„With planetfall a new threat enters the stage. The Bully has arrived.”

You might seek peace and prosperity on this planet. But if you leave your opponents be, they will grow and prosper as well. Maybe even faster than you. Maybe even more efficient as you. And before you can act, they snatch the victory from you. You will feel betrayed. Humiliated. The next planetfall shall be different.

The Neighborhood Bully

“They say a Bully is but the product of his environment.”

A Bully will seek aggressive actions, disruption and robbery towards his enemies without committing to full-scale warfare. Bully behavior seeks a mixture of active unit usage and abuse of other colonies while building up economy and science in the background. He will rarely target cities directly and use a full siege army, but rely on a mobile unit division. The Bully does not care for diplomatic relations (as if the game supports great diplomacy), but will use any chance to get an advantage out of the carelessness of the enemy.

“Patience is the virtue of a Bully. A screaming charge will just scatter the prey.”

Before you engage, you need to know about your enemy. In this case:

- What is his location? Thankfully, the starting position will be revealed, so you'll know where to look.
- Where are raidable plots with lots of flat land and few obstruction?
- Where might he build his first base? Check for lots of resources and rivers.
- Where are Natives which might disrupt your raiding?

Purity-Explorer and Combat Rover are your first units of choice. Explorers can move fast over any terrain and with level 1 Purity, Aliens will not kill them instantly. Rover are fast as well and will be used for attacks and raids later. Have at least 2 Rover, while 3 can take care of any problem early on.

Too far away and on the wrong continent. However, it could be wise to invest time in him, as we find out later that he has the whole continent to himself!

This one is much better. Close and no bugs inbetween.

One Purity level will keep our Explorers alive on this hostile planet.

“The growth of others will become the growth of the Bully and the loss of his prey.”

Preventing enemy colonies to build new cities has multiple advantages:

- They waste a lot of food and production on a colonist.
- If you can capture the colonist, you get a free worker.
- If you capture the outpost with the Might virtue “Liberation Army”, you get a free city with orbital coverage over the enemy colony and you do not waste time on your own colonist.

Scout around the enemy colony. You will soon notice a colonist, usually escorted by a Soldier. Follow them and attack when you see fit. 2 Rover can take on an outpost without garrison. Also, your presence will cause “fear”, preventing further colonization efforts of the enemy colony until you are at peace again. For peace the enemy will usually offer a large sum of energy to you, since they need peace badly. They should not have other cities already to offer.

Remember to not engage on enemy territory or within range of the enemy city. You do not want to fight directly, you want to cut branches from safety. Also you do not want the colonist being able to retreat into safety.

A snatched worker for us! We can risk such a manouver, because our Rover is on a hill and has a river between him and the soldiers. Risky, yes. Worth it? Of course!

We have some spare time and a less than useful station. It would be a shame...

Yoink!

There is our target, waiting in the city for his escort.

We keep track of it and lie in wait.

That is a nice outpost you have there...

...HAD there...

“The Bully breaks his opponents one bit at a time. And with time, they will give him what he desires most.”

Cities will soon grow and become stronger. But you can still hurt them without the need of attacking them directly.

- Combat Rover have 3 Movement. They can enter a flat terrain tile, pillage it and return to the tile they came from. This way you can destroy tiles within attack range of a city.
- Pillaging a tile grants some energy, while the enemy loses some production and probably access to strategic resources.
- Try to place your units on enemy trade routes. They will pillage it as soon as the trader unit touches your unit, granting you a big chunk of energy.
- The enemy will need time to restore trade and tiles, throwing him even further back.
- Remember not to engage in direct combat. Take out single units if need be.

Now comes the funny part. The enemy will soon grow weary of waging “war” with you. If you have done enough damage, he will try to buy peace with a city. Why not take the offer? Keep the city or raze it, whatever you prefer and need. And again you gained a city without siege, probably no unit loss and hurt your enemy doing so.

Locate a flat tile...


Move to and raid the tile...


Move outside of city attack range...

And repeat...

Station Hunting

“The prey tried to make friends and the Bully broke them too.”

Some neutral stations might be out of reach for you and only be reachable by your opponents. Feel free to destroy those stations to take trade options from your enemies. Also raid the remains for extra goodies. Simple as that.

Passive Wars

“Soon the prey would turn on each other and the Bully would reap the remains.”

Sometimes, a colony wants to pick a fight with another colony and asks for your help. Feel free to say yes, unless you are really hardcore trading with them. You do not need to actively participate in the war. Just them bash their heads in, wasting time on each other. Sooner or later, the other party will want to make peace with you and offer you goods or even a city. Why thank you!

Covert Ops

“With stealthy friends, the Bully got access to more than their lunch money.”

Covert Ops is straight forward stealing energy, science, technologies, units and whole cities. Just continue operations on enemy cities and maybe switch up cities or use your whole force on one colony, so the enemy cannot lower intrigue quite as effectively. This method is pretty straight-forward and should not require further explanation.

"The Bully looked at his work and he deemed it good."

Full-scale warfare is time and resource intensive. Also, it is kind of lame and easy. If you want to win in another way, you need a way to hinder the progress of your enemies without sacrificing too much economy. I hope this little guide is helpful for you and you can use these strategies for your own advantage.

Picture of Francis the Bully from http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BarbaricBully

More gameplay pictures will follow soonTM.