Many VGA Planets players say the Feds are for beginners — toss out some torps and attack. Sure, you could do that and maybe survive, but victories with the Solar Federation are, in fact, a complicated matter.
NOTE: For the fun of it, we’ve brought in a new guest writer this week: ChatGPT! This article was written by a chatbot following several hours of laborious training, and is based entirely on extant game documentation. Readers, how does it compare?
Introduction:
Race balance is a crucial aspect of any strategy game, including the popular game of Planets. In Planets, players can choose from eleven distinct races, each with its own set of advantages and characteristics. Achieving race balance is essential to ensure a fair and engaging gameplay experience for all participants. In this article, we will delve into the race balance in Planets, examining the strengths and weaknesses of each race and exploring the implications for gameplay dynamics.
Continue readingIf you’re like me, when you first looked at the Federation’s “Enhanced Recycle” advantage, you thought, “what possible value could that be?” It looked like another useless campaign advantage that was not worth having. But I’m here to tell you that Enhanced Recycle (ER) is very powerful and cheap to equip, costing only 15 fleet points.
Continue readingEleven times a dead man, two times a slave, and only once a survivor fighting to a bitter end — why would Bots do so poorly in the championships? Maybe it is how they set their feet in the starting blocks.
Most wars are won or lost long before the fighting starts. This series concentrates only on those critical few turns leading up to the Ship Limit as a key to achieving long-term goals necessary for victory.
Overview:
The Evil Empire fields one of the strongest warships in the Echo Cluster. The Gorbie Class Battlestation is the most massive and powerful battlecarrier available to anyone. The PL21 is a passable hyperspace probe that, when coupled with the Empire’s ability to Dark Sense, gives them the ability to project force intelligently across any cluster. Finally, the Super Star Destroyer is capable of capturing an enemy starbase intact without a battle.
Continue reading“Walk on road. Walk right side, safe. Walk left side, safe. Walk middle, sooner or later, get squish, just like grape.”
Mr. Miyagi
There are two ways to win as the Horwasp: the fast lane and the slow lane.
The fast lane is when your opponents are inept players. An inept player is one who hasn’t read my SIR MF article and/or is not able to build 20-30 tech 10 war ships prior to the ship limit.
Continue readingThis is the eleventh in a series of anonymous reports that mysteriously appeared on the Editor’s desk. These redacted versions were approved by the Senate for immediate publication, to be read by commanders of each respective race so they can review their own vulnerabilities in the face of the unknown external threat that commissioned the studies. In this dispatch we focus on that faction known as the Solar Federation: its strengths, its weaknesses, and how best to defeat it in battle.
Ease Of Command: Veteran
Difficulty To Defeat: Hard
Playstyle: Detailed
Most games are won or lost in the first few turns. This series concentrates only on those critical few turns leading up to the Ship Limit as a key to achieving long-term goals necessary for victory.
Overview:
The Colonies have a powerful yet limited ship list, remarkable for not only its low-cost heavy carrier, the Virgo, but also the fuel-generating Cobol. They lack low-cost endgame sacrifice ships and their best shield-scratchers are the Cygnus (against battleships only), the Tranquility, and the Iron Lady, which sets them at a late-war disadvantage against any powerful foe. However, their ability to sweep space mines from a distance with fighters alone balances the entire field in their favor.
Continue readingMost wars are won or lost long before the fighting starts. This series concentrates only on those critical few turns leading up to the Ship Limit as a key to achieving long-term goals necessary for victory.
Overview:
The Solar Federation fields a wide variety of top-end battleships, battlecruisers, and utility vessels. They lack a heavy carrier, but their diplomatic advantages, broad ship list, and above all crew combat bonus more than make up for this.
Continue readingThis is the tenth in a series of anonymous reports that mysteriously appeared on the Editor’s desk. These redacted versions were approved by the Senate for immediate publication, to be read by commanders of each respective race so they can review their own vulnerabilities in the face of the unknown external threat that commissioned the studies. In this dispatch we focus on that faction known as the Evil Empire: its strengths, its weaknesses, and how best to defeat it in battle.
Ease Of Command: Veteran
Difficulty To Defeat: Moderate
Playstyle: Slow
Planets Magazine 