Reach For The Stars

Father Beast · March 28, 2003, 09:28

I just bought this game at the cheap rack. the Game Mags gave it mediocre reviews, But I've been having fun.

Of course, I'm getting my butt stomped too. I started a game in a small galaxy, made all my opponents easy computer, and went at it. one of the 5 allied with me, two of the others allied against me, and I couldn't reach the bad guys worlds for a while, by which time they sent out huge fleets and destroyed all my worlds. Game over, turn 78.

so, what did I do wrong? I expanded as much as I could, like I usually do..

and, do you like the game?

Grumbold · March 28, 2003, 19:49

I am not a fan of the game but I'd have to load it up again to give you detailed reasons why. Broadly it was too simple, combat was too limited (2 ranges, 3 formations iirc) and diplomacy was flat.

Urban Ranger · March 29, 2003, 09:10

The game is okay, nothing exceptional.

Expand like hell, but grab the best worlds first.

Cookie Monster · March 31, 2003, 09:17

In addtion to rapid expansion massive fleets of big high tech ships are what you need to win.

Never really examined the factors involved in diplomacy but I usually ended up warring with everyone eventually no matter how friendly I was. All in all I agree with the previous posters. RFTS2 is ok but nothing that can keep you playing years after taking it off of your harddrive.

Urban Ranger · April 1, 2003, 00:25

I like some of the ideas, like various species have different tolerances, max pop, etc. That will make strategy more interesting.

Father Beast · April 3, 2003, 09:07

I started another game as the Hive, which look to be the warmonger race. I expanded like mad until I ran into other races on all sides, and am now trying to develop while keeping from a serious war at the same time.

The hive seem to be a LOT slower in the research dept than the humans were....

One beautiful thing that seems to work is the wraparound map - All sides!! I can scroll in any direction and wrap around. wish more games did that!

Urban Ranger · April 3, 2003, 23:13

Yeah, the wraparound map is a nice touch.

The Rusty Gamer · April 6, 2003, 01:15

Yep, how many RTS games do we se that in? Imagine playing AOK or somesuch but with no corner to hide in! But this is getting off the track of this thread a bit...

The Rusty Gamer · April 6, 2003, 01:19

Oh, I lost money with this game. Full price here (NZ) is about $100. After some time I managed to beat the shopkeeer down to about $45. Then a few weeks later I saw it at The Warehouse for $9.95! Argghh! I hate it when that happens! In the last three or four years I've lost hundred of dollars on games that I could've saved if I'd just waited a bit.

Urban Ranger · April 6, 2003, 10:22

Yup. If you wait long enough games end up in bargain bins

Father Beast · April 6, 2003, 20:48

Not to mention that by the time it makes it into the bargain bin, I usually have somewhere enough computer to run it.

The game really encourages the use of a multiple size fleet. A zillion small ships will get cut up by a balanced fleet, and a bunch of big ships will take a lot of damage before they get most of their shots out.

Diplomacy kind of sucks, though. That's why I'm playing as the hive. no diplomacy wanted. I might as well be Aiel, at war with everyone.

Cookie Monster · April 7, 2003, 16:33

Father Beast:

You'll not only find that balanced fleets are a must but balanced weapons are too. I usually build ships with balanced weapons capable of doing a fair amount of damage at all ranges. Then I build ships that specialize in long or short range attacks. Finally I build big ships to filled with massive firepower to be used as the core of a fleet.

Combine all these ship types in a fleet of say 20 - 30 ships and you'll have an unstoppable force!

Father Beast · April 11, 2003, 07:55

I guess there's something to say for balanced weapons. In running a campaign as the hive against both the Trogarchs and myrmodi, I disdained the use of beam weapons since my best beamer was only 13/13/13 and my best torpedo was something like 29/25/23. better at all ranges.

but while I kicked trogarch butt, I kept having trouble with myrmodi. I realized I need some balance when I went against a myrmodi fleet with twice as many ships and got blasted out of the sky while only killing half of theirs!!

The combat results told the story. Their ECM is just unbelievable! only one missile in 5 was actually hitting their ships! that makes a big difference. all that penetration doesn't do a bit of good if it doesn't even hit

Dauphin · April 11, 2003, 07:59

Quote:

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Yup. If you wait long enough games end up in bargain bins

And many more just in bins.

Urban Ranger · April 11, 2003, 11:49

Unfortunately, the local game stores don't have bargain bins.

Boris Godunov · April 12, 2003, 13:40

Isn't MOO3 in the bargain bins yet?

Urban Ranger · April 14, 2003, 01:02

Not a chance.

Cookie Monster · April 14, 2003, 13:46

Quote:

Originally posted by Father Beast
I guess there's something to say for balanced weapons. In running a campaign as the hive against both the Trogarchs and myrmodi, I disdained the use of beam weapons since my best beamer was only 13/13/13 and my best torpedo was something like 29/25/23. better at all ranges.

but while I kicked trogarch butt, I kept having trouble with myrmodi. I realized I need some balance when I went against a myrmodi fleet with twice as many ships and got blasted out of the sky while only killing half of theirs!!

The combat results told the story. Their ECM is just unbelievable! only one missile in 5 was actually hitting their ships! that makes a big difference. all that penetration doesn't do a bit of good if it doesn't even hit

Cool! Yup, balanced weapons are a good thing as well as balanced fleets. Another thing I used to do was build special planetary bombardment fleets. The ships in those fleets were armed mostly with anti-planet type weapons. Then a fleet of troopships would come in and occupy the planet if it was compatible with my species. I used to call these planet bombardment fleets "dealers of death"!