How about some more viewpoints for an evil player?
Evil Corp Tactics....By Mike Magero
Your asking for novel not a paperback!
First things first... John my corp partner is also an "Expert" in his
own right. He and I are "Trusted" partners we don't backstab or lie to
each other. We also talk daily, voice if not in person. We spend only
a few minutes each day talking TW and then go about our other business.
(We have lifes too!.... so that lame excuse is just that... lame!)
We use the Database and Script files we created and work as a team.
We play evil and have made it work for us. Our "standard" methods of
operation go like this.
Game Start (first 1-3 days)
We run our Find SGA script if need to locate stardock. If not we both
trade in our Cruisers for Freighters and Density scanners. We trade pairs
and buy holds. Once we have full holds we start buying E-probes and shoot
them on long paths (using our e-prober script not a Zero turn map.) This
provides us with more pairs. We continue to do this until we lose fedspace
parking rights. (on or about day 3 due to having excessive exp.) When we
are trading pairs we are using our Trading script to earn 2 points and the
extra credits that makes. So far we have not joined up as a Corp we are
acting as solo players but we are trading Cim Data and helping each other.
Day 4-6
One of us will go Evil. The other guy will send a days profit to the guy
who is Evil. The Evil then goes to a Class 7 port and runs the script we
call "Mega-Jetison" This script will trade for small quantities of product
and haggle for 2 points. It then jettisons the stuff and repeats. In your
example of a 350 turn game I could use this script to "buy" exp. I could
earn 1750 in 350 turns costing me only 315,000 credits (about a days trading)
I can then steal the credits back (I'm evil remember) for more Exp and a
reduction in the cost. I now have the needed exp to run any of the Evil
credit earning methods on day 4. The other players are still out pounding
pairs and hoping to get there Iss's in a few days. The Good Guy will be
trading the pairs and shooting E-probes. He will go for an ISS and will be
making a Planet and may be capturing Ferrengal in a few days, if the rest
of the players don't have a clue as to what's going on yet. This is often
the part that causes cries of cheating (Most players don't understand how
he got his ISS and all the fighters needed when they can't do it.) The
Evil is sending him 500,000 credits per day and banking the rest or holding
it on his cloaked ship.
Day 6-14
The Evil player is earning the big money by running either Sell-Steal-Move
(SSM) or Sell-Steal-Transport (SST) Credits for new Ships,Holds,Fighters,
and E-probes are not a problem at this time. (No this is not the big $)
Bust are a problem as there is no one out clearing them so the money is
not as good as it could be.
The Good player now has an ISS and a big part of the map if not all of it!
We often have 100% mapped at this point. (in the Database not as individuals)
and he will start a planet and use a T-warp Colonizing script to bring in
people. Once it turns Lv-1 we invest in the Planet Transporters to aid the
process. The sectors we have chosen for our dead-end often look like this:
(456)
\ | /
-- 121 -- 345 -- (4713)
/ | |
2156 -- 3912 -- (4029)
|
(912)
Sector 121 has 6 ways in and out we don't touch this sector. The rest
of the dead-end as you can see is made up of small 1 and 2 sector dead-ends
there is no "escape hatch" 1 way out. These "escape hatch" dead-ends often
have traffic coming through them at some point and are often found more
by luck then any other means (we avoid using them for now.) All of these
sectors will have 250 mines and a few limpets as while as 1 Fighter for a
T-warp Beacon. The 345 sector will have 5-10 thousand Offensive fighters
in it to keep the week guys from entering the dead-end. At this point the
dead-end is at risk of invasion but it would take a powerful enemy to do
it and this just doesn't happen because no one yet has the resources to
attack. Even an Expert player who is in an ISS is going to think twice
about attacking a dead-end and burning up his stock of fighters and credits
this early in the game. If we have been found we may risk parking the
ISS (maxed out) over the planet. (We can afford it! and it's more protection
then the Sentinel offers.)
We now spend the credits to fire in dud planets and stock them with the
products needed to build SSB Ports. In 4 days the Ports are done. The
planet is Lv-2 and has a good stock of people on it. The Good Trader will
now dump his Alignment and sell the ISS. He goes evil and if needed uses
the Mega-Jetison script to raise his Exp. We then join up as a Corp and
run the SST method of earning credits at our protected ports. We clear
each others busts and use Mules at this point. This will earn us about
2 million per day per person at this point. Easily far more then a good
aligned player can earn at this point.
We watch the
From this point on we continue to buy fighters and hunt citadels. Once
we have a Lv-4 planet we warp it in close to Terra and use the CT to make
colonist stocking runs until we have drained Terra. We then warp our Lv-4
back to the dead end and start on building up other planets. We go for
a Class L for our first planet but will settle for a Class M if that's
what comes up. Either way we try for 1 of each as our first 2 planets.
Only after we have these to Lv-5 do we start on the other types.
Once we have spread out the colonists and have a Lv-4 and a Lv-1 we move
the Lv-4 over near one of the Class Zero ports (or stardock) and use that
as a Transporter Pad to cut turns out of the Restoring holds problems
one faces as an Evil. We then sell our Mules and replace them with CT"S.
At this point we are makeing top dollar. From here it's just a matter of
how you choose to spend your credits.
Geno. After reading this can you honestly tell me that your method of
exploring is going to allow you fight us? If you give us 24 days to build
up the game is over for you. You will never be able to start a Citadel.
We will see it the day you use a G-torp and know the minute it turns into
a Citadel. We can easily afford to spend untold millions just shooting
E-probes. Anyone not also running SST in a similar fashion would lack the
Fighters/Shields needed to battle us. We need never leave our protected
area should we choose not to. You will never see us out in space. If you
want us, you will have to come and find us. We force you into the position
of being the attacker, the odds are with us. Sure there are things you
can do to harrass us but you will never be able to take it all away from
us. The stuff you CAN destroy with little cost like the un-manned ships and
the ports can all be easily rebuilt in a matter of days. The planets are
for the most part un-killable due to the games upper limits being set so
high and our methods of earning the maximum amount of credits each and
everyday. The game itself is busted not your methods but your only getting
away with what your doing because the other players are allowing you to do
it. We don't give others that chance. We use our credit advantage from
the start and don't let anyone else get into a position to offer a challenge.
The real secret to control is to pick a method that will allow you to out
earn everyone else and get into FASTER then anyone else can. The guys who
can get the most, FIRST will be the guys who are going to control the game.
You can see that even this post doesn't go into pain staking step
by step details but you can see the general plan we use. The minor details
such as ship types and planet types will differ but the basic plan is always
the same. Get the upper hand fast and keep it. Anyone who fails to match
the speed at which we build up will forever be eating our dust and driving
a Pod. There are no luck factors to give you that break you need to catch
up with the guys in the lead. You either have it or your don't......
( "it" is the power to do battle and win) Player Aids play a big part
in this. Some ARE better then others but you have to use them to the fullest
if your going to beat the guys running the same stuff you have access to.
c 1996 spyder@fament.com