Best 3 Race Combo?

With the new rules, it seems the best strategy is to get a coalition together before entering a game and enter together. This would give your alliance an immediate and strong advantage. Presumably the rest of the cluster is disorganized. Of course, you don't announce your alliance until it is too late. In fact, you temporarily ally with others to get some of their goodies and info.

This could be further strengthened by entering as 3 "compatible" races. What are your ideas on the best 3?

1. Diversified? This would be one free fighter race, one cloaking race, and one other race, such as Crystals for web mines or Borg for Chunneling or Feds for high taxes and Super-refit.

If so, which combo would you choose?

Robots (free ftrs, 4x mines), Lizards (cloaking, Hissing, ground combat, 150% damage, Lokis), and Borg (Chunneling). Your cloaked Robot LCC lays down a 4x minefield as your Lizard Cubes, full of free Robot ftrs attacks. Tough combo.

What other combos?

2. Fighters-R-Us: Your alliance starts as the 3 free ftr races, which means your ftrs dominate the galaxy, you have 4x mines for those pesky cloakers, and you deny others ftr minesweep. You also have the Falcon for inter-alliance travel.

3. We Deliver: Privateers, Borg, and Rebels. This gives you all the fast ships, except the EE probe, as well as free ftrs, cloaking, and Cubes. Cubes filled with free ftrs towed by a Meteor, after another meteor zipped in a Firecloud to prepare for a chunnel - powerful.

4. Minefield Hell: Robots, Crystals, and Colonies. This gives you 4x mines, web mines, and denies other ftr mine sweep. You also get free ftrs and free fuel.

Any others? (The Steamroller: Borg Cubes, EE Gorbies, and Robots)

What would suggest?

Mike

Ahhh,

But, if you start the game as allies, the chance of a powerful opposing alliance is very small.

"The best defense is a good offense"

Mel, the cook on Alice (and others, I'm sure)

The point is, even with military scoring we had people joining with pre-arranged alliances. Now, the new rules encourage it.

One should assume that a pre-arranged alliance is already in a game you join.

Have you been watching the sign-ups on the new games? When a new game is put up with 11 empty spots, 3 spots fill up real fast with combos of 1 cloaking race, 1 free fighter race, and 1 other race. Hmmmm. Do you really want to go into that game as a loner.

(Actually, it might be fun to join as the Birds and try to screw them over. (grin))

Mike

"What's to guarantee that you won't all 3 be flung across the map at such distances that you will take 50 turns to ever see each other? "

Probes

"Example: Borg - Federation - Gorn alliance. Borg gives a number of Cubes to Federation and Gorn. Sure those Cubes kick ass, but when they are killed how Borg can build more Cubes to Federation and Gorn when all the PBPs goes to Gorn and Federation (normal queue can be VERY slow). Keep that in mind."

1. Lizzard kills ship and gets PBPs.
2. Lizzard builds small freighter with 1 PBP
3. Lizzard gives small freighter to Borg.
4. Borg recycles small freighter for 1 PBP.

Poof. PBP has been transfered.

• Colony + Crystal = absolute minefield superiority in the cluster (no word of Mr. Robot any more, his gaz-guzzlers have too few beams to be efficient against the Crystals, and his own minefields were swept constantly.
• Crystal Cobols: 2 engines for towcapture and 250 tons torpedo space and always fuel to transfer
• Crystal LadyRoyales: more money for torps
• Colonial Crystal Thunders filling the gap between Patriots and Virgoes as mid-level combateers... and only if the queue is properly suited at a Crystal planet... and don't worry about engines, we have Cobols...

How can we find a game that has no alliances, no double accounts and people who play to the end?  Sounds like the private game is the only way to go right now.  You need to have players who are serious, and you can tell who those are in your games you play.  You have to organize it yourself.  The only other way would be if this site had a rating system that scored based upon game turns played versus those missed, and then kept track of # of games completed (win or lose) versus number of games resigned.  That ratio would really be valuable for creating games. 

I tend to think that the 3 race combo is not the right question.  Strategically this game is about building an economy and going to war to expand that economy.  If all 11 players are strong (that's a big if), then allying with the races close to you and taking over a corner of the map seems the best strategy.  In this configuration, you only have to attack in one or two directions and your back is covered.  Your economy at home stays safe as you expand outwards.

Fed+Bird+Lizard

Feds makes more money from their taxes, and have some good ships.

Birdman has the cloaking technology, their ships are cheap, and they have a cloaking battleship.

Lizards makes good on ground combat, mining, and taxes, improving the economy.

So many good allies to have, like Evil Empire + Missing Colonies + Fascists

Evil Empire has the Imperial Assault, and a lot of carriers.

Colonies has the ability to gamble and make money.

Fascists has good ground combat, cloaking ships, and Glory Device.

Lizard, Empire, Crystal or Fed Empire Crystal imho are the deadliest combos.

Aside from that, I don't have a problem with someone going into a game already teamed up with someone I suppose, because you might find yourself on opposites sides of the map and your alliance would be useless, but going into a game with a premade alliance and then temporarily allying yourself with other player then backstabbing them is outright cheating in my books.

If I ever run into you in a game there is no way I will trust you after that post. My first obective would be to post this thread in a message to all players and then make you my primary enemy.

I always find that the dark sense is underated by most people.

In a one on one fight, I would pick the Borg over the Empire, just because of the Firecloud.

Though Fireclouds are a very very awesome ship, if your ally is the Crystals, the speed advantage of the Firecloud is already compensated for by the Crystals' webmines being able to halt your enemies ability to move faster than you can.