At first, I was completely stumped, but if what you say is true about the AI's having lower costs, then I guess it makes sense. I just would have thought that with my very favorable layout, I would have been at least EVEN with the enemies.
...
The difficulty was only average on that last game that I lost.
It works this way – at each level of difficulty you have additional modifiers for tech:
Simple – your tech cost is 67% of normal;
Easy – your tech cost is 83% of normal;
Average – your have original tech cost;
Hard – your tech cost is 117% of normal;
Impossible – your tech cost it 133% of normal;
The same is true about all maintenance costs. Maybe for maintenance there are other percentages (don't remember now), but they should be close to those anyway. Also, at impossible level AI in addition to that has artificially increased prod and tech output from scratch, plus some other enhances, which in essence makes upkeep (having more production) even lower (50% lower than yours or more), and making their tech cost (considering enhance bonus) again 50% cheaper, than yours, or more. Maybe even much more than 50%, don't remember right now, but at least 50% for sure. Also I don't remember, does AI has any output enhances at hard level or not, even if they do have it is very tiny one in compare to impossible. But at average level AI has absolutely no bonuses over you, plus they have no extra colony ships over you at the start (they have 2 CSs at hard and 4 at impossible), and they are playing bad strategy and bad tactics, thus, you are definitely developing very slow, if you let them outnumber you in everything at average level.
I got up to 5 settled planets pretty quick. Just as I was going for #6, I see a Sakkra not far from my 6th. We make contact. And he is already way ahead of me! Yikes. He has 6 planets to my 5, and he is ahead in tech and fleet size.
At which number of factories you switch to build CSs? What is your tech order up to contact?
I saved the game at that first contact point.
You can post save files
there in several seconds, after a minute of registrations and acquaintance.
If a planet has 100 enemy warships orbiting it and I send 100 colony transports to that planet...
Then the only things that repel my transports is the planetary defense (missles plus whatever shields and such they have developed) and the enemy colonists that live on that planet, right?
If those warships are small sized or old designs, then it is very modest fleet, don't judge by number only. As any developed planet you have grows pop very quickly by putting production to eco, you may send tons of pop to capture enemy planet, regardless of pop combat strength. But if you can't defend your new planet afterwards AI will get it back right away, so it is quite pointless to do so, if you can't beat the current defending fleet out there. But if there is no fleet (or very weak), only missile bases there, then you are right – you can break through with tons of transported pop, missile bases will not strike back afterwards.
I haven't worked with DOS in twenty years. I will go try and see if I can figure out DOSBOX and get it so I can update the patches.
Nice to see that someone is still interested in playing such old masterpieces, as moo. You need no knowledges about DOS to recall, just make some settings in bosbox config file itself and that's all. Also here is
the archive with clean the surely working 1.40 moo, try that to narrow the location of the problem. You may run install.exe there to change sound settings, but don't reinstall the game though.
Good luck to you with moo adventures.