Debate: Most profitable playthrough galaxy setup

[grapedog]

Across multiple games, I've chosen the various different story lines to finish in different ways. If shipbuilding and station building are the engine that drives the economy, war creates the best opportunity to fill those constant demands. But not wars of extinction... those are only beneficial short term... we want wars of attrition. The more players in the game, and the more equal they are to one another, they provide the best opportunities for business to flourish. So, with that said...

(This premise is based on the belief that the Xenon won't remain a terminal kicking boy)I think the most beneficial arrangement of factions would be to side with the Curbs, side with the Paranid Duke, side with the Yaki, and align ANT/ARG into a war with the Terrans. Lastly, you join a cold war with the ANT/ARG against Terrans.

The reasoning behind these choices.

1. Siding with the Yaki... they become your friends, and bother everyone else but you. They buy tons of ships, and if they have a shipyard, tons of parts. Do this early.

2. Uniting the Paranid is the easiest one to avoid. If you unite the Paranid the HoP stop attacking ARG/ANT and PAR. TRI is at war with no one. Now, you can set TRI to war against all their neighbors, but no faction aside from distant Terrans would stand a chance. We want long term war, not short term conquest. Setting them to war against the Terrans is possible, but ive done this, and not much happens. The TRI might kick the TER out of atiyas and frontier edge if the TER own it... but it is pretty lackluster, and doesn't go much further. Introducing the Duke, keeps HoP and PAR active in all their own wars, and creates an additional antagonist along with new stations and a new shipyard to sell to... while also keeping the balance of power relatively even.

3. Siding with the Curbs. The FRF are in a pretty weak state, and FRF and ZYA don't fight much at all. ZYA is pretty strong, and if not for a ridiculous amount of Xenon to deal with, would probably crush ARG over time. This breaks ZYA down, creates the RHA and CUB factions. Those factions fight all the time. It also allows FRF some breathing room, and put more FAF on the map, which creates more business. It also reduces the fight against ARG/ANT property. While RHA is still at war with ARG, they are much too busy usually dealing with CUB... to the point ARG doesn't even off war missions against SPL anymore. This allows ANT/ARG to focus on Terrans. Build a bunker in fires of defeat to make sure Xenon have some room to play, but not escaping all over the map. Bunker built in Family Zhinn.

4. TEL space... you could put a bunker at Company Regard gate in HT 2, or you could back up to HT 1. If you want xenon bottled up completely at that end of the map, company regard. If you want Xenon to cause some chaos in HT, then bunker at HT 1. I like HT 1 since it gives TEL more to fight for.

5a. ANT/ARG united against Terrans. Terrans start off less than neutral with everyone, but not at war, and don't require anything from anyone. You could leave them alone totally and pursue other avenues... but they have a big military, might as well put it to use. ANT/ARG together should give them some pause, especially with the player helping. In this scenario you abandon Getsu Fune, and bunker up in the Void. You also bunker up at Hatikvahs Choice I, gate to Tharkas, and a bunker in Antigone Memorial. You could also let Antigone Memorial fall, and bunker both ends of the Void, where ANT will rebuild. I feel like giving up Ant Mem leads to more push from ANT trying to reclaim territory... they wont push into Segaris otherwise, but TER will push out from there. We give up Getsu Fune so the Xenon from savage spur have a pipeline into Ter space and mostly war with them. Bunker-ed in the Void and Antigone, TER can't get to the further Savage Spur sector. A weakened RHA will take much much longer to try and break down tharkas cascade to get into savage spur allowing Xenon forces to create sales opportunities. Aside from being at war with the Terrans, you're not doing much except halting their ridiculously sized military from sweeping over ARG/ANT. You are also not much missing out on credits... the more varied economy of the commonwealth, plus the much greater amount of end point sales locations means the TER/PIO economy can be completely ignored.

5b. If you get lucky with station requests locations, you could avoid war with TER and just build some super bunkers for ANT/ARG. This would overall be preferable, to trade raw resources if nothing else, with TER/PIO factions. Just need to get lucky with station requests... and id rather not wait around for a lucky request. Then set ANT/ARG to war, and reap the profits.

With this setup, everyone is at war, with factional enemies and/or xenon. More overall shipyards, more sales, more credits, more fighting. Only one massive OP faction, the terrans, which you are essentially eating a chunk of their ships to boost your own sales from ANT/ARG. And war and trade missions are still available from everyone except ARG V ZYA.

I think this setup, or very similar, would provide for the most profits over the long term. But i am open to debate!! Change my mind!!

[KextV8]

Just make tons of ships with Meson Beams on them and sell them at NPC station. Money printer.

[grapedog]

Just make tons of ships with Meson Beams on them and sell them at NPC station. Money printer.

There are plenty of ways to abuse/exploit loopholes in the game. Those are for another thread.

This is for creating the most profitable and long term business environment.

[Raptor34]

Could always invest in startups planetside.

[EGO_Aut]

Money for nothing- it does not matter, its your choice.

Last time, i did not do any quests or stations. Only capturing pirates until i had enough to buy a Raptor with 40x Ares and had 10 phoenix. With the fleet i ruled the universe, it starts to get boring.......but it was a nice experience.

But to influence factions, just limit ship sells of yoour wharfs/shipyards.

[GCU Grey Area]

In one of my previous games found it quite profitable to build fleet killer defence stations for both Paranid factions. This design worked quite well: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fgqhdg7ggjavn ... 1.jpg?dl=0. A few of those in the Pious Mists region kept the civil war stalemated, resulting in an almost endless demand for ship-building components. Good source of High Energy Catalyst & other inventory items too. Just wish we had Repeat Collect Loot orders back then, so I could have automated battlefield cleanup around each station.