FreeOrion

@ LGM,
I've read a fair bit already in the forum, including this thread, for instructions and ideas. I'm well aware that the current version is 0.4.6, but if I were to commit that level of effort to compiling from source in the future I'll probably get the development version and actually try to post bug reports and much more specific feedback. I might even try learning Python or something once I'm out of work in May (!). Meanwhile, 0.4.5 is already pretty fun...

I really only went to the trouble of writing out my little newbie diary in this thread because I'd specifically tried the full bio hull route, and several times in this thread others mentioned that they hadn't really gone that way, so I thought it would be useful information to have here for those curious. I read the release notes for 0.4.6 to check and make sure the bio hull techs weren't mentioned as being completely overhauled in this version before posting.

Having stealth >50 is not so hard with bio. And AI doesnt prioritize detection for higher. Send a fleet of those into battle and the enemy cant shoot back the first turn. If you take out all your enemies in the first turn, you have no losses.

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Any code or patches in anything posted here is released under the CC and GPL licences in use for the FO project.

Oh, welcome fellow SEIV veteran! I've been into the SE series myself - played SE3, 4 and 5. With SEIV I even participated in multiplayer games hosted on the SE4 PBW server provided by Geoschmo... have fond memories of the epic "Newbe Galactic Combat III" game

Yeah, the Organic Line hulls aren't as good at brute force, you need to be subtle and know what you're using to get them at their best: personally I rate them as the most powerful line against the AI, but you need to stealth up and play carefully.

Thanks for the feedback, and welcome, I look forward to more.

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Mat Bowles

Any code or patches in anything posted here is released under the CC and GPL licences in use for the FO project.

You guys are very welcoming! I appreciate that, and again, this is an amazing game.

I'll throw in one last detail for any fellow n00bs who might be reading this thread...after I posted my first message and went back to the game, I realized that the AI empires now could not figure out how to land troops on my planets any more, and stopped bombarding them. Ok, I apologize, stealth is awesome...!

The AI is meanwhile not letting up on the gas in terms of production and research points. I'm mostly staying ahead on RP per turn, but PP I've been behind forever and I'm clearly going to have to think up something clever in order to get past the 8k/10k of iron in orbit around my old forward construction yard system...

My personal guide for early game in galaxies with 20+ systems per player.

Flat bonuses (nascent AI and adaptive autom.) are everything at the start regardless the species.

Therefore, my base starting research queue is always as this:

This is not the order in which I get them, but the order in which I queue them.

I use the starting colony to get the "best" nearby planet with good habitability. What's best: if there are more than one candidates, I'll get the one that is further away from my homeworld if it will be supply connected after colonisation, otherwise just the closest one.

My first item in the production queue would be a colony or an outpost ship, depending on the proximity and habitability of the second-to-get planet. If it will be supply-connected, outpost ship is the way to go, otherwise colony ship.

Given that in order to get the most from the flat bonuses you need the most planets, growth techs may be upped a few spots if I need them to put into use the colony/outpost ships. That is, if there is no good-habitability planet that will be supply-connected for my starting colony, but there are some adequate planets that will, planetary ecology gets bumped up between alg. elegance and nascent AI except for bad research species for which I put it the first in the queue (i.e. start putting some RPs on it from the first turn). If there are not even adequate planets but there are some poor, then Subt. hab. and Simb. Bio. must be upped too.

I get mass drivers only if (i) playing with a bad research + good(or better) production species, (ii) there is a nearby planet guarded by easy monsters (usually sentries) and (iii) there is no other nearby planet candidate for colonisation. For those species, if I've had bad luck with the nearby planets, I also put The Physical Brain at some place among the first three spots of the queue (the worse the luck, the upper I place it) to get Historical Archives (+5 RPs!) early on.
If I'm not one of those species with bad research and great prod., but I still need one such monster-guarded planet (because there is no other available in the proximities), I just say "live sucks" and stick to the starting plan, scouting for better, further away planets and placing outpost ships on not-yet-habitable planets to expand my supply and to prepare for future colonisation once I get the necessary growth techs.

I place Force-Field Harmonics before Zortrium Armour because that +3 shield can make it damn easy (with proper weapons) to get down some guarding monsters and colonise very nice planets. Otherwise (i.e. I don't need to get down any monster), I just don't care which of the four starting military techs I get first since I won't be producing any ship until I get all four.

Finally, I only queue Orbital Construction (at the right spot so that it gets completed at the precise time I will need it) if I will be colonising/outposting a planet that is just 1 system away from my supply range. Otherwise, it can be delayed until I plan to get anything that requires it.

I agree with a fair amount of it. I disagree about the ships. I build a lot of robotic hull + basic armor + mass driver 4 ships. You can use those against close-in maintenance ships pretty effectively, especially once you get three built. Having them shielded is handy but I'd rather get going earlier. Most games I will research the starting military tech much sooner.

I research Exobots pretty early most of the time, except maybe when playing Cray. That's especially true if I uncover a robotic special, as that will allow colonizing tundra and especially asteroids with only Symbiotic.

Usually, exobots is my next tech in my list. I can bump it up if the colony/outpost ships and colony buildings leave some excess PPs and I (will) have asteroid in colonised systems. Even if Cray, obviously. But won't colonise non-robotic-special planets if I have (or will have in a few turns) other (better) species for which the planet is adequate or good. Otherwise I build exobots right away in any habitable planet and later use concentration camps to clear for better species.

Yeah, I do that very often in more crowdes maps (15- systems per player) or if many monsters nearby and not enough free planets to colonise. Specially with Egassem, for which you may keep a fast colonisation speed and yet get some excess PPs for early combat fleet.
Certainly there is a tradeof on getting laser first. You can get mass driver 4 in 6 turns for a total of R0 PPs, while first laser takes 8 turns and 60 RPs. However, with bad production and good research species I favour getting the military techs of that list before starting production because that way I save some badly needed PPs for ealier colonisation and also get a first combat fleet that will last way longer in the game than with basic techs.