04-01-2005 20:17									#1
	zak and free market Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

I'm interested how early do people playing zak switch to free market? By the time you pop boom the +1 energy per square will definitly be worth it even if you have no drone control facilities (which is amazingly stupid but still possible if you miss VW) and with the VW becomes amazing. However in my experience in the early game you only get about 1 more mineral a turn due to having to use about 30% psych. Still 1 extra cash a turn or 1 less turn for research which can build a turn advantage though slowly. Adding wealth decreases mineral costs but doesn't add any money or research the difference between +2 and +3 eon being only in commerace which in the early game you don't have. Though the 10% decrease in things such as wonders could be important. Anyway done rambeling now, what are others thoughts?

	04-01-2005 20:49									#2
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FM + Wealth is a must for Zak and any other player who have any use of them

Cult, Gaia, Hive, Sparta are exclusions

	05-01-2005 02:00									#3
	Got spare money?

quote: Originally posted by binTravkin FM + Wealth is a must for Zak and any other player who have any use of them Cult, Gaia, Hive, Sparta are exclusions

Playing Zak, I will sometimes go green. It will give you really good efficiency which will bring in a lot of energy without the negative police of free market. This works especially well the bigger the empire where efficiency can become a problem. The other advantage of going green is that helps Zak stay friends with Deirdre.

	05-01-2005 02:03									#4
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hmm still doesn't answer my question how soon do you go free market, as soon as you have the tech and the money or do you wait until you have more population ect.

	05-01-2005 02:23									#5
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quote: Originally posted by dacole hmm still doesn't answer my question how soon do you go free market, as soon as you have the tech and the money or do you wait until you have more population ect.

I will usually go FM as soon as I get the tech. The sooner you can get some extra energy, the sooner you can boost your tech and the sooner you boost your tech, the bigger the tech lead in the long term.

	05-01-2005 02:44									#6
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Any tricks in dealing with the drone problem other than just pushing up psych, building facilites VW being one of the most important. Thanks!

	05-01-2005 02:51									#7
	Re: zak and free market Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

quote: Originally posted by dacole Adding wealth decreases mineral costs but doesn't add any money or research the difference between +2 and +3 eon being only in commerace which in the early game you don't have.

Not true! +3 econ gives +2 energy/base, just like +4 econ is supposed to. In the early game, this is as big as the gain from +0 to +2 econ.

+1 industry is very nice itself, as it has a cumulative turn advantage effect. Building formers/rec tanks/whatever sooner allows you to benefit from them sooner which allows you to make more bases/units/facilities sooner, etc. There's a reason no SE setting gives more than +1 industry until Future Societies. This is also why Power is so maligned and part of why Yang and Domai are so powerful.

	05-01-2005 19:41									#8
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Ah thanks for the correction Chaos was going by the datalinks forgot they had been proven to be incoreect in this instance thanks for the reminder.

	05-01-2005 21:34									#9
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VW is no problem for zak, you are first to have IA, first to get 9-10 crawlers and first to get VW and in many cases other valuable SPs too (PTS + VW combo is simply unchallengable)

	06-01-2005 09:12									#10
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Once you can do Eudaimonia, swith off of FM to planned or green...if the game lasts that long...

	06-01-2005 13:32									#11
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I find going FM as early as possible, or going wealth as early as possible and FM shortly afterward work well with Zac. I simply don't find drones to be a problem. I take Centauri Ecology 1st, and the beeline to Industrial Automation, usually picking up the recycling tank tech along the way. My 1st SP is either the HGP or the WP. I save the VW for 3rd.

FM / Wealth produces a lot more energy in the base square than it does via the +1 energy per square bonus in the early game. Plus Wealth gives a bonus to Industry. Build lots of crawlers early on, work and crawl forests to boost minerals and energy. You should be able to easily snag the best early game SPs with a decent starting position.

	07-01-2005 22:37									#12
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That souped up Lal is gonna nick the VW from you though isn't he Dacole

	07-01-2005 22:49									#13
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heh Don't know yet, maybe maybe not we shall see.

	09-01-2005 08:29									#14
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When I play Morgan, (= when I play SMA(C/X)) I research IndEco first and switch to FM on about the 3rd or 4th turn.

	11-01-2005 19:21									#15
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I go FM early BEFORE VW. Rec Commons in each base plus 20% for psych lets you grow to size 3 usually. Helps a lot to get at least +1 commerce per base from one ally. I usually don't pop boom until I get VW or HGP.

	11-01-2005 19:25									#16
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When do you get the tech for Rec Commons? I usually interupt my beeline to IA for DM and then move on to rec commons. I've found that without DM I end up exploreing with my colony pods since I build them before I have explored enough to have places to put them.