Stars!-R-Us Article

The CA Monster
by: Arthur

Hello fellow Stars! players,
25 k after 50 years - is that all, or is more possible, and if so, how much?

I asked myself this same question and experimented thoroughly.  The result is 87k after 50 years in a testbed with large universe, Acc BBS, clusters, without AI, to test the max.  This race made 71k after 50 years against 15 hard AIs. 

Let's start with the race first:

PRT: CA of course.  Absolutely necessary for more than 50k by 2450.  

LRT: I should discuss all of them:  

ARM: is not necessary, as the race got good Mines and would never have enough points for ARM.  In my opinion it always is too expensive, except for AR.

CE: is a major nuisance for most players, but I don't care.  10% ignition failures is not too much to pick the advantage points.   We pick CE.   

GR: Basically not a bad choice, but worse in Multiplayer Games, especially bad, as Biotech needs to be researched as fast as possible to improve habitability. 

IFE: A must for any Quickstart Race and very useful because of having a warp 9 drive right from scratch (Fuel Mizer).  

ISB: not bad, but we don't have the necessary points, and IFE should be enough to provide a fast start.

LSP: I do not pick LSP, as it won't give enough points and limits expansion a lot.  

MA: is too expensive and unnecessary for a monster race.  

NAS: really sorry, but we have to pick this disadvantage, because the points are needed.  In Multiplayer Games, it is still possible, that your allies build penscan ships for you.  Being a CA there shouldn't be any problems in finding someone, who will provide you with these ships, as you can exchange them with terraformers eg.

NRS: We pick that as well, as we will soon be able to build privateers with Warp 9 fuel mizers, so we don't need the NRS drives.

OBRM: of course, to get even more points and, as mentioned enough, the mines are efficient enough as well.  Because of the high terraforming ability we can settle anywhere and improve the economy due to a higher population.

RS: not bad, but we don't have the points. A resource Monster Race can't have it all ;-)  

TT: is absolutely necessary.  After full terraforming, Bio should be maxxed out by 2463, ca. 90% of the planets will be habitabe, while 70% of them have a habitability of 80% or more.  That isn't bad and probably a reason why the resource curve will get a big boost from the year 2463.  

UR: is never useful for any race in my opinion.  

ok, now the race is complete.  

PRT:   CA LRT:   IFE, TT, NRSE, CE, ORBM, NAS

Hability
Gravity           0.60g - 1.64g Temperature   -0.64oC - 64oC Radiation         34mR -  66mR

Population growth: 20%

This will yield 30k after 50 years.  With 19% growth it would only be 57k.

The overall habitability should be 1 in 24 planets, now.  This isn't bad, as we will start with Bio 6.  Including total terraforming, the habitability is already better than 1 in 24. And more important, terraforming in the future will be free.

Set:
1 resource for 1000 colonists 10 factories produce 15 resources Factories need 9 resources to build 10.000 colonists operate 25 factories Germanium costs 3kt box checked 10 mines produce 10kt Mines cost 3 to Build 10.000 colonists operate 16 mines

It is of utmost important, that you max your factories as soon as possible, to get the steep resource curve.  With good mines you should be able to move Germanium of the HW after 25 years.

All tech at +75% and start with level 3 notchecked.

Here are the results:

YearResourcesTech Levels
------------------------------
242033091,1,3,4,0,6
243211287
243720 K3,1,3,4,1,11
244550 K3,10,3,10,1,13
245087 K3,10,8,10,1,15
2452105 K3,10,8,10,1,16
2454stopped active playing, just hitting F9 without any changes.
2461201 K3,10,8,10,1,23
2463230 K3,10,8,10,10,1,25    (total terraforming 30%)
2468311 K3,23,8,10,1,25
2470344 K3,26,13,10,1,25     (Weapons 26 )
2476437 K16,26,15,26,16,25
2484485 KResearch complete.

Now you will say, that the high weapon tech comes too later.  I don't think so, as if it would be needed, which usually won't happen before 2440, we already have 25k resources to give weapons a boost then propulsion.  The jihad Missile should do in that period.  With that high resources, it should be possible to win by quantity.  In emergency cases you could also stop Bio at 15% terraforming and switch to other areas, but then 87k by 2450 won't be possible.  Terraforming is the key to winning here.  Successfull diplomacy is also very important, and being CA you should have no problems in finding initial allies.

No race can sustain the attack of 15 other races.  With this race I only wish to give you the opportunity to play a strong race, that has a good chance to also win the game.  Having full tech in 2484, you are a power to be reckoned with.

I do know, that the amount of 83k resources cannot be reached in a Multiplayer Game, but 50-60k should be possible in any game, which is not too few.  Preferably you should play this race in a game with non-public scores, to hide your powerful economy (always give terraformers to you neighbours)

It also seems important to mention, that I didn't do any more management after the year 2554 to see how the empire would do on its own.  Without micromanagement, the efficiency as seen above will start to drop by the year 2476.  You can of cours improve the score by continueing to manage after the year 2454, colonize, ship Germanium, etc.

Here a small help for the first 50 years:  

2400: Build up to 6 scouts. The initial scout will leave the HW immediately moving straight and avoiding routes that take more than 20 years to arrive at the destination.  Longer routes will make it hard to establish border colonies against human players.  It is advisable to build a few more scouts and find good planets fast.  There won't be many at start, due to the low habitability, but you should have around 8 -12 planets by the year 2420. Autobuild orders should be: (500 factories, 500 mines). That's it for the first turn.  

2407: We should now have enough resources to switch to research on our HW to get Con 4 in 2 years to be able to build privateers with fuel mizers for colonization and transport missions.   If there is low Ironium on the HW, the medium freighter should do.  If any of our scouts found some good planets, we will send the colony ships right ahead.  

2409: We now have the mizer and privateers and build at least one of them.  Build 3 more privateers with 3 fuel tanks  Colonize with 25.000 colonists and send 3 of the transports after.  In special cases, where the colonizer would need a year more to arrive due to flying Warp 7 or 8, we send the 3 transports with it, to be able to colonize faster. While coloniting, first colonize planets with more than 80% value preferably with high Germanium concentration.  We should see 3-5 freen planets by this time.  Depending on the success of scanning build more privateers.  Follow the breeder world concept.  Move population from planets with 25%-33% capacity to younger colonies to reach 25% there as fast as possible. New Colonies have a setting of 0% research. Keep researching Bio as long as possible.  

2415 -2422: Now the first planets should be able to finish a starbase in 2 years.  If so, do so.  In case of mineral shortages, plan ahead and supply the colonies with minerals from the HW.  You have to study the Planets Report (F3) each turn.  When the Starbases at the se planets are finished, colonize with these worlds as well.  

2422 - 2425: You should now be able to transport Germanium to planets with loaw concentrations.  

2425 - 2450: Just repeat the above step by step and you will be successful :-)

I hope you can follow these advises and have a lot of fun with this race design.

I am probably not one of the best Stars! Player and didn't optimize micromanagement.  If anyone achieves a better score, please drop me a note and mail me the files.  I am open for critics and thankful for any discussion.  If you wish to see the files of the 87k test, just let me know and I will send them.

My email address is: artigun@aol.com

Special thanks to Christian Eusterman , who translate this in english

Thanks for your attention,

Arthur

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