Hello everone ^_^

[Dezdanova]

ooh not so much with shared knowledge, it was more like things that could be built on other peoples planet like the warp sensor, the had one person unlock then i did, and i guess it was pointless since i already had his on my planet XD

Or it was something like i would unlock or want to unlock something way to early in the game and it wouldnt really be needed for a while kind of thing ^^

[Hearteater]

You can also have one player specialize in scouts, so the other players don't unlock scouts at all.  There are a few other units that it is better to avoid duplicate unlocks.

[MouldyK]

Hey, getting back into AI War recently while A Valley Without Wind gets updated and all that jazz happening right now and noticed this is talking about unlocks at the moment and I have a question: In a single player game, is unlocking the Mark II and III ships as the first unlocks a wise thing to do or do you think there is a better method?

Also, you can't say that things like ^_^ give away the fact people are female as I do it way too often in chats and i'm a boy last time I checked xD

[LaughingThesaurus]

There is a difference between live chat and message board posts.

As for fleet ship shenanigans, I'd say go for mark IIs at first, save mark III upgrades for when you have an advanced factory so you can make the fullest use of the total of 18k knowledge spent.

[Hearteater]

Mark III and even Mark II can be a rough early upgrade, just because it requires a fair amount of energy and resources to support.  So unless you are planning to get a second system early, or a Zenith Trader lets you build a Zenith Power Generator in your home system, I'd avoid unlocking Mark II until you need it.  Any lack of firepower can generally be made up for with Starships.  Honestly, I can clear a Mark IV on 9/9 with Hybrids enabled less than 45 minutes into the game with Mark I ships.  I only break out Mark II when I absolutely need to counter something.  In particular, Bombers are my most common Mark II unlock because they often deal with nasty problems on offense, and if I need defense, Basic Turrets II and Heavy Beam Cannons are generally better (and cheaper) unlocks.

[MouldyK]

Mark III and even Mark II can be a rough early upgrade, just because it requires a fair amount of energy and resources to support.  So unless you are planning to get a second system early, or a Zenith Trader lets you build a Zenith Power Generator in your home system, I'd avoid unlocking Mark II until you need it.  Any lack of firepower can generally be made up for with Starships.  Honestly, I can clear a Mark IV on 9/9 with Hybrids enabled less than 45 minutes into the game with Mark I ships.  I only break out Mark II when I absolutely need to counter something.  In particular, Bombers are my most common Mark II unlock because they often deal with nasty problems on offense, and if I need defense, Basic Turrets II and Heavy Beam Cannons are generally better (and cheaper) unlocks.

Well I usually make a habit of capturing the planets adjacent to my home one for extra padding and upgraded my 4 starter ships and engineers to Mk. 2 and the fighters to Mk. 3, but after reading your advice, I think when I play tomorrow, i'll move my other 5,000 to Starship Knowledge and then better base defense as I have capped out all my ships and have metal and crystals still maxed out.

Though with 56 planets still owned by the AI and a lot of place to be explored, I atleast want to capture at minimum 10 more planets in order to get 30,000 more knowledge and some forward bases in case I do find the AI on the other side of the Galaxy.

If I managed to last 8 more hours, i'll be happy though and will call that a success in it's own. ^.^

Even though all my other times the A.I has snuck up on me and wiped me off the face of the galaxy without me knowing, but that's just a minor fact!

[LaughingThesaurus]

Mark III and even Mark II can be a rough early upgrade, just because it requires a fair amount of energy and resources to support.  So unless you are planning to get a second system early, or a Zenith Trader lets you build a Zenith Power Generator in your home system, I'd avoid unlocking Mark II until you need it.  Any lack of firepower can generally be made up for with Starships.  Honestly, I can clear a Mark IV on 9/9 with Hybrids enabled less than 45 minutes into the game with Mark I ships.  I only break out Mark II when I absolutely need to counter something.  In particular, Bombers are my most common Mark II unlock because they often deal with nasty problems on offense, and if I need defense, Basic Turrets II and Heavy Beam Cannons are generally better (and cheaper) unlocks.

Might have been just me then but on a 7/7 I chased an ARS/Core Shield on a mark III planet near my home, and I found I was suffering ridiculously serious casualties even resorting to hit and run sort of attacks... until I unlocked mark IIs. It might have been special forces, or the mark III ships being triple the power of my fleet, but something was lacking, even with starships hanging around.
Then again I did pick up Spire Corvettes at the start and those have been kind of a liability in terms of 'darn, I could have picked up something better'.

[chemical_art]

In a single player game, is unlocking the Mark II and III ships as the first unlocks a wise thing to do or do you think there is a better method?

This varies.

Usually, the decision to get III early requires a lot of planning. This is because it is costly both in resources and in knowledge. It is cheap on energy, but that is the only plus.

However, the decision to get II's is a lot more mixed. It comes down to play style a lot.

II's compared to I's are for the most part are the same aside from knowledge. II's take twice as many resources and energy but are twice as strong. In practice, it means you take less casualities if you play into the unit's strength, but not so if play not so efficently.

I say it comes down into style, because different players will claim different units are great. From the fleetship triangle you find players who think every ship from the triangle is the best.

The situation becomes even more muddy if you take into account fleetships.

In general, I'd think that at the start, you should pick the fleetship or two you think best (whether it be the basic fighter, bomber, missile firgate, or bonus ship) and get that II from the start. The other ships you can wait until you find a pressing need to.  Bomber II's are always a good choice though, because they deal with things other units none other can (aside from bomber like ships) .

[Kahuna]

If I have Snipers as my bonus ship I always unlock MarkIIs of them with the first 13k Knowledge. I'd do that with Sentinel Frigates and Zenith Bombards too. So it also depends on what bonus ship you chose.

[MouldyK]

Nice to see there is a variety of ideas on what to unlock first and it comes down to how your tactics are.

I mainly just scout all the surrounding areas, see what one seems the most (or least) threatening, judge also the position on the Galaxy Map and then throw a heap of units at it (Mark I-III fighters, Mark I-II Bombers, Mark I-III Frigates and Mark I-II Infiltrators since they were the random bonus ships I got). Though if they have an ION Cannon, those ideas usually have to change and then I see it fit to unlock starships.

[LaughingThesaurus]

Bear in mind you can cut down a lot on casualties if you check out what each guard post is primarily armed with and counter it. Guerilla style raids are more fun, even if they're unnecessary. Find a bunch of bombers? Bring in the fighters to knock them out and fly in a wing of bombers to blow away the guard post.

[Phyrex]

Dezda and I started a duo coop campaign yesterday. AI 7.3, Assassin/Fortress Baron, a couple minor factions enabled and a rockin' map.

We're 3 hours in so far on our first session:



We've only taken 1 planet so far but neutered quite a few planets and finally scouted our whole neighborhood. We'll take at least 3 planets within the next hour:
1 extra research station, 1 Adv factory and most importantly the checkpoint that's the only entrance to our "Galaxy A". (Which Miss Nova in purple is obviously the center off.. you know girls, the whole universe has to revolve around them )
The cool thing about this checkpoint planet is that it leads directly to Galaxy B and C separately, saving a lot of hops. With a couple gate raids we'll make this planet the beachhead where all waves arrive at.

Got a couple questions:

1) We've found 2 golems so far, both Cursed ones. Are they always worth the +20 AIP? We've also already unlocked Sniper ships so they might all work well together as a long range 'special ops' team.
2) When we capture the checkpoint planet, we'll have most of our defenses stationed there. With little defenses on the other planets. What are the main threats we should worry about? CPA's shouldn't be much a problem right?
3) We've also found 2 core Fab's. Gatling Lasers and a RailCluster V. Are they worth taking just for the ships alone? Any thoughts on which one is more useful?

[Hearteater]

Cursed are worth it, although you might not want two.  Note that although they have a huge range (basically they are snipers), because they DON'T have max range, things that are immune to snipers and not immune to them.  I'd say they are absolutely worth 20 AIP at 7.3 without question.

Also, my OCD-like tendencies make me want to move galaxy C up to that open space in the north so you don't have any crossing paths.

[LaughingThesaurus]

Cursed are worth it, although you might not want two.  Note that although they have a huge range (basically they are snipers), because they DON'T have max range, things that are immune to snipers and not immune to them.  I'd say they are absolutely worth 20 AIP at 7.3 without question.

Also, my OCD-like tendencies make me want to move galaxy C up to that open space in the north so you don't have any crossing paths.

Can you actually DO that? I remember hearing talk that you can.

[Coppermantis]

Cursed are worth it, although you might not want two.  Note that although they have a huge range (basically they are snipers), because they DON'T have max range, things that are immune to snipers and not immune to them.  I'd say they are absolutely worth 20 AIP at 7.3 without question.

Also, my OCD-like tendencies make me want to move galaxy C up to that open space in the north so you don't have any crossing paths.

Can you actually DO that? I remember hearing talk that you can.

alt+Right Click > Galaxy Layout > My Layout

Hold shift and drag planets around.