First 15 mins of play for TEC

from Sins Forums

Good Day,

I am a new player and so far seem to prefer TEC as my "side." I typically play against RL friends and most of our games are played on rather large maps, even if 1v1 (we are mainly drawn to the idea of playing 1 very, very long game instead of several short ones.)

What I like the most about the TEC is their superior economy.  While some of the other sides may have more powerful or useful ships later in the game than I do, I find the ability to have lots of resources gives me lots of options and flexibility.

That being said, I feel as though it's even more important that I boom my economy early so that can expand faster, research more, have a larger fleet, and keep the pirates on my opponent. So, how do you all do it (who play TEC). As TEC, what should be my goals be early game? What things should I research first and in what order? What cap ship is the first best bet (usually do Kol here)? etc.

Remember, I ask this from the standpoint of assuming we're playing on a large map, even in a 1v1. Rarely do I think we fight before 30 minutes into the game.

Anyways, thanks in advance!

strategy
9,804 views 13 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
If you're not fighting for that long, you have time to get things like Tradeports (2 civilian labs) and Broadcast centers (3 labs) up and running. Those will help your income out tremendously, so when the time does come to build a fleet to fight him you can just crank the ships out.

You might want to make your first cap the Akkan instead of the Kol, simply because you can use it as your early colonizer too (it regains antimatter way faster then the colony ship). Since you know you're not going to be attacked in 10 minutes, your goal early on should be to ramp up your income as fast as possible, and the Akkan is good for that.
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
/bump

Anyone else have any other thoughts on this topic?
Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

I would build your free Cap ship first to clean out nearby planets of resisting fleets, then colonize them. Research the Kodiak heavy cruiser and build them. Build a couple fleets without more cap ships. Do research in the military tech tree. Then research the Pecheron light carrier and build. Then do the Hoshikos, though you may not be able to do all this in 15 minutes. I do tend also to build trade ports earlyish in the game. And of course remember to upgrade your planetary structure (or whatever its called) so they don't bleed you of credits. If you can, build two repair facilities in the system most likely to be attacked. And make a couple scouts or three, to go far out into the system to check all the planets out. You'll then know where the choke points are. Leave a scout or colony ship in uncolonisable areas to get the income. I'm also relatively new to this so I hope this is all accurate enough and helpful. (11 single player games)
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
I find that when i play TEC the best cap ship too start with is the marza. Very tough compared to the others it seems. the big thing no matter what your first ship is however is for your second ship to be a dunov. there sheild restore ability is a lifesaver for capital ships. i usually only have a couple of cap ships for the first 20 minutes or so of the game and the dunovs help so i dont lose any.
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
early get lrm frigs they will help in early/mid game battles, and if you get a planet that wont be attacked just stack a ton of trade ports on it and that will really beef up your income, i usually double my planet income in just trade ports every game
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
Okay...I just watched my last autoreplay and found that I didnt research much until after 35 minutes, at which point I got the Kodiak prototype (a powerful unit). Other than that I researched the Javelis and repair platforms. So...perhaps what I wrote is for like the first hour of play. Time passes faster when you're playing and you dont realize it. I'm sure people will agree. ;-)
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top
Yeah agree about the time thing :) nothing to add to the thread since Im new myself but as tec I have been focussing on getting a big fleet up early and perhaps neglecting things such as trade ports so this thread helps me as well. People say TEC is good for rushing but I currently aiming to sort my TEC middle and end game so I can play them more than just rush orientated. None of my friends have this strat YET but thats how we play as well on other strats , we all sit back and build massive fleets and research :) probably not ideal but its a great laugh :) and fun.
Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top
I play as TEC as well. Usually I build fleets heavy on cap ships. Although I am not sure if this will remain my stratagy - TEC allows me the resources to build my fleet top heavy fairly easily. I focus on infrastructure, defense and getting resources ASAP. I reaserch trade ports and refineries to squeeze as much out of each planet as possible. But that my stratagy, I have played very little online and cant say if it would work well there.
Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top
I really like the Sova Carrier as my first cap ship. Their embargo ability is very useful. I'll send one with a fleet of smaller ships into an enemy terran planet and steal 70% of the income. I wont' defeat the enemy ships, but that's ok. Once i start losing the smaller ships i leave the planet. It won't take me long to replace a few small ships (ie LRM's), but i will take their money and cripple their already weak economy.
Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top
A quick question... if you stack multiple trade ports on the same planet to get you the same benefit from each? If so, I didn't know you could do that... I thought the bonus was 1 per planet.
Reply #12 from Sins Forums Top
I tend to start out with two Kols. Granted they have limited abilities but they can make for a great desense/offense against early game rushes.
Reply #13 from Sins Forums Top
A quick question... if you stack multiple trade ports on the same planet to get you the same benefit from each? If so, I didn't know you could do that... I thought the bonus was 1 per planet.
End of quote


Yes, multiple trade ports on a planet will each provide the same income increase.