Procumbo

Hey, thanks for the response. I've found starbases to be pretty effective, but often the AI doesn't cooperate by suiciding their fleet into my defenses. In a few games I've played recently they just hang back on their planets. I control far more territory, but it's very difficult to launch an attack because they've amassed a huge force in their own gravity wells. I'm finding it very tough to break through in these situations.

What are good tips for beating unfair AIs? Also, do they get a discount, or just straight up spawn stuff for free? I took out their homeworld and destroyed their titan, and within minutes they've got another titan and a fully upgraded starbase...off of two planets.

I think the challenge is to make jumping Starbases less powerful while still keeping them exciting. For this reason requiring each starbase to be upgraded to be jump capable is a great starting point. That makes them a bit more expensive, but I think VR players would still gladly pay the price. You start getting into trouble when you make them cost fleet supply. That eliminates much of their appeal in the first place. Sure, this would make them less powerful, but also much less appeal

I just had two minidumps in online 2v2s within the first half hour. Is there anything I can do to fix this?

The scout ability doesn't work on Asteroids, it's for neutral extractors in asteroid belts, space junks, etc. (there are several kinds of systems that have extractors but no planet). My usual build order with Vasari is... 1. Immediately queue the following: Evacuator, 3 Scouts, 2 LFs. Send out scouts to start exploring. This may be more scouts than most people build, but I think the ability to capture neutral extractors is the single biggest advantage the Vasar

Just a request for good players to post replays of their games. I'm trying to get better and I would be really interested to see more replays of high level games.

I've been doing some quick calculations for various econ investments. Seems like a Trade Port pays for itself in 15-20 minutes in typical circumstances, while, for example, Resource Sublimation (+6.7% metal and crystal production) will usually take over 30 minutes to pay for itself. Has anyone compiled an extensive list of these kinds of returns?

Yeah, I usually put them all on auto, but manually send them to key planets and try to keep an eye out and stop them before they go to the pirate base. But sometimes I'm distracted and don't stop them in time.

Thanks for the help! I know how to toggle the auto-explore on individual scouts, but is it possible to make it so ALL your scouts have auto-explore turned on as soon as they're spawned?

1. Is it possible to set scouts to have auto-explore on when they pop out? (i.e., so you don't have to click each one individually) 2. There seem to be some problems with auto-explore... A scout on the edge of your empire, directly adjacent to an unknown planet, will sometimes choose to go back to known planets rather than explore the new one. Also, they LOVE to suicide into the pirate base. Has this always been the case or is it just in the newest version?

I usually start out witha fighter in my first cap to clear out siege frigates. What ratio of fighters to bombers do you use as you accumulate more cap ships and carriers?

Is there a way to clear mines (besides just running into them)?

Noob question here...how do I watch this replay? Do I need to move it into a certain folder after downloading?

What about just decreasing the amount of resources it provides? It seems to me the problem is that it just gives you way too many resources (probably more than twice as many as it should) so it's always a no-brainer to strip.

Yeah I can definitely see where the extra firepower is useful for volcanic but aren't frigates more efficient for asteroids?

This might be a dumb question, but why don't they just kill you while you're building your 8 research labs?

I've read that advanced players like to expand with a lone colonizer, using static defenses to wipe out militias. Why not just use a few light frigates? They can help clear many planets and leave you with mobile units rather than mostly useless static defenses.

I was imagining more like an early game rush where you start building it in their system within the first few minutes of the game, but maybe this just won't work?

I've heard it can be a good strategy to drop an early offensive Orkulus. I've been experimenting with this, so far it seems like the thing takes so long to build that it's vulnerable to getting wiped out without doing any damage. Has anyone used this strategy to good effect? Do you send the Migrator straight at their home world or wait for fleet backup? Do you upgrade the sb immediately?

Everything will be going fine for awhile, then the game lags for a long time. When I go to the MP screen it doesn't show anyone lagging though. Then I get the "disconnected from Ironclad message." I don't think it's my connection because it is working fine for everything else. Anyone have any idea what is going on?

Of the five specific issues you mentioned (energy, gun control, abortion, gay marriage, religion), you would be left-of-center on all of them. Your position on the first four is more or less consistent with the Democratic party line. As for religion, your views would probably be suicidal for any candidate for a major public office. While neither party has a monopoly on religion, the Republicans during Bush's years in office have become more associated with the religious right.

screwball - i play mostly online and i haven't seen any evidence of hacks. it is far more likely that your opponents are expanding more efficiently than you are. watch your replays!

In the beta, a multiplayer with all game speed settings pushed to fast seems faster than a singleplayer game with the same settings, and certainly faster than the older versions. The speed difference is real right, I'm not just insane? And if so, is it intentional?

I think a better solution than making cap ships tougher would be to make them cheaper. As is stands, in terms of firepower, they are a terrible deal compared to what you could get by buying many frigates for the same cost. Why not just lower their cost to reflect their actual value? Then it wouldn't be so heartbreaking to lose one.

I got the new beta and it seems like a big improvement. But there is hardly ever anyone online. Anyone want to play? Reply with times you're available.