First game queries

[Corporal Jones]

I think I've come to the end of my first full game, and it was great fun.

I created a fairly large map (I think it was 3000x2600) with 30% land mass. I've now completed approx 215 turns, and I control roughly 90-95% of the map. As a result the enemy has tried to resign a few times now, but I didn't accept and carried on to learn more about the game.

My queries are:

~ The AI enemy seem not to to have wanted to expand their territory, thus allowing me to gradually grow my empire to the point where I had over 50% of the map before we'd even bumped into each other once. I've now gained over 90% of the map and only in the latter stages did I fully realise how small their territory was. I had AI difficulty on the meduim setting, so what differences would the harder setting mean?

~ Despite wanting to launch a final assault on the enemy's 5 or 6 cities (I must have 30-35) I know I'll struggle because their tech advances are greater than mine, and their bombers are at tech 4 lvl, while my planes are only advances to lvl 2. I'm assuming this means the AI went down a few specific tech tree routes, whereas I got a broad increase in abilities? Am I right, and is there a tech tree guide & tips thread anywhere?

~ Food. I obviously captured a lot of land and sea food resources, however in expanding my empire I had a lot of units. I therefore had to set roughly 2/3 of my cities to produce wealth, as I needed all the cash I could get to buy food. This included selling repeated chunks of my Iron resource. I appreciate I probably produced too many units, but it was a big map, with a lot of sea to explore, but does anyone have any tips on avoiding bankrupcy and/or starvation?

~ Does anyone else have the same problems I'm experiencing on this forum. All other websites load quickly, but this battlefront site seems to be slower than a dial up connection from 15 years ago.

I just want to understand it all a little more before starting game 2.

Thanks

[rich12545]

I have no problem with loading the BFC website.

Re your first two points, we've been talking about this stuff ever since the game came out. Brit is in the process right now of making the AI better and this should be ready soon. I'm waiting for that patch to start a new game.

I don't like playing with units that require resources each turn because of the problems you described. You can easily modify the ruleset to suit your preference. A month or so ago Brit modified how the game uses resources but I haven't tried it. You might like to search and read, it's a better system. Maybe you didn't update the game when you installed it.

[Lt Belenko]

I've experienced the small enemy territory too. A solution is to play against 2 or 3 AI players and declare war on them once you are established. This makes the game last much longer with many cities/islands to overrun.

Yup, producing enuff food is a problem even with the fertilizer factories. You must sell the iron/oil to buy the food. I do the calculation cash plus iron plus oil better be greater than 3X food. Yup, I'm right up to date in version of the game.

[rich12545]

Have you guys tried starting all players at war with each other?

[Brit]

~ The AI enemy seem not to to have wanted to expand their territory, thus allowing me to gradually grow my empire to the point where I had over 50% of the map before we'd even bumped into each other once. I've now gained over 90% of the map and only in the latter stages did I fully realise how small their territory was. I had AI difficulty on the meduim setting, so what differences would the harder setting mean?

I know there was a bug with this in earlier versions of the game, but I assume you're running the latest version.

~ Despite wanting to launch a final assault on the enemy's 5 or 6 cities (I must have 30-35) I know I'll struggle because their tech advances are greater than mine, and their bombers are at tech 4 lvl, while my planes are only advances to lvl 2. I'm assuming this means the AI went down a few specific tech tree routes, whereas I got a broad increase in abilities? Am I right, and is there a tech tree guide & tips thread anywhere?

Not sure. Are you paying money to increase your rate of research?

~ Food. I obviously captured a lot of land and sea food resources, however in expanding my empire I had a lot of units. I therefore had to set roughly 2/3 of my cities to produce wealth, as I needed all the cash I could get to buy food. This included selling repeated chunks of my Iron resource. I appreciate I probably produced too many units, but it was a big map, with a lot of sea to explore, but does anyone have any tips on avoiding bankrupcy and/or starvation?

You'll need to get the tech advances that increase your food. I'm surprised this is an issue. I suppose it could be a bigger problem if players build-up very large militaries before attacking. People had problems with this in early versions of the game, but haven't heard any issue with this in the past few months. You are running the latest version?

[Corporal Jones]

I know there was a bug with this in earlier versions of the game, but I assume you're running the latest version.

Not sure. Are you paying money to increase your rate of research?

You'll need to get the tech advances that increase your food. I'm surprised this is an issue. I suppose it could be a bigger problem if players build-up very large militaries before attacking. People had problems with this in early versions of the game, but haven't heard any issue with this in the past few months. You are running the latest version?

I'm running 1.01 12532, which I think is up to date. I didn't know you could pay to increase your research rate, and I've not investigated the tech tree enough to know about the food enhancements.

It was only my first game, so I guess I have a bit still to learn.

[Lt Belenko]

You need to research and build fertilizer factories for max food production. There is also fish management but I'm not sure how much that gives you.

You need to run about 10 RP or so to get way ahead of the AI on research.

[Brit]

~ The AI enemy seem not to to have wanted to expand their territory, thus allowing me to gradually grow my empire to the point where I had over 50% of the map before we'd even bumped into each other once. I've now gained over 90% of the map and only in the latter stages did I fully realise how small their territory was. I had AI difficulty on the meduim setting, so what differences would the harder setting mean?

I found a bug related to this issue, and fix it. The latest update is now available.