Year Zero Club

pndrev

Join Date 05/2007

+30

Year Zero Club

...when simply winning is not enough!

First off, I couldn't have done this without the inspiration of the Metaverse League and Wyndstar in particular. Kudos to the master!

Now to the matter at hand.

I finally did it. A year zero win! Granted, it was only against 1 AI and on challenging (my current level) but I'm certain that 'tough' wouldn't have been much harder. On the other hand, it was my first attempt at an 'all-labs' and 'lease instead of buy' approach, so I consider myself proud that I could do it at all.

Here is the link to the character, as a proof: http://metaverse.galciv2.com/index.aspx?g=player&id=14517

For all of you, who like me thought that year zero wins are nigh impossible: Try it! Read the posts about it! It is difficult, requires constant micromanagement, but I found it incredibly rewarding to see that victory screen after 25 - 30 turns. Not the way I'd like to play constantly, but as a change of pace, it's a incredible challenge.

And of course, once you've accomplished your first 'Year Zero', post here and rejoice!

As an edit, I now include the current top score.

Attention new players!
Do not be frightened by these scores! Playing a ZYW is actually really easy, and getting a score close to 30000 points takes just a few tries. These games are usually finished in less than 20 minutes, so have at it. Try the tiny ZYWs first, I find them easier and you might get the unique chance to beat players like neilo or Wyndstar.

Current ZYW record holders:

'expert' ZYW - Gigantic

1) 198450 points - MottiKhan

2) 119000 points - Kzinti Patriarch

3) 109500 points - neilo

'classic' ZYW - Tiny

1) 56700points - MottiKhan

2) 40600 points - Kzinti Patriarch / Magnumaniac

3) 38850 points - Wyndstar

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Woot! finaly cracked to 70k mark! May 1st win on immense galaxy TA 1.99

Awesome. Ok, now I have something to shoot for. On what turn (date) did you finish? Did you get a lot of bonus tiles? Do you go for taking as many worlds as you can?

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Woot! finaly cracked to 70k mark! May 1st win on immense galaxy TA 1.99

Nice. What date did you finish? Did you go for many worlds? I'm curious how you got that score......I apparently suck. I almost always finish April 8th but so far only 49,000.

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Just topped it to 71750 Finish date was 8th April. No exra worlds as it just eats up your finances.

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Question:

Do you guys take the second planet in you home system at the start of a ZYW game or do you leave it so you can upgrade the colony ship?

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KzintiPatriarch

Join Date 05/2007

+95

I always colonize the secondary.

Sentient species taste better...

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Quoting LedZerggelin,

reply 4

Question:

Do you guys take the second planet in you home system at the start of a ZYW game or do you leave it so you can upgrade the colony ship?

I save the game and then take a look at it. If there are no decent bonus tiles i dont bother colonizing it.

On a side note i just realised i have posted 12 games today!

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I save the game and then take a look at it. If there are no decent bonus tiles i dont bother colonizing it.

Ok, now I am a little weirded out. I have played at least 25 ZYW games and NOT ONCE did the second planet have any tile bonuses.

Does this have to do with changing the homestar maybe? Cuz I dont.

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KzintiPatriarch

Join Date 05/2007

+95

What planetary system are you playing with? Planets below PQ 6 dont get bonus tiles.

Sentient species taste better...

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What planetary system are you playing with? Planets below PQ 6 dont get bonus tiles.

Altarians homeworld, I think.

I use an Custom race when doing ZYW games. Altarian tech tree. Will that default to their home system?

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Neilo

Join Date 04/2006

+128

The use of the secondary puzzles me at the moment. I have had 100K+ games using these following homestars.

Thala (one PQ 15, no secondary)

Iconis (one PQ14 (IIRC), one PQ3 secondary) with and without colonizing the secondary.

Oxor (two PQ8)

Plus i have tried the 3rd homestar planet trick to give me even more choice, mainly with the use of Oxor so you end up starting with 2 PQ 8's and a PQ 10.

Then i would check out each secondary to see if there was a library. Checking secondary's for bonuses and reloading will only benefit you if you use Oxor...or use the 3rd homestar planet trick.

But, I have found no negligable increase in score using any above combonation.

Given enough money all one would need is two library's on your HW and 120K will be knocked over.

It's all about spending as much as possible with out going broke right up to the end of game.

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What is the third homestar planet trick?

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Neilo

Join Date 04/2006

+128

Well i wont spoil the surprise, but start a game playing as the canned terrans, but set your homeworld to Jupiter and see what happens. Sometimes in a ZYW ARC'd race i will have Oxor as the Homestar and Korx IV as the HW. Once you know what this does, you will understand why i would do that.

But, as i said it isn't a make or break for higher scores. Not yet anyway.

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MottiKhan

Join Date 04/2007

+152

I haven't found the extra 10PQ thing to be of any value in any game. Well, in theory anyway. I've only tried it twice and then did some theorectical games in my head and couldn't come up with any advantage. On ZYWs and Mumblers, it can actually drag you down by taking your focus away from the task at hand.

For ZYWs, I find it important to have a secondary planet, but a PQ3 is more than enough to boost the tech. If you keep your focus on the primary planet, tech and diplomacy, you'll do well. A little nod to economy can put it over the top as well.

That being said, there isn't much time in a ZYW to do a lot of anything. In these games, doing something in a particular order can mean the difference between a 40k and 90k game, all things being equal. With the subtle changes in each game setup, the optimal order can change each time.

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It's all about spending as much as possible with out going broke right up to the end of game.

So can I assume its best to finish on April 8th with as much possible money you can have?
I usually finish in negative bc ammounts.......not good?

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MottiKhan

Join Date 04/2007

+152

Quoting LedZerggelin,

reply 14

So can I assume its best to finish on April 8th with as much possible money you can have?
I usually finish in negative bc ammounts.......not good?

Spending as much as possible without going below -500 at the and would be the best method. If you're cash positive on April 8th, you've left some score on the table.

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Spending as much as possible without going below -500 at the and would be the best method. If you're cash positive on April 8th, you've left some score on the table.

Hmmmm, that seems odd. I would have thought the opposite we be true, the more money you have the better the score.

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KzintiPatriarch

Join Date 05/2007

+95

Your cash on hand has nothing to do with score, except that over 20k, you take a big econ hit. It's the economic output that contributes to your econ score, not your actual money.

Sentient species taste better...

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Neilo

Join Date 04/2006

+128

The only thing i am waiting for the third planet trick to yeild is 2 library's on the HW and a library on each of the secondary's.

I've come close to seeing that but havent nailed it. Im wondering if the huge boost that 4 library's would give you on turn two could really pump that early game tech score really high and net a huge score, even 120K.

Obviously getting the cash to maintain that spending level would be the trouble, but isn't it always?

@Led.

What the guys mean is that if you finish on April 8th with 1300BC (eg) then you could have bought a few more labs or econ structures that would have aided your score, both tech and econ. Having cash in reserve does nothing for your score, but spending that extra cash on buying the econ cap for instance, will boost your score as that is extra per turn BC you are gaining.

It's all about how much econ you bring in, not what you have. Just the same as its about how much you can spend on tech and for how long.

The combonation of these two is where the score is.

I am yet to determine how much, if at all, population factors into any of the scoring so early in the game. Any one played around with that yet?

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Ok, I think I see the light. I was just trying to spend enough (research) to get me the spore in time for an April 8th win and saving the rest.

So, from what you said I should buy as much stuff as I can WITHOUT dropping below -500bc.
I know the main thig said was to get research or econ buildings. What about a influence or manufacturing building if there is a bonus tile?

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Neilo

Join Date 04/2006

+128

Don't bother with them. Research structures are the most important. Personally i'm on the fence still with econ structures. I have broke 100K with and without them.

It's all cash and map dependant.

There are many ways to skin a cat...sorry KP.

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The use of the secondary puzzles me at the moment. I have had 100K+ games using these following homestars.

Thala (one PQ 15, no secondary)

Iconis (one PQ14 (IIRC), one PQ3 secondary) with and without colonizing the secondary.

Did you have to alter an XML file for this?

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Did you have to alter an XML file for this?

no.

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Neilo

Join Date 04/2006

+128

To use say the Altarians and Oxor or Iconia then yes you need to use an ARC race. But to gain the extra homestar planet then as Dys said no.

Just rename your HW to one of the unused planets in your starting system.

You try it out yet JS?

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Bah! Only managed two games today

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KzintiPatriarch

Join Date 05/2007

+95

A small improvement in the record.

Sentient species taste better...

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