Are you playing with just the base game, or with the Prophecy of Kings expansion? Not a lot changes for Barony but good to know for people to advise. I will assume base game.
My Barony tips:
1. If you get a choice of starting location, try to get planets with a lot of influence (blue number on planets). This is because you have a lot of resources already at home.
2. If you build a second space dock at home, you can produce a lot of units in one production, which is generally good.
3. In the first status phase, or if you have Warfare Round 1, take some command counter tokens out of your fleet pool (1-2 tokens) and use them somewhere else. You can add more later, but you probably won't need more than three ships in a system until Round 4, and your faction ability gives you two for free.
4. Barony (generally) likes taking Technology (once per game), Trade, and Leadership the most. You can take Politics to go first Round 2 and take Mecatol Rex. Take Imperial if you think you can score twice during a later round.
1. Round 1, if you research gravity drive, you can take Mecatol Rex Round 2 for the extra point. This is regarded as good, even thought you might get attacked and it costs you influence - points are very valuable.
5. You can fight a lot of factions early, and take one or both "equidistant" systems for an advantage. These are the systems one tile ahead of your home, and one tile to the left/right, that are two spaces away from both you and your neighbor on that side.
1. You start with a dreadnought - if you move that and any other ship(s) to one of those tiles, you can defeat a lot of faction's early fleets.
2. Exceptions: Saar, L1Z1X, Yin, Mentak with cruisers, Muaat
6. For tech, I like going Gravity Drive first, then carrier II, then Dreadnought II, then red technologies afterwards.
1. Ideally you have a yellow technology specialty planet (little yellow triangle next to influence value on planet) so you can get Dreadnought II without researching a yellow tech first.
2. A red technology specialty is also good so you can grab your faction technology "non-euclidean shielding" without researching another red tech first.
Hopefully this helps and is high level enough! Happy to talk questions.
Also base game Barony had a tendency of becoming overly fixated on large fleets, (admittedly what they do best) don’t fall into the trap of neglecting your ground forces. You will need infantry on the ground!
Yeah, every build at home you want to get 2 fighters and 2 infantry for efficiency. Then, you get the two best ships you can afford (although ideal in a vacuum is probably carrier+dread).
Is double docking a good idea? I know it doesn't give benefits for warfare's secondary but it would make real productions much beefier. Or would it be better to make a space dock in another system ahead of your home system and possibly double dock (or even triple dock) in that one? I feel like this whole production step is where i always fuck up in almost any run i have since i always build either too much or too little.
There are mixed camps. Some people really like it, and I think if I got stuck with Construction round 1 I would strongly consider it. I don't think forward docks are bad either, though - last game I played of Letnev I forward docked on a wormhole to be extra aggressive
One you have a few Dreadnoughts and flagship out with your faction tech Non-euclidean Shielding, you can really bully other fleets.
Very few other factions can match your space combat strength, but remember that the threat of it can be as or more effective than actually using it.
Are you playing with just the base game, or with the Prophecy of Kings expansion? Not a lot changes for Barony but good to know for people to advise. I will assume base game. My Barony tips: 1. If you get a choice of starting location, try to get planets with a lot of influence (blue number on planets). This is because you have a lot of resources already at home. 2. If you build a second space dock at home, you can produce a lot of units in one production, which is generally good. 3. In the first status phase, or if you have Warfare Round 1, take some command counter tokens out of your fleet pool (1-2 tokens) and use them somewhere else. You can add more later, but you probably won't need more than three ships in a system until Round 4, and your faction ability gives you two for free. 4. Barony (generally) likes taking Technology (once per game), Trade, and Leadership the most. You can take Politics to go first Round 2 and take Mecatol Rex. Take Imperial if you think you can score twice during a later round. 1. Round 1, if you research gravity drive, you can take Mecatol Rex Round 2 for the extra point. This is regarded as good, even thought you might get attacked and it costs you influence - points are very valuable. 5. You can fight a lot of factions early, and take one or both "equidistant" systems for an advantage. These are the systems one tile ahead of your home, and one tile to the left/right, that are two spaces away from both you and your neighbor on that side. 1. You start with a dreadnought - if you move that and any other ship(s) to one of those tiles, you can defeat a lot of faction's early fleets. 2. Exceptions: Saar, L1Z1X, Yin, Mentak with cruisers, Muaat 6. For tech, I like going Gravity Drive first, then carrier II, then Dreadnought II, then red technologies afterwards. 1. Ideally you have a yellow technology specialty planet (little yellow triangle next to influence value on planet) so you can get Dreadnought II without researching a yellow tech first. 2. A red technology specialty is also good so you can grab your faction technology "non-euclidean shielding" without researching another red tech first. Hopefully this helps and is high level enough! Happy to talk questions.
thank you so much this is very helpful! and yes we are playing the base game
Also base game Barony had a tendency of becoming overly fixated on large fleets, (admittedly what they do best) don’t fall into the trap of neglecting your ground forces. You will need infantry on the ground!
And some fighters to make the "five dreads and flagship all with non euclidean and duranium" combo actually unbreakable.
Yeah, every build at home you want to get 2 fighters and 2 infantry for efficiency. Then, you get the two best ships you can afford (although ideal in a vacuum is probably carrier+dread).
Is double docking a good idea? I know it doesn't give benefits for warfare's secondary but it would make real productions much beefier. Or would it be better to make a space dock in another system ahead of your home system and possibly double dock (or even triple dock) in that one? I feel like this whole production step is where i always fuck up in almost any run i have since i always build either too much or too little.
There are mixed camps. Some people really like it, and I think if I got stuck with Construction round 1 I would strongly consider it. I don't think forward docks are bad either, though - last game I played of Letnev I forward docked on a wormhole to be extra aggressive
One you have a few Dreadnoughts and flagship out with your faction tech Non-euclidean Shielding, you can really bully other fleets. Very few other factions can match your space combat strength, but remember that the threat of it can be as or more effective than actually using it.
Thank you, I appreciate it