Help for, Gigantic, Rare Habitable Planets, Tight Clusters, Masochistic please =)

Don't play on incredible intelligence, bastard AI cheats at that level.

i suggest trying an easier level, find a strat you think will work, then try again otherwise its kinda ruining the whole game if anyone tells you how to win at that level...

Caviar and fine wine eh? At least it's handing it to you with -style-. LOL Just make sure there's no ruffies..

~SDC~

In my case, the pivotal part to surviving that kind of setup is to meet all the other civs early and establish myself as the leader wrt tech trade. I then use the money generated to pay off the aggressive civs until I can build up some decent defensive stuff in my colonised sectors (i.e., defensive ships and appropriate starbases). Then I usually have to fight a defensive war against someone, but that is doable so long as I keep the warfare within my fortified sector(s). Eventually, slowly, my economy will build up until I get into a position where I can start thinking of winning the game.

To pull this off, it helps to have some sort of Diplo bonus, but it's not strictly necessary. I tend to pay through the nose to get Diplo Translators though, and I keep them to myself for the rest of the game.


~SDC~

Tried it yesterday, best approach I found was a PQ bonus and a Morale bonus to allow higher taxation. Rush for planets, then resources, then tech that gives access to trade goods and buy them after a few turns work has gone into each. Even with a lot of focused effort it didn't work that great though LOL

"establish myself as the leader wrt tech trade"

Does anyone who wins on genius+ not use this tactic?

For the most part, I prefer letting the AI plow through the tech tree themselves. This slows down the pace of the game and allows the small advantages I can get from micromanagement to accumulate and pay dividends. Only when there is a serious imbalance of power will I start trading aggressively to evens things out.

Trade goods will help you out a lot. You'll be able to get several new techs from the AI for them, and you can always use them as a bribe to play the AIs off against each other.

~SDC~

Agree with Norin on the trade goods. Surprisingly, I still get most of them. Don't be afraid to lease much more agressively in gigantic as you would probably have the resources to pay it off.

Ultimately, it is the early land grab and the proper defense of it that is the key to victory. Once you are past that phase, it should be smooth sailing.

The combination of rare habitable planets and tight clusters is actually the most favorable setting to human players too. The current AI has difficulty augmenting expansion with the proper research. Whereas a human player will rush for Controlled Gravity and Gravity Accelerators so he can reach more star clusters, the AI will still be aiming for Battleships and only try to extend its empire's reach later. Play a map with abundant habitability and loose or scatteres stars and you'll generally receive a serious beat down on masochist level.

The only game on Incredible I was able to win involved getting a great early grab on good planets, and the AI each getting a weaker start with all the AI's being about equal in power.

I agree with Za H about the tight cluster/rare thing....definately favors the player. I'm winning a game on genius right now for a joke with these settings.

I actually found it a bit hard to get the trade goods on Incredible...the AI's research and production were so supercharged that I got beat to the punch repeatedly...although I had some chances to lease a good or two that I didn't seize. I also found the AI very stingy on what it would give me for trade goods on Incredible, but that's just me. I suppose if I had grabbed Diplo Translators it would have seriously helped.

What did you start with researching? If you didn't go straight for diplomatic translators, why?

~SDC~

I was devoting most of my spending to cranking out colony ships as fast as possible. I didn't get to Diplomacy fast enough. On the map I was given, getting to a couple of key systems before the AI was more crucial than the translators. As it turned out, I fell a bit behind in the tech race (on Incredible they research pretty darned fast) and didn't get to do as much of the usual tech selling to other races....so not grabbing the translators didn't hurt as much as usual. Oddly enough, I think it was the Drengin that snagged the translators on me (as they just did in a recent game on Genius AI as well).

Whoops.

I go for the early tech, even if it means getting maybe half the planets of the Drengin or what-have-you. I've found that having early game dominance really doesn't matter a lot since slow and steady usually wins anyway.

~SDC~

Thanks for all your replies and apologies for the slow resonse (busy). After reading all your replies, getting good nights rest and a fresh start, I realized I am doing one stupid thing. I'm not giving into thier threats. lol. doh. I really should be paying them off, I've just been too cocky in thinking that I could take them on. Hehe I guess sleep deprivation makes you do wierd things. Oh well. Thanks again for your tips. Hereeeeee we go again! LOL



~SDC~

Phaedyme,

I usually head straight for the Dip Translators, then the Aphodisiac trade good, then depending on my position on the map and situation. I either go for Impulse drives or Battleship while chasing other trade goods.

~SDC~

I'm in the endgame of a masocistic/gigantic/loose cluster/abundant game (just seeing how far I can push up the score before I submit to metaverse - 10k isn't enough! ). I managed to win thanks to starting pretty much in the middle and expanding extremly aggressivly.

Key to my expansion ability was getting the grav accel fairly early. Prop theory, art grav, controlled grav and buy grav acc. Gave me extra range and doubled the speed of my colonizers from 2 to 4. Also, loads and LOADS of scouts to find the good planets and most importantly, the military resources (mil res are hideously overpowered).

Populist, +15 PQ and +10 morale also allowed me to keep taxes high enough to sustain the expansion for a LONG time. Didn't build any social improvements until after the first 100 turns or so...

However, I did notice that the AIs doesn't seem to have a sustained expansion capability. They probably does some fairly heavy leasing (at least most of the AI's seems to be low on cash when you meet them first), which means they can quickly grab lots of planets close to them, but are unable to sustain that expansion in a gigantic/abundant setting.


~SDC~