Why is my production lagging?

Neptune's Pride
1

Hey veteran NP players!

I guess I’m relatively new to NP- I’ve been playing for a few months and have maybe 15 games under my belt and a few wins. While I think I’ve got a decent grasp of game strategy, here’s a piece that I haven’t been able to crack:

I usually have a strong early-game presence, but no matter what I do, after mid-game and especially at end-game, my Economy, Industry, and Science numbers are always way behind the rest of the galaxy. I start strong, but then get passed by, and can’t compete in any of those three realms when it starts to really matter.

I’ve tried leading investing heavily in one of the three areas exclusively to see if that would pay off down the road. After trying each one, I found that not only could I not keep up in the other two realms, but I was still falling behind in the area I was focusing all my resources in.

I’ve tried a balanced approach, but ended up with the same result, and I’ve tried to win my industry and science through conquest, thinking that was the missing link. Still nothing. I’m getting frustrated with myself that I can’t figure out where I’ve gone wrong- does anyone see what it is that I’m missing?

Thanks for any input!

2

without seeing what you are doing it’s hard to tell what you are doing wrong. sometimes it’s just the luck (or lack of it) of the draw. some people are in very good starting positions and others are in terrible ones.

tip. save your money for economy and don’t spend it until just before production. that way you have more worlds to spend it on and you get more for your cash.

3

Are you sending diplomatic messages to the other players ?
making any alliances ?
trading technology with other players or AI ?
Are you using the combat calculator to help predict battle results ?

4

@Praxus,

It is widely understood (in galaxies of 4 or more players) that the repeated gifts of technology between allies (aka trading) will assure long term survivability for any empire. It just takes way too long for any individual player to develop adequate technologies to keep up with other players who spend 1/2 to 1/3 of the time developing complimentary techs to trade.

The short summation says that players who do not trade eventually become lunchmeat for the players who do.

The force be with you, buddy…

5

Hi everyone, thanks for the feedback, and my apologies for taking so long to get back into the conversation.

My frustration comes from the fact that I’ve done some research and have been doing the things you’ve been suggesting. I try to be active diplomatically right from the start and build solid alliances that don’t tend to end in betrayal until endgame, I trade for tech for as long as I have something to offer, and I use the combat calculator unless my bloodlust causes me to forget.

Here’s an example from a game I’m currently playing (Epic-size galaxy, so our star counts are enormous, but we’ve only just started). We’re on cycle 4 and I’m currently 2nd on the leaderboard (my strong start during early game…).

Top dog has 48 stars, 37 Economy, 26 Industry, and 8 Science.

I’ve got 39 stars, 21 Econ, 12 Ind, and 7 Sci.

The player below me has 37 stars, 33 Econ, 7 Ind, and 6 Sci.

Due to tech trading, I’m sitting in the best position (tied with top dog) in the galaxy when it comes to science, but I can already see that my numbers are falling off, and they’re waaaay behind the leader. It doesn’t seem to jive with the fact that he’s only got 9 more stars than me at this point. I know that may give him access to cheaper resource builds, but the differences seem too big for that to be the only reason.

I’m putting the majority of my money into Economy at this time, to build up that infrastructure for big resource dumps into industry and science in the next few cycles.

This is where I find myself on a slippery slope and the differences between my production and that of those around me starts to grow. Based on my prior experience, I would expect to start dropping down the leaderboard after 2 or 3 more cycles because I just can’t seem to keep up. Even when I’m aggressively taking stars from other players through conquest and reaping the industry and science rewards from that I can’t hang.

Any red flags flying here? I haven’t cracked the code yet, I guess.

6

On the Galaxy screen, there are three tabs; Stars, Carriers, and Ships.
Each column header can be clicked to sort that column, either ascending or descending.
This could help you identify cheaper locations to buy ECON, IND, or SCI.
Be sure to also set “Enable Upgrades”.

The Orange colors are mouse click hot spots.
Clicking the eyeball will find the location on the map.
You can also click toggle “Show All or My Stars”.

Also read the Help Codex / Keyboard Shortcuts.

If you feel like you might be on a losing trend, then I like to attack less and defend more,
to take advantage of the Defender’s Weapons+1 bonus. Sometimes against a near evenly matched enemy, with repeating accumulation, this Home Field Advantage tactic can turn the tide in my favor, and then I could become strong enough later to go on the offensive again.

7

Hello Praxus.

Don’t give up!

This IS a really hard game to master. I am - like you - a reasonable new player. Actually I think we’ve met in a couple of games :slight_smile:

What I’ve learned so far:

  • Relations to other players are really important.
  • Watching the numbers (econ, prod, sci) is also important. Like someone mentioned: Investing in the best/cheapest stars first is important.
  • In wartime, USE the calculator to pick battles only, that you will win. Ofcourse problems arise, when the stronger bully picks a fight with you. But at least here, you get the defense-bonus :slight_smile:

Also, I’ve found luck to be a factor. Starting positions, distribution of fat juicy stars, etc.

Have fun :slight_smile:

8

I recognize your name-I hope I haven’t betrayed you in a horrible manner when we’ve met!

No quitting for me- I’ve still got a lot of different strategies to experiment with, and I’m sure I’ll find my groove eventually.

Thanks for all the advice, everyone!

9

Yeah, starting positions can be a big changer. I have seen in one standard game a guy who started with no starts reachable by hyperspace1 while others have like 4 options to go from their start. That’s a big thing.

Also, I must say, strong early-game presence may not always mean one than loses. I have picked nice starting position, kept pushing on research bit faster than others and for the most of game kept on the first place in stars. And so far it seems, unless I manage to be like offline for several days or so, I should manage to keep it: there are hardly any not captured stars but I am still slowly taking stars from both my neighbours. Maybe most players being AIs helps a bit, though that AI tech trading… pfff.