Are the Klackon the best?

[XKorpion]

I sure think they are, as long as you don't let the Meklar get too far into the Computer Tech tree

[Hans Lemurson]

They're good, definitely top-tier for their explosive early growth, but nobody can really touch the true master-race: The Psilons.

+50% bonus to every BC spent on Research.
Considered "Good" in every tech field, for a +20% bonus in each area.

Add in the fact that a high enough Shield tech makes you nearly immune to damage, and you're looking at a race that can sit peacefully in the corner cooking up an unstoppable death-fleet.

The Klackon and Meklar advantages each decrease with time, as additional levels in Robotic Controls reduces their relative potency. The Psilons' advantage however increases with time, as more tech = more power = more tech.

Humans come in 2nd. Their excellent diplomatic relations with every other race means they can usually avoid being attacked by more powerful neighbors, and easily win friends for the Galactic Council vote. There's a MoO speedrun video where the player wins in under 10 minutes as the humans, by winning the very first election.

[NikDanger]

Both as an AI and a player Psilons are the strongest if they can survive the early game; their advantage in tech doesn't really manifest into a game-dominating lead until about the mid-way point. As a player this doesn't really matter too much, since keeping the computer off your arse while you build up your initial territory is important regardless of who you play, but against the Psilon AI it means you'll want to cripple them early, because they will become terrifyingly powerful if left alone in a solid position.

However, the Klackons are arguably just as good. Their production bonus allows them to start the game faster than anyone but maybe the Silicoids, but without all the nasty side-effects. In many games--especially ones in smaller galaxy sizes--a strong start is the most important factor in winning. The only problem they have is that they suck in propulsion, and while you can make do later on, there are occasionally games where you miss critical drive tech and cannot perform a proper early expansion as a result. But barring that, Klackons are maybe the equal of the Psilons in the hands of a player.

As for the Meklar, I'd say they're the second strongest end-game race, closely behind the Psilons, if only because diversity and strength of technology is usually more important than numerical fleet/base strength. Biggest problem with the robots is that when your advantage is essentially a higher max potential, you don't see that advantage until very late, and often games are lost well before then.

Spare a word for Humanity, too! In a smaller galaxy, in the hands of a good player, a diplomatic victory is the easiest way to win on Impossible!

[Haldurson]

First of all, Klackons are noticable better than Meklars in actual practice. The reason is that with Meklars, in order to get the same production bonuses, yoiu have to divert more production from population and research. And think of it this way -- Klackons have immediate production bonus, with Meklars, it is postponed. So you are getting the Klackon boost over a longer period of time.

Also, Sakkra are actually kinda good as well, for the same reason. It's the time element -- because of your greater population with little effort, you get an effective production and research boost over longer periods of time. You may think that this is only important in the early game, but it also is great when conquering planets, when gaining various terraforming techs, and when recovering from transporting population.

Now, Silicoids would be AWESOME if they weren't so buggy, if you play to their strengths. Basically, I've won games on Impossible with Silicoids without much effort, by super-rapid expansion. You get access to all of those rich and ultra rich planets real quick. Keep anyone you meet happy while you take all of the prime real estate. The hardest part is maximizing the populations on those planets -- I tend to have clouds of small population being transported all over the place while I expand.

They are buggy because certain terraforming techs really screw up spending on planets which means tons and tons of micromanagement to fix how the game tries to 'help' you adjust that spending.

[Othobrithol]

I'll follow generally with the consenus.

Psilons - weaker early, best late.
Klackons - early boost, low turnaround from 'recently conquered' to 'useful'
Humans - manipulation and trade work well
Meklar - can pull of a pretty sick midgame production boom->early armada
Sakra - good for an early rapid invasion strategy with ability to recover quickly

the others are junk, but the bulrathi and darlocks are both problematic neighbors

[XKorpion]

This is all very good discussion. You mentioned that Darloks are problematic. Now, if I recall correctly, aside from the Darlok's natural ability, your computer tech level number in comparison to a target player's is tied directly to spy success probability. Am I right?

[HereticPriest]

yes, you are right. Afaik the techlevel in computer tech is just added to the success-roll for both parties. And i have to add that i won some seemingly completely impossible games with darlocks by sabotaging missle bases of psilon worlds in just the right moment. I was lucky of course. Dont underestimate the specific tech-advantages of certain races. a "very good" means a dramatic decrease in costs and more available choices in that field - this makes some of the seemingly weaker races much better then is obvious.

[Jon Bon]

The great thing about MOO1 (which is not in any other MOO) is that every races is very, very different. You can find great strategies for all of them. I used to play this game a lot, and I've won "impossible" with a lot of different races. I would rank the Darlocks close to the top. With the right setup (starting near the psilon, for example), they can be the most powerful race...just start cranking computer technology, and steal everything else. Bulrathi can do something similar as they are awesome in ground combat, and you can steal tech when you invade. Meklar, Klackons, and Psilons are probably the easiest to play. I've also had successful games with Silocoids, expanding easily as they can take worlds nobody else wants or is able to inhabit in the early game.

It's a shame this level of diversity was dropped in MOO2 and MOO3...I found the differences between the races to be much less interesting. The ability to make your own race was kind of cool, but there were few good combos or strategies. I'm hoping the new MOO goes back to real differences with vastly differing strategies required for success...I'm about to play my first game.

[Centauri2991]

This is the beauty of this game, ive always had great success in impossibru with the Mrrshan and Alkari, the innate defence and attack buffs work wonders when you are using hundreds of small and medium ships for the basis of your armada, early game they can easily win battles of attrition that can buy you the time you need to bulk out your economy/expand.

[Haldurson]

Originally posted by Redwind24:

This is the beauty of this game, ive always had great success in impossibru with the Mrrshan and Alkari, the innate defence and attack buffs work wonders when you are using hundreds of small and medium ships for the basis of your armada, early game they can easily win battles of attrition that can buy you the time you need to bulk out your economy/expand.

The problem with tiny ships is that they tend to have problems with heavy shields, plus there are certain weapons that make mincemeat out of those kinds of fleets. Certainly they have their place early in the game, though.

I tend to prefer large ships. But early in the game, or when you need to build quickly (such as when dealing with the asteroid event, or simply dealing with overly-agressive 'friends') then smaller ships are great.

Of course, if you have a sufficient lead in technology, small ships are great. But in that case, any ship you build will be comparatively great, so that's irrelevent. Big ships are simply more flexible and thus more reliable. If you aren't in a big rush, they are worth the wait.

[Centauri2991]

I use medium ships as a rule, far more vesatile and cheap enough to still stack favourably against large. I will also as a rule use shield piercing weapons like neutron pellet guns. If you design em right you get a relatively hard hitting cheap design that can be retrofitted with 2 space range weapons to overcome repulse beams. Added to the +3 defence or attack values of the mrrshan or alkari its quite a dangerous setup.

I would definately prefer to go with a force of 100+ mediums rather than a couple of huge. It also allows you to take more chances, losing a huge craft can cost you a war, losing a couple of dozen mediums loses you a turn a most.

[Zero K]

Psilons were always my favorite, for reasons stated above.

Silicoids were second though; the main reason being in late game a Silicoid planet could build up a rediculus amount of pollution so that when invaded the planet instantly becomes irradiated and loses 90% of it's population capacity. It's petty revenge, sure, but funny as hell.

[kyberion]

If anyone is still playing MOO1 in 2020 and is new to the game please consider this:
- Klackons have the best advantage in the early game.
- If you couple this with an aggressive expansion plan and
- Focus on terraforming and population growth

you will reach the mid game with a vastly superior empire than any other race. Going further, you can expand more aggressively than anyone since you can replace your population faster and thus end up dominating the galaxy easier than ANY other race.

This comes from a veteran of the game having beaten it on the hardest setting in almost any game. I've played with Psilons and Meklar and they are definately good choices but they pale in comparison to a Klackon empire led by someone who can max their advantage.

Also disregard any of the people who say medium or any other size are ok ships. ANYTHING other than huge ideally with auto-repair is a waste of resources. One huge ship with auto-repair can hold off AI fleets in the hundreds or even thousands. I use other sizes just for scouting and colonization.

[rgp151]

Well, there are times when smaller ships are useful.

When going against anything that can one hit your huge ships, then its best to go for small ships. Against really big missile bases or huge stacks of ships with torpedoes or missiles its often best to go with small or medium ships.

I also often use Medium or Large ships as bombers since its easier to get more movement on them, and when you get to subspace teleporters Large is really all you need.

But yes, Klackons are the strongest, hands down. They easily beat out the Psilons. The best thing about the Psilons is the additional tech options you get. The Klackons have the strongest economy all game long, The Meklars are never stronger due to the way Planetology techs work.

The reason people like Psilons is became on Average or Hard level the additional production isn't necessary, but the additional tech options make it nice so you almost always get what you want. But on Impossible the added production of the Klackons massively beats out the Psilons. I'd even say that the Humans are better than Psilons on Impossible actually. You can get tons of resources by trading as Humans with the powerful AI economies and the diplomatic bonuses are very helpful getting started.