Hey all, like it says on the box, what are some of the really lucky starting locations and Events you've ended up with, and what did you do to make the most of them (or not)? The Empire below is the result of my most recent game in a 1,000 star galaxy, and my 2nd with Utopia installed (1st game I got cocky and let myself get eaten by the Unbidden).
You'll note how close Sol is to Deneb, I went with the default xenophobe humans, and ended up with the UN Humans as my closest neighbors. After some patient building up my infrastructure and armada it only took me 50 years or so to conquer Earth, with much of that time spent playing cat and mouse with their ally's fleet, which was as powerful as my own, and who'd go around ravaging my shipyards and mining stations whenever the fleet wasn't around to protect them (and retreat as soon as a battle turned against them). So winning that war not only added a large chunk to my Empire's primary species, as well as a highly developed world, but also a substantial amount of research bonuses from the wreckage of enemy ships.
The next good thing about where I started is the Adumir system, where I found a Continental planet with pre-sapient Proles living on it, just waiting to be enslaved for the good of the human race! And since then I've been doing just that, spreading them around gradually to serve as farmers, while I finish researching the technology to Nerve Staple them.
The last two location-specific bits are the Bulwark system (renamed obviously) which is now my primary shipyards thanks to its 4 planets, 3 of which I had to terraform, and its location close to my capital. The rest of the space to the 'south' of Deneb was also completely wide open for me to grab with outposts and eventually colonies after terraforming was finished (I also control a substantial amount of the +15% Energy Damage crystals), a lot of this thanks to the fact that just off the map is a Fallen Empire of Holy Guardians almost as 'wide' as my empire's borders, so noone was able to go through them or their holy worlds to expand into this spot.
The last bit of luck I had was the Temple of "Unity" event chain, with the crazy cultists who were building ships in secret, and found an alien shipyards which they started using. From that I got a lot of bonus research from the wrecks of the ships and station, including a head-start on Particle Cannons. While I was still only using Corvettes!
You'll note how close Sol is to Deneb, I went with the default xenophobe humans, and ended up with the UN Humans as my closest neighbors. After some patient building up my infrastructure and armada it only took me 50 years or so to conquer Earth, with much of that time spent playing cat and mouse with their ally's fleet, which was as powerful as my own, and who'd go around ravaging my shipyards and mining stations whenever the fleet wasn't around to protect them (and retreat as soon as a battle turned against them). So winning that war not only added a large chunk to my Empire's primary species, as well as a highly developed world, but also a substantial amount of research bonuses from the wreckage of enemy ships.
The next good thing about where I started is the Adumir system, where I found a Continental planet with pre-sapient Proles living on it, just waiting to be enslaved for the good of the human race! And since then I've been doing just that, spreading them around gradually to serve as farmers, while I finish researching the technology to Nerve Staple them.
The last two location-specific bits are the Bulwark system (renamed obviously) which is now my primary shipyards thanks to its 4 planets, 3 of which I had to terraform, and its location close to my capital. The rest of the space to the 'south' of Deneb was also completely wide open for me to grab with outposts and eventually colonies after terraforming was finished (I also control a substantial amount of the +15% Energy Damage crystals), a lot of this thanks to the fact that just off the map is a Fallen Empire of Holy Guardians almost as 'wide' as my empire's borders, so noone was able to go through them or their holy worlds to expand into this spot.
The last bit of luck I had was the Temple of "Unity" event chain, with the crazy cultists who were building ships in secret, and found an alien shipyards which they started using. From that I got a lot of bonus research from the wrecks of the ships and station, including a head-start on Particle Cannons. While I was still only using Corvettes!
