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?