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a) stay out of war -- 1 IP trick
b) bribe the AI's to go to war with each other
c) build free improvements and improvements that improve PQ, econ and morale
d) manage the morale on your worst planets
e) build no military until overlord
I start with econ 30%, diplo 40%, morale 40%
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#12
by Citizen Gyb - 10/28/2003 12:55:21 PM
My 2 cents.
The easiest way to survive on Maso is to ensure you have a planet advantage. If you can manage 3-4 planets for each 1 AI planet, it becomes much harder to lose. The other thing to remember is that diplomacy is your friend. Even without resorting to the 1 IP trick, a good bribe (say, 100-500 credits, or a tech) every year or so will keep most of the AI's off your back if you took some solid diplomatic skill picks. The only tricky part is to actually remember to check the relations screen every so often to see who is starting to hate you.
On Maso the AI will outproduce and outresearch you unless you have a major planet advantage. So make that work for you. Keep them at war with each other, and trade them for the techs and ships you don't have time to produce yourself. Be very willing to skew the economic sliders far beyond what you might do at a lower difficulty level; Spend 100% social when you are trying to grap wonders or trade goods, 100% military when you need to crank out a few specific ships, etc. Think of your game in phases:
Phase 1: Colonize. 91% military, 9% research (approx.) Gives you enough to crank out colony ships every 3 turns, but still gives you a little research. Do this until you have claimed every world you can.
Phase 2: Ramp up economy. 50-80% social, rest in research, no military. Get all your planets up and running with soil, habitat, banking, entertainment, fusion, manufacturing (in whatever order works for you). Pick your highest PQ world and also put manufacturing capital there. Use that world to crank out wonders and trade goods. During this phase you hope that AI's will start sending freighters to you. Also start trading your techs for others you don't have; if no techs, try to nab AI freighters to quickly establish routes.
Phase 3: Constructor maddness. Military 20-40%, Social 10-30%, Research 50%. Pick up the techs you don't have from trading. Start building production/trade/culture starbases in your habited sectors. By now the AIs should be fighting each other, so go nab the resources they are blowing up. Also use this phase to build freighters and max out your trade routes.
Phase 4: Win the game however you want. Either wait for a solid military tech (Dreadnought or higher) or go the cultural route. Military is a bit harder since the AI goes crazy with ship production and races for the military techs.
Ultimately you can win with any starting picks, but right now I prefer Diplo 60%, Pop. Growth 70%, Populist party.
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The 1IP bug is not corrected in 1.11, s1mone.
The 1IP trick is to give the AI 1 IP every three turns to increase relations. It is felt it is a serious cheese. Aparently, it takes a little longer in 1.11, but it still works.
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I can now verify that there was absolutely no change in the 1 IP bug. It doesn't take any longer than it used to. I gave an AI 1 IP, and boom. They moved up a level in relations.
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#18
by Citizen Nimnio - 11/10/2003 12:30:23 AM
How do influence points affect the AI? What are they for?
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FYI, in my maso games where only Alexians and Carinoids are in at the start, it's about 10/80/10 of Neither gives cash, Alexians give cash, Both give cash. (This is a rough estimate only, of course.)
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citalhellion; thanks. In my current huge maso game only the Alexians ( . . .uh the late Alexians) traded cash. By the time we figure this out, the next version will be released.
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For those who want to play maso and like hints and walk-throughs here are some recommendations to check out:
1. "New Number One Thread": See #9 by Cotal aka Amidala aka Cupid and #18 by Essex99 around 10/11/2003
2. "Maso Strategy with no military thread": See #8 by Wild Wombat from 10/11
3. "Fellowship of the Ring Empire Thread" See #1916 by Ray the Wanderer from 9/22. I think Ray reposted this in the big maso thread here in the strategy section.
4. "A Small Maso Guide For All the Family" See #5 by PontiusBruinPilate and the lead post by Killa Koala on 9/22
5. "The ANZAC Republic thread" #250 by Jeff DeSilva on 9/20
Those are the maso walk-throughs I know of in no particular order and I may have overlooked some. Of course, the big maso thread here in the strategy section has loads of good stuff as well as the other maso threads on the forum. The ones I sited above might be in forum or strategy section so if you can't find it in one place, check the other. Start with a tiny maso map and work your way up to gigantic. Hope this helps all the maso players who seek advice.
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