BOTF Guide - by Aralon

[Mudpuppy630511]

Calamarain won't attack your star systems, only stations/ships. You can avoid placing your ships in sectors with star systems, means if your fleet's firepower/tech is too low to kill it or if you would take heavy losses.

'Jumping' monster (Borg, Calamarain...) movement is very random: viewtopic.php?p=34119#p34119

EDIT: Here is some advice against Borg: viewtopic.php?p=51553#p51553

Key factor is to kill the cubes before they obliterate a whole star system and get a chance to replicate (i.e. to early make hard sacrifices to stop them). If there is already an out of control invasion there are certain empire specific tactics to oppose them. From what I remember, for example, sacrifice about 20+ scouts, set to evade, and charge(or assault I don't recall what works better) with 8-12 heavy cruisers. All your shipyards produce 1 scout each turn to replace losses. In vanilla you can fight them much easier, not because they are weaker, but you can use many broken game mechanics to cheat around certain game limitations (i.e. srapping ships for money to support way larger fleets).

When I first played the game in '99, I played the Klingons and got hit hard by the Borg, and I never recovered. I lost the game to the Cardies and Ferengi who capitalized on the devastation wrought by the Borg. On the second playthrough, I knew I had to be ready for the Borg. So I stockpiled groups of 18x Battlecruiser II's per system in about 7 systems. I was able to anticipate their move and hit them. Yes, I faced the Borg with 56x Battlecruiser II's and was successful with the loss of about 1/3 - 1/2 of my ships. On another time, the Borg hit me at Tech level 7 and I had just unlocked the K'Vort. I had 18x and the free cloaked turn, and I wiped them out.

[Spocks-cuddly-tribble]

This scout advice against Borg is cheapest 'empire specific' (i.e. no cloak) solution (cruiser types and numbers can vary). Using cloak is a joke. For your example, just using fleets of klingon scout 2's would be cheaper, faster and more efficient than Battlecruiser II's (you just need to test the numbers required to kill a cube with no losses).

[thunderchero]

Oh but Thunderchero, wheres the fun in that?

it is more fun than a crash due to random/monsters

[Mudpuppy630511]

This scout advice against Borg is cheapest 'empire specific' (i.e. no cloak) solution (cruiser types and numbers can vary). Using cloak is a joke. For your example, just using fleets of klingon scout 2's would be cheaper, faster and more efficient than Battlecruiser II's (you just need to test the numbers required to kill a cube with no losses).

That second play through in 2000, I had not yet unlocked the K'Vort Heavy Cruiser, and had just unlocked the K'Tinga II. The K'Tinga did it's part, because I only had 2x groups of Scouts on the other side of the galaxy scouting. I did not have a centralized QRF in the home turf except for the K'Tingas. After that incident, whenever I play the Klingons from the earliest possible level to endgame, I build only as many as I need, and invest heavily in the K'Vort, Vor'Cha, and Negh'var. The only system of mine that I'm never concerned about is Rubicon when I've paired the Edo Guardian with a Starbase and sometimes a small defense force. The Gaurdian and the Outpost/SB is more than a match for the Borg and when I decide to have a small guardian TF, I have no issues with all of the random monsters. Nevertheless, I enjoy the game and it's refreshing to play it again after 21 years.

[Mudpuppy630511]

The coolest thing is pulling a bribe Romulan style.

[natefil123]

Hello, I'm new here and loved playing this game. Also appreciate this active community as I've read a lot of posts. I couldn't find a better place to ask this question so if this is in the wrong spot I apologize in advance.

I'm fairly familiar with how things work here and familiar with the game. I like to play domination game and i typically win by conquering all other empires. There is another way to win i've read.

Question is. I know you can win also (i think) If your playing a Domination game you have to control 60% of the Galaxy? Is this true? Is this 60% of the population, is this 60% of the star systems? Is 60% of all tiles squares in the galaxy? IE if i put a star base on one planet and there are other planets around does that count?

I'm looking for ways to shorten the game up some by not having to conquer all the other empires. Can someone please explain what the parameters are for winning this way? I typically play all ages mod, but i would guess victory conditions are standard and asking in this strategy section as it would affect the way i play now moving foward.

Last question is there a way on the galaxy screen i can see how far away I am from winning this way? How do i tell if i am @57% of the 60% needed to win?

[trevtones]

Hello, I'm new here and loved playing this game. Also appreciate this active community as I've read a lot of posts. I couldn't find a better place to ask this question so if this is in the wrong spot I apologize in advance.

I'm fairly familiar with how things work here and familiar with the game. I like to play domination game and i typically win by conquering all other empires. There is another way to win i've read.

Question is. I know you can win also (i think) If your playing a Domination game you have to control 60% of the Galaxy? Is this true? Is this 60% of the population, is this 60% of the star systems? Is 60% of all tiles squares in the galaxy? IE if i put a star base on one planet and there are other planets around does that count?

I'm looking for ways to shorten the game up some by not having to conquer all the other empires. Can someone please explain what the parameters are for winning this way? I typically play all ages mod, but i would guess victory conditions are standard and asking in this strategy section as it would affect the way i play now moving foward.

Last question is there a way on the galaxy screen i can see how far away I am from winning this way? How do i tell if i am @57% of the 60% needed to win?

I'm pretty sure there's only 2 victory types and that is complete domination or vendetta victory which means destroying your factions nemesis faction. The only way to see your progress is in the retirement screen but that doesnt show how close you are to winning just your score compared to other races. You can see how close you are to winning by scouting the map and seeing how many systems are left to mop up!

[Spocks-cuddly-tribble]

Question is. I know you can win also (i think) If your playing a Domination game you have to control 60% of the Galaxy? Is this true? Is this 60% of the population, is this 60% of the star systems? Is 60% of all tiles squares in the galaxy? IE if i put a star base on one planet and there are other planets around does that count?

I'm looking for ways to shorten the game up some by not having to conquer all the other empires. Can someone please explain what the parameters are for winning this way? I typically play all ages mod, but i would guess victory conditions are standard and asking in this strategy section as it would affect the way i play now moving foward.

Last question is there a way on the galaxy screen i can see how far away I am from winning this way? How do i tell if i am @57% of the 60% needed to win?

Problem is many bugs and inconsistencies in the base game (aka vanilla): viewtopic.php?p=18759#p18759

Solo domination (i.e. without alliance treaty) requires 60% of galactic population plus 60% of all star systems. So you need to colonize every crap system. Here is post with fix code to remove the star system count: viewtopic.php?p=22149#p22149 (hex edit or patch trek.exe).

There is no % indicator. But as a rule of thumb (with system count fixed/removed) just add 'systems held' of all empires in intel screen.
If your number is min 0.6 of the total you should be close.

[trevtones]

Solo domination (i.e. without alliance treaty) requires 60% of galactic population plus 60% of all star systems. So you need to colonize every crap system. Here is post with fix code to remove the star system count: viewtopic.php?p=22149#p22149 (hex edit or patch trek.exe).

Has this always been the case? I cant seem to recall ever winning a game without eliminating all other factions first?

[Spocks-cuddly-tribble]

I cant seem to recall ever winning a game without eliminating all other factions first?

That's because of the many still uncolonized small star systems.

Team domination (with alliance treaty) is very easy in vanilla (no systems count and only 67% of galactic pop -> should be 75%).
But the vanilla AI diplomacy is awful broken....

[trevtones]

I cant seem to recall ever winning a game without eliminating all other factions first?

That's because of the many still uncolonized small star systems.

Team domination (with alliance treaty) is very easy in vanilla (no systems count and only 67% of galactic pop -> should be 75%).
But the vanilla AI diplomacy is awful broken....

Well that is good to know. I will remember to colonize every system.

[justanick]

Intel is like research. It accumulates. Thus you can 'save' intel.

btw, all saved intel is lost after a crash and reload. Some ppl know this and will deliberately crash a game thus making intel attack much much better after reload.

Does the crashing matter or is this just an excuse to reload?

Is there evidence that important data such as intel is not saved in savegames?

[Spocks-cuddly-tribble]

Does the crashing matter or is this just an excuse to reload?

No, unless the game crashes during save progress, leading to a corrupted save game.

Is there evidence that important data such as intel is not saved in savegames?

No, but many other functions get reset when reloading save games (eg. random engine seeds, interval delay counter & monster bitmasks).
So results of many random features (like intel) can change, for the better or worse, vs the uninterrupted game turn.

[Mudpuppy630511]

If you are playing the Klingons: the best way to beat the Borg is a mixed fleet. 18 B'Rel II's, backed up by 9 K'tinga II's, 9 Ne'h'var's, and 18 K'Vort's. If you happen to be in a system with a SB, you will have the cloaked ships with the free move. On turn 1, The cloaked ships along with your TF and SB will strike first, the Borg will take damage down to 1/2. Borg Turn 1 will fire their beam which will knock out the SB and Negs. Your Turn 2 will be a piece of cake in taking down the weakened Cube with your remaining force. It is highly recommended to keep a Borg QRF in your systems - the more cloaked the better. 18 B'Rels with 9 Ktingas which can be replaced with 9 Kvorts. Always run mixed fleets. I always run 9 Scouts, 9 Destroyers, 9 Battlecruisers. When I'm invding: I have 9 Neg's tossed in. This will grow to include 9 Vorchas, and 9 Kvorts.

With the Rommies: You should be good using the same Kling strategy: 18 scouts, 18 cruisers, and 9 warbirds.

With the Feds, Cardies, and Ferengi: Your borg killing fleet before unlocking the Defiant will consist of twice as many ships than the Romies or Klings can bring due to their cloaking advantage.

[justanick]

The cube seems to always target escorts first. So spamming many cheap scouts as damage soaks and adding enough cruisers for the firepower works reasonably well against one cube.

What you describe seems to indicate that artillery is targeted before escorts and a starbase before artillery. Bringing artillery into the battle against a cube may not benefit you.