General Pacing in the early game

[AncientSion (OP)]

a Little bit of Background info.

Being a vivid 4X Player, i in particulary enjoyed the more "hardcore" games of the genre. For example, unlike most People, i really enjoyed Master of Orion 3 and Manual, empire-wide DEA managment.
Or Space Empires 4, being clumsy, but having great deapth and micro managment.
I recently discovered Aurora and spend a considerable amount of time to get to know it and stuff.
After running a free games to get the General early game going, i think im now at the Point where i can start a real game.
This thread is to confirm my impressions and what to do.

This is basicly TN start with 20 to 25k preassigned Research, 8 labs and roughly 200m Pop with a 2 slipway naval Yard.
100 Systems, 60 % NPR Chance and 2 fixed NPRs.
in Addition, its custom race/system, not boring SOL start. Usually pick a System with one world with col-cost 2 and one more in-System with cost < 8.



- begin construction of mines and factories at 45/45 to increase production and mining. Might need a tad more weighting towards mines to not get stuck.
- begin construction of Commercial Yard at 10 % or what.
- Research engines and higher effiency mining and/or better cargo handling and stuff.
- design cheap geo-survs for in-System. Need mil-engines due to the lack of a Commercial Yard.
- Survey planets, drop of surv Teams using surv ships that are flying around anyway.
- accelerate comm-Yard production
- build a bunch of infrastructure.
- build Commercial cargo haulers once possible (i am at 50k cargo and a load of cargo handling).
- begin to haul infrastructure, construction and mines to the nearest colcost 2 world w/ decent ressources.
- build colony ship (if possible design it in a way that comm Yard does not Need retasking from cargo hauler, though i was unable to do that using my 70k tons haulers, might only work with 25k hulls).
- set a Loop for cargo haulers and colony ship to populate the colcost 2 world.

Once that is done, i build 2 grav-survey ships and Scout my imminent jumpholes.


Now, this is basicly were all my current games did stop until i managed to get this process going as smoothly as possible.


So, where do i go from here ? Colonize imminent Systems, or build better Explorer to find out where any NPRs are (remember, 100 Systems only).


thank you for suggestions !

[sublight]

Here's the checklist I wrote last time someone asked what to do next.

First thoughts:
a) Consider building your first commercial shipyard at 100%, and then switching to a mine/factory/other plan after that is finished. Also, 45/45 mine/factory is excessive. For example, 40/40 will let you build mass drivers/tracking stations/labs/etc +100% faster for a 12% slower industrial growth. I don't think I've ever played a game with more than 60% of my industry going to mines/factories.

b) While commercial yards can't build military ships, military shipyards will happily build commercial ships. I've built small commercial geosurvey ships in military yards before.

What happens next?
That depends on play style. Some people here turtle in their home system teching up until mineral shortages force them outward. Me, I'm usually impatient enough to start exploring shortly after my first in-system colony is established. For that I need planetary missile bases, anti-missile bases/orbitals and jump point pickets just-in-case, plus jump scouts. If I'm looking for trouble I'll make whatever military force I can with the starting tech.

From that point I exploring outward 3-4 jumps unless I find an enemy worth fighting. If I don't find any enemies worth fighting I colonize the best system found, and build a new generation of faster longer ranged jump scouts for the next wave of exploration.

However, what you really need is a personal objective. Are you trying to explore the entire star cluster? Is the conquest of your closest neighbor your primary objective? Exterminate any monster races? Are you trying to find/terriform an off-system cost-0 world? The best games are either driven by an outward goal or an internal story. The story and goal of your game will do more to set exploration priorities and methods than any forum advice we can offer.

[xeryon]

There is no right answer since this is a sandbox game.  

My play style is such that I usually want to expand to multiple systems as fast as possible so I rush to find the JPs and start colonizing new systems.  I intentionally overextend myself (as I think naive humans would do of their own accord) until I encounter something that kicks my butt and then complete chaos breaks out and I have to scramble to pick up the pieces and save humanity.

If I force myself and RP a different racial trait sometimes I max develop my home system and build up my tech first, but this is highly dependent on the home system materials availability.

[JacenHan]

Make sure "Real Stars" isn't checked, as that option ignores the system limit.