I classify general advice as advice that can be attributed to any game regardless of your specific build or affinity. I wish to impart some knowledge to the general community in hopes it will create more and better players for multiplayer, for then I will be able to play more often, and have more interesting games.



Know the game you are joining, and don't join large games (if any games), if you only have 30 minutes to play. When someone quits before they are anywhere near defeat, and especially in the early game, it skews the game in favor of your neighbors. Those neighbors will suddenly have a much easier time cleaning up AI, than dealing with you. Also, nobody cares so much if someone cleans up an AI, there is no negative diplomatic impact, unlike wiping out a human player, especially if the AI is set to anything less than serious. Essentially, 1 or more of your neighbors now get free systems because one of their fronts is now safe for expansion. A major advantage vs the players that are not near it.



Check the game settings in the lobby. Pay attention to galaxy type, some shapes will start players near each other without wormholes so prepare for aggressive players, or choose a custom race to be the aggressor. Check the size, obviously smaller will mean fighting sooner, and lower caps on FIDS as there are just less systems. Game speed I find to be mostly negligible. The advanced settings are important to see. Many constellations means wormhole tech is just even more important to get to, as there will be vacant constellations from the start. If the planet/system number is low/high, this also affects how early you will want wormhole tech and colonization techs. Star connectivity makes it easier to expand and attack as there are far more routes to do so, and high resources makes planets have many more positive anomalies. If distance is set to remote, you may want that Fast Traveler trait for the +2 move on your fleets. If pirates are set to none, you won't need to keep sight ranges on any nearby empty systems. Alternately you may consider influence areas or having scouts around if pirates are set to higher levels, just to prevent them spawning, or you may hope they spawn so you can make more use of your Dust Recycling or Knowledge Gathering traits.



Once the game starts, you must do 4 things. Anything else is just time wasting. B-E-R-T. Build on your system. Exploitation usually, i recommend food. Explore. Send that scout and colony ship out. Research. N-Way Fusion is the #1 start tech, work on it if you didn't start with it. Finally, Taxes. Adjust your tax rate so that you will have 20 dust on turn 2 and be able to buy a hero, admin if you can (#1 important if you are using 2 ranks of legendary hero, and you should be). If you have extra time, check to see what heroes you have available, and plot out your techs to research, you can SHIFT+LEFT CLICK them to add them to the research Queue, to deselect them is not possible, you have to click on the first one and redo the queue how you want it. Having a research queue is very important if you are using Knowledge Gathering trait, as you are likely to destroy many fleets and your tech will jump with low tier techs, if nothing is set after your current, you are losing valuable tech points! Turn two set your new hero to a system with +25 industry and labor 1 trait.



The main purpose of early game is to establish your empire's boundaries. You should be seeking out the best systems within your area and neighboring constellations if you can. Prioritize systems that have good food and industry production (economically valuable), and those that are on either end of a wormhole (strategically important). If you have 2 ranks of optimism (and you should, its amazingly good), you may colonize a great many systems without fear of unhappy populations, colonize as many low and non-tech planets as you can, unless they have awful anomalies on them. Low tech planets are tundra/arid. Non-tech are jungle/ocean/terran.



For research, my recommended order is N-Way Fusion, Xenobotany/Arid Energetics (depending which is more useful), compact fusion reactors, APPLIED CASIMIR EFFECT, Xenology, Advanced Machining, Relativistic Economics, Improved Fleet Management. This is the standard I have come to use. The only variations are Xenology and Advanced Machining. If you cannot get titanium, Adv Machining is useless, so get Isotope Fabrication. If there are lots of applicable luxury resources nearby, you will want Xenology earlier to take advantage of them. If you have an aggressive neighbor, you will want your weapon tech earlier, and Fleet Management as well. You may also want to get a 2nd pilot/admin hero early on so adjust your tax rate to get the dust when you need it. I suggest building reactors and tourism improvement on all systems at this point, as you will get a great benefit from both. The industry bonus is obviously great, and the dust bonus will help support your fleets tremendously. You may also opt for the destroyer ship class tech to up your early game firepower if need be.



A note on Growth: Growth is extremely important in the game. You want more science? industry? dust? Guess what, more population does all of this. So the faster you can grow people, the better off you are. Also, when your system is near max population, and you don't plan on making colony ships anymore, change the exploitations to industry if its a major production system, or science if its just gonna sit and do dust/science conversion. Dust exploitations are largely a waste of space, but if you really need it I would only build them on planets that get the extra bonus. Faster building or faster tech is just generally way more useful. Try to maintain a low tax rate normally, to increase FIDS across your empire.



Beyond early game, what you choose to do will be largely affected by what you made your custom race for, how aggressive your neighbors are, and how effective you were able to expand. Aggressive neighbors force you to build more fleets to defend or counterattack, or pre-emptively strike at them. Peaceful neighbors let you do whatever you like, until they are teched up and ready to roll you over. And yes, everyone is plotting to kill you at some point or otherwise win, you would be wise to do the same, or in the least be prepared for it. If you got boxed in, you will have to break out, so make those fleets.



Useful Race Traits: Optimism, Legendary Heroes. In my mind, those are the traits that I cannot play without. Extra happiness = more FIDS, which equates to a much improved bonus all around the more you have expanded and are able to maintain happy or ecstatic systems. Legendary Heroes lets you get your admin hero to level 3 at start, and the coveted +25 industry bonus. This bonus will win out against any other hero selection at game start. Case in point, in a game where I started 2 systems away from Nycidia, with no wormholes, where we both were using Horatio affinity, I was able to defeat him early on largely due to having an admin hero, whereas he didn't get one and had to choose a pilot of some sort. There were other factors but that was the major one.



Many other traits are useful, Fast Travelers is another I can hardly do without. Tinker around and find what suits your style without making you too easy of a target. You can min/max or try something more balanced as you like.



Eternal War: This trait is a red flag to most players. They will not cooperate with you, they will kill anything of yours they find, and nobody will care that they do it. You should truly expect to be on your own if you use this trait. For 4 player or less games, it is much easier to justify using it. In larger games, however, at some point the galaxy will ally against you if you are pulling ahead. Unless of course, they are noobs.



Player Note: Nycidia, if he is in your game, you better be ready. Noobs and moderate players will be mopped up in a hurry. Do not whine from this, learn from it. See how early you were defeated and think about what you can do to survive longer next time. Hell, maybe you can even win eventually. There are many eternal war aggressive players, among them Nycidia is King. If you can survive him, you can survive the rest. It will be a testament to your ability and improvement as a player.

PLAYER TYPES: Noob, Diplomat, Simcity, Aggro (rush/tech), Opportunist, Nutcase, Techie.



Noob: New people or awful players that will just never understand anything. You can crush them whenever you like, it will take minimal effort. If they are noob because they are new, do try to help them with advice, even if you are killing them. More players is always a good thing, and nothing like a good community helps to retain new players.



Simcity: This is a classification I have used in all 4x and rts games since the dawn of... simcity. These players are living on gumdrop lane in fantasy land. They believe that if they are not hostile, you will just leave them be. They will build every improvement whether its useful or not, usually they have little to no military. They tend to think whatever they do have is awesome and sufficient, even if they are 800 points behind. They will try to create perfectly built systems and be content in them. You can either let them be, or demolish them as if they are noobs, because clearly they never learned how to play outside of single player against easy AI. You may also call these players Care Bears.



Aggro Rush: These are the highly aggressive players. They waste no time in creating a vast fleet of small ships, and will easily roll over their unprepared neighbors. Typically they have Eternal War, and every disad under the sun for defense, so that offense and ship production can be maxed. May also have min/maxed for growth and early expansion. Horatio, Craver, and Hissho are the usual affinities. They usually just attack everyone near them, at the same time if they feel like it, but do tend to prey on the easier targets first, to minimize their losses and grow more efficiently. Also tend to seek out non-tech planets and wormholes systems all over the galaxy to make forward production points and box players in. You should be doing whatever you can to defeat them, even if it means having 6 allies.



Aggro Tech: They may have some fleets early game, not nearly as many as Aggro Rush though. They are mostly stand-off-ish and will expand where they can, until they get a fair tech lead in weapons and fleets/ships, and then go on the offensive, taking out neighbors 1 at a time. They may or may not take time to consolidate new systems after defeating a player. They may slip by as the game threat in the shadow of an Aggrush (Aggro Rush) player into the mid or late game. Be mindful by taking note of player scores every 5 turns or so, and if anyone is dying who is jumping up in points. Sophon is the usual choice, though anything could be used.



Diplomat: They clearly want to be your friend. Usually Amoebas. They want trade routes, they want to ally up and share tech, they want you to fight the battles until they get Battleships or Dreadnoughts. You are their human shield. They value their trade routes, and usually are sincere in alliances. It doesn't benefit them to take too many systems as they lose their trade routes. They go the tech route, but also usually have standing fleets. Usually well rounded players and versatile players. They also have a knack for surviving into late game and becoming part of some alliance, and then claiming victory due to their awesomeness, even tho they were carried.



Opportunist: You could couple this with previous styles, but I feel the opportunist can be its own thing as well. They will take whatever they think they can get away with. Neutral systems in your area, near you, all over the galaxy. Prey on weak opponents when there are no neutrals left to easily take. Could be any affinity, and will generally just absorb things until people take notice. More often then not tho, they are ready to fight. Opportunists are possibly the most dangerous players, as they don't often flaunt their power. They will tick off the more sensitive players, which may get them unwanted attention. They prefer to linger in the shadows and just creep ahead.



Techie: Sophon usually. Keeps a small to moderate empire, techs up like crazy, then rolls out advanced ships with weapons two tiers over whatever you have. Easily crushed by Aggrush, as they tend to push tech and light expansion early on, sacrificing sufficient fleet strength to survive Aggrushers. Extremely dangerous once they have active fleets.



Nutcase: Completely unpredictable players. They just do whatever they feel like for any reason imaginable. Often Role Players, just enjoying themselves. Sometimes I pretend to be an empire of religious zealots, and I will relentlessly attack and plot against anyone not accepting of my arbitrary and imagined ideals. I will declare people heretics, call for jihads, and will be rather chatty when waiting for turns to end. Highly entertaining way to play games by the way, also amusing for others as flavor text. Quite often tho, if you do find these players, they are normally good players who are confident enough to screw around. Don't expect them to be nuts every game. Another player may act like the Empire in Star Wars, and colonize systems in your area claiming Empire domain. Please refer to the probe droid on Hoth incident of episode V, and the result of that for your near future.



As always, assuming logic and reason, everyone is trying to win. Treat everyone as an enemy, and have a plan to come out ahead in the end. Even if you don't end up killing your previous allies that you made to stop the Aggrush player, you will be better off having a plan in place to do so, just in case. I am Kyu, and I approve this message.

Great stuff. I'm looking to start playing multi player and this was very helpful.



What galaxy types start players really close to each other? Do people play with a timer? Any advice for finding games that won't have lots ofp layers leaving?





Also when you say rush how early are we talking about? In a few test games I built up a 1000-1400 power fleet for turn 30 but I have no clue if that is too late/not enough or if I'm the guy rushing here

few constellation settings tend to start players in the same area, ovoid especially. Timer are usually played with in some form. Most use a last player timer of 30seconds to 1 minute, thus if you are the last player to end turn the timer starts. Some use an all player timer that just gives everyone X minutes to do the whole turn. I believe 3 minutes in early game is fine, but later on 5 minutes is more acceptable. I believe the timer stops for manual battles. The best way to avoid quitters and cheaters is to just play and find reliable players, then add them to steam and keep playing with them. Eventually you will form a core group of players that are reliable.



Rushes can happen as early as turn 15 if there are no wormholes, or if someone has an extraodrinary start. Tho they may not initially send much at you, it will pile on quickly. They could have fleets on their immediate neighbor turn 20 easily. Turn 15 is a good expectation for people to have wormhole tech. On one build I used to use, i have had 5k (with hero) fleets by turn 40.

Ok thanks for your answers

In some ways the advice is good for single player games at higher difficulties.