Oscilate - Starting Strategies Part II

from Stardock Forums
*** I play Gigantic at Crippling - you judge how much of this is relevent to you ***
(This is the first of three or four threads I will spawn over the next few days with some radical ideas I am trying out - comments very welcome!)

Lots of resources are wasted in the early game because of little planets building stuff you don't really want. So, assuming you try the leapfrog colonist-movement plan, how can we improve? Answer: while the main colonists are moving, either:
1. Switch all production to TECH or SOCIAL (not military):
(a) For three turns, full military, while furthest-out-planets build colony ships and others do whatever. (Any two-turns-per-colony-ships guys can churn a colony ship and a scout)
(b) While all the colonists move, switch all prod to other stuff.
(c) Repeat.
2. Turn production off while people are moving (turn expenses from 100% to zero, and play to get rid of any roundign crap), hence saving cash for later turns...

There is some leakage - early arrivers having to wait until a building slurge - but it seems much less than the incredible inefficiency of my previous methods...

Views?

~SDC~
3,668 views 10 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
Playing at Gigantic/Crippling I've had good success putting 50/50 Military/R&D with 0 Social during the initial colonisation phase, extended to build the first few constructors for rush-grabbing resources. With that completed Military is dropped to 0-20 while Social get's a boost. This tends to result in every planet of a certain PQ getting the same social project completed on the same turn. Higher PQ planets complete early and can then work on trade goods and wonders. Once the early game social projects are completed, purchase the trade goods / wonders (now cheaper as you've invested build time in them) and switch back to Military / R&D for the mid-game starbase expansion and navy build-up.
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
#1 - great description Alf. Many people may not know about the key feature you are using - (I didn't until yesturday!) - that partial work on a social improvment is not thrown away when you switch to another social: it sits there waiting for you to pick it up again.

~SDC~
Galactic Civilizations III
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
Ralegh,

Oscillation works very well in GalCiv and is, in fact, a key component I continually notice in the strategies employed by the more experienced players.

On a Large/Gigantic map, Loose Clusters/Scattered and Uncommon planets, I usually set my initial spending to 100 and my starting sliders to 100/0/0 (or its variants: 0/100/0 or 0/0/100) and produce my first ship. I then switch sectors to obtain my first tech or social improvement.

It all depends on my starting position in the galaxy. For example, in one game I am in the middle of a cluster of stars right in the center of the map. In this case, speed and defense are going to be crucial, so I set sliders to 0/0/100 to immediately acquire Propulsion and superior ships (BattleAxe's/Hammer's). In another game I am on the tail end of an "arm" of scattered stars in the corner, with another PQ 20 planet immediatly adjacent to me. Here, I go with 100/0/0 (for my first colony ship, to settle the planet and effectively double my starting position), followed immediately by 0/100/0 (to build soil enhancers simultaneously on both planets and keep them the same PQ level, simplifying my subsequent tax/slider calculations).

As noted, I switch off unfinished social improvements freely to build something more useful as soon as I discover it (e.g., Labs or Banks). I will simply return to Med Ctrs, News Ctrs, etc. when I feel the need to complete them. Usually, I'll use these 2 asplaceholders for those planets that have completed everything else; instead of wasting its social spending, I'll let the IU's accumulate until there's "1" or "0" turns left to go, then switch to something else (even "nothing") to prevent the structure from being built (and incurring its maintenance cost) if I don't immediately need it. That way, if in the future I do need something like +10 resistance, etc., I've got it on hand ready to go without having wasted any spending.

One thing to note, however, is that IU's produced at 100% sliders are far more costly (i.e., far less cost-efficient) than a balanced mix. (Play around with your sliders one turn; you will notice your costs increase greatly, while IU's sometimes even fall, for you to get that many IU's all in one single sector.) Be aware of this in the early game, when you are deficit-spending your initial 1000gc treasury. Bee-lining for Republic and Banks can help greatly when oscillating.

~SDC~
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
There is no "inefficiency" for 100% full sliders. You are simply spending more because less production is being rounded off. If a planet can sustain 5 units of production, but you split your spending evenly between three areas, only 3 units will actually be applied and the corresponding cash deducted from your treasury due to round off.
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
Za H, there is a point of diminishing returns, but since it's based on a multiple of the planet class rather than the % funded, you tend not to hit it early on.
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
I tend not to hit it forever ;p

Besides, I doubt that was what Def Zep was referring to. We are supposed to be dicussion the early expansion phase after all.
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
OK - this wasn't clear enough. Of course I swap the sliders around as the game progresses. Lets talk something more radical!

I am playing some smaller maps at the moment (I want to win at masochistic at each map size) - and I am now adjusting my balance turn by turn in the first year or two to prevent early waste. For example:
- I am buying colony ships, and then waiting for them to arrive. During this process, I am either 100% research, or I turn Spend Rate to ZERO, keeping the bucks.
- once I have the planets, I have a few turns with 100% social (to churn out soil enhancement, and maybe habitat), since early cash is so focused on PQ.

On gigantic, I would "sync" the planets, for three turns of 100% military has all the colony builders churn out a ship, followed by 4 or 5 turns of research while the ships move, then repeat.


On the exonomy points raised in this thread:
- The inefficiency at 100% is unlikely for an early game planet, unless you are leaving earth very full - which I don't. If you are a "big Earther", then you are right to be concerned - 80/10/10 may be better even quite early in the game. But I hate the waste this causes on my other planets in a gigantic game.
- Even split is actually more inefficient, since you have 3 chances to lose money from rounding, not one.
- BEWARE putting taxes over 37%: your Total Active Spend doesn't go up as much for each bc you put in!
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
I found 50% tax rate to be a good spot for one of my games, but then I had a few morale-boosters (ability + political + resources + trade goods). On medium maps there's a lot to be said for higher taxes with selective propaganda to boost morale to 100 where needed while on gigantic maps it's just hopeless to micromanage propaganda. The game desperately needs a Propaganda Governor.
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
At 100/0/0 you get the inefficiency from all the "Next Month's" completing early. Like if Earth is putting out 70 IU's/turn and your Constructor already has 199 on it. I think that inefficiency is actually bigger, so I micromanage it. I'll go 100/0/0 for awhile and then go 20/60/20 for a turn to try and grab all those stray "Next Month's".

Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
Just a short note. While I am not as good as you all (yet), i do notice that tax rate of 45% is somewhat helpful for fighting off overpopulation. Of course it has it's drawbacks: low score, hard to invade others. Typically I start at 45% and my tax rate goes lower the longer into the game I am, hence the score/invasion problem isn't all that bad.
My $0.02