LOL - Cardassians SUCK.

[Osk]

agree with all of the above, though i find klingon interface more annoying.
1. build ships; fleet strength is not accounted according to actual strength, but mostly through no. of ships. a scout counts almost as much as a cruiser

cardassians have massive structure, doing massive damage on a ram. This also means that many of their high tech ships will survive whatever orbital batteries throw at them

dont bother conquering major planets, you get a bonus for bombing and they do not have the minor specials. On that point, don't worry about eliminating minor races you don't need. When you have fleet supremacy, who cares about zakdorn or andor? Talarians only help with defensive combat, and unless you're playing pvp, the ktarian sabotage is useless, etc, etc

you dont need a big fleet to conquer a planet. 2 destroyers for each battery, some transports, or 1 stronger ship/battery

cardassians expand, consolidate, expand. klingons expand, federation consolidates

if i'm not playing cardassians, they're the race i'd hate to meet first, after romulans

[stardust]

Agreed on not wanting to meet the cardies early on.

The buggers will intel you as soon as, though I've noticed they hang back a bit, for a short time if you refuse to sign any treaties with them before them starting up with the intel.

[Martok]

The buggers will intel you as soon as, though I've noticed they hang back a bit, for a short time if you refuse to sign any treaties with them before them starting up with the intel.

I've noticed this as well. The Cards will generally leave you alone for a (little) while if you don't have any treaties with them. I have to admit that even when playing as the Feds, I'll ignore treaty offers from them unless they clearly benefit me.

[Karstedt]

I haven't actually played as the Cards, but they don't usually become one of the dominant empires in solo games because they make poor Allies. I've tried teaming up with them, and even when I'm clearly the most powerful faction, they will terrorize me with sabotage if not outright declare war on me. The only way to fight them without dedicating your fleet to their utter annihilation (freeing up the other factions to tear up your borders) is to raid them mercilessly.

[smallaxe0217]

I'm playing a Cardassian game now, and I agree that they are pretty hard...I'm in the tail end of the game where it's just me and the Federation...and it's pretty much a stalemate! Actually, if the Federation were more agressive I'd be in trouble but I now have to figure out a way to improve my research and get my ships better, because they are no match for the Fed ships.

[Osk]

my 9 card cruisers, 12 fast attack and 1 outpost just defeated 16 klingon battle cruiser IIs and 6 fast attack

they tend to keep shooting at the fast attack (use evade), while you pick off their commands. works on fed too. And your fast attack still fully contribute, cause cardassians fire 360/360

[marhawkman]

I wish I could say I didn't like the Cards. But the truth is I've not played them enough to say that. they require a strategy that runs counter to what I like doing in game. (I don't conquer races unless I have to) Then again I dislike the Klingons for similar reasons.

[Solon]

I like the Feds and I play vanilla. If I encounter another race before turn 50, I just cancel the game and start another.

I will save every turn, in the same "save game" slot, just before I process the turn and if I encounter another Major race, I will go back and restart the "Save Game" and redirect the scout ship to some place safe.

As recounted elsewhere on this forum many times, the AI cheats, so...

I cheat too.

Good luck,

Solon

[Martok]

I wish I could say I didn't like the Cards. But the truth is I've not played them enough to say that. they require a strategy that runs counter to what I like doing in game. (I don't conquer races unless I have to) Then again I dislike the Klingons for similar reasons.

I've played the Cardassians a fair bit, but I will admit they're probably my least favorite race to play as.

While I too don't particularly enjoy conquering minors (aside from those that *really* piss me off ), my bigger problem with the Cards lies in my inability -- or perhaps unwillingness -- to use their intel abilities like they should. I don't really like spying on/sabotaging other people unless/until I'm actively at war with them, which obviously makes me rather psychologically unsuited to the Cards' basic mindset.

I do love their starbases, though, and you can't fault their ships being tough as nails to destroy. Also, I'll admit to a certain devilish delight in playing as the Cards, since you're pretty much expected to be the biggest bastards in the game -- it's a good way for me to vent my "inner jerkwad".

I like the Feds and I play vanilla. If I encounter another race before turn 50, I just cancel the game and start another.

I will save every turn, in the same "save game" slot, just before I process the turn and if I encounter another Major race, I will go back and restart the "Save Game" and redirect the scout ship to some place safe.

As recounted elsewhere on this forum many times, the AI cheats, so...

I cheat too.

Good luck,

Solon

Wow, you really restart games if you run into a major race before turn 50? Damn, you must restart a lot then, as I -- on average -- would run into my first major race around turn 20-25.

Of course, that's only on vanilla. Playing the BOP mod, I'm much more likely to not meet any major races until *at least* turn 50....and it's often even later than that (say, around turn 80 or so). And now that I'm playing with the new larger maps, it's not at all unusual for me to go well over 100 turns before running into someone. It makes me feel a little lonely sometimes, but overall I'm not complaining.

[stardust]

Intel's a sod whatever way you look at it.

I'd love to play the cardies like the AI does and constantly intel everyone, including allies, but withing 20 turns you have 4 empires baying for your blood

Even as the cardies I'll try diplomacy before conquest with minors, the better morale's worth the bribing money.

With conquered races I don't bother with their special structures either, except the re-education center. Again I'd rather take the boost I get from the higher morale than fighting an endless battle by using their other structures.

[Osk]

minor races can give you a huge advantage. as i mentioned in a previous post somewhere, zakdorn will let you train anyone to legendary at their college. the research races don't need explaining, nor do the benzites, ullians and betazoids keep your empire clean, etc etc. ofcourse, this only concerns you if you do the challenging t1 games. There, minor races are the difference between life and death. Cardassians can get on ok with other major races, though most will only sign non aggression with you.
People mentioned credits... what do you need credits for. Not for minors and only occasionally for major demands. building only the best ships, you'll be a match to those officially superior to you. destroy a fleet and take a planet and you'll have a peace proposal soon. Pick em off one at a time and they are toast. your prime target, as always, is the romulans: they match your security and they cloak, which is a bitch

[Martok]

People mentioned credits... what do you need credits for. Not for minors and only occasionally for major demands.

Building upgrades, my good man! Why wait 10 turns to upgrade your labs and factories when you can do it in 1?

your prime target, as always, is the romulans: they match your security and they cloak, which is a bitch

Actually, I usually make the Ferengi or (to a somewhat lesser extent) the Federation my prime target, all other things being equal. Their credit income means they can generally throw a significantly larger fleet at me than the other powers, not to mention allowing them to expand more rapidly by buying off minors at an increased rate. A major power with a lot of money is a dangerous thing....

[Osk]

since the AI always cheats, the fleet isnt always reflecting the actual faction. As such, I have a lot less trouble at destroying federation fleets than romulan fleets, nor do i care much that they can buy minors since i subjugate them right out of their influence. Cardassian ships are nice as soon as they start moving, but those romulans can cut a path through you. 3 romulan battlecruisers can destroy 2 heavy cruisers and a starbase in one go

baseline is, you wont have a serious battle against romulans unless they think they can win and then you will always sustain losses

edit: last game as cardassians, i wiped out a 60 ship strong fed fleet with 30 of my own, but lost 20 out of 40 against a 30 strong romulan fleet, and 5 of em escaped

[marhawkman]

Fighting the Romulans isn't that hard. So what if they can run at will? Blow up everything that gives them ship range. Stranded ships can't do much. :p

It doesn't matter who I play as, I LOVE the Ktarians. Y? Two reasons. 1: cloaked scouts. 2: the facility that boots Sabotage by 50%


I LOOOVE sabotage! I once took out an invading fleet that I had no hope of stopping militarily with Sabotage! Ironically it was a Cardassian fleet.

But yeah, sabotage is a quick way to piss off your friends. So save it for your enemies. Espionage can give techlevels I think. It doesn't piss people off as much, but it still pisses them off. I personally save intel attacks for people I want to take out. If there aren't any then I simply tell my intel guys to do defense. Oh, yeah... it's fun to actually STEAL enemy ships. Nothing like a Federation fleet warping in to attack a system with one of the ships that was supposed to be guarding the system in the fleet.

BOP mod? I must try this. Anything that gives a bigger map is automatically more fun.

[Martok]

It doesn't matter who I play as, I LOVE the Ktarians. Y? Two reasons. 1: cloaked scouts. 2: the facility that boots Sabotage by 50%

Actually, Ktarians don't have cloaked scouts; that would be the Yridians you're thinking of. (The Ktarians just build regular raiders/destroyers.) The Ktarians' sabotage facility is indeed pretty sweet, however.

I LOOOVE sabotage! I once took out an invading fleet that I had no hope of stopping militarily with Sabotage! Ironically it was a Cardassian fleet.

Wow. I don't think I've ever had *that* much success with intel attacks. They are still very useful, however, especially to Cardassian and Romulan players.

Espionage can give techlevels I think. It doesn't piss people off as much, but it still pisses them off.

Espionage doesn't advance your tech levels per se, but it can "steal" research points and add them to your own research (assuming you've set Espionage to "Science"), thus bringing you that much closer to the next tech breakthrough.

Also, setting Espionage to "Economy" can sometimes lead to your empire stealing other empires' credits (although I've found you can do this with Sabotage as well). I think one of the most hilarious things in the game is when I'm informed I've just ripped off huge amounts of money from the Ferengi....

BOP mod? I must try this. Anything that gives a bigger map is automatically more fun.

I highly recommend the Balance of Power mod. It's vastly improved (if not completely revitalized) my BOTF experience -- I'm playing it as much now as when I first got the game!

To be fair, by the way, both the Ultimate Dominion mod (UDM3) and stardust's All Ages mod also have the new larger maps. You would be doing yourself a favor by trying those as well.