Earth: 2025 / Strategy Room / Dr. Wufbam! on Parenting

Wufbam!	Aug 16th 8:04 PM Raising Healthy Countries by Dr. Wufbam! Spock It’s so late in the tourney that the rest of the game will basically consist of the top 30 jockeying for position and the rest of the pack just fighting amongst themselves. But now that I’m the proud parent of a top 15 country that still has a chance at the gold, I can reminisce and think about what I did wrong, and what I would do differently if I brought a new bundle of joy/cash/land/tech/military into the world. I keep running the numbers. Converting from a pure industrialist to a cash demo is really hard. It’s just too difficult for the pure industrial commie/tyrant/dictator to get tech fast enough to make the transition in time. And they lose heavily on their initial investment. So I ran some more numbers. I think I’ve come up with an "optimal" strategy to take advantage of changes in the various "best" income makers throughout the game. I think giving your country as many opportunities as possible early on is paramount. After the first week, the top 50 will pretty much STAY in the top 50 unless war or stupidity knocks them out. But let’s start at the beginning, when your country is a... STAGE 1: TODDLER Your country needs to get off on the right foot, but first it needs to learn to walk. Go communist, build lots of construction sites and industry, financing your growth by selling spies on the private market. Start exploring, but don’t worry about military just yet. Keep selling spies to finance your growth. Vital Statistics at the end of this stage: NW ~$100000. About 500 acres. 60-80 CS. Enough farms to keep everyone fed, the rest industry. As your country comes out of protection, you want a more profitable means of sustaining growth, so switch your industrial production over to turrets. The country will need a lot of cash to grow up fast, because it’s entering... STAGE 2: CHILDHOOD Your country not only knows how to walk, it’s exploring everything it can. Alternate exploration with building more and more industry. Finance growth by selling turrets on the public market. Keep a few spies to sell in case of emergency. Buy food on the market, and make sure to keep everyone fed. Vital Statistics at the end of this stage: NW ~$500000. About 2000 acres. 100+ CS. All industry. Towards the end of this period, you want to shift the focus of your industrial production to offensive weaponry (jets), because your country is on the verge of the rapid growth phase known as... STAGE 3: ADOLESCENCE Your country is now becoming aware of the other countries around it. By now you have a good picture of who the haves and the have nots will be, so start making friends and forming alliances that will last throughout the game. The little guy will want to assert itself and prove itself to those around it, so a Dictatorship or Tyranny would be ideal. Land grab from anyone that looks tasty. Build labs. You’re still financing growth with turret sales on the market. Resist the urge to research between attacks; use those turns to build construction sites instead. Vital Statistics at the end of this stage: NW ~$2000000. About 4000 acres. 200+ CS (the more the merrier--I'd probably bring it all the way to 300). About half industry, half labs. Lots of turrets, lots of jets. But this kind of growth can’t be sustained forever. Sure, you’re country is bigger than most everyone else, but the industrials are in high gear, and those little democracies are looming on the horizon. It’s time to send your country to... STAGE 4: UNIVERSITY Now it’s time to expand at a more controlled pace and build up the most important asset in the game: technology. All of the good jobs go to countries with a higher education. You’ll be able to hold on to your land because very few people would have the guts or the firepower to attack a Dictator/Tyrant of your size. Continue expanding and building labs, and start converting your industry over to labs. By now you can finance growth through tech sales. Gradually switch your industrial production back to turrets and spies, then just spies. Your #1 priority at this point is to get your Business and Residential technology ratings as high as possible. This should bring your turn-to-turn income back into the black for the first time since the beginning of the game. Then you want to work on maximizing your Weapons tech. Vital Statistics at the end of this stage: NW ~$4000000. About 6000 acres. 200+ CS. 500+ Industry. The rest is all labs. Near-maximal technology ratings in Business, Residential, and Weapons tech. Lots and lots of turrets. Some tanks, troops, and jets. A high SPAL. Now that your country is basking in its lucrative, high paying tech job, it’s time to graduate. Burn your notebooks, party all night, and spend a few turns in Anarchy, because it’s time to separate the men from the boys. Save up your turns and plenty of cash; it’s time for... STAGE 5: THE REAL WORLD Cash Democracies rule this game. Everyone knows it. Everyone whines about it. It’s time to get on the winning team. Give up martial law for elected government. Demolish ALL of your research labs, and replace them with enterprise and residence (3:4 ratio). If you saved up enough cash (you’ll need at least $100000000), the task of converting about 5000 labs can just barely be completed as a one shot deal and be finished in a day. Now you’re sitting pretty. Celebrate your newfound wealth by buying a few hundred thousand tanks and just seeing how good that feels. Your country has more land than most of the demos around you (especially those that started out cash), and thus be able to hold onto a higher rate of growth. You probably have more military than most of the industrialists, and your Weapons tech rating will easily make up for government military bonuses/penalties. Military prices will keep dropping, so industrialists will find it harder and harder to keep up. Tech prices will keep dropping, so the tech producers will find it harder and harder to keep up. Continue to expand and cash. Keep up your Business/Residential/Weapons tech, and start building up your ratings in Military, Medical, and SDI. Buy lots of turrets and lots of tanks. Keep enough troops to avoid guerrilla attacks. Buy jets when you need to attack. Repeat until you rule the world. Vital Statistics at the end of this stage: NW: BIG $$$. LOTS OF ACRES. 300+ CS. 500+ Industry. The rest is all enterprise and residence (3:4). Near-maximal technology ratings in everything that matters. Lots and lots of turrets. Lots of tanks. A large number of troops, and jets. A really high SPAL ratio. My country is currently undergoing a stage 5 transition after a slightly convoluted mutant stage 4 week. It may be a few days late, and my early waffling may have cost me the top spot. But I'm still top 15, and I have the chance to catch up. At any rate I get to live out my megalomaniac fantasies vicariously through this little country. :) Would any past top 10 finishers care to comment on this strategy? Comments from not-so-top-10 players are welcome too... :)
Some Dude	Aug 16th 8:28 PM Wufbam! I guess I fall into the not-so top 10- more like top 30-35. Anyway, I like it. A real fast starter, which is what I have been working on (I came up with a way to start monarchy, rise to the top, then go demo) and has the staying power of a demo. However, yer acreage for the networths you give seems high. I am constantly keeping my land low, and building my networth. However, I guess in every stage, you will be producing a bigger military than anyone else, so I guess the land amounts are fine. Great strategy.
Wufbam!	Aug 16th 8:40 PM The NW/acres are just rough estimates I pulled out of the sims and match my own numbers in this tourney fairly closely. This strategy is sort of a "what I should have done but didn't because I was too timid to try an all out extremist approach" kind of thing. I'm only just finishing off my preparations to "go over to the dark side." By Tuesday I should be a full-fledged capitalist pig making over $5mil a turn. I THINK I can pull it off so that I actually GAIN ranks during the transition, rather than losing them and having to fight my way back up.
Some Dude	Aug 16th 8:40 PM As an afterthought, what tourney game are you in? You best not tell me, cuz if ya do, and I am in yerz, I am gonna take away yer chances for top 10 finish. lol. j/k. But what game are you in?
Archmage	Aug 16th 10:00 PM Wufbam! don't be TOO proud that you're still in top 15, I would be if I hadn't screwed up. Ah well, time to KILL that bastard!
Wufbam!	Aug 16th 10:10 PM Archmage: You're going to use up all my jets, aren't you? :) I think that a switch isn't worth it unless you calculate it so as to hold onto your position. Otherwise you just become fodder for the rest of the top guys.
Cawdor	Aug 16th 11:57 PM Wufbam, don't make the mistake of the funky 3:4 ratio. Ask any of the other math freaks out there(maybe Mathfreak, hehe), and you'll find that 1:1 ent to res is the best. If you want a further explanation, ask me, but first retry it yourself.
.	Aug 17th 4:30 AM .
HEE HEE	Aug 17th 10:14 AM Cawdor .. i need an explanation why is 1:1 the best res/ez ratio ?
Archmage	Aug 17th 10:54 AM Don't worry about your jets, I'm gonna use planned for the REALLY big attacks.
Wufbam!	Aug 17th 11:21 AM Cawdor: Well, with the equations that my number-cruncher extrapolated from the data I gave it, the simulator keeps telling me that a ratio of enterprise to residence between 0.6 and 0.9 is optimal for maximum tax revenue. What equations are you guys using? Given the data for my countries, the equation for equilibrium PCI is accurate to within +/- 0.1% (i.e. assumed to be correct), and for population it's about +/- 2% (needs a little tweaking, but a good working formula). They have exhibited excellent predictive accuracy. Although it's true that I did not include the cost of food in my calculations, that shouldn't make enough of a difference in the big picture to justify jacking up the % ent. Archmage: You'll STILL be using my jets in a planned attack. Seriously, though, build up for a few days before hitting the guy. Heck, don't worry, I didn't need those jets anyway... :)
Silverlord	Aug 17th 1:05 PM I find running a cash demo is very easy but not all that fun. i've had 3 or 4 finishes in the top 10 useing demo but it's not as challenging as playing an industrialist commie. as a commie you have extremly good industrail production. i have 5000+ indus zone with 130% tech. you can pump out massive amounts of military a turn and buy tech everyday.
Stealth	Aug 17th 1:16 PM I have a question for the doctor. In the initial fase, do you really need farms? As you sell the spies there is nothing lost during food shortage. The one who tought me that strategy also said to check the food.. but why?
Wufbam!	Aug 17th 1:19 PM Silverlord: My current project is to pass all the demos that are already in the top 10. At their current rate of growth, I can't do that as a dictator. :( Why play a commie instead of a dictator? The extra bonus to industrial production is essentially cancelled out by... 1) much lower PCI (you're in the red and you STAY there) 2) less land (dictator's military bonuses let them get and hold on to more land) 3) much less tech (dictators can max out their tech a LOT faster than commies)
Amazing Zarkon!	Aug 17th 1:47 PM (Pencil to Notebook) Excuse me Professor Wufbam! One question if I might impose?
Amazing Zarkon!	Aug 17th 1:50 PM (Pencil to Notebook) Excuse me Professor Wufbam! One question if I might impose? Am I correct in observing that you plan to move to either Dictator or Tyranny in Stage 3? Any preference and/or consideration as to which? Also has anyone seen/heard of any mods to the existing rules for standard game at reset? Should I expect as noticeable changes to the standard game as there were to the tourney game after the last tourney reset? (Not that I'd mind seeing a bit of an adjustment made to those of an industrial bent-nudge nudge wink wink) Thanks Amazing Zarkon!
Abdul Alhazred	Aug 17th 1:54 PM I think woof has the basics down pretty well. As for the ratio of res/ent, it doesn't matter. I haven't run any numbers, but in dozens upon dozens of games I find that there is VERY little difference. I ran an 8:1 ratio ent to res in the last game and it worked fine(plus I had no food problems at all). The other nice thing about a high ent demo is it recovers much quicker from damage. Your PCI is very hard to reduce, and populations recover very fast from any damage. In the last tourney round I made the transition from commie directly to demo at about the halfway mark, with about 6k acres. With 40 million $ in the bank and having built my last 1k acres to res/ent already (tech already close to maxed) I was able to switch over nicely in a day and a half without loosing more than 2 ranks (from 3rd to 5th). Its AFTER you go demo that you must watch out. You can't do it before everyone else, which is what I tried. As soon as I had switched I was very high defense and light on acres, but I was also the ONLY demo even close to my size at that point. Every 2 bit would be in the top 10 tyr took a pot shot at me. Only 1 guy ever got past my defenses, but even so I was pulled down around rank 15 and spent the rest of the game getting back to 10th. Not an ideal fate. This tourney round I am trying tyr after 300 turns commie to get the quick start (switched at 2k acres and around 1.6 million NW). I don't like it. Tyr is great if your way up top, but lower ranking tyr just doesn't work, and THAT conversion, while in theory it was cheap really cost me a lot. I have about 3.5k acres now as tyr, but those are only a little bit more productive than the 2k acres I had before! At least my defenses scare people away now. Tomorrow I'll just go demo and be done with it, I'll be over the curve a bit, but with my defs and with shifting everything over to turrets tonight I should resist any would-be land grabbers. I also think you have to start thinking about tech sooner. It looks impressive to be in the top 5 land countries, and you cannot afford to fall too far behind in acres in the short tourney format, but even a tyr should max out its tech as much as possible. Better to have 2k less acres than the top guy, but the same income! Tech pays off from day 1, and the earlier to get it the bigger the payoff. Remember that at 1000 acres even 500 points of tech will get you a nice boost, and I would absolutely do ANYTHING to get mil tech to 140% ASAP. Sell turrets and jets to do it. Hell half as big an army that 140% as strong is a good trade (lower maint cost will accelerate growth over a country with no tech and more army). You do look a bit more tempting as a target that way, but if your near the top you should be ok, just make absolutely sure to have 3 def allies!
Abdul Alhazred	Aug 17th 2:19 PM Why play a commie instead of a dictator? The extra bonus to industrial production is essentially cancelled out by... 1) much lower PCI (you're in the red and you STAY there) 2) less land (dictator's military bonuses let them get and hold on to more land) 3) much less tech (dictators can max out their tech a LOT faster than commies) NOT IN THE EARLY GAME WOOF. When I'm playing commie there IS NO TECH to speak of yet. Less land is not an issue either, there is no point in making LG before 2k acres is explored, nobody else is big enough to get enough land off of in an LG to warrant the losses and risk of war, exploring is more lucrative, even for a tyr or dict, so why pay the penalties to be one? As for PCI its irrelevant. This is the main point that people who don't play commie don't get, PCI doesn't matter. A good commie has NO RES OR ENT AT ALL, and produces less than 2% of its income from taxes. I could care less about switching over to dict and gaining maybe an extra 1% income from PCI increase, and LOOSING 25% from lower ind bonus. Now, as tech increases to a mid level the dict lesser tech penalty would mean its tech in theory is better, but remember, dict is aggressive, and the more land it has means tech is more diluted, so actually the commie will have higher ACTUAL tech ratings! As for less land, my philosophy is the least acres that will get me where I'm going is the best. Every hit you make is a potential war started. I can just hit guys that are quite a bit smaller than the ones you hit and still get 75% as much acres (plus I have less income hit from turns spent attacking than you). And with my greater income I will still build military as fast or faster than you will. I have never failed to be at worst the 2nd country to hit 1 million NW in any game I started commie, which means I have outperformed EVERY dict consistently in every single setting since commie was added to the game 9 mos ago, and I only play in the "A" games, which are the toughest competition pretty much. I guess what I am saying is that nobody has figured out how to grow faster than me in the first 300-500 turns (except 7th Heaven this last tourney round, and he and I use exactly the same strat as far as I can tell). If you want proof that the concept extends beyond 500 turns, just look at stats now for the "A" game of the tourney, 7th is rank 2 and still commie, now going on what 2k turns? I'd be up there too except I was stupid or unlucky with the first couple LG's. I'd be interested in seeing HIS post on this topic, mainly I'm curious what his tech strategy is.
Cawdor	Aug 17th 2:19 PM Well, first I would like to get your formulas Wufbam! and compare them to the ones I used. I am also curious about what you are using to extrapolate your formulas. The ones I have were given to me by a guy who said they were last rounds. I checked them and they were pretty close; I could tell that they were basically the same as the actual ones. I'm also working on a tech formula, which seems quite elusive at this time. I would welcome additional information.
Wufbam!	Aug 17th 2:34 PM Zarkon: Well, for my tourney game stage 3 was over a week ago... Peronally, I would go dictator rather than tyrant. (I LIKE dictators--does it show?) :) Your income from industry and taxes will be higher, and if you pick your targets carefully enough you don't really need the extra military bonus. I, too, would like to see things evened out for those of the industrialist persuasion. Little things as simple as a "generate industry" button and slightly higher ind tech caps would make a HUGE difference in letting us compete with the cash boys. At any rate, if history is any indicator, next game you should notice constant unannounced, unbalanced, and disruptive changes throughout. :) Abdul: The proportion of ent to res DOES make a HUGE difference. And the numbers for a demo are always higher if you lean towards the res. A demo running a running a 3:4 ent:res ratio will make about 33% MORE income than one with a 8:1 ent:res ratio. You have a lot more mouths to feed, but that will only drop the difference by at most 1-4% (depending on the going rate for food). 30% more is A LOT of $$$!!! It's one of the reasons I fully expect to shoot ahead of those OTHER demos in the top 10. (For the record, the difference between 1:1 and 3:4 is small when you take food into account--but the 3:4 still comes out ahead by about 1-2%). As you said, the timing of the switch is one of the most important factors in successfully pulling it off. The way I timed it in my "partenting tips" you should be switching demo just after the industrialists have begun to lose ground to the demos with more tech. In my current tourney game, I'm switching a few days late. But I still think I can make up the lost ground. As for the Dict vs Commie thing... I think you can scroll up and see that I don't advocate switching over from commie until you start to expand and get into tech. I don't have enough experience playing the commies beyond the opening game to know how to optimize them later on, but it seems to me that... 1) Higher PCI means that dictators can actually make good use of bus/res tech. 2) More land means more income to prevent tech from becoming diluted. 3) The commie tech penalty is so severe that they just can't keep up in the tech race. I might add... 4) An industrialist country that isn't able to hold on to a fair bit more land than the surrounding demos will lose out because it can't otherwise keep up with their rate of growth. Dictators and tyrants do that much better than commies, and can also do a better job at keep up in the tech race. And maybe... 5) I'm not 7th Heaven :)