How do I use Free Market?

[The Commodore]

I've never used it. I'm always drawn to Green's many addvantages. However, I've played Morgan under Wealth, and I know how nice it is to have +2 Econ. I'm gereraly one to make vast numbers of bases, and the -5Police is bad for that.
How sould I manage it?

i usually use this if i don't plan to go to war anytime soon. since you can't really make use of a standing army with this SE, i usually have an army of probe teams when running FM. the extra cash you get helps if someone sends a raiding party your way. you could just subvert anything that crosses your path, reverse engineer if the tech is superior or disband for minerals if it sucks.

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Don't ask me,
Because I don't know why,
But it's like that.
It's just the way it is.
And that's the way it is.

[Skanderbeg]

Commodore!

I play the same as You, always going to green economy.

Although FM gives You masses of money, but the restrictions in the use of military, especially in airforce, are disturbing me too much, because I, even when playing builder style, like very much to rely on a strong army.

I have tried FM in two games on transcendent level, and I lost both. First, I was caugth in deadly drone riots, second I lost because of my weak airforce. For me personally (because of my playing style or my lack of skills ;-)?), green economy works much better. Even with Morgan, the last game I played him without ever using FM or Wealth, and it was one of the games easier to win. But I wouldn't have liked to micromanage the 140 bases I had in the end of this game with -5 police!.

[Blake]

One word:
HGP
(Okay, lets not debate if it's a word or not...)

The HGP SP lets you run FM without gettting killed by drone problems, on transcend I really don't like running FM without the HGP, I usually still run it but I wait until I have some rec commons up or the means to buy them. On difficulty less than transcend the drone problems are more tolerable

A word of advice, until you can afford to rushbuy rec commons do not expand past the first drone warning. If you have the HGP expand to the second drone warning if you want.

Basically FM is the only "easy" way to make more energy in the early game. If you want to double your income FM is the only way.

Later in the game lots of alternatives are available - most noticable being Boreholes, tidal harnasses+thermocline. These high energy improvments don't benefit much from +1 energy, prehaps increasing output by 20%. The extra effic from green could easily cover that. The other BIG factor is specialists, which don't benefit at all from FM. So once you have the infrastructure to support alternate means of energy gathering the downsides of FM become much more apparent - no Airforce and psi penalty. So drop FM and rely on your specialists and boreholes to keep the energy rolling. But if you didn't use FM earlier this infrastructure takes longer to build....

Just to put a twist on it FM creates something like 6 times as much ecodamage as Green, which translates to 6 times the wormrapage and 6 times the planetpearls ($$$). So for me the planet penalty is more like a wormfarming bonus. Sometimes I'm loath to leave FM because I can kiss those planetpearls goodbye. For me planetmind is nothing more than a thing which sends deligtfull little presents for my empath rovers to unwrap. And by running Green I piss it off so it stops sending the bundles of cash.

[Basil]

Heheh, I like Free Market to the point where I will fight offensive air wars under Free Market as Zakharov , let alone Morgan!

The merits of the Ascetic Virtues when fighting wars under Free Market are not often mentioned. The Virtues reduce the number of Drones generated by each offending unit from 2 to 1 (or from 1 to 0 if you're playing the Spartans). Obviously this makes the situation a lot more manageable.

I accept as a given that I will be assigning 10% of energy to psych. Being Zakharov, I have the Virtual World , which combined with my free net node means that every base has at least a 50% bonus to generated psych (and the bigger bases get a bonus of 125% or more). So you're generating enough psych that one drone from an aircraft isn't a big deal. Then you build one or two punishment spheres and you're set *comfort poor subjects*.

(Edit: I crossposted with Blake, so I didn't see his post until after I'd written this.)


[This message has been edited by Basil (edited March 20, 2001).]

[cbn]

I see a lot of merit in an early FM for the Drones. Their extra content citizen means that no drone riots at size two even without police. therefore the police penalty will not matter in the pod producing stage when you can easily keep all cities at size 2 or below.

As for the -3 Planet, I kind of like it for the worm farming opportunities. I would prefer to have empath units around but the slow research means that this may not be a viable option.

I personally not be in a FM for a long time as I like Planned for growth and industry kick and green in the later game for the efficiency. But in the early turns where the key is to try to jumpstart that research, FM can be very beneficial.

[Maniac]

Also a nice tip is a base with a Punishment Sphere. Just make that base support all your aircraft (but be sure to make them Clean!).

Let the Gaians preach their silly religion, but one way or the other
I shall see this compound burned, seared, and sterilized until every
hiding place is found and until every last Mind Worm egg, every last
slimy one, has been cooked to a smoking husk. That species shall be
exterminated, I tell you! Exterminated!

-- Academician Prokhor Zakharov,
Lab Three aftermath

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Zak running FM?