What is the point of metals/crystal?

[_K_]

Yeah, i see the AIP auto increase as some sort of anti-stalemate tool.
Like, if you make no progress whatsoever for very long periods of time, the AI will eventually win.

Also thats the reason i have never tried spire civilian leaders. It just feels wrong to have even a theoretical capability to consistently decrease AIP over unlimited time.

Or do they go like "+1 AIP -2AIP", so eventually it just hits the floor and then the floor starts rising?

[Wanderer]

Yeah, i see the AIP auto increase as some sort of anti-stalemate tool.
Like, if you make no progress whatsoever for very long periods of time, the AI will eventually win.

Also thats the reason i have never tried spire civilian leaders. It just feels wrong to have even a theoretical capability to consistently decrease AIP over unlimited time.

Or do they go like "+1 AIP -2AIP", so eventually it just hits the floor and then the floor starts rising?

Nah, it's +1 AIP/hour for each one you don't control, -3/hour for each one you do.  It ends up as a fast boost at the beginning and then a stalemate between them later.  They can be ROUGH to keep alive.

[Cyborg]

I practically never get maximum resources unless the game is over, and I'm messing around. Or I'm on another screen watching a movie waiting for resources.

The reason you have each resource is because different ships/technology trees require different ones. It's a little bit of an artifact from bygone days, but you can definitely feel that there are multiple resources so I have no objection.

[PokerChen]

Actually, what AIP per time do people play on? On games where I've set myself what I know will be a difficult game, I go 1 AIP per 30 Min. I don't want AIP pushing me, but I don't want to turn it off completely either.

I just turn it off. The way I play (pause-pause-pause-p...), total game-time is a bit too small to make a big difference by the end, like 10~20 AIP or something...

[Wingflier]

Interesting.

I think this is a strategies difference talking.

Because I play a slower, more defensive game, I find that late game resources are not a big deal, I'm often building mercenary units to avoid wasting resources because I'm capped at 999,999,999 resources.

However, as I have a tendency towards a single, overwhelming attack on a system, I find early game I never have my fleet as big as I want it and so am always bottomed out on resources early.

Actually, what AIP per time do people play on? On games where I've set myself what I know will be a difficult game, I go 1 AIP per 30 Min. I don't want AIP pushing me, but I don't want to turn it off completely either.

D.

It could just be a difference of strategies, yeah.  If you're unlocking more defenses and economy upgrades, you probably won't be able to spend all of your resources in the late game.

Personally I play a very aggressive strategy.  I surround my Homeworld with T2 Military Orbital Command Stations.  While this may not be the most economically efficient option, it prevents enemies from rushing me in an emergency situation.  Most players may unlock T2 Economic Orbitals right off, but for obvious reasons those are pretty useless as a defense.  I usually spend the 4k knowledge upgrading my extractors pretty early to T2, but aside from that, that's really all I do in the way of economy (I usually don't upgrade my turrets either).  Using that strategy, I'm never at capped resources, and I'm often bottomed out.  I seem to do fine though.