for Builders - What would make you deviate from a beeline to Ind.Auto.?

[Joel Velasco]

1. Find yourself on a small island without a free foil?
2. Find a disagreeable neighbor close by?
3 Find an alien faction nearby?
4. High levels of mind worm activity?
5. Other reasons? (please specify)

[Flubber]

The poll should have allowed multiple selections . . . Any of the first 3 happenings can cause a slight deviation from the IA beeline but it could be as little as a one tech deviation until you see how things pan out

With the island thing it can depend on how large an island and whether more land is visible ( and if I have or will get the WP to raise land).


Even the most ardent beeliner would be ill advised to ignore game situations as they make their tech choices

[Method]

probably all of them, although 2 and 3 are the same thing

in case 3, i beeline to fossil fuels, and wipe out the bugs with X missile rovers

[Clear Skies]

Probably only 1 - I tend to find I can survive an alien/disagreeable neighbour until IndAuto, whether by tech trading or simple diplomacy. Once I get Auto and can start researching Conquer techs, they'd better watch out.
Although Auto isn't the only beeline I follow - sometimes for variety I go for other things. On large/huge maps I often beeline to Centauri Empathy to get the Guild and start tech trading with a vengeance.

[Zakharov VII]

Hmmm, I'm the first "other"

The biggest reason my beeline isn't always a beeline is that I (almost) never play with crawlers anymore. Though I like Wealth, I play as the Peacekeepers and Free Market isn't too hard to keep up, providing plenty of energy.

If I was in a war, for example (couldn't do multiple selections on the poll), I may not want to be on Wealth, leaving very little reason to get Automation (only the Hab Complexes remain, but I don't reach them till after Tree Farms when I start my population boom). I'm usually very defensive so I'd probably want to get to Ethical Calculus for Creches or Loyalty for Perimeter Defenses.

Even in times of peace, I like getting Empathy to start the Guild, and if I don't feel like expanding for forever, I may well want to head for Democracy before Wealth.

If I'm on a tiny island I may just end up playing with fewer bases, and then I'd want Democracy, with maybe even a quick population boom at Planned if there's enough Rainy tiles around (so I'd want Gene Splicing then).

Z

[Adalbertus]

I usually play blind research. Thus beelining is a bit difficult. But the first important tech for me is Centauri Ecology (IMO it's a huge boon for Dee to have it right from the beginning). Then I try to get Secrets of the Human Brain, mostly for the fun of it because usually some AI opponent is faster, even when I'm playing Zak. The next is (theoretically) Ind. Auto. but I usually get every possible crap before (Progenitor Psych, etc.)

[Blake]

My Vote is "other", I'll deviate when playing crawlerless as the spartans or cult . IOW I always bee-line to indauto, if not for the crawlers than for wealth, but I usually take the Plan.Nets side first so I have probes.

Actually I lie, if I find myself as Morgan trapped on a tiny bit of land, which is shared with a hungry alien, I might then bee-line to fundie, green and resonance weapons, because it's possible to steal most of that tech tree from the hungry aliens and Fundie&worms gives Morgan the edge he needs in early combat for survival.