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Actually this should be simply called
Managing your economy, there isn't any real difference
between the methods you should use managing your economy
as a fighter race and imperial management as any of the
others. You just want maximum MC, maximum minerals and
everything all where it's needed right? Well if only the
galaxy could be so perfect :-P
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.
Qualitative Side Strategies
Ok, so you're not interested in the formulas
or the linear programming or anything like that. Here
are some basic strategies which should improve your (imperial)
management.
-
If
the natives are already overpopulated (ooops sorry,
it does involve formulas!) Here is the formula for the
max. native populations:
MaxNativePop = sin (temp*pi / 100) * 15000000
then
you should tax them down to 41 HPs, then keep them at
the highest yellow rate. Tax management stops right
there, there ain't anything more you can do to maximise
it. This strategy can be refined slightly, see the Quantitative
Side Strategies section.
-
If
the planet is extremely cold or hot (< 15°C or
> 85°C) use terraformer ships if you have them,
or see if you can get a good trade for them if you don't
(Lizards will usually give you one in return for a Patriot
or something). Make sure you clone it! Or you'll be
there forever waiting for them to finish terraforming
the planet. This dramatically speeds up native and colonist
growth and lets you cram more of both onto the planet.
-
Alternating
between pissing the natives off (red level tax) and
encouraging their rampant carnality (green / low blue
level tax) is often better than leaving it set at a
specific rate. I have seen some players leave their
tax rate even on the highest level of blue, meaning
that once the natives hit 100 HPs, they are not going
get any happier, and if you're still taxing them in
the blue rate... you'd better ask for a cash donation
from your nearest neighbour and hope they're pretty
damn sympathetic!) The reason you alternate is to combine
good growth while still taking in heaps of tax. Obviously,
toss this out the window if the planet is already crowded
to its limit.
-
If
you're the Lizards : don't forget to use your Hiss mission!
Concentrate hissing on more valuable worlds, you do
_NOT_ need to hiss at every single planet with natives
that you own. A fleet of 7 ships hissing can maintain
a tax rate of about 40% while keeping HPs above 69 which
is what is required for growth. Remember to look at
the config file to see if host has changed the hiss
rating or max. number of ships allowed to hiss. Should
you find a unity planet (yes, they do exist!) you will
be earning at least 2000 MC, sometimes as much as 6000
MC each turn! If you don't believe me, you can look
at my RST file, which I will put on line once my current
game is over, and you can see for yourself just how
much MC it is possible to earn with this mission (provided
I don't get wiped out, which is pretty bloody unlikely
since as of June 7, 1998 when I am writing this HTML,
at turn #51 I have 36 - that's right, THIRTY-SIX starbases
and over 100 capital ships!)
-
If
you're the Rebels : you may be surprised to find out
that RGA'ing yourself is actually a _GOOD_ move, in
the right circumstances - when I get around to it, check
out my Rebel Scam page in the Rebel Guide for details
on how to implement this.
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