TO NEW PLAYERS: Misconceptions about CP (command points)

[Andante]

DO NOT treat CP as a limit. You are not limited to building below your CP number. Think of CP this way, its a PERK, NOT a LIMIT.

In any other game, it costs money/credits to maintain an army, however in Stardrive 2, there is a PERK called CP, command points, this PERK gives you a buffer of having free maintainance. However you should go way over your CP because like I said, its just a perk and not a limit. It only makes logical and reasonable sense because every other game it costs credits to maintain military, however for some dumb reason players in this game thinks its perfectly reasonable and think its the proper way to play to limit their armies under their CP amount and not pay for military maintanence.

Let me put it this way, in Civ 5 I think there is a perk that gives you free unit maintanence based on number of cities you have, so if you have 5 cities, you can free upkeep for 5 units. So does that mean you are just going to build ONLY 5 units? HELL NO because that would be dumb as hell and you will get steamrolled by AI or any other player because its NORMAL to build an army larger than the limits of a dumb perk lol. So if its dumb in other 4x games, WHY ARE YOU DOING IT IN THIS GAME?

What IS your limit is your credit generation, so focus on keeping taxes at 25-35% and research technology that improves production and credit generation. More production and more credit generation means being able to maintain bigger fleets.

This is why the AI maintain "large" fleets, they are willing to pay unit maintanence costs by going over their CP amount, why you ask? Because that is the normal thing to do in this game and in every other turn based strategy game that exists in this world. (paying credits to maintain units)

So please please stop complaining about AI having 60 CP fleets when your CP limit is only 15 or 20(its a perk not a limit). Thats like complaining in a Civ game that AI has 15 units when your perk only allows you to maintain 5 units for free.

[404_Username_not_found]

I'm glad you said it. I hope some people see this and have an awakening lol

[Amarthion]

Can please someone translate it in german? With Google Translator it did not realy work....

[Katante]

@amarathion:
Im Grunde steht dort, dass das Kontrollpunkte Limit für deine Flotte kein hartes Limit ist, wie viele denken, sondern einfach nur anzeigt wieviele Schiffe du kosten günstig haben kannst. Wenn du drüber kommst, kostet die Flotte halt mehr Geld. Aber irgendwie scheinen viele der Spieler das nicht zu verstehen und bemängeln, dass das Schifflimit zu klein ist.

[Atom_Alchemist]

i usaully top out AT my cp with garrisaned fleets, when ungarrisaned i am way above said cp limit, that said, i run into money problems all the time, any idea how to build a strong economy?

[Gunfreak]

Originally posted by atom_alchemist:

i usaully top out AT my cp with garrisaned fleets, when ungarrisaned i am way above said cp limit, that said, i run into money problems all the time, any idea how to build a strong economy?

Don't make jack of all trades planets.

Keep production to high production planets. Once you have a high production planet up and running, move all workers on your home planet to food and science, delete production buildings on said planet.

Production planets only need production buildings don't bother with food or money buildings.

If you need to build something on food planets, temporally move workers to production. Or just buy outthe building.

In my current game, most of my space stations were bought.

[Agiond]

Originally posted by atom_alchemist:

i usaully top out AT my cp with garrisaned fleets, when ungarrisaned i am way above said cp limit, that said, i run into money problems all the time, any idea how to build a strong economy?

Taxes with lots of production.

[Amarthion]

Oh ah.. Danke @ BassiOh :)

[argh!]

Originally posted by Amarthion:

Can please someone translate it in german? With Google Translator it did not realy work....

Die Kontrollpunkte (Command Points) sind nicht ein hartes Limit, sondern zeigen nur an wieviele Schiffe du gratis haben kannst. Wenn du unterm Limit bist, kostet dein Militär rein gar nichts, wenn du darüber gehst zahlst du Unterhalt. Dass man fürs Militär Unterhalt ist praktisch in jedem 4X so, und zum Beispiel in Civilization gibt es die Mechanik auch dass der Unterhalt einer gewissen Zahl an Einheiten gratis ist.

Das heisst aber nicht das man dass Limit nicht überschreiten sollte. Wie in anderen Spielen auch ist es völlig normal für Einheiten Unterhalt zu zahlen. Viele hier scheinen dass nicht zu begreifen und mozen das Forum und die Reviews voll dass das Spiel viel zu schwer sei und die gegner auf einmal mit Flotten mit 60 CP daherkommen wenn sie selber grademal ein "Limit" von 20 CP haben.

[Amarthion]

Auch dir Vielen Dank...
Werde Heute mal ein Spielchen wagen :)

[argh!]

Originally posted by atom_alchemist:

i usaully top out AT my cp with garrisaned fleets, when ungarrisaned i am way above said cp limit, that said, i run into money problems all the time, any idea how to build a strong economy?

If you started out with Humans, note that they're corrupt, which really drains your money supply quite dramatically. Research Imperial Banks in the tech tree or get them from the other factions somehow.

[BlueTemplar]

Many other games also use this same unit maintenance mechanic as SD2. Civ4 and Alpha Centauri for instance.
But it doesn't mean you HAVE to go over the cap, or that you HAVE to have taxes at 25%-35%.

If you're Corrupt, since you don't make much money to start with, an extra 33% from Imperial banks won't amount to much (as it seems it's multiplied with the corrupt penalty, not added to it).

Do Imperial Banks affect money directly from production (not via taxes)? Does money from taxes (from production) use the same conversion as money from production?

[zgrssd]

Originally posted by atom_alchemist:

i usaully top out AT my cp with garrisaned fleets, when ungarrisaned i am way above said cp limit, that said, i run into money problems all the time, any idea how to build a strong economy?

First of all, build Space Stations EVERYWHERE.
They give you 2 Free Corvettes AND 2 CP for bigger ships. AND protection against anything less then a serious fleet. No way a mere 50% maintenance can make that a bad deal. (that being said, 25 or 50% maintenance colonies are a bad deal otherwise).

The first way to make money is to save maintenance on building and try to max out excess food income.
Trades can help. Especialy as they outright multiply how much money "trade good" production gives you. But tricky to maintan late game.
You do get passive income from population and can tax the production empire wide. Note that Empire effects on this (like humans corrupt) affect both of them.
Also look for Racial techs. There can be some very awesome stuff there besids the unique buildings. I once got "Wall Street" as human tech - interest on stockpiled money, lowered by increasing taxes.

[Omega AI]

Many players are not aware that corvettes are free under the cp amount
Many players are not aware of modules that reduce cp (Bridge or CIC)
Many players are not aware of things that produce cp.

Combining all these factors easily explains the players who are "Enemy just showed up with 3 times the CP allowance"



Easy Example of what many new players are thinking that there is a Cheating A.I, while the A.I could be well within the CP limits:
A.I. shows up with 100 cruisers (all CIC) and 100 corvettes.
New Player thinks each cruiser is 3 cp and each corvette 1 cp. Makes the assumption that the A.I. is using 400 CP when he thinks it should only have 100. In actual fact it is using 100.

[BlueTemplar]

Ah, indeed, it is quite specific to SD2 that extra food, instead of growing up your population, is transformed into money at a 100% conversion rate (even though you are not selling it to anyone in practice).
Depending on the situation, it might be much more effective to use your population to "farm for money" instead of using them for production (pollution!) then "building money" or taxes.

[zgrssd]

Originally posted by Omega AI:

Easy Example of what many new players are thinking that there is a Cheating A.I, while the A.I could be well within the CP limits:
A.I. shows up with 100 cruisers (all CIC) and 100 corvettes.
New Player thinks each cruiser is 3 cp and each corvette 1 cp. Makes the assumption that the A.I. is using 400 CP when he thinks it should only have 100. In actual fact it is using 100.

I am pretty sure the toutorial and tooltips explain that. That you get free coverttes is explicitly written in the build menu and listed again the CP tooltip.
"I was to lazy to use the toutorial or read tooltips" is a player fault, not a game fault.

Originally posted by bluetemplar85:

Ah, indeed, it is quite specific to SD2 that extra food, instead of growing up your population, is transformed into money at a 100% conversion rate (even though you are not selling it to anyone in practice).
Depending on the situation, it might be much more effective to use your population to "farm for money" instead of using them for production (pollution!) then "building money" or taxes.

Terran and Gaia planets are generally generating a lo of money from food. Also you are selling it - to you local people. Wich is why the income is capped to population.

If you want high production without pollution, look for arid worlds. x3 population cap, 1 base food, no ill effects from nearly 70 pollution in one test, 0% surcharge. Chance to spawn the Junkyard special (+10% shipbuilding).
Or asteroids. They are pollution free, often Ultra Rich and low G. You just need some way to boost that population.