Completed my first game while at War with all major races 90% of the game...Ummm

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PTRACER
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Completed my first game while at War with all major races 90% of the game...Ummm

Post by PTRACER »

Hey folks! I bought BOTF about 20 years ago when I was a little kid. I wasn't smart enough so I lost every game within 50 turns. Recently I watched two guys do a playthrough on YT (all 40+ videos!) and got enough tips to start a game myself again.

So, with vanilla BOTF + Error Correction mod, I chose the largest map, playing as the Federation. It took over 600 turns but the other major races all surrendered to me and the game said I had won. For a first serious attempt I was bloody happy.

The only thing that baffled me, though, was:

- I was at war with all other major races for at least 500 turns of the game. They randomly declared war on me for no reason early on. Sometimes they would reverse their decision, which I accepted. Then before/after the 25 turns expired they declared war again. I'm not sure what I did to pee them off. Oddly, the ONLY time any of them attacked me first was right near the end of my game, when the Klingons destroyed all three Outposts I had set up along the Kling/Fed border to blockade Qo'nos.

WHY did they all hate me so much? How do I go about my business without upsetting them?
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mdstrek
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Re: Completed my first game while at War with all major races 90% of the game...Ummm

Post by mdstrek »

Hey man, like you I started playing 20 years ago. I’ve played off and on every few years since then. Sometimes, or even most of the time, the other races will declare war on you not because they are mad at you, but because they perceive you as weak. Other times it’s because they see you getting closer to their territory and/or want systems that are in contested territory or in your territory.

But let me ask you, how do you set up your configuration before the game? In particular, what levels do you set the races at? Do you start every race at level 1 or something else?
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Re: Completed my first game while at War with all major races 90% of the game...Ummm

Post by PTRACER »

Hey dude. I think I set all to Level 3. I focused on research and ship building and colonised the planets close to me at first, while sending other ships out for exploration. Built up a really strong central empire around Sol. I guess one issue might be that I was building outposts close to my rivals' borders, but it was the only way to extend the range of my ships.
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Re: Completed my first game while at War with all major races 90% of the game...Ummm

Post by KrazeeXXL »

gz for your first win ^^ that's quite something after 20 years.

I remember those long, long games. As /u/mdstrek wrote, military strength is the key. It's possible to win without ever going to war or even without much battles. Just get the production going, expand carefully and try to delay first contact with other major races for as long as possible. Use the time to get stronger.

I always used a load of scouts as an early warning system. Hover over unindentified ships to get the info of who they are before making contact.

I'm not a big fan of outposts, though. They can't move and are weak. Better just to grab a nearby system and build a shipyard.
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