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[UesugiKenshin]

This exploit makes millions per turn about #650, but is creating large budget surplus even from turn#20 forward. I had a surplus treasury at 100,000+ at turn # 130. I'm spending it down.

It gets better and accelerates as I then build factories, and so many times I can construct infrastructure in a turn, and do this in new colonies.

[UesugiKenshin]

With maximal minor alien races with six empires, they are focused on defense as so many "threats" are around them. But they aren't genuine threats as they can't leave their homesectors. But what happens is some become member races and so their neighboring major races absorb these minor race fleets. That causes a casacading arms race. That means the ai controlled major races have premature high upkeep from excessive military spending. That means they have less money in their treasury to do infrastructure.

While my empire surges ahead. Eventually I end up with my own fleets and absorb fleets too. All that economic activity means my high profitability means I can actively do gifts and terraform to gain appreciative minor aliens as allies and then members. Even the ones who hate me.

I'm way to the south and safe and they all will be "saberrattling" with their excessive military spending and so the ai is self-sabotaging their economies.

[UesugiKenshin]

viewtopic.php?f=107&t=7737

This link is my current advanced turn #400 save game that I am preparing. It's the maximim galactic map with six empires, maximal minor aliens, minimal stellar anomalies, no random events, no anomalous entities, 2 minimal minor race alien neighbors, and as the Omega.

My GDP is 4x the average, my science is 4x the average. My military is in 4th as obviously several have gotten starship fleets from minor race aliens (likely the Terrans and in testing, possiby the Khaorans). Each empire has an appeal based on their attributes being alligned with certain minor race aliens with spacefaring capability. It's the luck of map placement.

I haven't met any major aliens yet as the map is huge, but it should happen soon as the current turn is #156. Since the map grid is divided in six, and I am way to the southwest, I have a lower chance of encountering major aliens than those two empire, possible four empires in the middle. It's a function of the "seed" map value.

So the AI is likely nervous as they probably see the minor race fleets as threats when in fact they are not as they cannot invade, only protect, but as the Terrans have picked up some minor fleets (probably two), the military power is unbalanced. Based on a gut hunch, I bet the Khaoran have one fleet.

I'm playing the Omega and have been getting the treasury up to 100,000 on resource commodity maniplation. There is no way to adequately route resources as when you begin, your total number is very low, and even at maximum...it's too low.

And it takes too long to try to create a system of cascading resource routes, and then making and breaking the routes. I did extensive tests of various logistical systems (over months), and they all took too much time, and were hopelessly complex in turn #500-#700. It got to where out of 16 hours of playing a day, 12 were doing the most efficient resource routing. That is hopelessly dull except as a logical puzzle. A few pointy eared green blooded famous extraterrestrials might find it intellectualy stimulating; I found it tedious.

Why? The resource routes look like a giagantic pile of spagetti noodles and one cannot just look and trace the resource routes, has to huntnthrough every trade screen and look at the resource surplus and guess and make and break them. It's too much effort. You can do it and save money but waste time. You make make more money, but time is limited

So my strategy:
1. is to maximally build up to 10 mines of available resources
2. after totally terraforming their sectors
3. aim for mining colonies that excel in one area of resource production
4. for titanium first, then deteurium second, then duranium third.
5. This allows my empire to maximize infrastructure building as I have critical resources.
6. I rush production just about every time unless it will naturally complete in a single turn.
7. This inflates the resource prices as there is demand...from my empire.
8. Then since I focus in food and mines, drives up primarily titanium, deuterium, and duranium
9. And so my mines start producing large quantities where one or two sectors produce more
10. Those sell off resources to a target of 100 from turns#1- turn#200
11. Trying to build a reserve of 1,000 per resource, then later 2,000
12. So I end up getting 100,000 in my treasury.
13. I sell it down to 100 and then as my last act, I go through every inhabited sector and ensure my reserve resources (titanium 1000-1500, deuterium 400, duranium 500) are adequate to not only build one project but the begin the next construction in the queue.
14. This way I can rush projects consistently every turn (85-95% of the time).
15. This results in very high peaks where a resource like titanium or deuterium can get to 400 and then sold to 100. And duranium can get nearly to 800 and I sell it down to 100.
16. This then triggers the next jump in building construction where crystals and iridium become critical resources to advance levels of infrastructure.
17. So either one or two sectors are producing crystals and iridium and start accumulating for the next wave.
18. You keep adjusting reserves in the titanium to 4,000 as a setpoint (as one, two, or three sectors start having 15,000 units of titanium) and my setpoint threshold for deuterium and duranium needs to be about 1000 to 1500. This has some conservative variance where it looks like enough mining is going to offset any large dumping of resources on the commodities market.
19. Without some consistent selling and buying protocol, it stifiles this cyclical peak and drop of resource prices.
20. This happens every turn. It sounds complicated, but is not, I assure you. If I wrote instructions on typing your shoes laces, it would sound complicated when it's not.
21. You follow this pattern, and you can always build...except starships (due to deritium which has to accumulate in deritium trading and refineries)
22. And it nets millions for my empires each turn by turn#700. I can't even spend it all after rushing everything in every sector and making sure they all have adequate resources to keep building. When I try to spend it down, it makes even more profit.
23. As your technology increases, efficiency improves, and you only build 4 mines of each.
24. And I do waves of terraforming where it's organized by fleets of colony ships to minimize the time necessary, and maximize the presets built when you colonize.
25. That results in 4 mines of each available resource and 95% of the time, no more mining is necessary.
26. That means I can prioritize on research and intelligence agencies so research is maximized and I can prevent the Omega from sabotage as I have three times the inhabited sectors and have been making 10 intelligence agencies.
27. What happens is the peak can get to 1500 per resource which then I try to sell down to 100. The range gets so large that I'm selling down to a reserve number of 4,000 units, then selling the next sector's mining cache. So the volume of resource commodities is dumped and so it flatlines the value of resources, just not for me as I inflate it by rushing production, then sell it off in a single turn.
28. I believe this then makes very little profitability for the AI who may buy and hold resources looking for a higher trigger point to sell.
29. So it's a form of economic warfare.

[UesugiKenshin]

When you make millions consistently, not only can you do enormous research, you finish all level 14 research by turn #700. You actually scrap research facilities, as if they exist, the manager tries to have workers there. So those work everywhere but research.

So not only can I buy whole dreadnoughts per turn, I then have gained minor alien tech, and so I use the ship designer to put the best armor and weaponry on them, and can make custom powerful ships. I can have a huge standing army. Most of the time, I can offer gifts, terraform minor alien sectors, and apply diplomatic pressure, even bully some minor aliens into becoming members...as they fear my huge standing level#5infantry and massive fleets of hugely customized powerful and lethal ships. I don't have to actually invade them.

I maximze infrastructure on minor alien sectors as well to maximize their morale and confer local and empire-wide attributes as many have special buildings.

Many who loathe me, end up becoming members. It's a matter of patience as I'm so powerful versus them, that I don't need to invade. I should invade as I take a morale hit as the Omega prefer conquest, but to beta test it, I 'm playing as if the Omega are good and just.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8H-FiCIMh20
"The Art of Fighting Without Fighting" Bruce Lee from Enter the Dragon.