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An Essay by Mag
The Empire
is probably one of the most played races in the game. At least,
everyone seems to like to play them. One of the reasons for
this is that the Gorbie is the strongest ship in the game.
The other reasons vary, but the Empire is a great race to
play and if you plan right, you can win playing them.
Lets
look at the ship list to start:
RU25
Gunboat: You get one of these to start. The ship has no
cargo room and no tubes which make it practically useless
in a game except as an armed scout. I find that I never build
these ships because it's more effective to use a SDSF to scout.
MIG
Class Scout: If you must build an armed scout, the Mig
at least has a 20 kt cargo bay and a huge fuel tank. I don't
build these either.
PL21
Probe: This probe has the best range in the game. You
can HYP three times and still have fuel left to continue scouting.
Build this ship with low tech engines to keep it from being
captured. I do outfit some with Transwarp drives, but I try
to be very careful where I send it. The PL21 has many uses.
I use it to darksense, resupply my SSD's with clans, even
refuel any cloakers that I might have gotten from someone
else.
H-ROSS
Carrier: This ship is useful to build at almost every
Starbase that you have. It is a tech 2 ship and can store
120 fighters on board. I build them with Transwarp drives
and use them for shuttling fighters, or build them with tech
6 engines or below and use them as an added fighter storage
capability. You don't need to let your SB's max out there
fighters!!!! EE gets free fighters per turn, and if you max
you fighters at your SB's you lose fighters every turn. Build
with tech 1 engines at you cheap SB's.
MOSCOW
Class Escort: Useless!!!! Don't build it.
SUPER
STAR FRIGATE: This ship is your only Torp ship and therefore
you will need to build some for mine laying capability. Invest
in good beams, ie Hblasters, and put just one Mk4 or Mk7 tube
on board. This is not a fighting ship unless your enemies
are extremely weak. Use it for laying mines where you need
them, but if you have Starbase Plus add-on in your game, you
can lay mines more effectively with your SB's.
SUPER
STAR CARRIER: Outfit this ship with good beams and engines
and use it to shuttle fighters to your Gorbies. It holds more
fighters than a H-ROSS and one load of fighters is a good
load for a Gorbie.
SUPER
STAR DESTROYER: This ship, although not a very good carrier,
is you bread and butter ship. Outfit this ship with the best
possible beams and use it for it's Imperial Assault mission.
If used in small packs with a cloaker or two it can be extremely
deadly. Refer to the Strategy paragraph for more details.
SUPER
STAR CRUISER: Outfit this ship with the best beams you
can and use it for fleet operations. Refer to Strategy section
for further details.
GORBIE
CLASS BATTLE CARRIER: The best ship in the game!!! Build
this ship with the best beams you can afford and make sure
you build a lot with Hphasers if you are using Race Plus in
your game. The Gorbie Well Generator is the best thing since
French Toast!!! Don't be afraid to build Gorbies with tech
six engines. Tow them with SSC's in the early game to project
your awesome power!!!
EARLY
STRATEGY
The first
part of any strategy is an economic one. In order to build
Gorbies you must have the minerals and money to do so. Use
your Probes to HYP out to the fringes of your empire to darksense
and scout out good planets. Look at all planets carefully
for the best mineral accumulations and also check the mining
rates. Find all the good native races and exploit them to
the max. Refer to The Joys of Taxation for tax strategy. Plan
your mineral routes!!!!
Arrange
with one of the cloaking races to trade Darksense info for
a cloaker and then clone the crap out of it. I will explain
it's use later in the text, but one thing to look for is a
large cargo area and a large fuel tank. Get it with tech 6
engines and 1 Mk4 tube and Blasters. If you get one that is
any better, you will not be able to clone as many. After the
ship limit is reached, you won't be able to clone anymore
so it is imperative that you make this arrangement early.
Build
as many SB's as you can during the entire game!!! This is
a key point to winning in any game, but more so with the EE
because all your fighters come from your SB's. The more SB's,
the more fighters you will have for your Gorbies. If you can't
build anything substantial at an SB, then build SDSF's and
colonize them for Priority Build Point's. You will need them
to be able to build after the ship limit has been reached.
If using
SB+ in the game, upgrade torp tech to 5 or 8 depending on
the minerals on the planet and the MC available. Get your
good SB's up to an accumulated tech of twenty so that you
can use the Mega Credit transfer. Build a lot of MDSF's to
use to transport ship components to other SB's and build a
couple Merlins as soon as possible and make moly, as you will
need a lot. These things take a lot of planning so use the
best planning utilities you can get. I use Echoview and find
it indispensable. Follow the Player Utilities link to find
what you need.
Build
up the necessary freighters you will need to shuttle minerals
and money, but don't forget to build your firepower as early
as you can. Build small fleets of SSD's and SSC's and get
a cloaker to use with these SSD fleets. Planet hop as much
as possible into range of enemy Starbases that you darksensed
earlier and then tow the cloaker in with you, running out
of fuel as you get to the planet. Your SSD won't fight any
ships in orbit and the next turn you transfer fuel from the
cloaker, download 10 clans to the planet surface and move
off. You now own the Starbase without a fight of anykind.
Have probes standing by in position to HYP in clans for this
new SB of yours!!! If the enemy had the SB set to NUK, he
might even do battle with his prior SB, even winning it back
in some cases, but I guaranty he will have newfound respect
for you!!! I also use the SSD to Imperial Assault one planet
then set Primary Enemy and move to another planet, thereby
gaining two planets in one turn with one ship. One thing to
remember is that the SSD _WILL_ fight a planet if you have
the PE set, OR a battle order fc like 001 is set on the ship
and the planet attacks another ship of yours at the same point.
Use your probes to resupply clans to your SSD's in space.
If your
enemy lays mines in his defense, you will probably have to
change your fleet requirements to be able to use the same
tactic by towing the cloaker with a high ID# ship and using
a powerful mine sweeping fleet. Experiment with it, but don't
be afraid to lose SSD's, they're cheap to build.
All the
while you are using your SSD's, don't forget to build Gorbies!!!
Try to have at least four Gorbies built by the ship limit.
Depending on the economics of your game you might be able
to double that figure. If you build one Gorbie with tech 6
engines and then one with Transwarp drives, you will be able
to build more. Team the Gorbies up with each other and make
sure the lower tech Gorbie has good beams for mine sweeping.
Its a good idea to run fleets in at least six pack strength
in the beginning of the game and go to 8-10-12 packs at the
later stages. Fleets should be made up with a mix of your
fighter carriers and have a SSF or better mine laying ship
with it. You absolutely must plan to resupply your ships with
fighters and have a follow on fleet assigned to escort LF's
in with clans and minerals. Plan to keep the territory you
take from the start!!! Remember that you will have knowledge
of the area you are assaulting prior to your offensive by
using your probes for darksense info.
ALLIANCES
Above
all things in the game of VGAP, alliances are the key to winning!!
Alliances aren't as much as what your ally has to offer as,'
is he willing to communicate, plan, and then follow thru with
the plan'. An ally that doesn't communicate is only as good
as his hardware. An ally that follows thru on plans made by
the alliance and keeps his part of the alliance up is worth
his weight in mega credits. All races have abilities that
can be used effectively with the EE, though there are a few
that are better suited, but communication is the key!!! Combined
with communication is the exploitation of the add-ons that
are in use in the game. In order to win you must use all the
technology available to you.
Probes
make alliances feasible even over vast distances. Give your
ally a probe and he can HYP into your area and take control
of a Starbase that you give him and build ships for you. Of
course, he must reciprocate for this to be effective. If he
doesn't reciprocate, you should SSD your SB back and look
for a better ally. Here is a brief list of what the other
races have to offer you:
FEDERATION:
Build tech 1 Gorbies and have your Fed ally refit them for
you. You can double the number of Gorbies in the game by
doing this!!!
LIZARDS:
Cloakers, ground attack, 150% damage, Hiss mission!!! Need
I say more? Lizards are everyone's best friend or worst
enemy!!!
BIRDS:
Cloakers and general mayhem!!!
FASCIST:
Cloakers, ground attack, Race Plus mission, Torp ships!!!
PRIVATEERS:
Tow and Rob, Tow and Rob, Tow and Rob!!!
BORG:
CHUNNEL!!!! CRYSTALS: Webmines for defense, a nice cheap
Carrier, Race Plus mission!!!
ROBOTS:
Fighter building and mines!!!
REBELS:
RGA, fighter building!!!
COLONIES
of MAN: Fighter building, Cobols!!!
As I
said earlier, without a commitment from an ally to communicate
and follow thru with plans, any one of these races is only
as good as his hardware so know who you are allying with!!!
END
GAME
By the
end game you should have many Gorbies and SSD's along with
a strong fleet of freighters. Although there are a lot of
variables involved with battle, one of the keys to winning
is following up with a strong fleet of freighters to take
max advantage of any territory gained. Don't be afraid to
lose Gorbies in battle, but don't waste a Gorbie just to attack
someone. There is no loss of honor in falling back to regroup,
but you must have a plan to use or a strategic retreat can
suddenly turn into a route.
By far,
the Borg and fighter building races will be the hardest won
fights. With the Borg, you must pick off his Fireclouds and
kill them. This is hard to do, but some add-ons make the task
easier to accomplish. The GWG in Race Plus is an excellent
way to do it.
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