When do you guys research engine upgrades and which to pick?

Discussion on how to play against other humans.
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PsyDev
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When do you guys research engine upgrades and which to pick?

Postby PsyDev » Mon Aug 20, 2007 7:15 am

Hey. I only play against AI but I always feel like I'm behind the curve in researching speed upgrades. It can be strategically useful to be fast but I usually find it to be a luxury to research engine upgrades, because I usually want to research things like Robos, Fuel, Mercs, Atmos, Armor, supers, EMG or autolab which seem more pressing.

Also, I usually like having augmented engines (250 RP) as well as find Ion Pulse Cannons (900) quite useful, so what usually happens is I am extremely slow until I reserach those, before finally researching Anti-matter drive (2000). I'm always slower than the opponent and am never sure what the right time to tech up is; and even then I don't know which engine to settle on.

Which engines do you guys usually prefer to use and when do you research them in the game? How necessary are there?

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Cabman
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Postby Cabman » Mon Aug 20, 2007 7:37 am

You should have at least ion drive when you meet your opponent ( that's usually about t 90-100 in 1vs1 games) . It Depends on race you play, but usually you should tech supercomps, robos, pollution cleaner and then drive.Upgraded drive is very important : ship's ini, better defense during battles, ability to move your fleets fast on main map and your colonists get to new colonies faster.

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PsyDev
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Postby PsyDev » Mon Aug 20, 2007 11:03 am

So, do people ever use ion pulse cannons much in multiplayer games? They are pretty devastating, destroying ships quickly. The chance of disabling an enemy ship is high, and they disable starbases pretty quickly as well.

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Cabman
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Postby Cabman » Mon Aug 20, 2007 2:33 pm

Sometimes one techs ion cannons and then antimatter drive, but it's bit risky. .. Ion cannons are devastating, but only at close range(no HV mod on ships) and vs unshielded ships.

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StepNRazor
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Postby StepNRazor » Thu Aug 30, 2007 2:56 pm

If I have some long distances to ship the pop I'll get ion after robo.

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Time
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Postby Time » Thu Sep 06, 2007 1:57 pm

The first two posts are right on.

I don't usually research Ions. Missles are effective early game weapons, and ions suck at defending against them.
With enough ships, moving away from combat, the missles usually catch up to the ion ship and desroy it.

The only chance the ion ship has is, if the missle ship player foolishly leaves his ship near the missles, and gets destroyed by ions, eliminating his own missles.

Good beam defense counters Ions, and auto repair can repair your engines and weapon systems, just rotate your ships away from combat, if they get hit (and survive). Always space your ships out, when confronting an Ion opponent to avoid explosions damaging your ships.
MOO1 Fan, MOO2 Fan, MOO3 needed too many changes = hopeless, getting older waiting for a MOO4 (still).


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