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The Lizards Guide to the Echo Cluster
By Sean Kimball
May 17, 1999
Introduction
This guide was written in the very early days of VGA Planets race guides, in the days when
one had to search through every article in alt.games.vga-planets to get some help. Within
a period of 6 months, a guide for every race had suddenly sprung up. So far this is the
only real Lizard guide. It's certainly not the best race guide, that's for sure. Instead
of writing an essay type of guide, I decided to plant small valuable bits of information
within. I've done my best and hopefully my advice will improve the level of Lizard players
throughout the universe.
General Hints and Advice
Build as many ships as possible each turn, even if you can barely build a Serpent or Eros.
Wouldn't you rather build a crappy ship with tech 1 everything than let another race build
a tech 10 carrier, especially after the ship limit has been reached? Once you get your
economy going, the Serpents and Eros's will become very valuable hissing ships. Some
players build countless numbers of SDSFs to fill the queue. Unlike them, your cheap ships
actually come in handy, but make sure your soul purpose isn't building ships so others
can't. You can also recycle and colonize the hissers for PBPs, but only do this when you
have close to 20 build points.
Don't underestimate the Madonnzila Class Carrier. Some people say that it's "not a
real carrier". A T-rex-Madonnzila-T-rex or T-rex-Mad-Mad combo WILL destroy any
carrier in the game. If the Engine Shield Bonus is at least 50%, the third T-rex won't be
needed in most cases. It depends on the carrier you're fighting. The cost of the fighters
for the Madonnzila shouldn't be a problem either, thanks to the Lizards hissing ability.
If you play your cards right, you should have plenty of planets near your homeworld with
natives that produce 2000-6000 mc every turn. I was playing the Feds in a game where the Borg and
Colonies were my allies. And yes, the Lizards were our enemy. I practically looked forward
to battles where my Fed Biocide would destroy nearly four Rex's, maybe even five. Don't
make the same mistake that player made, that is building nothing but T-rexes.
Build lots of starbases. Since your ships are relatively weak, you're going to have to
spice up your defense with strong bases. Even a large fleet won't survive against a
cluster of maxxed out starbases and T-rexes. A basic Lizard tactic is to tow a big carrier
with a LCC to a T-rex and fully equipped base. If you're fighting the Rebels, Empire or
Fascists, make sure you will able to defend the base in case a Rush or SSD shows up, for
example. Nothing is more frustrating than seeing a 200/60 base disappear because you
didn't think defending it was necessary.
Minefields. Before laying a huge minefield, lay lots of overlapping minefields. Then
lay a huge one. DO NOT lay minefields too early in the game, unless it's absolutely
necessary. Your position will be exposed easily that way.
Don't play in games where the default settings have been changed to your
disadvantage(100% mining rate, no hissing, rob cloaked ships is on etc.)
If you _KNOW_ your T-rexes and Madonnzilas won't stand a chance against your enemies
ships, then fill those LCC's with colonists and use your 30:1 ground attack advantage to
its full potential to put your enemy on the defensive. Always use your ground attack if
nothing else. If your enemy has lots of minefields to discourage your attacks, then ask
your ally for help(you do have one, don't you?).
Start your offensives with ground attacks. A good first _surprise_ attack would be you
taking about 10 enemy planets in one turn. This will really annoy your opponent and maybe
cause him/her to make some stupid mistakes. Never attack one certain area, but instead
attack several different places so your enemy has to split his fleet.
Ally with a carrier race. Imagine a very close Lizard-Empire alliance... The Lizards
mining advantage will help the Empire churn out Gorbies the same speed you build T-rexes.
Any Lizard-owned tech 10 carrier is a ship other races fear.
Keep Lokis at important starbases to fend off the cowardly Privateers and Fascists. Now
that the Birdmen are immune to the Loki(configurable), lay overlapping small minefields
instead.
Strengthen starbases by supporting them with T-rexes. This way if a carrier attacks,
your T-rex will eliminate its shields so your base can destroy it with ease. If many
carriers are attacking, then use the Rex-Madonnzila combos. Don't always count on two
T-rexes destroying a Nova. In one of my games, a Nova took out two of them and was 97%
damaged.
Attack very early in the game. Attack when you barely have a few T-rexes. It is
extremely unlikely that your enemy will survive your attack before turn 10, so make it
quick. You will get weaker in as the game proceeds, so it's best to go for the early
advantage. In the long run you WILL die if you don't outnumber enemy ships(=tech 10
carriers) 3 to 1. That's precisely why allying with a carrier race can save your skin... I
mean scales.
Allies
Please note that I don't consider any alliance pointless or not worth it. What I've
written here is based on my own experience. Every single game is different and so are the
best ally choices. Read this and then think who would be your best ally in that particular
game.
The Feds
The best torpedo race ally. The Feds will probably want to ally with you because the only
way they can defend themselves from your ground attack is minefields, which aren't very
effective against your LCCs. With 3 more fighter bays, the Madonnzila in hands of the Feds
is about as strong as an Instrumentality. They are an ideal ally for _you_ because they
are the only race that is immune to the Loki's Tachyon Device and they have more powerful
ships. Together the two of you are poison to any cloaking race.
The Romulans
The Romulans don't have anything particularly useful to offer. The Resolute is a nice ship
for ground attack, mainly because it doesn't consume fuel while cloaking. Also it's
ability to sustain a few minehits is helpful. Lizard Darkwings can also be a very nasty
surprise for the enemy that is expecting ground attacks. The Darkwing also is a little
better at taking strong bases because of the 150% damage limit. Just like the other torp
races, the Romulans aren't a very desirable ally, mainly because they suffer from the same
problem you do: destroying big carriers gets increasingly difficult as the game
progresses. That is why you _must_ attack early in the game, otherwise you die a slow and
painful death while the carrier races stuff their tech 10 ships down your throat.
The Fascists
The Fascists are fine allies. The Saber and D19 are the only ships you should want from
them. Unfortunately, pillaging kills the population, but it doesn't destroy defence posts.
Just like the Romulans, they have trouble getting rid of big carriers.
The Privateers
I find that the Privateers and Lizards together are almost unstoppable. The Privateers
take out the Borg(the Gorns worst enemy), the Gorn don't attack the Privateers(as the Gorn
are the Pirates worst enemy) and together they make short work of any other races. The
Gorn can use LCC's to take out Fed Loki's, and the pirates can rob them dry. The Pirates
can capture, and the gorn can clone. The Pirates capture enemy ships, and the gorn capture
enemy planets. Keep in mind that the Gorn have Loki's, cloakers, and all their ships can
beat the privateer equivalent in a fight. Also, a Lizard MBR can withstand a minehit,
unlike a Privateer MBR.
If you find yourself next to the Privateers when you are in the very preliminary stages
of the game, I strongly suggest you kill them. Usually the Privs will have made an enemy
by the time you kill them, and that race will probably be very happy to ally with you. I
have been in this position as the Privateers and even now, late in the game, I can't stop
but think why the Lizards didn't destroy me when I was defenseless. The things gained by
allying with the Privs are outweighed by the economic advantages and friends you gain from
killing public enemy #1.
The Borg
This alliance would be very beneficial for both of you. Your ground attack is basically
useless against their populated planets, and your ships don't stand a chance against
theirs, at least after the beginning of the game. Kill the Borg on sight if the game is
still in the first 20 turns. After that killing the Borg gets increasingly difficult. A
Lizard Cube is something to fear. The Borg would also benefit from the alliance; they
don't have any decent medium sized warships. The two of you are in one way identical, you
are a hellish opponent in the beginning of the game while he is awarded that title the
longer the game lasts. So if you ally early on and protect your Borg ally, winning should
be fairly simple, unless everyone else is intent on killing you. That's where diplomacy
comes in...!
The Crystals
The Crystals are very good allies when the two of you work together very closely. The
Lizard economic advantages, such as hissing and 200% mining rate, allow the Crystals to
build tons of torps and Diamond/Thunder combos. They would love a LCC for laying
unexpected web mines, which would help you greatly when dropping colonists in enemy
territory. Give them a few LCCs with one mark 8 tube and hiss their planets to they can
fill the LCCs with torps.
The Crystals have a few good advantages from your point of view: They have the Onyx,
this ship is the only ship other than the Fed Bohemian that can heat planets. To make it
stop heating, simply add one Eros per Onyx and it will automaticaly stop at 50 degrees.
Secondly they can also use the T-Rex, it is much cheaper than their Diamond Flame. Thirdly
they cannot clone, you can. Clone for them (they pay of course) and keep a copy yourself
(you pay of course) if you come across a useful ship. Of course real allies don't demand
anything in return.
Be careful about giving away a LCC too early, which means don't do it before turn
30-40. Alliances may shift, as my Lizard neighbour noticed, when 2 LCC's full of torps and
3 MBR appeared behind his front line planets.
So only give away LCCs when you two have a definite plan. Rather give away a T-rex than a
LCC when trading for an Onyx. Tubeless cloakers are also fairly useful. The Crystals will
want such ships for information gathering. Say a tubeless Saurian with heavy disruptors or
something.
The Evil Empire
As an ally the Empire has some useful advantages, dark sense being the best of them. The
SSD is fairly useless, because of the ground attack Lizards have themselves. The ship
would only come in handy if you're fighting the Borg or are taking otherwise highly
populated planets. It goes withough saying that a Lizard Gorbie is the greatest thing
since sliced bread(well, Fed Bios would still have the advantage). The Probe with 20
colonists is useful for taking over border planets, but not particularly. It also can
supply fuel over a vast distance in case of emergency. A few free fighters come in handy,
though cash is not a problem for you.
The Robots
Not much to say, the Bots are the usual carrier race ally. A good alliance both ways.
Robot owned LCCs and Lizard carriers are a lethal combination.
The Rebels
Like the Robots, the Rebels are a good carrier race ally, but because of their special
abilities such as RGA, they are much better allies. They are also a hard race to beat, so
be friends instead. The starbase/T-rex tactic won't work against Rush Carriers, and that
is would be the nail on your coffin.
Most prominently the Falcon sticks out as a perfect ship to quickly bring 120 colonist
clans to the front for a measly 100 kt of fuel roundtrip. Meet with a cloaker and swap the
colonists for bounty money, transfer up to 50kt of extra fuel you brought, too.
The Cygnus is a good little ship on it's own and adds value with the 50% higher
survival rate. The fact that it can't cloak isn't a serious drawback if it comes to
lurking for enemy scouts or taking out badly defended enemy outposts along the borders or
for a low price mass assault to give the enemy fleet lots of targets to hunt down in their
space (good against the evil empire). Also a fair transporter for high-end replacement
torpedoes (with only one tube) and mine layer at home. Prefer it over the Vendetta as
guard ship as it will not betray you by getting conquered, it's cheaper on the moly and
needs an engine less.
The Iron Lady faces the same problem the Vendetta has, it is easily captured way before
it would explode. Not a must-have but a cheaper mine-sweeper than a T-Rex anytime and can
lay mines in turn, too. Tow a low-engine T-Rex with it.
As to combining abilities, a combination of two or three RGAs followed by Lizard ground
attack is a very evil weapon. Scout out the planets cloaked, lay some mines to keep rescue
attempts out and strike with Falcons which carry replacement colonists to refresh your
cargo load of nasty Lizard warriors. This works particularily well against Borg planets
that you'd otherwise would be unable to conquer alone.
Free fighters and access to the Rush carrier are goodies you shouldn't turn down, as
well as Rebels on your arctic planets or in your border area with the Evil Empire,
providing you with what you need unseen by the dark sense. In turn give the Rebels
Reptiles and Saurians to approach for RGAs unseen, mine their low concentration minerals,
cool their desert planets and hiss at their overtaxed natives.
The Colonies of Man
Like any carrier race, a very useful ally. The Colonies don't have any decent torpedo
ships and like most carrier races, their economy isn't that strong for the first 50 turns.
Give them LCCs, Lokis and hiss and cool their planets. Ask for a Cobol or Virgo in return.
The Cobol is best used as a fuel-making cargo ship traveling 81 ly back and forth.
Repeating this procedure with multiple Cobols will end all fuel shortages. Also its
ability to tow heavy ships(LDSFs and STFs) at the beginning of the game while still making
fuel can spread your deadly Lizard colonists in a way that will make your opponents
shudder. When ground assaulting enemy planets comes into the picture, you'll have much
less distance to travel to get those colonists on your LCCs. Especially in mineral-poor
games a Colony-ally would be useful as most unowned planets don't have fuel to keep heavy
freighters going.
The ability to tow The Colonies minesweeping ability will really help you because you
only have one ship that has >5 beams. And if you're really close to your enemy, the
Colonies will be able to sweep his minefields while orbiting your planets. To prevent
their minefields from being swept, the enemy will have to come to you, and that gives you
an advantage. All you have to do is tow those poor suckers with LCCs to Liz Virgos!
Fighting the Empire
Use LCCs to tow and destroy his SSDs with lurking T-rex's and Madonnzilas. Always be
prepared for surprise attacks from SSDs. Remember, the Empire uses the evil Dark Sense to
find your good planets. Other than taking his planets, you should focus on his SSDs and
freighters. Let your T-rex Madonnzila combos take out their Gorbies. Use your LCCs to
intercept and destroy/capture his only minelaying ship, the Super Star Frigate. Doing this
will let you ground attack without fear of hitting a mine. Finally, take over his bases at
the right moment. The writer took a base and a rampaging Gorbie ended up destroying its
own base, resulting in it sitting over a planet without any fighter support.
Ship specific
Small Deep Space Freighter
I think this ship should be removed from the shiplist. I'm sick of even expert players
building these to fill the queue with crap. Only build them when you don't have enough
money or minerals to build a decent hiss-capable ship. Equip them with tech 1 engines and
colonize them at the appropriate moment to either get PBPs(before the ship limit), or earn
yourself ship slots by having more than 20 PBPs(after the ship limit has been reached).
Read what Timo Kreike has to say about the ship queue. Remember that ships
without beams cannot hiss.
Serpent Class Escort
Other than hissing, this ship can be used as a simple money transporter. But since it
can't cloak, the Reptile is a better choice. Your enemy can get lots of PBP's for
free(when they attack) if you hiss with Serpents.
Neutronic Fuel Carrier
Build a few to refuel your ships at the edges of your empire. The usefulness of this ship
depends on how rich the game is. Personally I can't remember the last time I actually
built one! That's what happens when you play the majority of your games at Robo.
Medium Deep Space Freighter
The MDSF is a good money and mineral transport. Of course since you have cloaked ships it
would advisable to use them to conceal you position... A Medium freighter with 100 clans,
100 supplies and 1000Mc can produce a SB in about 5-6 turns if you find a good planet.
Reptile Class Destroyer
It is a fair cloakable scout as long as it isn't used to confront well-armed enemy ships
or strong planets. As a hiss ship it has the advantage that it has much better defensive
abilities in case the tide of war is rolling into Lizard space, it evacuates money, 50
clans and takes 120 kt of fuel away from the enemy forces while preserving them for
yourself or allies, unlike exploded Serpents. You can also really annoy your opponent by
dropping one colonist every turn after he captures a planet of yours. That's an excellent
way to find out the weapons on an enemy ship. Unlike the Serpent it also has a value as a
tow machine (with good engines), also to tow out enemy freighters to capture or destroy
them and against lightly colonized enemy planets it can very well succeed in either combat
or ground attack, freeing up a more valuable ships for better targets.
The only advantage of the Serpent is the fact that there is nearly no time where you
can't build one to fill a slot and the bonus of hissing over a small freighter, but it is
a certain fatality if an attack occurs and gives away free PBPs that way, wiping out the
original advantage of it's construction.
Lizard Class Cruiser
The workhorse of your fleet. Fill them with colonists and send them to conquer enemy
starbases. It uses a LOT of fuel, so keep your frontier planets stocked with neutronium.
This ship should be equipped with Heavy Blasters (or Heavy Phasers) and Mark 8s. You will
need high tech beams because your enemy will probably lay lots of minefields(you will get
caught in them) to protect his/her planets from your marauding LCCs. Also the high tech
torps are useful when trying to counter-mine.
I've read that some people build them with 1 laser and no torpedo tubes to lower the mass
of the ship so it travel longer distances to ground attack. This is a little risky, since
your newbie enemy might call your bluff and blow your LCC away with a probe. It's a better
idea to play it safe and put AT LEAST blasters and Mark 4s on your scaled down LCCs.
Eros Class Research Vessel
Climate controller. Trade them for some good ships. Build every other Eros with transwarps
and the other with tech 1 engines. This ship is cheaper than a Serpent, so you might want
to consider building them for Hissing. Eros's are tech level 4, while Serpents are just 1,
so if you have just made a starbase that doesn't have much money, then build a Serpent
instead. After you've finished cooling the planet, you should replace the Eros's with
Reptiles because of reasons explained above. Eros's are decent tow ships due to their
relatively large fuel tank and two engines.
Large Deep Space Freighter
My favourite freighter. The Medium and Small are too small, the Super Transport is too
big, but the LDSF feels, actually is the ship to build.
Vendetta Class Frigate
Not enough crew, fuel capacity or cargo room to be worth attacking with, but paired with a
Loki it becomes a decent guard ship against an MBR for example. Equip them with mark 4s or
mark 7s.
Saurian Class Light Cruiser
The Lizards underestimated all-purpose ship. The 260kt fuel tank will guarantee that
you'll go a long way(it has a mass of 120 kt). The 150 kt cargo bay is also enough to
mount minor offensives. Before you send your LCCs, use these ships to lay minefields, take
out freighters and conquer weak planets. Your LCCs will take out the more heavily
populated planets. There are many different opinions about this ship.
Loki Class Destroyer
Will decloak every ship within 10 ly. They _won't_ work against the Feds or you. Have a
T-rex tow one if you plan to attack a cloaking race. You can also have multiple Lokis in
your battlegroup, supplying only one of them with fuel. This will make races like the
Privateers go crazy.
Merlin and Neutronic Refinery Ship
Both of there ships come in handy when you are strapped for minerals or fuel. Merlins show
their full potential when positioned above Bovinoid-inhabited planets. At best you can
produce about 1900-2000 supplies per turn thanks to these cows. You may also want to build
one if you have a high population planet where factories produce >400 supplies per
turn. Due to the 200% mining rate, the Lizards can build the Merlin relatively early in
the game. An added bonus is that the Merlin can also hiss.
The NRS comes in handy mostly in games where minerals(=fuel) are scarce. I rarely build
them if the average amount of neutronium on planets is above 2000 kt.
Madonnzila Class Carrier
Build one for every two or three T-rexes you build. Depending on the HOST settings, it
will destroy any carrier if the carriers beams are uncharged and its shields are down.
50-60 fighters should be enough if you're not fighting deep behind enemy lines without a
chance of getting more fighters.
T-rex Class Battleship
Once you have enough minerals, then this is THE ship you should build. Make hoards of
T-rexes(but never only Rex's) to secure success in battle. I equip them with Heavy
Blasters or Heavy Phasers and Mark 7s or Mark 8s, depending on the amount of money and
minerals I have. You should consider building one or two with Disruptors and Gamma Bombs
in case you have a chance to capture a damaged ship. They're also great for capturing
MBRs, but make sure you use at least the fueled-fueless Loki tactic if you plan to fly
around Pirate space.
Attack in this order: T-rex, T-rex Madonnzila, T-rex, T-rex, Madonnzila etc. Another
option is to attack in this order: T-rex, Madonnzila, Madonnzila. Get Bsim 2.2 and find
out which combo is better for the carrier you're fighting.
Raceplus
The Lizards have had a new ability added to their T-Rex and Madonnzila class warships.
This ability only functions on these ships and only when they are under Lizard control.
This new ability is linked to their new development of what has been termed the Chameleon
Device.
This ability isn't that valuable, although if executed properly, it will really take
your opponent by surprise. If your enemy finds out the ID of the "fake" ship,
then the Chameleon Device is almost useless. I'm not sure how Echoview(for example) reacts
to the fact that a ship changes hulls. If you're at war with an inexperienced player, then
simply disguise a T-rex or Madonnzila as a LDSF and fly around. Also, if you're at war
with a cloaking race, disguise a T-rex or Madonnzila(they must be fairly low-mass) as a
Loki and set a waypoint to a planet that's >2 months away. Your enemy might try a
cloaked intercept (the ship is not actually cloaked), resulting in you blowing up the
ship(unless it's a Darkwing).
Thwarting the Privateer NUK trap
Here's how someone in the VGA Planets newsgroup explained the NUK trap:
- The Privateer owns the planet initially and positions a fleet there with every ship out
of fuel and fuel on the surface of the planet.
- The enemy fleet arrives with Lokis and only fights the planet because the Privateer
ships are all out of fuel.
- If the Privateer owns the highest ID ship at the planet, he will eventually retake the
planet through the continuous ship-planet combat that results from the planet changing
hands as the combat phase cycles through enemy ships, according to ID number.
- The next turn begins with the Privateer owning a planet and the Privateer fleet sitting
there ready to pick up fuel and rob the entire enemy fleet including the Lokis.
There are many ways to stop this horrible thing from happening to your valuable fleet.
Here are the ones I can think of.. Let me know if I'm forgetting something.
- Attack with a very high ID(ID 500 works ok) ship in your fleet so you'll surely have the
planet when the battles are over.
- Send a cloaker in and transfer fuel to the enemy ship(or ships, you'll need more
cloakers then) one turn before you attack. This is hard if not impossible though because
the MBR(s) will probably be cloaked the previous turn. But if he's a good Priv he'll have
Lady Royales robbing too. If you can destroy these then you're doing ok, I doubt many
players will be brave enough to have scores of 0 fuel mbrs orbiting unless they're
desparate.
- Use ground attack on all possible planets instead of normal combat, ESPECIALLY against
the Privs. Who knows, the Priv planets with a good amount of defense posts may be set to
NUK and all 0 fuel MBRs will be destroyed with no losses to you at all.
- Use minefields in case his ships are far away and he's panicing.. If he is then you're
probably doing well enough to suppose he doesn't have enough ships to perform the NUK
trick anymore.
- Fake your attack, force him to make his MBRs zero fuel out of fear, then your LCC(s) at
the planet transfers one kt of fuel to the MBR(s) and attack the next turn.
- Get some Fireclouds and chunnel those doomed Priv ships to deep space for an ugly death.
Common anti-Lizard tactics and how to counter them
1. Put lots of colonists and defense posts on your planets, especially bases.
There is no real way you can take these planets through ground attack. You must either ask
your allies for help(SSD, RGA) or simply send a Rex-Rex combo. That is if there are no
other enemy ships in orbit.
2. Lay big and overlapping minefields to discourage LCC ground attacks.
Forget the planets your enemy tries to protect with big minefields. Go for less obvious
targets such as far off border planets or planets in the heart of his empire. Usually your
enemy won't have the capabilities to protect every planet with a few 70 ly minefields.
While he's struggling with your LCCs, build Rex's with heavy phasers.
3. Escort your freighters with a ship capable of destroying a LCC.
Simple. Forget about attacking and wait at his planets, then tow the freighters away. I
trust you know the tow conflict rules. ;-)
4. Build a tech 10 carrier early in the game to crush the Lizards quickly.
Build a Rex-Madonnzila combo after you build the usual ships in the beginning. The
attacker will lose much more than you if you manage to destroy the ship. After all, the
Lizards have the strongest economy in the game.
Credits
J.P. v. Bolhuis, Biomenaced, Max Wagoner, Armin Lenz, Kero van Gelder, Daniel Dömpke,
Peter Sorensen, Arturo Ramirez and everyone else who has helped me with this guide.
Links to other strategy oriented Planets pages:
Arend
Wellman's Federation Page
Timo's Elite
Site
Jurjens VGAP Survival Guide
The Border Worlds
Max Wagoner's VGA
Planets page
Mags VGAP Corner(the
Evil Empire)
Juniper's
Guide to Fascists
Privateers FAQ
The Birdman
Guide to the Galaxy
The Borg by Derek J.
Kalweit
Glittering
Webs(Crystals)
Glistening Gems(Crystals)
Guide to The Colonies of
Man
Bane's Fleet Review
Cecil's
Crystalline Strategy Page
The Pickle's Guide to Borg
Conrad Lesnewski's Guides
Rebel's Handbook
Email me if you know of a strategy guide that's not on the list.
This guide will be updated every month or two. Please come again and check it out.
If you have any ideas or suggestions that you think I should add to the guide, then please
contact me! My email address is:[email protected]
Guide posted at Donovan's with the author's permission.
Original is at http://www.saunalahti.fi/~kimball/lizards.htm
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