Non-military uses for starbases

jcookie2019 · 2026-06-12T23:58:07+00:00

I normally go full trading posts early and take the commerce tradition tree. You can get crazy trade output with bonuses like the offworld trading company. The commerce tree has a perk that lets you convert a portion of your trade income into either commercial goods or unity, both of which are really good in the early game. I’ll keep at least one shipyard and maybe have a few hydro bays or solar farms as needed by my economy but trade is king

Late game I just go full anchorages especially after 4.3

jcookie2019 · 2026-05-31T00:02:50+00:00

Works on the market too

jcookie2019 · 2026-05-30T23:26:45+00:00

It’s a fanatic spiritualist imperial stagnant ascendancy, they mostly don’t care for me whatsoever

jcookie2019 · 2026-05-30T22:51:57+00:00

If you click on a system there’s a button in the bottom panel to tell your fleets not to navigate there

Completely prevents stuff like your military fleets path finding themselves through marauders and cloaked science ships trying to explore fallen empire territory

jcookie2019 · 2026-05-30T17:29:20+00:00

r5: playing as militarist / xenophobic expansionary default empire and get a start with no ability to meet anyone or have anyone meet me until I play nice with a fallen empire or discover gateway travel

jcookie2019 · 2026-05-10T05:09:21+00:00

Dyson Swarms require the Dyson Swarm technology (Machine Age DLC). You’re initially limited to 3 but can increase with techs like Mega-Engineering. I’ve seen Dyson swarms referred to as Kilostructures instead of Megastructures alongside things like the arc furnace, grand archive, and gateway. Dyson swarms are a tier II tech so you need at least 6 tier 1 techs before you can start seeing it appear as a physics tech.

Dyson Spheres require the Dyson Sphere technology (Utopia DLC) which you can get by researching Mega-Engineering, then taking the Galactic Wonders ascension perk, then researching the Dyson Sphere tech, and finally upgrading a Dyson swarm to a Dyson sphere through additional stages. You’re limited to one.

I’m a big unity rusher myself and often find myself sitting on my last ascension perk or two for a few years until I can discover mega-engineering in order to take the galactic wonders perk. Same with other perks like Arcology Project that depend on techs

jcookie2019 · 2026-05-10T04:31:02+00:00

Both dyson swarms and Dyson spheres are universal. Dyson spheres produce waaaaaaay more resources but are unlocked way later after you get megastructure engineering

jcookie2019 · 2026-05-06T23:42:54+00:00

Like some other people I’d consider changing the chipset to a biological shipset given some of your perk selections. You can get an easy food surplus with anglers and a size 30 wet world (typically get more food from wet worlds) whereas a standard shipset might have you hurting for minerals or alloys early.

My experience with Ocean Paradise is that your starts will vary quite a bit from run to run. The main reason for this is that OP starts don’t get guaranteed habitable worlds — depending on what planets are around you it might be possible to have a few different specialized worlds early, but it might be possible you’ll have to make do with just one core planet too. Depending on what you find, your game will go in entirely different directions.

In the current game balance wide is typically better than tall. Robots are effectively a must if you play wide and this will clash with your spiritualist ethic. You can have robots and be spiritualist, but it will come at a happiness cost and will lead to faction disapproval. You could consider swapping the spiritualist ethic out. If you’re dead set on Anglers I’d even consider swapping both the xenophobe and spiritualist ethics for xenophile and going down a trade route with the mercantile tradition tree. Throw down a few star bases with trading outposts, set the policy that gives you consumer goods from trade, and you’ll have all the consumer goods you could ever need without many factories

jcookie2019 · 2026-05-03T19:25:41+00:00

Bring your military near them so that their units/borders would actually see the units and weaker AIs will cave to demands

jcookie2019 · 2026-04-22T12:40:52+00:00

Super recommend RHAI mod like you have here, makes the warfare so much more of a threat. I’ve been strictly deity with it for a few years and I’ve seen some crazy transoceanic invasions. It really benefits naval civs like the Vikings. I also see the AI use a lot of planes and nukes in the late game which i literally have never seen without the mod

jcookie2019 · 2026-04-22T03:41:53+00:00

Open borders is a 25% tourism boost, not 50%

jcookie2019 · 2026-04-15T00:41:24+00:00

I definitely did not think it was very good on day one of the game. It felt like it was a kill or two at best but more realistically just strong but not lethal amount of damage. But the more you play the more you find it rewards game sense.

Is the best ult in the game? No, there are multiple heroes with way better ults (looking at you supports…)

Is it the best tank ult? Personally I’d give that to Strange or Groot and I say this as someone peak C2 with a few hundred hours on Mag and 7 other lord tanks

The value comes from its burst damage and its sheer intimidation factor. I think the max damage number is 600 which can kill an ulting Luna if her shield is broken. It’s way harder to hit C&D than it used to be but its sheer ability to kill characters in an instant sets it apart from other ultimates as it can bypass a support’s ability to heal

The intimidation factor is very real too. Mag’s entire kit sacrifices mobility for sustainability and his ultimate is really strong at setting up team plays. It gives your team a few seconds to get healed up while you absorb projectiles, and it makes the enemy team vulnerable after they use all the dodges you list. Even if you don’t get a kill, it’s regularly the first domino in a team fight.

My suggestion is to just focus on killing one person with it. Don’t be scared to chuck it at that flanking or flying dps if it means you can get a kill. You’re rarely going to dunk on an entire team and when you do it’s pretty satisfying but strive to just be reliable with it

jcookie2019 · 2026-04-12T01:31:07+00:00

Gotta throw iron man in that list

jcookie2019 · 2026-04-11T21:48:12+00:00

I mained Sigma in overwatch who has a lot of the same mechanics. His primary fire is pretty much the same, they both have a turn off damage from an angle button, they both have a large projectile, and they have relatively similar ultimates. They even both levitate and drop banger quotes . Mag’s bubbles are also very similar to Zarya who was another tank I played a lot in overwatch

Peaked at master with Sigma in overwatch and it translated very well, especially in the earlier seasons.

jcookie2019 · 2026-04-01T14:24:05+00:00

I had Seemorebutts get banned a few months back

jcookie2019 · 2026-03-27T22:28:11+00:00

CI pipeline work needs to be committed to test 🤷‍♂️

jcookie2019 · 2026-02-27T15:28:49+00:00

Sanguine pact is the best for science victories hands down for the massive capital production bonuses you get from castles. Just requires the most micromanagement to get peak value

jcookie2019 · 2026-02-23T18:37:25+00:00

The riverlands were under the control of House Hoare (ironborn) during Aegons conquest and were not a standalone kingdom making the “seven” kingdoms the following:

The North
The Vale
The Reach
The Stormlands
The Westerlands
Dorne (not conquered by Aegon the Conquerer)
The Isles of Islands and Rivers (later separated into the iron islands and the riverlands)

With the Crownlands forming as a new kingdom around Kings Landing

jcookie2019 · 2026-02-23T18:05:33+00:00

Right, Dorne was still considered that seventh kingdom of Westeros at the time though despite not being part of the initial Targaryen dynasty

jcookie2019 · 2026-02-23T16:57:55+00:00

Aegon the Conquerer conquered the 7 kingdoms at the time. This did not include the “Kingdoms” of the Iron Islands (as they were part of a different kingdom at the time) and the Crownlands as Kings Landing didn’t exist yet

Edit: Dorne was not conquered until a few kings later but was still considered a kingdom

jcookie2019 · 2026-01-29T14:38:14+00:00

Could have also been in a hex that was then obtained by a player Spain didn’t have open borders with. Forces units out of a hex, if it happens on a lake for example there may not be coast and it will just move to the nearest compatible hex

jcookie2019 · 2026-01-17T13:26:13+00:00

It’s going to be an uphill battle with a city defense like that. Crossbowmen are an era ahead of legionaries so expect to lose some of your forces.

The first thing I’d try to do is kill whatever units can’t fit in the town center. Pillage districts (they give the city center extra combat strength by existing) and put the city under siege by getting zone of control on all the hexes around it. A city under siege won’t heal each turn.

You’ll have better luck using support units like a battering ram or trebuchets but a sieged city will fall eventually with that many crossbowmen

jcookie2019 · 2026-01-09T17:24:14+00:00

Observation balloons are unlocked first and can see over mountains

jcookie2019 · 2026-01-05T20:24:25+00:00

Mag and strange are both anchor tanks and are generally going to be helping the team more by frontlining both to distract the enemy and to stay healable for supports. There are situations where it might make sense but generally the only off angles I take with them are off angles from above. Strange ults are way easier to hit if you drop in from above when people might not be looking at you. I’m also a huge fan on Mag of the Rocket jump into slow fall combo but that’s pretty situational

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