User Guide

NOTES AND TIPS
APPENDIX 1
149
• Don’t mess with your economy settings until drones actually start to
become a problem in your bases (and even then, see if you can take care of
the problem with social choices or simple facilities first).
• A good basic strategy for building base facilities is simply to build the cheap-
est ones first. However, you might want to concentrate on network node (par-
ticularly if you have an artifact, or expect to build the Virtual World Secret
Project) and hab complex (if your population is growing quickly). Do not build
pressure domes or punishment spheres unless you know exactly what they’re
for and are certain they’re what you want (see Appendix 2: Facilities, p.
163)—these facilities are useful only in specialized circumstances, and the
punishment sphere can actually hold you back in specific ways.
• The more Secret Projects you can hog for yourself, the better. Even the ones
you don’t plan to use are useful, because you’re keeping them away from
some other faction.
• The earliest Secret Projects are among the most useful, particularly the
Human Genome Project and the Virtual World, both of which can give your
faction a power edge in stability.
• Plant forests to make arid squares productive. Plant some early to give them
time to grow.
• If a rival wants to trade technology, trade technology. Every tech advance
helps your faction, and an even trade is a good deal—it puts you that much
ahead of the other factions not involved in the trade.
• If your faction achieves clear dominance over the other factions, call an
election and make yourself Planetary Governor. It’s worth it for the trade
windfall alone.
• Secrets of the Human Brain can give you an important tech edge in the
early part of the game. Unfortunately (for the other factions), the
University and the Peacekeepers are about the only factions with a realis-
tic shot at it. All other factions require some major luck to get this tech
first (though it can happen).