Advanced Save Game Six Empires Huge Map and Minor Races

[UesugiKenshin]

BotE imposes a range limit on starships. If one thinks of US Navy fleet strike forces, some ships use fuel while others have nuclear reactors, so one could suppose that fuel limits range. Simultaneously there is constant scheduled maintenance and replacement of parts, and so this maintenance then imposes a range limit. Then the crew needs supplies as well.

But a starship would have replicators and would fabricate what require. They don't have fuel in any way like we imagine. They don't need supplies.

The idea rather is to impose a limit based on technology, sphere of influence, and based on force projection and starbases.

But even this is largely irrelevant even as early as turn #300, for one doesn't attack the most distant enemy, right? That would be a logistical nightmare and needlessly risk the crew. You attack typically what is closer as whatever is in the borderlands has an extemely high chance of being defenseless unless the opponent is a genius or has a fleet ready to engage probes.

The Omega are using Vi Dreadnoughts as flagships of fleets, but they actually can use a better dreadnought, the Pairos class, but it would slow them down as it's a minor race starship so of limited availability this early in the game.

It is better when designed.
http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... Delarianer
This is why a campaign editor would be handy as that would be a factor limiting engagements on giant map. The best aspects are probably seldom seen even though they exist.

Think about it, a fleet in which only some ships are cloaked rather gives away the element of surprise. What is equired is an entire cloaked fleet. That would be terrifying as a whole undetectable armada is there ready to pounce.

You would suppose that range limits you when it does not really. The further you attack into an empire, the better the defenses. What you want to do is flank a sprawling empire radiating out and with cloaked ships where they are not expected. Essentially this is what submarines do when they have steath capacity and hypersonic ballistic missiles. No warning and incredible speed and no range equals almost certain lethality.

[UesugiKenshin]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_projection
Military force projetion

[UesugiKenshin]

If you elect to play the turn #400 advanced save game, your first task is to do fleet assignments so unit composition and ground invasion units deployed for forward basing at peripheral military bases that can be defended.

Almost all the boring minutia will have been done.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forward_operating_base

I would create some patrols too watching for incursions and looking for vulnerabilities and assessing the best way to bite off pieces of their empires.

What is happening now is diplomatic sabotage so hopefully some will be bloodless coups where they join as members of the Omega empire.

Diplomatic uproar in minor race home sectors coupled with a sudden en mass fleet right on top of them, plus a gift, might be persuasive. "Want to join the Omega empire? It would be a good idea, don't you think?" That is gunboat diplomacy.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunboat ... or%20force.

[UesugiKenshin]

The Omega have so much power and money and withering overwhelming military ability that they can annihilate any resistance. It is entirely up to you.

[UesugiKenshin]

If you wanted to be a horrid bully, you will have so much sabotage capacity especially military sabotage, that you could just RUIN their offensive capability. Not much fun except knowing you can is enjoyable having suffered through sabotage before. The Omega have enormous counterintelligence capacity. 5.5 million points worth.

[UesugiKenshin]

Realize that the vast majority of colonial sectors have 10 intelligence agencies, and have finished research completely, so need not make infrastructure or mine natural resources, they could switch to spy mode and deliver the FULL BRUNT of sabotage. Full scale espionage is theoretically available as you have millions and the other empires do not. You have a huge amount of ore and crystals and no need of money. If you wanted to go all in and wipe them out with sabotage, you can do so.

The idea was to prove you don't need to mod sabotage, but it took about a month to get it configured. The idea was also to allow you to experiment and as there is no pressure on the player as you are nearly invulnerable...like demigods.

I wish there were an editor as I could make some really complicated scenarios...for any empire too.

[UesugiKenshin]

I'm halfway done with turn# 400. I dropped all resource routes as they were largely irrelevant and I am meticulously rebuilding each sector's shifting of ore and crystals. It is the most problematic least enjoyable task in BotE.

As most infrastruture is finishing up or done, now YOU should re-evaluate and drop what I am building so you can maximize mining capacity. You have plenty of starships and quite a few troops, and you make use of what you have. With colonial sectors having a genuine surplus of raw materials means your empire is very flexible on starship construction, and not strategically dependent on certain colonial sectors. While the AI is that likely way ie very dependent, and those are the areas to attack especially when they are vital to the AI, but some are poorly protected with defenses and appropriate starships.

When I post the save game, write down where fleets are currently plus Vi dreadnoughts are escorting mostly level 6 troop transports. You will want to redeploy based on your level of patience.

For example, four minor races are under the influence of the Omega empire, but though some are devoted, not at a high enough percentage for membership to work. You can be patient or use diplomatic pressure with fleets, or just invade and be done with it. The latter will invoke fear of course.

Then many minor races' home sectors are within your grasp based on patience, yet they are members of other empires, so seizing them will cause war. The AI is goofy that way by recruiting members it has no military way to protect with even a fragile manner. It is quite illogical.

The Khaoran already realized this ten turns ago and their diplomatic stance changed. In most games, they would have attacked Omega çolonial sectors encroaching on their of influence, but they cannot win by doing so, so probably fear me. I'm surveying their territory, while they either lack the capacity or fear doing so.

The Rotharians are having diplomatic sabotage every turn and probably scrambling. That tactic won't work...probably...with the Terrans.

I've bribed several Heyoun and Terran sectors, so they drop the membership for a turn as they are devoted to the Omega, but then the percentage is low, so membership does not flip to the Omega. In some cases based on how much you can project power, that tactics might work. It worked twice.

Meanwhile in Cartare and Heyoun sphere of influence regions, I go in and terraform and then build outposts to flip whose territory that belongs to, and then push back their efforts at expansion, then colonize it.

[UesugiKenshin]

The resource routes that I am building are largely going to be irrelevant in ten or less turns as they don't have to build anything as I already built it. So some colonial sectors have ore and crystals and deritium, so those will be the places for new starship construction. Others could build troops. You should eliminate the other resource routes so mining will maximize. That is what is irritating on a giant map as by the time you build a resource route network, it most often is not efficient. I spent countless hours trying to devise plans for engineering useful resource networks...to no avail. Hundreds of hours were wasted without bearing any fruit, as every method did not maximize profits or aversely affected mining capacity. That aspect led to all kinds of micromanagement and it is extremely frustrating as the way it is illustrated is like extremely careless electrical wiring.

Even in an industrial setting with complex electrical wiring, there are wiring numbers and various colors to help the technician track the wiring. Not so here. Probably the source and target of resource routes should be color coded and or in the systems screen when an ore or crystals is in parenthesis (meaning it is not domestically produced by shipped in) it probably should say from where. Otherwise it is a huge mystery where it comes from.

[UesugiKenshin]

After turn 400 or so, you can spend 8 hours per turn trying to make it efficient and profitable and it never works well. That almost made me give up on BotE. It was entirely too much micromanaging.

That is when I realized it was easier to largely ignore resource routing and manipulate the commodities markets and make millions per turn.

It bothers me. There should be a logical method to do both and cascade the resources so they flow to where they are needed.

Or one can spend hundreds of hours sending transports like freighters on scheduled routes...which would be even more annoying. I think most players want to fight battles not create resource routes.

Somehow resource routing should be fun and rewarding like make a way that storytelling happens like juicy but relevant galactic gossip would be learned by freighter routes. See there really are way too few resource routes to EVER ALLOW TRADE to work. That is a major flaw I hope to remedy with the Balancer mod ultimately by version 3.0.

Balancer version 1.0 can easily add more routes as some minor races do as buildings. Trading ore or crystals don't make sense based on 20 light year sectors...not at all. It would not be profitable. Trade would be finished goods that would improve morale as it economically enhances the diplomatic relationship. As it currently is designed is neither logical, economic, or scientific.

Think: would you ever give your potential enemy the raw materials to make starships and troops??? NO ! That would be folly.

You would trade them things as finished products to please their citizens as customers ie consumer items. Not essentially arms sales!

[UesugiKenshin]

Turn #400
75% done.
38 million treasury

Why build so many extra mines?

In my commodities manipulation system, I actually heavily rely on buying raw materials for the next turn, but need to have large caches of raw materials to sell when the ore or crystal prices get inflated.

So as soon you do not need a resource route in that colonial sector, then cancel it. If there is adequate mining in that colonial sector, you of course want to domestically produce it within the system, but the manager has its own ideas of what is a priority and it doesn't always make sense.

Sometimes that ore or crystals are not available in that colonial sector, so you...
1. Order it for next turn which is the smartest way.
2. You can send a transport which takes a long time and is not a smart way unless you develop a routine schedule and you enjoy running freighter operations.
3. You create a resource route.

The most profitable answer is the first choice...every single time...which is counterintuitive.

(Shrugs) This drove me crazy. I kept fighting it and trying to devise complex schemes to come up with a better solution.

Making so much money and literally buying whatever I need every single turn once established, proves this is the best current way in BotE.

But for this to work requires large standing surplus mining caches. That will be inhibited with unnecessary resource routes.

My save games are complex as the galaxy is always 40 x 40 with as many stars as possible so that is 1600 potential sectors to conceive and plan for.

What I want is to create consistently large sectors that can routine have nine significant planets and average populations of 70-80 billion with at least 5 natural resources. Then deritium becomes an issue that is handled with level 15+ technology.

Thus with far less need for resource routing, and higher populations, then trade routes make sense.

I want gas giants to be useful.

I want starship classes to be in generations and even have specialization.

I want unique high level troops consistent with minor race abilities.
I want better higher level troops unlocked by progressively higher advanced tech beyond level 14.

I want a better trading system.

I want advanced technology buildings that emulate and combine minor race buildings.

Why should energy take lots of operators?

Maybe defenses are adequate, but why not better ones?

Does the AI actually scrap infrastruture? If not, then advanced tech should get more efficient, right? More expense and higher raw materials plus advanced tech but higher output and efficiency.

I want real compelling stories about minor and major species to entertain the players and sometimes to have an effect.

[UesugiKenshin]

Consider this. From the onset with zero espionage, already every empire knows the minor races have special buildings and so empire scientists would say, "That tech is what we need and should be something we can eventually create and even improve upon as we have millions more scientists and engineers and theoretical physicists!"

Really most empires would not want to collaborate with certain species as they are so different and have entirely different ethos. And so they are just as likely to see them as undesirable for inclusion as the conflict would be inevitable.

Then some empires would eradicate them, but other empires might ignore them as they are stuck in their home sector...so zero threat...unless subsumed by another empire. Diversity is not always a great thing to embrace as it might be self-sabotage by moronic interference.

If there are 1600 sectors, why bother with that one as it's occupied and there is no shortage of planets, right?

[UesugiKenshin]

The impetus for conquering is typically that some minor race has a building or starship that confers an advantage, but higher technology should offset this principle.

Omega "That is an interesting starship those minor races have, so let's develop our own so we can make them EVERYWHERE not just on that minor race's homesector. They have a great building, so let's develop the tech ourselves so we can build it EVERYWHERE."

[UesugiKenshin]

The Khaoran would likely feel differently, but would still end up with the same conclusion. They are an honorable warrior race. "Let's seize their sector and if we do that, we proved our superior military prowess. We cannot let another empire have that technology. We will be the first and so have a tactical advantage."

[UesugiKenshin]

Each empire would have different motivations, but come to the same conclusion.

Terrans "We love diversity so we will use our diplomatic power to gain them as members!"
Young cadet "But Sir, won't that ruin their culture which we claimed we admired?"

One reason the Roman empire fell apart was they ultimately had nothing in common and didn't like Romans!

[UesugiKenshin]

The group that will end up most benefitting in the Balancer mod will be the Khaorans as sabotage ruins them. That is not right at all.

Sabotage happens way later.

You will see what happens when a devious organized strategist outdoes espionage like the Omega. While you can play now without a ruinous AI, it shows how unbalanced intelligence agencies currently are.