I started writing this when i was in the beta, but since my expulsion (i was afk for a coupla days at one stage, heh) there has been alot of changes, particulary regarding shippies. Nevertheless, i think its better than nothing
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Rightio – PA R10 is similar to the PA you knew and love (heh) in the following ways:
- There are Races
- There are Ships
- There is Research / Construction
- There are Planets / Galaxies
- There are Fleets
- There is PA Mail
- There is a 'Politics' board (now called Galaxy Discussion – 'Affairs' as we know it has been called Politics, which is very annoying indeed).
Now, there are some very large variations, which at the time of writing are changing every day. I would like to point out that the Alliance and Traveltime issues have not been implemented during the beta, either as an effort to keep them secret for as long as possible or simply because they aren’t ready yet.
The following are some very important conceptual changes that dictate play in R10, which
must be grasped quickly for success:
- Roids are now next to useless. Initiating more than about 30 per type is sheer folly. Having more than 100 is either due to capturing them in combat (though capping is incredibly rare – I think the most anyone has ever lost in a battle was 12, with averages of 0 to about 3), or because they don’t know that roids get expensive very quickly
. THERE IS NO NEED TO SCAN FOR ROIDS – you can init them right away from tick 0.
- Eonium Production is Imperative. Having a lot of E around is vital, as roughly a third of your ships cost E (this varies with race – Ziks for example have 50% whereas Terrans have around 20-25%). Furthermore, Agents (‘Covert Operations’) and Scans (‘Waves’) all cost equal amounts of M, C and E.
- Networth and Score are no longer equal. Networth, like the old version of score, displays the value of a planet’s fleet, mines etc. This is quite different to score, which effectively measure’s a planets activity. Score determines universal rankings. Score can be gained by Covert Operations (1 score per 'Successful' Covert raid (regardless of the number of agents), Combat (determining score from combat is currently guesswork, but it is THE major source of score), and finally from Roids (atm you get 1 score per roid, thus their effect is minimal).
- Race's Ships have equal capability. This means that going Cathaar means that all your ships are 'Classic' or 'Conventional', and there is no EMP. Nor is there any Cloaking for Xandathrii, nor Stealing for Zikonians. This means that determining what race you wish to go its determined more by a ship’s resource cost and targeting, rather than their capabilities, though there are variations between races.
- The use of Covert Operations to gain resources and disrupt enemies is good fun
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Some other differences are far less major, and include:
- The removal of the Galaxy Status page, replaced by galaxy incoming being listed on the Overview in times of crisis.
Start-up Guide
Tick 0:
- Click 'Engineers' – select First Priority as RESEARCH, Second as CONSTRUCTION and Third as MINING [later this third priority could be changed to either Security, War (Combat), or can be left alone, depending on circumstance and/or how you wish to play].
IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU SELECT THIS _BEFORE_ YOU BEGIN ANY RESEARCH OR CONSTRUCTION. This is because you miss out on the reduced time bonus if you select the project first. Furthermore, you can only change engineers every 48 ticks – which means this is the only decision time you have for the lion's share of protection time.
- Click 'Construction' – select 'Metal Refinery' if you are a Terran, 'Crystal Refinery' if you are Cathaar, or either as a Xandathrii. Note: if you are a Zikonian, change races immediately.
- Click 'Research' – select 'Planetary Mining II (temp)' [grey box, second from top]. This allows you to construct more than 10 mines (and up to 25). Keeping this tech path high means that you will not be restricted later on. Researches take bloody ages to complete in R10, even with 2 mins ticks :\
- Click 'Mining' – build as many Mines (Roids) as you can afford for each type – IIRC its 3. This will give you 9 score.
Tick 1:
- Init as many mines of each type as you can. IIRC its 1 M 1 C 1 E.
Tick 2:
- Init as many mines of each type as you can. IIRC its 1 M 1 C 1 E.
Tick 3:
- Init as many mines of each type as you can. IIRC its 1 M 1 C 1 E.
Tick 4:
- Init as many mines of each type as you can. IIRC its 1 M 1 C 1 E.
Tick 5:
- Init as many mines of each type as you can. IIRC its 1 M 1 C 1 E.
Tick 6:
- Init as many mines of each type as you can. IIRC its 1 M 1 C 1 E.
Tick 7:
- Init as many mines of each type as you can. IIRC its 2 M 2 C 2 E.
Tick 8:
- Init as many mines of each type as you can. IIRC its 1 M 1 C 1 E.
Tick 9:
- Init as many mines of each type as you can. IIRC its 2 M 2 C 2 E.
Tick 11: Your Construction should be complete. Click 'Construction' - If you were a Terran, now construct your 'Crystal Refinery', If you were Cathaar/Xan, now construct your 'Metal Refinery'. Click 'Research' – I selected 'Heavy Cargo Transfers' to efficiently mine up to 100 asteroids, although 'Light Hull Specialisation' as the Ship Tech branch takes a LONG time to complete. Either of these three can be selected, though Terrans should have greater emphasis on Ship Technology, as their Heavy Ships are good.
Tick 12 +
From here, it is a lot more difficult to outline tick by tick the steps that should be taken, however I would like to emphasise the importance of Metal/Crystal/Eonium Refineries – you want to have one of these building whenever you aren’t doing something else such as Ship Factories, Security Centres or Finance Centres. Remember that covert operations have the capacity to destroy your structures; so having at least two of key structures (eg Light and Medium Factories, Wave Amplifiers and Security Centres) is to be recommended. Remember, however, that a priority should be given to making those Refineries – without them you are buggared.
Race Selections
PA R10 has the same four races; Terrans, Cathaar, Xandathrii and Zikonians, however their differences in this round are significantly reduced. All ships are 'conventional' ie, there is no EMP, Stealing nor Cloaking anymore, and the only differences that I have seen so far are Cost and Targeting. Ships now only have one target (as there are only three classes – Small Medium and Large), and there are no published stats to calculate the efficiency of the ships, however a general effectiveness of each unit can be gauged and that is what I have been attempting to do.
[PS: If anyone wants to update that last little bit on ships - feel free - i've kinda missed whats been going on recently other than there being an additional class]
The major difference between races is their resource costs – Terrans require significant amounts of Metal, Cathaar large (but not to the extent of Terrans) require Crystal, and Zikonians require vast shedloads of E, and finally Xandathrii require exactly equal resources for all ships.
There seems to be a paper-scissors-rock system to the races still. Terrans > Xandathrii > Cathaar, though the position of Zikonains is unclear, and the effectiveness of Cathaar’s medium ships against Terrans has yet to be determined by me, however I would like to point out that round 1.5 of Beta was dominated by Cath, and this round seems to be dominated by Xans. Xandathrii's Small, Cathaar's Medium and Terran's Large ships seem to be effective.
I hope this gives a little bit of a clue as to what you can do at the beginning...