Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares/Diplomacy is scouting: Difference between revisions

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Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares/Diplomacy is scouting (edit)

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{{Header Nav|game=Master of Orion II}}
{{Header Nav|game=Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares}}
{{quote | Know your enemy | Sun Tzu | [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_War The Art of War] }}
{{quote|Know your enemy|Sun Tzu|[[wp:The Art of War|The Art of War]]}}
 
 
Many strategy game guides say things like "Scout early and keep scouting all through the game" to see what your opponents are doing.
Many strategy game guides say things like "Scout early and keep scouting all through the game" to see what your opponents are doing.


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==Race statistics==
==Race statistics==
[[Image:Moo2 InfoRaceStats.png | thumb | 600px | center | This tab of the Information Screen tells you the advantages and disadvantages of the founding race of each empire with which you have contact. It is accessed from the main Galaxy screen (hotkey I).]]
[[File:Moo2 InfoRaceStats.png|thumb|600px|center|This tab of the Information Screen tells you the advantages and disadvantages of the founding race of each empire with which you have contact. It is accessed from the main Galaxy screen (hotkey I).]]
The Race statistics tab of the Information Screen is outside the Races Menu (diplomacy) but is very informative. The entry for the Silicoid empire tells us:
The Race statistics tab of the Information Screen is outside the Races Menu (diplomacy) but is very informative. The entry for the Silicoid empire tells us:
*They're Tolerant and have an industrial bonus.
*They're Tolerant and have an industrial bonus.
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*They're not Creative (unlike the Chessplayers and Psilons).
*They're not Creative (unlike the Chessplayers and Psilons).
*They have no space or ground combat bonuses.
*They have no space or ground combat bonuses.


There's another item that's important for the example below - it's game date 3516.8, i.e. turn 168. You will more usually get that information from the top right corner of the Galaxy screen, since every turn starts there.
There's another item that's important for the example below - it's game date 3516.8, i.e. turn 168. You will more usually get that information from the top right corner of the Galaxy screen, since every turn starts there.
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==Report Screen==
==Report Screen==
[[ Image:Moo2 RacesReport.png | thumb | 600px | center | The Report screen is accessed from the [http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Image:Moo2_RacesMenu.png Races Menu] and gives information about another empire. The large panel on the right tells you what techs the other empire has. There are so many possible techs that the display is split into 4 tabs, each of which is scrollable. This example shows the "Colony" tab, which tells you about techs that help to make this empire's colonies more productive or provide ground-based and orbital defenses for them.]]
[[File:Moo2 RacesReport.png|thumb|600px|center|The Report screen is accessed from the [http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Image:Moo2_RacesMenu.png Races Menu] and gives information about another empire. The large panel on the right tells you what techs the other empire has. There are so many possible techs that the display is split into 4 tabs, each of which is scrollable. This example shows the "Colony" tab, which tells you about techs that help to make this empire's colonies more productive or provide ground-based and orbital defenses for them.]]
 
This example of the Report about the Silicoid empire is also from turn 168 of the same game.
This example of the Report about the Silicoid empire is also from turn 168 of the same game.


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*They appear to have no income-enhancing techs (if they had, the panel would have another heading, "Money").
*They appear to have no income-enhancing techs (if they had, the panel would have another heading, "Money").
*They have only the most basic defensive buildings.
*They have only the most basic defensive buildings.
*They have discovered Dimensional Portal, which is at the 3rd-highest level of the [[Master of Orion II/Physics|Physics]] tech tree.
*They have discovered Dimensional Portal, which is at the 3rd-highest level of the [[../Physics|Physics]] tech tree.


Now for some interpretation:
Now for some interpretation:
*The fact that the Silicoids are not Creative ''suggests'' they don't have the powerful Disruptor Cannon beam weapons, as that is the other tech at the same Physics level as Dimensional Portal; but it ''proves nothing'', as they could have obtained the Disruptor Cannon tech by other  means (tech trade, spying, conquest). The 2 previous Physics levels contain some powerful weapons, so we need to check the "Weapons" tab.
*The fact that the Silicoids are not Creative ''suggests'' they don't have the powerful Disruptor Cannon beam weapons, as that is the other tech at the same Physics level as Dimensional Portal; but it ''proves nothing'', as they could have obtained the Disruptor Cannon tech by other  means (tech trade, spying, conquest). The 2 previous Physics levels contain some powerful weapons, so we need to check the "Weapons" tab.
*In the game which supplied these screenshots, the "Weapons" tab tells us that the Silicoids' best beam weapon at this point is Neutron Blaster (in Physics), but they also have the powerful Proton Torpedoes (in the [[Master of Orion II/Power|Power]] tech tree; and, unlike most torpedoes, they hit instantly, not 1 or 2 combat turns later), which means their ships can do considerable damage even if they have poor computers; and their best missiles are the basic Nuclear Missiles.
*In the game which supplied these screenshots, the "Weapons" tab tells us that the Silicoids' best beam weapon at this point is Neutron Blaster (in Physics), but they also have the powerful Proton Torpedoes (in the [[../Power|Power]] tech tree; and, unlike most torpedoes, they hit instantly, not 1 or 2 combat turns later), which means their ships can do considerable damage even if they have poor computers; and their best missiles are the basic Nuclear Missiles.
*The Silicoids have primitive research tech but have researched to very high levels in Physics and Power. With such limited research capacity they have very probably neglected other military techs, so we need to check the "Equipment" tab.
*The Silicoids have primitive research tech but have researched to very high levels in Physics and Power. With such limited research capacity they have very probably neglected other military techs, so we need to check the "Equipment" tab.
*As we suspected - in this game the Silicoids only have Class 1 Shield and Titanium Armor ("cardboard"), and primitive Electronic Computers.
*As we suspected - in this game the Silicoids only have Class 1 Shield and Titanium Armor ("cardboard"), and primitive Electronic Computers.
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*Inertial Stabilizer, which makes our ships harder to hit with "beams".
*Inertial Stabilizer, which makes our ships harder to hit with "beams".
*Cybertronic computers, which will make our "beam" weapons virtually 100% accurate as the Silicoids have no bonuses or techs that make their ships harder to  hit.
*Cybertronic computers, which will make our "beam" weapons virtually 100% accurate as the Silicoids have no bonuses or techs that make their ships harder to  hit.
*Gauss Cannon (the best weapons in the [[Master of Orion II/Force Fields|Force Fields]] tech tree; normal versions do 18 points of damage and HV versions do 27 points, with no range dissipation). Each of our ships has 4 HV Gauss Cannons, a battery that will punch holes in Class 5 Shields in 2 combat turns, and in lower-tech shields instantly.
*Gauss Cannon (the best weapons in the [[../Force Fields|Force Fields]] tech tree; normal versions do 18 points of damage and HV versions do 27 points, with no range dissipation). Each of our ships has 4 HV Gauss Cannons, a battery that will punch holes in Class 5 Shields in 2 combat turns, and in lower-tech shields instantly.
*Mass Drivers (fully [[Master of Orion II/Warship technologies | miniaturized]] as they're from the bottom of the Force Fields tree; with the AF modification, i.e. fire 3 times per combat turn). 15 normal-sized AF Mass Drivers per ship will shred targets that are unshielded or whose shields have been broken down by the Gauss Cannons. Our ships also have plenty of PD AF Mass Drivers, which will annihilate Nuclear Missiles.
*Mass Drivers (fully [[../Warship technologies|miniaturized]] as they're from the bottom of the Force Fields tree; with the AF modification, i.e. fire 3 times per combat turn). 15 normal-sized AF Mass Drivers per ship will shred targets that are unshielded or whose shields have been broken down by the Gauss Cannons. Our ships also have plenty of PD AF Mass Drivers, which will annihilate Nuclear Missiles.
*Structural Analyzer, which doubles all damage that penetrates the target's shields.
*Structural Analyzer, which doubles all damage that penetrates the target's shields.
*2 types of ECM Jammer. These are the best defenses against the Silicoids' Proton Torpedoes; but our ships are not equipped with ECM Jammers because we wanted to use the space for other things. Although it's now fully miniaturized, the basic ECM Jammer would have taken as much space as 5 normal-sized AF Mass Drivers, which would have been a significant reduction in firepower. But perhaps we should have included the basic ECM Jammers, as the remaining 10 normal-sized AF Mass Drivers boosted by the Structural Analyzer would do 360 points of damage per combat turn to an unshielded target.
*2 types of ECM Jammer. These are the best defenses against the Silicoids' Proton Torpedoes; but our ships are not equipped with ECM Jammers because we wanted to use the space for other things. Although it's now fully miniaturized, the basic ECM Jammer would have taken as much space as 5 normal-sized AF Mass Drivers, which would have been a significant reduction in firepower. But perhaps we should have included the basic ECM Jammers, as the remaining 10 normal-sized AF Mass Drivers boosted by the Structural Analyzer would do 360 points of damage per combat turn to an unshielded target.
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*7 turns after this Report we conquered the first Silicoid system.
*7 turns after this Report we conquered the first Silicoid system.
*10 turns after this Report we conquered the Silicoids' homeworld.
*10 turns after this Report we conquered the Silicoids' homeworld.
*17 turns after this Report we conquered the last Silicoid colony. It took so long only because after conquering the Silicoids' homeworld we were desperately short of Transports. We'd been running a large Command Points deficit and had to buy [[Master of Orion II/Sociology | Alien Management Centers]] from nothing (4 BC per PP, i.e. 240 BC each) on many conquered colonies because the Silicoids' industrial tech was primitive, so our reserves became rather low; that meant we couldn't send additional Transports right after the fleet left. But the conquest more than doubled our empire's population and nearly doubled our income even before we built Spaceports and Stock Exchanges on former Silicoid colonies, so we were showing a profit before we'd finished conquering the Silicoids.
*17 turns after this Report we conquered the last Silicoid colony. It took so long only because after conquering the Silicoids' homeworld we were desperately short of Transports. We'd been running a large Command Points deficit and had to buy [[../Sociology|Alien Management Centers]] from nothing (4 BC per PP, i.e. 240 BC each) on many conquered colonies because the Silicoids' industrial tech was primitive, so our reserves became rather low; that meant we couldn't send additional Transports right after the fleet left. But the conquest more than doubled our empire's population and nearly doubled our income even before we built Spaceports and Stock Exchanges on former Silicoid colonies, so we were showing a profit before we'd finished conquering the Silicoids.
*The Silicoids never fitted their ships with Proton Torpedoes, and never managed to gather a large fleet in one place, not even for the final battle; the most our ships ever faced was 4, and they were destroyed by the first salvo. Most of our conquests were led by 1 Battleship, while the others guarded earlier conquests.
*The Silicoids never fitted their ships with Proton Torpedoes, and never managed to gather a large fleet in one place, not even for the final battle; the most our ships ever faced was 4, and they were destroyed by the first salvo. Most of our conquests were led by 1 Battleship, while the others guarded earlier conquests.
And all this started from analyzing one Races (diplomacy) screen!
And all this started from analyzing one Races (diplomacy) screen!


{{Footer Nav|game=Master of Orion II|prevpage=Diplomacy and intelligence|nextpage=Espionage wars}}
{{Footer Nav|game=Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares|prevpage=Diplomacy and intelligence|nextpage=Espionage wars}}

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