jscherzi

Join Date 11/2012

Late Game Strategy Problem

Limited Range

While I seem to have the right build strategy, diplomacy and a killer research strategy I have run into a roadblock in the late game stages. I get to the point of having the most powerful military and robust economy and I am limited in being to reach some enemies to take them out of the game because I can't reach them although I try to really research the most advanced life support technology. The result is that they get a chance to catch back up and there no is resolution to the game. I have won games with the best research and the most influence but I have won only once in conquer mode (and that was with a very configuration of empires).

Perhaps is just not impossible to achieve a conquer strategy when the other empires are not reachable. It may be that my ship designs are hindering me. Whatever it is I have not found a solution. Any help or suggestions would be great.

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You can build a "road" with starbases towards your enemies if you do not want to touch ship designs at all. But really, you just need to put some more life support modules on your ships, and they should be able to travel across the whole galaxy easily.

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eviator

Join Date 08/2014

+62

Late game life support is very cheap mass-wise, but you'll have to equip your own ships in the designer. You can build darn powerful ships with a lot of range. I did it on an insane map with a couple starbases placed centrally in the galaxy.

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MottiKhan

Join Date 04/2007

+152

I concur. Starbases will extend your range across the whole galaxy, even on an insane map. A few life supports on custom ships can get you anywhere on the map when combined with the starbases. I build mining starbases when possible, but a lot are just influence ones to extend my range.

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Your mighty armada should include a fleet of fast constructors.

Simply build a string of supply bases to the enemy moving your fleets along with the constructors. Because you only need a supply base at the end of the road to be able to operate there and to send reinforcements there, the starbases in between don't matter after you get your fleets across. If the enemy wants to blow them up it doesn't matter. Similarly, you only need one bridgehead to secure the operation so as long as your fleets are capable of taking one enemy planet "over there" and hold it, all the supply starbases you built to get there can be counted as expendable.

Real armies use pioneers and logistics vehicles, too. The same principle works in GC3, too.

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MottiKhan

Join Date 04/2007

+152

Quoting Petri Kokko,

reply 4

Your mighty armada should include a fleet of fast constructors.

Or just one constructor with more than one module. Use one module to create the starbase, eject the ship and upgrade it to a similar constructor with more than one module. It'll only take one turn as long as you're within your ZOC. 2 turns if you're just outside. Lather, rinse and repeat.

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Thecw

Join Date 08/2012

+84

The range with the standard ships is a known problem, because of bugs with the life support/mass ratio.

[1.0.3.3] Life support beyond Environmental Support useless

The auto ship designer will use the highest tech (and unfortunately the heaviest) life support modules, and thereby limiting the number of components installed on the ship. Therefor if you use the standard ship classes then it is wasteful to research any life support tech beyond 'Environmental Support'.

BTW it is not just the ships for the player but also for the AI that are crippled this way.

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My end game ships all have at least 252 range (overkill but meh), which is more than enough for where ever they need to go. The struggle is only in the mid game where I am focusing my resources on development. No point in over extending if you cannot defend your star bases.

But yeah, star base bridge if you cannot wait for better life support like me. My advice is to design your own ships. Never use the default designs as they quite simply suck.

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