help with colony game

[mekane]

i am pretty new to outpost, but good at strategy games in general, but i seem to be having trouble with this one.

I choose "colony game" and then play as the top race, eden, i think, with build space ship.  I like this one because there is an enemy to play against.  The problem is there seems to be no in between for easy and normal.  On easy, the computer doesnt even attack and its very easy/boring.  On normal, i get overwhelmed by about the 3rd or 4th attack.  I have adjusted my strategy a little bit, but it seems like im playing almost as good as possible.  I think the problem is that im teching a little too slow.  They attack me with EMP, sticky goo, and strong attacking units while i only have starflare and laser, which get annihalated!  I build 6-7 laser towers and 6-7 laser lynx, and stop the first 1 or 2 attacks with only losing a guy or 2, but once their attack force gets big, i can hardly defend.  I just get the rare ore type about when they attack with the huge force.  I have a big militar, like 15 laser units, but they are incredibly worthless against the EMP and sticky goo units.

I feel that technology is the issue here, but i have trouble getting high tech early on.  My colony really sucks for the first 30 minutes of the game, just trying to get morale to stay constantly high so that my population is big enough to support enough buildings.

One problem i have had with getting technology is also getting a hold of the rare ore.  Its pretty expensive to build a command center, new ore smelter, and more cargo trucks, and its also harder to defend because its a lot closer to the enemy base and my guard posts at home dont defend there.

I notice the ocmputer has 3 different bases.  Is it wise to have more than 1?  it seems to be too costly in terms of workers early in the game, i try to work as few workers as possible so i can have lots of scientists research faster.

Any tips?  It would really be nice if there was an intermediate difficulty.  To win on normal it seems you have to play nearly perfect... hard must be impossible.

[PlayingOutpost0-24]

Welcome to Outposters!

I have you a few tips:
First of all, never mind if it lowers morale, make as many scientists as you can. They can be used as workers. Morale will raise without noticing it
In a colony game, you always need a Nursery and a University, Standard Lab, Advanced Lab and Residences, Medical Centers and DIRTs with demand below 100%. If the voice says "Caution! Food Supplies diminishing", then build an Agridome.
Next, you need to get weapons quickly... Here is a template, that can help you against enemies. (Difficulty: Medium, S=Standard, A=Advanced Lab, Order: as listed) If there is (S) and (A) next to each other, sometimes you can start both.
- Offspring Enhancement (S)
- Research Training Program (S)
- Cybernetic Teleoperation (S)
- Health Maintenance (S)
- Large-Scale Optical Resonators (S)
- Hypnopaedia (S)
- Mobile Weapons Platform (A)
- Metallogeny (S)
- High-Temperature Superconductivity (A)
- Seismology (S)
- Rare Ore Processing (A)
- Vulcanology (S)
- Advanced Vehicle Power Plant (S)
- Advanced Combat Chassis (A)
- Environmental Psichology (S)
- Electromagnetic Pulsing (A)
- Hydroponic Growing Media (S)
- Directional Magnetic Fields (A)
- Automated Diagnostic Examinations (S)
- Increased Capacitance Circuitry (A)
- Reinforced Vehicle Construction (S)
- Dual-Turret Weapon System (A)
- Expanded Housing (S)
- Artificial Lightning (A)
From here on research what you want, these researches give you the most powerful weapons, morale boost, etc.
To complete mission:
- Space Program (A)
- Improved Launch Vehicle (A)
- Skydock (A)
...and here on the modules, ships, rockets, etc., etc.
And never forget Power and to repair Tokamaks.
To have a friendlier power source, research Solar Power (A).

BTW, only get a 2nd and 3rd base, if you have researched Artificial Lightning.

[TH300]

the first thing you need is a constantly high morale. You get it by building what your colonists want (i.e. residences, Agridomes, etc., if you don't already know that).  Then be sure to produce enough metals. Otherwise you won't be able to build up an army thats big enough to stand your enemies attacks. Therefore get 2 or 3 smelters per mine and more then one common ore mine is also better. But not early in game, bcz. its essential to get rare ore as soon as possible. If you're quick enough, you won't have to build up big forces before getting rare ore and thus you can concentrate on that, first. Might be best to research rare ore processing very soon and once you have enough colonists build your outpost. It will be attacked very hard, so you should now concentrate on expanding your metal-production and build many, many combat-vecs (at your oupost, bcz the enemy units have to go through it). But don't forget the actual objective.

Well, just a basic strategy. Someone else might be more experienced than me and be able to help you more.

[PlayingOutpost0-24]

I ask y does he need MORALE? He needs PROTECTION first, not morale.
BTW, while researching, you can build many things. Collect from mines with 3 smelters, each with 2-3 trucks. After a proper escort, move on to the next beacon.
One mine can support *barnumber Vehicle Factories if mined like above.

also TH300 i almost launched colonist module in Plym, Starship, Hard

i gtg now. WC3 Tourney will start in 10 mins. For those who havent played Reunion, expect me at approx 5 PM CET (2 hours from this post).

[TH300]

I ask y does he need MORALE? He needs PROTECTION first, not morale.

Maybe you've found a way to get enough colonists without a high morale. I haven't. And the enemy doesn't attack that early, that you won't have time to fix your morale first.

also TH300 i almost launched colonist module in Plym, Starship, Hard

I didn't, but that's another game.

[PlayingOutpost0-24]

hehe try Eden Starship Hard.............and yes i found a way. i had terrible morale and workers gone up 50 till it was fair

[Hooman]

I've regularly beat that level on hard. It's takes a little while to get things down good but it's possible and I've found the following works well.

Get your morale up first. A low population will kill you later in the game. Don't worry about defense, they don't attack very early. I usually don't start with defense until about the time they send that 1 microwave lynx at you. Even if you forget and don't build defense by then, the lynx won't stick around and kill you. It just runs through your base and damages things.

Anyways, at about that time, go on a laser lynx building spree (or better weapon if you can) and get at least 20, maybe 30. Use less if you run out of money, you don't really have time to wait. Then send them all to kill the base in the top left. You'll have a lot less to worry about if you can kill this base early on, plus it gets defended fairly heavily later on. Don't send your units straigh in. Stage the attack just outside the base so you don't have all your units trickle in one at a time and get picked off.

If you're faster than this, you can also try going for the middle base instead. If you do, you should try attack from the south before the lava flow cuts you off. They seem to defend poorly here and their units are spead out and easy to kill one at a time. Plus, there is less to go through to get to their Command Center.

As for starting, use the 3 bar mine for as long as you can, before switching to the other mine. If the mine to your right is also 3 bar, have your earthworker build tubes towards it early on so you can expand there quickly later. Heack, build the tubes anyways because it will be an important source of ore. Also, it helps if the mine at the bottom is rare ore instead of common ore. It's random so you can try restarting the level a few times until you can't see the beacon at the start. If you don't get rare ore here, or a magma well at the bottom left (also random) then the closest rare ore will be sorta in the middle where it's really open to attack and really far away. Plus, the computer tends to stage large armies there so it'll be hard to hold. Also, it takes a lot of tech to use magma wells so don't expect to get it for a long time it it's there.

Don't bother with GuardPosts too much. They don't provide any better defense than units and they're not mobile. If you have the money and the capacity, build vehicles. Guard posts are really only useful if you're possibly being overwhelmed and already have your vehicle factories as busy as possible. Keep in mind they take too long to deploy if you're being overwhelmed. Mostly what they do is slow the enemy down. (Once you get better weapons, they are a little useful for defending back doors, or making a defensive line, but again, money is better spent on vehicles).

As for tech, worry about population first (Research training programs, Offspring enhancement), then money (Metallogeny), then vehicles (Cybernetic teleoperation) and then weapons (Large scale optical resonators, mobile weapons platforms, etc.). You'll need Cybernetic teleoperations to build any vehicles and guard posts don't really get you far. Plus, if you take the 3 bar mine, you'll need to build a RoboMiner to get another mine.

As for buildings, you'll need two residences and an agridome pretty much right away. If you don't start with a standard lab then you might want to fit that in before the agridome. Having those should keep your morale at a reasonable level. Next you want to build your university and nursery. The order doesn't seem to matter too much as far as your population size. The university will train more kids into workers, so when you get the nursery, you'll have more kids. The nursery will give you more kids, so there are more to train into workers when you get the university. However, the university also allows you to train scientists, so it may be more useful to build fist if you want a jump start on research. After that, worry about getting an advanced lab, expanding your smelters, and keeping an eye on power.
 

[mekane]

wow, you guys are extremely helpful!

i have another question...

i can understand building 1 more smelter, simply so its closer to the first mine, but why build more than that ( for 1 mine )?  i don't think that would speed things up... the key is to build enough cargo trucks i think.

another one...

how useful is getting the disaster warning stuff?

i think that may have been one of my mistakes... obviously the disaster warning itself is useless, but i was under the impression it increased morale.

also...

do you worry aobut getting the technology that increases certain buliding capabilities?  Then you don't have to build as many buildings so you can save workers which will allow you to have more of another type of bulding ( vehicle factory) or more scientists.  But is it wise to spend the time it takes to research those when you could be researching weapons, etc.?

[Mez]

More smelters means more ore per mark, which means more vech fatcs etc can be supported which means more vechs, which means - easier to defend ur base
.
 

[Hooman]

Each mine should be able to support 2 Semlters comfortably. Maybe 3, but trucks sometimes kinda get in the way then. Build the smelters close to the mines. I generally have it so the bulldozed areas around the buildings are adjacent, but not so close there would be overlap. Remember that it takes time to unload a cargo truck at the smelter. It doesn't take nearly as long to load it at the mine. So if you only have 1 semlter and lots of trucks, there will be backlog at the smelter. Also, use 2 or 3 trucks for each smelter depending on the distance. If it's right next to the mine, use 2 trucks. If it's farther away start using more trucks, but if you need more than 3 trucks to keep the flow continuous, the smelter is too far. If you assign too many trucks to one smelter they get in each others way and slow things down (possibly even stop things completely).

I usually don't both much with disaster warning. If an unwarned disaster hits your colony, the morale impact is greater, but most disasters miss so it shouldn't matter too much. Researching any tech will help your morale (when it's completed) so researching lots of small techs can kinda help (and the disaster warning ones are sorta fast to research). You do need two for the acid cloud weapon though (seismology and vulcanology). It takes a while to get that weapon anyways though so you should probably spend your time researching the other things first.

Try and balance out your weapons research with the upgrading research. If you're not going to be in a fight soon after the tech is researched, then maybe spend your time on upgrades. Go for whatever you can use, not just what's good to have. So yeah, Environmental Psychology can be helpful for saving workers, as can Hydroponic growing media. Just don't research it when there are other pressing needs.

 

[Ezekel]

humm seems like my tips and advice have already been mentioned here already. lol ^^

another trick i like to use is building structure surpluses.
in the early stages of teh game i always like to have at least one medic centre an done agridome extra then i need that is idled.


well goodluck...

[Highlander]

Lately I have only played this map on Hard, so some of what I remember of it might be useful only if one plays it at hard, but here it goes.

Eden Spaceship (Normal)

Since your new, I'll first of all will advise you to Manipulate your surroundings as much as possible. Restart the game a few times so your sure you at least get the common ore beacon South East of your base, and possibly the one North West. They will be the keys to your survival no matter how you look at it.



Secondly, I've always found the Offense is the best Defense on this map. Don't waste Time/Ore on building Guard Posts. Instead stick to building lynxes until you can afford/have tech for tigers. To me Panthers have always seemed useless.
As someone mentioned earlier, destroying one of the comps bases is a good idea, but make sure you are successful in that attack, or else it will have been a big waste of resources.
(ADVANCED: Kill only Tokamaks and Commandcenter. This way the rest of the colonies will struggle with low power)

Another thing which is very useful, is to send all your units to meet the comps forces long before they ever reach your base. This will give you more room to manouver, and you will not have to face the 3 forces combined.
(SUGGESTION: This place is where the Forces from the 3 bases meet, approx by the Westernmost point of the lava flow which protects your base from north)


Thirdly, Technology is important, but not that important. Lasers is a perfectly ok weapon, as long as you can get it in close. After you've buildt your base(Explain a little more later), go straight for EMP. An EMP/Laser defense is more than enough until you can get some better weapons. After you have EMP, get Acid Cloud and then the Range and Fire Rate Upgrades.(I never bother about Thor's since Acid Cloud is way better) Then get Tigers, and the game should probably be easily won.




Base/Morale:
Though Morale is important, it can easily be manipulated. Build Nursury and University first. This gives you the means to increase your colony. Then get the number of Residences and Agridomes you need.(2 of each early on) From these buildings your colonists will have a great Morale for the rest of the game need be. Then start to build another smelter up close to the Mine. Get Advanced Lab, and some more smelters and you should be ready.

You should always have 2 Smelters on each mine. 3 Smelters if you can't get enough Ore. Build Smelters close to mines, 2 Cargo Trucks per smelter.

Build Like this:
Smelter(S):           SS
Ore Mine(O):         sO

Where the small s shows you where to put the third smelter if you need it.

As for bases, never build more than 1. If you try to go for more you'll easily have to much to handle. Instead build small Mining Outposts if you really need it.





Answers you your Second Post:
Smelters: Read above

Disasterwarning: Increases Morale. Gives you better Morale without consuming workers. I find it useful and always research it when I have whats necessary to defend my base. Eden needs 2 of them to get the Acid Cloud.

Upgrading Technology: Right off the top of my head I can't think of any upgrades which is really useless. I ALWAYS research them for the buildings/weapons I have availible. Some of the weapon upgrades makes that weapon much better than some of those you'll get later. Building upgrades will save you alot of workers.


 

[PlayingOutpost0-24]

REsearch: Do as i said above
 

[Ezekel]

i remember one time i played this map on normal, and i actually built a 2nd base just to the east+north of the main plymouth base.

i couldn't take out the base, cos of the bottle neck there (no matter how many thors tigers you pour in, it just won't work), but it meant my main base was 100% ignored, and it really messed up the plymouth colonies emp missile targetting for some reason (maybe there is a proximity algorithm type thing to prevent it from shooting one too close to its bases).

i personally don't like the acidcloud weapon, 1: it can hurt your units too easily (only a minor point) but mainly cos 2: it takes a LOT of research to get to ... i think it needs the most research in the game, and i don't usually build a consumer good factory, so unlike the thorshammer research precursors which make the railgun better, the precursors for the acid cloud aren't nearly as beneficial to me.

[PlayingOutpost0-24]

U have 1a point Ezekel, but i forgot out Acid Cloud of my list

[Hooman]

To handle the bottle neck area for the middle comp base, leave an army by the top entrace (above the ridge in the middle of the lava flow opening) and position 1-3 vehicles above the lava flow. The vehicles above the lava flow will be close enough to trigger the comp to defend it's base and send all it's units through the bottle neck. Meanwhile your army on the other side picks them off as they come trickling through. Once they've wasted all their units, it's a simple matter to move in and take out the turrets.

Kill only Tokamaks and Commandcenter. This way the rest of the colonies will struggle with low power)

Nice Highlander. I've usually thought of human oppoents that would idle the buildings to solve that problem.

As for starting with the common ore beacon in the south-east, I find having a rare ore beacon there is much more useful. There is always a beacon there whenever I play. If you can't see it, then it's rare ore. Although, it's really helpful to have a decent common ore beacon due east.

[mekane]

i did it! i launched the ship on normal.

I am a little confused on the strategy to attack the top left base early in the game, it seems very hard.  Once i built enough of the thor-tigers, it seemed like i was unstoppable.  I don't think i lost a single thor-tiger all game.  Why not just sit back and play defense if its so easy?  The strategy to intercept them as they are flowing in 1 ata time helped a bunch, feels kind of cheap, though, a human player would be smarter than that, but ill take any edge i can get!

Thanks for all the help guys!  hard difficulty next!

[PlayingOutpost0-24]

Hmmm... guess i have to create some more colony maps. FAST.

[Hooman]

Yeah, defense is a lot easier on normal. The attacks seem kinda weak sometimes. You can try playing defensively on hard but I find it's much easier to take out at least 1 base before going defensive. It'll mean they send fewer units you have to defend against. And Thor's hammers sometimes fail you miserably. Especially if they get hit with an EMP missile right as spiders come swarming in. Nothing quite as embarrasing as being destroyed by your own units.  :blush: Err..., not that that happends often. (Actually only once when I was careless, but it's was pretty funny)
 

[PlayingOutpost0-24]

some other things to know bout anarchids mekane...

- Scorpions and Spiders (Anarchids) are unaffected by EMP.
- Anarchids are weak armored. Thor's hammers arent enough good. Best to use Acid Clouds.
- When enemy comes to attack, and comes with Anarchids, it will also use EMPs and other war vehicles. In this case, always have your EMPs and Rail Guns ready for battle.