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Thread: Eclipse:: Strategy:: My fellow Hydrans, come!! let us discuss ........

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by kaneAAA

I'm keen on Hydra. After a few games with them I would say:

* always keep in mind that you are one of the weakest starters. You want
ideally only 1 shared border on your territory (with the galactic
centre, if you wanna ally then just as long as you are confident of
defence you can have another/others) so if people are exploring near
you, aim to counter-explore in order to lock down your borders. Think
ahead for this!

* being on the wrong side of probability early on can be ABSOLUTELY
CRIPPLING for Hydra (bitter experiences there ). Don't go for hex 1s
straight away, as hydra you wanna minimize your chances of even
uncovering an ancient hex until you have enough resources for a dread.
The odds of doing this are minimized (while ensuring decent resources)
by concentrating on the hex 2s from the opening, (about 1/4 chance).
When you got the dread, move to the Hex 1s.

* Bathe in the shadows........in larger player games, you can rely on the
quiet factor ....Hydra plays the long game...the meat-heads (Orion,
mechanae even eridani) will normally concentrate on each other, as well
as the noisiest races of draco/planta mega-explorers. Therefore, you're
generally no target at all. Research solidly (aim for 2 researches per
round at least), keep as low a military as needs be.....as you get to
the middle stages, your ship blueprints will start overtaking the other
races...then you can build......and dominate...

* Seeing that ship building early on is kept low with Hydra.....where do
you use your minerals? ORBITALS!!!! Invest in them early if given the
chance, if not then accumulating them is no problem....it just means
later on your unbeatable mega fleet will explode out of nothing....the
meatheads by this point will prob. be chasing various other interests
and are unlikely to be able to react in time to stop you moving into
the galactic centre....surprise from the shadows mwahahahah!!!!

* minerals are soooo valuable, and are the hardest resources for Hydra to
accumulate....Advanced Mining must be yours, you're made to get
it....artefact key conversion to minerals too...explore with a mind to
have decent minerals.


Ok, that's a start. Over to you......strategies/responses/thoughts!!!!!!!

Thread: Eclipse:: Strategy:: Window of opportunity – gaining an Edge.

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by Dorrin


Eclipse is a lovely game. At least on 3-6 player games, the balance of power changes a lot from turn to turn. Because every game is different, it is really hard to write about strategy and Eclipse in general. When playing, it is rare that you can formulate a plan in the beginning and follow through to the end – and win.

Besides playing Eclipse, my group’s play-night also includes talking about the game after it is finished. After doing this for a while now, I noticed that there is one recurring subject after every game. “On turn 2, I should have…”, “My victory came mainly, because on turn 6 I….”, “Why did you not attack on turn 4, when he…”

So, if the balance of power changes during the game, victory tends to go to the player that correctly identifies these moments – and Acts. It is a very common mistake for beginners that they do something clever, get an advantage - and fail to follow through. Next turn the advantage could be gone.

So with this in mind, here is an attempt to write a small compilation of typical situations in a game of Eclipse that give you an edge and what to do with it:

It’s a material universe.


Let’s say that you get Advanced mining on turn 3, the planets are favorable and your production leaps ahead of your competition. Then what? If you plan to win with monoliths, it’s not a bad idea to stockpile material, buy defense where needed and feel moderately secure, while preparing for the final turns. But if Monoliths are not available or you don’t plan to go that way? Stockpile materials, buy a fleet for the final turns and go for the kill? Unfortunately the quantity of ships is limited and your advantage in materials is gone on the finals turns. If you have a production advantage, use it asap. The plan should be to destroy opponents forces. 1:1 ration in killing ships is great, if you have the production to recover your losses and your opponents do not. Of course 3+ player games makes this a bit more difficult, but it’s your challenge to cover your ass while whipping your opponent’s. Do not be afraid of losing ships. Your advantage is being able to easily replace them.

Money makes the universe go around

Advanced Economy, Quantum grid… There are ways to get an monetary advantage. A small stockpile of money is not a bad thing – if you are done exploring. But we aim to use our advantages, while we still have them. So you have more actions than your opponent. How to take advantage of this?

In the beginning, you can explore more and by colonizing the planets, transfer your advantage in economy into other resources – while keeping parity in money. Often, there are no new places to explore, or you do not want to go there. Let’s be aggressive and use our edge in combat. If you have some combat techs available, you can be pretty sure that you get the advantage in ship design – you have the money to make the last move. So attack and use the edge to out-upgrade your opponent. You attack, he upgrades (or builds) you counter this with better upgrade (or move, build…). More actions allow you to keep the edge – or he’ll bankrupt himself by trying to match you.


Research

Tech situation allow a lot of edges. You get the first computer in the game. Your ships will be better – at least this round. Why wait until your opponent can match or counter your ships. When making tech choices, try to think if you can take an immediate advantage of this. Count your actions: Research, build, move, upgrade. Once again this is situational, but when making research decisions, try to think if there is a immediate advantage. Through research, there will be turns when your ships are way better than your opponents. Once again, remember to act!


Resources in reverse.

Let’s assume that you are as bloodthirsty as I am. You are going to attack your opponent, spend some time thinking what you want to accomplish. Destroying opponent’s fleets is a valid option – but there are others. If there is a sector that you really want for tactical or economic reasons, go for it. But often the point of attacking is just to take your opponent down a step or two (or in the end game, scoring and denying points – but let’s ignore that and focus on mid-game combat). If this is the case and you have options on where to attack, look really hard on his production. Find what he is low on and try to see if you can take that little away from him. Whenever your opponents trade resources, especially at 3:1 or 4:1 you gain. Humans are hard in this regard, as are players that have a balanced production. If somebody focuses on one resource, help him along. That 15 money / turn is not as nice, if your material or science is at 3 (or 2).

Ok, this is all quite basic. On the other hand, these mistakes keep cropping up at games regularly – especially with beginners. Hopefully this helps somebody and nobody from my regular play-group reads this.

So we want to identify the moments when you really should act. What else is there?

Thread: Eclipse:: Strategy:: Hex number advantage question

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by Zestrenocya

Hi all,

I've played quite a few games of eclipse, but certainly not as many as some others here. I was reading another thread and came across a quick blurb about taking humans over aliens and the like which included a statement along the lines of "the red humans have a very low hex number which confers an advantage" but the poster did not explain the advantage. As far as I know, the only real advantage a low hex number gives you is to see the outcomes of other combats before a combat in your home hex which I think would rarely matter.

Anyone able to enlighten me on this subject? I'm always interested in the nuances of strategy but this one I can't figure out.

Thread: Eclipse:: Strategy:: Best tech track

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by DsnowMan

I've seen a few threads discussing all the techs, but it's rare that people talk about which of the three tracks they focus on. I think this is because it can be very situational, depending on which techs are available when. It also depends on your race, e.g., Hydra can just have all the tracks.

I am writing this post almost on impulse to say I like the Grid track the best. Improved Hull is obviously a great early tech. If you have the planets, Advanced Economy opens up your game, and we all want Quantum Grid.

As for ship builds, every ship can get a Positron Computer early for a nice boost, then a Fusion Source + AntiMatter Cannon later makes each ship downright scary. Note every ship, including the lowly interceptor, can support +2 computer, antimatter cannon and basic drive for 6 energy. Nice build. Finally, you can use the ol' upgrade tachyon drives onto my cruisers, move them, then magically transform the drives into MEGA-CANNON trick to get any ship into position.

So, if I had to pick one tech track, that's the one. Not advocating a single-minded pursuit of the track, not bashing plasma missiles + gluon, just making an argument for a good, fun, solid tech track that will book you some points at the end of the game to boot.

Thread: Eclipse:: Strategy:: Best Ship Type

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by AndySzy

There's good discussion on the various types of ship builds, but I would like to start some discussion on the best type of ship to build as a general rule of thumb.

I recently played a 4 player game (session report later maybe) as the Hydrans. My main rival was the Mechanema, who had tricked out their dreadnoughts. I had tricked out my cruisers and was legitimately curious who was going to win in the seemingly inevitable confrontation for the center of the galaxy. The battle never came to be though, so I never got my answer.

So what is the correct answer? In a vacuum, which ship is better?

I did some quick spreadsheet mathing just to see which ship gets more bang for their buck in terms of part slots. This math is just for the basic terran price and blueprint.

Interceptors pay .75 material for each slot; cruisers pay .83, and dreads pay 1. So on the surface the cheaper ships seem to have more bang for the buck.

But if we look a bit deeper, we'll see something else. In the previous math, I was valuing all slots as equal. If we remove the two basic slots that are (just about) required for Drive and Power, we come up with this:

Interceptors pay 1.5 material for each extra slot, cruisers pay 1.25, dreadnoughts pay 1.33.

So if the drive and power source is equal across all ships (as is the default), Cruisers are a better buy (per upgrade slot).

Any other thoughts? I was trying to figure out how to account for the availability of ships (8 interceptors versus 2 dreadnaughts, for example) but my brain apparently isn't working.

Thread: Eclipse:: Strategy:: Quick combat question

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by talusproteus

Are there any weapons that ignore shields? I seem to recall that you can't use shields against missiles (unless it's a distortion shield), but I couldn't find where it said that. That must be right, though, because otherwise plasma missiles wouldn't be much better than plasma cannons.

Thread: Eclipse:: Strategy:: How to estimate the best upgrade for your ships

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by kusanagi

There is a "simple" way to estimate the best upgrade available for your ships, that I find more useful than calculating the exact probability to hit or win. Let me explain it here, using as example the base ships against ancients.
It might be obvious for some people, but I needed some time to realize this, and I guess it could be helpful for other players too.

If you use terran base Cruisers against Ancients, you can easely compare the different available upgrades for the void ship part:
(if you do not take into acount the initiative for now)

1) Ion cannon: One extra cannon will double the chances of hits caused by your ship. I'll name this "x2 to the power of your ship".

2) Hull: the fist Hull placed by default in your ship doubles the hits needed to destroy your ship (from 1 ro 2). It is a "x2 to the power of your ship".
However, you will need 2 extra hulls (1 improved hull) to double again the hits needed to destroy the ship (from 2 to 4).
With one extra single Hull, it would require 3 hits instead of the default 2, so it'd be a "x1,5 to the power of youe ship".

3) +1 Electron Computer: the first Computer placed by default in your ship allows to hit with 5,6 instead of 6, so you will hit twice as often. It is again a "x2 to the power".
If you place an extra +2 Positron Computer, it will allow to hit with 3,4,5,6, twice chances than the base set (hit with 5,6), and so a "x2 power".
However, a +1 Electron Computer would allow to hit with 4,5,6: those are 3 chances instead of 2, so it is a "x1,5 power" upgrade.

4) -1 Shield: the Ancients will hit you with 5,6, but it will hit only with 6 if you place a shield, half as often, so it'd also be a "x2 power" upgrade.

Note that this way to calculate the value of an upgrade must take into acount the enemy ships. For example, if the enemy have plasma cannon (orange x2 damage), 1 single hull has no effect in the final result, you'd need 1 improved hull (2 hps) to double the hits resisted by your ship. If the enemy has Antimatter Cannon (red x4 damage), 3 hulls have no effect, you would need 4 hulls (2 improved hulls) to double your power.
In the same way, if your enemy has -2 phase shields, your first +3 computer would double your chances to hit (from 6 to 5,6). While your 2nd Computer +3 will increase your chances to 2,3,4,5,6. In total would be x5 the power of the ship.

This method is not completely accurate because it does not take into acount the initiative, but it will give you an idea of when it is a good option to place another cannon, or another computer, shield, etc.
When you have the initiative, the Cannons and Computers are better, to take advantage of this first shoot.
When you lose the initiative, the Hulls and Shields are better, to give the ship more chances to survive the first shot and be able to take part in the combat.

In the example, if you use Cruisers against Ancients (2 cannons, 1 hull, +1 computer, 2 initiative), all these upgrades allow you to double the power of your Cruiser:
- Positron Computer +2. It also gives you the initiative so it is the best one.
- Phase shield -1
- Improved hull
- Extra Ion cannon
- Plasma Cannon instead of the default Ion cannon (keeping same energy)

I find this method useful to estimate the best upgrades available for the current battle, but it could also be used to calculate the final battle odds in some cases (I'll try to explain in next post).
Please, let me know if some part of the explanation is hard to understand, or too obvious...

Thanks to Vanish for the web combat simulator that allowed me to understand better the battle mechanics:
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/758508/web-accessible-combat...

Thread: Eclipse:: Strategy:: If you like it so much, put a starbase on it

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by MunchWolf

This is an untested strategy, but something I've pondered.

It is normal for me to abandon systems (either through influence or bankruptcy) that only supply 1 usuable planet (this is not the strategy, this is common practice).

Later thought I might want to reclaim that system, either because it has a second usable planet (due to tech purchase) or it has VPs I want, or maybe I don't want anyone sneaking through and taking that system.

In those cases, drop a starbase on it (or intercepter), remove your influence token (however you do), and then at the end of a combat phase when you want that system back (maybe turn 9 and are looking for VP), reclaim it for free.

Thread: Eclipse:: Strategy:: Aggressive Planta?

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by JohnnyD144

Hello,

I was wondering if people have had any success at playing Planta with a more aggressive twist? Last game, during a 6-player game, my neighbor surprised me and attempted this strategy. He took the galactic center fairly early, turn 3? He also had plasma missiles but eventually got squished in the center by a Rho Indi player with improved hull interceptors and unfortunately eliminated a few rounds later by yours truly as his home planet and neighboring systems were undefended (I was Magellan).

He did have unfortunate luck defending the center hex, I believe he had 2 cruisers and 20 plasma missile shots but only 2 hit the Rho Indi intercepters (6 total interceptors I believe). Despite this, I am curious if he could have pulled off a more successful Planta blitz of his neighbors given his early access to plasma missiles? And provided he was a bit more cut off from his neighbors to avoid the back-door shenanigans from his neighbors.

Has anyone had any success being a more militant planta? Or do their inherently long-term weakness in ship design combined with their poor ability to retain planet control make this aggressive strategy not possible against experienced opponents? Thanks!

Thread: Eclipse:: Strategy:: Anti-planta strategies

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by kaneAAA

Hello everyone! I was just interested to see how people generally deal with the planta menace......anyone got any strategies they would like to share concerning dealing with that often-irritating 2-explore mega-expansion that they infest the galaxy with

To get the ball roling, I'll put my 2 cents worth:

My tips are:

If you neighbour the planta, the first thing on your mind (at the same time as keeping an eye on your other neighbour), is to ruthlessly explore into their area (down the hex 2 belt is best I think), to cut off their space.....Seeing that the planta are all about expansion, it stands to reason that they make or break themselves early on in the exploration phase (first couple of rounds). If you can cut off a fair segment of their exploration oppurtunities with the 1 and 2 hexes, their strength can only be used on the hex 3s....Now, heavy exploration of the hex 3s can give them a massive boost, but if you think about it, once you've dented their hex 1 and 2 opportunities (they will no doubt be forced to explore hex 2s and 1s at this time),then if your next strategy is to exhaust the hex 3s, (while again being careful of your other neighbour) severely impairs the planta's usual strategy, which basically involves starving people of hex 3 exploration...

THE WORST thing you can do as a planta neighbour is to begin exploring towards your other neighbour.......and ive seen it done way too often....guess what happens? yes, planta are everywhere, and laughing with a nice hex 2,3 and 1 resource basis to choose from (you as their neighbour on average get a worse selection than those people who do not neighbour the planta at all)....once those 3 rounds are over, the next few rounds can make the planta the galaxy's worst headache....

And also....THIS IS WHY NOOBS RUIN A GAME!!!! .....grrr...

Now over to you!

Thread: Eclipse:: Strategy:: Descendants, how do you play them?

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by Icelom

Hello, i really want to like the descendants but i really just cant get into the head space for them.

Reduced discovery and rep tiles just seem like way to hard a trade off to be able to co-exists with the ancients. I have only played them once, making them my least played race so maybe i just don't have the experience.

Anyways was curious about what the rest of you do when you play them and if you find that the loss of discovery and reputation is as devastating as i do.

Note: my favorite races are
1. Mecha (triple upgrade is overpowered)
2. Rho indy (even if i cant win with them for some reason... always second)
3. the rest....

Thread: Eclipse:: Strategy:: Thoughts on RHO INDI SYNDICATE

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by mattcalaho

I played them for the first time and struggled. Between bad tile pulls and lack of experience I felt that they are not up to strength compared with other races. Opinions welcomed.

Thread: Eclipse:: Strategy:: Rules exploit: pinships

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by flying_neko

Nowhere in the rules does it say that ships need to mount at least one weapon.

In a recent 1vs1, Terran vs. Terran game, after defeating the GCDS and building all four starbases there, I started focusing on improving my economy to build monoliths. My opponent researched very good ship techs, and was getting ready to snatch the galactic centre from me and wreak some havoc in my vulnerable empire.

So on turn eight I built a few "pinships": Interceptors stripped of all weapons and "upgraded" with double Improved Hulls only. I proceeded to pin both of my opponent's Dreadnaughts and several of his Cruisers; not only that - most of my pinships were able to retreat, thanks to their higher initiative and the fact that their 5 hull points allowed them to survive hits from his Antimatter Cannon.

Theoretically, Ancients and the GCDS would target a Ship that doesn't mount any weapons. I wonder if this kind of exploit might be used to mount an early attack on double Ancients system or the GCDS itself.

Thread: Eclipse:: Strategy:: My five top value techs

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by stephenhope

I'm interested in what other people think are the best "value" of the tech options, understanding that they can be very situational at times. having said that, I think in a vacuum I'd say the five best "bang for your buck" techs are:

1. Neutron Bombs
2. Quantum Grid
3. Improved Hull
4. Advanced Robotics
5. Advanced Economy

Quick justification: disks are great of course, and the two disk techs belong somewhere up here. I think the Grid is more powerful because it gives you more efficiency in actions, but I can see people disagreeing. Advanced Economy is another way of getting "more" disks, by paying for more of them to get used. It isn't as helpful in the last turn as actually having the disks, but it's the next best thing.

Having said that, Neutron Bombs strikes me as the most powerful tech in the game. It's incredibly cheap and a great equalizer across wide disparities in combat ability between races. If I have Bombs and you don't, I'm likely to be able to damage your economy (and VP total) more than you can damage mine unless your fleet is MUCH bigger/stronger than mine.

And Improved Hull seems to me to be the best of the ship techs. It is cheap and makes your ships far more powerful without requiring additional power to enable them. If you have Improved Hull and I don't, it will take me a few techs that are more expensive than it to leapfrog past you in the ship superiority wars.

Anyway, just my thoughts on the best techs in this fabulous game...

Thread: Eclipse:: Strategy:: 3 Starbases on centre tile = win?

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by Mad Dog UK

Hey there,

After playing a few games and talking strategy with a few people in our group, it seems that:
- A hex with 3 starbases on is very hard to defeat due to their immense initiative.
- The holder of the centre tile tends to win due to the excellent planets on it, quite apart from the VP.
- Hence the person who gets the centre always builds 3 starbases on it
- And, in my admittedly limited experience, usually wins.
- This has become the dominant strategy in our group.

Any thoughts on this?

I was thinking of a house rule of 1 starbase/hex to prevent this, but maybe people don't think it's an overpowered strategy.


Thread: Eclipse:: Strategy:: Eclipse iOS Beginner

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by a1ien1ogic

I just downloaded the iOS version this week and have never played the board game before. I've been through the tutorial (twice) so I think I have a pretty good handle on the game mechanics, but I really don't know where to begin as far as forming any kind of real strategy. The tutorial brings you through the basics of exploring, research, upgrading your ships and battle, but leaves you to your own means to finish the rest of the game after round 4. I felt like I had no idea where to go from there.

What basic strategy advice would you give to someone who is just starting to dip their big toe into the Eclipse universe? Beginning Races, things to make sure to look out for, pitfalls to avoid? Must-have technologies?

Even with the iOS version you can really tell that this game is quite epic, and the strategy and game play is extremely deep; which is awesome. I just feel like I could use a couple pointers to start me off in the right direction.

Suggestions?

Thread: Eclipse:: Strategy:: IOS iPad Eclipse game - AI strategy

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by Neale2006

I have only played 3 local games against a single "normal" AI opponent (1 win, 1 just lost, 1 bad defeat).
I have noticed that the AI (Terran & Alien) always explore to the point of bankruptcy and then remove influence to buy themselves out of the problem. This strategy seems to work very effectively as it allows them to generate the resources they want for the long term. It is just something I have not come across in f2f games. What does the audience think?

Thread: Eclipse:: Strategy:: Cannons vs computers?

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by LetsGetTrivial

Which is better, adding cannon or computer?
I will tackle this question by using the probability of getting at least on hit. Typically this will be done by finding the probability of 0 hits, and subtracting this from 1, i.e., 1 - (misses)^#dice.

Start with one cannon (hits: 1/6)
+ cannon: 1 - (5/6)^2 = 1 - 25/36 = 11/36
+ computer: 2/6 = 12/36
VERDICT: get computer

Start with cannon and computer (hits: 2/6)
+ cannon: 1 - (4/6)^2 = 20/36
+ computer: 3/6 = 18/36
VERDICT: get cannon

Start with two cannons and computer (hits: 20/36)
+ cannon: 1 - (4/6)^3 = 1 - 64/216 = 152/216
+ computer: 1 - (3/6)^2 = 1 - 9/36 = 27/36 = 162/216
VERDICT: get computer

Start with two cannons and two computers (hits: 27/36)
+ cannon: 1 - (3/6)^3 = 1 - 27/216 = 189/216
+ computer: 1 - (2/6)^2 = 1 - 4/36 = 32/36 = 192/216
VERDICT: get computer

Start with two cannons and three computers (hits: 32/36)
+ cannon: 1 - (2/6)^3 = 1 - 8/216 = 208/216
+ computer: 1 - (1/6)^2 = 1 - 1/36 = 35/36 = 210/216
VERDICT: get computer

Further computers provide no benefit unless countered by shields.

Discussion:
I was surprised about how close the probabilities are. Even if an advantage is small, i will take it. The next analysis might us expected value to account for cannons with more damage.

Let me know of any errors.

Thread: Eclipse:: Strategy:: Rockets out of the game?

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by rvrratt

Well, another night where rockets took over the game. Yeah I know the counters however they still really doesn't help. Interested to try a game with no rocket tech. Anyone try this yet?

Thread: Eclipse:: Strategy:: Bad drawing - Exploration (Does it break the game?)

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by tonylhf

In the start of the game, you really have only got a limited number of actions. If you happen to explore into empty or single-planet hexes with a discovery tile on them. What do you do?

Do you take the discovery tile by placing an influence disc on the hex, to get some use out of your explore action?

However, a discovery tile is good, of course, but in the first couple of rounds double-planet systems (non-advanced) are much more valuable. If you had only got the discovery tile (which may only give you a small boost/or useless tech) and your opponent could find a good production system, you and your component have both used the same amount of influence discs but the production player is in much better position. It seems to be not worth to keep the planet with discovery tiles on it. This situation much worse if this happen to be your 2nd or 3rd discovery hex in the very first 2-3 exploration action.


But if you skip this, you will waste an valuable action and getting nothing (especially in the start of the game).

This is also apply to a situation where you draw a 2nd or 3rd ancient hexes which you probably could not deal with at the start of the game. Again, you will need to upgrade/build/move which is very time consuming while the production player could generate resource for 1-2 rounds ahead of you.

It appears that a player with bad drawing of hexes could be very disadvantages. I don't see the player can do anything. Is the luck of drawing exploration hex really that crucial and game breaking? What do you guys do when you are having a very bad draw?
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