Wake up, throw a can of beans over the fire, heat some coffee you can chew on, and conquer the galaxy. Milky Way or Bust. You’re back on the range and there’s metals in them there planets!
Spaceward Ho! is back and better than ever with version 4.0. Stomping on your friends and enemies is more fun than ever with biological ships, decoys, tankers, and dreadnoughts. While the charm of the original game remains intact, more features have been added that enhance the strategy dynamic without adding a layer of complexity.
Starting Out
Spaceward Ho! is a constant balance between resources and the drive for expansion. Build a starship today, and you’ll not have the metal for another later in the game. When do you build? When do you spend those precious, finite resources?
Each game has a different balance which depends upon the size of the galaxy (how much metal is available in the game), the number of players (how much competition for those metals exist), and the amount of metal with which each player begins the game. Throw in some variable human play styles, and you have a unique game every time you load up the wagon.
There are few hard and fast rules. If you play at the “normal” skill level or better, your first priority will be to build a colony ship. If you start at higher levels you’ll need to mine some metals and save some cash before even taking that first step.
U-Haul’s First Truck
Once you have enough resources for a colony ship, think about the future of the game. Count the distances between stars to check for an optimal range for a ship which will last throughout the game. One of the biggest metal wastes in the game is having to rebuild colony ships. Ideally you should end the game with your first colony ship still intact, and still useful. In large or sparse galaxies, this may not be possible, but overall the goal remains true: build the minimum one, two, or three colony ships it takes to populate the galaxy and protect them.
Don’t take risks with colony ships. Keep them far from enemy lines. If you must colonize a planet near a front-line, be sure you’ve fighters protecting their destinations. No longer do you need colony ships to refuel fighter groups — so don’t endanger them. Keep them moving in space if they’re near an area under attack. If you’re worried that a planet may be attacked, send the colony ship further back into your secure territory.
When designing colony ships, save on metal. They don’t need to be fast, and they certainly don’t need weapons and shields. You can accommodate a helpless colony ship with smart playing — so why waste metal and money on armor for a colony ship? If tech levels remain roughly the same among players, it’s a sure thing that your colony ship’s weapons and armor will soon become obsolete.
Balancing a Budget...
Many people disagree on whether or not Ronald Reagan was a blight on our political landscape, and his Star Wars program was one of his most costly and controversial programs. Fortunately, Spaceward Ho! is a bit simpler and brings actual (well, virtual) results to dumping tons of cash into weapons research.
Keep an eye on the “compare players” chart each and every turn. Building a solid economy will allow you to spend more money on tech research than your competitors — which in turn will provide you with better tech levels — which finally will allow you to win the game. Bottom line: you’ll lose with lower tech levels (well... most of the time).
In order to have the best tech levels, you need to spend the most on research. That means keeping your economy at the top of the “compare players” chart. That means spending buckets of cash on technology — to stay above average at least — but also remembering to terraform as quickly as possible so that your economy will grow.
This point can’t be over-stressed. Many players, myself included, think that you’ve got to spend every dollar in Spaceward Ho on tech research and that terraforming should be a slow, secondary process. I recommend instead keeping your tech levels above average and, when you can take a turn or two away from tech research, focusing on one planet to terraform it into a profitable colony with 90% of your income.
In setting up your spending levels, don’t spend a little on many planets — slam one at a time. The faster you can turn just one planet into a profitable world, the better off you’ll be. Focus on worlds which are easiest to terraform. Maybe it’ll only take two or three turns to see that wonderful, “It’s a Baby Boom!” message.
Choosing that Perfect Spot
Choose carefully which planets you colonize, especially early in the game. Don’t pay too much attention to the “Ooh!/Hmmmm/Yuk!” ranking the game provides: it ranks planets based on gravity and metals... but doesn’t pay much attention to how quickly one may turn a planet into a profitable one. If you can colonize a planet with only 10 metal and 2.1 gravity, but it’s already at 62 degrees, do it. It’ll become a profitable colony very quickly.
Likewise, consider what your opponents are doing. If there is a choice planet with almost no metal on it, it can wait. It will still be there later in the game; however, if there’s a terrible planet with 25,000 metal sitting nearby, grab it and bleed it dry before your enemies can snatch it.
Consider always how quickly you might turn a planet into a profitable one, and how much metal you’ll be able to grab quickly.
Running Into Neighbors... Who May Not Be Neighborly
OK. So we’ve pretty well covered colonization. That’s the easy part. And in a perfect galaxy all would be well. But then you run into the problem where there are other folks in the galaxy and they all want those juicy planets too. Saying please doesn’t seem to help much either.
Think balance. To take out an opponent, you need to spend resources. Build ships, spend money, use metal. The sooner you do it, the less metal he or she will ultimately devour; however, you may need time to save money, mine metal, and improve your own technology. That’s the trick — every turn you wait means there’ll be less metal for you in the end.
Each game will have its own balance — each opponent will have a period of strength and (hopefully) vulnerability. There are a few signs to look for which may help in gauging which times are which.
First, it is easier to defend than it is to attack. If you defend with satellites, their cost, metal requirements, and power make them fantastic tools. The only problem is, they don’t move. You need to know — or have a good guess — as to where your enemy might attack. Computer players tend to concentrate attacks on certain planets. If you’re attacked once in a location and win, you can be sure the computer will be back. Computer players also tend to attack those planets which are closest to their own. Build as many satellites as it takes to make sure the planet holds. Every victory you enjoy will automatically reap metal from the battle for you.
When you first meet an opponent, defend for a time if you can. Force your enemy to deplete his or her metal supplies while adding to your own. The metal you win from building a solid line of defense with satellites may just be greater than the initial cost of the line.
The computer players — and humans for the most part — tend to attack in waves. They save resources, then build a mighty fleet and launch it. You can usually expect a few turns to breathe between attacks, but don’t depend on it. After some time, you may notice that they attack with fewer ships, or perhaps switch to different planets... notice the clues. Their metal may be drying up. If scouts attack planets elsewhere, they’re looking for more metal. Now may very well be the best time to attack.
Offend Your Enemies
Switching from an offensive to defensive strategy takes a single turn. One turn to build satellites. If you manage to catch an enemy off guard, you may be able to win a few worlds before he or she commits to building defensive lines. Strike quickly and counter-strike even more quickly.
When it’s time to attack, don’t hesitate. Don’t hold back. If you think an attack needs ten ships, but might work with five, send fifteen. Send twenty. Don’t lose even one battle. If you win a battle, you win the planet and the metal from yours and your enemy’s losses. If you lose a battle, you’ll see your starships recycled as satellites in the next turn.
Be decisive and deliberate. If you win a few planets, don’t divide your fleet to clean up more quickly. In Spaceward Ho!, strength absolutely lies in numbers. Take the time to mass an attack, build ships, and hit head on. Expect to meet a hold-out planet — you’ll find a huge collection of satellites massed for a last ditch defense. If you lose your main fleet there, you’ll see the tables turn and starships appear on your doorstep.
Use tankers to keep your fleet moving, but don’t endanger them. They devour metal almost as quickly as colony ships. It is good to have tankers in space, rather than on station at a newly won planet, so that they may not fall to a counter-attack.
Keep the tech levels in your fleet high, but also keep the fleet large. Numbers can win over higher technology. And if you can afford it, go ahead and build a dreadnought. They’re good for many battles, and don’t age as badly as fighters.
Diplomacy: The Art of Deception
Diplomacy is fun. Ally with as many players as possible. You’ll be able to refuel on their worlds, see their fleets move through space, and can use them as buffers to hold off less agreeable neighbors. But keep in mind... an ally will gobble up just as much metal as an enemy. One of the best offensive tactics is the stab-in-the-back. Ally with a player, park starships in orbit over each of his or her prime worlds, then break your alliance. If you’ve planned well, there’ll be few ships and satellites to stand in your way from an easy victory. You’ll cripple an ally before he or she can yell, “et tu, Brutus?”
That’s where decoy ships come in. Park them all over your empire and your allies will be less inclined to try anything. Keep in mind though... if someone has a rough idea of your tech levels, they may be able to spot decoys. If an ally’s ship tech levels jump in a few categories, he or she may be bluffing.
Where’s The Beef?
Eventually, certainly, you’ll run out of metal. You’ll have to wait for attacks on satellite defended worlds, or for a super nova to squeeze a few drops of metal from depleted stars. Biological starships are great for tough times — anytime, actually — and make wonderful attack forces. Here’s where saving those slow, old colony ships pay off. If you’re the only one in the game with a colony ship and enough metal for a fair offensive fleet, you’ve won the game.
If you’re really strapped for metal, bring on Armageddon. Half the worlds in the game will go super-nova, spraying metal right and left. And heck — you’ll have a 50-50 chance to come out of it better off than your opponent.
Please feel free to contact Scott Love with questions or comments.
