From reading this and other forums, it seems there's a dichotomy among MOO2 players. Half of us (and myself) think that creative is a waste of 8 picks. I probably wouldn't even take it at the original 6. What's the point in putting so much effort into your tech tree when you can just steal things by spying or by capturing ships? When I first started playing, I'd always take a bonus to spying, it seemed pretty obvious to me right away the advantage of making the opponent do the hard work for me.
Then there are the other people who shout that creative as a pick is something akin to cheating, that this pick is overpowered even at 8 and this is some kind of uber-pick, especially against the AI. It is this group that has captured my interest because, afterall, I do eventually want to get as much tech as I can in order to win. So I would ask you creative players, aside from creative what are your picks (and penalties) and what strategy do you follow for research, expansion, and economy?
I'll start off with my own, which I tried out today and lost 3 games against the AI on impossible with: CreativeLithovoreLHW (-def,att,gc,spy)
For a strategy I stuck to regular tech (res,auto,clone,supers) and expanded to nearby good systems. In my final game I got an early crystal (t25) using fighter bays ("so that's what those are for!") and my starting col ship. But I kept running into the same problem in each game: nowhere to put my pop and very poor economy!! The best I could reach was with the early monster game, and that was only 58 pop at t100, but even this game I conlonized everything in the upper lefthand corner, I think I had 10 or 11 colonies and all of them nearly full. I started expanding into the neighboring darlock space via extermination (Creative did let me use death spores, those ARE fun and keep buildings intact!) but by t150 it was quickly becoming obvious that the insane Sakra from the far side of the map (unisubaqua,+gro,tolerant,+prod, rep, -spy) were going to be victorious if I didn't secure more population and fast. Just before turn 200 they won the council vote after the psilons surrendered to them and I fought valiantly while they overwhelmed my small fleet of missle bb.
Creative Races and strategies
"Beer is the solution to and cause of all my problems. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a solution that needs probleming..."
hi llylwyyn yeah creative can be hard but I find it well worth the 8 picks. Creative demand a lot of the player that is using it. With creative you will get a lot of technologies but you will have to choose between them. If you build everything you will lose.
as for your pick is not the kind I used to play with. My creative race usual is a dictatorship sub, aqua, creative, large home world, or democracy, creative, aqua. The – picks are the standard repulsive, gc, ship defence.
the big advantage is that u don’t have to choose between holo simulator and planetary supercomputer as a non uni race that extra morale is worth a lot and makes livore obsolete. In my opinion creative races never needs livore. Morale together with soil makes more than enough food on wet worlds to supply barren and dry worlds. Besides moral contributes to science and production also. If u picked the sub aqua combo moral will give u a lot of money too. Especially if u build clooners fast pop growth.
but creative will also get tech faster. If u go up the tech tree lets say chemistry. You will have Tritanium Armor while your opponent will not have better armor before zortium giving you an advantage. Likewise with shields and did I mention ion cannon is also something to think about.
so all and all 8 picks is worth it but as so many before me have said you got to know what to do with it.
as for your pick is not the kind I used to play with. My creative race usual is a dictatorship sub, aqua, creative, large home world, or democracy, creative, aqua. The – picks are the standard repulsive, gc, ship defence.
the big advantage is that u don’t have to choose between holo simulator and planetary supercomputer as a non uni race that extra morale is worth a lot and makes livore obsolete. In my opinion creative races never needs livore. Morale together with soil makes more than enough food on wet worlds to supply barren and dry worlds. Besides moral contributes to science and production also. If u picked the sub aqua combo moral will give u a lot of money too. Especially if u build clooners fast pop growth.
but creative will also get tech faster. If u go up the tech tree lets say chemistry. You will have Tritanium Armor while your opponent will not have better armor before zortium giving you an advantage. Likewise with shields and did I mention ion cannon is also something to think about.
so all and all 8 picks is worth it but as so many before me have said you got to know what to do with it.
creative is the HARDEST pick to play in the game.
if you dont know have a good idea on how to use creative properly, there's a good chance you signing your own death warrant, especially if you play against other human opponents in multiplayer.
otherwise, creative is also in my opinion one of the most fun picks to play in the game once youve mastered it, considering its really more of a battle pick than a science pick or vice versa. also people get annoyed easily when they see creatives. more the reason why all non creatives try to take you out asap as soon as they even glare at you.
the best creatives are:
uni aqua crea large hw and
uni sub crea
those two will offer you the best chances of survival, though you do sacrifice morale techs, but the uni bonus makes up for it with more/faster pop.
if you dont know have a good idea on how to use creative properly, there's a good chance you signing your own death warrant, especially if you play against other human opponents in multiplayer.
otherwise, creative is also in my opinion one of the most fun picks to play in the game once youve mastered it, considering its really more of a battle pick than a science pick or vice versa. also people get annoyed easily when they see creatives. more the reason why all non creatives try to take you out asap as soon as they even glare at you.
the best creatives are:
uni aqua crea large hw and
uni sub crea
those two will offer you the best chances of survival, though you do sacrifice morale techs, but the uni bonus makes up for it with more/faster pop.
Early Game Strategy
I preferred the AquaSubCreative since it allows the penalties to go right up the middle, instead of taking repulsive. And the massive max pop is killer 
But the last time I played on LAN I still got wrecked by my n00b friend. Late game strategy is obvious; superior wartechs = victory, but I'm not living long enough!
Treating creative as a warpick makes perfect sense, but what strategy to employ is my dilemna. Missle base for defense is nice. But if I'm going to take 8 warpicks, I want to maximize that offensive power! The boards here contain good early monster strategies that are very easy to use with creative, certainly. And colony building is good, the advantage of having soils & clones is great for pop grow and available pop.
My question now is what kinds of ships to build (DD fleet or rush to BB) and how to construct these ships for good offense. Also important, is rapid scout even viable or should I have a fleet in the works before scouting? How is the ion cannon used effectively in ship design? What combat tactics play to creative's advantage? I know what strategies work well in general, but what strategies maximize the advantages of creative
But the last time I played on LAN I still got wrecked by my n00b friend. Late game strategy is obvious; superior wartechs = victory, but I'm not living long enough!Treating creative as a warpick makes perfect sense, but what strategy to employ is my dilemna. Missle base for defense is nice. But if I'm going to take 8 warpicks, I want to maximize that offensive power! The boards here contain good early monster strategies that are very easy to use with creative, certainly. And colony building is good, the advantage of having soils & clones is great for pop grow and available pop.
My question now is what kinds of ships to build (DD fleet or rush to BB) and how to construct these ships for good offense. Also important, is rapid scout even viable or should I have a fleet in the works before scouting? How is the ion cannon used effectively in ship design? What combat tactics play to creative's advantage? I know what strategies work well in general, but what strategies maximize the advantages of creative
"Beer is the solution to and cause of all my problems. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a solution that needs probleming..."
lol, i seriously shouldnt give away my creative secrets ive learned over the years
but i might as well
fair warning: choosing creative might lead to early unexpected inevitable death against human opponents, only other time such circumstances exist is maybe when you choose unitol
these strategies work best with uni aqua crea large as they can tech/build fastest
there's really two paths to playing creative:
1) blitz down wormhole by turn 80-100 and double empire
2) hide and build empire and tech
option 1 is the best option as you can double up empire and size, but you seriously need a wormhole to survive with that option, without wormhole it might take forever to go take over someone. this is where you take the initiative as a creative
there lies two tech options for wormhole blitzes:
after primary techs:
rlabs, hulls, autos, bios
you get:
1) cloners, pol procs, battle techs
2) skip cloners, get robos, battle techs
tech option 1 gives you mirv nukes besides laser techs but regular ground troops
tech option 2 you get less food/growth, but you can grow easily with robos, you also dont get any mirv nukes, only laser techs for attack, but you get powered armor, which means ground troops take double hit before dying
powered armor is very useful for quick taking over of an empire, since double hit troops
it takes only one transport to take over a colony instead of 3-4 transports as usual
basic battle techs are:
bpods, auggies, battle scanners, and space acs
===================\
creative path 2: hiding and building up
if youre going to hide and build up tech:
its best to race for cybertronic comps/autolabs right after supers and skipping robos
this way youll have autolabs by turn 100
but you leave yourself open to attack that way
another tech path i conjured up if you prefer to be prepared for defense by turn 100
is after supers, you skip robos and get pol procs and race for class 3 shields
by turn 100, most bbs are only equipped with regular mds, fusions, and nukes
its fairly easy to get zortium and mercs by turn 100, but not everyone techs zorts that fast all the time and most time whenever anyone is attacking they dont get zorts first
people who attack by turn 100
you can get class 3 shields by turn 90-95ish if you play fast enough
still the problem with that is that youre open to attack before turn 90
it takes only about 10 turns to get robos after c3s
alright besides the basic creative gameplay paths and tech paths for different gameplays, ill cover all the important techs/batttle techs that are what defines creative
key creative tech list:
dauntless missile guidance:
if enemy ship retreats, the missiles aimed at him reverts to next closest target
heavy armor:
prevents armor piercing weapons from damaging, great against mds/gauss cannons etc
planetary defenses:
normally, i always build missile bases 1st, then radiation shields, then fighter garrisons, then starbases
radiation shields nullifies fusions, mds, and nukes, so they cant damage your missile bases
powered armor:
they double ground troop hit points, in simpler terms they double your troop strengths, so a single troop does double damage
soils/cloners:
soils help increase food while cloners increase growth
warp dissipators/c3s:
class 3 shields and wd's
ion pulse cannons:
one hvy ion pulse cannon with cybertronic comps can completley take out a zortium bb without shields in one shot, ion cannons are on starbases by default, if you get any laser beam techs after fusions or mds, such as neutron beams, the neuts will replace the ion cannons
nano dissassemblers/microlite construction:
nano disassemblers work like having a free atmos at every single colony you have, cuts down on pollution dramatically, while microlite construction adds +1production to all workers thru out empire
autolabs/cybertronic comps/structural analyzers:
autolabs gives +30 rp every planet built, cybertronic comps give +100 comps, great for targetting, and of course structs:
structs double any damage that hit structure on enemy ships
so basically if you have a bb full of level 5 refined mds or fusions, your bb will do a good 600 damage on average on single shot from all guns, much more effective than missile tactics
thats basically all the key creative techs out there that youll get with creative but not with any other races normally; every other techs that i didnt mention can be obtained with any normal race, these techs are only upto an average game ending around turn 150ish
if anyone feels like i left out something important strategy to playing creative, please feel free to post it here. or feel free to correct me if you like
but i might as well
fair warning: choosing creative might lead to early unexpected inevitable death against human opponents, only other time such circumstances exist is maybe when you choose unitol
these strategies work best with uni aqua crea large as they can tech/build fastest
there's really two paths to playing creative:
1) blitz down wormhole by turn 80-100 and double empire
2) hide and build empire and tech
option 1 is the best option as you can double up empire and size, but you seriously need a wormhole to survive with that option, without wormhole it might take forever to go take over someone. this is where you take the initiative as a creative
there lies two tech options for wormhole blitzes:
after primary techs:
rlabs, hulls, autos, bios
you get:
1) cloners, pol procs, battle techs
2) skip cloners, get robos, battle techs
tech option 1 gives you mirv nukes besides laser techs but regular ground troops
tech option 2 you get less food/growth, but you can grow easily with robos, you also dont get any mirv nukes, only laser techs for attack, but you get powered armor, which means ground troops take double hit before dying
powered armor is very useful for quick taking over of an empire, since double hit troops
it takes only one transport to take over a colony instead of 3-4 transports as usual
basic battle techs are:
bpods, auggies, battle scanners, and space acs
===================\
creative path 2: hiding and building up
if youre going to hide and build up tech:
its best to race for cybertronic comps/autolabs right after supers and skipping robos
this way youll have autolabs by turn 100
but you leave yourself open to attack that way
another tech path i conjured up if you prefer to be prepared for defense by turn 100
is after supers, you skip robos and get pol procs and race for class 3 shields
by turn 100, most bbs are only equipped with regular mds, fusions, and nukes
its fairly easy to get zortium and mercs by turn 100, but not everyone techs zorts that fast all the time and most time whenever anyone is attacking they dont get zorts first
people who attack by turn 100
you can get class 3 shields by turn 90-95ish if you play fast enough
still the problem with that is that youre open to attack before turn 90
it takes only about 10 turns to get robos after c3s
alright besides the basic creative gameplay paths and tech paths for different gameplays, ill cover all the important techs/batttle techs that are what defines creative
key creative tech list:
dauntless missile guidance:
if enemy ship retreats, the missiles aimed at him reverts to next closest target
heavy armor:
prevents armor piercing weapons from damaging, great against mds/gauss cannons etc
planetary defenses:
normally, i always build missile bases 1st, then radiation shields, then fighter garrisons, then starbases
radiation shields nullifies fusions, mds, and nukes, so they cant damage your missile bases
powered armor:
they double ground troop hit points, in simpler terms they double your troop strengths, so a single troop does double damage
soils/cloners:
soils help increase food while cloners increase growth
warp dissipators/c3s:
class 3 shields and wd's
ion pulse cannons:
one hvy ion pulse cannon with cybertronic comps can completley take out a zortium bb without shields in one shot, ion cannons are on starbases by default, if you get any laser beam techs after fusions or mds, such as neutron beams, the neuts will replace the ion cannons
nano dissassemblers/microlite construction:
nano disassemblers work like having a free atmos at every single colony you have, cuts down on pollution dramatically, while microlite construction adds +1production to all workers thru out empire
autolabs/cybertronic comps/structural analyzers:
autolabs gives +30 rp every planet built, cybertronic comps give +100 comps, great for targetting, and of course structs:
structs double any damage that hit structure on enemy ships
so basically if you have a bb full of level 5 refined mds or fusions, your bb will do a good 600 damage on average on single shot from all guns, much more effective than missile tactics
thats basically all the key creative techs out there that youll get with creative but not with any other races normally; every other techs that i didnt mention can be obtained with any normal race, these techs are only upto an average game ending around turn 150ish
if anyone feels like i left out something important strategy to playing creative, please feel free to post it here. or feel free to correct me if you like
this is another creative tech path besides just the regular techs paths:
basically after autos/rlabs you tech down chemistry tech path
and go all the way thru pol procs to zortium armor.
with uni aqua crea, after autos/rlabs, you tech pol procs, then pop out 2 cships, then you keep teching to zortium. you should have zorts by turn 90-95.
what does teching zorts mean for creative?
simple, your uni creative races transforms into unitol...
hows that possible?
microlite construction adds +1 prod/pop everywhere while
nano dissassemblers changes the pollution effect equation to where you can make double the amount of production before pollution is even considered, combined with either pol procs or atmos or both, you can basically eliminate all pollution, hence unitol transformation.
normally the best thing to do after going thru a tech path like this, is to get battle techs right away and build a bb and either put out a launch or whatever.
the only dilemma with this path is irridium fuel cells, which unveils your hideout location to opponent, who then would prolly launch an attack right away to deter any creative growth.
but at the same time, after zorts, it takes about 9-10 turns to build a podless bb with zorts.
you can just mess around with it, its just as good tech path. especially considering you can build for once with creative.
and ya thnx step btw for the chem path strategy!
basically after autos/rlabs you tech down chemistry tech path
and go all the way thru pol procs to zortium armor.
with uni aqua crea, after autos/rlabs, you tech pol procs, then pop out 2 cships, then you keep teching to zortium. you should have zorts by turn 90-95.
what does teching zorts mean for creative?
simple, your uni creative races transforms into unitol...
hows that possible?
microlite construction adds +1 prod/pop everywhere while
nano dissassemblers changes the pollution effect equation to where you can make double the amount of production before pollution is even considered, combined with either pol procs or atmos or both, you can basically eliminate all pollution, hence unitol transformation.
normally the best thing to do after going thru a tech path like this, is to get battle techs right away and build a bb and either put out a launch or whatever.
the only dilemma with this path is irridium fuel cells, which unveils your hideout location to opponent, who then would prolly launch an attack right away to deter any creative growth.
but at the same time, after zorts, it takes about 9-10 turns to build a podless bb with zorts.
you can just mess around with it, its just as good tech path. especially considering you can build for once with creative.
and ya thnx step btw for the chem path strategy!
Return to “Strategy & Tactics”
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests