Advanced Save Game Six Empires Huge Map and Minor Races

[UesugiKenshin]

See the problem in my estimation is not beating the Rotharians and Cartare, but the terrible attrition to do so. It will be bloody and leave them weakened. This means immediately once the Rotharians and Cartare sue for peace, take up strong defensive positions along the Terran and Heyoun borders. And then to make it honestly realistic, not attack unless they do first as that would not be honorable.

See for the Khaoran, the way I read them, their honor is their strength and their weakness.

And the right thing to do is nebulous as it's smarter to finish the Cartare and the Rotharians, but attacking a weakened enemy brings little honor. It's a function of whether they both can then start sabotaging as their forces would be depleted. Then the Khaoran could justify finishing them off.

[UesugiKenshin]

Since the Omega are best all around, and can usually take the morale hit if playing them honoraby, that is my rationale for using them in beta testing. They always have a chance of total conquest, and if they have to, the leadership can flex to accomplish their end goal of assimilation.

"We will do what we have to do so our symbiotes have host bodies."

It's better to have more assimilation and so conquer but not eradicate.

[UesugiKenshin]

Turn#199
The Terran made first contact by attacking my Samech cruiser which was insane as I had a 99% chance of success. I tried hailing and then retreating as I do not want to be at war with them. Neither worked. They were bound and determined to sacrifice a starship. I'm incredulous. What a waste. It happened along the Heyoun territory to my east. Maybe they were fleeing from them??? It's peculiar as I would have signed a non-agression pact.

I generally go out of my way to be diplomatic as I do not want early combat when the AI is weaker than me.

My science and productivity and GDP far outreach the other empires and possibly the Terrans are in number #1 based on their military forces.

That typically means little as the way it's calculated isn't necessarily ships capable of truly successfully attacking.

It is honestly foolhearty to attack before turn#400 unless you are conquering some very weak minor race.

[UesugiKenshin]

Many times early membership of the minor racs comes at a significant cost as their infrastructure can be terribly mismanaged and then your empire pours money down a money pit...long before you make any profit. Sometimes they are starving. They can't even manage one inhabited planet!

[UesugiKenshin]

Turn#205
Typically about now, I have multiple colonial sectors that have significant caches of a resource. I start running a surplus where I can accelerate construction, send gifts to minor races that have fleets (prioritizing them), then doing the same if I think I can improve the diplomatic relationship in others. For some, it's wasted effort as they hate you.

I'm actually terraforming the Templars as they usually end up becoming members of the Omega empire.

So I still have a budget surplus, so I start balancing out resources as some colonial sectors can't produce a resource or have a shortfall as these are used up in production. So I sell resources down to especially low prices around 50 per unit, then buy them where they are needed, and that drives the price back up, so I sell more.

In this way, I ensure that 90% of the time, construction is unimpeded by a lack of resources. I want to complete construction every turn during this building phase.

I am continuously terraforming completely and colonizing to maximize infrastructure when colonizing instead of seizing all the M class planets. I'm methodical. If the AI comes in to seize M class planets, eventually those would be prioritized for invasion.

I suspect the Heyoun are outright buying minor races by large gifts or bribes. They have many such deals as their starships are not good. Since I can manipulate resource prices, I might play them someday, but it would be the least satisfying akin to playing as the Fenegi. I reckon at high research levels, their scientists would prioritize weaponry and armor and troops as they have no innate ability at this. I probably need to address this in the 2.0 version of the Balancer mod. You would play the long game with them and probably be bribing and sending routine gifts to forestall war and that kind of servile nature leaves me cold.

The Cartare are quiescent. I think they have their hands full due to a rough middle position.

It's almost like a glitch with the Terran surprise failed attack as they do NOT show up in the diplomacy screen still. Weird. If they attacked me, why would this not be available so I could begin espionage and diplomatic relations???

The Omega have significant technological advances versus the other empires, higher productivity, higher GDP, and gaining on military size. With the surplus I paid for a combat center, I probably can have two more starships on my borders, then relieve two to go train at the combat center, who then will relieve two more. Rinse repeat.

There are a lot of exceptionally well thought out elements of BotE. If you like the game, even if you have misgivings about sabotage, please leave some positive comments at Amazon, or the GooglePlay store. I'm pretty confident I properly balance the sabotage in the mod where it is way more fun and realistic simultaneously.

I have a secret hope I could get a version 2.0 by Christmas, but my schedule was put back a week. Everyone has had a rough year in many ways including economically so I wanted to have the Balancer mod as entertainment over Christmas break. I don't think I realistically can do that and properly beta test it.

[UesugiKenshin]

I want new challenges for the players at advanced turns.

Say you build a minor race up and they then can create their own troops. Well commanders of those troops would begin thinking, "We are stronger than them and should have autonomy and self-determination." And they would revolt as you empowered them with some exceptional troops that can't be made anywhere else. And then have to invade a former member race's sector to take it back.

[UesugiKenshin]

In Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, the Lunar Colony revolts and maintains their autonomy so Earth's ambitions for solar system domination quickly get squashed.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moo ... h_Mistress

[UesugiKenshin]

On the planet Dune, as the spice must flow, what if the Fremen rise up and control the giant sandworms and so maintain their autonomy.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(novel)

The minor races should not be pushovers.

[UesugiKenshin]

I'm so fond of BotE for Android as it has so much potential and does so much with few requirements on multiple platforms, but it really is blind luck anyone finds this forum. You do know that, right?

As it is in German and the search engines don't really locate the English posts, I have tried for weeks to do internet searches without success to locate recent documentation.

A general search for "birth of the empires" finds it, but the link states that this forum has no forums! So why would anyone click on it? It's so poorly documented in English that millions don't know it exists.

I'm thinking I should quit by turn#300 and work on the Balancer mod and do English wiki translation instead.

I want everyone to try BotE out. But if no one knows it exists, then they won't play it. Reviewers are probably less inclined to review a German space 4x strategy game that is offline anyway versus a MMO and BotE is older so they probably think it's irrelevent. Argh!

[UesugiKenshin]

The Omega have 3x the GDP and Productivity and 4x the science of the average for all six races. They are the technologically advanced major race. All the sdisclosed pace faring minor races have improved diplomatic relations with the Omega.

I have 3 Samech cruisers as a fleet and could probaby enter the Yimidar's sector (undisclosed). I'm hoping it's enough to prevent a true conflict as they are pugnacious.

I have more near the Cartare.

There isn't a good hailing system in BotE.

The Brane (undisclosed) are also within my sphere of influence as are the Deshant (undisclosed)and Mozwar (undisclosed). I prefer to avoid conflict this early and would rather absorb their tech through membership.

There are lots of minor races in the Omega's growing sphere of influence including two who have become members of the Heyoun. That will be a problem later.

[UesugiKenshin]

Yimidar

http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... Z#Yimandar

The Yimandar trade in all kinds of information. The difference between them and many other races is that this information was often obtained through eavesdropping and espionage. The ancestry of the Yimandar is clearly humanoid and differs little from humans on earth. In fact, the Yimandar are even direct descendants of humans. Their first colony on the planet Yimanda was established at the beginning of the first wave of human colonization. Despite successful colonization, the colony was declared lost by the earth and left to its fate. In the years that followed, the colonists gradually created their own methods of survival, completely unnoticed by other peoples. In this system, the Yimandar race developed from the earlier colonists, who became masters in obtaining all kinds of data and information.

Home system: Yimanda

Technological progress: backward

Special ability: none

Bribery: difficult to bribe

Spaceman nation: own ships

Special building: Yimandar Secret Service: + 30% Secret Service bonus

Yimidar ships
http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r#Yimandar
The Yimidar have Level 4 and Level 5 Camouflage Corsair class ships.

[UesugiKenshin]

Brane

The brane live very secluded and therefore almost nothing is known about their society and culture. They are a very militaristic breed. They use ships built on Duranite crystals and they know how to use their excellent weapons. They ruthlessly face anyone who enters their territory without permission. The brane wear special energy field suits, which protect them from the unbearable conditions on other planets and at the same time dampen the strong duranite vibrations. Because they need an extremely high nitrogen density to survive. The branes are masters of cool and calculating strategy. Your molarite safety helmet serves to ward off telepathic influences. We have to be careful and extremely vigilant, the brane are not diplomats, but fierce fighters.

Home system: brane

Technological progress: progressive

Special ability: martial

Bribery: difficult to bribe

Spaceman nation: own ships

Special building: Brane weapons center : + 100% weapons technology

Brane ships
http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... lker#Brane
The Brane have camouflage level 1 and 2 ships with the latter having regeneratve shields.

[UesugiKenshin]

Deshant

The Deshant are a fierce and proud warrior race who, despite their advanced space technology, still attach great importance to the art of Dasha, a traditional art of war from the Prehtawak era, when space travel was still a long way off and the Deshant were simple farmers. Dasha teaches the unity of arm and scythe and allowed the early farmers to transition into a trance-like state, which enabled them to harvest the volcanic soils, which were only harvested for a few weeks a year, in good time before the beginning of the season of the year Keld'avam, the endless drought that inevitably follows the destruction of the fields by the broad, annually recurring layers of lava. This is the only technique they owe their survival to and they still use it today to prepare for battle and to strengthen their morale. Unoptimized hand movements or faulty processes are not tolerated by the Deshant, accordingly their ships are constantly examined down to the smallest and checked for fail-safe performance.

Home system: Deshant

Technological progress: progressive

Special ability: martial

Bribery: very difficult to bribe

Spaceman nation: own ships

Special buildings: inspection halls: 25 ship training Dasha holidays: +2 morale in the system

Deshant ships
http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... er#Deshant
The Deshant have destroyer and cruiser class ships with camouflage level 1 and 2 and the latter has regenerative shields.

[UesugiKenshin]

Mozwar

The Mozwar are aggressive energetic beings, which constantly wage wars of conquest against other races. It is not known where these beings originally came from. It can be assumed that your current system was once home to other living beings. The Mozwar know no mercy, no diplomacy and no friends. They have a great aversion to physical races. Their belief is to purify the universe of these as they are viewed as inferior and imperfect. Only energy beings, like themselves, are original and have a right to exist. Since the Mozwar themselves cannot accept physical manifestation, they transfer their energy into objects that appear cruel. They often appear to other living beings as mechanical devils or death knights. Those who do not destroy them immediately are kept as slaves on their current system.

Home system: Mozwar

Technological progress: progressive

Special ability: martial

Bribery: difficult to bribe

Spaceman nation: own ships

Special buildings: Mozwar defenses: +150% ground defense Slave camp : +45 % industry, -1 morale in the system

Mozwar ships
http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... ker#Mozwar
The Mozwar have destroyers that are corsairs.

[UesugiKenshin]

Camouflage means stealth or cloaking abilty.
http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... tle=Tarnen

Camouflage level
Source (English): http://www.botf2.com/bote/Wiki/Cloaking ... ility.aspx
Level 0: no camouflage
Level 1: Stealth I
Level 2: Stealth II
Level 3: Stealth III
Level 4: Cloak I
Level 5: Cloak II
Level 6: Cloak III

The Omega have no innate ability at cloaking, thus I'm at a disadvantage and don't want to take out valuable ships in pointless combat when they are too useful to waste that way.

Once I assimilate them, I'll reconfigure my own Omega ships in the ship designer.

From turn #0, I have a strategy and thus don't waste much money on standard ships, but want higher tech and assimilated membership minor race tech to make superior ships.

Level 5 Yimidar ships have true cloaking and so are very significant to winning the game. The others are stealth technology.