Is multiplayer at a disadvantage?

[greyhoundgames]

So I read that in co-op multiplayer you get just as many ships but they are half strength. This will mean more losses(specifically on starships) and more rebuilding. Are there any advantages to co-op? Do i have the previous assertion correct? If you tech separate things, you will each have half strength units due to the above mentioned things as well. What makes multiplayer specialization work?

Any other general thoughts and strategies for co-op?

[Draco18s]

I don't know where you read that.

Multiplayer you JUST get twice as many ships.  The downside is that you can't really take more territory to have the economy to support that (due to AIP) but you have a larger force to handle an increased AIP.

[keith.lamothe]

Playing multiplayer is actually a major advantage numerically.  You get a lot more total ships, a lot more total energy, a lot more total knowledge (much of which will be spent on duplicate techs, probably, but certain specialty unlocks need only be done by one player, etc), and even somewhat more metal because the game seeds more metal deposits in MP.

The AI gets roughly 2x the wave-strength on a 2-player game but a lot of other responses only go up by about 33% per extra player.

So numerically and mechanically it's very much in favor of multiplayer.

But the numbers don't make the most difference between MP and SP, player coordination does.  Do you cooperate effectively?  If so you can beat stuff that would be much harder or impossible in a comparable SP scenario.  Do you cooperate poorly?  You'll lose games that should be easy.

[Kahuna]

The downside is that you can't really take more territory to have the economy to support that

Well you have more than 1 Homeworld and Homeworlds produce a lot of metal.

[Draco18s]

The downside is that you can't really take more territory to have the economy to support that

Well you have more than 1 Homeworld and Homeworlds produce a lot of metal.

While true, it by itself is not sufficient to maintain an empire.  I brought a friend into my What Memo? game and had to gift him a handful of planets just so he could build more than a handful of fighters.

[Nodor]

Most of my games these days are multi-player.   It can be a LOT easier.

1 Player researches better command stations, Another better harvesters.  One person has all the command stations and gives the other player all of the mine nodes.   One person buys scout 3's.  Huge knowledge savings in resource upgrades.

Back in the pre-hacking days we used to all buy turrets, forts, etc.  Dropping 4 caps of Attritioners, 60 forts and 2000+ turrets on a planet was extremely effective at maximizing Superterminal AIP reduction.   Sending 4 full sets of Fallen Spire ships anywhere leads to dead targets. 

On the other hand, dealing with major waves and not communicating, is almost always going to result in bad things happening.   AI War forces my friends to communicate more about game strategy than most 4x titles.   All in all, the game is better multi-player in my opinion. 

 

[PokerChen]

I think I pause a bit too much to consider my options in single player... MP isn't so amenable to pause-scumming.

[motai]

sure it is until the pausewars start .

p.s.
i wanted it paused too damnit why did you unpause it.