Guest

Since managing your colony is too easy to be much of a challenge, it's really all about eradicating the aliens. Try playing the expansion disk "New Worlds" (used to be available at www.the-underdogs.org but the site is down) for some particularly nasty alien races or impose restrictions on yourself like destroying the enemy city without using any tanks or limiting the tax rate.
The hardest level imho is the next to last on the expansion disk so try that one if you feel bored. k:

I've played the game many times (it was the first game I ever bought) and I know it's less than perfect but I love it nonetheless. So let me share some hints:

Colony Management (Why do they hate me so much?)
=============

-Use the pause button (hotkey: p) to save time when building things.
-The first building should always be a hospital. It usually takes 2 months to build and will be complete on the 28th of the 2nd month. You gotta be quick and ramp up the birth rate to "high" that day so it will affect the 3rd month.
-Increase tax rate to 20% immediately, this will go a long way in getting the necessary cash. Many people + high tax = loads of cash!
-Build Flux Pods so you're prepared for an eclipse or temporary underproduction of energy.
-Power Stations are the cheapest way to produce energy initially, but beware: they pollute the air, thus lowering your citizens' happiness. Also if your power station gets hit you're in trouble. Solare panels offer a more stable production in case of enemy attacks.
-With the invention of solar generators clean energy is as cheap as the energy produced by power stations. Replace your power stations and watch the happiness-meter rise!
-Trade every month and build stores. When prices are good, sell. The highest profits can be made with selling food (max price 20 gr).
-It can pay off to build a fuel tank even if you're not planning to build a navy. Just buy fuel for 1 gr, store it in your tank, and sell for 20 gr.
-Producing your own fuel does not pay off, chem plants are just too expensive and unproductive. Again, if you go navy things are different because the free market probably won't be able to quench your ships' thirst for fuel. Still, you always should buy cheap fuel when you got the opportunity.
-Crime problems are best countered by more security HQs and raising the quality of life.

Happiness (Are they never satisfied?)
======

Some things have already been mentioned, I'll just give a list of all the factors known to me:

-Enemy city: When destroyed, your citizens' happiness permanently rises by 20%.
-Oxygen, food, energy, living space: Your people don't take shortages too well.
-Tax rate: Has a huge impact, though the effects manifest themselves over a longer period of time. It is possible to set the tax rate to 0% and get the money from trade alone with a well-organized colony (built with tax money :whistle: )
-Hospitals: Healthy citizens are happy citizens! You need more hospitals as your population grows.
-Tech level: The higher, the better.
-Sports events: Already the ancient Romans knew that games please the people.
-Pollution: Putting your laundry outside to dry and getting it back as black as coal is not what people consider quality of life. Imho sources of pollution are: power stations, chem plants(!), mines(?), life support. Technological advances reduce pollution but cannot eliminate it. Avoid these buildings if you strive for maximum happiness. Moss converters can replace life support.
-Crime: Your city will be much nicer without those bands of thugs rampaging in the streets, murdering people and stealing from the colony funds.
-Food: Morgro food seems to have a positive effect on happiness, not sure though.
-Size: A larger colony seems to improve happiness (not confirmed).
-Open spaces: My cities are always cramped (easier to defend) and I got my happiness to 99%. I'm not sure this has an effect as I never tried it.


Defense (They're everywhere! Aaaaaargh)
=====

-Enemy troops always enter your territory around the 11th of the month of attack.
-You can then fire your missiles even if they do not appear on radar. By watching the direction the missile takes, you know the attack path of the enemy forces.
-Missiles are your best friend when defending. If they get shot down before they destroy anything, send 2 missiles.
-Station your missiles in packs outside your colony to shorten the flight path and intercept the aliens before they reach your colony.
-Laser turrets are utterly useless. In addition, they consume power *all* the time.
-Land mines are very useful to stop enemy ground forces. Mining your territory before an attack is too expensive, though. Instead, place the mines in the direct path of enemy vehicles when they close in to your colony (using pause button helps alot).
-Don't use your tanks to engange enemies on the map. The unit control will give you a headache and for some reason it takes a prohibitive amount of tanks to destroy even one measly alien...tough buggers.
-The same, to an extent, is true for ships. At least they don't get stuck.
-Colony layout: Just like the settlers form a corral with their wagons in the cowboy movies you should close all avenues the enemy could use to reach the center of your colony. Place cheap buildings like living quarters, stores, and especially solar panels on the outside "wall" and keep things like hospitals, labs, and the command center inside.
-Corral refined: Surround your colony with a ring of solar panels and no enemy vehicle can get through. Take advantage of natural obstacles to save money. If a panel gets destroyed, leave the rubble until the attack is over - vehicles can't cross rubble as well. The "wall" will also make a power station unnecessary. Only works against group troops, of course.
-Don't forget to rebuild the missiles and manage your colony in the heat of the battle.

Offense :Titan: (When negotiation fails, hot plasma makes a fine diplomate)
=====

-If you're just looking for a way to destroy the aliens as quickly and as efficiently as possible you should do it with tanks. Put every grem you don't need for colony buildings into tank yards and supporting industry, e.g. ore mines and weapon labs. Amass tanks until you have enough for a certain victory, then strike.
-Depending on the tech level, the aliens, and the damage you've dealt to the aliens already on their turf you need 30-70 tanks to destroy an alien city. For the first assault 60 tanks should be sufficient.
-It is crucial that you get all your tanks into enemy territory in a small window of time. Station them near the border. If you're a fanatic, assign each tank its own parking tile.
-Repeat the attack order every few seconds to get stuck tanks moving again.
-Even if an attack fails it will still weaken the enemy. This has an impact on their attacks, lowering the quantity and quality of troops they will throw at you.
-Ships have an awful performance/cost ratio. They take an eternity to build (though it seems to decrease with increasing tech level) and require expensive fuel to run. Still, they're fun! :w00t: Warships are the most powerful but have a nasty habit of keeping all your fuel in their giant 1200-unit-tanks. Go with cruisers instead if fuel is scarce (and it usually is).
-Have your ships attack along with your tanks.
-You cannot build more than 99 tanks and 40 ships.

Ok, I could go on and on rambling about Utopia but now I must...play Utopia! :angel: