Skaph Tips and Tricks --- Part 1

I have been playing SKAPH, a browser based game for several months now, and a month has passed since I first wrote about it. Since I've been spending a lot of time playing lately, it seems like a good time to offer advice to new players. Skaph is a little bit Sim City, a little bit Civilization, and a little bit ... well ... Viking raiders greedily pillaging each other. Here are some tips for play.

--- Tips & Tricks ---

Resources:
1) Concrete is Precious. Concrete is the most important resource in the game, and if you have enough concrete (and a bit of money) it will enable you to do anything else you want to do. Protect it, use it wisely, but most importantly use it before someone steals it from you.


2) Expand. Multiple bases are key to increasing you resource production. Build new bases as soon as you can, and put 2 or 3 concrete plants on each. You are automatically allowed a new base as you gain certain levels (3,6?,?), and you you should save some level-up choices to have enough (you need 5 each)for extra bases as you gain levels too.

3) Float Resources. Use Bogas (cargo mecha) for short-term storage of resources so that you base won't stop producing as it reaches the maximum limit. These Bogas are vulnerable to your human neighbors attacking them, but if you keep them in groups of 1 or 2, and keep them out of detection range of enemy bases. You can also send 'slow' transport/transfer mission between bases. One or two Bogas are generally undetectable, and the resources they carry are safe while in-transit. This is especially helpful for overnight (or work-day) missions; time the arrivals so the resources are there when you will next log in.

4) Transfer not transport. If you haven't noticed already, your Bogas cannot transport resources to a base once that base has reached its maximum storage (the resources just stay in the Boga for the return trip). However, you can transfer Bogas full of resources and exceed this limit. This is one thing I wish could be changed, because all it does is create busy work, forcing me to use two transfer missions in place of a single transport mission.

Building:
1) Be flexible. Sometimes you will want extra hangar space, other times you might need to maximize your cash production. Don't be afraid to tear down building you don't need at the moment and put up those you do. Advance Hangars and Gen Mines are conveniently the same size, and make an easy swap.

2) Plan ahead. Plan space for big things. As you progress through the research tree, you will eventually want to build a large building like the Advanced Research Facility (ARF), or Advanced Armory, which both have a 4x5 footprint (20 tiles), and the Extended Research Facility (ERF) is even bigger (6x7 = 42 tiles!). If you plan ahead where these big buildings can be built, and fill the space with buildings you can afford to tear down later, you will save yourself a lot of time and concrete. An extra concrete plant (or two) is a great choice for this, because it will help you build up your base, and tearing it down will free up most of the space you need for the big build.

Research:
1) Turn it off. If you aren't doing research currently, power down your research facility and use the power for something else, like powering Turrets and Rocket Towers.

2) Tear it down. I'm presently saving resources to research the Extended Research Facility ($10000, 2000 oil, 2000 ore, 5000 concrete). Once I had over 2200 concrete saved up, I realized that the concrete plants were maxed out and not doing anything useful. I was still very low (<500) on oil and ore, so I tore down the concrete plants and put up ore mines and oil pumps instead. This will cost me an extra mission to transfer replacement cash /concrete from another base, but will save me 4-5 missions by mining the oil/ore in-base, rather than transporting it.

[UPDATE] In part 2, I will discuss some different strategies more tips for the game (strategies in part 3).