Post by Rasteroid on Mar 7, 2013 11:49:23 GMT -5
Before I start, here's an overview of what you're trying to do when you join the game:
- Pick up the rubble in your city, harvest mines
- Choose a government (Policy screen)
- Put outposts on your neighbors (Map screen)
- Post trades, trade to get what you need (Trade screen)
- Build more mines (City)
- Beat underlings (Politics)
- Buy tech levels (Tech)
- Chat with with your neighbors (News)
Now, for details on what might happen in your first play session, read on.
We all love to play a game optimally, save-scumming until their efficiency and score are perfect. Well, Battle Mines is definitely not that sort of game, so best to lose that mind set.
On the other hand, there are lots of buttons and levers to pull, so here are a few suggestions for your very first play session. If you are only finding this AFTER you did the exact opposite, don't worry. Battle Mines is very forgiving to the underdog, it only punishes those who have something to lose.
The first thing that happens when you log in after the tutorial, is the Master Bombardier pops up, beckoning you to the Policy Screen. You can go ahead and do that if you like, but first, consider picking up the rubble in your city. Rubble looks like a pile of junk, you can highlight it using the building manifest to the lower left of the city. The reason we want to pick up the rubble first is while our government is anarchy (the starting government), all rubble yields double the amount of scrap materials.
Once that is done, you can go ahead to the policy page, and pick a government like Master B suggests. Bureaucracy is quite strong in your first week, as your n00b shield protects against combat, and nullifies the 10% cannon accuracy hit bureaucrats take. The choice doesn't matter though, any government will work just fine. You may want to avoid fascism, or any hated governments, as they cost twice the food to select. Syndicalism may not be the right choice for you, as it will revert back to anarchy in 6 hours. But, especially if you plan to come back soon, it won't hurt at all in the long run.
Now, you may have glanced at it in the tutorial, but go to the tech screen (hotkey E) to see the two tech levels available for research. You should easily be able to pick up Advanced Cavernry in your first session. You will also want to pick up Border Patrol ASAP, as it will give you more room to grow your city.
With that in mind, move to the Map Screen (M). The one other thing it's important to do today is spend enough of our inventory that we aren't in danger of overflow. Check out the weather over the world, if it's sunny or rainy you will grow crops extra fast. Move the mouse over the weather to see the forecast, that's what the weather will be like next. If the next weather type is rainy or stormy, it's very important that you keep your space positive. Space is the amount of objects you can store, minus the number of objects you have. In wet weather, any extra objects (negative space) will be lost. Much better to spend them in advance.
Hold down the 'I' key, this will show you your inventory, on any screen. Notice that the game start you with lots of glass. That means it's time to start building outposts. You should have started with some lands on your map; if you added friends on the friends page, you may already know some of them.
Click the shadowy lands to build outposts on them. Avoid Sea of Rust tiles for now, building outposts there will actually produce a lighthouse which increases GM, nice but not as useful at the start. Instead, try to build outposts on lands that are a different colour to yours. This means they produce different resources to you, which is good for trade.
The order of resource importance for new players follows, most to least:
Coal (Black) - A little coal is needed to do almost anything
Sand (White) - So you can build more outposts
Bauxite (Light Gray) - To build more mines, and warehouses to increase space
Pig Iron (Dark Gray) - Can also build mines, and cannons
Uranium Ore (Orange) - Diverse applications, important in combat
You will already be mining one of the first four materials, which means it's not so important to build an outpost on a land of that type. All except uranium will be important at some point, as you comfortably complete the lower tech tree.
During your first week, you will notice you have a bubbly green n00b shield over your city. This will protect you against any attacks, so pig iron and uranium ore are lower priority, unless you want to come out fists swinging. (The first time you attack, your n00b shield is cancelled.)
Once you have some outposts down, click the scales to visit the Trade Screen (T). Hopefully you will see some trades down the right hand side of the screen, you can accept these to shift objects in and out of your inventory. See if you are able to get the 3 coal, 3 bauxite, and 3 pig iron for Advanced Cavernry; you should only be one bauxite short. If so, go back to the tech screen and grab it! If not, don't worry. You could go back to the City Screen, hit 'S' for scrap mode, click one of your warehouses, and scrap it for one bauxite. Advanced Cavernry should be yours.
On the City Screen (C), you should have some mines ready to harvest. Grab their contents if you haven't already. Consider what you'd like to build next, if you cleaned up the rubble there should be room for one more mine, that may be a good early goal. Visit the Politics Screen (O) and vote in the senate, don't worry if you don't know what all the issues are about, just cast votes for whatever you feel like. Once votes are cast, you can beat your underlings (bottom right) to gain a free object. Consider visiting the News page and saying hello to your neighbors, the default bullhorn is handy for this, but don't overuse it.
Your first play session will likely start wrapping up here. Before you quit, revisit the Trades page and post some trades for people to take. You can see the existing trades for an idea of what's worth what, this thread is a good guide:
rasteroid.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=newbmchitchat&action=display&thread=467
You may end up being slightly more greedy or generous, but don't give your stuff away, or ask for too much (nobody will take your trade). If an object seems to be in high local demand, or you have few neighbours that mine what you need, better to sweeten the deal.
If you can visit in another 6 hours to harvest your mines, so much the better. Otherwise take a break, come back tomorrow, and see how your little utopia is faring. If the weather is nice, you will probably grow some more food and be able to purchase Border Patrol technology. Read about what happened while you were away on the Events tab of the News Screen.
Continue building up, especially with mines. Ensure you have a cannon or two before the end of your first week, in case your neighbors are feeling rambunctious. If you really need something that just isn't available, check out the Black Market. Work your way up the tech tree, and start plowing through the manual to discover what else is going on.
There's always more to do (as soon as that next mine finishes!), and there's always something interesting going on, or I haven't done my job properly. I hope you enjoy the game!
- Pick up the rubble in your city, harvest mines
- Choose a government (Policy screen)
- Put outposts on your neighbors (Map screen)
- Post trades, trade to get what you need (Trade screen)
- Build more mines (City)
- Beat underlings (Politics)
- Buy tech levels (Tech)
- Chat with with your neighbors (News)
Now, for details on what might happen in your first play session, read on.
We all love to play a game optimally, save-scumming until their efficiency and score are perfect. Well, Battle Mines is definitely not that sort of game, so best to lose that mind set.
On the other hand, there are lots of buttons and levers to pull, so here are a few suggestions for your very first play session. If you are only finding this AFTER you did the exact opposite, don't worry. Battle Mines is very forgiving to the underdog, it only punishes those who have something to lose.
The first thing that happens when you log in after the tutorial, is the Master Bombardier pops up, beckoning you to the Policy Screen. You can go ahead and do that if you like, but first, consider picking up the rubble in your city. Rubble looks like a pile of junk, you can highlight it using the building manifest to the lower left of the city. The reason we want to pick up the rubble first is while our government is anarchy (the starting government), all rubble yields double the amount of scrap materials.
Once that is done, you can go ahead to the policy page, and pick a government like Master B suggests. Bureaucracy is quite strong in your first week, as your n00b shield protects against combat, and nullifies the 10% cannon accuracy hit bureaucrats take. The choice doesn't matter though, any government will work just fine. You may want to avoid fascism, or any hated governments, as they cost twice the food to select. Syndicalism may not be the right choice for you, as it will revert back to anarchy in 6 hours. But, especially if you plan to come back soon, it won't hurt at all in the long run.
Now, you may have glanced at it in the tutorial, but go to the tech screen (hotkey E) to see the two tech levels available for research. You should easily be able to pick up Advanced Cavernry in your first session. You will also want to pick up Border Patrol ASAP, as it will give you more room to grow your city.
With that in mind, move to the Map Screen (M). The one other thing it's important to do today is spend enough of our inventory that we aren't in danger of overflow. Check out the weather over the world, if it's sunny or rainy you will grow crops extra fast. Move the mouse over the weather to see the forecast, that's what the weather will be like next. If the next weather type is rainy or stormy, it's very important that you keep your space positive. Space is the amount of objects you can store, minus the number of objects you have. In wet weather, any extra objects (negative space) will be lost. Much better to spend them in advance.
Hold down the 'I' key, this will show you your inventory, on any screen. Notice that the game start you with lots of glass. That means it's time to start building outposts. You should have started with some lands on your map; if you added friends on the friends page, you may already know some of them.
Click the shadowy lands to build outposts on them. Avoid Sea of Rust tiles for now, building outposts there will actually produce a lighthouse which increases GM, nice but not as useful at the start. Instead, try to build outposts on lands that are a different colour to yours. This means they produce different resources to you, which is good for trade.
The order of resource importance for new players follows, most to least:
Coal (Black) - A little coal is needed to do almost anything
Sand (White) - So you can build more outposts
Bauxite (Light Gray) - To build more mines, and warehouses to increase space
Pig Iron (Dark Gray) - Can also build mines, and cannons
Uranium Ore (Orange) - Diverse applications, important in combat
You will already be mining one of the first four materials, which means it's not so important to build an outpost on a land of that type. All except uranium will be important at some point, as you comfortably complete the lower tech tree.
During your first week, you will notice you have a bubbly green n00b shield over your city. This will protect you against any attacks, so pig iron and uranium ore are lower priority, unless you want to come out fists swinging. (The first time you attack, your n00b shield is cancelled.)
Once you have some outposts down, click the scales to visit the Trade Screen (T). Hopefully you will see some trades down the right hand side of the screen, you can accept these to shift objects in and out of your inventory. See if you are able to get the 3 coal, 3 bauxite, and 3 pig iron for Advanced Cavernry; you should only be one bauxite short. If so, go back to the tech screen and grab it! If not, don't worry. You could go back to the City Screen, hit 'S' for scrap mode, click one of your warehouses, and scrap it for one bauxite. Advanced Cavernry should be yours.
On the City Screen (C), you should have some mines ready to harvest. Grab their contents if you haven't already. Consider what you'd like to build next, if you cleaned up the rubble there should be room for one more mine, that may be a good early goal. Visit the Politics Screen (O) and vote in the senate, don't worry if you don't know what all the issues are about, just cast votes for whatever you feel like. Once votes are cast, you can beat your underlings (bottom right) to gain a free object. Consider visiting the News page and saying hello to your neighbors, the default bullhorn is handy for this, but don't overuse it.
Your first play session will likely start wrapping up here. Before you quit, revisit the Trades page and post some trades for people to take. You can see the existing trades for an idea of what's worth what, this thread is a good guide:
rasteroid.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=newbmchitchat&action=display&thread=467
You may end up being slightly more greedy or generous, but don't give your stuff away, or ask for too much (nobody will take your trade). If an object seems to be in high local demand, or you have few neighbours that mine what you need, better to sweeten the deal.
If you can visit in another 6 hours to harvest your mines, so much the better. Otherwise take a break, come back tomorrow, and see how your little utopia is faring. If the weather is nice, you will probably grow some more food and be able to purchase Border Patrol technology. Read about what happened while you were away on the Events tab of the News Screen.
Continue building up, especially with mines. Ensure you have a cannon or two before the end of your first week, in case your neighbors are feeling rambunctious. If you really need something that just isn't available, check out the Black Market. Work your way up the tech tree, and start plowing through the manual to discover what else is going on.
There's always more to do (as soon as that next mine finishes!), and there's always something interesting going on, or I haven't done my job properly. I hope you enjoy the game!