Mining Golem and Rebel Colonys

[Ozymandiaz]

I have now tried a few games with these two added, and while interesting I have decided to not use them too much anymore.

Reason is that I think they take away too much from my own strategy planning, when I suddenly got to run across half the galaxy to save some humans every now and then or kill the golem on hostile planets so I will not suffer too much AI or loss of supply on planets that I might need later (sometimes its ok, but sometimes I really canæt afford teh golem rampageing too much).

Maybe I focus too much on long term planning and strategy, since my games can easily go into the 20 or 30 hour mark (sometime I use speed+1 a lot). With thoose lenghts the golem comes up very often, and first timke I killed it I thought: Ok, now he is finally dead, I can relax. But then a new one came along (I thought they where the same Golem at different locations, and when you finally killed him he was gone ).

The golem is not such a pain as the rebels tho. The rebels are ok, but if I do not manage to save them, I get a 100 AIP punishment. Thats not a small ammount, so I bascially need to rush to take the planet they are on, and hold it. When this happens more then once too much of my strategy is focusd on keeping them alive, and saving teh next colony.

Granted, I get the nice resistance units, but I need them since I need some defence in the middle of hostile AI territory .

They are interesting to have, by all means, but I guess they are more fitted to multiplayer games or other types of games that simulate a different setting. In multiplaye getting to them might be easier as well, so for my solo games I turn these two off. Just my preference really .


What do you guys think about them? Do you have them in your games?

Would you maybe use them more if only 1 rebel colony ever surfaced? if there was less AIP assosiated with the colony? Or if there was only 1 mining golem you had to worry about? I sure would at least, but then again they might be included inn all games and that maybe bad as well?

I of course understand that these things are optional, and thats why I choose to not use them all the time, just wanted to give my reason for it, and I want to hear what the other players think about em.

[vonduus]

I agree about the rebels, for now I have disabled them, as they screw up all my plans. But later, when I am a newbie no more, I shall turn them on again.

Golems are fun. I discovered that the mining golem is vulnerable to sniper attacks, so I built 20 sniper turrets and an hour later it was dead (don't tell Chris or Keith, or they might nerf this). The devourer golem is your friend: Just keep out of his way and let him vacuumsweep enemy planets, then go in and take out the turrets, and the planet is yours. I don't know about the other golems, I haven't played the expansion for very long.

[Ozymandiaz]

Yeah, I really like the other golems, dyson and devourer is nice. Not sure trader classefies as a golem, but he is nice as well .

As for the capturable ones, I got too little expereince with them, lots fo AIP assosiated with them, but then agin they are pretty strong.

[x4000]

Please bear in mind that it was never my intent that everyone just turns on every minor faction during every game. I had meant them to be mostly used just a few at a time, but with combinations possible. As the number of these things increases, that will only worsen (as in, when we have 3x as many minor factions, turning them all on at once will be an unplayable circus).

The idea was to have variety, and a larger number of play types. Both of these specific types of minor factions lead to a specific kind of sub-scenario, which I agree is really not well designed for the epic-length games. It's really more figuring on games that are 15ish hours and under, more the norm.

At any rate, I view all the various minor factions as just different possible scenarios especially with many of them on, and I don't epect everyone to like playing with all of them. I am not sure how much I personally pike playing with devourers, traders, or dyson spheres (or mining golems), so at the moment I tend to play with one out of that list most in each game, plus rebel colonies always on for the last whole. I like that the options are there, and the variety that they provide, but they are just that: variety.

[dumpsterKEEPER]

I don't know, an "unplayable circus" sounds rather fun to me

[x4000]

To each his own.

[vince0018]

(sometime I use speed+1 a lot).

Are you talking about fast & dangerous? because I know there's normal and fast but I always wondered why there wasn't a 'slow' option. Honestly I haven't made it through an entire campaign yet, I keep going between my single-player game and the game between me and my bro and have accidentally saved over my game a few times and had to restart, so I don't know if 'slow' speed would be a viable thing to add but I always wondered what a game would be like if ships moved slower, dealt less damage, etc. Maybe for those who are bigger grand strategists this may be of benefit.
 Anyways I usually play with all minor factions on, but like I said, I haven't had enough experience and maybe I too will discover that it's not such a good idea.

[x4000]

(sometime I use speed+1 a lot).

Are you talking about fast & dangerous? because I know there's normal and fast but I always wondered why there wasn't a 'slow' option. Honestly I haven't made it through an entire campaign yet, I keep going between my single-player game and the game between me and my bro and have accidentally saved over my game a few times and had to restart, so I don't know if 'slow' speed would be a viable thing to add but I always wondered what a game would be like if ships moved slower, dealt less damage, etc. Maybe for those who are bigger grand strategists this may be of benefit.

Generally speaking, the Normal is about as slow as anyone has ever asked for before.  For the TBS enthusiasts, we have the TBS-friendly pause that lets them take unlimited time (with full visibility, music, etc) looking at the map and making decisions and issuing orders, and so forth.  That way you can play it essentially like a turn-based game if you want, pausing as needed and thinking, issuing orders, whatever, then unpausing until the next time you want to stop and think, etc.  That's not considered a cheat or whatever, just a different style of play.  But that would essentially be the "slow" mode, because most people want to think for just as long as they want to think, then they want to get on with things, so to speak.

[vince0018]

  Ya well I've never had a real problem with the 'normal' speed. I just remember asking the question 'where's slow?' when i was first learning the tutorials. But in practice the game moves at a good pace. I usually feel like there's always something to do so I'm never bored, and almost never feel rushed, when things do heat up it's not so much being 'rushed' and being 'in the heat of the action.' And I was never the kind of person who liked stopping the action for any reason, I'm not sure why. Whenever I played turn-based I always wished it would just 'go' and I wouldn't have to hit a button all the time. I liked Hearts of Iron III because it was always going, and at a slow pace, but at the same time I often found myself getting bored, pretty much just staring at my stacks of armies standing around, then occasionally adjusting my production.
  Well I was just mentioning the slow thing but really the game is great how it is, like you said nobody's mentioned it needing to be slower.

[x4000]

All good, thanks for the note.

[Doddler]

I don't usually have an issue with minor factions, I usually have all except the dyson on.  The dyson is cool but it makes things really easy. 

If not all minor factions should be enabled in a game however, or at least in the future when there are many more minor factions, perhaps it would be cool to simply have a drop down to have randomly add 'none/few/average/many/all' minor factions.

[x4000]

Yeah, something like that could work well.

[Ozymandiaz]

I don't usually have an issue with minor factions, I usually have all except the dyson on.  The dyson is cool but it makes things really easy. 

If not all minor factions should be enabled in a game however, or at least in the future when there are many more minor factions, perhaps it would be cool to simply have a drop down to have randomly add 'none/few/average/many/all' minor factions.

Would be nice. But we shouls still be able to pic tho, since the Rebels and Mining Golem has such a huge inpact on startegy and gampleay.

[x4000]

Right, that would not go away.

[Buttons840]

Considering I play at 20 auto AIP per hour, I'll never reach that 30 hour mark.  And that's just how I like it.

AI Wars is like Burger King, you can have it your way.