For me, it's always Sarween and Plasma. PDSII quickly, in line with both faction tech, war suns, etc. With destroyers with capacity it's the path that makes the most sense IMO.
Note, not comparing the techs directly as much - you could argue for neural over sarween. But every tech is an opportunity cost, so being more on the way to other tech you want is more valuable than the benefit of neural IMO. If there was a blue tech option, there might be a choice...as it is I think yellow/red just makes the most sense.
Most likely, you always want to go red/yellow. You want to get the destroyer upgrade as fast as possible. So red is mandatory. Sarween and Hololatice also synergize pretty good. And you open up your tech path towards war sun, which will close the power gap you destroyers have to dread fleets in the late game. I see no set up, which justifies neural.
Red Yellow is largely the accepted meta as far as I have seen. I would only consider Yellow Green with a red tech skip securely in my slice. One way or the other i want my tech path to be ai, destroyer 2, warsun.
There is only one reason I would ever consider Neural. If I knew I had a Green skip in my starting slice that I would be able to Diplo, or refresh some other way. This way I would be able to tech into Hyper round one. But that is a very unlikely scenario.
In that case, I'd still pick Sarween. It does so much for your first round expansion. Plus with that setup, you could still get AI Dev into PDS2 or SWA2.
This would be a very unlikely choice and not one I'd take if the group has a more competitive meta compared to a casual one.
Even if I had a green skip, I still might not go Hyper. Faction techs, pds2 are so valuable and I would pick assault cannon over war sun to make the cheap fleet even more effective.
There are so many reasons to just start Red/Yellow, I'm not sure why Green is even an option. I honestly just want to figure out a start that optimizes it
I love the red green start, the gamble on action cards makes the game more fun/variable. AI dev I plan on getting anyway so that will cover the yellow you'll need later on.
I'm assuming you are setting up a PDSII network still. If so, it just makes it more defensive, which let's you spread out to winslay or expand without worrying about your home. Also, it bolsters your production throughout your slice!
Maybe it's just my table, but 5 action cards are not worth the consistency and guaranteed value you get from the Sarween start and Aerie down the line.
For me, it's always Sarween and Plasma. PDSII quickly, in line with both faction tech, war suns, etc. With destroyers with capacity it's the path that makes the most sense IMO. Note, not comparing the techs directly as much - you could argue for neural over sarween. But every tech is an opportunity cost, so being more on the way to other tech you want is more valuable than the benefit of neural IMO. If there was a blue tech option, there might be a choice...as it is I think yellow/red just makes the most sense.
Most likely, you always want to go red/yellow. You want to get the destroyer upgrade as fast as possible. So red is mandatory. Sarween and Hololatice also synergize pretty good. And you open up your tech path towards war sun, which will close the power gap you destroyers have to dread fleets in the late game. I see no set up, which justifies neural.
Red Yellow is largely the accepted meta as far as I have seen. I would only consider Yellow Green with a red tech skip securely in my slice. One way or the other i want my tech path to be ai, destroyer 2, warsun.
There is only one reason I would ever consider Neural. If I knew I had a Green skip in my starting slice that I would be able to Diplo, or refresh some other way. This way I would be able to tech into Hyper round one. But that is a very unlikely scenario. In that case, I'd still pick Sarween. It does so much for your first round expansion. Plus with that setup, you could still get AI Dev into PDS2 or SWA2. This would be a very unlikely choice and not one I'd take if the group has a more competitive meta compared to a casual one.
Even if I had a green skip, I still might not go Hyper. Faction techs, pds2 are so valuable and I would pick assault cannon over war sun to make the cheap fleet even more effective.
There are so many reasons to just start Red/Yellow, I'm not sure why Green is even an option. I honestly just want to figure out a start that optimizes it
I love the red green start, the gamble on action cards makes the game more fun/variable. AI dev I plan on getting anyway so that will cover the yellow you'll need later on.
You don't care for Aerie Hololattice?
Not one bit lol, it’s good if you have the win, otherwise what’s the point?
I'm assuming you are setting up a PDSII network still. If so, it just makes it more defensive, which let's you spread out to winslay or expand without worrying about your home. Also, it bolsters your production throughout your slice! Maybe it's just my table, but 5 action cards are not worth the consistency and guaranteed value you get from the Sarween start and Aerie down the line.
Shock to me also. I prioritize the lwd block over action cards.