Tips for New Players

This guide will get you seriously jump-started into the world of MOO:CTS! Plenty of tips and not-so-obvious info, even for veteran players. Let's start with the most IMPORTANT bit of information. Important because if you don't know about this, it can severely affect the amount of FUN you have with the game!

1. Understand the "Pop Growth Curve"

So the "important thing to know" I teased in the heading is the "Population Growth Curve".

The 'population growth curve' was introduced in EA5 (back in June or July 2016). It made planet biomes actually matter. Before that we(EA players) didn't pay close attention to the biomes and just colonized any planet right away. The developers then toned it down a bit after EA5 so it wasn't quite as slow.

THE "CURVE":
So 1 pop on your colony, the growth rate is super slow. 2 pop it's much faster, 3 pop it's almost set to max for that planet biome until about 2 before max, when it slows down again. The idea is that there's not a lot of people to "make babies with", but when you get more people - there's more "baby makin' going on". :) When you get to end, there's no more room for people and then the governments would probably try and limit pop growth (like China's 1 child policy).

QUICK NOTE: that smaller planets have faster growth curves then Medium, and Medium faster than Large, etc. The developers mentioned this was done to encourage early colonization of smaller planets.

HOW TO MANAGE THE CURVE?
SHORT VERSION: Buy your first building and send at least 2 civilian ships ASAP.

DETAILED VERSION:
1. At beginning of game, research automatic factory or hydroponic farm.

2. Up your tax rate to 4 (or if the Terran race, 5 - the max). As high as you can go without a worker going on strike/rioting. It's OK to let them strike later on in the game when you need the BC, but it's to much of a hit to have rioting workers in the beginning.

3. On your one home colony, the first thing I usually build is another frigate (after first updating the design and dropping the lasers, adding 1 bomb and 1 additional nuclear missile). Alternatively, consider building "trade goods" to increase your income (worth it if you're Terran) while you wait for the research on the auto-factory or hydro farm to complete.

4. Scout the planets and find one that's at least ARID or better, Terran is obviously a great find! A small, terran biome planet is even better since smaller planets grow faster. Most likely the best you'll have is ARID though (which is still way better than Baren or Desert or Tundra).
The "balanced starting conditions" option, in 'advanced options', is on by default when you start a new game and guarantees each player in the game has at least one good biome planet near their home planet at the start of the game.

5. Once you have a research breakthrough with the auto factory or hydroponic farm, I switch to building that on the main planet and it's at that point that I'll colonize the planet. The key is - make sure you have, or almost have, enough money to buy that factory or hydro farm on the new colony right away!
The reason: the first colony ship doesn't have a +1 food (that you get later; see #6 below) so you HAVE to keep your colonist on farming. That means, unless the planet has 'Dark Quartz', you have NO production. So buy an autofactory, or buy a hydro farm and put your colonist in the worker slot. Ultimately you want both as soon as possible on the new planet.

6. After I've researched auto factory, hydro farm, government center/research center I go for the civilian transport/colony base. That "colony base" will upgrade your colony ship so the next time you build one it will have +1 food - which means you could actually move your colonist to the production slot without starving (like it is by default).

7. You want civilian ships soon because you want to get to at least 2 pop, or ideally 3 on your new colony. Eventually you get in the habit of having civilian ships ready to go with your colony ship. With 3 colonists, that's enough to hit the BOOST on the pop growth.

8. I then set all colonists as farmers on the new colony, except sometimes 1 in production, to grow the planet population as fast as possible. Buying buildings periodically (usually the food buildings, then production). I target 1 new pop in less than 10 turns. THe first may be 1 new pop in 20 turns, but again - it gets much faster for each 'farming' building you build. Again, I play on 'Classic' speed or higher - so this would obviously be slower with a slower game speed.

SIDE NOTE: Silcoids have their own unique path, since they consume rocks (production basically) - so look for Volcanic/Inferno planets first for them. Meklars may also have a diff path. I haven't played as either of those races yet.

2. Terraforming is a BIG Deal

Terraforming is a big deal.
Can't say it enough. You'll notice that each planet has a 'biome' meter. They primarily are (from worst to best): Toxic/Radiated, Baren, Desert, Arid, Terran, Gaia. There are other paths - like Ocean is roughly equivalent to Terran (but considered ever so slightly worse). There is Swamp sometimes instead of Desert and then there are 'Uber' race specific Biomes (which I don't know as much about) - like Volcanic and Jungle.

The point of Terraforming:
It boosts you up to next BIOME level and that increases your population growth as well as the max number of colonists you can have on the planet (and additional slots are opened for workers). Each successive terraform will cost significantly more than previous one and you CAN'T BUY it out like other buildings. So it's a big deal to START with a good BIOME. The best you can find. Ideally Arid or higher in early game. Also, note that with Toxic planets you can build the 'Toxic Processor' building and it will convert it to Baren. You can build the Radiation shield to change the radiated planet to Baren.

Pollution Tolerance better with Baren and Volcanic Biomes
While in general it's always a good idea to get better biomes, one nice side benefit of at least two 'bad' biomes (Baren and Volcanic) is a much higher pollution tollerance. This means you can have more workers in the production slots without crossing over into positive per turn pollution territory.

3. Managing Pollution

The Pollution System Change
The pollution system was drastically changed in the v53 patch. The game no longer has a 'Pollution Cleanup' item you can add to the build queue to cleanup accumulated pollution (which occurs from having to many workers in the production slot).

The pollution now has additional negative effects if left unchecked. Specifically, as you start accumulating pollution your farming slot numbers will start declining and you won't produce as much food. As before, if you let the pollution accumulate past the planets balance (the red pollution number on the right on the colony screen), the planet's biome will be downgraded one level.

Pollution now accumulates differently. All planets except baren and volcanic have a tolerance of 30 and now individual colonists add to that pollution. The more productive your planet (the more productivity buildings you build and how rich in minerals it is) the more pollution you'll generate. The planet 'tolerance' means you can generate more pollution without accumulating pollution (which is when the pollution number goes positive on the colony and starts increasing toward the planets balance).

To 'cleanup' pollution, you now simply remove workers form your production slots until you get a negative pollution per turn number. The more workers you remove the more negative the number (per turn) and the faster you'll clean it up.

Rich and Very Rich planets have more cleanup options
As of v54 (the large patch that came out with the 3 new race DLC), pollution has been further tuned and it's now less severe. We also now have new options like a 'Recyclotron' building which can be built on Rich and Very Rich planets. This provides an additiona 25 cleanup per turn. This means you can now have a lot of workers in your production slots without generating as much pollution as compared to Abundant and lower planet mineral classifications. As a result, you'll want those lower mineral planets to be dedicated more towards research and farming.

Recommendations for Managing Pollution
In general, try and keep the per turn pollution number on a colony 0 or negative. The farming can quickly go down hill if you allow a little pollution and suddenly you'll be short food for your colony. Again - to cleanup, remove workers from your production slot and move them to farming or research.

Don't forget to check back on your planets per turn pollution numbers after more colonist have been added or more production buildings have been built! Both of these can increase the per turn pollution number and could push you over into positive per turn territory if you're not careful.

As of v54 patch we have the Recyclotron for Rich and Very rich planets - that means those planets will be an obvious choice for ship production where-as the abundant and lower planets should be dedicated more towards farming and research. You'll have to much pollution on these planets if you tried building large ships in a decently fast time (without the recyclotron available). Of course, if you choose the 'Core Waste Dump' later in the tech tree, the pollution problem is removed all together for all planets.

4. Command Points

You need "command points" for your ships. Each ship class will use up a certain amount of command points as will outposts you build on starpoints. If you use more command points than you have available, each command point you are over will cost 20bc per turn.

Command points are generated by star bases. As a reminder, you build star bases on the planet's "build" screen, not to be confused with outposts (built by space factory ship) on starlane points. Build more star bases to get more points. There is also tech that gives you more command points PER starbase (tachyon communications may be the first, that adds +2/starbase).

You also will be able to upgrade your starbase to a battlestation and then star fortress and those will each generate more command points than the starbase. Lastly, some races start out with more, like Terran.

5. Build Outposts!

Build outposts - they block star lanes and an AI is MUCH LESS likely to attack it because attacking an outpost or planet STARTS A WAR.

On the other hand, if an AI was blocking with their ships only and you attacked and destroyed them - you will NOT start a war, but you will severly damage your relationship with the AI (as to be expected).

6. Blocking Starlane Points with Ships

To create "Chokepoints" - you can use your ships to guard/block. Select your ship and click the button guard/block button(or 'G' shortcut key).

Keep in mind, the AI may attack you because in moo-cts, you can attack another players ships WITHOUT starting a WAR - you'll just really kill your relations with them (if you did the attacking). IF you attack an outpost or a planet, THAT will start a war. But not ships alone. So if you are in good standing, or DEFINATELY if you have a non-aggression pack - send out a bunch of ships and guard some starline points! I do this a lot to guard nice systems I find, but I'm not yet ready to colonize.

Part of the fun of the game (for me anyway), is at the beginning of the game taking a good long look at all the starlanes and systems and then sending out frigates to guard key starlane entry points into key systems. I make sure to keep my ship strength in line with the AIs (or higher usually) so the AI is less likely to attack my ships (a non-aggresion pact is best - to guarantee they won't attack). I then get my first colonies in these key locations and get outposts up to block the AI's access to all the systems BEHIND that forward base/colony. It's pretty easy to win when you play this aggressive - but it requires a lot of diplomacy to keep the AI happy (and trade treaties are essential for that and for the cash/BCs to bribe them with).

7. Importance of the Non-Aggression Pact

Get a non-aggression pact as soon as you can, even pay good money for it - because the AI will RARELY break the pact and you can freely go out with your ships and block starlanes around nice looking systems with out worrying about the AI attacking your ships.

Generally an AI's willingness to break a non-aggression pact is most likely based on your relative power compared to the rest of the players (sorry I don't have hard facts on this one!). A good overall recommendation is to try and have equivalent ship numbers and colonies. You can check the AI's numbers on the 'Path to Victory' and 'View Timeline Graph' button.

The only time I've had the AI break an non-aggression pact was when I destroyed the second to last AI, leaving only the Silicoids. The next turn the Silcoids declared war on me (and we had a non-aggression pact). This could also be due to the new AI changes implemented in v49.3 (that honestly still need tuning). They're supposed to be smarter about when to start a war in v49.3 - and in this case, it was smart since I had wiped out everyone else.

A few notes on Alliances
I don't personally use alliances myself, an old habit I carried over from MOO2 where they were more trouble then they're worth. Because of this, my information on Alliances is minimal in MOO:CTS. Thankfully one of the commenters below provided some very good Alliance info:

Thanks to @prokolyo down in the comments for providing this helpful alliance info!

1) When in alliance, you don't automatically vote for your ally, you still have choice.
2) Alliance comes with open borders.
3) If you're in alliance with someone and get attacked, your ally automatically declares war on the attacker, while if you attack someone, your ally is under no obligation to support you.
4) If your ally gets attacked, you declare on the attacker automatically.
5) If your ally starts a war and asks you to join (which you're not under obligation to do), and you refuse, the disposition hit is not that big at all.
6) And a little cool bonus, you can upgrade your ships at your ally's colonies or outposts

Times when alliances are useful:
1. If you're scared that an AI will attack you, you make an ally and the threatening AI now should consider waging a war vs two opponents.
2) When you're landlocked/space-locked and need access to somewhere (and they don't go for open-borders treaty).
3) When you need to ensure votes for elections.

8. Space Factories

If you go out with your space factory and build 'sensors', especially in an AI system where you have a non-agression pact - you can take and hold the slot where the AI might have built an outpost that prevented you from passing through that space. Note that unless you have a non-agression pact, the AI MAY bomb the sensor. Typically though, even without a pact, they tend to be ignored by the AI.

So you end up building 'sensors' all over the place. Bad thing - pirates are pretty aggressive, so they tend to destroy them. SO be vigillant about wiping out pirate bases when they pop up (and getting the free +1 population- 50% of the time - at your nearest colony!).

You'll also use space factories to build the super useful 'jump gates' - for much faster out-of-starlane travel. And for asteroid research base, gas giant mining and then creating planets from gas giants and asteroid fields.

9. Real Time Tactical Combat

With moo-cts tactical combat you can do the typical RTS-game type of things. Here are a few useful tips:

SELECT SINGLE SHIP: To select a SINGLE ship right now, you can't single select it - you have to drag select around it. UPDATE: As of v51, you can now select a single ship by simply clicking on it!

SPECIALS/AUTO-CAST: If your ship has specials on it (like auto-repair or subspace teleporter), you'll see big round icons at the bottom after you've selected a ship or group of similar ships that have the same equipment. If you RIGHT click on the special you can turn on AUTO-CAST. These are off now, by default, with v49.3. Auto-cast is essential with auto-repair. Conversely, it can be annoying to have auto-cast on with subspace teleporter. To trigger these manually, left click on them or hit the shortcut key (Q, W, E, R are keys bound to 'special' slots).

CREATE GROUPS: drag select multiple (or one ship) and then assign them to keyboard groups (1 through 0). To create a group (after selecting ships), hold CTRL+1, or CTRL+2, etc. up to 0 at the top of your keyboard. You can then hit the keyboard group number and then right click on an enemy to target or concentrate fire on the ships GROUP. The only time it will let you attack a single ship is if it's the only 'ship class' in the group'. TO add additional ships to your pre-selected ship group, you hold SHIFT and drag around additional ships (I may be wrong here...it could be hold CTRL key).

SLIDER CONTROLS: The first slider is the speed of the selected ships - they start out adjusted so they all move at the same rate. The second slider with two sliders within it is the min/max firing range. Those are also usually auto adjusted by the weapons you have. If you reduce the range you can get in closer to fire on your enemy - which is useful if you have weapons who's damage dissipates with range.

QUEUE SHIP MOVEMENTS: You can select your ship group, then hold the SHIFT key and LEFT click to QUEUE up your ship movements. You'll see a faint grey line showing your route. This can be handy if you want to easily maneuver your ships between two nebulas (which negate your ships shields).

New Options Recently Added
As of v53 patch we have the following new options:

Emulate Turn-Based Tactical Combat: For those of you that miss TBC, this isn't the same - BUT it's not to bad of an emulation of TBC. Instead we have an 'auto-timer'. By default this is set to 5 seconds. It's the small circle on the upper right of the pause button (which is in the bottom right of the screen). Click the small circle to turn on the auto-timer, right click to change the auto-timer time.

Auto-Cast or turn off inidividual ship weapons : While tactical combat is paused, you can now select a ship and then click (or right click) on it's individual weapons to turn off auto-cast (if off, the weapon will not fire until auto-cast is turned back on). This gives you tight control when used in conjunction with the auto-timer (mentioned above) over when you fire a ships weapons.

As of v54 patch we have these options:

Ship "Ram" Ability : We now have a RAM command (select ship, select ram button, select target).

Ship Profiles : 'Ship profiles' that can be assigned on the ship designer. Ship profiles are 'behaviors' a ship will execute during tactical combat automatically. xample role: 'sniper', etc.

10. Ship Build Order Suggestion

Just like there is generally a 'right build order' in Starcraft, that unfortunately is true with MOO-CTS (or a lot of 4x games). The best start ship equipment: 1 bomb (for pirate bases) and as many missiles as you can fit. Use the remaining space for lasers with the PD modifier (to shoot down enemy missiles). No non-pd beam weapons until Mass Drivers (they're shield piercing), and even then - only if the enemy has good shields on their ships. I typically stick with mercullite missiles (or pulson missiles if available) for a long wihile, eventually adding some ships with semi-guided proton Torpedos. I don't start building ships with beam weapons until I research the graviton beam and even then those ships are half missiles. Other players just stick with pretty much all missiles most of the game.

By the time you get to Phasers (with the auto fire modifier ideally), you'll want to go beams only with 1/3rd semi-guided torpedos (as they can't be shot down). You'll be unstoppable by then. Final/best beam is the gauss cannon - as it's a lot of damage and shield piercing (and small and cheap by end of tech tree).

This build order of course is an opinion only - though one that has served me well (I've never lost a single player game of moo-cts via counless repeat plays on Very Hard with 4 different stock races). I believe the first half of that build order most experienced players would agree with, but by mid-game people have many different preferences (for example some stick with missile boats with advanced missile tech).

11. Creative Trait

The main benefit of 'Creative' trait (that the Psilon race has) is you don't have to decide between various tech after it's researched like normal. For example: Latest Armor or the newest missile?
Creative has other benefits as well, like 50% research bonus (as of v51).

Personally, I think the creative trait takes away a lot of the fun of making the hard choices. In my opinion the most powerful/overpowered race seems to be the Terran race. Primarily due to the: 20% less ship building time and 15% boost in morale (tax a lot for lots of bc with very few rioters).

12. Minor Civilizations

They're BAAACCK!
Previously introduced in an early EA version at the beginning of 2016, the old Minor Civ feature was eventually scrapped before MOO was released. Now a new Minor Civ system is back as of patch v54!

Key Things to Know
Minor Civilizations are scattered randomly through out the galaxy. When your scout ship gets close to one you'll get the usual 'ping' that you see when a pirate base or another AI race is nearby.

To interact with a minor race, colonize a planet in their system. Once you've done that you'll be able to select the 'Invest' option on the pop-up that appears when you click the minor civ's home planet.

In addition to the benefits mentioned on the 'invest' pop-up, the minor race's population will also vote for you at the next galactic council meeting.

13. Antarians

Antarians Added to Game
As of patch v54 (the patch that came out with the 3 race DLC) - Antarians have been introduced to the game. If you played MOO2, you probably know what to expect. There's lots of cool new cut scenes that have been introduced with this feature (when the Antarians attack YOUR planet - the cutscene that plays is kind of freaky!). Also lots of funny Antarian related GNN reports now! :)

Option to turn them off
When you start a new game, there's an option in the 'Advanced Options' section to turn on/off whether the Antarians randomly attack (just like in MOO2).

When and who they attack
From what I've been able to gather (not 100% on this yet), the Antarians will show up every 25 to 50 turns and attack the 1st or 2nd most powerful race (the choice between those too is random).

Fight back or Flee
Personally, the second I see the Antarians show up and heading for my colony - I buy a civilian ship each turn to evacuate anywhere from 3 to 4 ships worth of colonist. I do this because the Antarians just use biological weapons - they don't destroy any of the buildings, just wipe out the colonists. After they bombard they'll stay by your planet one turn, then leave the next. If you had a planetary shield you might have some colonist left. At that point I just drop my 3 or 4 ships worth of colonist back on the planet and put them all in the Food slots. I usually get 1 pop back every 1 to 3 turns, so I quickly get my planet back up to full health.
BTW - If this is later in the game and you have LOTS of money, you can probably afford to purchase multiple civilian ships in one turn (select civilian ship and up the number to build to same number as planet's pop) and save your ENTIRE planet.

The alternative, of course, is fight the Antarians. In my games they have always outmatched my ships almost always in the fleets defense number. Plus loosing all my best ships in an effort to stop the Antarians means I suddenly am a lot weaker to the other races and they may declare war on me or start demanding things in Diplomacy.

How to get to their homeworld
There are special asteroid bases throughout the galaxy that you need to have your space factory build a base on to initiate 'antarian related relic' research. You can see your progress on the 'Victory Conditions' screen now - it's the far right pane (assuming you didn't turn off the antarians option when you started a new game).

You need to build three of these bases. Once the research has completed on these three bases...well, you'll see. Don't want to spoil everything!

14. Trade Treaties are Important!

Trade Treaties are VERY IMPORTANT.
If you're not the Terran race (which has the morale bonus, which means they can tax higher and get more money) - you'll definately want to enter into trade agreements with the other AI races in your game.

If you're not in a trade treaty, by mid-game you will be cash/BC poor (probably just barely into positive territory). Conversely, if you have trade treaties you can easily maintain 200bc per turn on a small circular galaxy with only 2 AI trade treaties.

Having money is essential as you need it to periodically upgrade your ships and give your new colonies a jump start by buying the first few buildings.

To open a trade treaty you and the AI race both need to have enough money. If you hold your mouse over the 'Trade Treaty' option when in a diplomatic meeting with AI it will show you how much it will cost and it will also let you know if the AI doesn't have enough BCs.

Some Recommendations
As soon as you research the embassy, open up a diplomatic channel with AI and ask to place an embassy at their homeworld. Offer to pay the meager amount they want in the beginning of the game (usually a few credits and maybe 5 to 10 bcs per turn).

Once you have the embassy in place, if the AI has enough BCs you'll see the 'Trade Treaty' option. Propose it - they should go for it without needing extra incentive in the beginning of the game. Some, like the Mrrshan want a tribute of 5 to 10bc) - still go with it. It's totally worth it.

A Trade Treaty 'Trick'
Many times the AI doesn't have enough money and so the Trade Treaty option is not available. Hold your mouse over the trade treaty to see how much it costs. If you've already done some deals with the AI, on the main diplomacy screen (before you open a channel/meeting with them) you can see what their credit/BC balance is.

Now open a diplomatic channel again and offer them a credit gift of the difference they have in their BC balance and what the trade treaty says they need. If you can't see their balance, just offer them the entire amount needed for the trade treaty.

This offers a two-fold benefit - the credit gift will boost your relations with the AI race PLUS you'll get the very profitable trade treaty. EVEN giving up the money for the credit gift still makes the trade treaty worth it as you'll still make almost 10x what the treaty cost.

15. Auto-Save via the Timeline

Did you know that moo-cts saves EVERY TURN of your game by default?

To access auto-saves: At the top right of the main galaxy screen is a bunch of main menu buttons. Click the one that looks like a small vertifical pie chart (the 'Path to Victory' button). Then click the 'View Timeline Graph' button in the button right. All those lines are auto-saves (every turn by default!). Click on one and you'll be asked if you want to load that turn. That's an easy way to go BACK to previous turns. As you mouse over the lines it will show the turn number and overall score for the line.

Auto-save files get big! MOO-CTS stores its auto-save files in your 'Documents/Master of Orion/Saves' folder. With the default 'save every turn' option on, it can quickly get large. As of this writing, I have 26 GB of auto-save files! You can go into MOO-CTS options to change how frequent the game creates auto-save files to save space (like every 5 turns, for example).

16. Move Multiple Colonist at Once

A gem of a tip here, and not listed anywhere but on these forums: HOLD CTRL + left click on a worker to select that worker and all the workers to the right of it. So you can easily move a bunch of workers at a time. We keep asking the the developers to add a tooltip or something! This is WAY to handy to be so hidden and generally unknown!

17. Game Speed Matters

If you didn't notice it, there are multiple game speeds available. You can see the 'presets' when you start a new game (I typically play on 'Quick'), but you can customize more specifically under 'Advanced Options'.

Picking the right speed for your play style can significantly affect how much fun you have with the game. I personally like to increase the pop growth and production speeds a little more, but keep the research normal - otherwise you don't get to enjoy your new weapon very long before you already have the next one!

18. Galaxy Types Matter a LOT!

There are three different galaxy types all which provide a different gaming experience:

1. "Circular" is the more traditional one that's most simular to previous MOO games. No restrictions on movement and it includes a worm hole to zoom from one side of the galaxy to the other.

2. "Cluster" is basically a way to "turtle in" - you are in your own inaccessible part of the galaxy (your 'cluster') and the AI can't get to you, and you can't get to them, until you've reseach the multi-state insulator (I believe is its name), and that's almost midway through the tech tree.

3. "Spiral" is similar to a cluster in that your isolated from others in the galaxy EXCEPT that you have one AI isolated with you!

19. Where to find the MOO-CTS Manual

There's an official moo-cts manual available! To find it, click on steam 'Library' menu, then select 'Master of Orion' in your game library. On the far right, in the game's "Links" section(links like Discussions, etc.) you'll see a 'Manual' link. It's also downloaded to your local MOO install folder.

@Birdie_Sparrow is the author and is always updating the manual with more details with each new moo patch. I'm sure you'll run across him on the "General Discussion" forum at some point.

UPDATE - 3/20/17
FROM: ELPOZOLEOLMECA
Today we’ve released a new version of the game manual, which can be found in the local files of Master of Orion (Game properties / Local files / Browse local files / Manuals).
The updated version includes the Revenge of Antares features.

20. The amazing 5x Ultimate Mod and UCP

If you get bored with 'vanilla MOO:CTS', do yourself a favor and check out the amazing 5x MOD from user SpudDastardly. It's typically installed with the unofficial MOO:CTS patch maintained by user WhatIsSol.

WhatIsSol's UCP (Unofficial Code Patch) is also amazing, with some core game upgrades: new tool tips, a build queue(!), new keyboard and mouse shortcuts and TONS of bug and quality of life fixes. It's a must have!

Go here for the 5x mode homepage in the workshop section of Steam (link to UCP on 5x page):
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=800155077

Mod Install Instructions
Installing the MOO:CTS MODs can get confusing, as proper order in the MOO menu is important and for some like the UCP, you need to run an installer on your PC/MAC/Linux machine. There was some handy tips for ordering popular MODs on this discussion thread:
"Confused on mod load order and install order"
https://steamcommunity.com/app/298050/discussions/0/2952663522505261914/

WhatIsSol has a MUCH more detailed MOD installation guide here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2100282005

More Questions?

Have more questions? Ask in the comments below. For any recurring questions I'll update this guide.

Don't forget to give this guide a thumbs up if you liked it!

Thanks and I hope this guide helps!
PurdueGuy

[Mithrandale]

I've thought ever since my first large-galaxy game in MOO2 that controlling the galaxy except for what an ally holds should count as conquest, since a functioning alliance is really a form of conquest.
In the game I described, I never had to worry about them asking me to go to war against someone I didn't want to; the way the galaxy was arranged any enemy of theirs was also an enemy of mine; the only difference being whether I was ready for war with any given enemy. The alliance lasted over four hundred turns without a hitch!
That reminds me of something I've long thought should be in the Diplomacy options: a request that another empire ally with a second other empire, as a way to get a three-way alliance. My current game would be great for that; I have one functionally but it's a balancing act to keep the unofficial ally happy and cooperative.

[purdueguy]

@Mithrandale - thanks for sharing! That's a cool example. That would indeed be a potentially good use of alliance. Of course, you're still left with that long term commitment until it probably inevitably breaks up. Where they'll ask you to go to war against an enemy of theirs, and you say no, and they get mad and there's the slow march down to eventual war with them later.

It works as a strategy mid-game to get easy access to other systems, especially in this unique case, and lets you build up your empire. You could also just stick with them the whole game and go to war with whomever they ask and keep them happy. The two of you 'to the end' until you have to declare war on each other at the very end.

[Mithrandale]

I stumbled into a situation where an alliance was very helpful: I pushed my way around another empire and found a string of warp lines that didn't connect to any other stars, just a 'straight' line of solitary connections. At the end of that line of connections was a system with three rich planets that had accessible neighboring systems with decent planets. So I ended up with an empire that had two lobes connected by a single string of systems such that to get from my home system to the second lobe of my empire was taking sixteen turns. But as my second lobe expanded I found the Bulrathi and discovered that the same trip would take just five turns if I could use their territory. Open borders would have been enough to cut through their territory, but the empire my string of systems went around was a bit aggressive and I decided that having an ally holding those valuable warp lines was better.

[purdueguy]

Hi @FoxMccloud - refer to #15 above for instructions on how to change autosave settings. Click the contents link on right to jump to it. Happy gaming!

[Foxrafaold]

How to configure autosave? I actually had 20GB of saved files!

[purdueguy]

@Silverholic - thanks for sharing some of your strategies regarding Antarians. You mentioned the game is easy, I'm curious, and I'll ask a dumb/obvious question here - but have you upped the difficulty level for a greater challenge? :) Or tried a different race that's more of a challenge to play with, if you're maxing difficulty in the 'vanilla' MOO:CTS game? If you have done both of those - well, then you truly have mastered the 'vanilla' version of the game then. You may want to consider writing up your own 'moo:cts advanced strategies' steam guide even, if you don't mind sharing? I'd certainly be curious to read it. Thanks again!

[Silverholic]

This game is really easy. I have never had any AI pose any sort of threat to me. The Antarans are really annoying but I find that if you don't let them win a single battle, they don't get strong enough to hurt you badly. The trick is to keep your entire fleet at your strongest planet and wait for them to show up. When they do, you wipe them out and then can move your ships to do other things. If you let the win a battle, the next time around they come back much stronger with the ships they were allowed to leave with plus the new ones they built. At this point if they win again you are almost certain you will never be able to defeat them. I would not use beam weapons ships against them. Missile boats at extreme range is the only way I fight them and I win pretty much all my first without loosing many ships. Usually you will loose your smallest ships but your stronger ones will survive.

[purdueguy]

@bnando70 - I'll refer you to the MOO:CTS game's Steam discussion boards. People respond pretty quickly with detailed information over there.

[bnando70]

Hi I am new to MOO4 and the steam community. I enjoyed playing the game and heard about installing a few mods to improve the game. I subscribed to the unofficial code patch and 5X the ultimate balance mod 5.0.1. In the game start under MODS, It shows these 2 modes being active. Does that mean these have been successfully installed, and i don't have to do anything else?

If so I just notice that when i build an asteroid lab on an Antaran ruin it no longer tells that i have started the research or shows that i have made progress up to 100% and under the path to victory tab, the progress is 0/400.

Thanks for any feedback

[purdueguy]

@jeffseig - happy to help!
@valtur_naa - sure, understood - it's just my own opinion. Back in MOO1 and initially in MOO2 Psilons were a fav race of mine, then settled into just playing as Humans most of the time. Terrans were a fav in MOO:CTS (when playing non-modded/vanilla version of game).