20-03-2003 13:45									#1
	Some Miscelaneous Thoughts on the Game Increase Your PM Length

While initially dissapointed with MOO3, (let's face it... this even the most die-hard fanboy has to admit it's not as good as we hoped) the game underneath the flaws has convinced me to invest some time in playing it. I've taken some random notes, which I hope are useful to someone.

Most of my games to date have been played as a humanoid. The humanoids have some excellent government options, and some nice (offensive) spying bonuses. All games thus far have been with stock races.

MOO3 REX
~~~~~~~~

Until the AI decides to attack you early in the game, REXing is the only opening option. Unlike Civ3, a strategy of weakening your neighbors seems to be useless. Hopefully your base system contains a few green planets, and maybe even a magnate civilization. I like to buid one system colony at my homeworld, then crank out the regular colony ships. The first panet colonized in my home system should immediaetly get to work on additional system colonies to populate the home system.

My first priority for coonization is not green planets. Magnate Civilisations are critical to get going early, as you have virtually no control over their distribution and growth. Seek out these specials and colonize them above all others! While one colony ship cannot populate a planet sufficiently, you may use the colony ship to create a starter colony, and fill the planet with migration. As soon as the new colony is created, switch off the migration and let the Magnate Civiliztion populate those yellow and red planets in your territory.

Second priority are systems containing many jumps and/or wormholes. These are the chokepoint systems where you will be facing the most possible attacks. A green or even yellow planet here should be a top priority. I like to try and confine my border systems to one or two. Barricade systems such as the Orion and/or guardian systems are good early-game buffers. Expand past your neighbor's borders if a chokepoint lies behind their frontier planets. Those planets inside "your" territory will be the first targets for conquest. Systems in your backfield which have wormholes are problematic, as they need adequate defending as well.


The Importance of Spycraft
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It has not yet been proven that defensive spies accomplish much of anything in MOO3. The only variables seem to be the level of oppression you inflict upon your population and the various tech advantages. While I cannot prove this assumption, I have found that regardless of the viability of defensive spies, those resources are much more effective in the field. spy production in my empire is constant... and the new recruits are immediately deployed in the field. When at a state of peace, I find that concentration in scientific spying is the most productive, but a war situation with one or more nations may call for a variety of spying solutions. It's difficult to assess the effectiveness of offensive spying in other areas other than research, so I tend to concentrate in areas which produce tangible results, ie. stolen tech.


Military
~~~~~

At the beginning of a new game, I obsolete all ship designs save for solonies and system colonies. My initial military fleet production will not begin until the first level of tech is discovered. I generally use destroyer-class SRA ships as system defense. They build quickly and are good pirate defense, without dedicating too much production to static defenses. I will upgrade the system defense as each level of shielding becomes available. While there may be more logical intervals at which to upgrade, shield strength is as good a time as any to update ship designs. Colony ships on the other hand, are upgraded as each level of warp drive becomes available.

For the starship classes, I wil generally keep no more than two squadrons in the early game. Initially, these will be groups of 2 SRA and 2 LRA attackers, but once battleship becomes available, I will build two additional task forces, in a carrier + 3 escort configuration. These task forces are more than sufficient to hunt pirates and man border systems as needed. In the lategame, I favor a balanced offensive, with LRA, Carrier, and IF armadas all backed up with sufficient PD and recon support. I find it useful to build a larger-chassis troopship in the midgame, and combine 4 troop pods with a generous IF compliment for some added punch in invasions. Destroyer-class SRA ships are very effective as escorts for larger capital ships. While cruiser or larger escorts can be effective, I find destroyers to be more than adequate to stop incoming missiles and fighters, and save production points for a larger compliment of mission ships.

Until the patch comes out, we're all playing a flawed gem with laughable documentation. The MOO3 community is going to have to write their own strategy guide, right here in the Apolyton forums. Hope I helped someone out there ,

Last edited by Blitzer on 21-03-2003 at 03:28

	20-03-2003 19:36									#2
	As a newbie Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

I would like to say thanks for your pearls of wisdom.
I was having huge issues with the IA building ships at the start for me, which were just wiped out, very quickly.

As for spies I had read that keeping a reserve back helped ferret out the Computer players, thanks to your input will go out and cause havoc.

How does the migration key work, as I have not used it?

	20-03-2003 19:50									#3
	Inflate your Upload Space

Ah the migration key. This doesn't tell people to leave home. This tells the people who were leaving anyway, that this is a good place to go to. Its in the "Planets" Screen, on the "Orders" tab. Make sure to click "Owned Planets" off or you won't find the outpost you want to build into a colony. Very useful, this is.

-Jam

	20-03-2003 23:41									#4
	Got spare money?

It seems to me that political defensive spies at least are effective. I was gettinbg leaders about every 10-20 turns, but I could never keep them alive more than 5 turns because they would always get assassinated. I got fed up and cranked out five political spies which I kept strictly on defense, and I haven't lost another leader in 100 turns since.

Of course because the game doesn't tell you when you thwart assassination attempts (or if it does, I miss it in the information overload that is the SitRep), I don't know if my leaders' survival is due to the defensive spies or to other races simply quitting their nasty spying ways.

	21-03-2003 00:24									#5
	Leader Defense Suffering from ads?

quote: I got fed up and cranked out five political spies which I kept strictly on defense, and I haven't lost another leader in 100 turns since.

Well that may be good evidence that defensive spies indeed are helpful. However, my previous strategy of having one spy on defense in each field has proven to be useless, in practice. Clearly the effects of the oppresometer are the primary variable, with defensive spies able to augment that defense. Be that as it may, I consider the lost offensive potential of those spies to be a greater loss than any small amout of spying damage the enemy can pull off.

Now seems a good time as ever to discuss...

Research
~~~~~~

A wise man in another forum advised me to concentrate research in the social and biological sciences. This has proved to be a very effective strategy when playing a humanoid. The inherant spying bonuses of the humans are even further augmented, while the loyalty and research strengths of the Evon and Psilon are similarily strengthened. This concentration on one's strengths will propel your empire to the pinnacle of achievement in these two sciences, and give you leverage in diplomatic trading for other techs (via diplomacy advances). Your spies will be similarily augmented far past your opponent's abilities to keep them in check, allowing them to help fill in the blanks in areas where your tech may have failed you, or lagged behind.

I lock social and bio sciences at 30%, and leave the other areas at 10%.

	22-03-2003 00:24									#6
	Re: Leader Defense Enter the AD-FREE zone

quote: Originally posted by Blitzer Well that may be good evidence that defensive spies indeed are helpful. However, my previous strategy of having one spy on defense in each field has proven to be useless, in practice. Clearly the effects of the oppresometer are the primary variable, with defensive spies able to augment that defense. Be that as it may, I consider the lost offensive potential of those spies to be a greater loss than any small amout of spying damage the enemy can pull off.

I dunno. Spend an extra 20-30 turns building defensive spies in the important fields (i.e. 20-30 turns worth of spy potential lost) and you don't have to deal with jacking up the oppressometer for a long, long time. This seems worth it to me. Of course, I've never liked active offensive spying all that much anyway, so I'm a little biased.

It would be easier to make this desicion if I knew how long a defensive spy typically lives. I thought they might never die (in which case it would be CLEARLY worth it to build them early in the game), but I'm not sure. Anyone know this?

	22-03-2003 17:12									#7
	Suffering from ads?

Here is my idear.

I put 10 % in economic tech
put 20 % in energy tech
put 20 % in biological tech
put 20 % mathematic tech
put 20 % in shysical tech
put 10 % in social tech

I let the AI change the number thought the games freely

Your spy can die of old age or other natural cause or retire.

	25-03-2003 20:36									#8
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

Some good tips. I especially want to try sending migration to magnate civs. I didn't think of it but it seems like a good idea.

In my personal estimation, a combination of IF and Carrier ships are superior to combinations of LRA and SRA ships - especially in the early game. The relatively durable fighters suck up the PD. Then the missles go in for the kill. I have heard that later in the game LRA and SRA ships are better but it is difficult for me to judge because by then I usually have such a massive fleet.

I also like physical sciences because I feel like it is a 2 for 1 special. It contains weapons (missles and such) AND economic development buildings. Although, in my current game I focused on social and my spies are kicking but so I think you could be on to something there. My focus on physical sciences could be why I favor missle ships.

My one tip is this. Your different task forces are not attacked equally. SRA task forces take more punishment then LRA which take more then IF and carrier Task forces. Therefore, I think it beneficial to put the minimum PD ships required in IF and carrier task forces. In contrast, load up your SRA task forces with a great deal of PD. LRA is intermediate.

	28-03-2003 11:37									#9
	Inflate your Upload Space

A good point. SRA and LRA do take the brunt of the punishment in battles. I frankly don't use a lot of LRA task forces late in the game, I generally use my SRA armadas strictly as PD machines. A typical invasion force would look something like this:

3 SRA Armadas
- 14 SRA Destroyers
- 2 REC Cruisers

2 CAR Armadas
- 6 CAR Dreadnoughts
- 2 IF Battleships
- 6 SRA Destroyers
- 2 REC Cruisers

1 IF Armada
- 8 IF Battleships
- 6 SRA Destroyers
- 2 REC Cruisers

Total fleet composition:

72 Destroyers
12 Cruisers
12 Battleships
12 Dreadnoughts

As you can well imagine, this is a very quick force to muster, being comprised of 2/3 destroyers. Casualties can be high in the excort ranks, but they can quickly be replaced from almost any planetary queue. Losing an armada of destroyers in a succesful panetary invasion is quite acceptable given the speed with which your empire can replace it, and this slow attrition and quick building cycle lends itself to a modern fleet. The front lines are the most important to keep up to date after all... your carriers will maintain their effectiveness long after PDA ships from the same period outlive their usefulness.

It's important to remember the rock/paper/scissors equation in this game. SRA beats CAR/IF beats LRA. Thus, a task force similar to this one is most vulnerable to planetary beam defenses or LRA armadas. Later in the game, an invasion force of the same size would look more like this:

6 LRA Squadrons:
- 1 LRA Titan
- 2 SRA Cruisers
- 1 REC Battleship

6 SRA Squadrons
- 1 SRA Titan
- 2 SRA Cruisers
- 1 REC Battleship

2 Carrier Armadas
- 6 CAR Titans
- 2 IF Dreadnoughts
- 6 SRA Cruisers
- 2 REC Battleships

1 IF Armada
- 8 IF Dreadnoughts
- 6 SRA Cruisers
- 2 REC Battleships

Total fleet composition:

42 Cruisers
18 Battleships
12 Dreadnoughts
24 Titans

Later in the game, as LRA threats become more dangerous, the ratio of escort to capital ships drops. The ships may be larger, but the idea remains the same. The front line task forces are broken up into smaller groups, to reduce the effects of concentrated missile salvos. The capital ships in the backfield still provide the bulk of the fleet's offensive potential, but the front line Titans add a significant amount of staying power in the longer battles late in the game. The importance of recon ships in the lategame is also reflected. 50% more recon ships are used in the later fleet, where cloaked ships and higher-calibre ECCM systems are in broader use.