Banana Republik Guide for Demokratik Xpansion and Diplomatik Xtermination

IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS GUIDE IS FOR BALANCE MOD, THOUGH MOST OF THE HINTS PROVIDED ARE VALID FOR STOCK OR OTHER MOD GAMES.

FEEL FREE TO SUGGEST MORE STRATEGIES AND IDEAS FOR ALL NEW PLAYERS, AND CORRECT ME IF I´M WRONG.

ENJOY!

(Trumpet sound - Sol Banana Republic Himn)

Grendelio, savior of the universe...
Grendelio, always loved president...
Grendelio....
Grendelio....

(...37 minutes of Grendelio I Exaltation)

Panchos and Juanitas!! You really want to rule the galaxy? Exterminate your enemies? Plant Banana in a thousand worlds?

...Not easy, isn´t it?

First, You have to be sure of what You want!

C´mon! Say with me!

...I want to rule the galaxy!
...I want to rule the galaxy!
...I want to rule the galaxy!

And now, an evil laugh!

...MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!

OK, this sounds better. We have conviction, But what do we do NOW?

No worries! The most demokratik president ever brings You his "Banana Republik Guide for Demokratik Xpansion and Diplomatik Xtermination"!

You may find a few interesting things here, so take a look at it!!

Enjoy!!!

May your banana grow strong and wealthy!

Grendelio I

(TRULI demokraticaly elected President of the Migthy Banana RepubliK)

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* Banana Republik Guide for Demokratik Xpansion and Diplomatik Xtermination *

1.- The Basics: What the hell is this?

SEV is a Typical 4X game:

(From WikiPedia) 4X stands for the goals of :eXplore - eXpand - eXploit - eXterminate:

Explore means the player starts out with limited knowledge of the playing area, and must move into new areas to reveal the map. The map could be blacked out, or some features may be visible with limited information (for example, the stars in Master of Orion).

Expand means the player adds more territory under their control. This is usually done by creating new settlements or improving the influence of existing settlements.

Exploit means the player uses resources under his control, such as wood, gold, or food, and improves the efficiency of that usage.

Exterminate means attacking and eliminating rival players, pushing back their territorial expansion and hindering their ability to exploit resources within that territory. Beyond the cost to the rival, there is often an additional tangible benefit to the attacker, usually in the form of acquired territory, resources, loot, and advantageous strategic position.

Making it simpler: Get big and smash your enemies. In this game You eXpand by colonizing/capturing planets, and research is a key factor, so I would explain it in a single line:

More planets = more research/resources = better techs = win.

Now the thing is: How to get more planets and better techs.

2.- EXpansion and colonization: Run, Forrest, run!

To eXpand your empire in the early game, you have to colonize planets. Obviously, You need colonizer ships to do it, and You´ll have to find the planets to colonize. This means that you have to scout nearby systems.

Some people uses scout frigates: Wrong. Colonizers RULE!

Put Basic Sensors in your colonizer ships and use them as scouts. Basic Sensors are almost costless, if we have in mind the cost of an entire ship. The higher the sensor range, the better. You´ll be able to scout entire systems in less turns, and You´ll be able to detect your enemies more easily. I suggest to get lvl 3 sensors ASAP for Balance Mod (BM), since it brings the optimal range/cost (7 range!).

NEVER use AI ship designs. Use your own ships, optimize them, and You´ll get better results. AI usually fills colonizers with lots of Supply and Ammo storages, apart from lots of armor. You can make much cheaper ships without that components (Armor? if a fast frigate or fighter group catches you, it will be useless. Supply storages? How many systems will You travel before colonizing a planet? 1 or 2?)
SEV has some weird component costs, like insanely expensive ammo/supply storages and cargo bays. Cargo Bay=Satellite/drone/mine/fighter Bay = 200 Minerals... A large supply/ammo storage cost more than 2X times a CSM!!! (Capital Ship Missile). Why all this explanations? Easy: Cheaper colonizers means more colonizers built/turn, and that means obtaining more colonies than your oponents.
Build your colonizers with the minimal components neccesary. If You really need to go far, You can build a resupply depot on an advanced colony and resuply your colonizers while they cross that system.

Since Fighter/satellite/drone/minelayer bays are cheap and small, you can put them in your colonizers too, for special missions...
Why build a minelayer ship? Just put a minelayer module in your colonizer, and drop the mines before crossing the Warp Point. Need to lay advanced satellites to spy your enemies or monitor what happens in your systems? A colonizer can do it while it moves with a satellite bay.
Remember that You can use the cargo capacity from a colonizer module: You can load a weapon platform with your pop for planet defence when colonizing in war zones... You can even use your colonizers as troop transports and capture undefended planets with them!
A Colonizer module has 400KT cargo capacity for 200/1000/500 resources, but 4 cargo bays cost 800 minerals, and colonizers have a -50% maintenance bonus, so using a colonizer as cargo/troop transport doesn´t sound that bad. Furthermore, colonizers doesn´t have that -10% evasion bonus, and can use weapon mounts!
Some players get "Propulsion Experts" trait and put a DUC (Depleted Uranium Cannon) in their colonizers to give them some attack capacity to hunt other colonizers or destroy early undefended bases.

As I said, Colonizers RULE!

3.- Defending your colonies: The world is mine!

Now You have a lot of colonies, but no warships. You are vulnerable to attacks, so better think about how You are going to defend while You build

facilities, spaceyards and ships. Of course, this depends on neraby enemy presence. There is no point in wasting resources in defences if there are no enemies.

- Satellites: The first thing to do is building a spy satellite in all your planets. You can fit a DUC and a Point Defence Weapon (PDW) in it, for some cheap small firepower. As said before, High sensor range is the key. You MUST see any enemy ship moving trough your systems, and better if You see it before it sees Your ships/colonies.

Furthermore, satellites with mounted weapons or with missiles can add some nice firepower for defence.

-Weapon Platforms: Probably, the best defence for a planet. Fill them with long range seeker weapons, weapon mounted weapons and, allways, 1 or 2 PDW (at least). In Balance mod, PDW can attack units in ground combat! So a WP with its Ship size armor and PDW can kill nice amounts of ground units.

-Point Defence VS seekers/fighters: A usual tactic to destroy planets is to use very long range seekers (plasma missiles or maxed CSM) to bombard them while keeping ships out of WP range. With enough ships it is easy to saturate PDW, and You may find that all your PDW are targeting the same missile (overkill shots) while the rest pass unscratched. Same can happen with massive fighter attacks.

To make a more efficient PDW defence, mix different range PDW in your Weapon Platforms (Or in your ships/bases, this is valid for all cases), like PDBeams, Flack cannons and PDCannons. This way you´ll have different "layers" of fire ranges, spreading your fire and destroying more seekers/fighters.

-Mines: You can build mines and launch them from the same planet, providing a nice defence for that planet.

-Fighters: Versatility. That´s why I like them. You can use them to defend your planet. Or to attack nearby planets. Or to defend nearby Warp Points. Or to hunt enemy ships trying to sneak in your systems. Research Small weapons to give them small rocket pods for extra firepower against ships/planets, and ECM in the mid/end game to increase their defence. In stock games they are insanely overpowered, becoming the ultimate weapon...

-Troops: Some troops never hurt. They are cheap, and when You have 10+ you get some population happiness bonus. A few troops and 1-2 weapon platforms with PDW, and your enemies will need a serious invasion force to capture your colony. Research lvl 1 ground weapons for the early/mid game, they are RP cheap and better than small DUC. Discard them as soon as your enemies start using emissive armor, and get better small APB/MB (Anti Proton Beam/Meson Blaster).

Remember that stored fighters can fight in ground combat!

-Bases: Only avalible if you have spaceyards. they are cheap to maintain, and have plenty of space to be filled with weapons and armor/shields. An usual mistake is forgetting installing supply/ammo storages in them (they don´t fire if they have no supplies). The main advantage of bases is that they have very powerful weapon mounts avaliable, do they can pack huge amounts of firepower. Researching Base Weapon Mounts is a must if You are going to use bases for defence.

Think that You can always retrofit early Spaceyard-bases to defence bases if enemies get close...

4.- Defending Your Systems: Mines are fun!

Ok, Your planets are safe by the moment, or You are sure that there are no enemies in your system. Instead of defending each planet, you can block the Warp Points to your system, avoiding enemies getting near your planets. Several options too:

-Mines: Probably, the best early defence. Cheap and hard hitting, can be a pain when used in numbers. Two possible variants for mine design:
a) 2 warheads: Max damage/mine. Usual way of use.
b) 1 warhead: Half damage... but reduced cost, and You can build much more mines in less time. Think that it is more difficult to destroy 2X mines that make half damage than 1X mines that make double damage... But at the same time it cost more time to lay 2X "cheapo" mines (both have the same weight and use the same cargo space).

As explained before, you can use colonizer minelayers or dedicated freighters to do this task.

-Satellites: Cheap, and somewhat hard to take down due to their evasion bonus and their "unit" condition. The most common strategy is to fit them with CSM or cheaper plasma Missiles/varied Torpedoes for long range firepower. Quite dangerous when used this way in large numbers.
Do not underestimate that nice Satellite weapon mounts, they provide nice range/to hit bonuses (apart from extra damage) to direct fire weapons, but You have to research lvl 3 satellites at least.

Like mines, the problem is to lay them in place. You can use colonizers or freighters...

-Fighters: Weak, but fast and dangerous in numbers. Their main advantage is their autonomy: You can directly build them in any planet, even without spaceyards, launch them and send them to defend the desired warp point, without the need of extra ships. If You are going to use fighters, focus your research to get lvl 3 ASAP, and get small rocket pods too for heavy firepower. Remember to build Resupply depots to support them!

-Ships: Obvious. Usually, frigates are used to block warp points in the early game to avoid enemy colonizers sneaking in your systems.

-Bases: You can build a base in a warp point. You only need a ship big enough to carry a SpaceYard module (usually a medium freighter is the best option) and enough time, since ship SpaceYards are slower than planet SpaceYards... But it is a really ugly surprise to find a heavily armored base filled with huge mounted weapons aiming at your ships when you cross a Warp point!

It could be nice to be able to transport bases in large enough freighters...

5.- Research and resources: What do I build here?

You need resources to build and maintain ships, units and facilities. And You need RPs (Research Points) to get tech levels and improve your facilities/ships/units. And You´ll need Intel points for Intel attack/defence. How can You get the best results?

-Choosing planets and their functions:

a) Mining colonies: I usually use planets with 120% or more quality as mining colonies, to get maxed resources. Poor planets become research colonies, or intel colonies as soon as Intel is needed. Large undomed planets are entirely dedicated to resources/research, while leaving smallest planets as spaceyard/starport/resupply colonies.

b) Emergency Build: Optimizing colony construction.

As I said, leave the larger planets as resource/research colonies. Use Emergency Build (EB) to build facilities on them ASAP (with the exception of huge undomed planets, use normal build with these).
Why? Since you dedicate these planets to resources, the "Slow Build" phase after emergency building will not affect You. A large undomed colony (20 slots for construction) can be filled with lvl 1 research centers in just 10 turns, providing lots of RPs fast. No worry about slow building after that. You´ll get all the benefits of Emergency Build without the drawbacks.

Similar work for the smallest colonies dedicated as Starports or Resupply Depots. If You are not going to build anything else, use Emergency Build to get that important facilities ASAP. I usually like to EB a Resupply Depot ASAP in my advanced colonies with my first colonizers, so I can resupply the colonizers that follow with the expansion/exploration and avoid using that awesomely expensive Supply/Ammo Storages.

For Spaceyard Colonies don´t use EB (Unless You really need ships ASAP because of enemies). Have in mind that EB supposes a lot of lost production (150% in the 10 first turns, 25% in the second 10 turns for a total of 75% production in 20 turns), so use it with care.

Beware with your resource pool! By using EB, You´ll expend lots of resources, and your upkeep costs will increase by 50% too, so remember to build enough mining facilities to maintain your build engine oiled!

6.- Research: Some hints.

Now this is a key part of the game. Research is, in most cases, the only way to get techs. And higher techs give you victory.

You can trade techs by diplomacy, but not always, and in the mid-late game you can capture enemy ships to deconstruct/analyze, but this is not easy. And there are ruins that can provide some random techs. Sadly, you don´t get any tech by capturing enemy planets, like happens in other games... So in the end You have to rely in yourself in most cases.

What to research? It will depend on your strategy, so reinforce it by researching all techs that boost your stile of playing. Do not split your RPs with lots of techs, focus in 1-2 techs to get results ASAP.
IMO, good sensors are a must in the first turns. For BM, the optimal level is lvl 3, that provides 7 sight range for 50K RPs (and You get +15% combat sensors BTW). If You want war from the beginning, go for weapons/armor/hulls.
Builder/researchers usually go for spaceyards (quite powerful when combined with "Hardy Industrialists" and "Builders" traits, providing a whopping +45% spaceyard production just with lvl 1) and/or applied research (This tech is insanely overpowered in stock). Researching mines or fighters for early defence is usually a good option too.

Researh rushes & optimal levels:

Tech Rushes: You can skip certain techs and go straight to higher and better techs. Why research DUC when You can research Physics and get APB, Mesons and shields? Or You can skip CSM and get Chemistry and Plasma Missiles, the highest range weapon in BM (If You are going to rely heavily in fighters, I don´t recomend this, since You´ll lose those nice small rocket pods). Other nice option is to research Military Science and get ECM and torpedoes (with that awesome Small Anti-Proton Torps for your fighters...). The idea is to focus research and obtain the Big and Better weapon before your enemies do.
Drawback: You have to defend with worse weapons in the meanwhile.

Optimal levels: Usually, there are some techs that can provide a nice bonus in their 1st (and cheapest) level, so you can get nice advantages for a low RP cost. In example: With Weapon mounts you get a bonus to range, to hit and to damage in the first level. After that, you only get only a damage bonus for a much higher Rp cost. lvl 1 ground weapons give You ground cannons, much better than any other ground troop weapon, for a very low cost. The optimal level for sensors is lvl 3...

It is usually a good idea to research the 1st level of most techs as soon as you have nice amounts of RPs.

7.-Diplomacy: Backstabing your allies is fun!

Want to die soon in a multiplayer game? then refuse to make treaties and attack everybody!

Probably one of the best aspects in SEV is diplomacy. The game allows a lot of customizable treaties and alliances, with lots of rules, and some of them are very interesting. A few hints about some of the most interesting treaties:

- Share all tech (both empires): Sell your mother and your sister, do whatever neccesary to obtain this treaty. You´ll get all the techs from your ally, and he will receive all yours. You can obtain even racial techs! It is specially important to get all 3 planet colonization techs ASAP, so you can colonize any planet in your systems. With some coordination, you can team and research different tech in each empire to obtain max results.

- Share 2-4 lvl older tech (both empires): Much less powerful treaty. As it says, you give/receive "old" techs, so some techs (like colonization) can be skipped.

Obviously, NEVER give your techs without receiving anything!

Another interestion option is to trade tech x tech. You can give 1 tech level of engines in exchange x 1 tech level of hulls, in example. Remember that you´ll receive 1 higher level if your partner has it! (IE: I have lvl 3 sensors, and level 2 engines. My partner has lvl 1 sensors and lvl 4 engines. I give him sensors x engines -> I get lvl 3 engines and he gets lvl 2 sensors).

-Migration: You can sell your sister for this too! Migration allows you to fill that unbreathable planets, eliminationg domes and multiplying by 5 the number of facilities capacity. Why build atmosphere converters when You can just use migrants? just jettison those annoying wrong breathers (Officially: relocate them to a "more spacious place with wonderful views") and get full use for your colonies!
So, if your race breathes Oxigen, get migration treaties with all non-oxigen breathers empires until you get all 5 types of breathers. Now, this is somewhat tricky. If You have a migration treaty with Empire "M" (methane breathers) and "M" gets a migration treaty with "H" (Hidrogen breathers), your Oxigen population will migrate to "H" and Hidrogen population will migrate to your Hidrogen atmosphere colonies. Have this into account when You negotiate your migration treaties.

-Non-Agression treaties: Probably, the trickiest ones. They can be double edged, so let´s take a look to the details.

a) In neutral space (non colony systems): This means "we be friends but I blast any ship that gets in my systems". But think that it can be used as "we be friends but I can send a fleet to glass your planets", since it allows combat in colony systems!

b) In all systems: No combats in any system. Now, there is something very interesting to have into account with this kind ( and "non aggression in neutral space" treaties): System property.

Computer assigns a system to a player as soon as he colonizes a planet in that system. So, if you have a colony in a system an you sign treaties A or B with another player, he won´t be able to colonize a planet in that system! Now, what happens if both players have a colony in a system and they sign a type A or B treaty? noone will be able to colonize more planets in that system! Some evil players can use this to slow down other player´s expansion...

c) Allow colonization in each other systems: It says it all. Non aggresion plus possibility of colonization in any system. Get this only if You entirely trust your ally.

-Trade percentage: Get as many as you can of these. You will get extra resources, and that is always good.

-Propose trade: This is not a treaty, but a kind of message, but it allows you to trade almost anything: Planets, ships, techs, system charts... A lot of possibilities!

Of course, all treaties can be broken in any moment. Have this in mind always!

8.- Ship/unit design: Red wunz go fasta!

What is the best ship/unit design? well, it all depends on what You want to do. Design your ships with purpose, and never use AI designs!

Use combat simulator to test your designs. Test them with different strategies: a battle can be won or lost just by using the correct or wrong order setting!

A few hints:

-CSM rules: A fast ship with CSM and "maximun weapons range" strategy can outrange any DUC/APB ship and hit hard with missiles from a safe distance. In the worst situations, enemy ships will destroy all CSM while our ship flees, so at least it supposes no loses. Add 1-2 PDW, and our ship will be able to deal with any threat. This isn´t perfect, at least in BM, since in the mid-end game seekers become less efficient against high lvl PDW + combat sensors.

-Speed rules: A fast ship can use speed in advantage: engage/disengage at will (when damaged or without ammo) and combat range. As explained before, the

best combo is a fast ship with the longest range weapon and "max weapon range". But the opposite works fine too: A fast ship filled with Meson/ripper beams can get into point blank range and blast its target.
Research engines to get extra speed, and get Solar Sails for your bigger ships. A light cruiser with lvl 2 solar sails is as fast as a frigate, but with more armor and firepower...

-Multi-purpose ships: Cargo/layer components are very small. A 100KT capacity cargo bay takes only 20KT of ship space, while a DUC takes 30KT... the same than a fighter/minelayer/Satellitelayer/drone bay! So it is very easy to spare a few KT from a ship and give it extra capabilities.
I explained before lots of possible uses for colonizers. Other nice option that I use is to put a single cargo bay in a frigate and use it as troop transport to capture planets. It only takes 20KT, providing space for 12 lvl 1 small troops but without lowering too much the combat capacities of the frigate. Other option is the all-purpose freighter, with 1 of each bay, capable of laying mines,satellites,drones,fighters and usable as troop/cargo transport. All-in-One, and with reduced maintenance bonus!

-Sensors: Sensors are a must. You need to see your enemies, and the faster, the better. Now, You only need one ship in an entire fleet to see... So You can reduce costs and optimize ships by building sensor/sensorless ships, and mixing them properly. Or You can spread your "scout" ships to get full vision of a system, while your "blind" combat ships take care of enemy forces.

-PDW "layers": I explained this before. Mix different types of PDW in a ship for better results. About PDW dedicated ships, in SEV it works better to put 1 PDW in each ship that a single ship with lots of PDW...

-Supply/ammo storages: Insanely expensive. A 20KT large ammo/supply storage costs 400 minerals, while a 30KT DUC costs 100 minerals! Try to avoid using them, if You can. With some management You can rely in Resupply Depots, building advanced ones or capturing them from enemy. Think that a 400KT small freighter used as supply ship costs the same as 2 fully armed frigates, and usually it will have capacity for resuplying 3-4 frigates only... so I prefer to have that 2 frigates that can give me the egde in a battle, and sacrifice them if neccesary to capture a planet.
For Supplies only ships (when neccesary), I use freighters with high lvl sollar collectors instead of supply storages Both have similar costs, and for deep strikes into enemy lines the results are much better. 6-8 sollar collectors and 6-4 large supply storages (in addition to the ship engines "fuel tanks"), to provide an endless supply surplus as long as there are suns near. far more efficient.

-Small Freighters VS Carriers: A SF has more cargo space (in KT/free space comparison) and is cheaper than a Light Carrier (with an extra -10% maintenance).

It has the same speed and the same evasion bonus, but is has a better acceleration and turn radius. Then, Why use Light Carriers?

9.- Explosive expansion rush for BM: This is my usual fast expansion rush (first 10 turns).

BANANA RUSH:

Racial traits: +35% shipyard production, Natural Merchants, +20% research from traits/government.

- Turn 1: Emergency build, build 1 base with a shipyard for extra production (average production for a medium homeworld with traits = +/-5000)

- Turn 2: Set Base in emergency build too (average production = 2025), Build Cheapo Colonizers** here.
homeworld builds Scout Colonizers* in the meanwhile.

(*) Cheapo Colonizers = Most basic colonizers: Engines + colonization module. These will colonize nearby planets found by scout colonizers.
(*) Scout Colonizers = Cheapo Colonizers with max lvl sensor avaliable - Usually lvl 3. These will scout systems and colonize when low on supplies.

-Turns 3-9: Build colonizers and explore/colonize everything as much as possible. Use emergency build in research/mining colonies to get max RPs/reources

(large planets). Normal build for spaceyard/resupply colonies (small planets).

Turn 10: Build a last base/Spaceyard for extra production while recovering from emergency build (homeworld only).

Results: At turn 11, homeplanet has built 12 scout colonizers and 2 BaseYards. And the extra base has built another 5. Not bad for a single planet.