Class 6-9 planets form the backbone of an empire...don't overlook them...They have bonus tiles, and by mid game they are class 12 planets, if you research the terraforming techs.

It is not about luck, but about using the resources one finds to their advantage.

I can not imagine only colonizing PQ-12's. I think I'd wind up with one planet if I was lucky. Like you, I dont get many above 8 or 9. I once had an ajacent ememy with a planet that became a 41 (thats forty-one) after all the planetary improvements. I took it from him.

A rule of thumb might be to leave the PQ 4-5 alone until theres nothing left but you have to take those 6 and above, thats the majority of the planets in the game. You may not find anything above a 9 or 10 or even an 8. That does not mean that you "never had a chance". You didnt say what some of the AI player's planets were in the same game or how many of thsoe PQ8 planets you got. you can have quantity instead of quality, in fact its probably better in almost every regard to have 2-8's instead of 1-16.

What would this game be if there were no randomness to the planets. You want a galaxy where all the planets are 12-26 PQ? where the challenge in that?. AS the last poster pointed out, you also have the tile bonuses to make them better.

If you get stuck in a weak position, you have to play the game differently, maybe you'll have to make nice with the other guys instead of bullying them. You will have to consider wisely which improvements to build and what techs to want. Occasionnaly you WILL have to just start over, everyone probably has at some point. But you should see that coming withing a few turns, Like iof you start in a corner and you can't seem to find a habitable planet anywhere near you. Hang in there, you will see that the game is still fun and winnable with those PQ 8's.

And as a note, I did find your use of certain words and near-words to be offensive. theres no need for it.

Yeah. It sounds like you're giving up far too easily. Take what you can get, and build from there... you can turn the game around surprisingly fast once things get going, so being the smallest civ out of the gate does NOT mean you can't win it. In situations where a superpower is dominating the colonization phase, I personally have a tendency to rush military and invasion techs and gobble up my nearest similar sized neighbour.

And someone is supposed to care about this because...?
Yes, there is a need for it. It is a part of our language. It is much worse to use *@#$! and such instead of just using the word in its correct grammatical context/spelling. But I see that someone left the back door open today and the Inspector General of Verbage strolled in to grace us... oh joy!
This is the best stuff you have to gripe about huh?

And someone is supposed to care about THIS because?

Looking back I can see that I was probably being overly sensetive. It wasn't all that bad and I was refering to the second posting btw and not the use of the Beetle Baily swear words. So i would appologize to the original poster for the unwarrented critcism. Guess i was just responduing to the anger in the letter.

However, I do wonder about the hypocritical nature of the response to my posting. it seems that I supposedly have nothing else to gripe about but someone else can feel free to gripe about THAT, I guess I can now say "This is the best stuff you have to gripe about huh?". My posting was about as polite as possible and did not result in name calling. If i can be called "Inspector General of Verbage" can you be Champion of the Vulgar?. My posting was on topic, constructive and not simply a posting to criticize another's. I just thought the boards could remain clean.

If your unlucky then use the custom maps.

the random map generator will not always give you a map you can use. It is possible for even elite players to get a map that is so bad, even they cannot make a game out of it. Anyone who says they can make a game out of 'any' random map ever created would be lying! (excluding using low difficulty levels)

Not true, you can still play out of a below average start on suicidal. There are (a few) positions that are just unwinnable on that difficulty, but it is very rare that I ever use Ctrl-N. And anomolies don't give 2500 anymore, the top is 1000. However, if you NEED a perfect start to win at that level, I whole heartedly agree with you, just play on a lower difficulty.

Don't get me wrong, sometimes I still lose on suicidal. And sometimes it is due to a poor starting position. But with a lot of experience you can do a lot with very little.

But I don't mean to quibble, and I always respect your opinion. What is true for one player isn't always true for another. The main point remains the same. If you need to rely on luck to win at the difficulty level you are playing at, lower the difficulty. If you need luck to win at cakewalk, play a different game.   

Hi!

Try with smaller galaxies, and you'll much earlier know if you need to restart. You should also adapt to what you get.

I remember one DL maso game if which I've been boxed from all sides with only 4 average planets, but with an influence resource. I considered abandoning this game, but decided I'll for the first time try the influence approach. Despite AIs had out-everything me, I played polite diplomat with lots of trade routes and LOTS of influence starbases. After flipping both Drath and Korx(?) I got to leading position so easily it felt almost cheese. And Drath even LIKED me all the time.   

BR, Iztok

Winning at poker depends very much on luck.



As far as I have seen, you only get +3 tiles no matter what planet you get. +1 for soil enhancement, +1 for habitat improvement, and +1 for terraforming. PQ 12 planets become PQ 15, PQ 7 planets become PQ 10 planets, etc. I tried a game last night by just colonizing whatever was available, ended up with mostly class 8 planets. My economy crashed after the first 100 turns, even though I had a few planets devoted entirely to stock markets.

In DA, you get more than 1 tile for each terraforming upgrade, and you get more for a smaller planet. A +1 planet for example gets 4 tiles for soil enhancement.

Some hands of poker are 100% luck. No matter how well you play them, you can lose.

This is ok for a hand of a game that takes a couple minutes, but not for an entire gaming session than can drag on for hours..its just frustrating to be screwed for that long.

focus on adapting and less on your anger and on lossing. Like any 4X game, you can not underestimate the importance of a strong beginning. You have to buy colony ships left and right initially, research the right techs, and deal with enemy AIs before they become a problem. Also, try playing on medium galaxies with abundant all settings. I find those games very enjoyable. There is plenty to do and yet the game doesn't take forever and can be completed in a night or two (if you spend many hours each night). Finnally, don't worry about planet colonization techs until you have no normal planets left to colonize. The AI wastes time going after the difficult to colonize planets, so you can instead spend time on researching facotry, research, economy upgrades, and on researching weapons and defenses!!!

actually, that might make things worse. if you're on a custom map with equal distribution of planets, then the major luck factor is bonus tiles. true, anomolies can make a difference, but not as much as bonus tiles IMO. if your opponent happens to get a +700% industrial or research tile, you're screwed.

JWBURKS, i think you're giving up too easily. i get a weaker position in the beginning of the game most games i play. but being a human, i make better choices in the long run. i usually play on painful; i've played a few maso games and won, but i find painful more enjoyable (i like nice leisurely games that give me enough time to do random things i want to do, such as contructing a network of military bases around my entire empire, just for Ss & Gs).

most of the threats in the early game are paper tigers. AI players more than halfway across a gigantic galaxy aren't much of a threat in the early game because their ships move so slowly. of course, the way the AI is in DA, they're never much of a threat for that reason.

if you're absolutely hellbent on having more high-PQ planets, turn your settings down. i swear it seems like the map generator is more likely to place higher-quality planets when you allow fewer habitables on the map, but maybe that's just me.