Your top 5 tips for victory.

4X strategy game from Proxy Studios

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Muddy
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Your top 5 tips for victory.

Post by Muddy »

Playing Pandora Eclipse of Nashira what would your top 5 tips be to victory be?
Last edited by Muddy on Thu Sep 25, 2014 6:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
Zak0r
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Re: Your top 5 tips to victory.

Post by Zak0r »

I'll try to keep it short. That's what I do:

1. Growth production is strongest in the first few turns

normal speed
Use your starting minerals for the fastest possible growth at the beginning. 5 turns of growth while using exactly(! adjust with taxes) 2 minerals from your stockpiled minerals each turn grows your city to 3 on turn 6. Normal growth would be at pop2 on turn 7. You will be 1pop ahead from now on.

high speed
Use ~7.5 minerals for growth in three turns to get a good result. If you get to 2.5 growth points surplus on turn 4 when your city grew to pop3 you will grow to pop4 in two more turns without more growth production. In comparison to no growth production you will be 1pop ahead from now on.

2. First tech to get is colony ship dismantling. Then try to get the economy buildings (growth/minerals/food) in the first two rows asap.

3. Explore as much as possible before the alien aggression starts. Try to get good relations with every AI, share maps to get new contacts. Trade agreements are very strong now. If they love you they will give you credits and join the war against other factions if you ask them.

4. Expand only when you can't control your pop with suburbs or habitat buildings or when there's a really nice spot nearby. Bigger cities are more efficient than a lot of small ones and you need less military for defense (=more for offense). Later when there are nukes and black holes more cities get a bit more value though.

5. Learn the combat mechanics. Use the right unit and weapon type, terrain and flanking.
Muddy
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Re: Your top 5 tips to victory.

Post by Muddy »

Great tips. :)
Tac2i
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Re: Your top 5 tips to victory.

Post by Tac2i »

I'm a warmonger so my priorities are:

1) kill a walking bug as soon as possible to get the alien capture device.
2) research the flamethrower and heavy tank.
3) capture some spitter bugs
4) capture some of the large alien creatures
5) use those captured in 4 to wage war on bug hives and/or other factions

The Nashira creatures aren't much of threat. Best be well prepared for the arrival of the Messari. They can kick you down and stomp on you if you aren't ready for them.
Apheirox
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Re: Your top 5 tips for victory.

Post by Apheirox »

Muddy wrote:Playing Pandora Eclipse of Nashira what would your top 5 tips be to victory be?
1. Maximize mineral production.
2. Maximize mineral production.
3. Maximize mineral production.
4. Maximize mineral production.
5. Maximize mineral produciton.

Seriously. Minerals, not science or anything else are what drive this game. He with the highest mineral production typically wins since more minerals = more production = better infrastructure and a larger army. You should settle your capital in a mineral-heavy starting position if at all possible (mountains are good). If your starting location is mineral-poor you can compensate to some degree by running high tax rates (but never allow morale to go below 0), especially if playing as Noxium.

Minerals being so strong also make the Terraforming tech worth aiming for in the Mechanization Era, especially if you still have bad land that is mostly flat - in that case, get out lots of formers so you can turn your entire empire into mountains.

Also, like Zakor said, trade/research pacts are extremely strong now (in fact they are blatantly overpowered in Eclipse of Nashira, don't know what the devs were thinking). Make pacts with everyone and you can more than double your entire empire's output. Zakor's tip on producing growth at the beginning of the game is also a great way to gain a lead on many maps though it isn't correct it permanently puts you one pop point ahead. It also ties in with what I'm saying about mineral production: The more minerals you have, the more you can also grow your population.
Zak0r
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Re: Your top 5 tips for victory.

Post by Zak0r »

Apheirox wrote: Zakor's tip on producing growth at the beginning of the game is also a great way to gain a lead on many maps though it isn't correct it permanently puts you one pop point ahead.
At first, thanks for your post.

Could you elaborate why it doesn't work permanently? I have made a table where I noted growth and it seems that the one point you are ahead will always be enough to stay there because the needed growth for the next pop is rather shrinking in comparison to the growth you get. This table is from high speed. We are obviously looking on one city so we have no migration causing chaos. As you see we always need 3 turns for growth in the beginning. Then 3 or 2 (depending on the surplus stockpiled) up until pop 18 where we start to grow every 2 turns no matter what surplus. So when you're ahead one point other players can never catch you without boosting their growth because growth is like a snowball.

pop=base growth / growth needed for next pop
1 / 3
2 / 6
3 / 8,5
4 / 11
5 / 13,5
6 / 16
7 / 18
8 / 20
9 / 22
10 / 24
11 / 26
12 / 27,5
13 / 29
14 / 30,5
15 / 32
16 / 33,5
17 / 35
18 / 36
19 / 37,5
20 / 38,5
21 / 39,5
22 / 40,5
23 / 41,5
24 / 42,5
25 / 43,5
26 / 44
27 / 45
28 / 45,5
29 / 46,5
30 / 47
31 / 48
32 / 48,5
33 / 49
34 / 49,5
35 / 50
36 / 50, 5
37 / 51
...
Xilmi
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Re: Your top 5 tips for victory.

Post by Xilmi »

1. Don't give up when you are still alive.

In my last game I lost my second city in a war and was down to only one city where all the surroundings were pillaged by enemy forces. I eventually managed to sue for peace, rebuild everything and research/spy myself into a position where I could still win.

2. Use Diplomacy.

Check who likes whom and who doesn't. Make the competition attack each other instead of you.

3. Less is more.

As long as there is no immediate need for new cities such as negative morale or a severe lack in food or minerals, try keeping the number of cities low. Your population does not grow faster the more cities you have.
But on the other side, every point of population in a huge city that already has all the buildings, will immediately be able to be efficient. This goes especially for science and tax-money. This has gotten even easier with the possibility to build stuff on the water. Suburbs, Labs and Farms on the water allow even coastal cities to become economic powerhouses. In a normal paced game 2 cities are usually manageable till the end.

4. Protect what is yours.

Having the most badass-super-city on the planet is of very little use, if it is not protected and can be taken away in a quick sneak-attack. Zak0r taught me that lesson the hard way. Always keep at least one of your most powerfull units in them and don't neglect the defense-buildings.

5. Manage properly.

Actually that could be 3 points for taxes, population-assignation and tile-improvements each.
Proper micromanagement of these aspects is what seperates great players from good ones.
Key factors are to never go into negative happyness, maximise the use of bonus-yielding ressources and placing the most beneficial-tile-improvements for the current situation around your cities.
This requires you to not consider cities as autark entities. The management aspect needs you to reap the maximum potential from each of your cities. This is another thing why fewer cities allow playing more efficiently.
Zak0r
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Re: Your top 5 tips for victory.

Post by Zak0r »

Very good advice as well.

I hope you don't hate me now for that incredibly lucky scan in the tournament game. :D Next turn I would have probably proceeded with my initial plan to nuke+drop yellow. I'm pretty sure it cost you the victory. At least you had the best chances of all involved players until that point imo.
Xilmi
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Re: Your top 5 tips for victory.

Post by Xilmi »

Zak0r wrote: I hope you don't hate me now for that incredibly lucky scan in the tournament game.
No, I'm more angry about myself and how I did not leave appropirate defenses in that city.
Zak0r wrote: I'm pretty sure it cost you the victory. At least you had the best chances of all involved players until that point imo.
Considering how the game continued, I don't think that any statement about victory-chances at an early time as when I lost my city, can mean much.
I've seen what happened to the players and their areas who were considered ahead:
Nuclear fallout and radiation as far as the eye can look!

Ganging up on who's considered most powerful was too common of a sight. ^^
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