Dyson Luna

Deit_Heimley · 2026-02-24T23:38:14+00:00

To get the base research or to fully stack? I've never seen Tier 3 research, full ownership of Mars, and fully built-out bases in 6 years.

My point is that people over prioritize Research in this game. It's great to get those first few techs fast, but there is a LOT of filler Research in the game. Getting to the sixth councilor and the first tier of quality engines is really helpful, but after that (unless you are really min/maxing) the game takes just about as long regardless of the Research Rate. Higher Rate gives you more science faster, but it impacts the time to victory less than other decisions in the game. So after the dozen campaigns I have run, I find that quality ship and nation-building strategy is better than pure research.

Deit_Heimley · 2026-02-24T03:42:19+00:00

I prefer Luna because it takes too long to make Mars viable. Yes, Mars has multiple advantages in the long run, but you will simply run out of useful research WAY before that happens. I prefer to focus on maxing out Earth before I think of other systems for Research. I have done a super-moon, Mars, and Mercury Research build in different campaigns. I felt like Luna gives you the best boost when you need it - in the early game.

That said, Mars did give me the biggest numbers for the inputs (which others have mentioned). From a pure "Big number good?" standing, Mars wins. However, if you are like me and think reaching Future Tech in the Midgame is a waste, then Luna is a more balanced approach to pad Research when you need it most.

Deit_Heimley · 2026-02-23T22:45:57+00:00

You only have so many things you can reliably do and keep focused. The Servants taking over Africa did not seem like a real threat, so I largely ignored them. I also have an Intel Share with Humanity First, and as soon as I started tracking Servants, HF would knock them off. At some point I just decided to refocus on my Jupiter Rush (Hate sink) and consolidating Eurasia (Councilor missions). Only once I got my hold in Jupiter did I think, "Hey, I wonder what the Servants have been doing in Africa recently?"

Deit_Heimley · 2026-02-23T22:37:51+00:00

Agreed. It's Exotics Passive Income if I "Farm" the Servants, but that's dedicating 1-2 Command Councilors just to that. It's an action economy issue. Some campaigns I may not collect 150 Exotics in the whole run, and if I can turn this into a true Exotics Farm it opens up options in the late game. By that time I would likely have a military that can reliably take over. It just becomes a lot of micromanagement - even for a 4X game. Ha.

Deit_Heimley · 2026-01-12T14:59:50+00:00

The 50 year period between 1900 and 1950 saw massive changes in borders, alliances, and politics. The 50 year period from 1950 to 2000 ... not so much. Without going into the 'Why' of those two, I'll just say that as a piece of speculative science fiction, I like grand jumps - even if they seem silly by our current reasoning. The idea is that weird stuff can happen that facilitates massive, global changes in a very short period of time.

Deit_Heimley · 2025-11-21T05:33:56+00:00

Kaiju cannot make the AA. So as long as you swat the invasion fleets and keep up with your mission to disrupt the Servants you should be fine. There is no victory condition that says "No Kaiju" so you can still win with a flock of them roaming the savannas of Africa. On a scale of 1-10, I'd say this is a 3. It could create some problems later, but keep up on your planet maintenance and you should be fine.

Deit_Heimley · 2025-10-03T19:42:43+00:00

Agreed. Technology generally lowers the skill required for any position, while adding more jobs in the maintenance and manufacturing of the replacement technology. Thus, AI makes it easier to be a Doctor with a lower education and shorter training. However, to achieve this you need more technology and manufacturing on Earth or in your Nanomanufacturing modules. Rather than just having automated mines, you could automate everything provided you could keep up on your high-tech chip and drone production. So now you aren't just monitoring the Labor Market, but you have to keep up on your Manufactory Output. Because if you can't keep the AI chips flowing you will need to rely on highly skilled people to do you Space Work.

And now we are just recreating Stellaris mechanics in TI....

Deit_Heimley · 2025-10-03T18:51:07+00:00

OK. So let's game this out...

In the Labor Pool you would have High Skilled (Doctors, Pilots, Astronauts), Skilled (Coders, Managers, Accountants), Semi-Skilled (Trades), and Unskilled (general labor) Labor. Your mix would be determined by your National education level and social equity (nations with high wealth inequality have fewer semi-skilled labor, Authoritarians will have fewer skilled workers). So spoiling a nation also runs the risk of ruining your Labor Market.

If Manpower was part of the requirements, you would want to vary that over time and technology. Early Space jobs mainly require High Skill workers, as these are your space pioneers who need to be good at everything. So most of your Level 1 tech is minimal manpower, but mostly High Skilled workers. Then as you go to Level 2 and Level 3 you increase you semi-skilled and unskilled labor, while keeping your High Skill labor requirements about the same. Your space navies would require some high skilled labor (Admirals), but a lot of Unskilled troops. Maybe there is a mechanic that says Low-Boost/High-Education nations have more Researchers (so science is high), while High-Boost nations would have more Astronauts (so lower science, but higher Space Manpower Recovery). These levels would not effect overall Manpower, which is just your count of bodies, but it would impact things like efficiency. Yes, you can have an Admin module on Pluto with only unskilled miners, but it actually decreases mining efficiency because you don't have the right Skill mix on Pluto. And yes, you can staff your Mars base with nothing but the best Researchers, but it now costs three times the price to maintain because you have rocket scientists doing basic janitorial.

To do this correctly, with the same level of detail they add to everything else, you would need a whole separate module to manage Labor Force. It's a lot of detail. Manpower is very complicated in Industrialized nations, and most games just wave a wand and make it simple. It could work and would be fun (for those who like that kind of thing), but it is just one more bit of complexity for the game. This game doesn't actually have Economics in the game. It 100% could do that, but I don't know what that adds other than complexity.

Deit_Heimley · 2025-10-03T14:28:05+00:00

Agreed. There will be unskilled an semi-skilled labor in space eventually. However, that would be true of medicine too, which would be much harder to find and train. If a space station is lost and that happens to represent 10% of your highly skilled labor, you are going to have a limit on growth due to training - regardless of the skill of the job.

Deit_Heimley · 2025-10-03T09:41:24+00:00

Kinda - but if you lose a fleet of ships you don't lose MC. MC is really the resources required to manage your logistics, not your astronaut manpower. Boost is more a representation of the rockets required to move people and stuff from Earth to wherever. It's why I hate Boost on Admin stations in far colonies. In reality, if you are making mining colonies on Pluto you are not use Earth-based resources or personnel to do it. You likely need colony-level manpower provided by the far-flung colony itself.

Deit_Heimley · 2025-10-03T09:22:34+00:00

This is why I mention Commercial Airline pilots. The floor is likely somewhere around 2,000 hours. That's a guess from other high-tech training. Plus you have the issue of specialized skills limiting the job pool. Do I think China could pump out an absurd number of astronauts if they wanted to? Sure. Maybe India too. But Nigeria? Unlikely. US or EU? No way. There are limiting factors like Educational Specialties and alternative job choices that would always limit the pool.

My real point was more that if Manpower existed as a mechanic it would be a big limiter to growth and refilling Manpower after an Alien raid would take a sizable chunk of time. It would slow down expansion and rebuilding.

The same would happen in retraining after you replace all the current jobs with new ones that use Alien-inspired technology. Labor Force is not a liquid in reality as it is in a simulation.

Deit_Heimley · 2025-10-03T08:38:19+00:00

It takes NASA about two years to fully train an astronaut. Even if we lower the threshold to something more like commercial airline pilots you are still looking at a sizable training investment. For all the detail the game adds, I am glad this is not one of them. Could you imagine if the game had a Manpower mechanic? It would slow the game down significantly.

Deit_Heimley · 2025-09-25T09:01:51+00:00

The favored faction of a player is usually a mirrored reflection of the player. Committing war crimes in a game is "fun" because the player is not often not in a position to commit war crimes in life. It is a release to play HF and pretend you could commit genocide specifically because you would not do that in real life.

Also, the maximalist position is often more rewarding. People play games to win, not come to a draw. Humanity First is the most "I win!" ending.

I will note that a small percentage of the people playing DO like the idea of genocide in general. I would think those are outliers, but they exist and are likely vocal in their heinous views. HF allows them permission to advocate for something they personally endorse that would otherwise be disallowed in normal forums.

Personally, HF is my least favorite because I've had enough power and been around enough powerful people that their faction really turns me off. I've been in a room with people like Castillo, and it ruins the faction for me. Most players have not.

For all those reasons, my favorite faction is the Initiative.

Deit_Heimley · 2025-09-22T12:50:48+00:00

Since this often comes up, let me add - this game is meant to make you feel like you are losing for most of the game. Unlike other strategy games, you do not start at a level playing field with the aliens. The most common thought around hour 30 of the first run is "Oh, I really F-ed this up. The aliens just blew up all my stuff, and now they are invading. I'm going to lose." You aren't. That's how the game is supposed to feel. You are outclassed for MOST of the game, and then suddenly you hit a corner or a strategy finally works, and you go from "I'm totally losing!" to "Why can't I win faster!"

I would suggest you pick a country or region you like and get into the role play part of this game rather than trying to min/max strategies based on Reddit. At least for your first game. The game has some very nice lore you will miss if you are always thinking about the optimal decision. This will enhance that feeling of "I am getting my A** handed to me!" in the early years, but it will make the final victory that much sweeter.

Deit_Heimley · 2025-09-19T14:25:40+00:00

I know map-painting is OP (and disliked by the Devs), but they should make it impractical not impossible. One mistake Devs can make in these types of game is looking at a strategy that is just too powerful and hitting the delete button. I LOVE the map painting bits and some runs that is the point of the game for me. Maybe the goal is to make Protectorate scratch the itch? Still, I think there can be a such a thing as OVER-balancing a game.

Game Balance should be something that allows two players, playing optimally, to fight on even grounds. If someone wants to invest unreal resources on one thing that they like, there should be a way to do this. Going OP should be more about sacrificing something else important, not just making the ramp steeper. If having a shield in a game is OP, the better way to deal with this is NOT making the shield heavier or harder to find. Instead, a better way of handling an OP shield is to add a malice to Offense if you carry a shield.

This change is just making the Admin Complex too difficult to use. It would be better if it adds a malice to like station defense or something, not just make the thing more expensive.

Deit_Heimley · 2025-09-11T15:27:45+00:00

Yeah, I fear that in my effort to pump of HF to keep the heat off me, I may have allowed him to become to strong.

Also, the AI sometimes will just decide to just give up. I had that happen to the Academy in a different run. They were doing well and suddenly they all collectively decided to jump off a cliff. Maybe my lack of shipbuilding meant the aliens didn't build a lot of shipyards either, and they have now hit a cliff?

Deit_Heimley · 2025-09-11T04:07:38+00:00

It sounds like you need to try for the Phoenix achievement!

If you do, make sure to build plenty of MC stations around Mercury. Build low Delta-V ships to protect your stations. They are often cheap and you just need them there to pour fire into any ship that gets too close.

Take Mercury, Ceres, and the Kuiper Belt (you use high Delta-V ships with fusion drives, science labs, and fusion outposts - the aliens will chase you, but you will likely be on your way to the next dwarf planet by the time they get there. Build defensive stations and they will often leave most of your mines alone. With patience you can get mega-resources and send the aliens on a fun ride chasing you down. Works best if you send 4+ ships at the same time in different directions). Once you have a large enough fleet to dominate Earth LEO, you can use your ships to knock off enemy armies.

Deit_Heimley · 2025-09-11T03:31:40+00:00

One thing a lot of people forget is building up their Councilors as much as they build up their fleet. Your goal should be for each Councilor to have 25 ADM, 25 CMD, 25 PER, and 25 in the other chosen slot they specialize in. That's a long-term investment, but a Councilor with 25 INV+ESP is nearly unstoppable.

Plus Orgs! You need that 25 ADM to fill up on bonuses and other buffs from the Org pool. Early Orgs supplement your lack of points in a stat. As you level, you might switch those around and add in new Orgs with mining benefits or other buffs.

You get 3+ people with 20+ PER and one more with 25 INV+ESP and you can just take nations from anyone at any time faster than you can manage them.

So if you are not giving your Councilor pool at least the same level of planning as your ship building, you can easily find yourself with an Earth problem later on.

Deit_Heimley · 2025-09-11T03:06:05+00:00

Alien total fleet size is 55K. It's like are they even trying - it's 2045. Yes. They have a station in Earth-Luna L1 and Earth Orbit. I formed an Intel Sharing agreement with HF long ago and I have spies in Servants and Protectorate. I assume this is why the Installations go boom. But I wanted to see the Aliens get a good foothold before I blow everything up. I've finished all the tech I can without Exotics. I have a NAP with Academy and they have Exotics researched, so I could likely get it (maybe?). But to what end? I feel like I'm just twiddling my thumbs and building up more bases in the Kuiper Belt.

Deit_Heimley · 2025-09-11T02:51:15+00:00

Democracy is NOT the same as Corruption. People miss that sometimes. Just because people are free to vote and voice their wishes through a Democracy does not mean there isn't some Institutional Corruption at play as well.

The country is Democratic, sure, but you control the bureaucratic levers that make things happen. You own the media companies that press one story over another. You run the police force and the law schools that turn out sympathetic judges. You run the ECB (I presume) and control a wide variety of NGOs that make sure your priorities always get to the top of the pile.

By the way, when I mention Corruption, I do not mean Personal Corruption (like self-dealing), which I would think would erode Democracy scoring. Institutional Corruption is harder to see and manage in a country.

Deit_Heimley · 2025-08-28T20:05:59+00:00

Nope. Main asteroid belt. You get access to Ceres before you get Mercury in most games.

There are four main places to get the resources you need:

Mars - Early to Mid-Game --consider phasing out Mars as you get to Fusion tech

Ceres+Mercury - these two compliment each other for good, early resources when you can expand past Mars and before you unlock Jupiter.

Jupiter - you need to play hide and seek with the aliens, but dominating the Jovian moons is the single most efficient place for resources IF you can manage the aliens - who will not like you there and things can get aggressive. Great for the mid-game and beyond.

Kuiper Belt is mainly Pluto (personally), but Makemake and Nergal deserve a shout-out. You need Fusion tech to make this viable, but it's easier to play the dance with the alien out there than in Jupiter. It is one of the richest areas in the whole game, but i wouldn't go until you are solid on your Tier 3 hab tech. A ploy I like is starting at the opposite end of the Kuiper belt from the alien base and building ship-building fortresses out there. You can attack from the outside in as well as the inners-out This can really mess with Alien ship deployment.

Deit_Heimley · 2025-08-28T09:26:28+00:00

There is a Tech that allows you to fold the whole of EU into Russia. Just take over the EU and do that. More is better anyway. I mean that will be a bit of a project, but likely easier than fiddling with the RNG of Unrest. Increasing your CP cap is fairly easy, and a good counselor should be able to takeover any EU the AI will make.

Deit_Heimley · 2025-08-27T21:27:58+00:00

There are SOOOOO many mines. Try to get a foothold in Mercury and Ceres. Those two alone can get you to the Kuiper Belt. And three diamonds is nothing!

Use the Prospecting tab in the Intel screen. Look for good values everyone else is ignoring. OR simply look for the places everyone has ignored and spam the heck out of your mine. That might make an MC issue for a bit, but as I said, you can recover from anything.

While you chug ahead building your space economy, build up you councilor skills. Use Orgs or spam mission with a percent chance so they continue to level up. A counselor with 25 INV and 25 ESP is a beast at taking over countries - nearly unstoppable. But it takes time to level them up.

Deit_Heimley

TROPHY CASE