8 player FFA strategy

from Sins Forums

Greetings all,

 

I'm a new player to Sins.  Glad I found the game!  I've managed about 4 games so far, usually with other noob buddies or against AI.  Starting to find Normal AI pretty easy to deal with.  That being said, I'm not pro, and I don't plan on dedicating much time to being pro.  I take the games pretty casually and all for fun.  I actually quit SC2 because it was too serious.

Enough biography.  Just because I'm playing at a noob level doesn't mean I can't enjoy a LITTLE overall strategy to my builds.

 

I'm going to be hosting an 8 player free-for-all game, all humans.  I was wondering if you had any tips on surviving such massive games.  I've experimented with two major builds, one is economic and focuses on putting trade ports everywhere to make myself have an unbreakable economy by late-mid game.  The other is more aggressive, pumping out LRM frigates quickly and attacking players early on.

 

A problem I seem to have is that in the 8+ player maps, the systems are so damn huge, being aggressive early on takes a lot out of you.  Also, even if you can lock down 1 player with your aggression, there's still the other 6 that you're vulnerable against.  Is an economic turtle build preferrable in such a huge game until you can field a disgusting army of 1500+ supply?

 

Also as noobs we all seem to be addicted to masses of carriers and bombers.  Like 100+ bombers.  How many flak frigates do you think I would need to counter that?

 

EDIT: Any general comments on approaching a game like this would be great.  I'm really looking forward to it!  We have no secret alliances going in, so I imagine it will be filled with pirates and backstabbing.  It might be fun to turtle, and research the Diplomacy tree to launch pirate attacks while seeming friendly with Pacts.  Maybe.  Pirate attacks are sort of pitiful, unless the missions you can give them make them awesomer.

strategy
5,249 views 10 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

dont play 8 player FFAs.  They turn into turtle fests, and the person that ends up winning is the player who has the latest bedtime, or wins the russian minidump roulette.

 

that said, the "build lots off LRMS and attack early on" is the strat that most players used to use before corvettes happend. still very viable, and i would recommend looking into agressive stratigies, as otherwise you might get rolled by someone doing an agressive strategy.

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

In the shark's perspective: select noob neighbour, rush him, use resources gained to rush neighbouring average player, etc.

But is it worth it to play for eight hours to win a game?

Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

Don't particularly care about winning as long as I am having fun.  I'm a frequent player of the board game Twilight Imperium, which I suspect Sins is based off of, or at least inspired by.  They're certainly related anyway, somehow!

tl;dr six or seven hour games are common.  We're doing this.

 

Also, corvettes?  That's Rebellion content, no?  We're playing Trinity.  There are no corvettes.

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

you are going to have a hard time finding players then.

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

I have Trinity, when are you playing? Remember, play in moderation.

Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Pbhead, reply 4
you are going to have a hard time finding players then.
End of Pbhead's quote

 

Already have nine players actually.  Most of my buddies bought Trinity when it launched on Steam.  Of course, I imagine we'll lose one or two due to STUFF, but that still leaves a pretty epic match.

I'll look up some aggressive strategies.  What are people's opinions on investment in the Diplomacy tree?  Worth it at all?  The Pact bonuses seem nifty, but then you have to improve relations with other players and blah, is it actually worth it?  Or just storm the heck out of them with missiles?

Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top

It takes time to roll out diplo, but if you do, it's can result in a very powerful advantage later in the game.  If you're doing an FFA though, are you locking teams?  If you're locking teams, then of course it's pointless.

As for aggression, carriers are generally a good starting cap if you're rushing an opponent.  The Halcyon will give you complete control of the skies early-game, the Skirantra will aptly support a fleet, and the Sova if rushed to the enemy homeworld can wipe out their income while feeding yours.

Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Volt_Cruelerz, reply 7
It takes time to roll out diplo, but if you do, it's can result in a very powerful advantage later in the game.  If you're doing an FFA though, are you locking teams?  If you're locking teams, then of course it's pointless.
End of Volt_Cruelerz's quote

 

unlocked teams, anything goes!  No diplomacy victory though.

Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top

If that's the case, it's always nice if whenever you come to multiple enemies you can befriend one and kill the other.  Even a cease fire can be sufficient.  You shouldn't leave your worlds toward that person completely undefended.  Also, since you actually know these people befriend the one who is better/less likely to backstab you.

Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting BobLoblaw, reply 6
I'll look up some aggressive strategies. What are people's opinions on investment in the Diplomacy tree? Worth it at all? The Pact bonuses seem nifty, but then you have to improve relations with other players and blah, is it actually worth it? Or just storm the heck out of them with missiles?
End of BobLoblaw's quote

The high level pacts can be pretty powerful, but on FFA that means you're going to need a lot of envoys to get your relationship high enough. And each envoy uses 2 LRMs in fleet supply, so in many cases its better just to blow them up. ;)

That said if you're only playing with friends, you can always get mods that better suite the kind of game you want. Not a lot deal with Diplomacy features (though my Enhanced 4X Mod does make using envoys less fleet intensive), but there's plenty of others that add stuff useful for long, big games, whether extra research (Distant Stars) or factions (any [Insert Sci-fi show/movie here] mod, plus some indies like Maelstrom or Sins of the Fallen), or maps (Stars). Here's a partial summary and this is a also a good list.