Dealing with a no roid start

That isn't the worst start I've experienced, but it's a pretty damn bad start.

I can see several options here.  If you are in econ position, just throw down the civ labs, get your colonizer capship, and don't worry about it too much.  If you are on a flank, you need to go mil right away anyway, so your plan doesn't change too much.  If you are in suicide spot, I'd recommend getting a colonizer capship, and getting it the hell out of there as soon as possible.  Beyond that, starbase?

Well, I'm in vanilla so no starbase. We played a medium random, 3v3. Each had two enemies on each side. That means...

Econ = No
Starbase = No
Military = Spam LRM's with only a home planet?

I threw down two civs, took the volcano, upgraded metal income (since that was basically all I was getting), and spammed LRM's to the best of my ability...
It seemed really stupid though. I fought until my death(more or less), and ran with my Akkan... Meh

It was entertaining to try the whole... survive as long as you can. I get scouts, upgraded ability to destory structures, and took out something here and there. I wasn't aware though, if you grouped them as (1) and then told them to blow up a structure, you have to click on each one, or leave the bomb on auto... Leaving it on auto seems dumb, cause if I'm not always watching they waste them... I guess I should've microed em. Not like there was anything better to do at my 1 planet.
Also, since I had 1 fleet upgrade already I got cap ship crews ready and got thee sovas. I would hit and run on different planets using embargo, but I can't really prove it had any difference on the game at all.

I consider things much worse if the asteroid thats supposed to be connected to your hw is more than 2 jumps away. Really theres not much you can do except go with it (which is why there are complaints about it). I would throw down the 2 civics labs and research the tech I need to colonize the volcano (and maybe Ice while im at it) but then as soon as research is complete I'd scuttle both labs and build military lab in their place. (unless in an economy position which is being surrounded by allies.) So while your cap ship is clearing the Ice/volcano world for colonization have your scout track down the asteroid thats SUPPOSED to be connected to your hw. It should be close in proximity, though you may have to make a few jumps to actually get to it. If its not too far away colonize it next.

Oh best way to use scout bomb structure, grab a handful of scouts, tell them to attack a building, then turn autocast on for timed explosives, they'll use it on the building their attacking, then when you see the yellow box around timed explosives (indicating theyre going to use it) turn autocast off.

Pretty damn close.  I've only had one or two that bad.

In a 1v1, I'd seriously consider surrendering on the spot, particularly if I scout my enemy and he had a good start position.  This is just so disadvantageous that you're in for big trouble.

The reason you don't see a "how to deal with this" thread is because every position is unique.  Sometimes it's a volcanic, sometimes it's a wormhole, sometimes it's an allied homeworld, sometimes it's a ridiculously well-guarded desert.  With so much variation, your position will always be unique.

You have a couple options; one is to skip the volcanic entirely and go for something else, the other is to suck it up and keep going.  Particularly if the enemy is close-by, though, an all-out rush can sometimes be your best option. Typically in a 1v1 these situations are close to unwinnable.

I disagree. They make it a helluva lot harder, but certainly not impossible. In 1v1s on small random maps you'll usually have some time and space to get on your feet and ready to fight. However in situations where you must face off against an opponent only a few jumps away (in ffas or team games) you'll have serious trouble. In team games though you can lean on your allies to help you fight off opponents through feed to help you keep up with an opponent with superior economy. Thankfully in that type of situation your opponents economy will probably not be too much stronger than yours (because he'll want to rush you to keep your economy from growing). Having to colonize and Ice or volcanic planet first will set you back quite a bit in resources and credits, but a nearby opponent will have to rush you to take advantage of your misfortune. In this type of situation, I highly recommend building a second frigate factory at your hw (either by scuttling your cap ship factory [recommended] or purchasing the logistics upgrade) This way you can use rush deterrent ships (scouts and lfs which do not require military labs to build) to help fight off a rushing opponent. The trick here is that while you had to invest in civic techs, your opponent has been churning out ships (likely lrfs) in preparation to stomp you. The only way to get enough ships to fight back is to out produce him. Scouts (though recently nerfed) are still good lrf killers, you just need to be able to produce enough of them fast enough to push your opponent back. If you manage to colonize the volcanic planet, you can sell the extra crystal and metal you have to help you afford scouts. You can right click on the scouts attack button to set them to auto attack (so they dont jsut sit there). If you're being rushed by light frigs or scouts, you build light frigs. That will give you the best chance at survival. If you've got a colonizer cap, DO NOT let it die, you can still escape and colonize near one of your allies and be helpful to the team. (as you did), if anything you can at least be distracting. Timed explosives work wonders if you keep blowing up your opponents military labs, and that can help your team by slowing down the flow of reinforcements.

In the situation you were in, you probably would have been better off spamming scouts than lrfs. Get the second factory and you can out produce your enemy whos reinforcements have to make at least 3 jumps to get to your hw. It would also be a good idea to post 1 scout at the empty asteroid belt to monitor his incoming troops. That way if your spamming scouts, you can keep an eye out to see if hes bringin in light frigates to kill them, at which point you can start producing light frigates of your own, mixed in with more scouts. Generally its a bad idea to produce light frigs if your opponent has long range frigates, BUT if you have scouts killing his long ranged frigs, he'll want to keep killing them as they pose more of an immediate threat. You can fight him off this way, but you can't rely on it for too long, you'll have to try and tech up the military tree at some point, because he will be, and if HCs enter the equation, you'll be screwed if you havent researched lrfs yet. Anyway, with a no roid start, be prepared to be on the defensive for the majority of the game. If your allies can manage to take out their opponents while you stall the crap out of yours, you'll be in good shape to win.

 

Yeah... I've read alot about scout spamming... I'm a little dissapointed now as you mention that. I should've at least tried it. My LRM's held off one attack with a repair bay behind them. At least scouts spammed would've looked better...

Okay, impossible against an opponent of similar skill level.  Obviously if you're something amazing you can recover from these, but good luck if your opponent is of similar skill (or even just competent).  Even on those bigger 1v1 maps with breathing space, the simple fact is that if I have a chain of three asteroids leading away from my homeworld and you have one volcanic followed by an empty neutral, I may well have a 4-link trade port chain when you're moving to colonize your second planet.  I've just got so much more momentum than you from the word "go".  Heck, a fully-stocked neutral on its own can be enough to tilt the game dramatically (1.8 resources per second?  Crazy if you can get it in the first 3 minutes)

Provided I know what I'm doing, you really don't have a chance of winning this.  The big problem with map screws is that you haven't scouted the map when you're deciding on your first move.  It may be 2 or 3 minutes yet before your scouts find the enemy homeworld, and until then you simply cannot rush because you don't even know what direction to go, much less the location of a good place to set up frigate factories. 

Well you either do what I said, or roll over. For a chance at SURVIVING, my advice will be your best chance.

As for what the map looks like, if your HW only has 1 phase lane attached to it, scout first. Thats often the first sign of a screwed start. Maps can be deceiving: sometimes there'll be 2 phase lanes and neither connect to an asteroid (rare). I'll tend to wait until my scouts scout out the immediate area before building any labs, but thats just me. Its a good idea though to scout first if theres only 1 phase lane.

Truth is you never know whats going to happen, and its hard to say who is of "equal skill" or greater. All you can do try your best and give em hell.

Agreed, though on the 1v1 maps you almost always end up going civics.  I think only once I've actually found none of the crucial planets between me and my enemy were ice/volcanics, and even then I ended up going civics anyways.  Bigger maps, definitely wait until you've scouted at least a couple jumps.

Absolutely, though if you scout them and see a well-built empire you'd better be prepared for the worst.