You must sign in to post. | Some basics :: Mar 24, 2008 @ 10:49pm |
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 vince
Joined: Feb 16, 2008
Posts: 45
Location: Atlanta | It has come to my attention that a good basic strategy guide really doesn't exist on these forums, so I decided to write one. Perhaps help alleviate some of the more grievous errors that newbies often commit.
So, you're new! Congratulations! You found one of the most fun games on the Internet! It might not seem like a whole lot of it now, since you have people with blue flags next to their names yelling vicious curses at you all the time, you never win, and you get called noob all the time, but if you read and heed these instructions, you might actually get good at this game yet! With a little bit of hard work and ingenuity, you too can step foot in the Admirals mess and eat with all the greats!
First things off, the kind of game you are playing, is really determined by how many people there are in it. We'll be dealing with free for all games, as team games aren't ranked and are more just for fun than anything. Your strategy should be different for each type of game. In a two player game, speed is the name of the game. If you don't have three planets within the first two seconds of gameplay, you've already lost. Playing the bots in single player will help you immensely with this type of game.
Three player games. These are tough. You can't attack people willy nilly. Instead you should focus on growth, and taking as many planets as you can in as short a time as possible. Be careful though, and don't leave your planets undefended! A good player can tell if you are constantly using all the ships you have to take new planets, and he'll start taking your planets for free! If you do find yourself in a fight, do not, at any cost, use up a significant portion of your ships. Keep the warfare very limited. Retreat if it looks like the other has more ships in that area. The third player that's not fighting builds up ships and if you guys fight too much, you'll be easy prey. A lot of times these games end up sitting still after all the planets are taken. This is called a stand-off. It can be hard to break without putting yourself at a disadvantage. A few ideas are, sending ten percent of your ships to try to take certain planets, and seeing what the other person does. Retreating all your ships to one planet, (turtling) so that the other two take your planets, and end up fighting each other. Sending all your ships to attack someone else. That's the riskiest one. Don't do it against another new player, because most of the time, they'll just hold their ground, and you'll get slaughtered by the third party. Lots of players will just move though. Always look at the third player. Make sure none of your opponents gets too big. If they do, then it's time to team up with the other guy and attack him. You have no idea how many games we see where two weak players keep attacking each other and using up all their ships while another player is happily getting bigger and bigger. Don't do it.
Even if you do all these things, you're still probably going to lose most of your games. There's a lot of little things that you have to learn in the game to play well. Keep these rules in mind:
1. Don't attempt to wipe someone out who's the same size or a little smaller than you. You'll both become easy pickins for a nearby third player.(we call it a suicide, or noobicide, depending on the relative stupidity of the act) Following this rule will keep 90% of the abuse blue flags will throw at you away. In Galcon your mistakes don't just affect you. You kill another person's chances for winning even as you kill your own. They will often hand a victory to a player prematurely. This ****es the experienced players off, because we see dozens of these screw-ups daily.
2. Attack bigger planets first.
3. Don't send your ships all the way across the galaxy if there's more important things they could be doing closer to where they're at. While your ships are traveling, the planet you're attacking is producing more ships, and the player you're attacking has more time to react to your maneuver.
4. Don't flee clusters at the first sign of provocation. Clusters are power in this game. Hold on to them.
5. Use the right ship send percentage. Don't send 100% if you're noticeably larger than the other person. You leave holes in your defenses that will be exploited by the other player if he's good. I've seen many a game that should have been won lost, because the losing player fled his clusters, and kept leaving his planets undefended, and even though he had a lot more ships than the winner, kept frittering away his advantage. I personally keep one finger on the zero button, and one finger on the five button as I play, and those two buttons can do ninety percent of the tasks I want to do.
6. Don't sit on a disadvantage. Watch the board, if someone is getting runaway huge, attack his planets and bring him down some. If one of your neighbors is getting attacked, attack him too and get some of his production, so that way you're not easy prey for the winner of the fight. If you're the smallest, always look keenly for undefended planets near you, and try to get some production for free. Don't be afraid to run to areas that aren't hotly contested by the two giants. I've won many games because the two bigger players used too many ships trying to kill each other, while I was quietly getting huge. If you're huge, don't fritter the advantage away by sending all your ships to the other player trying to wipe him out. Send fifty percent. That should be enough. The other guy will attack you too, and if you leave some ships behind, you'll win easily.
7. Don't get too hung up on the idea of *your* territory, *your* planets. A displaced player might be looking for a home right where you're sitting. Don't fight for your "territory" to the death, then claim the other suicided on you. Scoot over and let him in, better yet, take some of the bigger player's planets next to yours so you don't lose so much production. Unless you're big enough to wipe him out handily, don't be too quick to fight someone. Also in this vein, someone might send a crapload of their ships to one of your planets. A good idea is to flee the planet, save your ships, and let him have the planet for a little while. A lot of times if you do this, the attacking player won't try to keep attacking. Chances are, he'll attack one of your neighbors, and you can just grab the planet back as soon as he takes his ships off of it. It won't happen all the time though. He might grab two or three of your outlying planets, just let him have them for a little while. Then send a crapload of your ships to one of them, and he will probably retreat.
In a four or more player game, the attacks come quickly and ruthlessly. Look at the players next to you. Try to figure out whether they're likely to attack you or not. Pittsburgh will attack you the moment you send ships anywhere, haam will probably leave you alone unless you do something stupid. If you're sitting on a nice cluster, and one of your neighbors doesn't have any planets, beware! He's watching you, waiting for you to overcommit yourself so he can attack you and wipe you out while you're unprepared. Don't let him! Keep enough ships to wipe him out handy in case he attacks you. Soon, you'll be able to wipe him out. Do so. This is galcon, not a game of house. If you show mercy to your neighbor he will cause you all kinds of problems later. But only do it if you have like five more planets than he does, and you don't have to send 100% to kill him. Only use thirty percent at the most. Otherwise you leave yourself at the mercy of one of your bigger neighbors. How you proceed will always depend on what your neighbors are likely to do once you commit. Don't leave your planets unprotected. Put extra ships on planets that are isolated from your main cluster, so other players will have to spend lots of ships to get it from you. Many times it will be an effective deterrent. Do not over extend yourself attacking, and do not use up all of your ships. Make sure the number of ships you have in reserve is always growing, never shrinking.
These are but some of the most basic tactics you need to be effective at galcon. To learn more, try watching the better players. Watch the way they do things, how they go about taking territory. The better players are lightning fast and can seize a cluster in record time. The faster you can take planets, the less time the other player's planets have to manufacture defense fleets. Work on it. Other players use subterfuge to win, by making their fleets look weak, and claiming they need help to win, yet they are capturing more planets and quietly letting you use up all your ships against the other players. They can be really good at sowing chaos which they then take advantage of. | | Re: Some basics :: Mar 25, 2008 @ 12:33pm |
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 lemonbrown
Joined: Jun 18, 2007
Posts: 124 | Excellent guide, and good job! I hope you dont mind me commenting, and I would like to add a little bit. One thing, that can you can do in the beggining of the game, and get a GUARENTEED kill, is to simply truce. I reccomend truce the nearest guy to you, and go for a kill. Almost everygame, with 4+ people, if you truce, and go for a kill, the other players will be occupied as well. Yuo can easily get a kill, and LOADS of prod, very early. You can also do 1 minute truces. Sometimes ill truce the guy next to me, then truce a guy for 1 mintue, and take out 1+ players easily. Your best game will be within the first minute. If played smart, every game can last about 3-5 minutes, like its supposed to. And by simply trucing. I see to many games with 7+ people, AND THEY ARE ALL ALIVE! with maybe 3 planets each. all of them afraid of backstabbing. Just truce, as early you can, preferably in the first 10-20 seconds. the sooner the better.
Also another tip, Watch your enemies intake of planets. Once the game starts, you take two planets or so, low cost, watch your neighbor. Wait for him to get greedy. Watch him take lots of planets, but with high cost. Then eaisly come on in, you wont even have to send 100%, just send in 50%, whipe him out, and take his prod. And, trucing, helps this. Just dont forget, when you are truced, dont forget to break your truce when the person is to large! | | Re: Some basics :: Mar 25, 2008 @ 3:47pm |
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txgangsta 
Joined: Mar 12, 2007
Posts: 256
Location: DONT GO HERE!!!! http://eskim0.myminicity.com/ | In a two player game, speed is the name of the game. If you don't have three planets within the first two seconds of gameplay, you've already lost. This is how you play team games too. Go fast, attack fast, think fast, win fast.Playing the bots in single player will help you immensely with this type ofgame. If you've bought the game (which you all should) the mods are a great way to get better at these. They are as good as most red/blue flags depending on your play style. (I suck at the bots)Retreat if it looks like the other has more ships in that area. Retreating all your ships to one planet, (turtling) so that the other two take your planets, and end up fighting each other. Remember, retreating is always an option. Sometimes a very good option. It can save your ships, regroup them, and allow for the other man to attack, and you can redecide if you need to attack the same player or get that third guy.1. Don't become easy pickins for a nearby third player by wiping yourself out on another of the same size.(we call it a suicide, or noobicide, depending on the relative stupidity of the act) Following this rule will keep 90% of the abuse blue flags will throw at you away. In Galcon your mistakes don't just affect you. This is like 99.99999999% of the abuse. Its the only thing that i will call out on people because it does effect everyone. Good for one or two, bad for almost everyone else.4. Don't flee clusters at the first sign of provocation. Clusters are power in this game. Hold on to them. If you move at the right pace, you can grab the cluster and have no one attack you. If they think u have no ships, they're more likely to move at you. If your too slow, they'll take some neutrals in the cluster. Experience is the only thing that will let you know how fast to move, and where to move. Grabbing the less guarded planets is normally the best move, and then the outer planets, so no one can take one if u move to slow. I go slow, its y i suck at bots, but grabbing the outside will keep pesky humans away5. Use the right ship send percentage. Ok, if your reading this for serious newbie help, dont worry about percent yet. Its difficult. The only advice i have here is make sure your ships are evenly stocked based on their size. Dont have 40k on your 13. It makes no sense.If you're the smallest, always look keenly for undefended planets near you, and try to get some production for free. Don't be afraid to run to areas that aren't hotly contested by the two giants. This is so important. Its keeps you big, keeps you active, and it keeps other players in check so they dont take the field in 30 seconds.7. Don't get too hung up on the idea of *your* territory, *your* planets. A displaced player might be looking for a home right where you're sitting. Don't fight for your "territory" to the death, then claim the other suicided on you. Scoot over and let him in, better yet, take some of the bigger player's planets next to yours so you don't lose so much production. Unless you're big enough to wipe him out handily, don't be too quick to fight someone. Also in this vein, someone might send a crapload of their ships to one of your planets. A good idea is to flee the planet, save your ships, and let him have the planet for a little while. A lot of times if you do this, the attacking player won't try to keep attacking. Chances are, he'll attack one of your neighbors... SO IMPORTANT!!!!
Dont defend like that. Give them some leeway. They think they're dead anyway, they dont care, but if your nice to them, they wont suicide on you and move on to someone who doesnt follow this rule. If the player is really tiny compared to you, dont give him anything. He'll run, or die, and leave u relatively unaffected.
If you're sitting on a nice cluster, and one of your neighbors doesn't have any planets, beware! He's watching you, waiting for you to overcommit yourself so he can attack you and wipe you out while you're unprepared. Dont over commit. Its better to be small than have nothing at all.
Simply truce! The easiest way to stop a standoff. Truce with someone! Most are very happy to, but give a warning before your about to break it. They wont like it and will send lots at you if there's no warning. Most likely everything. If you give a warning u should be fine. If someone breaks a truce with you, dont fret over it, its galcon! The 5 min game! Its gotta happen at some point.post updated on Mar 25, 2008 @ 3:52pm | | Re: Some basics :: Mar 25, 2008 @ 6:55pm |
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vince Joined: Feb 16, 2008
Posts: 45
Location: Atlanta | Thanks for the comments guys! TXgangsta, perhaps you could write a guide on ship send percentages, eh? I know I'd like to read it! | | Re: Some basics :: Mar 25, 2008 @ 6:55pm |
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vince Joined: Feb 16, 2008
Posts: 45
Location: Atlanta | Thanks for the comments guys! You two are the guys I was studying to try to get better, so it's great to have your inputs. TXgangsta, perhaps you could write a guide on ship send percentages, eh? I know I'd like to read it! | | Re: Some basics :: Mar 25, 2008 @ 8:13pm |
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 sky_lark
Joined: May 9, 2007
Posts: 194
Location: North Carolina | The one thing I learned from skimming over these is that people these days have waay too much time on their hands. Great guides, though. :) | | Re: Some basics :: Mar 26, 2008 @ 5:50am |
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txgangsta
Joined: Mar 12, 2007
Posts: 256
Location: DONT GO HERE!!!! http://eskim0.myminicity.com/ | Thanks for the comments guys! TXgangsta, perhaps you could write a guide on ship send percentages, eh? I know I'd like to read it!
I'm not giving away all my secrets =) That would bring my win down to about 30%.post updated on Mar 26, 2008 @ 5:51am |
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