[Previous Posts on this game: 1) Intro 2) Tips & Tricks Part 1]
--- Tips & Tricks --- Part 2 ---
Spending Your Level-ups:
With every level increase, you get three level-up picks to improve certain aspects of your game. I have a suggestion ...
1) Increase your Resources. The resource extraction level-up increases the production of all your resources. That means every hour, every day, 24/7, you get more resources to build your bases. None of the other choices give you back so much. The only down side is that the bonus you get is rounded down rather than carried over, so you need to invest a fair number of picks to get best use of this, but it is well worth it.2) Build more bases. You automatically get more bases as you gain certain levels (3,6?,9?), but the Bases level-up lets you build an additional base for every 5 picks you put into it. When you get to the level where you can build new bases, you should save 2 pick so you can have 5 at the next level, and build another base right away.
3) Go back to #1 and #2. None of the other level-up choices are worth considering. Here is why Resouce Extraction (RE) is better than everything else: Protected Resources-->[useless] You save a tiny amount when you get raided, but you could more than make up for the loss with RE, and eventually you can build Bunkers to do this job better. Max Resource Storage-->[useless] Same reasoning, for the little bit extra you can save you could be building other building with have the same effect. More Energy-->[barely useful] With RE you can build more tiles and more reactors instead. Sensor Power-->With RE you can build more tiles and more 4) Economics. Skaph is basically a game of economics, and the best thing you can do is increase your resource production. Did I mention that yet?
Combat:There is much to describe, but not much to tell. That is, the detail of combat in the game take a bit to explain, but there is not much you can do about it. The only real rule - more is better - but you didn't need a guy with a degree in statistics to figure that out. Still, there is a little bit more to it.
1) Straight to the point. Combat is linear, meaning that if you just have one type of unit is a combat, the total attack strength of the opponent destroys units up to the total resistance of all the units, rounding down.
2) In proportion. The only random part of combat is how damage is allocated amount difference groups of units. It appears that units in your force are randomly selected to be destroyed, and combat ends when the total resistance of the units absorbs all of the attack strength. The allocation of damage is proportional to the types of units is your force, but different units have different resistance. This means that by including some Boga (no offense, high resistance) in with a group of Veen (light combat mecha), the Boga will absorb proportionally more damage, letting more of the Veen survive. This might not be the most efficient way to attack, but it can help a smaller group of Veen make a successful attack against a well defended target.3) In Veen we trust. Veen appear to be the most efficient combat unit in the game, interms of the combat strength received per unit of ore spent. You might be better off with a large number of Veen rather than a smaller numbers of more expensive units. I still can't build all the different Skaph (mecha?), but I suspect this will still hold true when I can.
In part 3, a discussion of strategies, and maybe some help from a suicidal duck.
[a small update: I never did write part 3, my interest in the game ran out.]
8 comments:
Yes, I'll post some thoughts too... damn browser games anyway! ;)
For now though I'll stick to a minor disagreement with you about some of the level up skills - primarily the firepower ones, especially LONG RANGE.
I now have +30% Long Range firepower, and I like the benefit of having the firepower of 4 turrets for the space of 3; more specifically, I get 35 LR firepower from 1 Rocket Tower instead of only 27. This has unquestionably been the second best investment I have made (the first being 5 points into BASES; more on this later), simply for the score gained in conjunction with the resources protected.
Most of the time, at least half a dozen aliens are mad at me (this is intentional!) and most of them send formations under 1500 noise to attack - so I destroy all attackers MOST of the time, and at long range, where they haven't had the chance to bring their big guns to bear on my base. As a result, I lose very few buildings but gain a LOT of points, and get to keep most of my resources due to low theft and repair costs. The correlation between NOISE and my firepower is that damage to the alien is done on very nearly a 1:1 basis of noise:damage; thus, if I have 1000 firepower and the alien sends under 1k noise at me, I will kill all of them. If he sends 1500 noise at me, I will kill 2/3 of them; 2k noise I half will die. I have 1200 or more on most bases of 150 tiles or more - for me, about 35 RTs.
I think it is generally true that the advantages available are possibly all of "equal value", dependent upon playstyle, but many of the advantages are just not important enough to fret IMO - this is a game of COMBAT and if you're usually on the defense - and IMHO - [i]you're doing it wrong.[/i]
Resources is a great trait, but you must get to 10% before it really starts to work for you, and is best taken early in the season for greatest benefit. At this point... I wouldn't take it anymore, at least not as a new player or in my playstyle. More Energy is also possibly better than we have deduced, since reactors can take up quite a bit of space after a while, though I remain in agreement with Eastwood that there are much better options.
Last point is about Unit Recovery... I'd really like to salvage an alien skaph, but I don't know if it's even possible, and I don't want to bother with wasting points to find out. If you could mix a force of Veen and a few alien lights/mediums... well, that would be pretty cool, since the alien has bitchin firepower (and when I say "bitchin" I mean we ALL bitch about how hard they hit! ;)
Indeed, Veen are the best, I agree, though it's often a good strat to mix a few Cades in (Cade = medium skaph) for the firepower (double FP, same hangar space). When you mix types, you potentially reduce casualties - but again, more later on this.
Nice blog, DC :D
sd
Whoops, forgot to justify my LR points... consider:
-Long Range level-up gives +3% LR firepower per level (but not for units, this is a base-only advantage), thus +30% = 10 points = 3.33 levels of advantages
-a TURRET produces 35 SR firepower (stock) for a 1x2 footprint and 3 power, and costs 100 credits + 200 concrete to construct
-a ROCKET TOWER produces 27 LR firepower (stock) for a 1x1 footprint and 2 power, and costs 100 credits + 180 concrete to construct
-Most units have MUCH more SR firepower than LR, thus, destroying the enemy before he can shoot your buildings is highly desirable, and provides a great deal of longevity for your base since damage is minimized
-My RTs give the SAME firepower as turrets, 1-for-1
-at 35 RTs I have used exactly 2800 more concrete to build than I would have for turrets, but I have saved an astonishing 35 tiles to build the reactors to power them all, AND I save 35 power as well
Short range is NOT the way to go, if you choose firepower, though it IS the only option you have at the start of the game; RTs are only available after you have begun to research in the Advanced Research Fac (ARF) tree.
LR advantage is WORTH waiting for, *IF* you intend to wage war on the alien. It is also worth it if you're often raided and wish to discourage your attackers... but it takes longer to pay off vs. human players.
RTs FTW!
Right on cue! Thanks for stopping in 'ducky. :-)
We have a fundamental disagreement here. SD is correct that Rocket Towers outperform Turrets, even without the Long Range level-ups. It does not matter who is right, this is just a game after all, but I'd like to point out why I think "Resource Extraction" beats "Long Range" five ways from Sunday. I'm away from the game at the moment and going from memory, but this should be close enough.
For the same 10 picks into Resource Extraction I can get +7.5% to all resources, and a base with two concrete plants will get an extra 3 concrete every hour (better with more plants and more bases). I will eventually gain enough extra concrete to build the tiles, small reactors, and rocket towers needed to surpass the +30% gain in firepower the same 10 picks in Long Range will give you, AND my benefit will keep on growing as long as I play.
To be fair, Resource Extraction is a slower benefit. MUCH slower. To get +270 long range firepower, roughly what SD gets from his +30% bonus, would require me to build 10 RT's, 2 small reactors to power them, and 18 tiles to put them on. Depending on my of production and current size of my base, that could mean MONTHS of extra production required to pay for it. SD automatically gets that for every base, where I have to build these separately at each base.
I'm being a bit unfair to myself by ignoring all the other resources bonuses I get, but that is a more complicated answer (I'll think about it though). SD's way is definitely faster, my way has a greater payoff in the long run. The best way to play is the one that's fun.
Yep, all true I think... but as we don't know how long a single season is, I choose the faster payoff on purpose because I like the alien to be angry with me and attack more often :D
If we knew for certainty the length of a season, it would be easier to determine at what point the benefits intersect in total payout (or why they do not), but even still, our method of play determines the benefits more than simple numbers: as I prefer to be attacked - and actively take steps to *ensure* that I am attacked! - the firepower is more valuable to me to have ASAP, and increases my score just as exponentially toward promotion in the same way as your extra resources feed growth.
In future seasons, if I continue to play, I think I will stay with LR FP, but avoid extra resources in favor of MORE BASES. Others at my level are able to have up to 7 bases currently, while I am stuck at only 4.... although those 4 bases have grown quickly due to the combination of excellent defenses and a tidy +9% extra resources - but that bonus comes at the cost of a full TWELVE POINTS: *four* full levels of level-ups, with which I could have bought 2 more bases, and been 2/5 the way to yet a third additional.
Again... play style makes the difference. If you're a builder, extraction will be better for you than FP. If you're agressive and/or expansive... look elsewhere for greater benefit, and just take what resources you require from... well, from some poor neighbor who has bonus resources and little base defense ;)
One last note, dear reader... don't take my comments to mean that DC is only a builder; I've seen enough of his CRs to know how much his neighbors have lost, and he's not far behind me in points.
Again... playstyle FTW - know thyself! ;)
wow.........
well, i agree and disagree with both of you, i use long range like ducky, but a few level 10-13s with the lopin skaphs just keep up with me, but i still kill them in close range, i have +7% SR and +14% long range, but i also use the unit recovery, so i can take peoples lopin and cade, and Bram if im lucky, and when i was being invaded this was the most helpful thing ever, i used the ten kobal reward (my last option) and redeployed veen and cade to strike at his army, i kind of survived, when his lopin came in for close range after getting cut to pieces by me laser turrets and HQ, my turrets handled a large amount of them, but the guy just kept packing them in on me, destroyed that base, destroyed my next one, then was torn to pieces at my capital, which had easily twice as strong military because of the unit recovery, 1.50%, and long range/short range mix, since my military could hit his hard, i had moved the remaining seven kobal straight from my first base to my capital, the tri-mix worked effectively at repelling a player twice as strong as me. and, i have a question, can you claim an outlaw base? i think that would be awesome, i have this one beside me with guass guns, rocket towers, turrets, three tank hangars and four advanced hangars, 161 hangar spots, and five nuclear reactors, plus the medium weapons factory and small weapons factory, is completely surrounded by a square of the stronger barriers, and i really wish i could move into that base, can you?
To be honest, I haven;t touched the game in at least 18 months. It seems like it may have changes a bit since then.
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