Beginner's Lesson: Building Suggestions

[SirKai]

From one beginner to another, here are tips I've discovered concerning the placement of buildings.

 

Power Core: (Note, this suggestion is based on many, but not all, strategies) Your first power core should be built in Tech Lvl 1 (recommended) or the beginning of Tech Lvl 2. It's first task will be to power the animal pen and/or troop center, which both require the power core to operate efficiently. The power core costs 200 carbon, is more expensive than most other Tech Lvl 1 buildings, and carbon is not yet being collected rapidly; bear that in mind when planning your building construction. Make sure your power core circle doesn't include buildings (i.e. shelters) which don't need power or landscape (i.e. forests you aren't currently clearing or large bodies of water) where buildings can't immediately be built.

 

Building Space: You don't want buildings spread all over creation. It's hard to defend them that way and it may take more walls/towers (e.g. more resources) to encircle your camp, should you wish to do that. Spreading buildings out also requires you to build more power cores which, at the beginning of the game, can be expensive. On the other hand, buildings spaced too closely to each other make it difficult to move units quickly and efficiently between the buildings. I recommend building shelters in one or more mass groups, out of the way, with no space between them (some people use shelters as a wall on one side of their camp). Shelters don't require a power core and don't actively do anything after they are built. All other buildings should be built at least one shelter's width apart for easy troop movement.

 

Building Placement: When units are created, they usually appear at the bottom corner/edge of buildings. Tall buildings, like power cores and Jedi/Sith temples, will block the view of units created by buildings placed directly above the tall building on the computer screen. Usually the computer will show you a dim outline of where the units are behind the tall building but that's not easy to see when you are wizzing around the screen trying to do 3 things at once. The solution is to stagger your buildings so that you can easily see units when they are created. What can you place above all the power cores that you create, then? Reserve that space for buildings that don't produce units but need power, such as the animal pen or research center.

 

Utility Buildings: Unit's don't come out of buildings such as the war center, research center, and space port, so why not group them together without space between them? Doesn't that conserve space? Yes, but 1) building clusters are easier for the enemy to destroy, 2) it becomes hard to distinquish between each building (the colors and shapes blend together), and 3) your units won't be able to fire between the buildings to protect them from attacks on the other side. Put at least enough space between the buildings to allow troops movement and make them quickly recognizable by you. See suggestion above for best place to put utility buildings.

 

Hope this has been helpful,

SirKai

[Chessack]

Good advice.

 

On power cores, I will add: all buildings that require power should be powered at the time they are built, or as soon after as possible. You will find yourself severely hampered if you don't power your buildings.

 

Normally, my first 2 buildings are the animal pen and the food processing plant. I try to place the food plant near food, if there is any, and the animal pen relatively close to that. Hopefully those will not be too far from the nearest carbon source, and you can place a carbon plant near them as well. Then if you put a power plant amongst those 3, it can power all 3 of them. There should still be space around them, which you can use to add a troop center, and then later on, the war college and/or spaceport, or something else.

 

Also, try to build your shelters outside the area of the power core's power radius. Shelters don't need power, and you'll be wasting the space that could otherwise be used, forcing yourself to make more power cores. A civilization should be able, if the cores are placed correctly, to power its entire base, all buildings, with no more than 3 power cores, assuming you only have one copy of each building except prefab shelters. If you build more, or if you make forward bases and stuff, of course you will need more.

 

Also, remember to leave some space (about the area of the war college, or slightly more) within the radius of each power core, hopefully near the center (adjacent to the core itself). You can place your shield generator here, and since you have clustered all your important buildings around the power core, you will then be able to shield them with a powered generator in one fell swoop... and if you have used 3 cores and clumped your buidings within those areas (of course allowing space for unit movement as SirKai has already said), you only need 3 shield generators to protect your most valuable investments.

 

At any rate, that's how I do it. Your milage may vary.

[captain_drake]

WOW i'm impressed

 

To any and all rokkies out there heed this advicce and you will go far

[Surfnshannon]

"Tall buildings, like power cores and Jedi/Sith temples, will block the view of units created by buildings placed directly above the tall building on the computer screen. Usually the computer will show you a dim outline of where the units are behind the tall building but that's not easy to see when you are wizzing around the screen trying to do 3 things at once. The solution is to stagger your buildings so that you can easily see units when they are created"

 

 

- another solution that I use for this is to change the rally point by first clicking on a building (troop center, command center etc) and then right clicking on the area that I want my people to be sent to. This works really well if you are in a tight situation and getting annoyed because you can't see them.

 

Also - it like they were saying stagger your buildings kinda far, but not to far so that your units don't all get crammed up and try and go through all at the same time, they get stuck and it causes major problems.

[SharaFett]

wait do powercores do other things besides build units quicker, and cause researches such as war center researches to complete quicker?

 

do power cores help create villagers quicker?

 

also, do the experts here prefer building 30+ sentry posts instead of bothan spy net?

[captain_drake]

ummm the command center has a power genertor so no the power core does no affect speed

 

and i prefer bothen spynet but on the other hand it is very expansive so the choice is up to you

[Guest Kudar]

Sentry posts - useful, especially depending on what your colour is in the game - it's possible to go right into someones base with a worker and build a sentry post in the trees which can let you see a good deal of what's happening in their base.

 

I rarely build sentry posts, if I do it's usually 2-3 around my base so I can see people coming.

 

The Bothan SpyNet - I have to say I really hate it - the cost differs depending on the amount of workers your enemies have, but generally when your opponent has the SpyNet you are going to have a hard job winning, it should only be used to help clean up, when you are looking for the last few troops and workers that are hiding in the corners.

 

 

 

 

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[captain_drake]

yeah but those senetary posts can be destoryed

but the bothen spynet is permant

[Guest Kudar]

Sentry posts don't cost 20000 Nova in a 3 player game

[falconeer999]

"and your command center DOES need a powercore to produce villager quicker, drake do you own the game? ?" -- Kudar

 

I'm at work so don't have the manual with me, but I'm 99.9% sure that Drake is right. I seem to specifically remember reading that the command center doesn't need a powercore. I remember that because I also remember thinking that it did. You'll notice that when a game first starts with your CC and workers that the "power" lights for the CC are green, not flashing red, indicating that it already has power.

 

I don't remember ever seeing any difference in the speed you create villagers with or without a powercore.

[Chessack]

Drake is right... you do not need to power the Command Center (nor, if I recall properly, the Fortress).

 

 

 

You can tell if something needs power by clicking on the building and looking for that little green circle thingy right above the middle window along the bottom "information" area of the screen. If the cricle is there, it's power. The CC always has a green circle... it's always automatically powered.

 

PS: Woohoo! 150th post!

[Guest Kudar]

note to self - stop making assumptions

 

I can't believe I just assumed it did that means I can now rethink the positioning of my first powercore from now on

 

whoops

 

hides in corner

[Chessack]

Originally posted by Kudar

note to self - stop making assumptions

 

 

 

I can't believe I just assumed it did that means I can now rethink the positioning of my first powercore from now on

 

 

 

whoops

 

 

 

hides in corner

 

Indeed... you can put your power core a bit away from your town. You need it to power your food plant, but that means that if you put farms around your food plant, you are "obstructing" good powered area, wasting power core space. Instead, if you move the food plant and power core just far enough from the CC, you will have a little space around the CC that is "unpowered." That's where I place all my farms. The workers can deposit food in the CC instead of the food plant, and the space occupied by the farms won't be "wasted" on power core space.

 

Of course, the random arrangement of map space does not always make this 100% possible, but I do it as often as I can.

 

May the Force be with you.

[duder]

Originally posted by Kudar

note to self - stop making assumptions

 

I can't believe I just assumed it did that means I can now rethink the positioning of my first powercore from now on

 

whoops

 

hides in corner

 

Phew, you got me in a panic when I read that!

[nightcrawlerx13]

I have a question about this- Do towers need to be in the radius of power to work to their maximum ability? I am sure I could read the manual and find out, but I am at work and I also want to feel included in the conversation. I always read these things, but never post.

[Chessack]

Nope. Towers (AA or regular) do not need to be powered. Neither do Fortresses nor command centers. All other buildings do.

[Surfnshannon]

here's another helpful hint about towers that I love doing

 

if you put a trooper inside your turrets you they will fire two lasers instead of just one. kinda kewl. i can't remember if they say that in the manual.

[Surfnshannon]

i think that's when they reach there maximum ability after all the upgrades ( no power cores just a trooper stuck inside and if you put workers in there to protect)

[duder]

Originally posted by Chessack

Nope. Towers (AA or regular) do not need to be powered. Neither do Fortresses nor command centers. All other buildings do.

 

I'm sure fortresses need power. Dont they?

[Guest Kudar]

nope which means you can put them where ya like

 

Originally posted by duder

 

I'm sure fortresses need power. Dont they?

[Surfnshannon]

shield walls??

[duder]

I generally have little time for walls, and the upgrades are a waste of resources IMO.

[SirKai]

I play 1 vs X RM games against the computer. I have found that walls only take time and cost money. A healthy collection of 3 Laser Turrests, 3 AA Turrets, and a few units (to kill the long-distance shooters pinking at the towers) is enough to provide adequate defense for any particular route the computer wishes to take. Since the computer only has 1 - 2 attack routes per civ, I usually don't have to set up more than 3 of these defense nets to adaquately protect my base, even against 2 or 3 civs. To beef up defense, you can always place a trooper into each tower, a sheild generator behind each defense net, and (of course) use all of the research center upgrades to improve the turrets.

 

SirKai

[Chessack]

I like walls as well as towers. I like feeling like my civilization is "enclosed" and protected, at least from ground-based assaults. Perhaps they are not necessary, but I still like 'em.

[Surfnshannon]

I like walls too...they are not a total waste of resources - if u are attacked it buys you time. I feel more secure and generally enclose my entire base with walls and turrets. I save money on walls by using forests, rocks as parts of my wall. You just have to watch that your workers don't mine there way through it