK 4 PHOTON
.. .. 3 .. .. ....... .. 6 ..
.. .. 2 .. .. ....... .. 7 ..
.. .. 1 .. .. ....... .. 8 ..
For logistics and planning, it is best to not choose torpedo types at
random but rather to have well-designed battle-groups.
Also, see the section on defending your Home World with small capital
ships.
3. Ordnance
For torpedoes, 7 times the number of torpedo launchers should be
adequate. So, on a ship with 3 torpedo launchers have 21 torpedoes. On
real naval carriers, the compliment of aircraft is about 85 aircraft on a
big carrier and 35 aircraft on a smaller one. Submarines (ships that cloak)
carry 18 to 24 torps, while a destroyer will have 6 to 12 torps (the more
launch tubes, the more torpedoes).
4. Minefields
If you only plan to build one small mine field surrounding your
starbase the MARK 4 PHOTON is cost effective. A radius of 50 light years
will cost 1300mc and use only 100 torpedoes.
Up to a radius of 100 light years the MARK 7 PHOTON is better because
it uses fewer minerals than a MARK 4 PHOTON.
Building more than one minefield or fields larger than 100 light years
use the MARK 8 PHOTON because of the tremendous savings in minerals.
The important thing to realize is that once you have upgraded the torp
tech level on a starbase, you should use the same tech level of torps on
your all ships. If you are really interested in winning, you can even build
starbases dedicated to producing a certain tech level of
torps\beams\engines\hulls which will take advantage of native races. You
can use the starbase RECYCLE command to spread the high-tech parts
throughout your empire.
The following is a mine-laying efficiency listing of the various
torps.
TORPEDO COST (NOT LAUNCHER) TO LAY _1_ MINE UNIT:
T C T M T
Y O R D O E
P S I U L C
E T T R Y H
MARK 1 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1
PROTON TORP 2.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1
MARK 2 0.56 0.11 0.11 0.11 3
GAMMA BOMB 1.11 0.11 0.11 0.11 3
MARK 3 0.75 0.06 0.06 0.06 4
MARK 4 0.52 0.04 0.04 0.04 5
MARK 5 0.86 0.03 0.03 0.03 6
MARK 6 0.71 0.02 0.02 0.02 7
MARK 7 0.56 0.02 0.02 0.02 8
MARK 8 0.54 0.01 0.01 0.01 10
THE FORMULA FOR NUMBER OF MINES LAID IS:
mines_laid=number_of_torpedoes * tech^2
or
Number of torpedoes times the torpedo tech level squared will equal
the number of mine units layed.
Assuming that one torpedo was used, divide the cost for one torpedo by
the number of mines laid by that same torpedo to find the cost per mine.
Note that this is for comparison purposes only; do not try to
calculate the cost of laying a minefield with this, because you will likely
end up with an incorrect answer due to rounding.
Do not dismiss a difference of 0.02, or 0.01. When you start laying
25 or so torpedoes every couple of days, it adds up FAST!
An important factor not included in the mine-laying efficiency stats
is that if you use the torpedoes for battle, it is a great deal of help if
you have a high torp tech level (although, this does not mean that all your
torps have to be high-tech torps; it means that you should use high-tech
torps when they are available).
Since you will always be using the highest tech level of torps that
you can produce, the only question is what tech level to upgrade to. If
you're on an Siliconoid planet (which gives your starbase automatic tech 10
torp level) you will be building only Mark 8s or Gamma Bombs (except for a
few, rare scenarios where you may need to use a different type of torps).
If there is no starbase on a Siliconoid planet nearby, you will have to
choose a tech level to upgrade to. For the 5 useful torp types see the
section on choosing torp types.
E. Planetary Defence Post Tables
DP Ftr Bm Clans Tech DP Ftr Bm Clans Tech
1 1 1 1 1 * 85 9 5 1257 7 *
3 2 1 3 1 91 10 6 1710 7
5 2 1 5 2 * 111 11 6 3740 7
7 3 1 7 2 113 11 6 3987 8 *
13 4 2 13 3 * 127 11 7 5940 8
19 4 3 19 3 133 12 7 6897 8
21 5 3 21 3 145 12 7 9027 9 *
25 5 3 25 4 * 157 13 7 11445 9
31 6 3 31 4 169 13 8 14151 9
37 6 4 37 4 181 13 8 17145 10 *
41 6 4 41 5 * 183 14 8 17672 10
43 7 4 43 5 211 15 8 25890 10
57 8 4 95 5 217 15 9 27855 10
61 8 5 165 6 * 241 16 9 36435 10
73 9 5 567 6 271 16 10 48780 10
`*' denotes a beam tech level increase.
NOTE: Having 181 Defence Posts means that when the planet is attacked it
will use Heavy Phasers in its defence; it does not mean that a starbase over
the planet will have a tech 10 beam level. In other words, just because the
tech level of beams used to defend a planet against attack increases due to
a high number of defence posts does not mean that the tech level of beams
that a starbase can produce goes up.
NOTE: The tech level of beams used to defend a planet will not be lower
than the beam tech level on a starbase above the planet; however, it may be
lower.
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V. Basic Conservative Strategy for the New Player
The following is what can be referred to as standard practice. It is
not necessarily recommended; it is just standard, conservative play that you
can use as base for more complex, innovative, and effective strategies and
tactics. Make sure that you also read the section on Convoy and Battle
Groups.
A. On the First Day
1. Race Choice
For the novice player, a cloaking race such as the Lizards or Birdman
would be a wise race choice. Cloaking ships have the advantages of usually
being low-tech, as well as forcing you to become a better player. Cloakers
can also get away with low-tech engines easier than most other ships.
The Robots would also be a wise choice, especially in a short game.
2. Home World Development
bring your defence posts to 101: guaranteed to not be detected by a sensor
sweep.
.. .. factories .. max: supplies can be sold for money and
are needed to colonize. Free fighter races
also need supplies to build fighters.
.. .. mines .. .. : this will let you get a quick start on
colonizing as well as in defence/small
raids.
.. .. tax rate .. 9% : you can usually increase taxes to the first
level of "They are angry at you" without
any adverse effects. Money is needed to
get
a quick start in the game.
3. Home World Defence
Do not bring your starbase defence level to 200 right away. Doing so
will waste 1800mc, and 180 duranium, a precious commodity early in the game.
Neither should you bring your starbase fighters to 60. This will waste more
money than you can spare this early in the game. If you are a free-fighter
race (Robots, Rebels, and Colonies) you should bring your fighters up to 60
with caution, always making sure that you will have enough minerals for the
ships you will soon be producing.
Later on, as minerals become more common, colonization less important,
and the threat of attack more menacing, you will likely want to raise your
Home World defences as much as you can.
However, do not totally neglect defending your HW (Home World).
During the first two weeks, while building ships, increase your planetary
defence posts, starbase defense strength, and add fighters. Work toward
getting the number of fighters on your starbase to 60 (max) and the
planetary defence to max within 20 to 25 turns. This is your last line of
defence. Always make sure your defence posts are 100+ so that your planet's
industrial activity is guaranteed to be shielded from long range sensor
sweeps. Obviously, if your HW is closer to your enemies, defence will be
more important sooner.
A starbase with 30 fighters, 100 planetary defence posts, and 100
starbase defence strength is equivalent to a carrier with a mass of 300kt,
40 fighters, and 6 phasers (section 2.4 and 4.1 docs).
a. Small Capital Ships for Defence
i. Reason
One of the other tools for defending your starbases should be several
low-cost ships with beam weapons and torpedoes. When a carrier attacks a
small ship, the small ship will usually get to fire off two salvoes of beam
weapons and two salvoes of torps before it is destroyed.
So, if it has 4 beams and 2 torp launchers, it will shoot down 8
fighters and do a little damage to the carrier. Several of these expendable
capital ships may weaken the carrier sufficiently that the starbase to
survive.
ii. Construction
Use TECH 1 engines with one kt of fuel on board. Put X-RAY LASERS on
board, and use the most explosive torpedo that you can afford but load only
2 or 3 torps per tube.
4. Starbase Tech Levels
HULL.....TECH 6.....I find that this level gives a good complement of
ships. The ideal freighter being the LARGE DEEP SPACE FREIGHTER.
ENGINES..TECH 10....Most fuel efficient on all ships.
WEAPONS..TECH 3.....The blaster offers good explosive damage for its
cost, use in minerals and cost in tech level.
TORP.....TECH 5.....The MARK 4 in all weight ranges is the best bang
for the buck. On ships with only 1 or 2 tubes the MARK 8 or the MARK 7
offsets the disadvantage of few tubes and the 35% chance of a miss.
5. Planning and Calculating Ahead
You can plan for most games to last about 40 to 60 turns. The first
major battles will likely occur around turn 20 to 30 with a couple races
knocked out. Turns 30 to 50 usually see a few more players knocked out with
the game winding down after turn 50.
Prepare your strategy. Even before you begin the game, review your
race's advantages, and plan a strategy that you will use. Then, be sure to
stick to your strategy. You will likely have to wait until you know who
your neighbours are before you can get too specific about your strategy.
Also, be sure to leave room for change in your strategy. Do not leave it so
open-ended that you fight an undisciplined war, but do leave room for
change. This is easy to forget as you progress in playing ability.
When following through with your strategy, use aggressive tactics that
are specially designed and customized for the task at hand. As an example:
if you are planning to distract the enemy and then launch an attack to his
side the following tactic could be used to distract the enemy...
(example)
Object: To put the enemy into a defensive and frame of mind by
disrupting freight lanes and through the use of a sudden, large number of
attacks (sweeping a minefield can be considered an attack in this case).
Requirements: Birds as offending race, Robots as the defending race.
5-10 Swift Heart Class Scouts with X-Rays. 4-7 Resolutes with Disrupters
(one Resolute sweeps 800 mines per turn), Heavy Disrupters (one Resolute
sweeps 1984 mines per turn), or Heavy Phasers (one Resolute sweeps 3200
mines per turn).
Explanation of Requirements: The Swift Heart Class Scout is a cheap
cloaking ship that you can sacrifice for the purpose of taking out a
freighter along with you. You may want to use beams with a smaller
crew-kill factor.
The number of Resolutes needed depends on the beam weapon used.
Disrupter, Heavy Disrupter, and Heavy Phaser are the levels to consider
upgrading your starbase tech level to for the purpose of minesweeping.
Disrupter is the minimum to equip your minesweeping Resolutes with.
Remember that if you spend a large amount of money on a tech upgrade to get
full use out of it.
Method: Line up all your Resolutes as close to the border of the
Robots existing minefield as possible. On one of your Resolutes, have
enough torpedoes so that you can drop a minefield of your own as a quick way
to remove the Robot's minefield. It is possible that you can achieve the
same quick-removal effect through regular sweeping, but that method is
limited in the area that can be cleared of enemy mine. When all the Swift
Hearts and Resolutes are as near to the minefield as they can safely get
(they're all cloaked, of course!) you will drop a minefield from your
Resolute prepared for that purpose.
This same turn that you dropped your own minefield move your Swift
Hearts (cloaked) to, or as near to a planet as they can get. You will also
begin the following with your Resolutes.
The Resolutes are used to mine-sweep when Robots drops mines. The
main purpose is to put the Robots into a defensive frame of mind. The
Resolutes must cloak and move a few light-years, and then uncloak in order
to mine-sweep. They then cloak and repeat. Be sure within reach of the
Robot's mines, and to always have at least two Resolutes uncloaked and
sweeping mines so that the enemy knows he is wasting his resources laying
mines, and also so that he knows that if he stops laying mines, the
Resolutes will sneak in and attack (they would attack using a tactic
similiar to the one the Swift Hearts are currently using).
The Swift Hearts will attack anything they can damage, destroy, or
steal every turn until they are gone. The Resolutes can continue sweeping
mines ad infinitum, or at least until they run out of fuel.
When you feel that you have the enemy playing the most defensively,
you will launch your attack with properly designed attacking ships.
(end of example)
Try to always have a 7 day plan. Be aware of the cost in mega-credits
and minerals for the fleet you are building so that you will not be caught
short. See the section `Documents and Utilities' `BUILD1_1' for more
information on fleet planning and design.
Once you own more planets, take a look at the mining surveys and
calculate the number on minerals you will have in 7 days, 14 days and 21
days. By looking ahead you can see where your weakness in minerals is, and
when you might run out. You will also see which ships you will and will not
be able to build.
First determine what you would like and how much it will cost. For
example, to build 10 WHITE FALCON CLASS CRUISERS consider:
Cost of raising the HULL tech levels to a minimun tech 3.
Cost .. .. .. BEAM .. .. .. level desired.
Cost .. .. .. TORP .. .. .. .. ..
Cost .. .. .. ENG .. .. .. maximum.
Cost in mega credits and minerals for 40 beam weapons.
Cost .. .. .. .. .. .. 10 torpedo launchers.
Cost .. .. .. .. .. .. 20 engines.
Cost .. .. .. .. .. .. 10 hulls.
Cost .. .. .. .. .. .. 100 torpedoes...10 per.
Amount of fuel required.......full tanks....4300 neutronium.
Now, from the mining surveys you can determine if some of the minerals
you are short of can be transported from other planets. Or maybe your ships
can be just as effective with tech 1 beam weapons which are cheaper and use
less minerals than higher tech beam weapons. Maybe tech 2 torpedoes could
still perform in the role required, but are cheaper than higher tech
torpedoes. Maybe have only 3 beam weapons instead of four, or no torpedo
launchers instead of 1 on board.
As your resources improve you could plan a fleet replacement and
purchase the ships you truly desire. Whatever your strategy is, plan for 7,
14 and 21 days ahead and ensure you have the resources in supplies,
factories, minerals and mega credits to fulfil it.
Whatever you plan, be innovative, cunning, and read up on tactical
warfare. Strategy by B.H. Liddel Hart and How Great Generals Win by Bevin
Alexander are but two of the many excellent books available at your local
library. Field Marshal Rommel's tactics with the Afrika Corps in North
Africa can be used here with astounding results.
6. Ships
a. First Ships
Unless Home Worlds are close together, you should first build an LDSF
(Large Deep Space Freighter) for colonizing. After building this, you may
have to rest a few turns to let your duranium stores build up again.
In the case that Home Worlds are close together, you may want to build
a suitable capital ship or two first. If possible, build one with a large
cargo capacity (350 or more) so that it can act as a freighter. When Home
Worlds are close together, you do not want to risk losing a valuable
freighter to a scout with only 2 X-Rays. If you cannot build a capital ship
that can act as a freighter, always be sure to escort your ships.
If you are playing in a game where many of the planets you find will
not be worthwhile, you may want to build an MDSF (Medium Deep Space
Freighter) so that you can scout out the good planets. Once the MDSF's job
of scouting has been finished, it can be colonized or put to use in small
cargo transport. If you plan to colonize it you may choose to build a
Smallie (Small Deep Space Freighter) instead.
For the first seven days you should likely build the cheapest craft
with the highest number of cargo holds. This is usually the Large Deep
Space Freighter. Consider using the Large Deep Space Freighter for
colonization, and the Medium Deep Space Freighter for mineral movement at
this early stage in the game. Do not forget that you may have a capital
ship that will function in the role of colonization or mineral movement more
effectively than these two freighters.
Be sure to equip your first ships with tech 10 engines so that they
can remain out of sight of the races that have HYPerdrive ships (Cyborg,
Empire, Rebels). These ships can be aimed at your planets (see section on
the HYPerdrive) to capture undefended freighters from you in less time than
it takes to send a capital ship to save your freighter.
You will also have to make sure that you produce enough capital ships
to defend a minor exploratory attack on your growing empire. Unless you're
planning a sudden surprise attack, stay away from large expensive ships that
will hinder your colonization. Large expensive ships also have the
disadvantage that they can only be in one place at a time. An attack may
strike just far enough away from your large expensive ship that you could be
wiped out, even if you currently own the most powerful ship in the game.
Take note, Cyborg.
b. More Ships
i. Criteria
Whatever ship you select, KNOW what role you will use it for and build
it with the weapons that will be most effective in that role (taking into
account your resources, too, of course). Having 7 similiar ships is easier
to plan with than having 7 non-standard designs of the same ship. When you
start building BATTLE GROUPS keep them standard as well. A BATTLE GROUP is
a collection of ships that complement each other in fulfilling a single
role.
ALL ships are designed for a specific purpose, and when used for that
purpose are very effective. Do not ignore any particular ship because it is
traditionally not used, or seems to be too wimpy. Even the most useless
seeming ships can sometimes have valuable purposes in your empire.
Also, see the section on BATTLE OR CONVOY GROUPS for a list of
important criteria for general-use ships.
Also, see the section on Battle and Convoy Groups, which contains
useful criteria for selecting ships.
From turns 7 to 14 you should start building your main capital ships.
If you empire is running smoothly, you should be able to produce almost one
every turn, so that by turn 14 you have a fleet of at least 7 capital ships.
Between turns 21 and 28 you should have developed an effective fleet.
ii. Outfitting
x. Engines
It is important to remember that this is just basic strategy. If you
are daring and plan to win, you will have to be more innovative than this,
have enemies that play poorly, or just be very lucky.
If you are registered, put tech 10 engines (the TransWarp) on all of
your ships. This is the most fuel efficient, will allow you to easily chase
down enemies, and let you spend less time in space while en-route to your
destination.
xx. Weapons
There are two primary theories to weapons. One is to use the most
powerful weapon you can (ex. Mark 8), and the other is to use the most
efficient weapon (ex. Mark 4).
The best solution is a combination of both. The reasoning behind the
biggest BANG theory is that if your ship survives because you spent more on
weapons, then the extra money was worth it. The reasoning behind the most
efficient weapon theory is that by using cheaper weapons, you can produce so
many more ships that it's worth losing a few more battles. The best
solution has to be tailored to your particular circumstances (enemy,
abundancy of minerals, abundancy of mega-credits, race) as well as to your
playing style.
For a more detailed discussion on weapons see the appropriate
sections.
B. Expanding your Empire with Planets
1. Colonizing
You will often want to send a small scout ahead of you so that it can
find good planets and you can plan ahead for them. For example, if your
scout has found a planet that can generate a lot of money is only a bit
farther on, you may want to hold off on colonizing the in-between planets so
that you can tax this high-revenue planet sooner.
You will want to put 100 clans on most planets that you colonize. The
reason for this is that 100 clans can sustain enough mines for most planets
as well as build 100 factories. Over 100 clans, you can not build 1 factory
for every clan. For most races the best colonizing freighter is the
LARGE DEEP SPACE FREIGHTER.
Remember to include about 25 supplies and 100mc for every 100
colonists. If resources are scarce, you can go to 10 supplies and 50mc.
Planets that have natives (other than Amorphous ones) can generate their own
money, and you do not have to supply these with mega-credits to get started.
Try to make the warps between planets in one turn so that you will not
be seen. This is especially important if everyone knows that you are a
rookie. If you are experienced, they may assume that you believe you are
strong enough to repel an attack.
When you have a ship over an unowned planet do a mineral survey. To
do this, select the ship that is over the unowned planet. Then press F4 and
the F5. You can now unload some colonists onto the planet. If there are
natives (other than Amorphous ones) you need only to unload supplies and
colonists and your freighter can move to the next planet in the same turn.
If there are no natives, your ship will have to wait there until next turn
when you own the planet so that you can give it some mega-credits. The
reason it does not need mega-credits if there are natives is that you can
tax the natives and the planet will generate its own mega-credits.
You may have to stay in orbit, even if there are natives on the
planet. Your ship may be short on fuel, in which case, you can gamble that
there will be enough fuel on the planet's surface to get you to the next
planet. To gamble like this, set your mission to `G'ather Neutronium and
before you leave the planet's orbit, your ship will automatically beam up
all the neutronium on the surface. You may be forced to wait at the planet
until another ship can refuel you or until you have mined some neutronium
from the planet.
2. Development of Planets
When colonizing, do not neglect planetary defence posts on newly-owned
planets. There are three primary types of defence--capital ships, planetary
defence, and mines, usually in that order of importance. Of the three,
planetary defence will be the most important defence against small scouts
with 2 X-Ray beams that wander into your territory looking for unguarded
planets.
In order to prevent small scouts from taking over your precious new
planets and destroying many of the factories and mines as well as stealing
any money on the planet you need about 13 defence posts. It is generally
safe to let a planet go without 13 defence posts for the first few turns
that you own it. After that, you will want a minimum of 13 defence posts to
defend from small scouts or small HYPerdrive ship attacks. The 13 defence
posts should be increased by a couple every turn. Don't build mines until
you have maxed out the number of factories you can build (unless you
urgently need some minerals). By the time you have about 25-50 mines built
(if you have decided that the planet is worthy of that many) you should have
your planetary defence to max, or almost there.
3. Building a New Starbase
a. What for?
Do not think that you will never have to build another STARBASE.
If someone attacks and destroys your Home World, you will need another base
to survive in the game. A STARBASE can also be used as added defence for a
valuable planet. You may find that your Home World starbase is overwhelmed
by the need for new ships in your empire. You may need ships to be produced
nearer to your enemy's heartland. Maybe you need a supply of torpedoes or
fighters closer to the action. Moving minerals from far away to your Home
World is also very wasteful of fuel, and a starbase nearer to high-
production planets will save fuel and effort. Once the 500 ship limit is
reached, he with the most starbases has the best chance to win.
Do not build a starbase simply for the sake of building a starbase,
though. Whenever you build a new starbase, have a specific purpose for it
in mind that is part of your over-all strategy.
b. About Building a Starbase
You may need to build a Large Deep Space Freighter, to transport any
materials and colonists required to the chosen planet. To defend the new
starbase you will need one to three capital ships, at least until it has
full defence posts and max fighters. For building a starbase you need the
following:
900 mega-credits
402 tritanium
120 duranium
340 molybdenum
colonists
A Large Deep Space Freighter or a couple of capital ships with a lot
of cargo holds can deliver these minerals. The ships can also be used to
deliver additional colonists and minerals after the starbase is started.
You will also need supplies and more mega-credits to build factories, mines,
and defence posts.
Do not leave only 100 clans on your starbase. A cloaking race
(especially the Lizards) may find this out and beam colonists of their own
down. Suddenly, they'll have your starbase for free! You will need at
least 500 clans to be fairly safe. Before you can feel really secure, you
should have several thousand clans on your starbase.
C. Defence of your Empire
With hyper-drive potentially in the hands of any race you can be
attacked from a 1000 light years away only a few days after the start of the
game. Get your HW (Home World) defence posts above 100, keep your ships
hidden and don't lay a minefield until it is absolutely necessary
(minefields can be detected from a large distance away).
Every day check to see if any other ships are orbiting any of your
planets.
Always be watching for any sign that your enemy (or your ally) is
planning an attack.
Always be thinking about how you would attack if you were your enemy.
Prepare your defence for this. You can second-guess yourself forever. For
every tactic there is a counter-tactic for which there is a way around by
using a different tactic. Choose the type of attack you expect and prepare
for it. Do your best to prepare for every possibility, though. The Parker
Bros. game "Risk" was called so for a reason. You can't play without being
aggressive, taking risks, and gambling and still hope to win.
D. Attacking the Enemy
Always plan out your attacks. Avoid an all-out battle of attrition.
Use your forces with daring and stealth.
See the section on HYPerdrive ships.
See the section on BATTLE GROUPS. Battle groups can make effective
forays into enemy territory that can put him into a defensive mood, as well
as destroy valuable ships and resources, especially when used in an
organized and thought-out manner.
1. Your Enemy
See the section on team-work.
Avoid a two fronted war by having one enemy at a time. Negotiate with
the others for an alliance or truce so that you can use your forces on a
single enemy. In this way you can concentrate your forces against one
opponent. If possible, use your ally to help destroy the enemy. Two
against one is always better than one on one. Working in a team is even
better. With your resources pooled you will be more effective.
If my race cannot build fighters cheaply (ie just use 3 TRI, 2 MOLY
and 5 supply, no mega-credits) then I will build ships that carry torpedoes.
Unless I can do a quick kill on their starbase, I will avoid conflict with
races that can build fighters cheaply. Instead, I will aid another race by
providing some ships/credits to do my "dirty work" for me. This is similar
to the strategy the Byzantine (500ad) and the British Empires (18th century)
followed.
Be ruthless and aggressive to effectively carry out your plans of
universal domination. An opponent who isn't completely destroyed can
rebuild. Spare no one. The U.S. Navy in World War II had a motto--"HUNT
THEM, FIND THEM, SINK THEM!".
Even if your opponent has a fleet stronger and larger than yours,
never despair. All the great Generals in human history won their battles
with forces that were greatly outnumbered and outgunned. How? They
concentrated their forces and struck at their enemy's weakest areas.
Attacking where least expected and with more forces than your opponent has
in that area will allow you to survive, and eventually turn the tide. Never
do what your opponent expects you to and never be where he thinks you are.
In any situation, determine what is most the most obvious course of action
to follow and what is LEAST obvious. In most cases, do the least obvious.
Always mystify, mislead, and surprise your enemy.
Never underestimate any player. Always be sure to correctly estimate
the effects of your attack on your enemy.
2. Targets
It is usually best to try and avoid head to head conflicts involving
the loss of ships. Attack the resources that supply, build, and fuel these
ships. By avoiding battles against large ships you can commit your
resources to smaller capital ships and have economy of force.
Remember to try and do the unexpected, but at the same time be sure to
keep in mind that certain operations are simply more worthwhile than others.
In order of importance, here are the primary targets.
a. Home World
Whenever possible ALWAYS destroy your opponent's HOME WORLD. As well
as being his source for building ships, mega-credits, supplies, and
colonists a blow here can also knock him out of the game. Psychologically
the loss of the Home World can cause a player to give up and stop playing.
b. Control of the Battlefield
If you can take control of the battlefield, you can call the shots.
Bully the enemy if you can. The safety that freedom of movement generates
will usually pay for itself.
c. Planets
By capturing enemy planets you deny him observation posts. This can
be done by unloading colonists onto the planet for ground war.
Watch enemy movements with cloaking ships, as well as from a distance.
See if you can find his primary planets. Attack a couple of these over a
spread-out area can weaken the enemy greatly.
Attacking lesser planets that the enemy is using primarily for the 100
supplies per turn it generates can also force him to either spend a lot of
money on a minefield (which you will just sweep), force him to spread out
his forces, or force him to lose these planets. If he decides to sacrifice
these lesser planets, you can use them as FORWARD SUPPLY BASES.
d. Freighters
Destroying enemy freighters denies the enemy the minerals needed at
his starbase.
e. Capital Ships
Destroy enemy capital ships ONLY when your losses are minimal and his
losses are maximum or when it gives you a commanding control over the
battlefield.
3. Attacks
Time your attacks carefully. Timing can make the difference between
success and failure.
Before you attack know what your target has for defence. If you are
attacking ships that are in space, check to see what you will be attacking
by using `L' and `V'. After you have identified the enemy ships, use the
program PROSIM.EXE (with SIM.EXE) to see if you will be successful in a
conflict. Determine which ships and in which order you will send your ships
in to attack. Set the ship's mission to INTERCEPT or KILL and input the
PRIMARY ENEMY. The ship with the lowest ID # will attack first. To change
the order of attack change the friendly code. For example ship A is to
attack second and ship B first. Set ship A code to 2xx and B to 1xx. Read
the Doc "HOSTxx.ZIP" for more info.
When attacking or defending, do not waste your forces piecemeal. If
you want a target, then commit enough ships to be successful.
It is a waste of resources to send 3 ships and lose them, even if the
target is destroyed. Send 6. That way, although you still lose three
ships, you have 3 left to control the area. Remember, you must have
sufficient ships to win, as well as to repel any counter attack. Know what
your target defences are, and then use the best combination of weapons
against it. You will lose ships in an attack, anticipate this.
Carriers are the most efficient way of attacking a starbase, but only
when used as part of a BATTLE GROUP.
E. Freight Movement
Bringing minerals to a starbase can be done with capital ships that
have large cargo holds or freighters. Using a capital ship that cloaks is
ideal, because no one can see what your route of travel is.
F. Movement
If you are using a ship that doesn't cloak, try to travel from planet
to planet in one turn. When in orbit around a planet your enemies cannot
see you.
When you cannot make a move in one turn, be sure to avoid telegraphing
your moves. Don't move in a straight line from one planet to another. Zig
zag so your opponents are not sure of your destination.
1. Convoy
To protect your ships have them travel in a convoy. Set the to travel
at the same speed, moving to EXACTLY the same location each turn. This is
accomplished by having all the ships intercept the lead ship in the convoy.
To travel to a distant cluster of planets have several freighters
travel in a convoy with an escort. Their path should closely resemble a
firecracker on the 1st of July. All the ships travel together for as long
as possible and then suddenly the convoy breaks up with each ship travelling
a very short distance to its assigned planet. Using several freighters, a
large number of planets can be checked out quickly.
If the distance between planets is too great to be done economically
because of fuel concerns, have some escorts standing on station at certain
locations. Sitting on station at warp 0, the escorts will not use valuable
fuel. The convoys can then move to these stations for extra protection.
If your resources are low, you can tow a ship and put StarDrive 1
engines on it. For example, a LARGE DEEP SPACE FREIGHTER with high tech
engines could tow a capital ship that has only tech 1 engines. The cost of
the capital ship then is minimized.
2. Or the Lack There-Of: When NOT moving
Unless your capital ships are on convoy duty they should be in one of
two locations. 1) At the starbase to maximize the defences or somewhere
else standing by to face any enemy action. 2) In a strong, single strike
force moving to attack the enemy.
3. Fuel Burn
The heavier the ship, the more fuel it will burn. When selecting beam
weapons, engines, torpedoes, torpedo launchers and fighters check the
weight. A positron beam weighs 3 KT and a blaster 4 KT. Carrying 60
fighters will burn less fuel than 80 fighters. Having 150kt of fuel weighs
less than 200kt fuel, therefore the ship will burn less.
The biggest advantage to registering is that you will be able to build
tech 10 engines, and move further and faster than before. A tech 7 engine
is the minimun size engine that should be used on most ships. Lesser tech
engines can be used on ships that are just staying and protecting the
starbase.
G. Scouts, Observation Posts, and Forward Supply Bases
A SMALL SCOUT with high-tech engines can move rapidly and economically
around the universe looking for enemy ships and planets. By leaving one
colonist clan at each planet, this planet becomes an OBSERVATION POST on
enemy activity. By leaving several colonists with supplies and mega-
credits, some factories and eventually some mines can be built to provide
fuel and supplies to ships operating far from your own territory. This
planet is a FORWARD SUPPLY BASE.
With colonists on the planet you can use `v' to look at other ships
that come close. Also use `l' to list the ships if they are travelling in a
convoy; then cycle through using `v' to see which ships are there.
Depending on which version of PLANETS.EXE you have, you may have to use the
small-case of `l' and `v'!
H. Native Races
A number of planets with good native races can win the game for you.
NATIVE RACES to look for:
AVIAN and INSECTOID are a good source for mega credits.
REPTILIAN help with mining.
BOVINOID make extra supplies.
GHIPSOLDAL gives TECH 10 engine technology when building a starbase.
AMPHIBIAN -- TECH 10 beams with starbase.
SILICONOID -- TECH 10 torps with starbase.
A TECH 10 advantage race can save you 4500mc and is the only way that
unregistered players can achieve anything beyond tech 6.
Note that natives, just like you, grow (on planets with the right
temperature!). Taxes have the same effects on them. A good government,
though, can greatly increase the taxes you will earn.
Also, note that on some planets it is not wise to build too many mines
or factories, since that will decrease the maximum tax rate, which will in
turn, decrease the amount you will earn. Remember, you can only mine a
planet once, but the taxation factor is forever. For example, on an
INSECTOID planet with 10 million natives that is earning 300mc a turn,
building 100 factories and only 25 mines will likely lower the maximum tax
rate by 1%. 1% will cost you 300mc a turn, or 900mc in 3 turns, or, the
cost of 60 fighters in 20 turns. Serious business. Make sure you are
certain that further development on a planet is what you want.
************************************************************************
VI. Specific Strategies
A. Lizards
DAY 1 Engine TECH LEVEL to 10 ........transwarp drive
Weapon .. .. .. 3 ........blasters
Torpedo.. .. .. 5.........mark 4's
Hull .. .. .. 4.........
Tax.......about 18%....10 levels above the green....which is usually
around 8%. The 18% requires one ship on HISSS mission.
1. Strategy:
The small freighter I will colonize on my home planet and the Serpent
Class Escort will go on HISSS mission above my home world.
I will usually build 6 to 8 LIZARD CRUISERS. For the first 10 days I
will send the LIZARD CRUISERS out to planets solo, always cloaked. After
that they only go in pairs. If a planet is close enough to be reached in
one turn, then by about day 6, I will increase my hull tech level to 6 and
build 2 large deep space freighters to haul colonists and minerals.
Around day 10 I will keep 4 to 6 LIZARD CRUISERS and the serpent
escort above my home planet on hiss mission...tax rate for 7 ships on HISSS
is 7 x 5 = 35 + 13 = 48%. I will now increase my HULL TECH LEVEL to 10 and
build at least 2 T-REX's.
I use BLASTERS on both the LIZARD CRUISERS and the T-REX's and keep 21
torps on the LIZARDS, 60 torps on the T-REX's.
To destroy a fully defended starbase will require 7 LIZARD CRUISERS as
long as there are no other ships present. 2 T-REX's and 6 LIZARD CRUISERS
should be able to destroy any ships, the starbase and still have some
surviving ships.
If I discover an enemy's newly built starbase, I will drop colonists
onto the planet, so that I can capture the planet and starbase. At combat
odds of 20X it doesn't take too many colonists to take the planet and
starbase.
The Feds are ideal allies. The Thor Class Frigate and Diplomacy
Cruiser as Lizard ships are very deadly with 150% damage capability. If the
Fed player is 500+ light years away, I will try to buy or steal some
hyperdrive or accelerated ships from nearby enemies. These ships can sent
to the Feds and back, so that we can build starbases near to each other in
order to produce fleets with ships that work well together.
B. Birds
Consider a fleet of 6 cloaking SWIFT HEART CLASS SCOUTS, moving
through enemy shipping lanes, observing enemy ship movement, and orbiting
enemy planets & starbases. They could be used for SUPER SPY MISSION and to
guide in your offensive force of 5 or 6 FEARLESS WING CRUISERS and BRIGHT
HEART CLASS DESTROYERS for capturing and destroying enemy planets, weakly
defended starbases and ships. Captured minerals, mc, and ships can be sent
home to increase your own resources. As the battle escalates, you may find
that you have to increase your firepower and go to the DEATH SPECULA CLASS
FRIGATE and RESOLUTE CLASS BATTLESHIP.
If you are registered, the DARKWING CLASS BATTLESHIP and REDWING CLASS
CARRIER would make a good combination for destroying STARBASES's. By using
a fleet of cloaking ships you can prey on shipping lanes by staying right
over top of enemy planets undetected. Dropping colonists onto enemy planets
while in a cloaked SWIFT CLASS SCOUT can force an enemy to commit more ships
to defence, while you have your main force elsewhere.
C. Fascists
The Fascists' biggest advantage is pillaging against yourself. (The
idea of SELF-PILLAGING is from Chris Smith, FAQ0313). When I arrive at a
planet, I check for natives. Beam down one clan, and in the same turn,
pillage the planet. The one clan will be gone, but for every 1,000,000
natives the planet will now have 100 supplies and 100 Credits.
If at all possible, I will ally myself with the Evil Empire, Rebel or
Cyborg to have access to a steady source of hyperdrive ships. By using a
hyperdrive ship in the same manner as the REBEL player, I can launch into a
planets orbit unseen. With the mission preset to PILLAGE and no enemy
specified I can kill off 20% of the natives and colonists. This is very
useful against the CYBORG. If I ally myself to the Privateer, I will use
his accelerated ships to tow my BATTLE GROUPS to the enemy faster.
You can also use the tactic of SELF-PILLAGING with HYPerdrive ships in
order to easily develop starbases on very distant planets. Use enough
HYPerdrive ships to send about 115 colonists, find a planet with lotsa
natives and some minerals, self-pillage, and then you can quickly build
mines and factories.
Four Deth Speculas and 2 D7 Coldpain cruisers make up a BATTLE GROUP.
The Deth Specs are armed with 24 MK 4's torps, 11 colonists and a mix of
blasters and x-rays beams. Both D7's carry 70 MK 8 torps and 30 colonists.
The colonists are for establishing damage repair and refuelling bases in
enemy territory. I also rely on captured freighters to help build a
starbase near the enemy and provide me with captured colonists. The D7 is
ideal for carrying extra fuel and by laying a minefield with the 100 mk 8's
I can destroy most enemy minefields that would normally cause my cloakers
grief. I will then re-scoop the minefield with my D7 or to rearm the Deths.
If I find a starbase I will try to identify which ships, if any, are
defending and then tow them away from the planet. My towing ships will have
no enemy race specified as the enemy, UNLESS I know I can defeat the ship
being towed. One ship will be left above the planet to PILLAGE, while a D7
will lay a minefield. The towing, laying of mines, and PILLAGING will be
planned to happen all during the same turn for maximum effectiveness. The
next turn I will cloak all ships and watch which ships are destroyed in my
minefield. Then, I will re-scoop the minefield.
D. Cyborg
1. HYPerdrive Ships
*see section on Hyper-drive for more info.*
One of the first ships I build is the B200 CLASS PROBE which is then loaded
with 12 colonists and 3 supplies and used to colonize. If I plan to use it
for scouting, I will instead load 10 colonists, 5 supplies, and 70 mega-
credits.
When colonizing, the only planets you will be able to colonize with
such a small cargo capacity are the ones that have natives that you can
assimilate. A few supplies will build the first factory and mega-credits
can be generated from taxation.
For scouting, you will be wanting to establish small repair and
resupply bases. You may want to do this on a planet that does not have
natives to assimilate. If you do, you should use all ten colonists, 5
supplies, and 70 mega-credits on this planet.
2. Strategy
In a long game NOTHING can overwhelm the Cyborg....
Finding natives races to assimilate overcomes the limitations of a
small cargo hold for carrying colonists.
From DAY 1 build lots of these probes and hyper-drive them out to
planets within 350ly to find natives. By assimilating natives the colonists
grow quickly and new starbases can be started very easily. Money can be
transported very easily on the PROBE. With this money it is possible to
build starbases on planets with natives close to enemy Home Worlds, and
upgrade the TECH levels in ONE day to produce the BIOCIDE or ANIALATION cube
ships.
In a very short time it is easy to have a LOT of planets and a lot of
starbases.
The short range of the PROBE (one jump and then only 30 units of fuel
left) can be overcome by having planets set up as fuelling stations. Then
by jumping 350ly from planet to planet the probe can still move quickly and
be unseen. PWI350LY has "JUMP ROUTES" for planets that are 350ly apart.
Without using the hyper-drive this race is a real dog. But...all its
limitations are overcome through the use of this tiny ship. By colonising
planets with natives ALL OVER THE UNIVERSE.....this race becomes
unstoppable.
As the starbases are being built the ideal ship to build is torp
carrying Cube. My fleet usually constitutes of a mess of probes, some torp
carry Cubes, and some Fireclouds for towing or generally purpose transport.
With the ability to make free fighters the Colonies makes a good ally.
E. Empire
1. HYPerdrive Ships
*see section on Hyper-drive for more info on using DARK SENSE*
CARGO HOLDS.......FUEL TANKS........CREW
PL32 PROBE 20 180 1
Cargo configuration.....colonising..20 colonists
scouting....10 colonists
10 supplies
70 mega credits
With three jumps totalling 1050ly and 30 units of fuel left over, the
PL32 PROBE has an excellent operational range.
Turns 1 to 10....build 10 probes and position 4 around the starbase on
DARK SENSE. Send 2 PROBES to an ally and the remaining 4 to the edge of the
universe to build a couple of starbases there for PROBE production.
Turns 10 to 20....send out the probes in groups of 5 to clusters of
planets near the centre of the universe near enemy races to find planets
with natives. Ideally build a starbase that can have TECH 10 ENGINES
automatically.
By upgrading the HULL TECH to tech 2 the H-ROSS carrier can be built.
With the free fighters small offensive operations can be launched from here.
With DARK SENSE the Empire can be selective in his planet targets,
thus offsetting the disadvantage of only having 1 beam on the PROBE.
Any starbase locations can be passed onto Rebel. With his Falcons on
RGA, it is possible to knock a player out of the game within the first week
if he doesn't check what is in orbit around his Home World.
Best ally.....Fascists for the PILLAGE mission....by building PROBES
for the FASCISTS, he can hyper-drive directly into a planet's orbit with
mission preset to PILLAGE. Since the Host is normally configured to NOT
ALLOW planets to attack REBELS and FASCISTS on their special missions
.....BINGO..... a planet in trouble! Unless the enemy has ships set to KILL
or the enemy set to fascists, the PROBE will not be attacked.
2. Strategy
Don't be afraid of building too many bases; each of your bases will
pay for itself in the free fighters it produces.
The Gorbie is the most powerful ship in the game. It makes for great
intimidation, especially against less experienced players. Be sure to use
it wisely, making sure that when you use it, the correct ships are used
along with it so that you get the most out of your investment.
F. Robots
DAY 1 Engine TECH LEVEL to 10........transwarp drive
Weapon .. .. .. 3........blasters
Torpedo.. .. .. 10........mark 8's
Hull .. .. .. 6........LDSF and Instru
Tax.......about 13%.....5 levels above the green.
1. Strategy
I will mine the area surrounding my planet with the 300 mark 5 torps
and at the same time mine-scoop with a Cat with MK 8'S. If the Cat that is
mine-scooping has a low ID, then this will avoid giving away your position
to anyone else who is minesweeping. I colonize the SMALL DEEP SPACE
FREIGHTER and recycle the CAT's PAW CLASS DESTROYER that come at the start
of the game.
The ships I build during the first 10 days are:
2 CAT's PAW DESTROYERS with blasters and MARK 8 TORPS (turns 1 & 2)
2 Q-TANKERS with TECH 1 (one) engines (turns 3 & 4)
1 INSTRUMENTALITY CLASS BASESHIP (turn 5)
2 CAT's PAW DESTROYERS (turns 6 & 7)
2 LARGE DEEP SPACE FREIGHTERS (turns 8 & 9)
1 INSTRUMENTALITY CLASS BASESHIP (turn 10)
By not spending money to build fighters or torpedoes or upgrading
above HULL TECH 6 till much later in the game (if at all) I have a
formidable force. Depending on the game configuration (if there are a lot
of minerals, but little mc) I may choose to use Mark 4s until the minerals
in the game have been depleted. Again, depending on game configuration, I
may choose to make the 2 LARGE DEEP SPACE FREIGHTERS before turns 8 & 9.
The INSTRUS each get 80 fighters that I build from the Q-TANKERS.
When invading I mine the area with 100 MK 8 mines. This destroys any
enemy mines and makes the area hazardous for enemy shipping movement. The
Robots make minefields 4X other races, so at a reasonable cost I have
control of the battlefield while invading.
Best ally is the Privateer. With the accelerated ships for towing the
Instrumentality Baseship and the Cat's Paw (for mining) I have a strong and
fast moving strike force. The accelerated ships can also be loaded with
Mark 8s and sent deep into enemy territory to make for a nasty surprise when
someone gets up in the morning, and, lo and behold, half of their ships that
they thought safe from mines (because they were so far from the front lines)
have just hit mines!
One of your convoy groups could consist of the following:
LARGE DEEP SPACE FREIGHTER
CAT's PAW CLASS DESTROYER
INSTRUMENTALITY CLASS BASESHIP
G. Rebels
Starbase Tech Levels:
DAY 1.Engine TECH LEVEL to 10.......transwarp drive
Weapon .. .. .. 3.......blasters
Torpedo.. .. .. 5.......mark 4's
Hull .. .. .. 6.......
Tax.......About 13%.....about 5 levels above the green.
1. HYPerdrive Ships
*see section on Hyper-drive for more info*
CARGO HOLDS.......FUEL TANKS........CREW
FALCON CLASS ESCORT 120 150 27
Cargo configuration.....colonising..120 colonists
scouting....110 colonists
10 supplies
70 mega credits
REBEL GROUND ATTACK...50 colonists
This is the best of all the PROBES. With an operational range
(hyperdrive) of 700ly, and a 120 cargo holds it is useful for colonising and
bringing rare minerals to starbases as well as the same tasks as the other
probes.
BUT!!!! It is its deadliest when set to REBEL GROUND ATTACK (RGA).
Launched from less than 700ly away, this guided missile comes into a
planet's orbit unseen. Planets cannot attack REBEL ships on RGA, so unless
there is an enemy capital ship set to KILL or has REBEL as its primary
enemy, that planet will be in trouble.
This can be a double edged sword....if you attack from 350ly away,
you enter orbit with FC set to HYP. If the starbase is set to FORCE
SURRENDER and the planet FC is HYP.....you are captured!
For a surprise attack launch a lot (5 to 10) of these probes at the
same time at planets in the same area. Why? As soon as your victim realizes
what you are doing and who you are, he will set his ships to KILL.
When attacking 5 planets, send 10 ships, two to each planet. By having
one ship on RGA and one to KILL, you may capture a ship at the planet as
well as doing the RGA with the other. You will not get a second chance to
capture ships in this area as the planet will probably destroy your ship
that is set to KILL.....as well as the captured ship. That's ok....your
loss was small. Use captured ships for RGA, strip them of most of their
fuel and hyper-drive to another target.
As players catch on to your tactics you will have to upgrade your
weapons. I had several FALCONS with heavy phasers knock out small capital
ships that were hunting my FALCONs. For hunting and capturing freighters I
arm the FALCONs with x-ray beams. These freighters can then be used for
colonising or RGA.
2. Strategy
I try to be on diplomatic terms with Empire (Dark Sense) to find the
location of enemy starbases early in the game. Then I fire off Falcons with
hyperdrive to land on the planets with starbases to RGA AS EARLY AS
POSSIBLE. To reach a starbase 1050ly away in 3 days I will send out 2
Falcons and transfer fuel after the first jump.
For PROBE production, I will build a couple of starbases at the edge
of the universe.
The GUARDIAN CLASS DESTROYER with 3 blasters, 6 mark 4 tubes and 20
torpedoes used with the PATRIOT CLASS LIGHT CARRIER armed with 2 blasters, 6
fighter bays and 30 fighters are a very deadly battle group. This is ideal
for use on the RGA mission.
I will build a Rush and stock it with fighters from the Gemini for
Home World defence.
When attacking an enemy starbase I find setting the Rush to RGA
mission for a few days before the attack to weaken the defences enables me
to suffer less damage.
Crystalline makes a good ally. By providing Falcons to this ally to
build starbases near enemy starbases, Opal and Ruby Cruisers can be build to
disrupt shipping with web mines, while I use Falcons on RGA. The cost for
both is minimal while causing a lot of grief and havoc to our selected
enemy.
H. Colonies
1. HYPerdrive Ships
The COLONIES OF MAN have a cheap but useful capital ship in the CYGNUS
CLASS BATTLESHIP. If the COLONIES have some friendly neighbours that can
produce HYP ships (Rebel: FALCONS, Empire: PL21 PROBES, and Cyborg: B200),
the COLONIES can purchase some in a trade deal and send them, along with
colonists, supplies, and a few Mega-Credits to a planet near the edge of the
universe. If they can find a planet with SILICONOID natives, they can build
a starbase there and produce a number of the CYGNUS CLASS BATTLESHIPS
cheaply to launch a small offensive from where the enemy expects it the
least.
2. Enemy Mines
One more thing you should know about the COLONIES OF MAN; do not be
afraid to enter an enemy minefield if it is in your way. If you have a
fighter carrying ship, you can sweep the mines using the fighters on that
ship, and I have yet to encounter a mine field that cannot be completely
destroyed by a pair of fully loaded PATRIOTS in 2 turns. Sweeping mines
with fighters is performed by setting the mission of the ships to: SWEEP
MINES.
**********************************************************************
VII. STRATEGY FOR PRIVATEER AND CRYSTALLINE
This is from FAQ0313 and was so good I included the information here.
PRIVATEERS:
Meteors are for towing, and attacking far off planets. BR4's explore,
and BR5's steal ships in the early stages, Meteors steal them later, until
both are redundant. Build little pests to wear down carriers, and use one
with tech 5 engines to tow another with tech 1 engines into battle. These
take out 10 or so fighters, and provided you follow up in the same turn with
a solid capital ship you can expect to trash most other newbies. (like me!)
A meteor can tow a large deep space freighter at warp 9, whilst a BR4 can't
as the fuel tank is too small. [moselecw@elec.Canterbury.ac.nz (moz)]
I. Limitations.
A. A ship can perform only one mission at a time. This means that you
can choose to cloak, rob, tow, or intercept; but, for example, you can't
intercept a ship and arrive there cloaked.
B. The 3 cloakable and accelerated ships are low mass. This means
that they should not fight anything but scouts and freighters.
C. Even your "big" carrier is useless against anything with 8 or 10
beams and 2 tubes.
II. Advantages.
A. Cloaking and the grav. accel. are obvious advantages.
B. The low mass of the accelerated ships, the extra speed itself,
and the fact that you use only half as much fuel/LY when you are towing with
an accelerated ship make these ships perfect for towing.
C. An MBR equipped with just x-rays is capable of doing everything
except planet raiding. This means that new SBs only have to be tech 10 in
engines (and even tech 7 is useful) and tech 5 in hulls. This means that
productive starbases are much cheaper for Privateers than for anybody else.
III. General strategy.
A. STAY OUT OF SIGHT
If the rest of the empires find out where you are early they
might just decide to eliminate a pest. A 100 LY radius mine field dropped
near you home world can put a crimp in your expansion.
B. Don't ignore the necessity to expand.
Your first 3 ships should probably be MBRs with x-rays and either 0
or 1 mark 4 torp. For these exploration ships warp 7 engines are probably
good enough. After that you will mostly want to build MBRs with warp 9
engines. After the first 3 MBRs you should build ships in pairs of an MBR
with good engines and a large freighter with poor engines. Use these to
develop other SBs as quickly as possible. You may not be the first empire
to get 2 SBs but you should be the first to 3 and should have 5 or 6 before
anybody else has 3.
IV. Tactics.
A. Don't fight - ROB. We will see occasions when a ship will be
used as a Sacrificial Lamb (SL) but other than that you should never fight
anything even close to your size. A cloaked, undamaged MBR is much more
useful than the benefit from eliminating an enemy's medium size capital
ship.
B. Play the fuel game. You will always need less fuel than they
do. Strip unowned planets of fuel with "gather" and whenever you
can't steal a ship at least steal its fuel.
C. Steal ships. (Now we get down to the meat of the problem.)
The following tactics are all based on the problem that in order to steal a
ship's fuel, so that we can tow it to a SB, we MUST be at exactly the same
coordinates as the enemy ship. We can't use intercept to get there because
the turn order is steal - move - combat. If the enemy capital ship has
enemy set to Privateer (if he doesn't have it set to Privateer the
first time he will from then on), you will die at the end of movement
and before you get a chance to steal. You have to be cloaked when you
arrive at the same place as the enemy ship.
1) Wait at a planet (yours or unowned) from which you have
removed the fuel. If you are sure that you have more fuel capacity than he
has fuel then just set ROB SHIP and wait until the next turn to begin towing
him back to your SB. You can't do this at his planet because he might
transfer fuel up from the planet and that happens AFTER you rob. Lo
and behold, you end up with a very angry capital ship on your hands, he has
fuel, you are not cloaked, and you get blown away.
2) Use a sacrificial lamb (SL) at one of his planets to capture
capital ships. Get a cloaked ship to one of his planets where you know
ships to be. Pick the ship you want and tow it out to a waypoint where you
have one or more MBRs waiting. Make sure you pick a waypoint position so
that if one of his other ships is set to intercept the one you are
stealing, the other one won't be able to make it that far (also see
tactic #5. This is called the SL gambit because the ship doing the towing
gets pasted at the end of movement (you haven't stolen the enemy's fuel yet,
that's what the other, cloaked MBRs are there to do.) You can try to set it
up so that your ship just runs out of fuel at the end of the tow but this is
a little dangerous. What happens if the ship takes on cargo and is heavier
than you thought?
3) Projecting a ship's course. (Your opponent has to be very
inexperienced for this to work.) If you see a ship moving toward a planet
that is more than 1 jump away, you can try to project where he will be on
his next jump if he continues to move at the same speed. If you try to do
this a lot, you will start to appreciate the Pythagorean Theorem.
4) Bait and switch. Send a nice target, a full large freighter or
uncloaked captured capital ship, toward enemy space. Unfortunately, for the
enemy, it is accompanied by a couple of cloaked MBRs. Make sure that the
freighter is out of fuel at the end of each jump. That way you don't loose
it when some capital ship arrives with weapons cocked.
5) The intercepted freighter gambit. If your enemy is
"protecting" his freighter by having a capital ship continually intercept
it, you can easily get both. Have a cloaked ship waiting at a planet when
they arrive. Tow the freighter with your ship but tow it in a known
direction and tow it further than the jump range of the enemy capital
ship. Have a second MBR waiting at the position where the capital ship
will end up. Example: Both freighter and capital ship have been moving at
warp 9. Tow the freighter 90 LY north. Have the 2nd MBR waiting, cloaked,
81 LY north. The capital ship will try to follow the freighter but won't
keep up. You capture the freighter with guns (You DO put only x-rays or
disruptors on your MBRs, don't you? After all, MBRs are NEVER supposed to
fight anything but freighters.) The enemy capital ship is in deep space, at
a known position, where it is easy to ROB and then TOW.
6) The pirates nest. Privateers have real trouble defending a
specific planet against a large fleet. The best defense is that they
shouldn't know were the SB or rich planet is. Second, you can spread cheap
ships (they don't have to cloak) around your empire that always have ROB
set. These will rob enemy cloakers that are exploring your empire (this
can be disabled by the host in ver. 3.1). But assume the worst. Your enemy
knows where to do you damage and has a fleet on the way. Don't fight back.
Set up a pirates nest at a planet they are likely to pass through. This is
a collection of cheap BR4s with warp 5 engines and some MBRS. The BR4s wait
at the planet until the fleet arrives. Each one then tows a ship out to
waiting MBRs, to deep space, and maybe one to the SB (if the SB is capable
of handling that one.) This breaks up the fleet and gives you a chance to
handle the ships one at a time.
[DORN@Dirac.physics.jmu.edu (Dr. Dorn Peterson)]
- P's can use 'packs' of MBRs more effectiively than described above, for
example, to rob fuel before towing ships in the same turn, very often
preventing counterattack. Nevertheless, it is good to tow to a remote point
where other MBRs can ROB, if only to prevent a towing P-ship from being
captured in a counterattack.
- Note that P-ships can also drag alien shhips to be destroyed by more
powerful allied ships. This is a good way to dismantle massive opposition
in parts with little risk.
- Note that Robbing proceeds from low ID tto higher and act
accordingly.
- As noted by D.P. above, you can tow shipps to known locations, where you
will end up without fuel. But you should be careful about this, and use
simulations or an exact formula for fuel consumption (because there are
program bugs).
- P's can 'intercept' alien ships which moove predictably, shuttling to the
same location between worlds, or to locations which can be predicted exactly
by simulation. (In the first case, a cloaked P ship simply waits in deep
space to ambush.)
- MBR's can tow massive allied super-carriiers with devastating effects.
This combination is virtually unstoppable if played correctly even if there
are large minefields (if there are several cheap MBRs as there usually are).
The super-ships should have their own Transwarp engines, though; and
sometimes they should tow the MBR's (for their 'air-lift' capabilities).
[harwood@umiacs.umd.edu (David Harwood)]
CRYSTALS:
Your problem is money. I use a Ruby for colonizing, Opals at 1
colonist per planet for scouting. Get an Avian or Bovinoid planet as a
first step, and a couple Opals for scouting then capture. All effort goes
into the ruby with tech 10 torps that is laying a web mine or four around
your homeworld. The idea is that by turn 4 or 5 it is 100LY across, and
everyone in the game has seen one of your ships. Use cloaking (captured)
ships to lay-and-run webs around nearby home worlds, but concentrate on
'mining' your web minefield. Let them come to you mostly. Ideally you want
to have your minefield(s) totally enclosing all your planets, so that it is
tricky to attack you, and harder still to hold on to a captured planet.
(oh, tech 2 torps are most economical if you have minerals but no money
(1/2MC per mine), tech 10 are cheapest if minerals are included as supplies
per mine). [moselecw@elec.Canterbury.ac.nz (moz)]
Key strategic points (some obvious, others not so):
- Lay numerous small fields as opposed to Huge ones. This helps
deter mine detection.
- Make use of the Opals defensively. 19 torps of tech 4 or above
can produce an effective web.
- You can only sweep the lowest ID mine field, so multiple mine
fields of differing types can be helpful.
- Emerald Class is best armed freighter in game. Build these in
force.
- Crystal Thunder Carrier is actually a strong ship. Ftr capacity
is it's drawback.
All of this is for version 3.0. Version 3.1 will make BIG changes and make
most of this obsolete since mine sweeping changed to allow sweeping outside
of the field.
The Ruby and Emerald Class ships are great armed cargo/invasion ships.
Sounds strange, but with 370/510 cargo with weapons you can do a lot of
damage on the borders before the enemy races can set up defences. Especially
by putting up web fields after you move in. In
unregistered games, the Emerald Class is one of the most powerful capital
ships in the game (some fighter ships with large mass can still take this
out since you don't have the tech 10 torps).
I am currently waging war with the Rebels. The Emerald with 8 beams and 3
Photon 8 torpedoes can't be beat. The beams can hold off any fighter ship
(except the big one) while the torps do their damage. None of the other
Crystal ships can survive the Rebel Patriot Carrier (excluding the Diamond
Flame of course). Don't send any Topez ships after fighter ships as
cannonfodder. The crew is too small and the fighters will capture the ship!
You will have to destroy it later. A good use for the Topez is as a mine
sweeper. Put small engines and tech 10 beams on it and tow it with your
Emerald carrier killer with 8 low tech beams. If the enemy puts up
minefields to slow your progress, the 400 mines destroyed by the Topez make
up for the fuel cost to tow it.
Web mines are the best defense against cloaked enemies. I have acquired a
few cloaked ships coming up unsuspecting on web mine fields. I place 30 ly
radius webs around some of my populated planets on the border with a web
tender ship near by. As soon as a ship is caught, I will keep increasing
the size of the web to prevent their leaving. Best tactic is to lay a small
field away from the planet with a large field around the planet. Their mine
sweeps will detect the closer field (version 3.0) and not the bigger. They
either bypass the first or get lucky and pass thru to be caught by the
second.
Cloaked torpedo ships allow you to put web mines in enemy territory,
especially over their planets. With fuel usually in shortage, it can
significantly reduce their offense capabilities. Great method for catching
enemy ships that the player allocates just enough fuel to reach its
destination, only to find out it runs out of fuel before reaching its target
and is now in deep space defenceless. Placed over their base planets this
is a real pain in their a*&. All ships coming, going and in orbit lose the
25 tons of fuel. So they sweep it, but I figure sometimes I am causing him
over 100 tons of fuel or more a turn.
Best advantage of web fields is to break up attack fleets. When an enemy is
sending a fleet stacked together in space, webs can cause the ships to be
caught in different spots in space and if the gap is big enough, it makes
for easy picking. Even small fields may prevent all of the attackers from
arriving at their destination, making the attack fleet not as dangerous.
Nice tactic for advancing visible ships is to not increase the size of your
web mine field, but to suddenly put an explosive mine field in the same
place (or vice versa). In version 3.0, the enemy can only sweep the lower
mine id field. The other field is invisible and un-sweepable.
As you probably know, the strength of the crystals is there ability to
lay web mine fields. This strength appears to be completely negated in the
most recent versions of the host by the Colonies' ability to sweep 40 mines
per fighter and the Robots' ability to lay 4x anti-mines. While this is, in
part, true, the crystals are still formidable.
Did you know
-- web mine fields drain fuel even from ships that aren't moving?
-- web mine fields can be overlapped to produce even greater fuel
draining?
-- the Crystal Thunder carrier is roughly on par with the Colonies'
Virgo battlestar?
Here is the general procedure I follow when starting a game with the
crystals.
1. Up the engine tech to 10.
2. If there are planets within 40ly send the default ships there
to begin colonization. If not, recycle the default ships or
overdrive them to the nearest planet with the mission set to
COLONIZE.
3. Depending on the starting funds, build either a Large Freighter
or Medium Freighter with transwarp engines.
4. Alternately build opals and freighters while colonizing planets
as fast as possible. When you find either a bovinoid or insectoid planet,
divert significant resources there to capitalize on the money making
capabilities of the natives.
5. Build opals with tech 5 [Mark IV] torps since they are the best
[short of tech 10 torps] in the mines/mc ratio. Mark 2's are the very best
but are very expensive mineral wise and not effective at all in battles. If
you have the $$ for Mark VIII torps, go for it.
6. The first time you catch sight of a potentially hostile race in
the area, start mining planets on the perimeter along with direct flight
paths between perimeter planets and core planets. The opals work *great* for
this. An opal with 16 mark IV torps lays a beautiful 20 ly mine field that
will catch a cloaker 90% of the time. Once you snag a cloaker, you're set.
The one weakness of the crystals is their lack of information gathering
capability.
When hostilities begin in earnest, create squadrons of 4 Opals w/Mark IV
photons and 1 Ruby Light Cruiser w/Mark IV or Mark VIII. This configuration
will allow you to quickly build complex minefields without continual trips
to a base. The Ruby has great fuel capacity and torp carrying capabilities.
The Opals are cheap and sip fuel lightly and can be refuelled by the Ruby
many times. Also, the best method I've found is to station the Ruby in a
central location and, if there's no danger of it being swept, drop its
entire load of torps as mines. The Opals then can re-arm without
approaching closer than the perimeter of the large mine field. When the
mines are all laid, the Ruby can sweep the remaining mines up. Note : mines
are turned into whatever torp the sweeper has. That is, if the Ruby has
tech 10 torps, and lays a large field, the Opals w/Mark IV's will sweep up
Mark IV torps from that field.
Emeralds with Heavy Blasters and Mark VIII torps make *great* planet
takers.
When confronted with large, fighter toting ships try this approach. A
Diamond Flame with x-ray lasers and Mark VIII torps. Even the nastiest ship
will shudder when met with 24 high energy fish headed its way. Also, don't
underestimate the power of the Crystal Thunder carrier. It's hampered by
its low cargo capacity but does well against even the toughest opponents.
It's also relatively cheap to build and should never have beams of > x-ray
lasers if it's going up against the large capital ships.
A Diamond / Thunder team will destroy a robotic golem 80% of the time and
critically wound it the rest of the time.
Try to beg, borrow or steal a cloaking, mine layer from one of the
cloaking races. In order of preference :
-- Meteor Class Blockade runner
-- BR4 Kaye Class Torpedo Boat [at least Mark IV torps]
-- Fearless Wing Cruiser
-- Lizard Class Cruiser
-- Deth Specula Class Frigate
any torp ship with cloaking capabilities will do but the Privateers'
ships really fit the bill due to their speed. The Meteor is fantastic since
it can effectively cloak *and* lay mines since it can always warp to a
nearby planet the same turn it lays the mines.
Alliances (as we ALL know) are very key to the CP as well. I'm currently
allied with the Robots, which make a GREAT combo. With an Emerald and a
Cat's Paw working in conjunction, we can mass produce mines quickly. He
lays them in my code, I scoop them up with the Emerald, unload half the load
at my starbase (1 turn away), send the ship to his base to be captured, and
he unloads the other half. Making use of their ftr production is also nice.
One thing that I've noted (not positive on this) is that once a web field is
laid in another race's ID, it doesn't seem to be able to be scooped up.
Cloak ships are necessary if you want to be offensive with the CP. Sending
one with high-tech torps into the area you plan on attacking, and laying a
web before would be quite effective. Just be sure to come in with a second
wave quickly to lay that alternate mine field as well.
[submitted by "paulen@microsoft.com" (Paul Enfield), including contributions
from Brad Andrews , Paul J. Hinker , &
Dave Kluch ]
Subject: Dealing with cloakers
1. General problems
Your main strategy against cloaking intruders is therefore mining. By that I
don't mean one huge minefield covering your whole territory, but several
small to medium minefields placed strategically. Your territory is not
simply a place but is defined by supply points and transport ways.
Therefore mine important planets and waypoints.
Your second strategy is to secure transports. You effectively have to make
it that expensive for your enemy to conquer or destroy your transports that
you win more than he does. The usual way of doing this is Freighter Escorts.
The necessary strength of escorting ships there depends on your enemy -
Birdmen cloakers are slightly more dangerous than those of other races. Good
escorts are light and very offensive. They should at least have Mark 4 (TL5)
Torps, later I would use Mark 7 or 8.
An alternative can, in rare cases, be heavy armed freighters. Examples are
the Nebula, Tranquillity, Firecloud, Emerald, Cat's Paw and, perhaps, the
Gemini.
Your third strategy is selective territory protection. Find out the
important stars in your empire and place ships and mines there. Never try
panickly to protect everything you own. Said empire for example tried to
hunt a tiny Serpent escort which broke into his domain by a Super Star
Destroyer. He burnt enormous amounts of fuel and bound a major ship he
needed elsewhere urgently in order to hunt down a ship that couldn't cause
much real damage.
Subject: Anti-Privateers
A. Mine. Lots of little mine fields are better than one or two big
ones. It really slows Privateers down to have to be continually looking
for mine fields. And he HAS to look because even one hit destroys his
most useful ships. He is much more likely to go look for an unmined
empire and that is just what you want him to do.
B. Use cloaked ships if you have or can buy them. In addition to
using cloaked ships as freighters you can use them to accompany
freighters or capital ships you think Privateers might want to steal.
C. Mine Fields. Lots of little ones.
D. Don't move in a straight line and don't go to the obvious
destination.
E. Mine Fields. Lots of little ones.
F. Use ships with more than 285 fuel and keep them topped up.
Obviously this gets very expensive in neutronium.
G. Mine Fields. Lots of little ones.
H. Having an escort for your freighters keeps him from using
INTERCEPT to catch your freighter. But don't think that it will keep him
from stealing it at a planet.
I. Mine Fields. Lots of ... well, maybe you get the idea.
J. You might try your own bait and switch trap if you know that there
are Privateer ships in the area. Send a freighter on a path with an
obvious destination 2 or 3 jumps away. Have a capital ship intercept on
the 2nd or 3rd jump. Maybe you will catch an MBR trying to take the
freighter.
Mainly just concentrate on counter tactics A, C, E, G, and I. :) It may
help you against other empires too.
[DORN@Dirac.physics.jmu.edu (Dr. Dorn Peterson)]
- Ally the Crystal People, and supply themm with cloaking mine-laying ships
with large fuel and cargo capacities.
- Have cloaking mine-layers lead convoys -- lay mines and scoop them as the
convoy 'puddle hops'.
- Use overlapping minefields to increase hhit rates.
- Do not allow non-cloaking ships to 'toucch down' at planets -constantly
move them (if only a few LY's) unpredictably in deep space, and refuel and
resupply them with cloaking ships in deep space wherever possible.
- If ships 'touch down' at planets, they sshould unload their fuel (except
possibly for one unit for operations). And they should, as appropriate, be
set to be transferred fuel (or grab it) every turn. This shuffling of fuel
every turn will make it risky for a P-ship to try to rob and tow ships in
orbit.
[harwood@umiacs.umd.edu (David Harwood)]
A PRIVATEER CAPTAIN'S NIGHTMARE
I played the Privateers in an extended game earlier in the year, and while I
was able to overrun some empires very easily, the tactics of others pretty
well rendered the Privateer advantages ineffective (or nearly so). Here are
some of the counter-tactics which made life difficult:
1) Escort your freighters with capital ships (or tow capital ships with
your freighters). This makes it impossible for cloaked Privateers to
intercept your freighters in deep space and blast them.
2) Vary your courses slightly from turn to turn. This keeps cloaked
ships from being able to project your course and perform a "manual"
intercept--which is the only way a Rob Ship mission in deep space is
possible. This means the only place you have to worry about being robbed
is around planets.
3) If you are orbiting a planet, beam up one kt of fuel from the surface
every turn. This means "Rob Ship" missions carried out in orbit will not
render your weapons useless--and the robbing ship will have to move out
of orbit (uncloaked) on the same turn or get toasted.
4) Keep capital ships scattered around your empire and follow two rules:
Whenever you see a Privateer ship, have the nearest capital ship lay down
a small minefield. Whenever you see a Privateer ship, set a nearby
capital ship to intercept it. The combined effect here is to make
movement extremely dangerous, and to shut down his ability to sweep
mines.
5) If he does manage to steal one of your ships, make a note of the
location of the starbase where it surrenders and go after it. The
Privateers do not have the ability to stop a large assault in a head-to-
head encounter with their "native" ships. If you locate his choke
points--starbases and important planets--you can neutralize him early.
[machteme@acpub.duke.edu (Mark Achtemeier)]
1) If your ship has a high ID number, set it on enemy Privateer and Gather
fuel at your planet, with 1 KT of fuel. If he robs you with a lower ID #
ship, you'll gather fuel afterwards and if towed, you have a BR at your
mercy - and all he got was 1 KT of fuel for his trouble (and your mines got
a crack at him).
2) Hire the Crystals to lay web mines in your name. Since webs are just as
good against cloaked as uncloaked ships, it works very well -you might even
capture a Privateer. ship or 2.
3) When laying minefields in 3.x, be careful about merging; and in 3.11,
try to overlap on important planets.
4) If you can't have enough gas to stay unrobbed (maybe an option for B-
wagons stopped at gas planets, where you're not using the fuel to move
fuel), load up with junk - minerals you have too much of, or supply points.
He may think you have a lot of gas on board; then when he robs you, he gets
junk and no fuel - if his waypoint is far enough away, the extra ship mass
and low fuel might leave him stranded. He's unlikely to do so if you have
minefields, however, as he won't want to run through them uncloaked for any
great distance.
5) Keep your big ships in space, and moving at least a few LY per turn; use
freighters and fuel tankers to visit planets - planetary defense and
minefields may be enough to discourage planet busting by the Pirates.
6) If he's trying to tow a ship out of the heart of your empire, he might
be catchable by a fast ship on the periphery, "ahead" of him.
7) Theft is most likely for this reason near the frontier. Don't leave him
options like amorphous worlds to hide at - either colonize them or plant a
small DSF with warp 1's there to see if he shows up uncloaked (to gather
fuel). In fact, keep the freighter on gather fuel, in case he's tried to
establish a secret base (by dumping gas and supplies from cloaked ships, to
be gathered by empty and/or damaged ships later).
8) Move minefields from the far rear by scooping them, up to the front.
9) Planets don't move, and they don't cloak! Hit his worlds, with a battle
fleet that stays in space as much as possible.
[Andrew Jones (lrpr@unb.ca)]
**********************************************************************
VIII. Blitzkrieg
A. Theory
It is important to strike and destroy another player's starbase while
they are still weak and not expecting an attack. During the first 10 days
of the game, you can build a strike force with this capability by having a
partner and sharing his mega credits, minerals and ship building
capabilities.
So that your opponents do not have time to build, you must find and
attack their starbase as early as possible. Within 10 days of the game
starting is the goal. Ask Empire to provide some starbase locations.
In using the tactics suggested here, your weakness will be the defence
of your starbase. By not building up the starbase defence and not using
fighters for starbase defence you can use these resources for your strike
force.
NOTE: as the game progresses it will be necessary to protect your starbase.
B. Teams
In the use of any strategy CAPITALIZE upon the unique characteristics
of the two races so that they compliment each other.
A two man team is adequate to devastate any opposition if planned
properly. For this strategy one player is designated as the GUERRILLA FORCE
and the other is the STRIKE FORCE.
C. Tech Levels
During the first several weeks of the game TECH 3 BEAM WEAPONS
(blasters) and TECH 5 TORPEDOES (mark 4's) are able to handle any enemy
ships. For most battles the MARK 4 and the BLASTER are deadly enough to be
effective for the whole game. Generally any torpedo other than a MARK 4, 7,
or 8 are useless.
Use small minefields as your primary defence. These can be "scooped-
up" when your team-mate sends you ships, etc, or when you start to run low
on torpedoes. Do not spend money or materials on fighters for starbase
defence, or adding more defences to your starbase, as this can be done
later.
Tech 10 engines are ideal, but with money being tight use TECH 7
engines. As long as your partner has established forward bases that have
fuel available it is possible to travel at warp 9 with the lower tech
engines; the only penalty is a higher fuel consumption.
D. Guerrilla Force
This individual is to use cloaking ships (about 4 to 6), build forward
supply bases, continually spy, harass, set traps to entice enemy ships,
attack lone freighters, and in any way possible tie up enemy ships and force
the enemy to develop a defensive role. Only attack capital ships when you
are POSITIVE that you will win the battle.
Use the following codes to be effective in mine-laying:
mdh.....mine drop half your torpedoes
mdq.....mine drop one of your torpedoes
md5.....mine drop 50 torpedoes worth of mines
msc.....mine scoop up a field that you own and convert the mines back
to torpedoes.
By converting torpedoes to mines and back again, it is possible for
one ship to bring a lot of torpedoes to the forward areas so that the other
ships do not have to return to starbase to get torpedoes when they run out.
You can do this to move torpedoes if fuel is scarce--produce the torpedoes
at your starbase, lay them in a minefield, and the same turn scoop them by a
ship at the edge of the minefield. Obviously, don't do this if the enemy
will mine-sweep a chunk of the mines before you scoop them (always use the
lowest possible ID # ship for scooping mines to avoid letting the enemy
sweep the minefield too). The mine-field decay-rate will not cost you any
mines when you do this.
In every instance ships are to operate in pairs and NEVER solo. It
may be necessary to sacrifice a ship in order to destroy an enemy vessel so
that you can obtain an advantage.
Usually 2 ships are enough to harass a single player around his
starbase.
With ships that cloak the registered player will find that the TECH 7
engine is sufficient and for the unregistered player use the TECH 6. DO NOT
go above these levels....the money is better spent on the building of ships
and weapons for the player that has the STRIKE FORCE. When your resources
improve then upgrade the engine to TECH 10 levels.
When scouting look for planets that contain these natives and set them
up as forward bases:
BOVINOID .......cheap source of supply units...
REPTILIAN.......doubles mining rate.....good for fuel...
Later, when you wish to start another starbase, these planets will
save you 4 500 mega credits:
GHIPSOLDAL......TECH 10 engines...
SILICONOID......TECH 10 torpedoes...
The primary advantage here is to upgrade your ship engines or torpedo
launchers CHEAPLY by recycling your ship.
On your home starbase use a small minefield and have a single ship
with torpedoes for defence. Bringing your defences up to maximum can be
done later. It is more important to get STRIKE FORCE up to a strength that
can attack another starbase as soon as possible.
ALL your resources and extra ships are to be made available to your
team-mate. You are only to use ships for guerrilla activities outlined
above.
When you find a starbase that is weakly defended, advise your partner,
BUT DO NOT attack or in any way let the enemy know you spying. Have your
partner attack as soon as possible. Save your forces until ready to strike
or for tying down another player's forces. Surprise and concentration of
forces will ensure success.
E. Strike Force
Building a strong, fast offensive striking force that can overwhelm a
STARBASE and its defending ships AND still be able to repel a counter
attack, is the prime and only purpose in this player's un-glamorous life.
When moving to strike at another player's starbase send a cloaking
ship ahead to the forward supply bases that your partner has started.
"Capture" the planets by dropping colonists onto the planet while staying
cloaked (or have a common friendly code). This way your main force does not
have to attack these planets to get the fuel, etc off the planet in one turn
as it moves towards its objective. If it is important that the planets
remain in the hands of your partner, you can match the friendly codes of
your strike force and the planet in order to BEAM UP FUEL. Use the `G'ather
mission on ships to do this.
In all cases a BATTLE GROUP containing ships with a lot of beam
weapons, carriers, and ships with torpedoes is essential. No single type of
ship can be effective in attacking a starbase that is defended by different
types of ships. The primary ship for the attack should be a carrier.
When your resources allow it, start another starbase as close to the
enemy as possible. Another starbase will allow you to build twice as many
ships as a player with one starbase. By having the starbase close to your
enemies, you can use a lower tech engine to engage your enemies in combat
faster.
F. Conclusion
Always be prepared to use every ship to obtain a decisive result.
Most of the time your starbase will have minimal defences; this is a risk
that the other players will assume (hopefully) you will not have taken. The
shock value here is the rapidness of your attacks. The other players should
be surprised (and stunned) into inaction or a defensive frame of mind. "A
battle lost is a battle which one thinks one has lost." Always attack your
enemy whenever and wherever possible so that he develops a defensive frame
of mind. Even when he is on the offensive, it is still possible for you to
retreat offensively.
When one or two starbases have been knocked out, some of the other
players will probably become more defensive and keep there ships closer to
home. This will enable you to still fund most of your resources to the
strike force.
If your enemy builds another starbase, try to take it over by
dropping colonists onto the planet from a cloaked ship as soon as possible.
The colonists on this starbase may be few in numbers.
By combining rapid mobility, firepower, concentration and surprise
these tactics can be very effective.
However the use of these aggressive tactics is not for the faint of
heart.
************************************************************************
IX. TEAM PLAY
Before deciding to fight any enemy always see if you can align any
support behind you. Twist any arms you have to. Two against one is always
better than one on one. Working in a team is even better. With your
resources pooled you will be more effective.
Having a trustworthy ally has a lot of advantages. It enables you to
minimize your race's disadvantages and utilize the strengths of another race
to become a far more powerful force. By sharing in the work of defence, you
can afford the risk of holding back far fewer ships when attacking. By
carefully selecting ships from each race's portfolio you can create a strong
fleet for a lower cost in minerals and credits. By attacking the same
enemies, you can overwhelm most single opponents.
Here are some examples of races that will work well together.
Feds & Lizards: -2X mining rate
-several ships on HISSS mission above a Fed planet can
make a lot of money
-access to cloakers
-as Lizard ships the Thor Frigate and Diplomacy Cruiser
are cheap and pack quite a punch
Lizards & Rebels:
-hyperdrive
-Free fighters for Madonzilla
-Lizard Guardian, Destroyer, Patriot Carrier and Rush
carrier are more formidable with 150% damage
.. & Cyborg:
-hyperdrive
-hyperdrive to drop colonists for ground attack almost
anywhere
-endless supply of colonists for invasions
-cubes that can take 150% damage
.. & Empire-hyperdrive
-dark sense
-150% Lizard Gorbie
.. & Birds -Lizard Darkwing Battleship at 150%
.. & Fascists
-Plunder over enemy starbases and then take over by ground
attack using Lizard colonists from overhead cloaked ships
Birds & Rebels: -hyperdrive
-free fighters
.. & Privateers
-accelerated ships
Fascists & Empire
-dark sense and hyperdrive for pillaging
-gorbie for pillaging heavily defended enemy starbases
.. & Rebels
-hyperdrive for pillaging
.. & Cyborg
-hyperdrive for pillaging
-Cubes for pillaging heavily defended enemy starbases
.. & Privateer
-three ships with accelerators for pillaging
.. & Birds
-access to a greater variety of cloakers for pillaging
Privateers & Robots
-MBR's to cloak an lay distant minefields where they are
unexpected
.. & Fascist
-to plunder planet with natives
.. & Empire
-Dark Sense
-hyperdrive
.. & Rebels
-hyperdrive to be able to strike anywhere in the universe
(beams 3X)
-free fighters
Cyborg & Robots -free fighters
-minefields to make up for lack of medium-size ships
-Instrumentality and Cat's Paw to make up for lack of
medium-sized ships
.. & Colonies
-free fighters
Crystals & Privateers
-accelerated ships for faster towing
-accelerated ships for web minefields in unexpected places
.. & Rebels
-hyperdrive
-free fighters for Crystal Thunder and captured enemy
fighter ships
Empire & Fascists
-pillage mission
-cloakers for Dark Sensing
.. & Robots -free fighters for Gorbie
.. & Colonies
-free fighters for Gorbie
Robots & Birds -cloakers for laying mines in unexpected areas
.. & Lizards
-cloakers for laying mines in unexpected areas
.. & Empire -hyperdrive
.. & Cyborg -hyperdrive
Rebels & Crystals
-web mines
.. & Empire -Dark Sense
-Gorbie for REBEL GROUND ATTACK mission (RGA) against
heavily defended enemy starbases with few colonists
Colonies & Empire
-hyperdrive
-Gorbie
.. & Cyborg
-hyperdrive
-Biocide Cube
************************************************************************
X. Proverbs and other Miscellaneous Ideas
Some of these are from the FAQ0313. These ones have been noted.
Reread the section on Basic Strategy!!!!!!
Scan each planet everyday by using `L' and `V'--you may have some unwanted
visitors. An enemy ship who cloaks will not be seen, unless his cloaking
device fails.
The Russian Navy has some ships based on the "one shot principal". These
are a large number of small ships with powerful weapons, but that can be
destroyed very easily. The advantage: no need for ship repairs due to
battle damage; ships cheap and easy to replace; greater coverage of tactical
areas; for the enemy it is a lot harder and more expensive (fuel) to hunt
down lots of smaller targets than several larger ones.
Always make a universal announcement each day. Games where all the players
are quiet are very boring. Never be afraid to say what you please.
Suckholing will never save you.....so be aggressive, speak up! If the other
players are more competent, they will still have to beat your forces to shut
you up........and if you plan effectively, they may not be able to do it.
Flee to fight another day!!
Which is more psychologically damaging--losing a couple ships every day, or
losing a major battle?
ALWAYS be on the offensive!! Even when retreating!!
NEVER get pushed around. Apparently minor things could be a major part of
the enemy's master plan!
Learn from your enemy's mistakes, your enemy, and his losing.
Getting even is -=NOT=- worth losing!
Follow the Golden Rule--Do unto your allies as you would have them to unto
you.......at least, follow the Golden Rule until you need them dead!
TRADE!! EXCHANGE!! All great empires throughout history existed because of
TRADING!!
"A bribe is a charm to the one who gives it; wherever he turns, he succeeds"
Proverbs 17:8 (Solomon).
Can't be hit by a mine when you're being towed!!
"Don't just watch your neighbours, watch your neighbour's neighbours"
FAQ0313 (kv076EDU.IASTATE).
"Two good ships won't do; 5 intermediate and one good will" FAQ0313 (Svein
Gunnar Tienndal ).
*************************************************************************
XI. Documents and Utilities
Print ALL documents out and read them. Have a copy of the ships
available to each race as a handy reference. Same goes for other text files
(such as this one).
VPSIM.ZIP--contains the simulator sim.exe. This is excellent for
seeing how ships with various weapon configurations battle against each
other. It gives you an idea how your ship will handle itself against
another ship.
SHEET30x.ZIP--allows you to print out messages received.
BUILD1_1.ZIP--is an excellent utility for determining the cost in
minerals and credits for building specific ships.
VGAPTRAK.ZIP--shows sensor ranges, minefields, meteor strikes,
location of distress calls, JUMP routes, chronological map of past turns,
Jump and Build utilities, lots more.
JUMP.ZIP, PWI350LY, FINDONE--unassorted HYPerdrive utilities.
HOSTxx.ZIP--has info on what is available in the game, eg hyperspace,
attack codes, planetary codes, etc.
FLEET.ZIP--For determining which order your ships should do battle and
have a better chance of success against a known enemy battle-group.
I use VGAPTRAK to help keep track of enemy movement, planets,
minefields, location of where a ship was destroyed (distress call). I run a
mine-sweep and sensor sweep missions to find the location of the enemy.
This utility is the same as keeping notes...only a lot easier.
VSIM or PROSIM is the combat simulator. I normally use the LIZARD
CLASS CRUISER, T-REX, ANIALATION CLASS BATTLESHIP and the GORBIE CLASS
BATTLECARRIER as the standard ships and compare other ships with them.
But the most useful utility is BUILD1_1.ZIP by Gary Hogarth. This gem
allows me to calculate many days ahead what I will need in minerals and
credits to build the ideal fleet.
All these utilities are constantly being improved upon. Fleet
Designer (BUILD1 under a different name) should succeed BUILD1_1 early 1995.
At the time of writing VGAPtrak ver 1.2 is current. PWI350ly should be
updated soon. FINDONE was recently improved a little. To get the latest
versions of these and other utilities continue reading after the next
section!
**************************************************************************
XII. HYPER-DRIVE
Throughout history rapid movement, surprise and innovative tactics have
always beaten opponents many times larger who use conventional methods of
warfare.
VGA PLANETS...
Why is HYPER-DRIVE so important?
The universe is 2000ly across, a ship travelling at warp 9 will take about
25 days to cross it. The Privateer can cross this distance in 13 days. A
ship with HYPER-DRIVE and Tech 1 engines can cross it in less than 6 days!
The use of these ships has shrunk the universe and allows a far more
offensive game. Combining the use of these ships and aggressive team
tactics, games will be more fun and more decisive in a much shorter time.
Through the use of surprise and speed we have the ability to wage a
Blitzkrieg.....a Lightning war.
1. Launch and Guidance
There are 3 ships with hyperdrive. Currently the method of launch and
guidance is very inaccurate.
By using YAPT1V7 it is possible to get the accuracy for targeting to within
10 to 20ly of a target. It involves setting the X,Y co-ordinates in
PLANETS...exiting to YAPT1V7 to see where the ship will end up at the end of
350ly jump....re-entering PLANETS....resetting the x,y co-ordinates...
..etc.
By using PLANTOOL, printing a map with coordinates and using a ruler and
protractor, it is possible to be accurate to within 5 to 10ly of the
intended target.
Ryan Langs (with Gary Hogarth providing the math formulas) has built a
program called JUMP that will give the X,Y co-ordinates to within 0.3ly.
Present Theory....
CURRENT
POSITION WAYPOINT TARGET
-------- -------- ------
X1,Y1 X2,Y2 X3,Y3
| | |
<-----20LY-----> |
<---------------------350LY JUMP------------------------->
Your HYPerdrive ship is at X1,Y1. You set the friendly code (f/c) to `HYP'
and the waypoint to X2,Y2, and the warp to 1. You will then end up at
X3,Y3.
By inputting our CURRENT POSITION (X1,Y1) and our TARGET (X3,Y3), JUMP2.EXE
will come up with several WAYPOINTS (X2,Y2). These will lie on the line
between A and B between 20+ and 160ly from our CURRENT POSITION. That is
the position that the ship using HYP will aim at, to reach the TARGET that
is 350ly away.
The TARGET can be further than 350ly. For example, if the distance is 400ly
away the ship will still jump 350ly, but will be short 50ly. The remaining
distance will have be travelled using normal warp.
New Theory using JUMP1.EXE
By making 2 jumps of 350ly we can PINPOINT and hit any position less than
700ly away, or with 3 jumps we can hit a position 1050ly, etc.
POSITION C1
CURRENT
POSITION <-----------------less than 700ly-------------------> TARGET
X1,Y1 X2,Y2
POSITION C2
To get to the TARGET we must travel 350ly to position C1 or C2 and then
350ly to the TARGET.
We will give JUMP2.EXE our CURRENT POSITION and our TARGET. It will return
a number of WAYPOINTS to C1 and C2. We will then jump to C1 or C2 using the
WAYPOINTS. Next turn, we will use JUMP2.EXE to jump from C1 or C2 to the
TARGET.
2. Use
Hyper Drive is available to 3 ships:
CARGO HOLDS........FUEL TANKS.......CREW
1....Cyborg.....B200 CLASS PROBE 15 80 6
2....Empire.....PL32 PROBE 20 180 1
3....Rebel......FALCON CLASS ESCORT 120 150 27
By setting the friendly code to "HYP" and the ship's waypoint to a position
20+ly away, setting the warp to other than 0 (warp 1 is best) the ship will
jump 350ly, burn 50kt fuel and avoid all minefields.
So, how do we use this fast ship?
a. General
By building starbases that are no more than TECH 6 technology, costs
can be kept to a minimun while still having effective ships. The hyper
drive ships are ideal for transporting colonists long distances and building
a starbase close to an enemy in a very short time.
i. Scan the Universe
Generally, all races are placed with their back to an edge of the universe.
That is, they are usually 400ly from the edge of the universe with no other
race in between.
To scan and control roughly 20% of the universe in 6 turns: With a sensor
scan range of 200ly, place 4 ships in the following locations...preferably
over a planet....
-------------------TOWARDS--------------------
EDGE OF UNIVERSE
PROBE STARBASE <------------->PROBE<------->
400ly 200ly
PROBE PROBE
TOWARDS
MIDDLE OF UNIVERSE
The distance between the starbase and the PROBE being 400ly, with each
scanning 200ly the total range of scan from the starbase to the scan range
of the PROBE is 600ly. ( about 1/5 of the universe.) For EMPIRE set the
mission to DARK SENSE.
By using VGAPTRAK and displaying sensor range you can find any blind spots.
With VGAPTRAK you can keep track of the location and headings of enemy
ships.
Now anything that moves you should be able to see:
If it is a freighter, just warp a ship from the starbase to the planet the
freighter is headed to. It will take 2 turns and the HYPERDRIVE ship has a
range of 700ly in those 2 turns. With mission set to KILL or the enemy race
specified....bingo a ship captured. The enemy freighter will not even see
you coming and if you capture one with colonists you can start a base for
refuelling/repairs nearby.
ii. Testing Defences
Want to find out what a ship's or planet's defences are?.....launch a
probe with tech one engines and beams and have it set to KILL....your loss
is minimal.
How alert is the enemy? Launch a couple probes into his territory and see
what happens.
iii. Starbases
To pump out a fleet of these Hyperdrive ships, locate a cluster of
planets near the edge of the universe and build the base with no defences
and no fighters. Since they are TECH 1 (or 2) hulls the cost for setting up
the base is minimal and the chance of an attack is quite remote. After all,
when was the last time you went to a group of planets near the edge of the
universe?
More powerful starbases from which offensive operations can be
launched are better located near an enemy Home World. Kill his Home World
and usually he is out of the game.
See the Basic Strategy section for native race advantages.
By the judicious use of minerals, credits and placement of allied
starbases on planets with natives it is possible to get a lot of bang for
the buck.
b. Allies
If your ally is unable to build these ships, send a HYP ship to his
STARBASE, let him force a surrender on it and fill it with colonists. He
will then warp back to the cluster planets where you are building HYP ships
and build a starbase there to force surrender of more HYPers.
i. Fascists
Fascists set for the PILLAGE mission....the FASCISTS can hyper-drive
directly into a planet's orbit with mission preset to PILLAGE from 350 light
years away. Since the Host is normally configured to NOT ALLOW planets to
attack REBELS and FASCISTS on their special missions .....BINGO.... a planet
in trouble! Unless the enemy has ships set to KILL or the enemy set to
fascists, the PROBE will not be attacked.
ii. Lizards
Another good ally is the Lizards. By building ships for Lizzie the
player is increasing his strength by 50%. For example, any of the smaller
EMPIRE ships being owned by LIZZIE can now sustain 150% damage. The Lizards
can send these HYP ships into orbit above enemy planets where their cloakers
cannot reach (because of mines or fuel) and make a ground attack which will
put the enemy into a defensive frame of mind, as well as being a royal pain.
iii. Robots or Crystals
If your ally is the Robot Race or Crystal Race, they can build a
starbase near any of the cloaking races (especially Birds and Privateer)
where they severly disrupt enemy operations with minefields.
c. Other Ideas
Here are some strengths and weakness of these tiny, light scouting ships...
STRENGTHS WEAKNESS
1..very cheap to build, left as "bait" 1..destroyed very easily
it is possible to see who is in the
area and with a cloaker nearby you
could get an easy kill
2..great for scouting new planets, 2..fuelling bases required
enemy territories
3..ability to disrupt enemy shipping, 3..no good against a planet
freighter movement, several HYP ships or ship that has weapons
can force an enemy into a defensive
state of mind.
4..hard to intercept or capture
5..attack a larger ship to see how 4..no good as a fighting ship
many torps or fighters are on board
6..can start a starbase close to the enemy 5..small cargo holds
quickly and possibly without his knowledge
7..leave false trails as to your real location
8..can be very effective in an area when
working in groups of 4 to 6
So.....these are just a few ideas.....please let me know of improvements or
any ideas you have.
3. Assorted HYPerdrive Utilities
a. FINDONE.EXE
Find One is a small utility which will find all planets within 350ly
of a ship's position.
For example....you see a Cyborg Probe at location X,Y...input it into
FINDONE. Find One will then return some planets that the probe may have
jumped from.
Or you may have only 50 units of fuel and want to find a planet to
orbit. Just give Find One your current position and see if any planets are
within 350ly of you.
Conversely, if it is a REBEL, LIZARD, or FASCIST ship, you may be able
to find out which planet the enemy is planning to attack.
b. Jump Routes ---- PWI350ly
Hyper-driving across the universe is fine....however other players can
see you and find where you are JUMPing from. By using PWI350ly it is
possible to JUMP between planets that are 350ly apart and be unseen. This is
especially important for the CYBORG...or if you just want to sneak up on
your enemy unseen.
c. JUMP1 and JUMP2.EXE
These can be used to find JUMP co-ordinates to almost any planet you
want to jump to. Their use is explained in general under section 1--Launch
and Guidance. For a more detailed explanation see their documentation, or
the latest version of HYPDRV.TXT.
*************************************************************************
Impulse or No-fuel Drift
By using the advantage of no-fuel drift it is possible to still play
aggressively. To move the distances listed below with no fuel, set the
waypoint NO FURTHER than the distance the ship can travel in one turn.
The word NEVER will tell you when the distance is too far.
I use
MASS Distance travelled with no fuel and tech 10 engines
75 -> 118 12 -> 8 light years
66 - 74 14
55 - 65 16
46 - 54 19
35 - 45 25
26 - 34 33
24 - 25 50 ( Empire PL32 Probe plus 1 X-Ray laser )
10 81 ( Neutronic fuel carrier )
*************************************************************************
XIII. The -=DREADLORD=- Battle Manual ver. 8
This was written by Ramutis Giliauskas. There were unassorted
contributions from various other individuals. I am also indebted to all the
other users of the VGAPBBS series of BBSes.
1. Credits for the -=DREADLORD=- Battle Manual
Doug Carmichael ....
Gary Hogarth ....
Larry McCarthy .... VGAP I BBS sysop
Doug Suerich .... VGAP ][ BBS sysop
Tim Vanderhoek ....
Richard Zimmerman ..
Ryan Langs .... VGAP ]I[ BBS sysop
905-648-9288 ancaster
905-648-8141 ancaster
183 Fallingbrook Drive,
Ancaster, Ontario Canada L9G 1E7
Internet rlangs@wchat.on.ca
Ramutis Giliauskas . 2030 Foster Ct,
Burlington, Ontario Canada L7P 4P4
Local bbs's I can be reached at:
VGAP ]I[ BBS
Internet ramutisg@wchat.on.ca
2. You want more?
If you thought that this text was useful, and would like to see other
texts and utilities that have been written by the VGAPBBS users, would like
to download some of the utilities listed under the Documents and Utilities
section, or would like to download the latest version of this text, call the
VGAP ]I[ BBS! The numbers for the BBS are listed in the above credits
section under Ryan Langs. You can also reach most of the other people in
the credits list through the VGAP ]I[ BBS! We have over 10 home-grown,
useful utilities!
*************************************************************************
XIV. TERMINATOR UTILITY
On the games that I have played it seems by turn 50 the game is pretty
well done.
One of the major reason for winding down seems to be the amount of
time required to play each turn when the planets, ships, and starbases
become too numerous. On average I have found that it takes about a minute
to check each planet/starbase/ship. So with 120 ships that is about 2 hours
just for the ships, not including planets and starbases.
Tim has 2 utilities available, AUTOBUILD and CPLAYER. While AUTOBUILD
is helpful with adjusting the factories, mines, DP, and taxes, there is no
control over the parameters. A utility that will enable user input into a
broader menu of AUTOBUILD would substantially cut down on the "maintainance"
of planets while still having control of the various parameters.
The PLANET AUTOBUILDER:
TIM'S program has some limitations....
... doesn't convert supplies to credits.
... doesn't allow player to control number of mines/factories/defence
posts to build.
... doesn't allow taxes to be set as player would like.
... doesn't allow ALL FC to be changed by a single input.
... doesn't enable building of starbase when certain parameters are
met...eg... when I have 1500 credits
500 tri
500 dur
600 moly
What I think is required is a menu for each item eg:
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
º TERMINATOR º°
º ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ º°
º PLANET AUTOBUILDER º°
º VGA PLANETS º°
º ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĺ°
ÉÍÍÍÍÍ<º A: Priority º°
º º B: Factories º°
º º C: Mines º°
º º D: Defence Posts º°
º º E: Taxes º°
º º F: Friendly Code º°
º º G: Build Starbase º°
º º H: Instructions º°
º º X: Execute º°
º º Q: QUIT º°
º ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ°
º °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
º
º
º ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ>º A: PRIORITY º°
º ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĺ°
º 1: Factories º°
º 2: Mines º°
º 3: Defence Posts º°
º 4: Build Starbaseº°
º X: Exit º°
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ°
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
A. PRIORITY.......when program is executed, user specifies order eg.
Make factories, then Defence Posts, then etc.
B: FACTORIES......build specific number/percent/MAX factories convert
supplies to credits as required.
C: MINES..........build specific number/percent/MAX on planets that have
more than X kt of any one of the 4 types of minerals convert supplies to
credits as required.
D: DEFENCE POSTS..build specific number/percent/MAX DP convert supplies
to credits as required. Fighters on planets tend to be shot down quite
easily, unless they have a lot. However, the TECH and number of beams seems
to be a better thing to have as goal than # of fighters. eg 41 DP have 4
disruptors.......the next best purchase is 61 DP which has 5 heavy blasters.
E: TAXES...........
I think making this relative to the like/hate factor would work the
best. Have one for colonists and another for natives.
F: FRIENDLY CODE XXX (this changes the FC on all planets)
G: STARBASE......When minimun items for starbase building acquired have
starbase built automatically.....
.........or prompt user BUILD Y/N?
OR....have a minimun user specified List
eg... When TRI = X
DUR = X
MOLY= X
Supplies and credits = X
then autobuild starbase
convert supplies to credits as required.
H: INSTRUCTIONS
X: EXECUTE
Q: QUIT
------------------------------------------------------------------
THE STARBASE AUTOBUILDER:
With less than 10 starbases there is no real need for an AUTOBUILDER.
But as the numbers go in excess of 10 it can start to consume more time to
build ships, raise Tech levels, etc. A utility similar to the planet
autobuilder would prove useful.
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
º TERMINATOR º°
º ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ º°
º STARBASE AUTOBUILDER º°
º VGA PLANETS º°
º ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĺ°
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍ< º A: Priority º°
º º B: Build Ship º°
º º C: Upgrade Tech Levels º°
º º D: Starbase Defence º°
º º E: Build Fighters º°
º º F: Friendly Code º°
º º G: Primary Base Orders º°
º º H: Instructions º°
º º X: Execute º°
º º Q: QUIT º°
º ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ°
º °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
º
º
º ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ>º A: PRIORITY º°
º ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĺ°
º 1: Defence º°
º 2: Fighters º°
º 3: Tech Levels º°
º 4: Build Ship º°
º X: Exit º°
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ°
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
--------------------------------------------------------------------
CPLAYER....THE TERMINATOR:
Once AUTOBUILD is functional the next phase will be making the menu/whatever
for CPLAYER -- The TERMINATOR. It would be possible to have the utilities
as standalone at first...then combining once the snags are worked out.
The purpose for this idea is not have the computer play your turns,
but more to relieve the tedium of controlling 100+ ships. This will "free"
the player to play a STARWARS type of scenario, where the player with the
larger force can track and hunt down other players with the same ease as
playing with only a few ships and planets. The advantage will be the time
saving and maintaining playablilty in a long term game.
By having ships designated to specific roles/groups the CPLAYER would
only have to handle a few battle-groups/convoy-groups/mine-sweeping patrols/
or organize ships into specific groups/assemble ships at various locations.
In this way the planning and fighting would NOT be left to the computer,
eliminating the fear of several players "that I would be playing against ten
other computers and not real players".
The "CPLAYER/TERMINATOR" utility would enable ships to carry out limited
roles with user input.
If you make up any of these utilities please send me a version...
beta, crippled or otherwise....or if you have any ideas, drop me a note..
...Gil
*************************************************************************
XV. Table of Contents
-=DREADLORD=-
BATTLE MANUAL
I. Preamble pg. 1
II. Aggressive Decision Making pg. 1
III. Battle and Convoy Groups pg. 2
A. Definition pg. 2
B. How to Create pg. 2
1. Ships pg. 2
a. Ships to Consider for Your Battle Groups pg. 2
i. Cloaking pg. 2
ii. Large Cargo Hold pg. 2
iii. Large Mass pg. 3
iv. Large Crew pg. 3
v. Fire-Power pg. 3
b. Good All-Purpose Vessels pg. 3
2. Uniqueness pg. 4
C. How to Use pg. 4
(example)
D. The Colonies of Man's Ships pg. 4
1. Patriot Class Light Carrier pg. 4
2. Gemeni Class Carrier pg. 5
a. Transport pg. 5
b. Fighter Production pg. 5
3. Tranquility Class Cruiser pg. 5
4. Little Joe Class Escort pg. 5
5. Cygnus Class Battleship pg. 5
E. The Colonies of Man General-Purpose Battle-Group pg. 6
1. Ships pg. 6
2. Against a TORPEDO Carrying Ship pg. 6
3. Against a FIGHTER Carrying Ship pg. 6
4. Against an UNARMED Ship pg. 6
IV. Mass, Weapons, and Planetary Defence pg. 6
A. Ship Mass pg. 6
B. Fighters pg. 7
1. Use pg. 7
2. Ordnance--How Many? pg. 7
C. Beam Weapon Selection pg. 7
D. Torpedo Selection pg. 7
1. Which Type? pg. 7
a. The Gamma Bomb pg. 7
b. The Mark 4 pg. 7
c. The Mark 6 pg. 7
d. The Mark 7 pg. 8
e. The Mark 8 pg. 8
2. How Many Launcher Tubes? pg. 8
3. Ordnance pg. 8
4. Minefields pg. 8
E. Planetary Defence Table pg. 9
V. Basic Conservative Strategy for the New Player pg. 10
A. On the First Day pg. 10
1. Race Choice pg. 10
2. Home World Development pg. 10
3. Home World Defence pg. 10
a. Small Capital Ships for Defence pg. 11
i. Reason pg. 11
ii. Construction pg. 11
4. Starbase Tech Levels pg. 11
5. Planning and Calculating Ahead pg. 11
(example)
6. Ships pg. 13
a. First Ships pg. 13
b. More Ships pg. 14
i. Criteria pg. 14
ii. Outfitting pg. 14
x. Engines pg. 14
xx. Weapons pg. 14
B. Expanding Your Empire with Planets pg. 14
1. Colonizing pg. 14
2. Development of Planets pg. 15
3. Building a New Starbase pg. 15
a. What For? pg. 15
b. About Building a Starbase pg. 16
C. Defence of Your Empire pg. 16
D. Attacking the Enemy pg. 16
1. Your Enemy pg. 16
2. Targets pg. 17
a. Home World pg. 17
b. Control of the BattleField pg. 17
c. Planets pg. 17
d. Freighters pg. 17
3. Attacks pg. 18
E. Freight Movement pg. 18
F. Movement pg. 18
1. Convoy pg. 18
2. Or the Lack There-Of: When NOT Moving pg. 18
3. Fuel Burn pg. 19
G. Shouts, Observation Posts, and Forward Supply Bases pg. 19
H. Native Races pg. 19
VI. Specific Strategies pg. 20
A. Lizards pg. 20
1. Strategy pg. 20
B. Birds pg. 20
C. Fascists pg. 20
D. Cyborg pg. 21
1. HYPerdrive Ships pg. 21
2. Strategy pg. 21
E. Empire pg. 22
1. HYPerdrive Ships pg. 22
2. Strategy pg. 22
F. Robots pg. 22
G. Rebels pg. 23
1. HYPerdrive Ships pg. 23
2. Strategy pg. 24
H. Colonies pg. 24
1. HYPerdrive Ships pg. 24
2. Enemy Mines pg. 24
VII. Strategy for the Privateer and Crystalline Races pg. 25
VIII. Blitzkrieg pg. 32
A. Theory pg. 32
B. Teams pg. 32
C. Tech Levels pg. 32
D. Guerrilla Force pg. 33
E. Strike Force pg. 33
F. Conclusion pg. 34
IX. Team Play pg. 34
X. Proverbs and Other Miscellaneous Ideas pg. 36
XI. Documents and Utilities pg. 37
XII. Hyper-Drive pg. 38
1. Launch and Guidance pg. 38
2. Use pg. 39
a. General pg. 40
i. Scan the Universe pg. 40
ii. Testing Defences pg. 40
iii. Starbases pg. 41
b. Allies pg. 41
i. Fascists pg. 41
ii. Lizards pg. 41
iii. Robots or Crystals pg. 41
c. Other Ideas pg. 41
3. Assorted HYPerdrive Utilites pg. 42
a. FINDONE.EXE pg. 42
b. Jump Routes ---- PWI350ly pg. 42
c. JUMP1 and JUMP2 pg. 42
XIII. The -=DREADLORD=- Battle Manual ver. 8 pg. 42
1. Credits for the -=DREADLORD=- Battle Manual pg. 42
2. You Want More? pg. 42
XIV. Terminator Utility pg. 43
XV. Table of Contents pg. 46