My Basic Build Order (Please Expand), What should I do next?

The First 2 Minutes of the Game.... (Detailed)

from Stardock Forums

Here is what I do (have mapped out) during the First 2 Minutes of the Game:  [As the TEC]

Starting Capital (About) - 3020 Gold, 800 Minerals, 250 Crystal.

1.  Build One Capital Ship Factory.  Cost - 1000 Gold, 250 Minerals, 100 Crystal.  Time - 55 seconds.

2.  Build One Crystal Extractor.  Cost - 250 Gold.  Time - 36 seconds.

3.  Build One Metal Extractor.  Cost - 250 Gold.  Time - 36 seconds.

4.  Construct One Scout Ship.  Cost - 200 Gold.  Time - 14 seconds.  [Auto Explore]

5.  Construct Four Cobalt Light Frigates.  Cost - 1200 Gold, 220 Minerals.  Time - 88 seconds.

6.  Construct One Capital Ship (Marza).  Cost - FREE.  Time - 55 seconds.

TOTAL STARTING COST (Spent) - 2900 Gold, 470 Minerals, 100 Crystal.

PLAN IN 2 Minutes, from Start: Conquer Closest Astroid.....  (And Colonize, Construct One Colony Ship)

Next Goal(s), I would think:  2 Civic Labs.  Research Orbital Commerce.  Research Volcanic / Ice World.  Build Plenty of Trade Posts.

After 4 worlds, then Build 3+ Military Labs, and Logistics.  Upgrade and Attack.

10,737 views 11 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

this is what i do

construct cap factory (use figs from above)

construct cap Maz.

Build 1 millitary lab

buy 100 crystal(sell metal as needed)

build 1 civilian lab

build 2 scouts(auto explore)

send Mazara to asteroid

Build a colonization frigate

colonize asteroid

upgrade, build what is needed for situations(ie: labs and what role u r playing) expand and attack/defend

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

Build 1 millitary lab

buy 100 crystal(sell metal as needed)

build 1 civilian lab
End of quote

At this stage, what is building 1 mil lab and 1 civ lab doing for you?  You'll need 2 mil labs to get lrm, and 2 civs to get ice/volcano/trade ports.

Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

basically a good plan. you can start to mix it up later on as you get some more experience but there's nothing wrong with what you've described. 

 

i usually build significantly more scouts though, just 1 isn't enough for me. the sooner you see the layout of the system the sooner you can formulate your strategy. having this information is necessary to inform your next step after those opening 2 minutes. 

 

alot of the time you'll just do a standard expansion routine and go try to find a 4 rock Crystal or Metal world. sometimes you'll find yourself very near a lightly defended Terran or Desert world and should just make a beeline for it. sometimes you'll discover some very profitable emtpy grav wells with neutral extractors in them and you'll need to go send a Protev there with a small escort (3 or 4 Cobalts should work) to go grab the neutrals.

 

there's no way to give more specific advice than that, really. everything is map dependent and varies alot based on what your goals are. no matter what path you go down though more scouting is always important at the beginning of the game so you can get the info you need as soon as possible. 

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Agent, reply 2

Build 1 millitary lab

buy 100 crystal(sell metal as needed)

build 1 civilian lab


At this stage, what is building 1 mil lab and 1 civ lab doing for you?  You'll need 2 mil labs to get lrm, and 2 civs to get ice/volcano/trade ports.
End of Agent's quote

based on what u r doing this gives u freedom to expand onward to either of those on ur homeworld. and with the roid under ur control u can build another lab there. if u kno ur goin to build a fleet or ur on a random map u would build the 2 mil/civ labs accordingly. the 1 mil lab enables u to get the first health, armor, and repair platform reasearched (if u so please to get the armor.) the one civ lab enables u to get modular construction reasearched. this enables u to get ur extractors at a much lower price, iirc 100 or so creds off.

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting transitive, reply 3
basically a good plan. you can start to mix it up later on as you get some more experience but there's nothing wrong with what you've described. 

 

i usually build significantly more scouts though, just 1 isn't enough for me. the sooner you see the layout of the system the sooner you can formulate your strategy. having this information is necessary to inform your next step after those opening 2 minutes. 

 

alot of the time you'll just do a standard expansion routine and go try to find a 4 rock Crystal or Metal world. sometimes you'll find yourself very near a lightly defended Terran or Desert world and should just make a beeline for it. sometimes you'll discover some very profitable emtpy grav wells with neutral extractors in them and you'll need to go send a Protev there with a small escort (3 or 4 Cobalts should work) to go grab the neutrals.

 

there's no way to give more specific advice than that, really. everything is map dependent and varies alot based on what your goals are. no matter what path you go down though more scouting is always important at the beginning of the game so you can get the info you need as soon as possible. 
End of transitive's quote

After I have conquered At least 1 Astroid, I find that getting 1 additional Crystal and 1 additional Metal is sufficient to what I currently have in my Home World (saving my Cash (ie. - Gold)) for more expensive Trading Posts and Upgrades (which use alot of Gold Early On).  I find I conquer early just for the extra Logistics.  Rather than the Crystal and Metal.  However, later on, when I have Excess Cash, I will develop those Resources!

Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top

a really good way of making more efficient use of your limitd logistics slots in the beginning of the game is to scuttle the factories at your homeworld when you don't need them anymore. the frigate factory you may keep for a while, but its often a good idea to scrap it and rebuild it closer to the front lines once you've colonized a couple of world. the capital ship factory you will almost definitely not be using again for a long time. it can be 20-30 minutes or more after the start of the game before i even start thinking about building my second cap ship so its usually safe to scuttle the cap factory and rebuild it later once you intend to add more cap ships.

 

this can free up to 2 spots on the homeworld that can be used by labs, trade ports, or culture buildings. 

 

don't neglect building up a good flow of crystal and metal in the early game though. you won't use much of it at first because the ships are cheap (LRMs only take 45 crystal and metal) and you're not doing alot of research. this will change dramatically in the mid-game. carriers and heavy cruisers are much more expensive, a carrier uses more than 4 times as much metal and crystal as an LRM. you'll start to do some researches to improve your ships stats, that will eat up crystal really quickly as well. 

 

stockpiling the stuff at the beginning of the game is a good idea. it will delay the onset of shortfall in the midgame, which is inevitable because your crystal usage will skyrocket while your crystal production won't increase by very much after you're done collecting your initial colonies. neutral extactors are extremely important for this reason. they provide a large boost in crystal income no matter where they are in relation to your homeworld. capturing a 4 rock ice world might seem like a great way to get more crystal but if its far away and is at 25% alliegance than it hardly produces any crystal at all. 

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting transitive, reply 6
a really good way of making more efficient use of your limitd logistics slots in the beginning of the game is to scuttle the factories at your homeworld when you don't need them anymore. the frigate factory you may keep for a while, but its often a good idea to scrap it and rebuild it closer to the front lines once you've colonized a couple of world. the capital ship factory you will almost definitely not be using again for a long time. it can be 20-30 minutes or more after the start of the game before i even start thinking about building my second cap ship so its usually safe to scuttle the cap factory and rebuild it later once you intend to add more cap ships.

 

this can free up to 2 spots on the homeworld that can be used by labs, trade ports, or culture buildings. 

 

don't neglect building up a good flow of crystal and metal in the early game though. you won't use much of it at first because the ships are cheap (LRMs only take 45 crystal and metal) and you're not doing alot of research. this will change dramatically in the mid-game. carriers and heavy cruisers are much more expensive, a carrier uses more than 4 times as much metal and crystal as an LRM. you'll start to do some researches to improve your ships stats, that will eat up crystal really quickly as well. 

 

stockpiling the stuff at the beginning of the game is a good idea. it will delay the onset of shortfall in the midgame, which is inevitable because your crystal usage will skyrocket while your crystal production won't increase by very much after you're done collecting your initial colonies. neutral extactors are extremely important for this reason. they provide a large boost in crystal income no matter where they are in relation to your homeworld. capturing a 4 rock ice world might seem like a great way to get more crystal but if its far away and is at 25% alliegance than it hardly produces any crystal at all. 
End of transitive's quote

 

Good Suggestion.  :)

Scuttle the Capital Ship Factory after I have Built my First Marza!  (to get Trade Ports Quicker, and Extra Slot for One)

Question - Do you know of any Anti-Matter Upgrade to Increase the Speed of My Ships going to Jump Drive?  (That seems to take the longest time, in my strategy)

Also, after I have 2 Trade Ports total.  (1 on Astroid, 1 on Home Planet), then I build up to 8 Light Frigates total, and spent the rest of my Command Points on Scouts, for Exploration......

This is the Start (or Beginning) of an Excellent Strategy!!!

Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top

TEC aren't very good at phase jumping, thats really more of a Vasari speciality. 

 

glad to hear you're enjoying the game so much. experiment with a few build orders until you find that works for you. i do things a little bit differently but thats probably just out of habit at this point. you've got the right idea though, which is to balance your economic and military expansion, keep pushing forward as aggressively as your resources can support without over-exposing yourself to enemy attacks, and scout scout scout because information is one of your strongest weapons. 

Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top

ok the only thing i noticed about your start is that you dont upgrade infrustructor

my start is this.

1. upgrade homeworld infrustructor

2. build cap factory

3. build mines

4. build 2 scouts and send them scouting

5. build 2 civ labs

6. build colony cap ship and send to nearist asteroid

7. scuttle cap factory.

8. reasearch trade ports

9. colonize astroid

10. put 1 trade port on both homeworld and astroid.

11. now its up to you.

 

 

this ALWAYS gets me number 1 economy in the first 5-10 mins of the game and i play multiplayer, against people that are good.

Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Styrofoambullet, reply 9
ok the only thing i noticed about your start is that you dont upgrade infrustructor

my start is this.

1. upgrade homeworld infrustructor

2. build cap factory

3. build mines

4. build 2 scouts and send them scouting

5. build 2 civ labs

6. build colony cap ship and send to nearist asteroid

7. scuttle cap factory.

8. reasearch trade ports

9. colonize astroid

10. put 1 trade port on both homeworld and astroid.

11. now its up to you.

 

 

this ALWAYS gets me number 1 economy in the first 5-10 mins of the game and i play multiplayer, against people that are good.
End of Styrofoambullet's quote

 

The reason why I don't Upgrade my HomeWorld Infatstructure Early On is because the Investment Cost is HUGE and it only Marginly Increases Tax Revenue over time (as your Population Grows).  I prioritize getting Real Money (not through taxes, but through Trade, which is more!)

Reply #11 from Sins Forums Top

homeworld population upgrade is almost always a good investment. it take about 20 minutes to pay off but almost every game will last longer than 20 minutes so you usually end up ahead. the only question is whether you want to do it right away or wait 5-10 minutes to get it so you can rush for the trade ports earlier. 

 

i usually play Vasari, who can't get trade ports until tier 4 anyway so its not even a choice. i always get homeworld pop upgrade immediately after the game starts.