The Borg
by Derek J. Kalweit
1.0 Introduction
The Borg are one of the most challenging races in VGA Planets to play. Many newbies make
the mistake of trying to play them too early, and fail horribly, and never play the race
again. Boy, are they missing out! As long as you go into playing the race with the
tactical knowledge and experience required, they are one of the most rewarding races in
the game to play! The only down-side, is in most games, they can take a VERY long time to
play a turn-- at turn #30 in a game I was hosting with 3 other humans(the rest
computer-controlled), my turns were taking over 2 HOURS EACH!!! And at a minimum of 1 turn
per day, it was eating my time up!
So first of all, if you'd like to master the Borg-- or even just play them
respectfully, be sure you have plenty of time to play your turns! Second, be sure to play
another race first-- the Borg is NOT a newbie race by ANY stretch of the imagination. And
lastly, have a calculator nearby-- it greatly decreases the time you spend with your turn.
I normally use VGA Planets Assistant, so some tactics require, or work best with this
program(available on my web site, listed at the bottom).
With this guide, I will expect you to have a decent understanding of VGA Planets in
general-- if you haven't read other generic guides-- or even the documentation--go find
some, and then come back to this one when you're done.. I'm writing this guide,
because there is such a lack of Borg information out there. And not because there's a lack
of Borg players, either-- they simply don't want to give away their well-kept secrets.
I'm a little more willing to share my knowledge of this wonderful race, as I enjoy
playing ALL races(except maybe the Colonies, but I haven't really given them much of a
chance), and not just the Borg. Not to mention VGA Planets 4.0 will be out this year, and
this information will be almost useless, most likely. <G> Most of the information in
this guide is self-taught through experience in local(against Dominate), and self-hosted
games(with buddies of mine). Some tactics I have not actually done, but there's absolutely
no way they can be wrong. <G> Of course this is all just my rambling-take it or
leave it. :)
2.0 Pros and Cons of playing the Borg
The Borg are VERY week early on in the game. They can easily be exterminated, but if they
are, they must be FULLY exterminated, or they will grow just as large again with their
assimilation-I know of a case, where a Borg player escaped with nothing but a probe, and
he ended up winning the game! Their cubes are some of the best ships in the game, but are
VERY expensive-- in Moly especially.
They are NOT an easy race to play, and will take much of your time each day(or however
often you play your turns). They are, however, one of the most rewarding races to play,
when played right.
3.0 Ships
SDSF
Actually this ship is probably more useful to the Borg than to ANY other race! You don't
need to take lots of colonists with you to colonize worlds, so just send off a few SDSFs
and drop a few clans and supplies(except on Bovinoid planets) here and there(I use 40
supplies and 30 colonists on each SDSF), and go on to the next planet, and before you know
it, those planets will have LOTS of colonists on them. And as with most Borg colonizing
freighters, they rarely must return home-- just pick more colonists/supplies up at an
assimilated world. <G>
B200 Probe
You should build a lot of these to hyperjump to nearby planets for scouting, and to build
outposts-these outposts can grow huge in no time with your assimilation. I put 8 supplies
and 7 colonists on these, and drop all on any native world, and 1 colonist only on a
planet with no natives, beam up fuel(mission-- there's usually enough), and HYP to another
at exactly 350LYs away(340-360LYs using recent hosts).
Watcher Scout
I rarely build these ships. Pretty useful-- possibly escorts for MDSFs if a cloaker is
picking them off.
B41 Explorer
This is a decent armed transport, however it has a very low mass and won't hold up against
any torp ships.
Iron Slave
This is a completely useless ship-- not only useless to the Borg, but useless to ALL
races. It has only two fighter bays which can't launch enough fighters to take out most
medium ships, and a small cargo capacity which is useless for most purposes. Don't build
these!
MDSF
This is just the size when freighters start to become useful to other races, and even MORE
useful for the Borg. Use these for colonizing mostly(why waste a LDSF for colonizing when
you can use these?). This is at about the size that an enemy(especially a cloaker in your
space) would struggle with the decision-- "should I leave it alone, or is it worth
showing him I'm here." Most of the time, at least for me, when I'm playing a cloaking
race, they'll decide to leave it alone-- however with an LDSF, they'll usually choose to
go for it.
B22 Destroyer
These are quite useful for base defense-- 7 beams are GREAT for burning fighters off
carriers. Not useful for much else, though.
Quietus Cruiser
This is a useful ship as well. Can be used as both armored transport and fuel carrier.
Will stand up fairly well against most scouts, due to it's torpedo tube-- use mark4 or
mark7.
LDSF
This is the PERFECT ship for mineral trucks. Truck your minerals from nearby planets in
the early game, and then later, once you have decent planets elsewhere, build some LDSFs
with low engines(tech 4-6 or so), and chunnel them around-- you can move GREAT amounts of
minerals in almost no time using only 50KTs of fuel(each way)! Great for stripping planets
of minerals AND fuel(600 KT of fuel each!).
Firecloud
This is your most useful ship, PERIOD. It allows your ships to move farther, faster, and
better than ANY OTHER SHIP IN THE GAME! With this ship you can chunnel minerals and money
around for a better economy, chunnel battle fleets to any other firecloud on the map, etc.
Definitely your most useful ship don't sell this ship, or let it be captured if you can
help it. Offer services only, if you need the money(you shouldn't need money you should
have plenty).
ONLY give/trade these to trusted FULL allies.
Biocide
One of the most feared ships in the game. This is your cube ship that launches fighters.
Not very economical to use, however, unless you have an ally where you can get free
fighters, or you've met the ship limit, and your ships have to survive longer, or you
won't be able to build another. Great for stripping fuel off planets when your enemy is
advancing(retreat with the fuel-- burn up as much as you can of it, as then your enemy
can't use it).
Refinery
This is the fuel refinery-- load half supplies, and half minerals onto the ship, and you
have that much fuel the next turn. I find I rarely have a fuel problem when fireclouds
move my huge fleets most of the way, and my economy is in full swing(early if you're lucky
to have nearby natives).
STSF
Super Transport Freighter-- too big for most purposes. You could use these instead of
LDSFs for chunnel harvesting, but it's not recommended, as you must build them on tech 10
hull star bases(most of your starbases only need to be tech 6 hull).
Annihilations
These are your cubes with torpedo tubes. These are DEFINITLY your best ships, but require
massive minerals to build(especially Molybdenum). Outfit these with high-tech beams, and
decent tubes-- preferably mark 4 in the early game, and mark 7 or 8 later on. Build your
torpedoes on mineral-rich planets with the mkt friendly code-- NOT your homeworld-- you
need those minerals for more ships.
Alchemy
I find this ship useful in mineral-poor games, as you need a lot of Moly. Don't build one
until you absolutely NEED one.
4.0 Colonizing
The first rule of colonizing with the Borg, is don't bring too many colonists! Filling
your freighters up with mostly colonists is something that the other races must do, but
you don't need to do. Instead, fill it roughly evenly with supplies. This will allow your
colonies to start out faster than other race's colonies. On worlds with no natives, drop 1
clan, and head on to another. This gives you a higher score, so it's easier to bluff that
you're better off than your neighbors.
You should rarely, if ever, need to return to your homeworld with a colonizer. If you
run out of colonists, just back-track a little, until you come upon one of your
assimilated worlds, and grab more colonists/supplies. Then take another route of
un-colonized planets, colonizing them along the way. In this manner, you can colonize MUCH
faster than most other races.
Once you colonize a planet, tax the natives to the maximum that you can for that amount
of colonists. There comes to be a point, where you must use a calculator(or spend hours
doing this for each planet with natives!). Multiply your colonists by 2, and continue
doing so, until you get to the number of natives currently on the planets(or just over)--
then subtract 1, and you know the amount of turns it will take before the world is
completely colonized. Now look at the happiness rating. By the last turn you have natives
on the planet, you should be down to 40 happiness points(on the virge of rioting).
Therefore, look at the current happiness points(say, 94), then subtract 40(54), and then
divide the number of turns into the number of happiness points you just came up
with(difference from current and 40). Then set the tax rate so that it subtracts that many
happiness points from the natives each turn. By the time you get to 40, you'll have so few
natives, they will be completely gone the next turn, and therefore won't riot no matter
what the tax rate is(but you won't get the $$$ either).
With all these colonists, you don't have to worry about them growing on top of that, so
go ahead and tax your colonists. On worlds they will die(arctic and desert), tax them so
their happiness points will go down as well never down lower than 50 or so though, as the
slightest military presence, battle, or such at the planet will throw them into rioting.
On your HW, however, you can leave your tax rate at 0%. This will allow you to build the
maximum amount of mines and factories(don't worry about defense-- your HW is quite useless
past turn 20 or so, other than building ships). Be sure to chunnel/HYP in money from
assimilated worlds that won't make good candidates for starbases themselves. You should
always have TONS of money on your HW-- 10-20 thousand MC's minimum.
On outposts in enemy territory(or within scanning distance of such), try not to build
any factories until you can cover them with defense posts as well. Hard to do except on
Bovinoid planets, but it'll make your outpost very hard to detect, and by the time they
find it, it will be able to defend itself pretty well.
5.0 Planet Management
This is where the loads of time comes in(as well as with happiness point calculations
mentioned in the last section). You must manage your planets well. You must have enough
defense posts to keep from getting detected, enough factories to produce loads of
supplies(especially in mineral poor games, so you can use your Merlins), and mines to mine
out the planet quickly, making it absolutely useless to any other race(once it's
harvested). This stuff is pretty standard for every race, however you get to build every
turn due to assimilation(doubling of colonists, and therefore maximum structures).
Knowing what to build, and when NOT to build are the key factors.
5.1 Planets near homeworld/starbases
These planets can be quite useful throughout the game-- you can tax the assimilated
colonists and get about 500 MC per turn usually. After these are harvested of minerals,
you might be lucky and get hit by a large meteor (the Borg are the only ones ASKING for
large meteor hits! <G>). Then you can mine it really quickly(you still usually have
millions of colonists to build mines if they were destroyed), and bring it back to a
starbase to use. At the very least, these planets are useful to all but the Fascists, as
they'll be stripped of minerals, and most money. The Fascists, however, can pillage you,
getting LOADS of money.
5.2 Planets on hostile borders
These planets are the gray area. They're not safe from being attacked, but they're not in
constant danger, either, as outposts in enemy territory are. Usually, if the planet is
quite useless, I lower the happiness ratings(usually just colonists) to the virge of
rioting, so if the enemy takes the planet, they'll be rioting(the battle put them there),
and be of little use to him for a while. Also, build as many defense posts as possible at
the very least, it will soften up an attacking fleet for your main defenses farther in
your territory.
5.3 Planets in enemy territory
These are the planets that you do your best to BURN TO THE GROUND! If there's natives, you
do your best to assimilate them(ESPECIALLY if they're of a good government). Try to put
the happiness ratings of both natives AND colonists WAY into the gutter-- negatives are
really good. That way, unless your enemy is the Lizards, they'll have to wait a good dozen
turns or so to get them to stop rioting! <G> This is very satisfactory, and I even
do this on my home planets if I'm being run over by another race, and I stand no chance.
6.0 Chunneling
Chunneling is your main means of transportation over distances. It is one of the STRONGEST
race advantages in the game, but unlike many other race advantages, it is one that someone
else can acquire, as it's ship-specific. You must do your best to NEVER let a Firecloud
get into enemy hands-- they're DEADLY. You must use your Fireclouds for harvesting planets
far from bases of minerals/money and bringing huge fleets into enemy territory(or even
just to the border, usually saves THOUSANDS of KT's of fuel).
One trick that I've heard used, but never actually used myself(I was going to, but the
game ended first), is to bring a Firecloud outside the map about 20-40 LYs farther than
the visible setting(check with Host or note first messages of game), and then travel
there, to the other side of your enemy. Then, when he least expects it, chunnel in some
cubes, and take him by beside his BACK side! <G> The only problem with this, is that
he'll see it in plenty of time to defend, usually, and you can't planet hop outside the
map.
As mentioned in the original docs, chunneled ships have their shields down when they
come out of a chunnel. Therefore, try to make sure that the enemy doesn't know where your
receiving Firecloud is when you chunnel to it he could more easily take out your fleet if
he did.
7.0 Battles
7.1 Basics
The first rule of war, is to NEVER under-estimate your enemy. When running simulations,
unless you're SURE of otherwise, figure for a maxed-out ship.
Always OVER-estimate what you'll need to take out a battle-fleet or empire, and don't
strike until all your forces are in position-- striking to early with one, and not being
able to follow through with the second blow fast enough, will give your enemy too much
time to prepare.
Secondly, NEVER leave your bases un-guarded. A well-planned attack can easily knock out
a starbase-- even cloakers. Before I was ready to play the Borg, I did so, and had my HW
taken by Lizard Cruisers very early in the game. If I had a cube or two there, I could
have saved it, or better yet, I could have counter-attacked, as I knew where his, much
more important, homeworld was.
Thirdly, and this might seem contradictory, don't be afraid to take risks. You'll never
win by "playing it safe." Weigh the odds, the benefits, and the consequences of
what you do, and make a decision based on that. If there's a lot to gain from making an
attack, DO SO! Even if there's much to lose if you don't win, someone else will probably
attack you anyway, and you'll lose anyway.
7.2 What ships should I use?
Many Borg novices, run simulations of their ships against other ships, and find that the
Biocide fairs very well against most ships in the game. This is true, however, a Biocide
with enough fighters costs MUCH more than a few good Annihilations, unless, of course, you
have a nice ally that can supply you with free fighters. <G>
An Annihilation also has 100KT more mass(960 than the Biocide(860). Both are gas guzzlers,
and should be mostly transported simply with Fireclouds, unless you're purposely trying to
burn up gas to keep enemies from using it. These ships are the backbone of your fleet, and
most players know it. You must have a good economy going before you can build
these(minerals mostly, but also money), so make economy your #1 priority at the start of
the game.
HYP probes are useless in battle-- they will only burn off 4 fighters before being
destroyed, and don't cause a lic of damage against any torp ships. Use these ships only
for colonizing, money transporting, and spying.
Fireclouds do pretty bad in battle. They'll burn of some fighters, and maybe be able to
throw a few torps if you have them, but not much else. Also, the chance of them getting
captured isn't worth the risk of sending these into battle.
7.2.1 How should I arm my ships?
Beams on cube ships should be Heavy Blasters at the minimum. The chances that a race will
try to use minefields to defend themselves is high, so you must be able to sweep them.
Mark 4 torpedoes are good early in the game, but mark 7 or 8 is required past turn 20 or
so, to do respectable damage, and last through many fights-- especially against fighter
carriers. Don't carry more than 100-175 torps unless you're specifically trying to use up
resources on an outpost world-- better that the torps are wasted, than for the enemy to
build them, right? Same goes for fighters-- don't put more than 100-130 or so on a
Biocide-- any more will simply be wasted, and at 100MC a piece, these are quite pricey to
lose!!
HYP probes should be minimally armed. 2 Xrays is usually plenty-- better than putting
lasers, as lasers will do more to bring down someone's shields(kill 3 versus Xray's kill
1). Be sure to put 2 Xrays, as you want to be able to capture freighters if you can-- 2
Xrays will nicely capture a LDSF-- 1 Xray will not.
I usually have Disrupters or Heavy Disrupters on my Fireclouds. This way, I can capture
freighters and small ships for my own use. I usually put on Mark 4 tubes if I can help it,
so I can lay minefields or similar if necessary.
7.2.2 What engines should I use?
On cubes, you should have a minimum of warp 6 or 7. Using Transwarps ESPECIALLY if you're
chunneling them in, is wasteful at 6 engines a ship! That's 1800 MCs per ship!!! Some
people use Transwarps on one, and then tow another one-- this should work fairly well, but
don't put less than warp 6 engines on the one being towed, because if the tower is
destroyed, you don't want the other ship to be COMPLETELY abandoned. Also, if necessary,
OVERDRIVE your engines. Sometimes it's better for your enemy to think you have more than
you have-- especially if the ES bonus is on, as they'll figure for tech 10 ships if they
see you traveling at warp 9! <G>
HYP ships should have a maximum of warp8 engines, and an average of warp 6-7, depending
on their specific purpose. If the ES Bonus is on, I recommend going lower, as you want
these babies destroyed, NOT captured!
Fireclouds should definitely have Transwarps, unless they are simply a receiver at a
starbase or such. Don't worry about making it easier for enemies who capture your
Fireclouds(knock on wood!), as most competent enemies would be escorting/towing such a
prize anyway, even after they cloned it.
7.2.3 What should I carry in my ships?
You should always have free room on your cubes, as when you destroy a ship, you get the
minerals/fuel from it. However, don't take this to an extreme, as usually those minerals
aren't to useful-- especially on the front lines. It's always a good idea to carry
supplies-- maybe 100-200 per cube, as then if you're hit by a mine or Glory Device, you
can repair yourself(1% for ever 5 supplies), without having to stop, and perform the
repair self mission. This is ESPECIALLY important when playing against the Fascists, as
they will do their best to throw as many GDs as possible at you, to soften up your fleet
before they confront you with their warships. You should also carry torps/fighters of
course, mention in 6.21, and maybe some colonists, and even money for making more
torpedoes.
HYP ships shouldn't carry anything, except when colonizing or transferring money. If
you have multiple probes, try splitting the money among numerous ships, going different
routes back home, so that if one gets destroyed/captured, all of your money won't be gone.
Of course this is only very useful when you're transferring large sums(20,000+). It's not
worth the effort for a measly 5,000 or less.
Fireclouds should carry colonists and supplies, so they can colonize on their way to
where they are going. The supplies will also help against GD hits, mine hits, etc. You
might want to carry a small amount of torps as well, so you can defend better against some
of the larger medium warships.
7.2.4 How should I fly my ships?
Planet hop whenever possible-- give your position and identity away only when it benefits
you. NEVER show your heading-- make it seem like you're heading to one planet when you are
indeed heading to another, etc. Fly in erratic zig-zag patterns when flying out in the
open. Once in a while, travel just short of your destination in a straight line to simply
frustrate a cloaker trying to intercept you! And always set your primary enemy to
privateer! They are the only enemy that can do you great harm without attacking-- you DO
want to pick a fight with them you do NOT want to find your ships and their ship(s) in the
same place in space. Do your best to travel in ion storms to discourage cloakers from
trying to intercept you(especially Privateers)-- so many cloakers forget to figure for ion
storms uncloaking their ships! <G>
7.3 How should I strike?
Striking is all dependent on your style of play. I prefer to attack from multiple
directions, splitting my enemies defending forces. The best way, is to send in 3 forces
visibly, and then when he sends his ships to intercept, send in a 4th and possibly 5th
strike from behind to attack his planets with weaker defenses. This way you win either way
if he leaves his ships on his planets, you can have 5 strike forces to take care of them,
and then the planet, and if he leaves with his ships, you can take the planets with your
sneaking strike force(s).
Gorilla striking is very effective-- especially along the borders. Send a few ships in,
capture a planet, riot it to death-- maybe assimilate some natives, and pop back out.
Strike in random patterns, at random times.
Whatever you do, do not split your forces, and attack two people at once-- it will
severely hinder your chances of winning each. Try to exterminate ONE enemy at a time.
Fighting on two fronts is just to confusing, and risky.
When striking, be sure to set the battle order properly, so that your ships fight in
the correct order. Set the friendly codes to ??1 for the first ship, ??2 for the second,
etc. ?? can be any letter-- numbers will act as numbers. The lower the number, the earlier
they will fight-- ships with friendly codes of complete letters will strike last.
8.0 What allies should I make?
The Feds are a fairly good ally, as they can give you LOKIs to protect you from cloaking
races-- the Privateers most specifically. They can also super-refit your ships with all
their money-- they'll probably want you to provide the minerals though. If you give them a
Biocide, they will have effectively 13 bays instead of the default 10-- making the Biocide
even more deadly. Terraformers are very useful to you, as many of your colonists die from
the climate being too hot or too cold. The Fed's bioscanner can also help you find more
natives to assimilate.
The Lizards are another fairly good ally, as they can also give you LOKIs, give you
tons of minerals(200% mining rate!), hiss your planets if necessary to get more money,
give you cloakers for spying and colonizing far into enemy territory. They can also give
you a terraformer to cool down your desert planets. A good tactic to use with the Lizards,
is to have an assimilated world with a LDSF in orbit. Fill the LDSF with colonists, and a
Lizard can send ships there, and you can load colonists on them for them to use in Ground
Attacks-- VERY useful for a supply of colonists deep in enemy territory.
The Bird Men are good to ally with for cloakers, but other than that, and information,
they're not that useful to you-- but they'll want to ally for your cubes, HYP ship, and
Fireclouds. Beware of sneaky Bird Men players it's very easy for them to stab you in the
back HARD!!!
The Fascist can do you good with their cloakers, Glory Devices, Pillaging (what else
are you going to do with 200,000,000 colonists?!?!?!?-- isn't turning that into 200,000
supplies better?!? <G>), and of course the ground attack like the Lizards, but to a
smaller extent. They also can't be attacked using ATT/NUK friendly codes, so they're
dangerous enemies!
The Privateers are your worst enemy, so they'd be a GREAT ally. They grab the ships
from other races, and you clone them for him, and keep some for yourself. He gives you
Gravitronic Accelerated ships to tow your fleet around with, and you help him with your
Fireclouds and HYP ships. They'll also give you cloakers. Basically, you don't want them
on your bad side, so it's better to ally with them! <G>
The Crystal People those web mines are sure comforting to have around your empire.
That's for sure. Plus he can grab ships, and you can clone them for him like with the
Privateers keeping a copy for yourself, of course. They can't offer you much else, except
a terraformer that heats to 100.
The Empire would be a nice ally, but not a great one. They get 5 free fighters per
base, which barely covers their ships, so they can't really give you many. They have the
Imperial Super Star Destroyer, however, which is VERY useful! Get a planet deep in enemy
territory, assimilate it, and then get some SSDs there-- you can use that planet as a
loading base for colonists, and capture plenty of enemy planets/bases! Also, why would you
want to fight a Gorbie!?!? <G> They can also give you nearly COMPLETE information on
enemy worlds, with their dark sense.
The Robots are a free fighter race, so they're a good ally. They can give you free
fighters for your Biocide, and even give you Instrumentalities for a lighter carrier to
guard your planets with. They can also give you 4x minefields to protect your space with!
They can also give you a FULL bioscanner to find more natives with.
The Rebels are also a free fighter race, so they're also a good ally. They can give you
the Patriot Carrier which is REALLY cheap to build/clone, and is really effective when it
has a decent amount of fighters. They can also RGA your worlds to make natives happier,
and also can't be attacked by ATT/NUK.
The Colonies are a nice ally due to the free fighters of course, and can also sweep
mines with fighters-- even from 100 LYs away, making them VERY good allies if you have the
Robots as an enemy! They can also give you a bioscanner/RAM scoop ship(Cobol) for finding
natives. Their Aries transport makes fuel more efficiently than your normal refinery, and
their Lady Royalle allows you to get 160MC per turn from it if you have colonists aboard--
which you'll have PLENTY of!
9.0 How do I deal with my enemies?
9.1 Dealing with the Feds
The Feds are fairly straightforward to deal with. They don't have much anti-Borg
equipment. Just exterminate them with your cubes, and watch out for possible allies.
9.2 Dealing with the Lizards
The Lizards fear you very much. They can't use their ground attack ratio very effectively,
due to your assimilation. Their cloakers are VERY useful against you, as they can scout
out your worlds, but they can't do too much about it, unless they have enough cloakers, or
bring in their T-Rex's and Madonzilla carriers. They also are immune to LOKI's, so getting
a LOKI won't help you. With their excellent and fast-starting economy they will make quick
work of you if they find you early in the game-- try to stay hidden, and don't pick any
fights with them early-- you don't stand a chance if they're played competently. Later in
the game, however, they aren't too much of a threat. Just attack them like you would other
races.
9.3 Dealing with the Bird Men
The Bird Men are the sneaky, cowardly snakes of the echo cluster. <G> These guys
will probe your territory finding LOTS of info, and selling it to your enemies. Lay
minefields if you can to try to capture some of these pests, and exterminate their HW if
you can. They will also try to change your friendly codes on your planets to bum this will
beam your money up to all enemy ships in orbit(cloaked or not). They will then try to run.
This can be helped, if you change your friendly codes every turn use a random generator
such as is built into VPA.
9.4 Dealing with the Fascists
These guys, to tell you the truth, are scary-- those Glory Devices can hurt you, but carry
those supplies to protect yourself. Their ships don't stand a chance against a
fully-functional cube of any type. They can also pillage your planets, however, which can
be VERY scary-- getting a good 1000-2000 MC from each pillage! One good reason not to keep
colonists on your planets needlessly-- kill them off if the Fascists might come and
pillage you! They'll also be cloaking throughout your empire, spying on you, taking your
freighters, pillaging where you least expect it, etc. I'd prefer to ally with them!
<G>
9.5 Dealing with the Privateers
Run like hell! <G> These guys are even worse than the Fascists. They will steal your
ships, and use them against you! The tactics for robbing ships are very easily figured
out, and used VERY easily. Try using the beam-up-fuel method, and never move your ships in
a straight line they will cloak-intercept you, and steal your fuel, and then your ship!
Also, when launching attacks against these filthy barbarians, be sure to send your ships
separately, as they will easily intercept your ships, and drag them away-- REMEMBER--
NEVER EVER EVER send them in a straight line! The good part about these guys, is their
planets are very easily defeated-- they're power is in stolen ships.
9.6 Dealing with the Crystal People
These are a HARD race to attack. Those web mines-- once you get stuck in them, it's VERY
hard to get out. Especially if you didn't listen to my advice above, and put high-tech
beams on your ships! This race's ships aren't particularly powerful, so they're fairly
easy to destroy, but getting there is the hardest part. many Crystalline players will even
use web mines as an offensive measure, making movement VERY hard. However, with chunneling
and HYP probes, it effects you less than most other races, so be happy! <G> Try
towing a Firecloud into the web field-put just the fuel you need on your towing ship, so
that it can't lose much. Then next turn, transfer that much more onto it from the ship
being towed(which can't be hit by the mines), so that it can go another turn. If you're
towing a warship, set it to mine sweep, so you at least can destroy SOME of the mines.
9.7 Dealing with the Evil Empire
The Evil Empire is a formidable opponent. Unlike you(when you have a good economy), they
suffer greatly from lack of fuel. As well as lack of colonists for use in their SSDs. Take
advantage of this. If they are advancing, strip all planet of fuel, and retreat. Then,
when they come forward, and are, hopefully, stranded on a planet without fuel, move in for
the kill! An Annihilation with merely Mark4 tubes, and Heavy Disrupters can take out 3
loaded SSDs with only 75-90 torps, and without taking ANY damage. Better torps, means
fewer torps, and even less damage to the shields. Their Gorbies, however, are terrifying!
9.8 Dealing with the Robots
The Robots suffer from a sever lack of Duranium-- they require an EXCESSIVE amount of it
in all of their ships. Therefore, when fighting with the Robots, be sure to deprive them
of as much Duranium as possible. Not to mention Moly and Tritanium, as they need that for
their fighters. The Robots have many decent carriers, however, and stand a good chance of
wiping you out. I still can't understand why this is Tim Wisseman's favorite race, though.
<G>
9.9 Dealing with the Rebels
Like the Fascists, the Rebels can not have their ships attacked by planets with the
NUK/ATT friendly codes. They have the Rebel Ground Assault which is even more dangerous
than pillaging, but at least it doesn't help the Rebels any(except the destruction of us,
of course). They also have HYP ships to HYP into your space, and RGA a planet or two, and
HYP back out. They excel at gorilla warfare, so beware. Their carriers are formidable
opponents as well.
9.10 Dealing with the Colonies
The Colonies have good carriers like the Robots and the Rebels, as well as Lady
Royale ships to make money with. They can be VERY dangerous when played right sweeping
your minefields from 100 LYs away, attacking with Virgos, etc. Not a fun race to deal
with, but definitely not your worst enemy.
10.0 Minefields
Many expert Borg players use minefields extensively. The use of minefields depends greatly
on your neighbors, however. A Robot neighbor will easily exterminate your minefields by
placing his own to destroy them, at 1/4 the price or your's. A Fascist has many beams on
their ships, and will easily clear the minefields.
The trick with minefields is knowing where to place them, when to place them, and when
to scoop them back up! In a recent game, I had an Annihilation come out of a wormhole, and
by chance, it was in Empire territory, right next to a SSD heading for one of my outpost
planets. I laid a minefield right there, and ended up hitting the SSD twice! It was
crippled to over 80% damage! I then struck a couple planets, and scooped up the minefield.
I meant to lay it again, but instead was destroyed when I attempted to strike a planet
that was to heavily defended(quite probably, the former Fed HW). You MUST scoop up your
mines using the msc friendly code once your enemy knows about them-- otherwise, he'll
simply sweep them unless he's a newbie, he won't fall for getting hit by a mine in the
same minefield twice.
And remember this:
"He who knows the enemy and himself
Will never in a hundred battles be at risk;
He who does not know the enemy but knows himself
Will sometimes win and sometimes lose;
He who knows neither the enemy nor himself
Will be at risk in every battle."
- Sun Tzu, The Art of Warfare
Note:
Sorry for the "lack of humor" that my friend who test-read this mentioned, but I
just can't come up with jokes for a lot of these things! <G> I hope you at least
learned something-after all, that's what all this fun is about, right? Learning? <G>
Derek J. Kalweit (Email me anytime--especially
if you want to play a plain-vanilla VGAP game!)
|