Got Master of Orion 2 with the steam card I got for Christmas. First game:
/lose first frigate to leviathan while exploring
/start building battleship to claim the gaia planet it's guarding
/lose second frigate to the titan at orion upon discovering it
/build three new frigates while waiting for battleship to finish
/long range sensors detect an Antarran frigate incoming. ETA: the same turn the battleship will be done
/antarran enters system. KILLS EVERYTHING INCLUDING MY STARBASE
/rebuilds starbase
/starts building new battleship
/long range sensors detect FOUR antarran frigate incoming
/homeworld cleansed of all life
fffffffff
Let's try this again with a larger focus on fleetbuilding
. . . You... uh... wow. Yeah, you just pissed off every god in the universe there.
Here's a tip to deal with the Antaraans.
Leave a single small ship in an unoccupied system. The Antaraans will tend to target stuff on the edge of your empire.
Doesn't necessarily have to be a colony.
If the Antarrans come after that ship, just leave the system. The Antarrans will stay in that system.
that's good to know
And it will make a nasty trap for anyone approaching the empire. ... Or a GREAT target to capture their technology once you get better ships.
If you can get Xentronium Armor or Particle Beams in the early game, you get SUCH AN ADVANTAGE.
what research categories are those under? I don't see a full tech tree anywhere
They're not.
Those technologies can ONLY be acquired from capturing an Antaran ship.
When you capture a ship, take it back to your space, and decommission it.
You will get one random piece of technology from it that you don't own.
I assume I need a significantly more powerful ship to capture?
You don't need a significantly more powerful ship. But you DO need one of a couple of things.
You need to either immobilize a ship through tractor beam, engine failure, or other means, or you need to research transporters.
Transporters are the preferable way to deal with Antarrans, for one reason.
Antarran ships do NOT have shields.
Also, the Antarrans WILL outgun you.
To capture their smallest ship, you basically need to keep through troops at them. Twelve troops total, typically.
... keep throwing. WTF, fingers.