[Twilight Imperium - Third Edition]
Salut,
Finalement, plutôt que d'envoyer par Mp ces fichiers je préfère vous les livrer directement sur ce site à des fins de discussion et d'analyse.
Cela permettra (comme avec le Trône de Fer) d'éclairer les joueurs désireux de mieux débuter leurs parties avec chaque camp.
Ils ont été rédigés par Mike_Evans, un américain passionné dont les analyses sont respectées sur le forum officiel (il a disputé de nombreuses parties avec cette édition comme avec les précédentes).
The L1Z1X Mindnet
Pros: Excellent resources/production. Excellent starting tech.
Cons: 0 influence. Slow. Mediocre Racial abilities.
Comments: Respect the Glacier of Death.
Tech:
As L1z1x, you have the best starting tech of any race. It more than makes up for your so-so abilities. In addition, you have the jump on all but Jol Nar when it comes to the technology-based objectives. High level techs are easily attainable earlier on. Or, you can hold off on the tech and pump out ships while everyone catches up. Either strategy works well.
In TI3, Stasis Capsules is no longer the best tech in the game (that would be Deep Space Cannon), but they're still great early on. You start with them, which promotes rapid expansion and a reduced need for carriers.
Hylar, Cybernetics, and your racial abilities mean that almost all of your units fight at +1. Assault Cannon is 2 purchases away. Get it. You will be purchasing lots of Dreadnoughts and this will make them worth the cost. The fact that you get Deep Space Cannon on the way is the cherry on top of an already yummy sundae.
Other potent techs are very close by. Neural Motivator, Gen Synthesis, and the yellow money techs are all within easy reach. War Sun is an option. You can follow up Assault Cannon with Graviton Negator and Fleet Logistics if you like. The only tech route that's a little tricky for you is blue, and even that isn't impossible. If the game is tech-heavy, or your planets provide lots of blue discounts, then you could conceivably work up to Type IV. This would make your fleets as swift as they are deadly. Most of the time, though, it's too much trouble.
I wouldn't make purchasing tech much of a priority past Assault Cannons. Get what you need to fight better or grab objectives. Otherwise, only pick up tech if you can get it for free, or if you happen to have ~8 resources you don't want to spend on ships.
Destroyers vs. Fighters:
This is purely theoretical, as I have not tested it in combat, but I suspect that certain races can substitute fighter/carrier construction with destroyers and still do well, even vs. swarms of cannon fodder. I believe the L1z1x are one of the races that stand the best chance of doing this successfully.
When you lump in the price of a carrier, fighters cost about 1 resource apiece. Their hidden cost is production; it's hard to spam fighters without sacrificing capital ship production. Destroyers, on the other hand, fight as well, cost about the same, move 2, and receive a hefty bonus against fighters. However, their hidden cost is fleet supply. You need a much higher fleet supply if you are going to employ lots of destroyers. I'm not saying you should ignore fighters... most of the time your carriers will be slow and you might as well use them as ablative shielding for your equally slow Dreadnoughts. But if you're toting along 3+ destroyers and your Dreads have A. Cannons, you have a good chance of shredding quite a bit of enemy resistance before they even get any shots off.
I propose that by pumping fleet supply early (Reed has proven to me that it can be done quickly and easily), that Destroyers will fit in quite nicely for cannon fodder. They will shred the enemy fighter screen and bring it down to capital ship vs. capital ship, which you will win with superior units and numbers. Destroyers are cheap so losing them as fodder doesn't sting too much and your Dreadnoughts will be able to absorb damage as well.
Movement values are everything :
Attacking with L1z1x is all about logistical foresight. You need to plan your moves in such a way that when you attack, your slow stuff (Dreads) will arrive in the target hex at the same time as your faster stuff (Destroyers, Cruisers).
Hammer and Anvil :
Set up a split front. You have two groups of "anvil" units, consisting of 2-3 Dreadnoughts each with a decent escort. These threaten separate vulnerable systems belonging to your enemy. Behind your lines you have your "hammer," the fast response team. If you spot a weakness or an opportunity, you can attack with one of the anvil forces and send the hammer to support and cover the big guns. You'll keep your opponent guessing, and when you do show up you'll have overwhelming firepower. This technique works well on the defensive as well.
General "Attitude:” You’re L1z1x. You're the progeny of the ancient fallen Ruling Race. Those planets are rightfully yours. You deserve them. As L1z1x you should have more than your fair share of planets. Play aggressively. Demand that any planets equidistant to you and your neighbor are yours. Why? Because. You can beat him up if he doesn't give them to you. Take them, and then beat him up anyway (assuming that jives with your secret objective).
On the flip side, only pick on one person at a time. Even you will be hard pressed to fight a two front war if you are attacked from different sides. Your best setup is one where you share borders with one militarily weak race and one strong one. Assuming your strong neighbor is of a similar mindset to you, see if you can make a deal with him: He will leave you alone to your conquests, and you will leave him alone in his. Be specific about what constitutes reason to break that agreement, or how long this truce will last. And don't use this deal as an excuse not to cover your backside at all. "Trust, but verify." Secure a friendship with the strong, and pick on the weak and sick. Sounds an awful lot like Junior High School.
Strategy Cards:
During the Turn 1 draw, you should consider Logistics. Put at least two of the tokens in fleet supply right away. This will engorge your fleet immediately and make room for your destroyers. You can use your excellent production to pump out mass quantities of these small craft (along with some cruisers) on turns 1 and 2, and consolidate them into large attacking armadas by turns 2 and 3.
You should pick Technology whenever it's relatively convenient. Not only will you get some tech, but you'll force everyone else at the table to pay 8 resources for it while you spend that money on ships.
Avoid Political unless you really need the cards/counters. Your starting influence is 0 so you'll have to resort to bullying and bribery early on to secure votes. Later on when you own lots of planets, it may not matter as much, but for the most part you are better off taking Warfare, Logistics, or Technology.
With two "1" trade agreement cards and a tendency to make enemies, you probably won't see a lot of trade action. I would only bother taking the Trade card if you managed to successfully bully your way into some truly fine trade agreements. Other reasons to take Trade are to prevent others from setting up lucrative agreements of their own so, or to Trade Stop out of spite.
Overview: Use your great starting tech and production to make lots and lots of ships. Grab as much of an early game advantage as you can before the others catch up. Hold on to your advantage and grind down the opposition. If your enemy can't hope to outfight you, it doesn't matter if they see you coming. Be relentless, ruthless, but cunning, especially when it comes to which of your units can fight where at any given moment
The Barony of Letnev
Pros: Best starting resources of all the races, excellent production capacity. +1 to fleet size is nice especially if you can enact the political card which limits everyone's fleet supply to 5 (you'll have 6). I believe your ability to boost combat is NOT limited to once-per round, meaning you can fork out 4 trade goods and receive +4 to your ground forces for one round!
Cons: Trade! Low trade cards (1 and 1) mean you're not an attractive trading partner. There are many nasty cards that steal trade goods. The Mentak can steal trade goods too. A good Letnev player will always have some sitting around, making himself a tempting victim.
Comments: I have yet to see these guys really shine in a game, but that's not saying much right now. I think they require a high level of finesse and a firm grasp on what I call "TI Technique" (Logistics, tactics) compared to, say, Sol or Sardakk N'orr.
Strategies:
Maximize your strengths, namely high resources and production. Unless you have more than one 3-resource planet nearby, I would suggest building a second dock at Wren Terra. If you can, always crank out the max number of ships your production allows whenever you build. Your +1 to fleet bonus will help you get that done, and the more ships you have in combat, the more effective your combat ability is. More dice rolled = more chances to score additional hits with the trade-good boost.
Minimize your weakness. I believe picking the Trade Strategy Card is your best first move, and probably a good choice on down the line. Not only do you get those coveted trade goods, but you control who can trade. Aside from the Hacan who may not even be around to get in the way, you will now be able to force other players to give you their higher trade agreement cards. I would say something like, "I'll allow everyone to trade this round, as long as I walk away with 2 high trade cards." That will reduce the likelihood that some shafted player will break all trade next round.
Tech: XRD is a must for these guys. After that, as counter-intuitive as it may seem, I believe a yellow based tech strategy is just the thing for Letnev. First of all, Enviro and Sarween grant bonuses to production, allowing you to spam mass quantities of fighters/GF's for cheap. You can build 12 fighters, 12 Gf's, or any combination thereof in your home system (2 docks) for just 4 resources and 1 command counter if you have Enviro and Sarween. Microtech doesn't make you a lot of cash, esp. if you have to pay 8 resources for it, but the income it generates comes in the form of trade goods, your bread and butter. Cybernetics increases the power of your fighters. Then get Integrated Economy. Now your huge turnouts can be built and placed a hex closer to your enemy. Pick up Gen Synthesis somewhere along the line. It's flavorful for Letnev's background and makes those hordes of GF's you'll be building even scarier. Any time you don't produce fighters, make Destroyers and Cruisers and capitalize on your Hylar Laser. These capital ships fight well and move as swiftly as your carrier groups. I don't think slow Dreadnoughts have much of a place in Letnev's lineup.
In general, create hordes of troops using your production values, and boost them regularly with trade goods. If you don't outnumber your enemy, you're doing something wrong. Choose your opponents wisely so you don't break valuable T.Agreements in combat.
You’re most valuable Strategy Cards are imperial (obviously), Trade, and Tech. Trade for those goods you need so badly, and Tech because it saves you a chit and 8 resources every time you tech up. That's a lot of Ground Forces, Fighters, and Cruisers!
Avoid Logistics and Political unless you need the cards/counters. You'll have a fairly low fleet supply and your production/movement will be efficient, so I doubt you'll burn through command counters as quickly as the other races.
The Federation of Sol
Pros: No weaknesses. Quick to expand. GF rule provides flexibility and survivability. Additional counters mean you can take more actions than anyone else on average.
Cons: No racial vulnerability! Starting units are a little vulnerable.
Comments: Gone are the days of underpowered Sol. These guys are forgiving to play, and average-to-strong in just about every way. When you knock 'em down, it's hard to keep 'em down. They just keep multiplying like rabbits!
General Strategy:
It's hard to nail down any specific strategy for Sol. That's the beauty of it. They're good trading partners (two 2's). They have good resources and great production. 2 Carriers means fast expansion, and not having to return to base to refill ground forces. The only thing you should be careful of is getting rushed out by another race that starts with a beefier lineup, like L1z1x or Mentak. Use your good production capacity to bulk up quickly as to discourage early game gimmicks.
One thing about the ground force generation ability: This is not a cost effective way to create troops. One command counter is definitely worth more than a single resource point in units. The value comes from popping up the GF's where you need them, when you need them, without a space dock or system activation. If you just want some extra ground forces and you have spare production at a space dock you don't need to use, then make your GF's the old fashioned way. But if you want to resist an ongoing siege, or bolster a seige of your own without going back to dock, your ability is invaluable.
Specific Strategy: All I can say is, pick a strategy and a complementary tech lineup, then follow it to fruition. Just about any route is possible. Below are some potentially fun and effective strategies I've been pondering.
A carrier-heavy strategy is always accessible because you start with cybernetics and antimass. Getting XRD is usually a good idea regardless of your plans. Want to go make the most of your special ability? Pick up every green tech you can via the Enviro route. Add a few yellow techs for money and production and you'll be a ground pounding nightmare. Daxcive Animators and Gen Synthesis combined make for nigh-immortal ground troops. Add Transit Diodes and you can reinforce anywhere you want, once again without activating systems.
Another fun route is a strict diet of Red tech. Hylar, Deep Space, Magen. XRD and Gen for a boost. Pick up Light/Wave Deflector and you're cooking. Fly through enemy lines and dump your GF's and a PDS or two on a planet in the middle of their territory. Your GF's will defend at +2 and you can reinforce them constantly. Add Transit Diodes (reached via Light/Wave this time) and your opponent will tear their hair out. One danger though... Fear X-89 Bacterial Weapon.
Those two are GF central strategies, designed to take your special ability and run with it. You can also use that ability to keep up with everyone else on the Ground so you can focus on space power (Advanced Fighters, Assault Cannons, War Sun, whatever).
All in all, Sol is a forgiving race to play because you do everything pretty well. That being said, Sol requires discipline because their starting abilities don't really guide your style of play; you must consciously self-dictate what path you will take. Be decisive and stick to a plan, and you should do well.
The Universities of Jol Nar
Pros: Tech, tech, tech. High starting influence. And tech.
Cons: Abysmal in combat, low production, only 2 starting ground forces.
Comments:
You must work overtime to please and appease combat-heavy races. Make up for your combat inadequacies with tech. Be the short, cranky man who drives a souped up sports car with a blasting radio! And never pick a fight.
General Strategy:
Don't get into a fight unless you absolutely must. This is harder than it sounds (and it doesn't sound like a picnic!). The first part of the game, you're vulnerable and weak, so that's a no brainer. The real discipline comes later in the game when you have tech coming out your ears and you have a big fleet. Unless your secret objective demands it, you should STILL not get in a fight. Why? Because with all your Assault Cannons and War Suns and big fleets, -1 is -1 is -1. It will bite you in the flippers a few rounds into your big attack. Your tattered fleet will be far from home over hostile territory, with no reinforcements, and you'll be seafood. Trust me. Every game I've played so far that had Jol Nar in it turned out this way. The player gets overconfident and gallavants off to take on some thug. They do well at first, and then they get creamed. I don't know about you all, but a little part of me dies every time I roll a number that would have hit if I weren't Jol Nar.
How do you deter attacks early on? Your trade cards are 1 and 3. The only other player with a "3" trade agreement is Hacan. Do not use it to get one of Hacan's #3's if Hacan is across the table. You cannot afford to be greedy. Offer it to one of your big scary neighbors in exchange for peace, even if it means you get a "1" in return. Survival and/or unhampered expansion is worth a few trade goods any day. You should be a fairly good judge of character. If you think your neighbor will take the trade and break it right away, then give it to your other neighbor and dig in for an attack. Expand carefully and cautiously.
If you must engage in war with another player, make sure at least one other player is on your side and involved in combat. If you win, share the spoils fairly and once again, don't get greedy. You can squeeze more out of your planets and trade agreements with your tech, after all.
Once in a while an opponent will leave themselves open to attack. I suppose you should take advantage of it, but only if:
1) You don't leave your territory open to scavengers.
2) Your attack is a sure-thing knockout blow that you can pull off without getting burned. Once you're committed, hit them while they're down and show NO mercy.
3) It will grant you quick VP's that you can't get any other way.
Otherwise, use your big shiny fleet to defend from attack while you take your final victory points. Your ships will be able to reinforce themselves and you will deter scavengers from preying on your tender, fishy flesh.
A quick word about your ability to reroll one of your dice: use it sparingly. Let's say you're in a close battle and your war sun misses one of its shots. Or you played your "Strategic Bombardment" action card and missed the roll to put it back in your hand. These are probably a good times to spend a strategic counter. Let's say one of your fighters misses. Don't even think about it. Counters are valuable. Don't blow it on a roll that's usually going to fail anyway. Reroll critical dice that should have succeeded.
What tech to buy? Well, you can pursue any tech route easily. In fact, you can probably pursue two or three separate routes in any given game. Be sure that when you get 2 techs, you pay for the one that gives you the most discounts, and then take a more expensive one (like yellow) for free. You can take lots of tech that enhances your infrastructure, but you should keep a larger fleet to remain "spiky." Or, take as much warfare oriented tech as you can to intimidate opponents, and see if you can get away with holding more planets.
Strategy cards:
There are few instances I can think of where you should ever take the technology strategy card. It limits you to a single tech purchase that round, when you can buy 2, for dirt cheap esp. with Scientist leaders. Diplomacy, however, is your friend. The Political SC might provide you with an agenda or action card that turns the tide.
Overall, look as spiky as you can and stay out of trouble. Don't get overconfident no matter how many toys you have. Lots of tech will make bad guys think you can fight... no need to prove to them that you still suck in combat.
The Xxcha Kingdom
Pros: No glaring weaknesses. Attractive trade partners. Superlative ability to thwart determined political/military harrassment.
Cons: Only 2 starting GF's. Diplomacy ability's power is highly dependent on the other players in the game.
Comments: Ahh, my favorite race from TI2. I loved these guys. Haven't made up my mind about them in this edition, but they're on their way to the top of my list once again. It takes a careful player to use them properly, but in the right hands they rock. With style. By the way, their name is officially pronounced "Ex-cha." That's straight from Flightmaster, iirc.
General Strategy:
No other race can say "Sorry Dave, you can't do that" more than the Xxcha. Always keep a few extra strategic counters around for your veto/diplomacy abilities. At all times, you should have at least 2 more counters here than what you plan to use for secondary abilities.
Your diplomacy ability's power is directly related to the atmosphere of the game. You want lots of other players to be fighting each other, because the Diplomacy Strategy Card (DSC) will see lots of play time. In a peaceful galaxy, it will remain unpicked. You want other people to take it, so you can emulate it as your secondary ability, leaving you the option of taking something else. 4 player games are absolutely ideal for Xxcha, because the DSC will be picked by someone every round, no matter what. Careful though; your DSC-ability is dependent on when the user decides to implement it. If you want a Xxcha player to sweat, pick the DSC and hold out on using it as long as you can.
Diplomat leaders RULE. Even if the DSC has not been picked/played, or you're getting doubleteamed and can't diplomacize both your opponents, your leaders may be able to stall the invasion until your reinforcements can make it, or you can at least hold off until next round. All the while, your non-blockaded space docks can bolster your defenses or take pot shots with PDS.
Style of play:
You can play two ways... the pure diplomat, or passive-aggressive. One is easy, one is a lot riskier, but fortune favors the brave, right?
The pure diplomat doesn't get in the way. He takes his share of planets, makes nice trade deals with his less civilized neighbors, and quietly bides his time. He's like Jol Nar, but with better survivability and less tech. Any attempts to breach his territory will be met with Diplomat leaders and the Diplomatic Secondary-as-Primary Ability. Political setups will be thwarted with vetos. Attacking opponents will become frustrated and give up unless they have a lot of help from their friends. A last (or next-to-last) turn land grab usually clinches the game for the pure diplomat. The last time I played Xxcha, I won the game without firing a shot, literally. Sweet talking, good use of the Diplomacy Ability, and a surprise completion of my Secret Objective handed me the win, and there was nothing my opponents could do about it. Pure Xxcha!
That's the safe, easy way to play Xxcha. Here's the fun, albeit seat-of-your-pants way to play Xxcha.
Passive-Aggressive Xxcha abuses the DSC ability as much as he can. It's always better if you have a willing accomplice. Here's an example of a perfectly set up and executed plan :
The player with the Diplomacy Strategy card has an initiative of 2. Your initiative is such that the DSC's initiative number will come after yours but before your victim's. You don't necessarily have to have the Initiative Strategy Card, since after Imperial ( 8 ) play goes back to the lowest initiative ( 1 ) again. You attack your victim and capitalize on your combat ability (-1 to enemy for a round). Place a diplomat leader or two, if you have them, on your shiny new planets. Then your accomplice (or spontaneously bribed individual) holding the DSC takes his strategic action. Use your ability. Now your opponent can do nothing about your invasion until next round.
This initiative play can be taken to the extreme. Let's say the turn before you attacked your victim late in the round, after he had passed (or already activated your target system). This round, you select Initiative, your (unwitting?) accomplice takes DSC, and your victim takes something else. You move further into his territory and pull off the previous paragraph's shenanigans. Next turn, you get to pick first and take the DSC. This is the 3rd turn in a row that your victim is powerless to attack you. You have some fudge room, too, if you're playing with diplomat leaders and only care about holding onto the planets, not the space above them.
This works best on your neighbor to your right, since he picks last when you have the Speaker token. It's hard to pull off, especially if the person with the DSC holds out on you, but when it works it works beautifully.
***
Choice of technology depends on how your chosen style of play, and what you feel will complement your plans the best. You can do just about anything you want given your starting techs, but I recommend picking up XRD regardless. Following a red path will take a little longer but it will work with dedication. Otherwise, go movement, economy, or a mix of all four colors.
All in all, Xxcha is fun however you play them. I'm sure you all can tell that I really like these guys. For some kicks (and higher blood pressure), try the passive-aggressive Xxcha on for size sometime. Just be sure you've got the game mechanics down cold before you do it.
The Yssaril Tribes
Pros: Superior Intelligence, Action Cards, Turn order, and Expansion capabilities. Great leaders and tech.
Cons: Limited early production. That's it.
Comments: Yowzah.
General Strategy:
You're a super-spy, plain and simple. You know who has what, you act exactly when you want to. You usually prefer to avoid a fight but if you're pressed, you pack a punch and have a few cards up your sleeve (literally).
Yssaril's ability to look at cards is better than 2nd Ed. In TI2, the card peekaboo happened before new cards were drawn for the round, so while you'd have a good idea what your opponent could do, they always had a card or two extra that you wouldn't know about. Now, you know exactly what's in their hand until the end of the turn when they get new cards, barring the Political Strategy Card of course.
When in doubt about what Strategy card to choose, pick the Political card. You have a high base influence so on average you'll have more clout in the Senate. You can hold off playing the card until long after people have blown their influence on more counters from Logistics. You'll get a command counter which is always helpful, and most importantly, 3 more action cards. Combine that with your ability to draw 2 cards per turn (3 with Neural Motivator) and you can conceivably pick up 6 action cards in a single round, none of which you have to discard due to hand limit.
The ability to pass your turn without ending your turn is, imo, Yssaril's best ability. In general, you can lie back and wait to see what everyone else does. When almost everyone else has passed, activated most of their important systems, or exhausted their supply of command counters, you go to town. It's quite likely you'll be the only one left with actions to take, meaning you can act without fear of retaliation until next round. Furthermore, you'll have a veritable wad of action cards with which you can wreak havoc in an orgy of destruction.
Whatever strategy card you pick, you can wait until very late in the round to use the primary ability. You will have several actions remaining with which to use whatever benefit you glean from the card, but most other players will have passed, exhausted their planets, or otherwise missed out on an opportunity to use your card's secondary ability to their benefit during the current round. Example: You have the Tech Strategy Card, and Sol wants to purchase the War Sun tech early this round so he can build one later this round. By holding off, an easy task for you, Sol may still be able to purchase the tech if it's important enough to him (you can use secondary abilities after passing) but he's out of luck on building that War Sun until next turn.
You can take many planets very quickly at the start of the game. I might actually suggest you NOT take Warfare, however, as you may earn the jealousy and wrath of your fellow players too early on if you take 6 planets right off the bat. That is not the way of Yssaril... you want to hide in the shadows, not call attention to yourself. You can't easily fight an early war of attrition because you just don't have the starting resources or production capacity for prolongued combat, at least not right away. Your tech lineup is brilliant for early mobility but it puts you further away from war/economy techs that would help in war time.
I suppose you could play more by the seat of your pants. You could play aggressively and rely on a steady stream of action cards to keep your edge, but it's very risky. Action Cards luck-of-the-draw always seems to poop out on you when you need it the most. I think it's better to wait in the shadows like a good little spy.
Fear early attacks, much like Jol Nar should. You come into your own later on, when you have a fistful of action cards and your opponents have left you an opening. Mentak is probably your worst possible neighbor, assuming they know what they're doing.
Tech is up to you entirely. Both the yellow/green and red tech trees will go nicely with your XRD transporter. I might not be inclined to go heavy fighters or other cheap units unless you want to work hard to overcome your production limitations with tech and nearby planets. Your hand of action cards substitutes nicely for tech, so don't make it your priority unless objectives (secret or public) overrule your inclinations.
The Naalu Collective
Pros: Always first to move. +1 to fighters. Ability to evade attackers at will with proper planning.
Cons: Always first to move. You should really know you're doing in order to use your abilities properly.
Comments: They're an enigmatic race, these Naalu. My thoughts on them change day to day. One moment I'll look at them and marvel at their power. The next second, I'll wonder how they'll manage to compete with the likes of Yssaril and N'orr.
General Strategy:
In TI2, I always felt that moving last was better than moving first, unless you were specifically trying to move before another opponent for tactical reasons. TI3 is totally different. Going first is a great blessing. No opponent can ever catch you unprepared by drawing a lower initiative card. You'll always win the race to be first to occupy that juicy neutral planet. If you take Diplomacy, not even the player who draws Initiative won't get off an attack before you neutralize them with your Strategic Action. That's huge.
Remember that in order to retreat you must do so to an activated system. Therefore, a general rule of thumb is if you want to prevent an enemy's escape, you should attack them using your very first action, preferably with a better initiative than your victim. This is much easier to do as Naalu, because it doesn't matter what card you've taken, you'll have the best initiative. And, this doesn't work against Naalu. Since you always move first, you can prepare for evacuation ahead of time. Attacking a prepared Naalu fleet that doesn't want to fight is like trying to grab a greased cat. Good luck.
However, moving first makes it difficult to sit back and watch for an opening. Naalu is the opposite of Yssaril in that respect. If you want to stall, make your first move a setup. If you're expecting to be attacked, activate a "getaway" system. Otherwise, activate something fairly unimportant. That feels like a waste to me, though, so I say make that first move count for something! Use it offensively to grab territory or attack before your oppoent(s) can react. Or use it to prepare your static defense (pds, Gf's, etc) for an imminent invasion.
Fighters. They're grrrreat! It goes without saying that you want to have as many of these little buggers as you can afford. Doing so maximizes your ability, which is a good thing. The more you have of these, the more of a space combat nightmare you will be. But therein lies the problem: You're no Letnev or L1z1x. You're don't have bad production to start, but you can't really pump them out without sacrificing capital ship construction either. Then there's the issue of ground forces. If your carriers are full of fighters, there won't be much room for Ground Forces, and you'll pretty much have to use Stasis capsules and a few capital ships to keep them around.
Look for a nice system like Bereg/Lirta or Abyz/Fria (resources are 3+2) and build two docks there. That should fix you up nicely, esp. with Sarween Tools. Build as quickly as you can. Why? Destroyers. They are your bane. They're dirt cheap and fight well, but their true "cost" to build is fleet supply. Fighters and Carriers rule the skies when average fleet supply is low and destroyers are rare. Your advantage will decrease as the game plods on and average fleet supply climbs. The more ships your opponents can host, the more destroyers he will have sitting around, and you'll find yourself losing more and more fighters to those infernal ships. Using Dreads as a complement to your fighters will add more bite to your fleets, but it won't reduce destroyer damage because those pre-battle shots must be allocated to fighters only.
Tech: Ahh, this is a hard decision. Your first two must-have techs are easy to get... Cybernetics and XRD are instantly available. After that, it gets dicey. The two best advanced techs for Naalu are Graviton Negator and Advanced Fighters. Graviton Negator allows your fighters to invade planets. Advanced Fighters is turns you into a space combat beast: For 1 resource you can produce 2 units that move two and fight almost as well as a Dreadnought. It also frees up your carriers to hold hordes of ground troops. Your Dreads can move as fast as everything else because you have Type IV as a prerequisite. Type IV's not so important to you though, so PRAY for the "Focused Research" action card, which would allow you to go for Grav Negator and pick up Advanced Fighters any time you want.
But wait. Wouldn't Sarween Tools help you get lots of extra fighters for free over time? That's a good deal. And If I need cruisers with Stasis to take ground forces, shouldn't I beef those cruisers with Hylar? And since I won't have so many GF's, perhaps I should get Gen Synthesis to help with their survivability. But none of these techs really put you closer to your ultimate goal. The game often tends to end before anyone but Jol Nar has highly advanced tech. There are just too many good techs, and not enough time.
If you think you can get lots of good tech quickly and cheaply, then go for one of the Big Two and resist the urge to pick up niceties like Sarween and Hylar. However, more often than not, money will be tight and you'll need instant effectiveness. Pick up XRD, Cybernetics, Sarween and Stasis. Get Hylar if you're feeling indulgent.
In general, use Naalu to get the jump on everyone else while fighting only when you want to. Be slippery but strong. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. Play for objectives, not for conquest. If you've invaded enemy planets to achieve your secret objective and succeeded, don't feel honor bound to hold on to those planets if the original owner is coming to take them back with a big fleet to back him up.
I have not played Naalu myself yet, and to be honest, I don't feel the in-game experiences I've had with them have properly displayed their potential. I feel less confident about describing these telepathic snake ladies than I do any other race. I hope my thoughts are on the right track, but only time (and experience) will tell.
The Emirates of Hacan
Pros: Great income potential. Powerful bargaining abilities.
Cons: Early vulnerability. Requires a proactive player.
Comments: The Hacan are probably the most characterful and brilliantly designed race in the new edition. They have no potent combat abilities, and nothing special in terms of starting units/tech. Most of their strengths are just as well suited to benefit other players as much as themselves. Yet they are perfectly balanced compared to the other races. That's the sheer beauty of it.
With the Hacan, your motto is "Scmooze or Lose." You deal in the currency of favors. You have two powerful bargaining tools at your disposal: Your trade agreements and your singular ability to trade action cards.
Your trade agreements cards are far and away the best of any race. Anyone who trades with you will make 3 credits. They will appreciate the money, so it's an easy way to buy yourself a nonagression pact. You can usually secure another player's '2' trade agreement yourself, but if you're pretty desperate to keep Mentak or N'orr from declawing you, even trading for a '1' will put out some money due to your income bonus. The best thing about your trade agreements is that your trade formations do not require authorization. You can't get shut out of the trade phase; more importantly, you can help out the guy who is getting shafted by a vindictive Trade Master. One of your trade agreements alone is worth most players' total trade income with 2 active agreements. By helping out your fellow opponent in his time of need and persecution, you've earned his gratitude. If his gratitude is worth more than the ire of the Trade Master, you've made a good investment. Now see how far you can milk it!
You can giveth, and you can also taketh away. Once an ally becomes accustomed to making fat cash off of you, he won't want to lose it. Use his greed to influence his decisions. Threaten to revoke trade if he does (or doesn't do) something that affects your interests in the game. Or, entertain offers from other greedy players and see if he's willing to conceed a small planet, some trade goods, or a card to keep you faithful to him. Just be careful... there are some goals of his that you just can''t influence with money alone. Secret Objectives, for example. Enforcing those interests what your military is for. Furthermore, if you push too hard and make him mad, you may accomplish the opposite of your intentions. He may do what he wants anyway, or even just to spite you now, and he may use a withdrawn trade agreement as an excuse to attack. So, be careful and crafty. Make your offers, fees, and threats stiff but reasonable. I can't stress that enough. Help him to realize that doing what you want is in his best interests. This is easy to do if it is true. You're a car salesman, not a drill sargeant. If you lose enough "sales," you'll lose the game. And if nobody likes you, they won't buy from you.
The +1 to trade income (is it per trade agreement or total? We play per agreement) and the unbreakability of your trades will ensure that you can establish and hold on to lucrative income even if it becomes inconvenient for your partners. If their best trade agreement card is locked up with you, they can't offer it to their neighbor as a peace offering. Once again, use your judgement. If he is absolutely desperate to release his agreement, he may attack you or play some nasty card to punish you. Keep him under your financial thumb until just before you risk harming yourself. Again, sound judgement is key.
Never bluff, at least in the beginning; you may be called on it and if you back down you will appear indecisive, dishonest, or easily bullied. If your opponents see that you keep your word, both with threats and generosity, they will tend to believe you without question after a while, or at least in time. THIS is when you can start to throw in a bluff every now and again. This kind of advice is good for all Twilight races, but I felt it was good to include it with Hacan since player manipulation personifies your race.
Finally, we come to action cards. YOU MUST USE THIS ABILITY. It's very easy to let a Status phase slide by without trading any cards. Maybe the game is dragging on and people want to move more quickly, or you just don't think to do it. Make it a point, after everyone has drawn new cards, to ask out loud, "Anyone want to trade action cards?"
You can use the card ability selfishly, you can be a mercenary, or you can do it as a public service. Many action cards only work with the right tech/units/situation. Trading action cards to perfectly complement a pre-formed strategy was one of my favorite things about 2nd edition, and Hacan can still do this. This ability is extremely powerful if nobody else is allowed to do it. Furthermore, if you want to set someone up to fall at the hands of another player, you can act as a card middle-man to ensure that your friend gets all the right cards to help do his job. And if you don't care, or just want to make a little money, feel free to charge a fee to facilitate card trades between players. If the card is decent, ask for a trade good. If the card is great, ask for two or three goods, or see if you can get a card of your own to keep. You can even let players trade a few trivial cards for free to begin with, and get them hooked on the convenience. Then you gouge them later. Trading cards is good on some level even when you don't get paid. One, you know a little about what your opponents have in their hands now. Two, you may get them to act in your best interests somehow. And three, you should ALWAYS make sure that when you trade cards, you have your "clients" promise not to use those cards to harm you in any way. If they break that trust, refuse to trade their cards for the rest of the game. Assuming your friends keep their word, you render the traded cards harmless against you every time you trade, but you can still sell information about them to others!
You're nothing special militarily, but you're not weak either. You can use your higher income and Sarween/Enviro to produce a few more units on average than most others. The nice thing about having lots of trade goods is that they are flexible. In most cases you should spend them first, as having a lot in your supply area makes you the target for theiving cards and those Mentak lowlifes. Keep enough around for bribes and spend the rest. Only tap planets first if you're about to lose them in an invasion, or if you have the Initiative card and want to refresh them for free when the Diplomacy card gets activated (thx for the tip, Tom). Early in the game, I would buy as many ships as possible, in preference over the secondary tech ability. You start a little on the soft side and need to get spiky fast. It will strengthen your bargaining power when you are trying to convince someone not to attack you.
Beware the loose cannons out there. It's a perfectly viable strategy to accept Hacan's offer of trade/peace, and then attack the pussycats soon after while they're occupied elsewhere. Do your best to be sure that your trade agreement is not being accepted as a ploy. And don't rely entirely on your ability to talk your way out of everything. A well defended border is the best bargaining chip when peace talks are underway. Fences make good neighbors. Finally, unless you have an obscenely large fleet that you can reinforce steadily and reliably, play for points, not for conquest, just like Naalu. Combat and conquest are fine but don't take the risk unless you are sure you'll come out on top.
Strategy Cards: If you want to make obscene amounts of cash, you can pick the Trade Strategy. By all means do so if you need money fast. However, most of the time I wouldn't bother. People will be painfully aware of your handsome trade income potential; no need to rub it in with three extra trade goods. Furthermore, you can use the secondary Trade ability without paying a command counter, and if you are the trade master you can't IGNORE the trade master, so it just seems like kind of a waste to take Trade most of the time. Most of the cards will benefit you one way or the other regardless, so just pick what you need. Political is always a good one if you want some more cards to trade with, and your starting influence is okay, esp. if you can bribe or call in favors from your allies for that important vote.
Tech: That's really up to you, but you do already have 2 of the prerequisites for War Sun. The other two, Hylar and Deep Space, are super in their own right. War Sun is the natural next step. Antimass and XRD are a possibility if you want to go that way, but it's a choice, not a necessity. You can pretty much attain any tech goal you wish, but use discretion and play conservatively. Ships are usually a better choice, at least the way I play.
Overall: Your success as Hacan relies completely on your ability to win friends and influence people. You must show good judgement and take decisive action. Never miss an opportunity to do business, and like any good businessman you want your clients to be happy. Don't get too greedy and demand too much. Let's say you are player B. You make a mutually beneficial deal with player A. You make another mutually beneficial deal with player C. Players A+C are happy and better off for doing business with you. You are doubly so because you've made twice as many deals. Catch my drift?
Sure, there will be games when it seems like nothing you say or do will get you anywhere. But 90% of the time, everybody has a price.
The Mentak Coalition
Pros: Supreme early game scariness.
Cons: Power decreases steadily as fleet supplies rise. Trade stealing and cruiser potency is highly dependent on other players' decisions.
Comments: Playing these guys well requires a very particular mindset (and a pair of steel cajones!). For that reason they are misused more often than any other race.
Some general rules for Mentak:
-The smaller your opponent's fleet (or fleet supply), the more your preemptive shots are worth.
-Your ability will decrease over the course of the game, as cannon fodder builds and fleet supplies rise.
Cruisers and Destroyers:
This is the meat of Mentak. There are three basic techniques for your preemptive shots: Sniping, Blocking, and 'Hit and Run.'
Sniping
Picture this: Your opponent's fledgling empire is expanding. They're taking their first steps into the neighboring systems with a small, vulnerable fleet. You swoop in with your cruisers, blow their carrier out of the sky before it can fire back, and strand any ground forces it may have already landed for an indefinite amount of time. This is the classic cruiser snipe.
The whole point of these attacks are to stall your enemy's expansion (or advance) and force them to spend additional resources, time, and effort. If you take out your enemy's first carrier, they must build a replacement, and renter the hex. That's several resources and multiple command counters you have essentially stolen from your enemy, for a very modest investment of your own. If you can use this time to invade planets or reinforce your position, you're golden.
Sniping works at any point during the game, but it works best early, like on turn one or two. Your opponents are less likely to have sufficient cannon fodder to absorb damage. Lack of a coherent enemy PDS network is also in your best interest.
Blocking
This is the practice of denying your enemy room to expand or maneuver. By placing a few cruisers in a hex containing unclaimed planets, you force your opponent to weigh the pros of taking the system vs. the cons of suffering casualties. Those planets are essential to their war effort, but more casualties could leave their already occupied systems open to further attack. They can build up a force that can absorb the casualties, but that takes time and resources! Sniping often turns into blocking, so don't be afraid to leave your cruisers around after a successful attack.
This is a "passive aggressive" way to play early in the game. You do no actual damage to units by blocking a system, but you force your opponent to make tough decisions, and most importantly, you slow them down. If you sufficiently scare your opponents, they may even use the Diplomacy Card to prevent you from making further incursions. This is just fine, as it gives you time to reinforce, and ensures they won't be taking that territory for another round.
Hit and Run
This tactic follows the logic that the more you use your cruiser/destroyer ability, the better off you'll be. Sometimes your opponent will come at you with more than you can handle, or your attack on a convoy will go far worse than you anticipated. Don't be a hero! Retreat your cruisers to an adjacent, activated hex. You will have gotten off your preemptive shots, and hopefully your cruisers will survive to preempt another day. To maximize your shots, you might consider attacking with the full intention of only staying for one round of combat. You're a pirate, not Horatio Hornblower! Try to always leave a way out, and never feel bad about retreating.
Selecting Victims:
Certain races are definitely better victims than others. Sol may very well be your best target. They start with an extremely fragile navy; they're perfect for sniping. Sure, they can grow ground troops like bunny rabbits, but if you rule their air space, ground forces won't do them any good. Yssaril is also a tempting victim. They have extremely poor production and resources, so they'll be hard pressed to absorb space attacks. If you can eliminate their starting units and blockade their space dock, they'll crumple pretty quickly.
PDS trump your cruisers. Never, ever, forget this. PDS get to fire first, and they hit as often as your cruisers (more often w/Magen or Graviton Laser System). If you're moving into territory that can shoot at you first, plan accordingly and bring fodder, or pick on someone else.
For example, you should think twice about taking on Sardakk N'orr right away. They start with Deep Space Cannons and a PDS. You might like fish, but Jol Nar can be surprisingly resilient against Mentak, esp. if you are playing with leaders. They start with 2 PDS, can pick up Deep Space Cannon (and Magen/Graviton) for cheap, and their scientists allow those PDS to fight just as well as everybody else.
Long Term Strategy:
TI3 has seen to it that it's a bit harder to take over someone's home system. If you are facing ground defenses that are too too tough a nut to crack, fine. Lay siege. Take and hold most planets adjacent to your opponent's home system, they will slowly starve to death while you grow fat and happy. If they try to scrabble away in the opposite direction, blockade and eliminate any space docks they try to construct. Eventually, you will overpower their air forces and the remaining resistance will be land based. Their production will be limited to GF's and PDS. Meanwhile, you have all the time in the world to prepare that invasion force.
This is where Dreadnoughts come in. If you sit a typical fleet over PDS-infested waters, you will bleed cannon fodder. This can be a slow (potentially heavy!) drain on resources, and it will eventually force you to send replacement ships. Dreadnoughts, however, can heal on their own. If you park them over PDS territory, they can absorb many of the hits and save you money in the long run. Meanwhile, you can work up to X-89 Bacterial weapon/Graviton Negator and make short work of insolent pockets of resistance.
Taking someone's home system or eliminating them completely is a good thing, right? Well, yes and no. If you can easily wipe someone off the map, you go ahead. If they're alive, they'll be playing nasty action cards on you, whining about how mean you are, and they'll try to get other players to have pity and come to their aid. Better to put them out of your misery. However, if you do get rid of him completely, you'll have a new neighbor... one who has probably grown fat off of his former neighbor's misfortune. Better hope you're on good terms with this new neighbor, or at least that you can win (and support) any new conflicts that arise.
The Other Guy:
After all this writing, I have neglected to speak of your other neighbor. The one who you aren't starving and beating to death. This is one of the reasons you need to start your predations early. If you are very successful early on, you'll be able to watch your back almost right away. Heck, if you're really lucky and your opponents aren't (or they're poor players), you may be able to start a similar slow war with both neighbors. In general, though, it's best to make deals or concede a little territory/trade goods in order to keep your backside safe. The political game is as important, if not more so, to you than it is to any of the other races. Nobody can fight a war on multiple fronts and not get mauled.
Psychological Warfare:
The Hacan specialize in manipulating other players with business deals and a silver tongue. The Mentak exist to frustrate and infuriate their opponents. Angry people make mistakes and let their heart, not their head, dictate strategy. Capitalize on this. Goad them into fighting you at bad odds. Let them think they have a chance to get back on their feet. Then gut them.
Never let guilt get in the way. You have to act like a jerk if you want to play Mentak well. It's your nature to pick on the weak and make their life miserable for the entire game. If you feel guilty about this, and let someone get back on their feet without a good, solid reason, you deserve to lose. Your victim will hold a grudge and the next thing you know, you'll be the one on your knees. You're a pirate! You're a dirty, pillaging coward. Be proud! Arrr!!!
Your Other Ability:
Oh right, the ability to steal trade goods. This doesn't require much discussion, imo. In a game with Mentak, most players will spend their trade goods as soon as they get them, in order to deny you the piracy. Letnev is an exception for obvious reasons, and they will learn to hate your guts. If you’re primary victim leaves any money lying around, it goes without saying that you should steal it from them. A penny stolen is a penny earned. If the only players around with money are your allies or folks you don't want to fight, be careful. Downplay your theft as much as possible, saying that you're "just using your ability, and shouldn't waste it, it's not personal at all." If they swallow this, you're set. If they're freaking out, it may be worth forsaking a trade good or two not to make the natives restless. Use your judgment.
Fleet complement:
Mentak, like L1z1x, might consider relying on destroyers more than fighters for escorts. You start with an additional counter in fleet supply, and I would keep it there. In the late game, your combined anti-fighter barrage, preemptive shots, and Assault Cannon (if you have it) should take care of most enemy cannon fodder before the battle even begins.
Strategy Cards: Whatever you need, really. Logistics can swell your fleet supply or allow more cruiser attacks. Tech is always good. Diplomacy can be your best friend, if your campaign suffers a setback. A free turn to reinforce may be just what the doctor ordered. Or, you can use that Diplomacy to guard your backside and deny it from your enemy.
Tech:
Your first tech should almost always be Stasis capsules. In fact, Technology is probably your best first turn card pick if you can manage it. Warfare is very tempting, but kind of risky. With Stasis, now your fleet of cruisers can take planets. This will reduce your need for carriers considerably.
The War Sun tech is good for Mentak, and a characterful choice. Talk about building the ultimate "Pirate Hideout!" War Suns pack a lot of punch and are as fast as your cruisers and destroyers. They double as carriers without requiring those pesky XRD transporters. Their massive bombardments can break sieges easily, making your Capsuled cruisers more than adequate for protracted land wars. You need Sarween and Deep Space to get it. Sarween Tools will provide you with many free destroyers over the course of the game. Deep Space Cannons will never let you down either!
Another valuable tech is Neural Motivators. If you want to maximize your pre-combat firing opportunities, Assault Cannon isn't that hard to get. Basically, Red and Green techs are your friends. Most yellow or blue techs, with the exception of Sarween, aren't worth it for you.
Well, that's it. To play Mentak well, you must be cunning and ruthless. You don't have brute force, you have guile. If L1z1x is a hammer/anvil, then Mentak is a dueling rapier. And always remember: Mercy is for losers!
Sardak N'orr (par Bismark66, autre joueur expérimenté)
Pros: fairly obvious - great space and ground combat bonus.
Cons: Very slowwww..... poor starting units, mediocre production.
The N'orr are slow out of the gate, they are a race that is going to peak late. Make sure nobody calls the Orkin man early, then work towards a late massive insect swarm to grab your secret objective or crush your neigbor, well, like a bug.
Overview: The N'orr have those great ground units and PDS, but you just can't get them anywhere useful. You start out with one slow carrier and are nowhere close to XRD or Stasis Capsules. You are going to fall behind in the initial planet grab. Expand slowly but steadily, build a nice PDS grid-o-death early and rely on your ground troops and PDS to keep others at their distance. Believe me, nobody is going to mess with you if you are not overly agressive early. The threat of the +1 to combat rolls ability to other players may actually be better than you using it sometimes - everyone is a little scared of you but not enough to do anything about it if you don't overextend yourself. Instead of hostility you might get concessions thrown your way as your neighbors bid for you to direct your attention elsewhere.
Production: Quinarra has a starting production capacity of 5. Combined with the fact that your carrier is so slow, it doesn't make sense for you to build carrier based fighter swarms early. Build ground forces and PDS to keep others at bay while you gain strength for the late game, build a second carrier early to get those GF and PDS shipped out. For combat units, destroyers are best for you. With Hylar and the +1 they shoot like Cruisers. Also, the more combat dice you roll, the better your racial ability gets, so the destroyer anti-fighter barrage amplifies your bonus. Plus they're cheap so you can afford all those PDS. Later in the game you can buy the larger units.
Tech: Your lack of mobility is a problem you are going to have to solve. One way is Enviro Comp/Stasis Capsules and then start building cruisers. The other is Antimass/XRD which seems like a waste unless you have lots of planets with blue tech specials or someone threw down an asteroid field in front of Mecatol Rex or whatever.
Besides, the Yellow/Green tech route is better because that can lead to Sarween/War Suns, and War Suns are even better for you than most other races because they also act as 2 movement carriers. Just what the doctor ordered. You start with two of the War Sun prereqs anyway...
Another good route is to stay with your long suit and develop more red techs. Megan is a strong tech for you with all the PDS units you'll have arrayed on your planets. Getting to Assault Cannon/Antigrav is great too if you need to invade some planets.
Strategy: Warfare is probably the best pick, especially early. It helps a lot with your mobility problem. Other good picks are Tech as yellow techs are good for you and of course there are no yellow planet discounts. Logistics is good to crank up fleet supply for your destroyer swarms. Politics even - the Flank Speed action card can really help you and maybe you can fish for one (if the Hacan are in the game, try and trade for one).
Random notes:
You are blessed with better trade cards than the other "combat" races, and you should be able to extort decent trade contracts from your neighbors. Just don't be obnoxious about it, let them come to you.
When you are ready to go on the offensive, bringing your PDS units forward to bombard the victimized system can be great if you can pull it off. But finding carrier space is going to be more of a challenge for you than for most other races. You are better off making sure you have enough GF and some fighter cannon fodder along. Building Dreads makes sense if you don't have War Suns (or even if you do) - you get the +1 for bombardment which will preserve some of those GF you laborously hauled into the target system, and the 2-hit thing is important for you as you won't have as many fighters on hand as most races to soak up casualties.
I can't emphasise enough how your early mobility problem limits your options. You need to get "spiky" early and be patient - if you are given enough time you will be the supreme military power on the board. Get some good trade contracts, build up your fleets, and get them into positon. Then go out and get that secret objective, and blow by the front-runner late.
Ludovic.
Depuis le temps, personne n'a traduit ces "aides tactiques"?
Il serait aussi intéressant d'en trouver ou en établir concernant les nouvelles races de l'extension.
On peut utiliser ce post pour donner ces propres idées de manière de jouer.
LE CLAN SAAR
Du haut de ma petite dizaine de partie d'expérience, voici ma petite contribution concernant une race qui semble peu populaire : le clan Saar (une seule partie jouée avec eux, mais j'ai une excuse... Je l'ai gagné).
IDEES GENERALES
1) Vous devez réfléchir à votre expansion territoriale dès la constitution de la galaxie en gardant à l’esprit le fait majeur : vous avez XRD Transporter qui vous permet d’envoyer vos GF à deux cases de distances dès le premier tour.
2) Ensuite, choisissez une expansion territoriale rapide. Chaque planète conquise rapporte un TG. De plus, avec XRD Transporter, vous avez un plus grand choix dans vos options de conquête.
3) Ne cherchez pas à consolider votre système-mère. Il n'est pas indispensable de le contrôler pour valider vos objectifs et votre space dock peut le quitter.
4) D’une manière générale, il n’est pas très intéressant de consolider la plupart de vos systèmes. Choisissez un système plus central, placé pour avoir un maximum de planètes à deux cases (dont Mecatol). Puis ne consolider que les plus grosses planètes productrices ainsi que ceux contenant des artefacts.
5) Vos Space Docks ne peuvent pas produire lorsqu'ils se déplace. La carte stratégique la plus importante pour vous est donc la carte "production" qui vous permettra de produire tout en vous déplaçant.
6) Vos Space Dock sont très fragile. Protégez-les avec un nuage de chasseurs. Construisez en à chaque fois que vous pouvez. Vous avez peu de points de construction mais qui risquent de ne pas être utiliser. Ne les gachez pas et faites des chasseurs et des GF.
4) Les technologies à développer rapidement sont « Enviro Compensator » et votre technologie raciale (pas chère du tout) afin d’avoir des Space docks qui se déplacent de 2 cases (3 avec « Warfare ») et une capacité de production de 6. On peut aussi pousser le développement des chasseurs (Cybernetics puis plus tard Advanced Fighters si vous avez eu l’occasion de jouer le développement technologique) indispensable à la protection de vos Space Docks.
HOME SWEET HOME ?
Vous pouvez valider des objectifs même si vous avez perdu votre système-mère. Ca tombe bien, celui-ci n’a absolument rien de transcendant (2 planètes 1/0 et 2/1).
L’air de rien, cette capacité change complètement la manière de jouer. Vous n’avez plus besoin de bétonner vos arrières pour pouvoir vous développer sereinement. Vous pouvez partir tout de suite vers le grand large (vers Mecatol par exemple). Votre Space Dock vous suit de toute façon ! Vous avez une case stratégique de moins à contrôler, ce qui réduit la division de votre flotte (Avec Mecatol, les planètes-artefacts et les grosses planètes productrices à protéger, une zone de moins à surveiller, ce n’est pas négligeable).
Vous pouvez laisser votre système-mère sans aucune protection. Aucun « local unrest » ni aucune annexion diplomatique ne sont possible. Ses planètes ayant par ailleurs un intérêt moyen, il y a peu de chance qu’on vienne vous les piquer (seule problème : un adversaire a l’objectif secret « Conqueror »… Vous lui offrez 2 points de victoire sur un plateau)
EN ROUTE POUR MECATOL
1/3 des objectifs secret passe par le contrôle de Mecatol et l’établissement d’un Space Dock dessus. Si vous êtes dans ce cas, vous disposez d’un énorme avantage. Alors que les autres joueurs vont devoir mettre deux tours minimum pour remplir leur objectif (laissant toute latitude aux autres joueurs pour lui pourrir sa tactique), vous pouvez en vous débrouillant correctement valider votre objectif le tour même ou vous mettez le pied sur Mecatol Rex (puisqu’il vous suffit d’y amener votre Space Dock), empêchant ainsi vos adversaires de réagir.
AVEC « DISTANT SUN »
Ceux qui jouent avec cette option le save bien. On refuse généralement de perdre un tour à explorer les systèmes et on prend tous les risques dès le début de la partie (on a vu des partie perdu en deux tours comme ça).
Grâce à votre space dock qui peut porter des chasseurs (mais pas des GF), vous allez pouvoir explorer des systèmes sans faire perdre de tour à votre expansion territoriale. Pendant que vous commencez vos conquêtes avec vos deux carriers, envoyez votre space dock avec un chasseur exporer un système (celui avec le plus de planètes par exemple). Les domaines identifiés, au prochain tour, vous n’avez plus qu’à débarquer sur les « amicaux » et à annexer diplomatiquement les « hostiles » pendant que le Space Dock continue de prospecter.
Voilà, si vous avez des trucs concernant d'autres races (ou d'autres remarques à faire sur les Saar, n'hésitez pas.
Remarques complémentaires sur le Clan des Saars:
- Votre attribut raciale la plus intéressante en début de partie est le gain de 1 TG par planète. Vous devez tout faire pour avoir un maximum de planètes près de vous lors de la création de la galaxie. Si vous avez un tri-systèmes, c'est le jackpot (mettez le chez vous!!).
Lors des 2 premiers tours, le Saar s'appelle Crésus, il roule littéralement sur l'or. Avec ses TG durement acquis, construisez et renforcez-vous. Ou prêtez les aux autres races à des taux prohibitifs, cela les mettra dans de bonnes dispositions envers vous.
- Comme il l'est dit précédemment, vos SD sont très vulnérables. En début de partie, mettez les hors de portée d'attaque. Prenez un système bien pourri (Thibah par exemple ou mieux votre système-mère initiale pour ne pas subir les cartes d'action), sur le 3ème anneau et adoptez la même stratégie que le Hacan : on construit 3 SD, on acquiert sa techno raciale et éventuellement Sarween Tools, on augmente sa Fleet Supply et on se blinde. C'est seulement lorsqu'on a une flotte TRES conséquente qu'on se déplace.
- Ne faites pas confiance à votre nuée de chasseurs, ils se feront hacher menu par un "Friendly Fire" et par les ADT adverses. Construisez beaucoup beaucoup de destroyers et de cruisers.
- Même s'il est plus facile de tout laisser groupés, en milieu de partie pensez à séparer vos flottes et SD en 2. En effet, un Signal Jamming est si vite arrivé...
- N'ayez pas peur de laisser vos planètes sans défense mais soyez prêts à les reconquérir. Vos adversaires hésiteront à faire un Local Unrest ou à vous envahir s'ils savent que vous allez (encore) gagner des TG lors de la reconquête.
En résumé, le Saar peut être aussi riche et productif qu'un Hacan (en début de partie), aussi mobile et menacant qu'un Muaat (en milieu de partie), aussi fort qu'un Letnev/Lizix (en fin de partie).