Hi all, I had some time to try out pre-alpha 9 over the weekend and I was lucky enough to get a good session for playing with some of the adjusted mechanics regarding ecological improvements. My starting position was lousy short term but much better later on. I spawned in an area of space with mostly eco 0 worlds and a sizable nearby nebula that had all strategic resources present. I naturally researched ecology early on in anticipation of using it as soon as possible. By turn 121 you can see that 2 of my colonies are close to advancing their ecology and my homeworld is also undergoing an upgrade. In the meantime I have found the Lizards, have 4 Colonies, and a small fleet of advanced Frigates. My research is rocking. By turn 165 I’m ready to attack. I have added another colony and one outpost and my initial ecological efforts are now complete while advanced efforts are underway. Research is now focusing on taking advantage of my neutronium producing outpost. Finally, less than 20 turns later, I’m all over the place and my empire is doing well enough that I can still build civilian ships even though I’m at war. The combined impact of eco improvements, infrastructure upgrades and the boost from my neutronium mine are quite visible at Tatlairs II.
Good idea, I agree. We can create an AAR subforum inside General Discussion. That's the main forum anyway, and the AAR subforum could be there always visible. What do you think?
Go for it Adam, I know the next pre-alpha will have new mechanics included that I expect will change many things we are currently used to. I had planned to offer an extensive and detailed play-through when this pre-alpha becomes available so why not do it as an AAR and get double the bang?
Done. The AAR subforum is now available inside General Discussion. Sounds good Konstantine, go for it! Yes, the next build should change things considerably, especially with respect to how invasions work due to the new ground combat and bombardment systems.
So I'm curious (and I think I asked this elsewhere too) ... but I'm having a hard time deciding when to go after ecological improvements in the scheme of planetary development. Part of it, I think, is that I really don't understand what "ECO" effects and how/when I'd go for that over other infrastructure improvements and/or traditional terraforming. Any insight on the mechanics and/or the strategy side of things?
Hi Mez, I don't know about anyone else, but I can share some insight with you if you would like. In general I play efficient military in ISG, on account of how potent the AI can be at times. With that in mind though, eco improvements are nice to have, especially now that the research cost has been reduced. The effects are most felt by the morale jump as a result of a friendlier environment, this means that the benefits are multiple on your planet, even if you do nothing as regards min-maxing a particular area. By the time you get to research eco2 and apply it to your homeworld, you can get a nice across the board increase on the stats there. By the time I do it (pre turn 200) it means about a one hundred point jump in my production alone and it takes me about 35 turns to complete, long but very doable. The thing is you have to be efficient with it. If you find a lot of eco0 planets you want to colonize early on it can take over 100 turns to complete an improvement. Do it straight away as the time will come down, besides, it only takes a long time on worlds with minor production, so it isn't like there will be a lot going on there anyway. The other thing I like about it is that it's faster than terraforming and requires less research. Playing militant requires me to keep my military tech on par even if my empire is weaker than the AI, so I am real careful with what gets researched. I go for balance on this game at a colony level, (most of the time) so I still go after infrastructure at the same time. here is an example Homeworld gets set at 35% construction, 35% infrastructure and 30% PE. Once the population hits 10 I drop the number on PE to 10% and increase the other two, usually I favor production slightly. Even at 10% I can raise my ecology in those 35 turns and get nice bonuses and better production. Now I have gone deeper than that at times going to level 3 and it's another substantial boost. Terraforming I won't do on anything less than a rich world (usually) as it takes too long otherwise. Going back to something you said once. about not needing to colonize hostile biomes in game sessions. Eco works on any biome except barren. It improves your ideal biomes and anywhere you set up shop, It's useful even if your strategy is to colonize sweet spots only. Give it shot, I think it makes the game more dynamic and it's a must on harder levels where your set-up can mean you wound up in the poorer section of the map. Edit I neglected to mention how raising a planets eco level allows more infrastructure improvements on a planet. One action then feeds into another and the cumulative effect is not to be taken lightly
