Vaulters Strategy Primer - First Look - Endless Space 2 DLC

[@Rheinguard]

A shame you never did the other DLC. Awesome content and EXTREMELY helpful. Thanks!

[@JB-xl2jc]

Maybe we can convince him to take a look nowadays!

[@thenoseplays2488]

Been waiting for this for awhile. Love your analysis. Keep it coming.

[@dobbsmerc]

You neglected to mention their Corsair ability, Vaulters get the privateer tech from turn one. Also it is an improved version so that their privateer fleets get disguised as pirates on the map, although they can be discovered to be Vaulters if you watch the battle animations (also in the after action report). useful for getting your fleets around closed borders or messing with allies who are getting too big

[@joshuachapman247]

Glad you guys are back. I learned a lot from this channel. I hope you guys put out more content.

[@LegosDeus]

Great to have you back.. :) I recommend your videos to all endless space 2 players who ask for help.

[@brightboar4421]

Awesome! Looking forward to the first 30. Also I hope we'll see updated information for the other factions after so many updates.

[@MrPhaedrusx]

It just hit me as I was listening to your speech cedence. You're the Sam Harris of 4x games lol. Love the content and info, thanks man.

[@alclewley9309]

Great guide, thank you.

[@West996]

Looking forward to the first 30 turns.

[@Finwaell]

I've seen the "expert guide" to Vaulters and you mentioned this vid so I checked it out.. I wonder how you can not win on endless difficulty without jadonix? :D In all my games that I remember I never had it on my starting systems and still won. Also saying that the other luxuries are useless.. seems you don't know what a system that pumps out hundreds of influence can do. If you go early aggro then the approval luxury is priceless. Also portals are super useful all the time, not just late game, if you think so you are doing them a disservice. You are all about cutting corners and cheesing a spare turn here and there but when you have a tool that saves you literary dozens of turns you don't use it xD And again, vaulters are super wide, not tall at all. On endless difficulty I always expand fastest with vaulters precisely because they don't have to feed the outposts. Using argosy is much faster because it does not hinder your home base, which makes it ideal for wide play. Include their ability to get almost all minor factions before anyone else with those fast scouts and you can have close to 20 colonies and a bunch of assimilation traits by turn 50, 10k science by turn 70 (possibly more, but on average, taking into account that you can't focus just science all the time). You wouldn't be able to do that with a "tall" empire. Oh by the way, fighting with retrofitted scouts is a waste of time and resources when you pump out so much science that you can have attack ships before turn 20 with that science output.

[@Automatic620]

Post a video of your first 30 turns. Would be interested I'm seeing how you play them.

[@alal792]

Hey I just bought and was about to run a first playthrough, so I am going to start small and I have lots of knowledge about the patches. Yet the game breaking bug is still occurring and having players waste their game time some. Can people here give me their experiences with MAX settings? Like full Ai , and largest galaxy with assets...also can you list basic system specs if you do. I really appreciate it as I find out if these patches are making the game work the way it should.

[@thenoseplays2488]

Also I may have missed it but can you comment on the Vaulters population bonus at 50 pop? I think the long term strategy they are best suited for is tied to this. Scout the map. Snipe the very best systems with Argosy and build a small but very tall and well developed and well populated core of super systems. Use portals and strong fleets to logistically defend your boarders despite being spread out. Use your production and food from Titanum system development to get Manpower building down and stocked. Shift focus to science in mid game. Manpower buildings with Vaulters population bonus at 50 grants you science = 10% of your total manpower. That can be very large and allows for far more science output despite having fewer systems held. Turtle up for a science victory relying on your Logistical advantage with portals and your natural population defense buffs to hold off hostiles. Use luxery buff for Vaulters whenever a land war on home turf is engaged as it doubles the bonus damage to enemy troops from 20 per pip to 40.

[@destruction42k]

The Vaulters are kinda like a fixed version of the Vodyani both start with key components to there play style that they must focus on keeping alive throughout the match along with a very selective approach to colonisation,both factions also focus on building a tall empires. What i mean by Fixed is a similar play style to the Vodyani with the over reliance on RNG kinda gutted out. BTW Thank you for getting me into the game 4X your content's really got me though a hard time and thanks for that everyone can't wait for the revised expert guides, also if you ware to do a full run with any faction who and why?

[@thenoseplays2488]

What are your thoughts on delaying your first settle to scout nearby systems for a better start? I feel due to the golden age mechanic it is less impactful than it might appear at 1st look. Settling turn 1 gives you a 6 turn golden age. Each turn you scout it increases by something like 2.5 until it caps at 15 turns. The golden age is extremely large temporary buff at the beginning of game, and it can offset the lost resources you missed the first few turns of the game with a chance to find a better settle. The trick is to make sure you can make it back to the best system you can see at the start within the first few turn. If you find a better settle take it...if not head back and settle your first location. You will lose your first few turns of production, but gain several mote turns of golden age that offset the losses. The math if i am not mistaken suggests it is close to a wash if not in favor of golden age. Maybe i am missing something. Let me know.

[@luckygozer]

But doesn't settling later delay all your follow up settles or atleast reduced golden age time on those. So you are still losing out just at a diffirent point in time perhaps.

[@PipoZePoulp]

As a rule, I give myself 6 turns to scout and find the best spot. By turn 10, I must have my colony. I love that flexibility, reminds me of Civ V.

[@thenoseplays2488]

Damoinw : That is an interesting point. It would delay the turn on which you could potentially settle your second colony by a number of turns equal to your 1st colony delay. It is however a risk reward choice. If the opening system is sub par...you have the option with potentially minimal impact overall to look for a better start. I may do some more testing and long term math to see how it pans out further into the game. From my experience vs the AI the impact feels negligible, and even worth it if you find a system with better resources and planet types by scouting a lane or two.

[@4XAlchemist]

Dislike this strategy a fair bit and here's why: compared to other factions the Vaulters first system is just not important. You don't have to wait for outposts to turn into colonies and your Argosy cooldown is much faster than you think. Turn 9-12 it will already be back and able to do your second settlement. Use your turn 1 scout to find your second place - your second place will grow incredibly fast as well thanks to the Golden Age. Every turn of inaction in the beginning actually puts you substantially behind. If it's settling on turn 2 instead of turn 1 for a substantial upgrade I would do it, but other than that just wait the 5 turns and take it as your second spot. (You'll likely be coming back to the system near your start for an early colony anyway).

[@thenoseplays2488]

4X Alchemist : Thank you so much for the timely feedback. Your perspective was my initial thought as well. After some experimenting I noticed scouting didn't seem to hurt my start as bad as I expected it to, and in some cases provides you with an exceptional starting system and significantly longer golden age. I will see if I can find some hard numbers on how it impacts pacing. It may be the inevitable delay of your second and third colony is more impactful than I am feeling it to be in my limited experiments in trying this strategy.

[@fromtheashes6327]

im seeing -10% in 2020 for dirty hands?

[@ZettoXPS]

Nice intro. I am under impression, though, that the speaker is chewing something and speaking at the same time

[@chadk6078]

No one tells me how to actually use the godamn portals! I honestly have no idea

[@Finwaell]

Because he doesn't use them :D build one in each system ideally and your ships will automatically plot course through them, travelling between them instantly. Early on it's like all your systems were connected by wormholes to each other. Later there is an upgrade where portal travel costs only one movement point. Cue fleets led by seeker admirals and you have the fastest most flexible force in the galaxy guaranteed. Provided you don't "play it tall" and sit in your starting corner but go out early, get colonies all over the place so that you have it close to everywhere. Every admirals wet dream. And what he didn't mention is that when you play against the vaulters and you ally them, you can use their portal network as well. Had a game where I played vaulters and two more vaulter players spawned. Allied them. Could get anywhere anytime all the time :D It also makes it that it's enough to have like 2-3 strong fleets even on the largest map because they can be literary everywhere at once. Imagine portal network on some 50 systems (yours or yours and your ally's ) all around the galaxy, an admiral with 20+ movement that needs 1 point to get somewhere and the battle tactic that returns one action point at the end of a fight. He can potentially fight 20 defensive battles on opposite sides of the galaxy in one turn if need be. And you can retrofit and repair between those battles as well since those portals are friendly territory. And then an "expert" says that he uses them only in the late game .. well his loss I guess xD