What traditions do you start with?

[Hyperion]

I do not see use for anything but Prosperity into Mastery of Nature to get that industrial boom going. The surest way to domination is to outproduce all the rivals.

What do you prefer?

[kbmodigity]

I always do the exploration tree first. I find I NEED the 1/2 cost on influence for colonizing worlds early on. Also getting the +1 pop on a planet when it is colonized is key for me since I usually play as a hive mind. Since my pops never migrate that 1 extra pop for a planet gets my economy going that much faster. I then finish it out since theres only 2 left in that tree so I can get my first ascention perk which I will do either +5 core systems or the +10% research bonus.

Next I always go with the tree in the upper right (I forget the name). As hive mind I want to get the hive synapse building which gives me unity and +5% to all production on a planet. I do the 2 parts of that tree first no matter what.

After that I will usually either finish off that tree for my second ascention perk or I will switch over to the research tree and finish that off to get the boost to research for finishing it.

After that I kind of just pick what I feel I need at the time. But unless my techs have realy been awful on what I had to choose from I always try to get voidborn as my 3rd ascention perk. By that time I find I NEED habitats to supply enough energy for my fleet.

[Galactic Origins]

Discovery is great for Anomolies. My chosen race also usually has a faction that wants this Tradition.

I also like the upper left for lowering the Unity costs for more Traditions but am rethinking this.

I use a mod that adds many more traditions.

[Belhedler]

Originally posted by Galactic Origins:

Discovery is great for Anomolies. My chosen race also usually has a faction that wants this Tradition.

btw how good is the second level tradition giving you 1/10 of research points per world scanning? Does it scale with the number of scientist on scan duty?

[corisai]

Originally posted by Belhedler:

btw how good is the second level tradition giving you 1/10 of research points per world scanning? Does it scale with the number of scientist on scan duty?

It's scale.

[The Bored Chairman]

Usually Exploration is the go-to Tradition, since you'll want to jump start your economy asap, and the best way to do that is to claim everything in sight.

[Botji]

I usually end up doing it like this.

1st point = Harmony for the epic +25% growth speed(or +33% for mechanicals!)
2nd point = Prosperity for the also epic -15% building/ship cost
3rd point = Trans-Stellar Corporations if available but if its not(hive/mechanical) I start on Discovery and get Faith in Science asap to quickly gain a lot of unity, bonus research from the assist research, high leveled scientists(assist research is great xp) and when hireing the scientists you try to get as many different science focuses as possible so you can swap them in and out on research to always have the +15% research speed.

After that its either Domination if im going to war or back to Harmonty then Prosperity.. the rest depends on whats going on in the galaxy but adopting Harmony, Prosperity and then maxing Discovery is more or less set in stone.

Expansion traditions can go take a hike as far as im concerned, its not worth the unity cost.. its a tree full of non-bonuses with like the 1 decent one in there being pay less influence due to range thing.

[corisai]

Originally posted by Botji:

with like the 1 decent one in there being pay less influence due to range thing.

Two decent : +1 pop per colony too.

[Botji]

Originally posted by corisai:

Originally posted by Botji:

with like the 1 decent one in there being pay less influence due to range thing.

Two decent : +1 pop per colony too.

But thats the thing, its just +1 per colony, hardly worth to spend a tradition point for.. compare that to +25% growth rate that just keeps on giving and after the 4th pop has grown on a planet is already superior to the +1 pop per colony... then you can resettle pops from colonies to a new one and they still grow 25% faster, your new colony now have +7 new pops or whatever.

[corisai]

You may don't have access to resettle (or make it expensive).

I don't try to say that exporation is superior or something alike, simply point that it have two notable bonuses, rest are really meh.

[Belhedler]

Originally posted by corisai:

It's scale.

Now you're getting me interested. How many scientists do you take out on average when this is under effect?

Originally posted by Botji:

1st point = Harmony for the epic +25% growth speed(or +33% for mechanicals!)
2nd point = Prosperity for the also epic -15% building/ship cost
3rd point = Trans-Stellar Corporations if available but if its not(hive/mechanical) I start on Discovery and get Faith in Science asap to quickly gain a lot of unity, bonus research from the assist research, high leveled scientists(assist research is great xp) and when hireing the scientists you try to get as many different science focuses as possible so you can swap them in and out on research to always have the +15% research speed.

That's already +30% penalty on research here. I can understand that each tradition has its sweet but aren't you messing up your research force by going all over the place?

Originally posted by Botji:

After that its either Domination if im going to war or back to Harmonty then Prosperity

That's 40% penalty now.

[Botji]

Originally posted by Belhedler:

Originally posted by corisai:

It's scale.

Now you're getting me interested. How many scientists do you take out on average when this is under effect?

Originally posted by Botji:

1st point = Harmony for the epic +25% growth speed(or +33% for mechanicals!)
2nd point = Prosperity for the also epic -15% building/ship cost
3rd point = Trans-Stellar Corporations if available but if its not(hive/mechanical) I start on Discovery and get Faith in Science asap to quickly gain a lot of unity, bonus research from the assist research, high leveled scientists(assist research is great xp) and when hireing the scientists you try to get as many different science focuses as possible so you can swap them in and out on research to always have the +15% research speed.

That's already +30% penalty on research here. I can understand that each tradition has its sweet but aren't you messing up your research force by going all over the place?

Originally posted by Botji:

After that its either Domination if im going to war or back to Harmonty then Prosperity

That's 40% penalty now.

Im not sure what you are talking about but you get 5% penalty to the traditions cost per tree you adopt so I get a 15% penalty to traditions cost but it doesnt really matter since the bonuses are well worth that cost.

Some screenshots from different games I have, most are abandoned though but its kinda clear im in ownership of large portions of the galaxy with no real competition, usually not under myself but vassals/tributaries but I wouldnt say im behind on traditions either.

This is from one of the first games after I got the DLCs, wanted to build some mega structures, got a science nexus and 2/4 ring world, only 6 tradition points from completely maxing everything out. The reason my fleet is kinda small and I dont own too much on the map(everything yellow is me/vassals/tributaries) is because at this point I have already dominated the galaxy for several years, none of the AI or their alliances could fight me, I killed a FE and after that I kinda became one myself and just wanted to try building a ring world.. ignoring everything else and its now 140 years since game start.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1190423795


This one is a bit newer, I wanted to see how good machine worlds were.. this time I also had a secondary goal of taking the entire galaxy but in the end I ended it here. I own most of the galaxy, killed FEs and AEs and the remaining AI are pathetic or inferior to me, they are also in an alliance so each time I take one of them I have to wait 10 years before picking another, couldnt be bothered. 188 years since game start but again, almost maxed the traditions. Blue is mine..

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1190423920


And here is my newest game, trying out psionics and the shroud, didnt have a great start as I started sort of trapped between AI down in the middle(Lavis Systems) and the only one I could pick a fight with early on was between me and the large Myrran Heralds of Death... so I didnt really want to remove them. But now they are all my Tributaries aside from the Myrran fanatic purifiers who I made my vassal. Only 103 years since game start so I still made a good recovery by taking the Myrrans. Green is mine..

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1190423996


Its hard to say if this is considered good progress both in game goals and traditions since I only have myself to compare with but I do think its far from bad... and I would give a lot of credit to starting with growth speed and building costs into Discovery for it going well, since it quickly adds up my advantage to those around me early on and with a few AI under me either as vassals or tributaries I have the extra boost to more or less just pick whatever empire I want and make it mine.

Long post is long

[Belhedler]

Originally posted by Botji:

Im not sure what you are talking about but you get 5% penalty to the traditions cost per tree you adopt so I get a 15% penalty to traditions cost but it doesnt really matter since the bonuses are well worth that cost.

Right. I confused with something else. My bad.

[Silver Felyne]

2 in Prosperity for Reduced Cost and Trans-Stellar Corporations.
Full Exploration.
Finish Prosperity.
Harmony or Domination.
Whatever is left.

[meiam]

Rush the reaserch on survey, you also get more chance at anomaly which is really nice (usually I get 4 scientist surveying pretty quick)

Then finish expansion and grab the border range perk and then put one point in supremacy.

Border range is absolute king in this game, you want to make sure you deny as much area as possible to your neighbor so you can keep as many planet as you can in your empire to colonize when you have the influence.

I don't really understand going prosperity first, you really don't save that much mineral/energy and you don't really boost futur unity production (a bit with the energy grid, but early game you only have a few of those going around). The consumer reduction is nice, but that's probably just 5-10 mineral early game.

[Hyperion]

Originally posted by meiam:

I don't really understand going prosperity first, you really don't save that much mineral/energy and you don't really boost futur unity production (a bit with the energy grid, but early game you only have a few of those going around). The consumer reduction is nice, but that's probably just 5-10 mineral early game.

Key here is to save every mineral you can to build that extra corvettes that shall bring you victory over your neighbour and give you a decent start instead of slow colonization.