Advanced Save Game Six Empires Huge Map and Minor Races

[UesugiKenshin]

You could create a special starbase type that can only be in open space: a galactic emissary base. And from there, do missions to help the surrounding species and do research and probably achieve galactic wonders and win the game that way. Make 156 of these, one for each species and weighted by difficulty of achieving them. Some are easy to solve and probably fix the diplomatic relationship as it is so helpful that they are forever grateful. Some are minor and some major and some monumental in their scope.

[UesugiKenshin]

It's turn #438 and I have 1401 ships with the majority of additions stolen starships (about 200). The income is slow as I'm not making starships, just 20 or so level6 troops per turn and rushing production in the newer colonies. The Omega have 288 inhabited sectors, so I'm making colonized sectors out of boredom, then sending fleets there slowly, just setting the stage for eventually attacking.

There is no rushing across the galaxy as the top speed in a fleet is based on the slowest vessel and the fastest propulsion is only 4.75 sectors per turn or something like that with special research. Really that is only applicable with ground invasion fleets with fast escorts and they come in the 2nd or 3rd wave as generally the AI minor races evade as the fleets I am sending are incredibly powerful in terms on diversity and manueverability and huge total torpedoes launched. So that means attacking minor fleets twice typically and at most three times before the ground invasion.

Faster propulsion would require a program change, and cannot be modded.

[UesugiKenshin]

Proper modding would have revisions with similar speed in a fleet at advanced levels so the empires could have a uniform fast speed to deploy as quickly as possible to hot spots. Usually there are a mix of capitol ships with a dreadnought as the flagship and 3 fighters.

Many of these lesser quality inferior major race and minor race stolen vessels should be scrapped, but that makes me ill to do so. It just feels wrong. The cloaked units could make a decent fleet for ambushes like attacking a minor sector and seemingly leaving a gap, when in fact a cloaked ambush is there.

The smart thing to do is send the stolen ships to Lambrecht to be combat trained and then included in later fleets as extra units along for the ride and doing light duty in a large fleet so they are not wiped out.

When I finally can redesign those other major and minor starships with revisions, they will be badass and significantly help the AI.

[UesugiKenshin]

Eventually with advanced research, then you would get levels of tactics and so that would be an aspect of the battle calculation illustrating superior coordinated manuevering. That seems like the logical next step as BotE has no animations. See ideally in the combat menu, then a player could use a command for a certain battle formation so there actually would be a rock paper scissors calculation based on experience + number of ships + unit composition + weaponry + defensive values + offensive values + hull strength + manueverability + tactics. So you would be guessing what the AI would do, where they probably do the most advanced battle tactic formation.

You could have a most lethal attack, but poor in defensive attack.
Or a defensive testudo style where you just are trying to stay alive against a superior foe.
Or a mix where both offense and defense are taken into consideration.

With two equal players I envision 6 x 6 attacks or 36 permutations as outcomes and dying combat results based on the choices. You could have an aiuchi style (simultaneous attack) where both fleets are annihilated as they are full on devastating attacks.

[UesugiKenshin]

AS it is now, the intelligent strategist/tactician can beat the AI, but in a preset game where it is all set up and the AI is fully empowered, then instead of one sided battles, it would be very grindy and the AI would be a significant foe. Likely the AI is playing a defensive game where their sectors are supertough as they would have full defenses and so you need waves of attacks, where they a 1st wave attacks, retreats to repair when the 2d wave hits, and does the same. Then by the fifth wave, it is grinding away. Not immediately taken but a genuine struggle and with many dead in the ground invasion due to numerous ground defenses.

It should be quite difficult to take a defended sector and very expensive to try, and experiencing failure without many fleets, besides the counter attacks.

[UesugiKenshin]

The AI is terrible at attacking as they don't follow through. They attack when they aren't strong enough and attack in mercurial way that seems emotional rather than logical and ruthless.

[UesugiKenshin]

A preset six empire all human multiplayer game with allegiances and backstabbing should be incredible and enjoyable with very large numbers of units and fleets prebuilt. It would be akin to a WW3 scenario and a battle royale of titans.

[UesugiKenshin]

On a 1600 sector map with six empires and all the 150 minor races, the number of starships can be 1400 in number by turn#439 and 4000 troops being shuttled by transports under escort. Plus you might have escorted transport delivering material and unusual events like mining from stellar anomalies or doing repairs.

You are constantly pressing back on the other empire's encroaching sphere of influence by constructing outposts and starbases, thus flipping sectors with useful planets that may be being terraformed and are now ready for colonization, and they may need escorts, or the hastily constructed outposts and starbases need escorts.

And scouts are wandering around contributing to the updating galaxy map that gives you a vague idea of the empires' territories, but then gives you a complete picture of what exists out there and what minor races are not under any membership and which minor race fleets are in home sectors and which have chased out (displaced) by attacks from major races.

So you have to have a strategy to deal with all that, and set hundreds of ships in motion doing deployment and perhaps even secondary waves of an escorted ground invasion in transports too. You have to anticipate which may be lost to attrition and be training ships a hundred turns in advance so they are gaining experience with combat training and that may be at a sector that is 9 turns away. And new fleets are being formed up and dispatched to where you presume they will be useful.

Then real life interferes and 72 hours goes by and it takes two hours to refamiliarize yourself with an incredibly complex dynamically changing huge galaxy. Maybe you need to send 20 scouts to the borderlands as the cloaked Rotharians may be lurking and scheming. You realize there is a diminishing supply of iridium to a sector without a natural resource, and how many others are that way as it's been awhile since you reassessed all the supply caches?

You really need to make notes and develop a written plan as you are managing 288 inhabited sectors and doing so haphazardly. That works when you are the most powerful with plenty of sector defenses and infrastructure and ships and troops, but it is not good strategic planning as it may take 10 turns to get vessels out there because you didn't plan ahead.

BotE cannot be played by simpletons. Not with waging potential war on five fronts and the Heyoun often will colonize clusters so it will be more than five fronts.

[UesugiKenshin]

It is straight forward to attack a single sector and sent a ground invasion, but is complex to simultaneously attack 10+ sectors and do 10 ground invasions on the same turn and not weaken the nearest sectors as you foolishly left yourself open to a counter-invasion by other empires. Hopefully the entire borderlands are impenetrable and those fleets are coming from way back in protected space.

BotE is a perfect game to teach military concepts like that.

[UesugiKenshin]

The AI has claims on nearby territory, but often fails to follow through with actual colony ships. So you want to flip those claims by building outposts and starbases and simultaneously have terraformed those claimed sectors so you are ready to pounce like a lion on that disputed sector and that becomes a new borderland that must be defended rigorously. Thus ten turns prior, you had a developed fleet and dispatched them so they arrive ahead of schedule or just in the nick of time, preferably ahead of schedule.

None of which will happen unless you have good diplomatic relations and can legitimately be in that territory. Which is thrilling as you terraforming their sphere of influence territory was improving their diplomatic stance, then they are probably are angry as you snatched it from their grasp. So maybe you appease them with a gift.

You have to set the operating tempo and the terms of the battlefield and never react, but responded well in advance anticipating so the other empires have to react.

A standard exploit by many players is to ruthlessly attack with a concerted effort as most AI crumble under the onslaught and to me that is boring. That strategy can be learned to beat the AI. I label that steamrolling the enemy. It squashes the AI like a steamroller spreads asphalt pavement.
https://www.storyblocks.com/video/stock ... uuimv5jglp

I want the AI to have the chance to fight back. A human vs human match does not happen that way.

[UesugiKenshin]

I have enough experienced vessels to build it least 70 fleets of 13 ships and muster 100 fleets, but the 30 additional would be a little green (inexperienced). I would rather they keep training and have the power in reserve.

Gichin Funakoshi in his master manual on Shotokan Karate had two Buddhist Guardian images. They depict Buddhist Guardian Kings. One is calm and serene and he labeled this "the power in reserve". The next image shows a fierce menacing seemingly omnipotent being. That he labeled "the power unleashed". They both appeared to be the same being.

In war, there is no valid reason to show "the power unleashed" unless it is a psy-op to fool the enemy that you are stronger than you really are, or at the surprise moment of attack.

Anything else is showing your hand like a fool playing cards.

[UesugiKenshin]

You want the enemy to think you are a passive fool who is a bit confused and acts gently. You never want the enemy to see your real face, much less know your real self.

And the genuine enemy is our version of the Self that is weak and undisciplined and indecisive and ignorant.

[UesugiKenshin]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zat%C5% ... 2003_film)
In the Japanese 2003 film Zaitoichi, he fights ruffians as the poor have no one to defend them. The low level hired guards sees him as a bumbling old blind man when he is a dangerous master swordsman.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuqwMQTc8cE

Then he goes to a place where the genuine enemy is hidden in plain sight as he is wise though evil and is able to exploit the poor since he remains hidden.

[UesugiKenshin]

From December 7, 1941 to June 6, 1944 was 2.5 years of every day planning to make D Day work with any chance at all of success. A hundred things could go wrong and it would have been a massacre.

That is what BotE is like in advanced turns as the winners have all along had little successes that allowed them to spend the required money and deploy troops in risky but logical gambits.

300 hours were meticulously spent so players would not have to and could just wage war. If five more talented players would do the same a magnificent turn#400 game could be created so players could wage total galactic war. Otherwise that requires 1800 man-hours.

[UesugiKenshin]

So much has been built that I canceled all resource routes and only one was created as that sole one was required. By turn #400, probably everything will have been constructed in 300 inhabited sectors as everything has been rushed...at huge expense...but gaining huge profits. Imagine a war where you have enough military forces and need not worth about attrition as so many surplus elements exist.

When war is ultimately waged, then huge natural resource caches will exist to complete those newly acquired sectors and then can be occupied with existing soldiers. You probably can relax for 50 turns because those particular enemies will have been crushed or at least neutralized.

There is a brief scene where the Emperor relaxes for a moment in Gladiator as the last vestiges of Germanian forces ae defeated. It is a sigh of relief and one that many had planned for years and years.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T0SNjnsi_rM
And it is a costly victory.