Strategy tips?

[jc]

I'm not sure what kind of strategies are good...

I just defeated a neighboring idle player and land exchanged with them, because I'm near the edge where there are a number of "Nobody" spots, and I want to be surrounded by other players for trading opportunities.

Sadly, however, this used up quite a bit of my resources, and furthermore I was left with the other player's buildings, and he mine.

So now I'm without a church or even an Academy, and my number of mines is rather lacking...

Can you terraform to produce the same kind of commodity, in hopes of getting a better Production Modifier?

I'm not sure if this move was a good one on my part Oh well. It's a little bit of a nicer location, but it's too bad the PM is only 0.

[Rasteroid]

You can terraform to the same resource to re-roll your land bonus. I should mention that in the docs.

You'll have to rebuild your Academy first though.

[jc]

Of course. It'll be a rough "restart", but that's okay.
Which resource do you think is best to mine, assuming everyone around you is a good general mix of everything?
Obviously if one resource is terribly lacking, it might be a good idea to pick that one, so you don't have to lose an arm and a leg for it trading or using the Black Market, but what do you do if you could go with anything?
I'd say it's probably either Coal or Uranium. With Coal, you can get coveted Diamonds, and Uranium doesn't bother with losing out due to Pollution... Sand is kind of a bad idea, as you lose stuff when it's windy
Hmm...

[Rasteroid]

Bauxite and Pig Iron are easiest to work with I find, since they're needed for most buildings. The other resources are more specialized.

Coal's a good second choice since you don't need to worry about the Power requirements of buildings so much, or running out of Coal for warfare. Trading can be difficult though because Diamonds have specific uses and aren't always in demand, and Coal is the least valued substance in the game.

Sand is tricky because it has no major military benefits until you start manufacturing Palantirs. You need to play the opportunist.

Uranium's hard because you mine so little which makes trading awkward, and Food doesn't grow well, especially if you let your pollution get out of hand. Your growth will probably be slow. Then again, people will be reluctant to attack you.

[Lynx Shaman]

Going for the center's a good idea. Rasteroid likes it when everyone fights for those center spots (increases warfare and all), so the edge and island strategies are likely to become far less appealing. I imagine it's easier to program for us if we're all headed in the same direction instead of heading off in our direction to figure out our own strategies.

[vilhazarog]

Hey JC,
You're on a URO tile so my first suggestion would be to flip your industry over to LF. You get to ignore pollution and that +5 PM will help offset the slow production somewhat. You should be able to get BXT from Rast and soon Smashed Up Droid by trading them URO and EUR... they're building ICBMs. That'll get you some mines and warehouses... try and get a lot of PIRN for cannons as well. Then build the otherstuff. As far as your PM bonus... zero is ok, I wouldn't mess with it. Chances are 50/50 you could make it worse if re-terraform... you could go all the way to -2, which sucks. If you want to get out of your URO tile, consider looking for a land exchange now, before you rebuild... see if you can find someone without a bunker. Otherwise, you can terraform, in which case don't bother building up your mines too much because you'll lose them. I would terraform to BXT, its easy to trade and useful for building up.

[Rycchus]

I'd say go back to PIRN. Sand isn't as bad as you think, as there is always unlimited spying, etc., you can do with glass if you have some spare.
BXT isn't bad either, although I think on the whole ALU isn't as useful as Steel.

If you decide not to terraform, vilhazarog's strategy suggestion is a very good one.

[jc]

I think I'm going to try for getting at least 1 on my land production value, and then build up mines and switch to Laissez-Faire. Then I'll have +6 to PM to begin with, and as a Monarchy right now I'll get +3 more, so that's +9, which is quite, quite nice. If I manage to get +2 to PM then I'll have +10 except when stormy, which is totally hot.
I am going to have to do a bit of trading for Diamonds next Cycle, though. I hope to accumulate enough resources to terraform twice, just in case I drop down to -2 or something (ick!), and then start from there.
I think I like EUR trading, since then I can help fund other people's wars without them feeling too inclined to attacking me (since I'd have lots of it available to blow stuff up ).

[xade]

It is a risk though, you might wind up with a - PM...

Coal is awesome, provided you are the only game in town. everyone needs a little coal, but if the market gets clogged, you ain't gunna move anything.

Sand is *super* cool when you're looking to defend your spot. I remember having a palantir and spy in ever square on my map once, ah, the feeling of complete and absolute invincibility!

Bauxite is great for rebuilding. easy mine and warehouse creation.

Uranium, great for defence. I tend to make it a rule *not* to attack a uranium producer, it always ends in pain...

And pig-iron... well, I don't see myself ever selling pigiron...

[jc]

Having lots of glass would be nice. Spies are very helpful, especially since you can tell when it's "safe" to fire ICBMs at enemies, and smuggling in Palantirs prevents enemies from attacking you and such.
I really need more Aluminum at the moment, so I can start building up Warehouses and other non-warfare buildings...
There doesn't seem to be much steel nearby, though, sadly. D: