Scavengers Inc

Scavengers Inc.

Caseus omnia vincit

The Scavenger's Guide to Buying and Selling the Universe

"Why would anyone assimilate the Universe when you can mark it up and sell it on?"

V 1.02

Significant changes since V 1.00 in red

1/5/02

This is a very personal guide to playing the Scavenger Race in VGA Planets. It is not for everyone, nor are the Scavengers.

This is not a guide telling how to make the 1250 ships by turn 80 There are some who play the Scavengers that way and find them quite competitive. The Scavs have a rapid growth rate, excellent economic potential and access to Alchemy Ships, so the Big Fleet route is open to them. This is a rather different approach, and different from many of the other Race Guides for VGA Planets. But it is a guide to a very enjoyable way to play an interesting, challenging race.

Playing the Scavengers is complicated. They not only have a complicated technology, with many different kinds of ships, devices and units, but to succeed they must play in concert with other races. Almost all VGA Planets races are much more successful when allied with a complementary race, but this is even more true for the Scavengers.

You need to be willing not only to determine how best to employ many tricky devices, but also willing to spend time communicating with other players, arranging deals and alliances, and trading favors, parts or technology. This is not the race for those who like to hunker down at their computer and take on the world.

Most Player Guides begin with what to do on turn one, then on turn two et cetera, then a section on what weapons to put on the Hulls available at each Tech level and finally, at the end, a short section on how to deal with neighboring players as allies or enemies.

That structure is appropriate for other races, but not for the Scavengers. Their whole mode of operation is based on diplomacy and synergy with others, and this guide is mainly about those interactions. The Scavengers are better than most races at making deals because they have more items and abilities that are valuable to a wide variety of races. And they are Cosmic Scrap Collectors who can put together odd items of technology to create a whole that is more valuable than its parts. They don’t start with all those “odd items” but have to scrounge them from others in sort of an interstellar “Scavenger Hunt” to coin a phrase. The opportunities for deals and which odd items they find will vary from game to game depending on their neighbors. I can’t tell you what you should be doing on turn 5, when you are starting to interact with neighboring empires, because that will be very different if you find yourself between the Borg and the Peeps in one game, and between the Fed and the Crystals in another. But I can give you my advice on how to deal with the Borg, Peeps, Fed and Crystals. And Dealing is what the Scavengers are all about.

The Scavengers are so unique that they use a different language than other races. But don't worry, Scavengers are ubiquitous and deal so often with others that their phrases have been adopted into the common speech of the Echo Cluster. Unique Scavenger Phrases are noted in square brackets [ ] below.

Setup Advantages and Disadvantages:

Like most races, the Scavengers are helped or hindered by certain starting set ups. Scavengers are a hyperjump race and have some very fast ships, so a sparse setup (large distances between the stars without regard to the actual total number of stars) hurts them less than most. Eventually they may (see below) get Warp Chunnelling, Jumpgates and ability to terraform most planets to their own ideal temperature. Considering this and their rapid growth rate , the more planets in the universe the better.

They use Natives as a source of income ["Income" is a very common word in Scavenger speech] and to produce "stuff" (Ord, Supplies, MedPacks etc.). They can generate this income from Natives on their base, Natives free on the planet surface or Natives on someone else's base. Abundant natives help them and sparse natives hurt them.

They are good at getting out to a very fast start in Tech level advancement. Their Government Center-to-Central Bank transfers are doubled until they reach certain tech levels. So abundant contraband and abundant starting cash would seem a plus. But they are capable of generating their own contraband (from Avian Natives), and a rich set up would help other races advance in Tech Levels rather quickly too. So they may actually be at a greater relative advantage in a set up with sparse contraband and sparse starting cash. When everyone is poor their advantages will have more relative effect.

They have a unique ability to incorporate the technology of other races into their own ships, if they can get possession of ships with those Alien Devices (see Technology section below). Therefore they will be severely hampered in a game with few players, or one with many players but few different races. If you are in a Fed vs. Borg game for example there will be no Crystal Inferno Device or Gravitonic Accelerator to expropriate ["expropriate" is a Scavenger word, but generally only used among themselves, not in front of "Customers"].

Scavenger Strengths and Weaknesses:

All VGAP races have strengths and weaknesses. The Scavs seem more extremely imbalanced than most: more unique strengths and more glaring weaknesses.

The Scavenger strengths include many unusual devices (Hacker Droids, Gambling Decks, Holo Jammers) and some devices, units and traits unique to the Scavengers (so far). But their main strengths are economic growth, population growth and technology (lots of devices and unique hulls). They have an enormous edge in Central Bank transfers. They get 2 credits in the Central Bank for every single credit transferred from a Government Center, but only so long as they don't exceed these tech limits:

Hull Tech must remain less than 7

Large Weapon Tech must remain less than 7

Engine Tech must remain less than 11

(There is no penalty for advancing the other tech levels)

If they exceed those limits they go from 2:1 to 1:2 for transfers (i.e. they have to transfer 2 MC from the GC to get 1 central bank credit).

I recommend you not exceed those limits. This allows you (early) to get an enormous edge in tech levels over other races. You can then sell equipment to the "technologically challenged." Warhops for example are always a popular item. Or you can swap components with others..

Later in the game you can wage "Exotic Tech War" either with better Exotic Weapon Techs, by manipulating the Contra market or by using Tank-O-Tronic Exotic Cloning Tech to grow your already fecund race even faster. You will have a 2:1 advantage over any competitor ["competitor" is a Scavenger word, but Scavengers don't like the word at all. It is best avoided in conversation with them] in Exotic tech.

If the time comes when you have bought every tech (other than LW/Engine/Hull in excess of the limits stated above) and have such a huge income that even if your Central Bank Transfers are reduced by 75% you STILL can buy every exotic tech every turn then you may as well exceed the tech limits.

But if you are that rich why haven't you won long since? A game with that much wealth (and yours is likely not the only wealthy race at that point) is now likely so unwieldy as to be unplayable. At that point in my opinion everybody should show their strength, agree who would win if you had 2 years to think about each turn (you'll need 2 years per turn with the number of ships and planets you have at that point) and start new game.

There are ways to compensate for the limits on Hull, Large Weapon and Engine Tech levels.

You can get engines at every tech level from Ghips (and you need Natives anyway). If you lack Ghips you can trade with the neighbors for the high tech engines or gather some engines from Wreckage Pods (any time a ship is destroyed near one of your ships a wreckage pod is created. At your ship. And you own it. You are very good at trash and recycling). You can trade high tech items or natives with other races for a few Ghips. Natives do tend to like you and are easy to attract. THEY don't have the prejudice against cute little furry rodents with shiny eyes and nice whiskers that some races have.

You can get some Large Weapons from Wreckage Pods too. And you can get other people’s Hulls and Large Weapons in trade.

For example, if the Crystals are making Photon Torpedoes early they likely left some other tech undeveloped. They can't advance faster than you in everything. Not with your 2:1 Central Bank edge. Offer them Warhops for Photon Torpedoes and you will have the Large Weapons you can't make yourself.

By turn 20 you can max out Planet Tech. Nobody ever maxes Planet Tech. This has two advantages for you: You can build bases on commission (charge a LOT), then GBA (Give Base Away, a Base Command Code) the base to your customer who needs a Base Shield or a Fighter Plant way out there far from his Homeworld. He may be willing to pay you an exorbitant profit ["exorbitant" and "profit" are two very popular Scavenger words] to get what he suddenly realizes he needs desperately [“desperate” is a word Scavengers like, but only when applied to Customers] but cannot make himself.

To get from Planet Tech 4 (where most people stop) to Tech 10 (where they can build an Air Attack Base) would cost that Customer 48,000 MC. To get to Tech 13 where he can build those Undercities he needs in a big hurry, now that the Privateer is mugging his colonists, would cost an additional 85,500. But that is only 24,000 and 42,750 respectively for you. And you can do it right now while the Privateer is hurting him, not in 9 turns which is how long it will take the Customer who didn't prudently build up Planet Tech long ago. So you can charge them a lot, or alternatively you can trade them for a large dollop of Big Hulls and Large Weapons that you can't build yourself.

(The advantage to the Scavenger of steering the Privateer to such customers one at a time to impress on the Customer the urgency of buying your product might occur to you at this point. Just remember that a) you came up with that idea, not me b) you and the Privateer should diligently split all profits made 50-50 to keep both of you "on board" and c) neither of you should ever mention to the Customer that there is any silent partner in your "Emergency Construction" division.)

Advanced Planet Tech also allows you to build "Homeworlds" of your own all over the map. This is important because I think the Scavs should disperse - 10 bases of 5 million, not 1 base of 50 million. They can't defend One Big Base easily and their money making Atoll Class Star Posts are a little more efficient when the same population is more spread out. See the Technology section below for further details. The Scavengers are also adept at terraforming, and sometimes obtain Jump Gates or Chunnelling so advanced Planet Tech and the ability to make anyplace their new home does them more good than it would do most races. Rats are generally good at making anyplace their home, if you've ever noticed.

The Scavs are weak primarily in that area where most other races excel: space combat between heavy ships (they have few to none, particularly if they adhere to the Hull Tech limit noted above) and ground combat (they are only small rodents).

But everyone else can do that. You have that one, unique piece that will make an Evil Empire, Privateer, Lizard or other race enormously more powerful. If they ALL have Big Ships and you alone have that one crucial force multiplier that amplifies the effectiveness of Big Ships, it's a sellers market for your race ["Seller's Market" is a favorite Scavenger phrase].

"Loyalty" "Honesty" and "Value"

"Loyalty" and "Honesty" are Scavenger words. Their meaning has changed a little as the words have passed into the Interworld Speech common in VGA Planets, however. If the Scavengers deal with one ally (only) they will not do well. They need a little from this race and a little from that race. Putting together odd scraps into a usable whole is the unique charm and challenge of the race. They can't blindly cut off communications with other empires without penalty to themselves. On the other hand, they make deals as their modus vivendi and they can't backstab customers. That gets out and "poof" no more customers.

So they have to walk a thin line. They have to give good "value" for what is received. If they don't give something of value they won't convince the customer to trade with you. And they can't renege on promises. But they need to make sure their trades are "shrewd" which is different from "swindling". That "customer" is also a "competitor"

A key point is that you are, in fact, "taking advantage of someone" but in a subtle, clever, farseeing rodent manner, not in the dull shortsighted way primates look at the world. If you say you will trade the Hull Plans for the Rouge Scout for Gravitonic Accelerator technology you will deliver the ship design (honesty) and the ship design will help the other race (value given for value received) but you are making this deal because, after careful consideration and after looking at your position as a whole you are reasonably sure the Gravitonic Accelerator you are getting will do more to help your overall plan for the game than the Rouge will help that other guy thwart your plan (shrewd). That is how a true rodent defines "value" - as part of a coherent whole. Does this deal, considering both the thing given and the thing received, give me a relative advantage in achieving my long term goals?

There may be races that have no technology, natives or items you will need, or from whom you have already gotten whatever they have of value. In that case you need not deal with them further (in the commercial sense). They are not "customers". You may or may not chose to make war on them but you still shouldn't cheat them. That will hurt your reputation with all the others in the game and in other games for years to come. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to lose a reputation for double dealing in the war gaming community.

Contracts (Treaties)

Contracts or Treaties may help a lot in dealing with other races by clarifying what you are, and more importantly what you are not, agreeing to do. Most players think in terms of everyone being an unremitting foe or an exclusive ally (Me and You Against the World). That is a good mindset for a marriage but no way to run a growing Corporation. A contract is not a pledge of unconditional love and devotion. ["Contract" is a Scavenger word but "unconditional love and devotion" does not translate into the Scavenger tongue.]

As noted above the Scavengers shouldn't swindle, lie or go back on their word (bad for one's reputation in future dealings) but people often think of allies being exclusive, unconditional allies. The Scavs probably need to state explicitly that the deals they are making with this race do not mean they are not makings similar or different deals with some other race.

Take Atoll Class Star Posts. These useful devices make extra money (see below) from other people's colonists. You and the Customer can share the money. So you put Atoll Star Posts over two or three of his planets and soon you are both making 5000 extra MC/turn. Then he finds out you also have the same deal with the Lizards. He goes berserk, saying you are "a backstabbing liar and traitor" helping his enemy. Better to tell him beforehand that you are likely to have these Atolls over everybody's planet. And point out that YOU have no way of knowing whether he will be at war with the UA or the Lizards in 9 turns. He doesn’t know, how can you know? You are just a businessman and offer the same deal to everyone. If he wants an Exclusive Deal (no Atolls over any third party’s planet) you can make that arrangement. But it will cost him. You need to make, from this one exclusive deal, a profit commensurate with the opportunities you are forgoing elsewhere.

If he doesn't like that, point out (gently) that he needn't have the extra 5000 MC/turn from the deal. But you are STILL going to have a deal with both the UA and the Lizards. So all he is doing is cutting off his own nose to spite his face [Scavengers hate that phrase. They are very vain about their long, pointy noses with those magnificent whiskers] by refusing to do business with you. He is better off keeping up with the Jones' (or the Evil Emperors or the Solar Federation Senators or whoever).

Another potential problem is what I call the "contra positive problem." You promise him you will not do X to him, and he immediately assumes this means you WILL do X to his enemy if asked.

Take Warp Chunnelling as an example. Should you be fortunate enough to get this technology it will help you enormously (more than it will help other races. You have more synergies between techs than just about anyone else). But it will also make people afraid of you. You might Chunnel an enemy into their space.

So you make a contract with the Customer that if he will let you put a Chunnel ship over his base which will have certain obvious benefits for you and him (you can Chunnel him to a part of the Echo Cluster Far, Far Way. For a price) he may worry you could Chunnel enemies right into his Rear Area. So you promise, as part of your contract, not to Chunnel any third party race through that location into his base or neighborhood (maybe within 250 LY of the world) without explicit permission.

The problem with this contract is that the Customer is likely, in a few turns, to say "You are my ally. Chunnel me into that guy's space over there so I can clobber him in his Rear Area." He will be stunned and hurt when you tell him no, that you have a similar deal with "that other guy" and would no more Chunnel A into B in violation of a contract than Chunnel B into A.

You probably need explicitly state in every contract not only a) that you are possibly going to make similar deals with other races, but also b) the fact that you are making this one deal does not mean you are necessarily implying any greater or future relationship than what is stated and c) the fact that you are saying "I won't do X to you" does not imply "I will help you do X to everyone else."

"Customers" are generally not so quick to understand things as Scavengers (that's why they play those dull races). They often need a little help clarifying their thinking.

The Scavengers Inc. Marketing Division is expert in this sort of Motivational Psychology, by the way. They developed their knowledge through years of running cute little primates through mazes.

None of the above in any way implies you CAN'T make an all-out alliance. It is just to point out that you will make many deals which are not all-out alliances and you need to make this very clear to the Customer.

Money and Population

I am starting to think the Scavengers are the fastest growing race. They grow at 160 (only the Crystals grow faster at 175) but they can afford the Exotic Cloning techs earlier than anyone else. With typical starting conditions they will be at Tank-O-Tronic Cloning Tech A (every turn) by turn 20 at the latest. They can buy Tank-O-Tronic B at least occasionally within 1-2 more turns.

Tank-O-Tronic Cloning A+B cost 58,000 MC/turn. But the Scavs only need to put 29,000 into the Central Bank each turn to have that constant 58,000 to spend. Their standard planet with 1 million population (see below) will have 10 cities and an Atoll Star Post with Gambling deck. Those generate 1000 MC from the cities and 1300 from the Atoll = 2300 per planet (disregard the taxes, they will be ultraconservative and just cover Supply production etc.) You need about 13 planets and about 13 million colonists to generate that amount. And you breed like rats (more accurately rats breed like you) from turn one even without the Cloning. So you get to 13 million fairly quickly.

At that point your population grows even faster. You have more such planets and you make more money. The 100,000 more needed for Tank-O-Tronic Cloning C only costs you 50,000 or about the income from 21 more planets. If the planets’ populations are greater than 1 million, you require even fewer planets. See population density below. The point is that furious population growth generates more money for cloning which generates more population in a wonderful compounding. Baron Rothschild (a famous Scavenger from the past) said it best "Compound Interest is the Eighth wonder of the world."

Diffuse Empire with many Medium Sized Bases

The Scavengers will be relatively weak for much of the game. Eventually they can grow, due to the interaction of money for cloning and population, to where they can overwhelm anyone, but before then you could get clobbered at one base or another.

For this, and for the economic reasons listed in the Atoll Star Post section I favor many medium sized bases (1-5 million) rather than a very few huge bases. Militarily there is a trade off here. A base of 1.5 million rodents can be overwhelmed. But you aren't knocked out of the running if they hit one such base. You have 15 more. And that attack will tip your enemy's hand, revealing his true colors. Yes, 8 such attacks, carefully coordinated and simultaneous would crush you, but that degree of coordination is awfully difficult, much more difficult than engineering a huge attack on a single base holding 10 million colonists.

Then there are your Half Flints. They should, ideally, be lurking cloaked all over the place. They can grab wreckage pods and provide intelligence as to who is fighting, where, and who is losing the battles. If you have Cargo Grappler Technology the Flints are even more useful lurking in the space lanes. You want a bases reasonably close to those Flints so you want bases in most areas of the map.

Ideally you want the bases close enough to each other that they can cooperate (send stuff to each other in a turn or two, mass their ships quickly etc.). A completely isolated base is less useful and more vulnerable. UNLESS you get Chunnelling. Then everything is one move apart.

Some of my Rodentoid Friends say you may not want a completely flat population distribution, but rather a few larger bases and several smaller ones. One of 10 million colonists, one of 8 million and a lot between 1 and 2 million might do. If you do that, make sure the big bases are in "your" space where you can defend them.

Atoll Bases and Crawler Bases (Customer oriented bases)

You also want bases where you and any Customers are generating profits together. But these latter "customer bases" can be quite small indeed.

For an Atoll over a customer's population center, all you really need is one colonist and a Government Center (to send the money generated by the Atoll to the CB). For a Crawler Facility you need a GC and an Assault Plant (to make more Crawlers). You have already paid for the Planet tech, and an Assault Plant only costs about as much as one more Crawler. The number of Crawlers needed at each such base will slowly rise (with good management) as the number of Natives grows. Generally it’s more efficient to build additional Crawlers on the spot rather than build them elsewhere (paying for them when they are built) then waste several turns moving the Crawlers to where they are needed. At a Crawler Base you likely need a ship in orbit and a Pod Launcher too. Those Crawler Bases are make all kinds of stuff (Ord, Supplies, Armor). You need to trans-ship the stuff to your partner and occasionally ship your share home when enough has piled up to pay for the shipping cost and bother. Half Flints are useful for trans-shipping. They cloak so a passing Privateer (or the Privateer who is your Customer) can’t steal from them.

Customer Bases are vulnerable. You want them small so you won't lose much if something goes wrong. You want the bulk of your resources at your mid-sized bases where you can quickly build the right fleet to deal with a suddenly threat or opportunity. See Combat below.

You can create hidden space-bases and off-map-bases. Your Atolls are excellent for this. They can stash metal, parts and gold pods. You can build more ships right there in the Atoll. The usefulness of this is limited, though. The only likely use I can think of is a desperation move to hide from someone when you are badly crippled and can't defend normally. Such bases may offer a place to conceal money from thieving Privateers, but money there is vulnerable if sighted.

Speaking of wide distribution, your fecund birthrate means you needn't watch every last colonist to make sure they are reproducing constantly. You have the luxury of keeping the guest spaces of your ships filled with colonists and to keep docked pods of colonists here and there. The colonist-guests will provide a little income on the ships, and sometimes a little money way over there is disproportionately important. And the colonists, if so widely distributed, give you a lot of options. You can suddenly make or reinforce a colony when an unexpected opportunity or disaster presents itself.

Crew and troop production can be a choke point for the Scavs. They grow fast but have relatively poor Colonist to Crew and Crew to Troop Conversion (12 and 6 respectively). They need a few more Training Centers than most. They can stand the slight decrease in population growth these cause, because they breed fast, but still concentrate the Training Centers, as always, on a few worlds near shipyards. Let the major population centers grow quickly with at most 1-2 Training Centers, but put 20 TCs (or more) on a few worlds, and make most of your Crew and Troops there. You also have slow High Guard creation, by the way. High Guard production goes much faster at bases that have at least one HG to start with, so try to send a single HG to most of your bases to get things started, even at the bases with low numbers (one or two) of Training Centers.

See below under Combat for the military advantages of this diffuse spreading of your Empire and its assets.

Technology

The Scavenger’s early tech development will be fast, due to their 2:1 transfer advantage but they still need to prioritize some technologies. They start with four armed and two unarmed ships, but they have NO hull designs at Hull Tech 1 or 2. They need to buy Hull Tech advancement every turn until they get at least to Level 3 and can finally build more (and different) ships. They probably should go straight to Hull Tech 6.

They are primarily a small ship race, at least if they don’t go above Hull Tech 6, so some of the larger ship-borne equipment isn’t much use to them. Hyperdrive Tech 9 is very useful for the fuel efficient Warhop engine but Hyperdrive Tech 10 (the Cydonia) is worthless. They have no ship that benefits from this more expensive fuel guzzling engine. Likewise the higher shield and generator techs are not worth much to them. Their hulls can’t use those super-shields and their ships are small and cheap. It makes little sense to put an incredibly expensive generator on a hull that cost 120 to start with and doesn’t have many or very large weapons.

You may eventually want higher techs to trade parts with others in some special situation. You can pay for the tech level, or even several intervening levels, cheaper than he can. It may be cheaper for him to buy from you than to develop the tech himself, particularly if he has higher priorities elsewhere.

The Scavengers can't research Super Weapons at all, by the way. They do have one ship, the Reigendo Class Stratofortress, that can be fitted with a Super Weapon, the Anti-Matter Maul. If you choose to build this ship (it is at Hull Tech 10, and researching that Hull Tech will reduce Central Bank transfers) you will either have to trade for an Anti-Matter Maul or scrounge it from wreckage. As an interesting aside, this same hull, the Reigendo Class Stratofortress, can mount the Jumpgate builder if you learn that technology from another race. So the Reigendo has the potential to both build and destroy Jumpgates (Recycling, even recycling the Moly from Jumpgates, is apparently big amongst the Scavengers).

The Scavengers rely heavily on technology, gimmicks, racial oddities and particularly the synergies of combining these bits of this and that into a working whole ("combining bits of this and that" is what one would expect from Cosmic Junk Collectors). The Bits can be Scavenger bits or somebody else's Bits.

The important thing to remember is that all these Bits aren't worth much separately. But they can be worth an astounding amount in combination. Recycling other people's refuse into a new, usable whole is what Scavenging is all about. So think in combinations and with some goal in mind. (That doesn't just apply to Tech development. How many players do you know who think intensely about the next bit of micromanagement but rarely plan medium term goals that will lead to their long term goals? Besides yourself, I mean?)

The races in VGAP are generally designed with great strengths but with glaring weaknesses and blind spots. The key to being a successful Scavenger Player (a key to being a successful player of any race, but it applies more to the gimmick-heavy Scavengers) is seeing how to turn that device from a curiosity into something that either nullifies the weakness of a very powerful position or nullifies the great strength of a position with serious flaws.

Let me discuss the unique (so far) Scavenger ability of incorporating the Ship Devices from other races into their own hulls.

All races have devices on their ships. For the Scavengers, some of their ships can have more devices added (or “unmasked” or “activated”) during the course of the game. For example the Factor Class Cutter has a Minesweeper Array as a device. But it is possible to get yet another device, the Tachyon Emitter, on the Factor (see Ship Devices on Tim's Website for discussion of all ship devices. You will need to be familiar with many of them).

The Tachyon Emitter isn't "on" the ship on turn one. The Scavengers don't know how to make one. But if they ever get their hands on somebody else's ship fitted with a Tachyon Emitter they can "reverse engineer" the Emitter. ["Reverse Engineer" is Scavenger phrase meaning “copy somebody else's patented device”]

"Get their hands on" means own a ship that has that device (a Solar Federation Loki for example) for one turn. Once they have owned a Loki for a single turn all Factors the Scavs have already built, and all they will build in the future, will have that device listed and usable. The device remains present and usable even if the Scavs cease to own the Loki in the future, and even if all Loki's and all other ships containing Tachyon Emitters as a “native device” (“native device” means a device that shows up on a Hull from turn one, i.e. a normal device for all other races) are gone from the game ever after.

It is this ability to use other people's devices on their own ships (often in combination with different devices or in a hull with different characteristics than the original) that make it so important to have many different races in the game and for the Scavs to "deal with 'em or steal from 'em" as the Scavenger reverse engineering division is fond of saying.

If the Scavengers then give the Factor to a third party race, the Evil Empire say, the ship will ONLY list the device, Tachyon Emitter in this case, if the EE have "seen" it in the same manner as the Scavengers, i.e. if the EE have owned for one turn either a Loki or some other hull with a “native” Tachyon Emitter. If the Scavs give a Factor to the Feds, the Feds see and can use the Tachyon Emitter on the Factor, since the Feds always knew the technology.

(The problem here is that Scavenger reverse engineering actually leaves a lot to be desired. They seem to regard 30 switches and some jumper cables as "a design improvement." If you didn't see the original you will never figure out what all that duct tape and jury-rigged circuitry is supposed to do.)

Here is a list of all the Scavenger ships that have "extra" devices that can be incorporated eventually, and the races whose ships start with those devices:

Ship Device Upgrades:

Factor Class Cutter - Tachyon Emitter (Fed,Liz,UEA,)
Forgotten Class Junk - Warp Chunneler (Borg)
Hades Class Frigate - Ram Scoop (Aczanny)
Half-Flint Class Privateer - Cargo Grappler (Priv)
Inamorata Class Strike Ship - Gravitonic Accelerator (Aczanny,Cent,Priv,Peeps)
Phoenix Class Escort Carrier - Crystal Inferno (Xtal,Peeps)
Deliverance Class Ship of the Line - Bioscanner (Fed,Bird,Borg,UEA,Drac,UA,EE,Cent,Solarian,Peeps)
Reigendo Class Stratofortress - Jump Gate Builder (Drac, UA, RCS,Priv)

(The last two hulls, Deliverance and Reigendo, are Hulls of tech > 7)

I caution you that this list is accurate as of 12/27/01. The Peeps are possibly going to be revised a little and I don't know if that will effect their devices. Many races are not out yet. The Robots are likely to be out soon and there are many third party races in the works. The Scav ships and devices will not change unless the Scav Racepack does, but every new race added means there may be a new source for Ramscoops or Warp Chunnelers or whatever. Check Raceview for current devices on other people's ships.

The fact that the Scavs can use all these "Bits" means you want many different races to start the game, and you don't want them killed out until you have had the chance to inspect their ships. If you see your friendly neighborhood Stormer or Evil Emperor eliminating every vestige of Aczanny ships and colonies from your game you might politely ask him to not be too quick, and either give you time to make a deal with the Aczanny for possession of a ship containing a Ramscoop, or at the least could the Stormer/EE please try to capture one or more of the Ramscoop equipped Aczanny ships intact so your engineers can take a look at it before that technology is lost forever. Point out to him that if he is accommodating, you will give him some Ramscoop Equipped Hades Frigates to use as well (tell him to own the Aczanny ship himself for a turn as well so the device works for him). Share the wealth and you'll find that people tend to be more reasonable ["Share the wealth" is actually a Scavenger Phrase. That surprises some people but "Share the Wealth" generally results in more wealth than "Unbridled Greed"]

The fact that the Scavs put the device on a different hull than "The Original" ["The Original" is the Scavenger phrase for a ship owned by someone so dumb they not only bought it new, but likely paid list price] can make the Scav ship perhaps more valuable than "the original" ship.

Take the Borg Firecloud and the Scavenger Forgotten Class Junk:

	Firecloud	Junk
Warp Signature	290	180
Engines	4	2
Warp Drag	110	80
Cost to Build:
MC	750	190
Dur	10	30
Trit	10	30
Moly	100	60

The Firecloud is noisy (the Firestorm is worse but at least it can Ground Base Chunnel). The Junk is cheaper, quieter and more fuel efficient. These ships (with the Warp Chunnel device) are generally used as "transit terminals" not warships. The Junk is a better ship for that role. The Borg may want to use Scavenger ships to replace his Fireclouds and perhaps you can make a deal with him (or is it "them"?).

Since the "extra" device on the Scavenger Hull can only be used if the race using the hull has seen that device on the original makes the technology less stealable. So somebody steals a Forgotten Class Junk you have way out there in an exposed position. The hull was cheap and he CANNOT turn around and use that device against you in the future unless he has already owned an FCC or Firestorm as some point.

This quality lets you "sequester" technology ["sequester" is a Scavenger phrase, but used here in an unusual context. When a Scavenger says "sequester" he is usually discussing the murkier aspects of retirement funds and offshore tax havens]. If you, the Scavenger, see the last hull in the game with this device (the last Ramscoop before the last Aczanny is killed) and then you destroy the hull, only you will be able to use the Ramscoop on your Hades. No one else will ever learn that technology.

For some devices, you might even collude [a popular Scavenger phrase. Translates roughly as "chat"] with the original owner. He could show you the technology, and you give him some hulls or the plans for your ship design that now has the device. Then he destroys all his ships with the native device and never builds another. For example the Jump Gate Builder or the Tachyon Emitter could be made "theft proof" in this way. Someone might steal/board/capture the ship but not get a working device.

Obviously this ability to sequester requires that your collaborator is either the only race with the device, or the only race surviving with the device.

Minefields

The Scavengers have an ability to run through some minefields unharmed. Doubtless this is related to being descended from creatures that spent a good part of their evolutionary history in mazes. Scavengers can run at any speed in subspace through Barbitic or Gravitonic minefields without taking any damage. They can tow other race’s ships through minefields and those towed ships take no minefield damage either. There is nothing unique about the towed ship being safe from damage, but the Scavengers are unique in that they can do the towing with relative impunity.

Grav mines still knock them out of hyperspace, but do no damage. They can make a hyperspace jump with their subspace engines on full and if they drop out of hyperpace just keep going at full subspace speed into the minefield. Exploding Barb/Grav minefields still damage Scavengers. Laser Mines effect them normally. But Scavengers are twice as likely as other races to hit Web Mines.

This minefield immunity only applies if both of the following are true:

1) the ship must be owned by the Scavengers

2) the ship to be a unique Scavenger hull design i.e. hulls 442 to 460 inclusive.

If the Scavs build a Factor and give it to the Federation, or the Feds give the Scavengers the Nebula cruiser Hull Plan and the Scavs build a Nebula, neither of those will be minefield immune.

The Scavengers have a few ships common to many other races: the Merlin Alchemy and Alaska refinery ships and the Medium and Large Deep Space Freighters. These are NOT mine immune even if built by and owned by the Scavs. The ships which mimic the MDSF and LDSF (the Q ships for example) ARE minefield immune. When in doubt, check the hull ID number (preferably before entering the minefield).

Alone, this minefield immunity gives the Scavengers a lot of power.

They have for example the Inamorata Class Strike Ship that can move 190 LY/turn with Transwarp engines. It is a small ship (3 LW/6 SW) but it has high attack and evade bonuses and has the Scavenger doubling of Small Weapon Attacks. It can cloak and it is mine immune. Used in numbers deep in a minefield suddenly it is a serious threat.

They have the Half Flint Class merchant ship that can enter a minefield cloaked, do light raiding, carry assault pods in or capture pods and bring them out.

They have the Factor Class Cutter that can go 180 LY/turn into a minefield, sweep mines and attack with its weapons (16 SW and 1 large, but remember the SW attack bonus).

Now think of these things in combination with your other devices or other races. If you can get Gravitonic Accelerator technology, the Inamorata can go 360 LY/turn. That is quite a combat radius.

The Inamorata and the Factor are a little less wimpy than they first appear since they are likely to have the advantage of easily affordable (if you’re a Scav) Weapon, Evasion and Attack Exotic Tech. Those minefields are starting to look a little less reassuring to their owners about now.

The Half Flint can bring in not just pods of little wimpy rat-warriors but Lizard or Evil Empire troops to drop on the unsuspecting "protected" planet. Or it can tow a Stormer Thorn Class Destroyer. The Half Flint runs in, cloaked. The Thorn, which cloaks as well, lays cloaked Barbitic Mines. The Half Flint tows the Thorn out the next turn. You do this with several overlapping Half Flint/Thorn pairs. The sucker, er, owner of the minefield, will see none of this. Next turn you blow the Barb mines suddenly and make a gaping hole in that big minefield. You might damage something valuable that the owner has placed inside the minefield (“inside the minefield” is where people tend to put what they regard as “something valuable”). The gaping hole in the ex-minefield through which you and the Stormer are ramming an enormous fleet is just a bonus.

Or you might get the Cargo Grappler. All your Half Flints will then have that charming device. Half Flints cloak, don't burn fuel to cloak, can penetrate minefields, and now they can offload cargo from enemy ships orbiting planets inside that nice safe minefield.

The Factor can't cloak but it can tow. It has a Max Tow Power of 450kt. That happens to include Moscow sized ships. Rumor has it that the EE has trouble with mines and trouble moving fast in subspace. You just removed the flaw that balanced the Moscow's great strengths. You suddenly created a "Moscow-Scavenger Towed Variant" that still has the Moscow's weapons (and a few Factor weapons), 500 fighters, a Contraband Lockdown Device and a Boarding Laser but which now moves 180 LY/turn through minefields in subspace. And should you advance beyond Hull Tech 6 there is the Omni Class Destroyer that can tow up to 1200 kt at 120 LY/turn.

These are combinations that markedly amplify your power or the power of you and a chum. You are providing that one key missing piece that makes the device not just a curiosity, but something which turns the whole game upside down. You have removed the fatal flaw in a powerhouse or removed the one strength from a race with enormous flaws.

And don't overlook the advantage of the Unique. The Scavengers are the only race (so far) with this minefield ability. The other players won't remember you have it, so you get one unexpected whack at them. Make that first whack a good one. And once you use this ability, they will panic and over-react. They don't have the icy nerves and calculating, wily brains of rodents, you must realize. They may decide that ALL their minefields are infested with Cloaked Rodentoid ships that they can't see. Primates tend to panic when they think rodents infest their abode. I've never understood why. They may start blowing Barb Minefields here and there as a precaution. That will bump up their Ordinance consumption nicely!

Specific Units

Scavenger Crawler Unit

This is your most important unit. As a defensive unit it can be manipulated [a word Scavengers love] into the equal of every other unit in the game. Literally. The Crawler unit makes free stuff from trading with natives. It does this without in any way diminishing the usefulness of the natives. For example one Scav crawler will generate 20 med packs from 100,000 Ghips. (Each Scav crawler generates "stuff" from 100,000 Natives). The Ghips may be building free engines and if so they continue to do so. The med units are made with no reduction in engine production. The only cost is the cost (400 MC) of the Crawler. The different Natives generate stuff according to this schedule:

Chupanoid-Nothing

Humanoid-1 type 1 fighter (The Scav’s Fighters, not Fighters belonging to the race owning the natives)

Reptillian-100 Armor

Ghipsoldal-20 MedPacks

Siliconoid-300 Ord

Amphibian-200 Repair Parts

Bovinoid-100 Supplies

Insectoid-10 Food

Amorphous-Nothing

Avian-30 random contraband

The maximum number of Crawlers you can use on any one planet is 20. The maximum number of Natives of any one species from which you can profit on a single planet is 2 million. But each Crawler makes the above "stuff" from each different native race independently. So 500,000 each of Humanoids, Sils, Bovs and Avians on the same planet generate 5 Fighters, 1500 Ord, 500 supplies and 150 Contraband all from just 5 crawlers. Furthermore they don't have to be your natives. If you are on a planet where somebody else has Avians in their base or where Avians free on the Planet you still get the Contraband.

The obvious lesson here is to move Natives around so you have about the same number of many different species on the same planet. That "maximizes the return" [a favorite Scavenger aphorism] from the 400 MC invested in each Crawler. The less obvious lesson is that there may be a benefit in using other people's Natives. Here is why:

If the Evil Empire have a lot of Natives at a base, cajole [another favorite Scavenger word] them into letting you put a base on their planet too. You have poor ground combat stats (you are only rats) and you aren't a threat to them. You will generate all the above stuff, and you generously agree that you will split it with them. Most people regard a 50-50 split as inherently fair but you will have to work out details with the Customer. And work out who pays for the Crawlers - again splitting the 400 MC initial investment per Crawler strikes most as inherently fair. Now you and he get all that stuff every turn. The contraband alone at 30 Units/turn and a price of about 2.5 MC/unit will pay for the Crawlers in 5.3 turns. After that, just from the Avians, it's all profit. BUT you also get Ord and Supplies etc. from any other native species there. And sometimes randomly the Avians trade you 30 units of contraband that has a price of 450 MC/unit.

But wait, there's more. . .

Now you have a base on the EE's world that is generating something value for the EE. He could attack you, and if he did he would easily wipe you out. But that would cost him as much as it costs you (literally). He can kill your diminutive rat colonists, he can capture them and put them in Labor Camps (if he is the right race) but only you can make the Crawlers do their magic. If he attacks you he loses that steady stream of money, Ord etc. And he has invested something in moving all those natives around to maximize your mutual income. The last thing he wants is for anything to happen to your Crawlers. Not only will he not attack them, he will defend them against those Lizards over there who want to attack the Crawlers to cut off EE income. He will defend both your base and his on the planet by putting a substantial force of Big Ships and fighters in orbit over the planet. Why should you worry about the expense and Hull Tech required to build those things if other nice people will build them for you?

What if you are doing this for both the EE and the Lizards? And they know? Well, either could throw you off their own planet, but what does that profit them? You are still on the opponent's world making money and Ord for him. They just cut off their nose to spite their face. So they won't. But you may need to point this logic out to them. Gently. Make them think they came up with the idea.

Hide behind a wall of profitable Crawlers and let them both build Slayers and T.Rex’s to protect your mutual interest. You rake in the money and use it to build ships somewhere else for offensive, not defensive purposes.

As I told you, the combat value of the Crawler is the value of every unit your customer can build to protect it.

Atoll Class Star Post

This is probably your second most valuable unit. It has many features, but I am going to start with Gambling Deck because it is the most useful to other races. (Are you starting to see a pattern here?) The Gambling deck makes money from either on-board colonists or, if over a base (yours or someone else's) from the dirtside colonists as well.

If over a base with at least 1 million colonists (999,999 won't do) it makes:

1 MC per guest colonist to a maximum of 1000 MC/turn (and a tiny bit of taxes but anybody can do that) plus

300 MC per Million base colonists. That is 300 for the first million, then 300 for each additional million rounding the millions over the first. (The first Million doesn’t round, remember?)

If the Star Post is either cruising through space or over a planet with less than 1 million population, it makes 1 MC per guest WITH A MAXIMUM OF ONLY 50 MC/TURN.

For a ship holding it's maximum guest capacity of 2000 colonists the ship makes:

# Colonists on

Base Orbited	MC generated/turn
In Space	50
1,000,000	1300 (1000 + 1*300)
1,500,001	1600 (1000 + 2*300)
5,000,000	2500 (1000 + 5*300)
50,000,000	16,000 (1000 + 50*300)

An Atoll costs 1200 MC (built with no weapons and free Ghip engines). So it pays for itself the first turn, even with only 1 million colonists on the base orbited.

Note:

10 million colonists in one base with one Atoll:

1000 + 10*300 = 4000 income

5 bases each of 2 million colonists (same total population) with an atoll over each:

1000 + 2*300 = 1600 per planet or 8000 total

Solely from an income perspective, the Scavs make more money from many medium sized bases than from that same number of colonists concentrated in one or two huge bases. There are other considerations discussed below that I think also favor spreading their population around the map.

The important points about this gambling income are that it is "free" in that it doesn't reduce in any way the happiness, fecundity or taxation of the Base Colonists. And they don't have to be your colonists.

Put an Atoll over the 1 million+ bases of a friend and split the money 50-50 with him. You and he both come out ahead and he will protect the Atoll out of his own self interest. If he steals the Atoll from you, don't make him any more Atolls and make lots for everyone else. And tell him and everyone else what you are doing and why. The point will be made. Those other races may not be rodents, but they aren't all stupid.

You also should have a tiny base on the world beneath the Atoll if it is not your planet (See Customer Base above). Put a GC in that base, transport 1/2 the money to his base and BDM (A Command Code that sends the money but not the Guest Colonists down to your base below) the other half to your base. The GC will ship the money (actually ship twice the value of the money) to your CB account.

The Atoll has these other features:

Cloaking (but burns a lot of fuel to cloak)

Ore Processing (so no need for Smelters on the planet, but you can only smelt your ore, not someone else's. Podding the customer's ore to the Atoll can solve this problem)

Mobile Fighter 1 and Repair factories (I find the mobile Ftr 1 more useful. You can turn some of that gambling income into fighters every turn)

Dock that can build hulls up to 7500kt (any hull you know including more Atolls)

Bays for 240 fighters

10 Pod bays.

20,000 cargo space.

Customer and Competitors

(How to relate to other races)

First, remember that there is nothing morally reprehensible about those who choose different Lifestyles (Provided they are bill paying Customers of course). The Scavs WANT there to be lots of different races and strategies in the game. More tech to expropriate. More deals to cut. More opportunities for innovative combinations with the Scavs extreme strengths and weaknesses.

There are many ecological niches in VGAP and the fact that someone chooses to be a low-life Privateer Scum or a Vile Un-Rodent-like Borg Monster in no way should affect your willingness to do business with them (provided there is profit in it).

Heck, you may not believe this, but there are some people out there who don't like rats!

Deals MUST be good for both sides if you expect the other party to abide by the deal. Make sure the other guy wants to keep those Crawlers on his planet. But don't worry about the last dime. If every deal you make causes your power to go up 10 and your customer's power to go up 12, AND you make deals with all 15 (or whatever) other races at that ratio, then they will each go up 12 and you will go up 150. You’re the Scavs and you will probably be making more deals with more people than any other race. And you will actually do better than that, since you are (if you have any overall plan in putting these deals together) choosing pieces that are more powerful acting in concert than separately.

One more point about the Scavs in general:

Some races are strong early, some in the middle and some late in the game. The Scavs, by their nature will make deals with many races. They can make many people rich with their Crawlers and Atoll Starbases - two technologies whose main benefit is multiplying not just Scav income but Scav diplomatic muscle. Staying friendly with lots of races is easier for them than for most. If in your game, for example, there are Privs and EE who are strong early and Crystals who are strong late, having a "relationship" [a word from the Scavengers Inc. Marketing Division] with all of these races gives you some powerful friends at each phase of the game.

Now on to specific non-Rodent species. Since most thought, discussion and complaining in this game centers on the Privateers, let's begin with them.

Privateers

Privateers have a couple of advantages as Customers that apply particularly to the Scavs, and some advantages as allies that apply to every non-Priv race.

A particular skill of the Privs is the ability to collect great numbers of Natives in one place. Having done so the Privs can make relatively little use of these natives. You can. Your Crawlers can produce, from those masses of Avians, Sils and Bovinoids, all neatly collected in one spot, a steady stream of Contraband, Ord and supplies. If he will collect them, you make a Crawler Base (see tech section) to produce "free stuff" and share it with your Priv buddy.

Privs gather Contra fast but they can't see it. You see contraband all over the map (you scan well and your scouts move fast) but it takes you several turns to collect large amounts, during which time someone else might happen along and want "your" contra. Many races who scan well can do the following, but so can you: Tell the Priv you see a pile of 12,000 Contra. Tell him that you will tell him which planet if he will give you half. If he agrees, tell him it's on that planet over there. Then see if he pays you (your 1/2 of the contraband or its MC equivalent). If he does he is an "honest Privateer" (one who keeps a bargain). Then tell him you also see a pile of 23,000 contra three planets over.

(This is a good way to deal with all races, by the way. Make a small deal and see if they keep their end of the bargain. If so, make more deals. You can't count on everyone else having your high level of professionalism in business dealings).

Privs need several things you can provide. They will need your "towing service." Privs can't see minefields well or at all (changes with host modifications). You can see them. And, since Privs are usually cloaked, the other races tend to use minefields ad lib to keep the Privs out. You can tow (cloaked) one of those nice MBR's right into the midst of an enemy minefield, let him steal the Planetary money (over 10,000 MC), money from orbiting ships, cargo from the orbiting ships, and dust off natives and contra "from under their nose." Then you zip him to safety.

And speaking of "nose" [“nose” is a popular word in all Rodent languages, not just among the Scavengers], make sure "nose" is what the Privateer pays through for this unique Scavenger service.

My Privateer friends. (Don't glare. So I have friends that are Privateers. No one is perfect) tell me that this will only really help against a player who has the wit to make overlapping minefields larger in radius than 50 LY (the range of the money tap). Otherwise he can pilfer without your assistance. And my Privateer friends tell me that non-Privateer players with "wit" are rare. (That's a Privateer for you.)

Privateers are very limited in the Structures they can build on their bases. Training Centers are a choke point for producing ground combat and boarding troops. They also need repair factories and raid shelters. You can build those and GBA them to the Priv. Others can do that, but who else can build Base Shields or Undercities which the Priv, with a price on his head, may find very useful? Likely only the Scavs with their cheap tech advancement will have the Planet Tech needed to build those structures.

(At this point you may be thinking back to the "emergency construction" - about having a Privateer silent partner to impress on the Customer the urgency of buying your protective structures. If you have that sort of devious mind you are probably thinking that you could also have a Lizard or EE silent partner going around bombarding Priv bases to urge the Priv to buy Raid shelters in ever larger quantities and at ever more inflated prices. Heck, you could have the Priv terrorize the EE, the EE bombard the Priv, and sell shelters to both sides at once. Remember, that sort of devious play is your own idea and not the sort of sneaky trick I would ever put in this Reputable Guide).

The Privs are food limited. You can build terraformers with your advanced Planet Tech. And you have a ship (the Phoenix) that can terraform to help his food problem. Or you can sell him food (you make tons of the stuff with your terraforming and wide climate range).

Privs are metal limited. You could build them smelters, but better yet, use an Atoll with it's ore processor.

All of these are "profit centers" [see "make Privateer pay through nose" above for a discussion of the Scavenger definition of "profit center"]

Privateers make people unhappy. They are so loathsome in their habits, personal hygiene and language that even rodents become unsettled in their presence. So any base you make on a Priv planet will quickly lose happiness. Don’t try to make major population centers on Priv planets. You can use the minimum “Crawler Base” described elsewhere in this Guide on a Priv world. You might build an additional structure to try to improve happiness but that is likely hopeless (Privs are so disgusting your colonists will still be morose).

To pay you for all of this the privs have (in addition to great heaps and buckets full of money) two devices you can use, the Gravitonic Accelerator and the Cargo Grappler. These will be useful additions to your fleet.

The GA lets your Inamorata (the one that goes through minefields cloaked. Yes, THAT Inamorata) go not a pitiful 190 LY per turn but a full 360 LY per turn. At the very least that will make the Bad Guys lose sleep. And Cargo Grapplers on your ubiquitous (see Diffuse Empires) Half Flints add even more to their effectiveness. Those ships cloak (burning no fuel cloak) and will be spread throughout all active areas of the map waiting for wreckage pods. Now they will also quietly remove cargo from any ships foolish enough to venture within 50 LY of their invisible positions.

The Privs as enemies have certain unique noxious qualities. They can steal money and that is a problem for you. Try not to leave tons of money lying around. BDM money from your Atolls to the base below and try to keep the base's total cash under 10,000 MC. Put excess money into contraband (he can only steal so much of that per turn, 10% I believe). Put the contraband into pods (in orbit or docked with ships). He has trouble seeing those pods, and he can't pilfer from them. Be warned: he could steal the whole pod, though.

Example: you have 200,000 MC at a base. If you leave it there, a passing MBR can steal 190,000 of it. If you put it into contra he can steal (with a nearby base) 20,000 the first turn, 18,000 the next etc. You put it in several pods (preferably < 10,000 MC worth/pod) and then only land what you need that turn to build/send to CB/whatever. He will steal 10% on the one turn it lands, but not 10% every turn while you are waiting for the right thing to spend the money on. (The percent loss per turn may depend on the size of the Priv base).

The Privs also board, and since you have some terrific ships, Atolls for example, they will want to board you. One defense against boarding is "weak ships" and lots of fighters. If you build hulls with few weapons (for many of the tasks you just want the gimmick, the device, not a weapons platform. For most of the game you’re a businessman, not a warrior) they may be boarded but the instant your ship is boarded it becomes an "enemy" ships and your other ships and fighters at that spot will attack and destroy it. Not good, but better than letting him take the ship and use it against you.

You will typically have lots of small ships, not a few large ones, so boarding your many small ships will be tedious and resource intensive for the Priv. And those Atolls he is after have a mobile Fighter Factory. Making (and undocking and making more) clouds of fighters make it even less likely his "cutting out party" will get away with its prize.

One last remark about the Privateer Player (as opposed to the Race). Any Privateer Player you meet will likely be innovative and unpredictable (the Privateer Player who is not innovative and unpredictable will be dead and you won't meet him). Some races, the Crystals or the Borg for example, favor a style of play that is relentless, careful and patterned. They may well move tactically in unpredictable ways, but they tend not to come up with some off wall gambit you have never seen before. Privateer Players (like Scavenger Players) will tend to do odd things or come up with angles you didn't expect. They are gimmick and stunt oriented. They can be excellent game-long allies or excellent partners in one single venture because they are so odd and different that their strengths and weaknesses will complement yours. But when dealing with them keep thinking "What is he really trying to accomplish here."

Borg

The Borg are the other common topic around here, during those lulls in the conversation when no one is complaining about the Privateers.

The Borg have something that is very useful to you: Warp Chunnelling. It costs them nothing to share this technology with you but you have to find something to give in return to make sharing worth their while.

One possibility is the "Forgotten Class Junk Gambit" which is carried as an addendum in Jon Nunn's excellent "Borg Guide to Assimilating the Universe". The problem is that under Host 94 this will not work. You can use Scav Hull designs as destinations for Warp Chunnelling with either Borg or Scav designs for the moving ship, but there is a buglet that prevents using Scavenger Hull designs as destinations for Ground Base Chunnelling. Tim says this is on the Fix List but the Gambit is unworkable at present.

Note that the moving ship and the destination ship both need to be owned by the same race at the time of Chunneling, regardless of which race originally designed the Hull. The Borg can Warp Chunnel using a Firecloud as the moving ship and a Forgotten Class Junk as the destination ship only if both that Firecloud and that Junk are owned by the Borg player.

What the Gambit suggests, which still illustrates a point about Sequestering Technology, is that the Borg could show the Scavs one of their Fireclouds or Firestorms and in return the Scavengers give the plans (or a ship since the Borg have Hacker Droids) to the Borg. The Borg then destroy all FCCs in the game and never build another. The Borg use Scav ships to Warp Chunnel and use Scav ships as destinations when they Ground Base Chunnel (that's the bit that doesn't work yet). The Firestorms (the Ground Base Chunnel source ships) tend to be at major bases and well protected. It is relatively unlikely one of them would be captured by a third party. Since the Destination ship is way out there, it is more exposed to capture, but if captured, it can't be used to Chunnel. Not even if that third part race gets the plans or has a Hacker Droid (several races do). And the Scavengers can't even give this Chunnelling away to a third party intentionally. There are no FCCs anywhere for the third party race to capture and "learn" about the Warp Chunnel device if the Borg keep the Firestorms well protected.

Thus in return for giving Chunnelling to the Scavengers (with whom they may be developing other relationships) the Borg have made Chunnelling less vulnerable to hijacking by anyone else.

This same sequestering can be accomplished elsewhere with different races and devices.

Another thing the Borg can use are fast scouts with a reasonable Guest capacity. Your Rouge Class escorts, with a greater fuel and guest capacity than his B200 scouts, are very useful to them (to It?). And the Borg can use better Hyperdrives early in the game, either in your Rouge Class Scouts or in their own B200 class. Warhops let the B200 jump three times, a big advantage but the Rouge is still better. You may be at Hyperdrive Tech 9 and able to make Warhops well before the Borg, due to your rapid tech advancement. Offer him a bunch of Warhop engines and Rouge Scouts for one little peek at a Firecloud.

Jon Nunn has noted that if you do want to offer Borg Warhops, do so early before he's started to invest in Hyperdrive Tech. Jon recommends that ideally you should make this deal before turn 5 with a promise of the first shipment no later than turn 12. By turn 15 or so, the value starts dropping, and will be zero by about turn 25.

The Borg tend to have a lot of population, and to concentrate it. You can offer them Atolls to gain even more income from their population (splitting the income between you). It may strike you as odd that the dull old Borg Drones will gamble. This may be a bug that will be changed in later Host versions but it seems to work at the moment. Me, I think even the Borg need to kick back and relax occasionally, and what better place to let down your hair than a Cloaked Gambling Ship parked just outside the Three Mile limit? Think of it like Borg going to a lodge convention in New Orleans. They do things on the Atoll they wouldn't do at home where their Drone neighbors might see.

The Borg have two big disadvantages as partners for you. They tend to assimilate, not keep, natives. That's what Borgness is all about. So you not only can't offer them "Crawler Bases" as a joint venture, they will actually be decreasing the number of those useful indigenous peoples on the map.

And the Borg have Hacker Droids (so do you but only at Hull Tech 7). So if you do give them "just one or two" Atolls or Rouge they can build as many more as they like and tell you to go take a hike.

Early I would try to deal with the Borg to get Chunnelling in return for High Tech Hyperdrives and/or Rouge Class Scouts. If they decline I would try to steal an FCC or Firestorm to learn Chunnelling. Better yet (and more in character) induce someone else to steal one. The EE or the Privateers might steal one if you share the Chunnelling technology with them in return. Both are good at Boarding, and Privs like stealing things.

As a general comment on the Borg, decide early whether they are a game-long partner or an eventual foe. They are very weak early and very strong late in the game, so if you are going to kill them, do it early. At that point you are strong enough to fight them and you can probably get other races to join in your anti-Borg campaign (the Borg are a threat to everyone). Late you have a problem. DEFINITELY get other races (several of them) to help.

One Anti Borg-technique that will help is your dispersal into many medium sized bases. That will prevent the Borg from assimilating 40% of your population at one go.

If all that fails read my "Until the Bitter End" post on how to wage guerrilla warfare when almost dead. You can hide a few cloaked ships and keep pestering and distracting him for a long, long time. Maybe that will be so irritating that the Borg will decide next time to just give you the damned Firecloud and ally with you.

Crystal Assembly

The Crystal Assembly have many unique features and are probably a good partner for the Scavs. They grow fast, a bit faster than you at 175 to your 160. But you can generally buy each level of exotic cloning tech before them.

Between the two of you, you can outgrow everything else and strangle the map for space and RPs (even with the new RP rules). That will make it awfully tough for the other players to compete with the two of you what with the mining, income and ships all those colonists can support (if you can process your turn with fleets of that size).

Because they grow fast, the Crystals have a real use for Atoll Star Post gambling income. Because they lay jillions of web mines they need lots of Ord, and you can make some of that Ord with Crawlers from the same batch of Siliconoid Natives they have doubtless already collected and are using themselves. And you can build Ord factories (they can't) to even further boost their Ord production. Put a number of Crawlers and an Atoll over his HW. Rake in the money while he protects your mutual source of income and Ord with Web Mines.

You are pretty safe trading ships with them (they can use your ships but not build more and vice versa for you).

As enemies the Crystals make mines that CAN hurt you - their Web Mines.

A prominent local Crystal has noted that the Scavenger's ability to cloak is the best counter-strategy to web mines. Sneak many small cloaked ships through the minefield from different angles at 6LY a turn. Meanwhile distract him with a fleet or two of cheap ships hung up in his webs to keep him busy.

If you can get a cloaker that can also lay mines, lay 5,000 Ord cloaked barbitic minefields every so often. By detonating them all at once you can rush many of his suddenly undefended planets.

As a rapidly growing enemy, Crystals will compete with you for planets and RPs. To counter this use your CB transfer/Exotic edge. Outgrow them by using higher cloning techs sooner. When you figure they are finally using Cloning Tech 3 consistently (keep an eye, cloaked, on some of their planets and watch their growth rate) then you are as far ahead of them (and everyone else) as you will ever be. Pay for a Shokazul pulse from then on with your CB transfer edge and freeze the Crystal’s (and everyone but the Borg's) Growth right there. You will be leading in Population and likely in Income.

Solar Federation

Other Scavengers

Lizard Kingdom

Birdman Republic

Another Cloaking race.

Stormer Kingdom

Can cloak and cloak Minelay. Some good "standard" combat power.

People's Army (Peeps)

Currently in revision. Hard to give advice.

University Alliance

Holy Draconian Empire

United Enforcement Authority

Reunited Coalition of Systems

Aczanny Pyramids

Centaurs

Solarian Unity

Combat

(See, you just knew there would be something about Combat in here, didn't you?)

Actually I don't have much to say about combat. That is in part because Combat and ship design (which PD to put in slot 1 if you are about to encounter lots of fighters) is largely similar for all races, and is covered well in other VGAP documents. I have not played the Scavs long (NOW he tells us), and haven't been in any huge donnybrooks with them. But I will make a few comments, particularly as to how combat fits in to the overall design of your Empire.

You will need to fight from time to time. You can't outsmart everybody (although according to Sun Tzu you should try). Be willing to fight. Better to take the offensive and choose the time, the place and the stakes. You have to very publicly whack someone every so often if you want to live in peace (while wildly outgrowing your neighbors).

You have a couple of advantages in combat from your Race design, and a couple from the economic and diplomatic plan described here.

Your ships fight above their weight. You will have more Exotic Combat Techs. Your designs are better than they look (peruse the attack and evasion factors). Your fleets will be strong for the resources consumed, and can be matched to different missions with their many devices and gimmicks. You do need to match the fleet to the mission. There more are ways to further your overall strategic goals than "meet the 25 Anhis with a bigger fleet." You don't have to win the battle that had the most ships present. You have to win the battles that, as a connected whole, do the most damage to the enemy. That is an entirely different proposition.

The speed of your ships and the fact that so many cloak are great combat advantages. Not advantages in the fight itself (the result of the fight is decided by the time it is joined) but in operational flexibility. That inherent Race advantage combined with the Diffuse Empire strategy lets you suddenly coalesce an effective fleet almost anyplace. Keep a reserve of metal and money in several places. Your diffuse empire may suddenly have an emergency or opportunity somewhere requiring fast construction of a specialized fleet. You are all over the map and can go in and through minefield quickly and/or unseen, remember.

Your opponent can't see your center of mass, and you can move that center. A violent attack from a previously unseen concentration will make everyone start to dither (not just the victim of the attack). They will all start to imagine that they hear the rustling of cloaked speedy rodent ships in there, between the walls of their minefields. . .

Just which ships are best is a function of who your opponent is, and what exotic techs you each have, but a few ships deserve particul