Evolutionary Bonuses Deconstructed
J. M. Pescado:
You never worry about pirates anyway. The threat of pirates is not what DAMAGE they cause, but the fact that your colony will scream and whine about it as if it was an actual attack. If you are at *WAR* with someone, like, say, the Grox, you need to defend against SERIOUS attacks, but pirate trash is a total waste of time and alertboard space!
Unfortunately, they won't always tell you which is which, as "aliens are raiding are cities" could be an actual attack, or it could be a bunch of worthless pirates that you will show up for and see only their mangled bits raining from the sky. Unhelpful.
As for the "spice savant" perk, well, it's definitely USEFUL, but since the bottleneck to production is typically nearly always your colony running out of SPACE to store it, it's not the best-thing-evar. Whereas less-false-alarms is always nice!
And yes, all the lesser prevention bonii tend to be useless, except this one. And, yes, the fact that races-that-aren't-yours sell the colony packs way cheaper than you can get at your own colonies even with full bonii makes the cost-reduction bonii worthless.
Paperbladder:
For the space card it doesn't matter what order you get the crap in, the only thing that matters is the overall color.
Bard: +1 Blue
Knight: +1 Red
Ecologist: +1 Green
Zealot: +1 Red and +1 Green, +1 Red and +2 Green, +2 Red and +1 Green, +2 Red and +2 Green
Scientist: +1 Red and +1 Blue, +1 Red and +2 Blue, +2 Red and +1 Blue, +2 Red and +2 Blue
Diplomat: +1 Green and +1 Blue, +1 Green and +2 Blue, +2 Green and +1 Blue, +2 Green and +2 Blue
Warrior: +3 Red, +4 Red
Shaman: +3 Green, +4 Green
Trader: +3 Blue, +4 Blue
Wanderer: No Alignment.
J. M. Pescado:
I am going to revise my above position slightly: Pirates-B-Gone does not quite make them as gone as expected. In fact, it appears to have no effect at all. Conversely, the lack of Spice Savant did not really make its presence apparent, either. I conclude that none of the Civilization-level powers really has a meaningful effect on the Space-stage and that its lack of importance means you should just pick whatever it is you need to do in order to achieve the desired "philosophy" superpower.
Gus Smedstad:
The problem with the Zealot and Scientist abilities is that they incurr a global hit on your relationship scores with other empires. If you're in a position to simply kill everyone, that's fine, but I think they're of limited use when you really need them.
Gracious Greeting from Tribal is quite visible at the Space Stage, though it only seems to take effect once you go in and talk to them at least once. Spode types went from Unfriendly to Neutral, which is a big help at the start of the game.
I've gotten a colony revolt. In my first game I had repeated heavy raids on my homeworld from a hostile race. Lost several cities and a lot of buildings. If your cities get unhappy enough because they lost all their entertainment buildings and kept their factories, this can show up. So in practice "reduced colony revolt" is for stupid people who build their cities wrong, like +3 red faces or something.
The in-game help says that the Carnivore bonus is "increased weapon damage," not "increased power capacity," as the manual states. I'm assuming the in-game help is correct. Usually there is a significant lead time in writing and printing the manual.
- Gus
J. M. Pescado:
Quote from: Gus Smedstad on 2008 September 17, 12:57:11
The problem with the Zealot and Scientist abilities is that they incurr a global hit on your relationship scores with other empires. If you're in a position to simply kill everyone, that's fine, but I think they're of limited use when you really need them.
They do, yes. I used it in my Zealot game. Let's just say on first use, I was immediately awarded Warmonger 3 within 5 seconds. :P Undaunted, I proceeded to smash devastate the local population, creating a strung out empire of underdeveloped colonies and about 7 captured homeworlds before the dust finally settled. For Aiur! The fact is, *HAVING* those abilities puts you in a prime position to simply kill everyone. Remember, the abilities refresh every time you save and reload your game, and each press of the button costs the enemy a colony. And makes it yours, for Zealot. Depending on the galactic topology, it's possible to actually eradicate everyone who has ever heard of you, and start afresh with considerably more lebensraum at your disposal. The Zealot power is actually productive in this regard, in that using it on everyone in sight will actually make you progress (Whereas the scientist power will just leave you a burned out dustheap and not improve your situation at all, if you are using it on offense).
Incidentally, I also discovered dogfighting in Splotch is actually a skill, after shooting down like 8 ships while down to only 30 hitpoints. Turns out that dogfighting is actually a skill, and it is actually possible to dodge enemy shots and not get hit. :P
Quote from: Gus Smedstad on 2008 September 17, 12:57:11
Gracious Greeting from Tribal is quite visible at the Space Stage, though it only seems to take effect once you go in and talk to them at least once. Spode types went from Unfriendly to Neutral, which is a big help at the start of the game.
It really is, yes. Why do you think I gave it the "taster's choice"? It's +10 to rel on greet. It really does clearly edge out the others.
I've gotten a colony revolt. In my first game I had repeated heavy raids on my homeworld from a hostile race. Lost several cities and a lot of buildings. If your cities get unhappy enough because they lost all their entertainment buildings and kept their factories, this can show up. So in practice "reduced colony revolt" is for stupid people who build their cities wrong, like +3 red faces or something.
Quote from: Gus Smedstad on 2008 September 17, 12:57:11
The in-game help says that the Carnivore bonus is "increased weapon damage," not "increased power capacity," as the manual states. I'm assuming the in-game help is correct. Usually there is a significant lead time in writing and printing the manual.
I do not recall seeing any change in weapon damage. But for reference purposes, the basic missile fired by a non-Carnivore-bonus race caused 30 points of damage. How much did you get with Carnivore Bonus? If still 30, either it doesn't work, or the perk is actually energy.
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