@@Bill_Garthright Some traits like addict (-1 money) or corrupt (-4 money) can give negative values if they don't have a counterbalancing trait like billionaire(+ 40 money).
I always deliver manifesto who cares if the other factions know your info you get opinion around the world. If you can combine investigate aliens, public relations and control nation on turn 1 then deliver manifesto you will get 2 pr boosts and snag a good control point. The alien investigation resolves and you start turn 2 with enough prestige (+70) to hire the 4th counselor. You can also use this prestige to get a govt org too, madisonian society or air force labs are some good early picks
You get a small research bonus, the more projects you contribute to simultaneously. The percentages don't matter just that you have your fingers dipped into multiple pots. It's labeled as Research distribution bonus in the tool tip
Okay there is a very important early game strat! LISTEN UP. IF you have NO control points in any nation with 5 points or more AND your Boost is less than 0.01 When you finished the tech "ALIEN OPERATIONS" You will receive a SPECIAL FACTION ORG. +1.5 Boost +8 Mission Control +5% Spaceflight Program That's like.... More mc than any nation in the game....
One of the biggest things that I could suggest for new players is that is better to pick a zone that you will consider your "home base", namely a nation/a continent that you decide you'll use as a ground to start, than to try and go for a "world political domination". The AI spreads much easier than you do, so you're not going to win a war of massive expansions; pick your battleground and start from there. A good easier start that I would suggest is Europe for one simple reason: the EU. Many nations there start already in a Federation, or at least can enter it without much problem. It has good tech, and many nations are almost already set up to start their race to space ( some with excellent or good economies to boot ). France, Germany and UK are hard to get, sure, but the rest is much easier, and it's not nations that needs to be built from the ground up and/or a rife with unrest ( Personally I would suggest starting with Sweden, but your popular support may vary. ). Then you decide to go for one of the big ones ( I, again, personally would suggest Italy, since it's economy is juuuuust in the sweet spot and can get into space fast.. though if you don't keep a check on the Nation's balance, it can devolve. ). Now, why is the UE important? Because you can easly push for unification! Sure, the US is big and powerful, but it's a pain in the ass to keep, almost ALWAYS prioritized by the AI, and it eats away your admin points. But combining Germany, France, Italy ( and even Spain and Norway+Denmark+Sweden ) is way easier to keep and defend from the other faction incursions. ( It's also easier to develop and has access to some sweet social tech and orgs, but's that not something for beginners ) Careful not to abuse it though, with his high democracy the EU spirals into a mega-nation that's it has crippling low cohesion, which means high strife and vulnerability to a coup. Which is something that in my experience I saw the US devolve ( since people fight so much for it, it's strife skyrockets and things go downhill from there ).
Would be nice if nation "value" increases over time. For example, Africa's rich natural resources should allow it to become a powerhouse if directed properly.
There's investment point that you can distribute to economy science influence boost army nuclear etc. Tho I haven't play that long to see any difference. There's also annual direct investment that cost money and influence
You can invest in nations, but early game is bloody important: by the time you have one of the lower tier nations to even start their space program ( let alone being profitable and give good research ) the AI already is dominating the space game ( which is going to give more resources quick than Earth itself, or at least giving the necessary boosts ) with the added bonus of having a much better control of Earth, and you're playing catch up with a heavy load on your back. This is without considering the risk of one of them declaring war and simply pummeling the nation you control to the dirt with superior numbers and forces. Also, those nations tend to have high unrest and low unity, making it a perfect target for coups, which can burn away all your work in a single turn. Africa resources ( which you aren't getting much anyway at the start ) aren't worth gimping yourself.
I'm focusing on Africa in my first game, and yeah, I don't think I'll have a chance. But it's fun, and it gives me a chance to learn the early game. I am spending all of my time trying to lower unrest, while increasing democracy and economics. That's fun for me, but it's not going to get me into space. I should have started by taking an oil-rich nation and just ruined it for the money, until I needed the control points elsewhere. (What can I say? I've got _far_ less money than any other faction in the game.) At first, I just let the AI pick research targets. Well, I had very little research, anyway. But now I put all my tech into a couple of global research slots, so I could pick the next technologies which will (I assume) allow me to consolidate African nations into one block (or maybe a few?). That would save control points, but I don't know what else it will do. I did lose one nation through a coup. And one faction tried to take one of my worthless countries. I'm not sure why. (Being on the equator has advantages if you focus on boost, but it will just take _forever_ to actually do that.) But I just took it back, no problem. It's fun - partly because I just enjoy building up my nations and partly because I'm not trying to win the game, anyway. I'm just trying to learn it. But then, I'm like this in most games. The first time I played EUIV, I played the Iroquois in North America. I was _so_ confused, because they played nothing like the European nations I'd seen other people play. Heh, heh. Still fun, though. :)
So in Perun's playthrough he had to grab India to prevent the Protectorate from ballooning in power, and set it to improve the economy. Because of the large population and the GDP of India increasing it started increasing control point cost. You can also see during the demo his exodus and Initiative got ahold of some equator nations and built up mission control there, signicantly. Its definitely possible to grab somewhere like Singapore and use it to upgrade Indonesia quickly.
The african countries have population. They give you more influence income by controlling their opinion, and they can grow their GDP very quickly. Nigeria is a baby-india, especially once you get into the late early game and can get claims on central africa. Similarly for Egypt. Ops income is fairly available on orgs, and its one you tend to use the last of per mission because a lot of ops missions are predetermined cost (5) or only require 1-2 to get good chances on (assault alien flora and fauna).
If you do not have a counselor mission to attack alien ground assault, then can you use ground armies to attack alien flora? What if the alien flora is in a non friendly country, but I do have control of the seas for naval crossings.
I have 2 questions: 1. Why did you dismiss the bad Councillor before having enough Resources to hire another one? 2. is there a benefit of spamming Control Nation on a 4-5% chance nation, rather than going for some early weak nations and then abandoning them later on when low on the CP cap? Also English isn't my first language so I might be Wrong here but I think "Gain" 50 influence for delivering your manifesto means you get 50 extra resources not lose them.
He dismissed because he wasn't being maximally efficient. As for 2, the game has a very tight action economy early game and the AI will spread elsewhere and it is harder to root them out than the standard country. Owning control points will increase your chances of success in neighboring countries. So it can be a good idea to grab something with a moderate chance of success while increasing support in your desired country. You are also totally correct at the end. He just read it wrong/too quickly.
The thing I noticed about the "bad councilor": He had the quick learner trait. Which means that, if he had been willing to invest in that councilor a bit instead of just getting rid of him right away, he could have been molded into the perfect councilor. That, or he could have dumped all of that XP he would be getting into Administration, which would have had the dual effect of increasing control points AND letting his councilor control more orgs, which would have the knock on effect of influencing his stats. In other words... the "bad councilor" was actually incredibly good... just needed some incubation time...
