In this article I will detail my ideas
for getting the most out of your planets. You _CAN_ prevail,
even if you think you were shafted even in the master
stage of the game - "Oh no! I've got all these crappy
planets near me, my best one in like 30 worlds is like
a Reptilian participatory, fair enough government but
its only got 3 million natives!!!" (This actually
happened to me in one of my games; I didn't actually lose
because host suddenly decided to stop hosting, but I did
manage to keep a rampaging Privateer at bay with the Empire,
possibly the worst possible race for fighting the Priv's
with!! And this was in a game with starting conditions
5000 MC, 1 million colonists and mineral normal - an absolute
horror for the Empire which _NEEDS_ a ton of minerals
and MC for those huge starships)
In the next article, Logistics, I will
detail my ideas on how transport and supply should be
implemented. Remember that everything here is just one
player's ideas on imperial management, and I make no guarantee,
in fact I seriously doubt that these are the best possible
actions to use, since there are so many variables in each
individual game and it is impossible to encompass them
all; secondly I am _NOT_ exactly the best VGA Planets
player around, I do make a lot of mistakes, real bonehead
ones at times...
Still not discouraged yet??? Excellent!
:-) You can now read the good news!
Normally I place fairly highly in games
I do play, a few near the beginning of last year I didn't
go so well, but since then I have become more accomplished
(as well as becoming registered!!! Support VGA Planets,
register now! if you haven't already done so).
Secondly my strength is in imperial resource
/ funds management, I am not terribly good at inventing
/ implementing military tactics, my gameplan relies on
me having more, bigger and better ships than the enemy
(so if you're in the same game as me, and see me near
the top of the scoreboard because that's where I'll usually
be, don't hesitate to attack, you won't meet much resistance...
Just kidding! Run while you still have legs to run with!!!)
That is why I love the carrier races :-)
Usually I will have 15, 20 or if I'm lucky,
even more tech 10 carriers by the time the ship limit
is hit, and yes some of them will have transwarp engines.
And a wave of support capital ships. It depends on the
race. If playing Rebels or Colonials, usually there will
be a greater number of tech 10 carriers since there isn't
much that has any sort of power below that. In contrast,
with the Imperials and Cylons, the fleet will have less
tech 10 carriers since they have good smaller carriers
which are often necessary (eg. Super Star Destroyer, Instrumentality,
and arguably, the Automa) for a balanced fleet.
Bored yet??? Ok, let's get to the meat
of it all. Firstly, the big picture. My surveys from games
I host, talking to other players and chatting on EFNet
#VgaPlanets conclude that a lot of players don't pay much
attention to taxes. They simply set it at the highest
yellow rate (the rate where the Happy Points or HPs don't
change) and forget about that planet. Well, let me say
this, if you want to get anywhere, you can toss those
ideas out, you will get pitiful growth and when you see
the amount of MC you could be raking in, you will start
feeling rather poor.
So, how do I get more MC I hear you ask?
Well if you're not the number-crunching type...you'd better
become one, now!! Change your life, personality, residence,
career if you have to! No, only kidding :-P if you don't
wanna get through all this heavy maths (I do! because
I'm a wizard with calculators & kicked ass in high
school maths... NOT!!! :-P :-) then there are some strategies
for you to follow.
