(ONLY PHOST!)

Plist tips

Some fundamental tips for PLIST, based on the suggested PLIST pconfig.src settings.

General

Engines

• Ships can always be moved with "low-tech" engines - Enerpsis are advisable. Bad engines burn more neutronium, but the ship can still move on its own.
• Cheap engines can be an economic choice, especially in light ships (< 100 KT), e.g. Daedalus, Lumberjack, Archaeopterix, Terra formers, hyper jumpers ...
• Improbabilities are the engines of choice for big freighters. But for a Sirius freighter meant as a pure Megacredits transporter Enerpsis are good enough.
• With the EngineShieldBonus at a default of 20% Bistromatics will add 110 KT to the ship mass. So every good and expensive warship should be outfitted with Bistros, but at least the big flagships and the cloakers with many engines (Gravitonic Accelerators, Allosaurus, Vor'cha).
• Especially with the new Alternative Towing System good engines are worth their weight in gold.

Beams

• Compared to the original list beams are very cheap.
• Small cloakers with Kill-o-Zaps, Disruptors or Inpotrons => freighter hunt.
• Big battle ships should get Multitrafs, but remember that Inpotrons are just as good at shooting down enemy fighters.
• With the cheap beams and ships having a lot of them, mine fields are swept faster in PLIST. Furthermore: torps are relatively expensive. Webs then offer mostly just a tactical advantage.

Tubes

• No tubes or one cheap tube (for laying mines in a pinch) for scouts in the first couple of rounds.

For tubes of PLIST2.32b or older the following is true:

• Katalysator/Selphyr for pure mine layers
• ALWAYS (!) put Selphyrs in war ships. It's better to skip a ship build so you can build a Selphyr ship next turn instead of two ships with mediocre tubes. A D'Deridex without Selphyr tubes is worth nothing.

From PLIST2.4 onwards:

• Initial Bombs, Arkon Bombs, Katalysator/Selphyr are fit for mine laying.
• War ships should always get Photon Torp, Antimatter or preferably Selphyr-Tubes as these do the most damage.

The beginning

In PLIST it is tougher, but important nonetheless, to ship colonists away from the home world to good (money) planets. Unfortunately big freighters need a lot of engines. A Hansa with Improbs still costs 1700 MC! That is: with 15000 MC starting capital you don't build a lot of them. Still you need the capacity of about 4 to 6 Hansas (= 6000 to 9000 KT) in order to colonise successfully.

The Foundation Freighter is nice, but has a relatively small cargo bay. So its better to build Talarians, Hansas and Ferengies. A resource saving trick is to move a Hansa or Ferengi hull with a two engine tow ship (Foundation, Dead Parrot, Constitution, B-Rel, C7 Qapla, Buccaneer ...) with Improbs/Bistromatics. To do this you could quickly build a second star base next to your home base to make freighter hulls. In PLIST the Rebels have a freighter - Sirius or Corellian depending on the exact list - that can hyper jump.

Keep your budget tight in the beginning. Only increase the tube and beam tech if you can exactly predict when enough money will come to the home world!

For defensive measures almost every race can build a cheap fighter ship (no good engines are needed). This can help against the glorious Empire tactic of sending a Draklor (=SSD in the original list, Imperial Assault capable) early in the direction of another home world. To stop it from doing harm it just needs to be damaged.

Merlins are light weight and can move on their own with Enerpsi drives. Build at least two Merlins during the building phase, as PLIST ships are very expensive in minerals and up to 50 percent of the needed minerals must be converted from supplies!

You usually don't need to build a Miraculix (Neutronic Refinery) in the beginning.

Do build your top ships as a flag ship plus star base will destroy almost all attacking flag ships.

Logistics are essential. You need to plan your freighter routes far in advance. Maybe skip ship building for a turn. Two mediocre ships are mostly not worth as much as a top of the bill battle ship. In extra rich universes a good player that isn't disturbed usually builds 12 well outfitted Mon Calamaries!

Race specific PLIST tips

(apart from the usual Phost/Thost strategies)

Feds

• The Feds have a cloak-intercept ship with the cloaking Nova or Defiant.
• The Daedalus is an armed alternative to the Sirius Freighter.
• The Excelcior and Ambassador are good mine layers.
• The Armageddon is ideal for attacking enemy star bases.
• Other than that build Rigel, Galaxy and Nova as battle ships.

Gorn/Lizards

• The Gorn usually don't have a numerical advantage anymore.
• The relatively strong Allosaurus has 5 engines and can tow out almost every ship in the Alternative Towing system. Definitely build it with Bistromatics.
• The Godzilla is the ultimate battle ship of the Gorn list, but it has a small cargo bay! => accompany it with a Raptor.
• Build Raptors early and attack enemy planets and star bases with ground assault.
• The T-Rex is a good alternative against torp ships and star bases
• The Dimetrodon is ideal as a first ship to enter a big battle.

Romulan/Birds

• The Birds have a good trading ship in the cloaking freighter.
• Always accompany D'Deridexes with Kings or Superhawks (good and cheap).
• The Birds and Klingons now have battle worthy ships in all ranges.
• Build many Archaeopterixes for spy missions and money transport.

Klingon

• The Klingon Vor'cha has 5 engines (make them Bistromatics).
• POP ships can be build in large numbers at cheap bases.
• The B11 is the battle ship of choice.
• The D3 is a good ground assault vessel due to its big cargo bay.
• As Klingon ships usually can't be attacked by planets a glorious strategy is to have Ferengies or Merlins drop colonists on enemy bases. Of course you need to protect them with war ships.

Orion/Privateers

• The Orions have a good cloaked mine layer in the Dreadful. On top of that it is strong enough to eliminate Constitutions (Lokis).
• The Godfather is a good battle ship and should be build.
• Gambling ships => Colonies.
• Menhunter - good and cheap Robber (Enerpsis and a single beam are enough).
• The Corsair is a relatively cheap towing ship, but the Buccaneer is as always the ship of choice. Don't be cheap here.

Borg

• The Borg now have Terra formers.
• The Cubes are cheap and strong. The 15/15 Cube is the ship of choice. The 18/18 is the only true star base killer next to the Death Star.
• Don't hesitate to put good beams on Probes. With their large mass they can attack border planets with no problem.

Crystals

• The Crystal ships are now a lot more battle worthy. A combination of a Saphire and a Silicon Avatar knocks out almost all other top ships (other than Exterminator and Death Star).
• Still: you definitely need to build Diamonds.

Empire

• The Empire has 4 mine layers that are all worth building. Watch out for the low crew on the Apollo though.
• Furthermore the Empire has good middle class fighter ships.
• A Death Star may be expensive, but it is the crown of this list.

Robots

• The Robots have lost some battle power compared to Thost, but are still strong based on the 200 LY mine fields.
• The 100%-Bioscanner Goblin is cheap and can be used tactically in an attack.
• The Basilisk station is meant as a supply ship, but with its Tachyon device it is an ideal protection for a fleet against cloakers.
• Otherwise build Dragons and Manticores.
• The Ogre is the mine sweeper in this list with its 10 beams.

Rebels

• The Rebel Falcons now have tubes. Trading goody.
• The Borallus is the choice battle ship in the beginning.
• The Bothan or Topsid (Colonial) is almost as effective in a battle against a very strong fighter ship as the flag ship, but much cheaper.
• Don't forget mine layers.
• The Rebel Assault is an especially good mine sweeper.
• The hyper jumping Corellian with its 280 KT cargo bay offers the possibility of a fast colonisation in the 300-400 LY range.

Colonial

• The Colonial Carillion with its added Ramscoop is fit for the defence of longer borders. Otherwise build the Borallus and Atlantia.
• A full Sagi sweeps a maximum range mine field in 4 turns.
• Gambling ships are cheap and can therefor be built on almost every low tech star base.
• The Rising Star is - next to its Advanced Alchemy function (friendly code NAL to switch it off) - also an armored and cheap freigther.
• Virgos (= Cobol) are a must!

Borg and Galactic Empire have to be attacked from the beginning. If they get too big then it becomes very hard for a single race to stop them. Simulate how many top of the bill Mon Calamaries are needed to stop a Death Star!

The Fed should also not be allowed to live in peace. You need to force him to refit his battle ships when still in the building phase.

Don't forget to simulate battles beforehand. A ship going BOOOM because of lack of munition hurts even more in PLIST!

Degi (translation: Maurits van Rees)