Eclipse Strategy Tips

The quick overview: You have 9 turns to gain the most victory points.

Your total VP at the end of the game is based on these factors:

• Controlling systems (1-4 VP each, as stated on the hex)
• Reputation draws (every battle gives you a 1-4 VP chip) - each race can have 3-5 chips.
• Science tracks (if you max out a row, you get 5 VP for that row)
• Discovery tiles (2 VP, instead of being used for their power)
• Monoliths constructed by players (3 VP each, expensive and easy to target)
• Race-specific victory point goals
• The current person who has the Traitor card (think hot potato/musical chairs)
• (Expansion only) - Alliance bonus/betrayal, limited Development bonus

 These are just the victory points though - to win, you only need to have these at the END of the game.

Methods of Winning:
These are the general methods in how you gain the various VP listed above.

1. Exploring (primarily discovery tiles)
1. If you explore Tier 3 hexes, they typically have less Ancient Ships (board-generated enemies), less resources, less victory points, but more likely to have discovery tiles.
2. Discovery tiles can boost your economy quickly, kept as 2 VP, or get you early ship components.
3. It is important to read over planned bankruptcy - at the end of each of the 9 turns, you have to pay money equal to the amount revealed by the discs you have spent. The more discs you spend on taking actions or claiming systems, the more you will have to pay at the end of the turn. If you cannot pay enough money, you reclaim discs from the board until your money income+existing money is equal to or greater than the taxes you need to pay. This can be to your benefit, to reclaim those discs you spent to take the discovery tiles. (If you have existing material or science you may use those to avoid bankruptcy, but it's not mandatory. Material and science income cannot be used.)
2. War (reputation draws, discovery tiles, controlling higher VP/better economy systems)
1. Early combats will get you better quality reputation draws on average. (Bigger battles give you more draws to choose one from.)
2. Fighting hexes with Ancient Ships - these hexes are generally going to have better resource production, as well as VP draws, and earlier discovery tiles.
3. Technology (science track VPs, and in rare cases Monoliths)
1. Science gain is primarily a multiplier effect on action discs, beyond providing VP at the end.
2. Ships and ship upgrades rely heavily on science purchases to wage better war.
3. Economy bonuses - Advanced Economy, Advanced Labs, Advanced Mining, and Orbitals make your systems more productive, without the cost of extra discs. Advanced Robotics gives you a cheap extra disc - similar to an economy bonus, as well as giving you more flexible disc allocation.

Disc Management
It is EXTREMELY important to be able to take 3 or more actions in a turn. If you spend discs to hold systems that only grant you one planet for a population cube, you will find yourself with un-upgraded ships, little ability to explore, and no economy to support taking more valuable systems from Ancient Ships. (Imagine this turn - build a dreadnought, upgrade a dreadnought, move a dreadnought, have a disc leftover to take the system...that's 4 actions.) Planned bankruptcy can free up your discs, without spending action discs to do so with Influence.

In the last few turns of the game, if most of your discs are tied up holding systems, it means you have less action discs to respond to aggressions. Consequently, if an opponent has tied up their discs, even if they are strong, they can't respond easily to your threats. Having the existing money or money income to take 5 or more actions in the final round can be very important to winning.


Exploration Combat Odds

• Tier 3 hexes will have less planets to settle, a high percentage of discovery tiles, and a low percent of Ancient Ships.
• Tier 1 & Tier 2 hexes are about 50% Ancient Ships - if you see three Tier 1 hexes out there already without an Ancient Ship, you're very likely to see them on future Tier 1 explores.

Choke Points (Explore)
It's tempting to rely on how you explore and how you angled those hexes, to control how others can attack you. In the first two-thirds of the game, choke points will work to funnel player attacks against you into a limited number of hexes. Once the Cloaking technology or Wormhole Generator shows up (and is affordable), those choke points will become less useful...and all of those discs you spent being defensive there will not be as useful.

It can be common for games with newer players, where players only connect to each other through the Galactic Center. This usually reduces the amount of player versus player combats, as the only person who can attack or be attacked is the person controlling the center.

War & Technology
Key early technologies will carry you through the first half of the game.

• Improved Hull makes your ships last longer - a cruiser or dreadnought with two improved hulls are essentially immune to a single Ancient ship.
• Plasma Cannon makes Ancient Ships 1-hit kills, for the low energy cost of 2.
• Positron Computers can give you the slight speed edge, as well helping you hit more often - but still not as good as an early Improved Hull or Plasma Cannon.

Late technologies are necessary to take on players or discourage them from coming for you.

• Neutron Bombs are almost mandatory for killing enemy population cubes.
• Anti-Matter Cannon does 4 damage in one hit, enough to kill most ships. In the expansion, they add a splitter, allowing the 4 damage to be spread over multiple ships.
• Plasma Missiles trump faster ships, but only in quantity - computers are mandatory!
• Star Bases often trump fast ships, and have the space allotment of a cruiser.
• Cloaking (expansion) and Wormhole Generator techs are the red flag for possible aggressive behavior, even if you buy them to stop others from getting them.

"Rock-Paper-Scissors" Ship Builds
Unless you have a lot of science or upgrade actions available to repel or initiate combat against another player, your ships will typically have either be a rock, paper, or scissors build.

• Fast ships trump armored ships (computers and good cannons mean over time, they win more often, and the opening round can wipe out the opponent's most effective ships due to speed)
• Missiles trump fast ships (missile ships require missile & computer parts to make sure they hit hard on that opening salvo, but then lack room for more armor or lasers)
• Armor+Shields trump missiles (negate missile-computers, making the only set of missiles mostly ineffective, but the armor and shields will take up most of your ship)

You can use this idea to pick easier targets for you, as well as identifying how much of a threat a specific player is to your ships. In rare cases, you can upgrade your ship to have an even match-up, or ideally the match-up that favors you.

Final Point
Managing your discs is so extremely important it needs to be repeated. If you get down to only being able to spend two discs each turn...in 2 turns you have 4 actions, while a person with 3 discs per turn would have 6 actions - essentially a free turn compared to you.