Still finding my way through,I start off ok but eventually cannot keep up. Since the game movies so fast my biggest problems are deciding when to batch explore, when to buy tech. Any suggestions.

build all construction sites stockpile and resell for $$. go commie and keep doing PS on jayr all set. u will win if u follow these basic fundamentals

Is that joke still considered funny?

I'll defer to somebody else for Express server specific help, but have you considered playing on other servers? I have found this server to be too fast to get a good handle on the fundamentals of gameplay. A slower, more deliberate server may be a better place to gain a good foundation in this game. Some of the slower servers even allow you to join part of a larger group that can help teach you some of the finer points of the game.

Wherever you decide to play, good luck to you.

Are you doing a tech start? If not, do it. It gets you out of the gate quick and you can stay top 15 the entire game pretty much if you really want with an all X

hmmm my most successful casher is doing a tech start + batch explores up to 13k. if you can do that in less than 1200 turns, then teach me how :p

i would suggest against a tech start, personally. but i've had poor luck with my reps the last two to three times i've played it.

build your cs four at a time, buy tech, css, buy tech, css, buy tech.. it takes forever, yes, but is more efficient than a tech start, or so i've been told by those who count well. (i do not count well :P)

ddog, out of curiosity, where do you tech to before you switch over to casher, 17k bus/res? and on what acres? if you don't mind me asking, of course.

No tech start. Straight cash start (build ent/res buildings in a 11:10 ratio).

Start buying tech early - very early. In fact, to do this, you shouldn't run any turns until you have ~ 360(200) on hand - minimum.

If you can get 10k bus and res tech points before turn 330, you're doing it well.

By the way, at turn 330, you want to have 1,950A of land (all casher buildings as described above except for ~200 ICs for spies and 220 CS).

Explore/build to 13-14kA while maxing out bus/res tech (I get ~235k tech points of each) and also get ~160k mil tech points.

Stock cash here. Lots of it. Once you reach 2b cash on hand, buy food and sell it high up on the market to preserve your stockpile.

Make sure you log out with ~22 hours remaining in the set and don't log back in until there are 2-3 hours left. From here, drop your food stock on the market at a price where it will sell fast and cash out all of your remaining turns. Spend all of the cash on your private market (buy out troops first, then tanks, then jets, and turrets last).

When your food sells, buy out your PM until you have 0 cash left.

If you want to make ~300k extra NW, with 1 hour to go, sell max bus/res tech @ $1000. It will autosell and will give you more cash to buy up.

An average finish with this strat for me was 23-24.5m NW. If you can do 20m, you're golden. And, with some luck on the food or tech markets and if you can avoid being grabbed all set, you can do up to 30m NW, market-contingent.

this was a good start

The Status of the Theocracy of Driven (#62)

FOOD CONCERN: Assuming no change, our people can survive for 47 more turns.
The Basics
Turns Left 51
Turns Taken 466
Turns Stored 96
Rank 15
Networth $917,694
Land 5996
Money $6
Population 170,713
At War No
GDI Member Yes

Land Distribution
Enterprise Zones 2677
Residences 2611
Industrial Complexes 528
Military Bases 0
Research Labs 0
Farms 0
Oil Rigs 0
Construction Sites 180
Unused Lands 0

Technology
Military 0 100.0%
Medical 0 100.0%
Business 35,081 129.9%
Residential 34,978 129.9%
Agricultural 0 100.0%
Warfare 0 0.200%
Military Strategy 0 100.0%
Weapons 0 100.0%
Industrial 0 100.0%
Spy 0 100.0%
SDI 0 1.00%
Total 70,059

Thanks CX, thats awesome.

Interesting method to run casher cx. I'll try that approach next.

Haha oh my god I just noticed this line, that's perfect :D

Nicely said CX.

I wonder how many players will be rep/casher's this week :D

I copied that one into my strategy file

You're welcome. It's the coles notes version of the casher I run. Always Rep. Haven't tried Theo in a while.

Theo casher is cool

1

15-17k bus/res on about 1200 acres.
Im converted by turn 250 but my bpt is probably lower than CX

Most cash starts will not get enough technology, and be slowed down too much by their weaker military and production. Anyone playing casher for the first time should do a tech phase, as a pure casher once your techs get low, its very tough to get them back up. With a lower income, it is harder to improve technologies because one has less money to spend on them obviously. Escaping from this downward spiral is difficult, and can ruin a set for someone inexperienced at casher...Pair that with trying to buy enough military to cover your retal and you are a slug off the line. Or at least I am, im sure others have tweaked their strats and dominate with pure cash starts but I don't generally.

ddog -- I disagree. If you're methodical with how you store turns and when/how you run them, you can be at turn 600 with no military and ~160-165% bus/res techs.

Usually I'll get to turn 330, wait for 360 on hand, and then run a straight 360. ~270-290 of those are with no military on hand, pumping every dollar into bus/res tech. The last 70-90 turns will fund turrets.

Also, when I do a start up, I generally get to 13k bus/res by turn 330, cash start, with a 60 BPT on 1.95kA.

Me too, very similar start. But sometimes tech is cheap earlier on and I might grow to just 4 or 5k acres. If there is enough tech around what CX says is the best way to grow, playing as many turns as possible with no military. Then you jump by buying a million turrets.

You can add another tactic to it:

When you get to ~1.95kA and store turns for your big run-out, you'll likely have no military. Use DR to your advantage.

If you get hit 6-7-8+ times on 1.95kA, it won't set you back too much. In fact, it probably helps because you can jump up to ~8kA on NO military (using all of your 360 turns on hand, depending on how deep you are into DR) and then look to slowly accrue military from there.

I did this one set and managed a 25m NW finish on ~13.3kA after being hit something like 80x over the course of the set. Sitting on low-to-no def and running turns means you can max techs quicker and stock more before having to focus on getting defense.

Ho

By turn 250 im at 15k tech and converted to full casher, but as I thought my bpt is much lower than yours.

How much are you making per turn generally while stocking?

cx has run most of my cashers for the past year or so :P

Depends, but I aim for a minimum of 8m/turn after accounting for food costs.

Is bulk explore actually worth it by the time you take additional building costs into account, plus those turns being taken with less ent/res built as well as the lower PCI due to lower % of land built.

I imagine the costs there add up considerably.
Sure it'll take less turns, but what is the cost?

the idea is not to batch explore until you can run those turns without dropping below 165%ish techs.

at least, with my zero counting, this is what i do. i do always defer happily to cx ;)

the land is more important than the building costs, by far.

hmm, interesting take, i thought batch exploring died when you get bigger, but i guess if it's not significantly lowering your tech OR your % max population... so you could do like 30-40 turns when you're 9240 acres the next explore tier is 9245 and that'd be cool... wait... no, because that would only get you like 30-40 extra acres

you can spy me blid and follow my progress and consult back here! i look forward to few criticisms and many tips, i hope :P

Tbh I always explore 30 turns at a time at that point anyway because it would get too tedious exploring only as much as your bpt each time and building that. I just don't think of it as batch exploring, more like saving some time. You're not talking about exploring like 100 turns at once are you?

I'm a massive noob and trying out casher in express... but atm i'm only making just over $1m/turn and I've obviously done something horribly wrong as I have very little tech and find myself spending turns on "Cash" just to get enough money to build buildings and buy tech while maintaining enough military to not get wasted.

Is it normal to spend turns on "Cash"? How do I not do this next round?
Thanks.

Cashing is good later on but earlier usually it's better to explore or build c-sites. Both those things make you money too, not as much, but they also make your country have more growth potential going forward. It's not that unusual not to be making much money early on while you're still small and laying down future foundations. You could always just plop down 20 c-sites if your bpt isn't good, and then spend the income buying lots of tech.

I spent all of my early turns building a TON of CS. I went for like ~120 bpt before starting to build cash buildings.

I assume that was my downfall? lol

>tfw this guy actually did the construction site strategy

Yeah that was a mistake. You only need half that many bpt, and even then that'd be a solid bpt. And I wouldn't make them all when I had no other buildings, either, because there's no income to be gained there.

try playing your turns in late and in bulk if your not if your gonna play casher. helps minimize your time exposed with low defense and lets you focus on getting your tech up so you are strong through the set.

if you play 400 turns very slowly you'll be exposed and worried about getting hit thus spending money on defense that you could have spent on tech ie making more money.

Play em in bulk an buy defense at the end of turns if you feel you need it.

also your bpt was def probally too high. im
no expert but inwould not do that many lol

This is a good thread. Just thought I would say that. Shame the help thread function isn't used widely anymore. Maybe a few vets could start posting and updating their country there again, and maybe comment on other threads there too while waiting on goods to sell or something.

I would, but I'm a pretty garbage netter.

I don't believe that function works since the revamp of the forums, fordy :-(

Turns Taken 330

Business 10,547
Residential 9065

2087 Acres
Construction Sites 220