Starter tips

[Ayron]

Just some quick tips for when you first start playing Pandora- First Contact.

These are not necessarily suggestions for improvement, but rather some things that are apperently unclear for starting players.

(I'm not at all sure these are all correct or complete, please help and add stuff!
This is just from own experience and reading some other's first impressions here on the forum)

* a colonizer can either move or found a new city in one turn. Wait a turn if it has allready moved so the 'found new city'-option will became available again.
* the research tree is randomized. you can not queue research.
* hovering over the picture next to a new research item shows the effects of that research
* hovering over any game adviser tabs (research, economy, militairy) in the bottom of the screen will show victory progress.
The counter % that goes up is the progress towards the % required. So the 50 % that shows when hovering over the research screen would mean you are half way to getting 75 % of the techs.
* if you alter anything in the workshop, that changes will automaticly overrule any previous designs, keep the same name, and will instantly be saved
(so it might be advisable to either return all setting to their previous position if you change your mind ór make sure to adjust the name so you can tell updated versions apart)
* changes made in the workshop won't affect unit's whose production is allready ordered. You need to cancel the old order and add a new one to get the new version
* there's just one value for a unit's militairy strength (allthough bonuses may apply to only attack or defense)
* you can (and should) manually look for the best way to apply your workers in the city screen. To do this, drag them around (possibly multiple ones at the same time)
and see what you think of the results. Your men will automaticly work the best square in your territory for the selected value.
* assign your first worker to Production (in stead of Farming), otherwise you won't be able to produce anything for a long time
* all production for the four resources go into one single pool
* workers use up minerals to produce labour
* if you produce an operation in one city it can be used anywhere. A new window appears for this in your upper left screen.
Some operations have a cooldown time before you can use them again.
* if you're close to an AI empire - it can and will place cities close to yours (but never within a two square radius). Yes, even in between your cities.
* cities do not have a base military value. If they're unprotected any unit can just claim it by moving in.
* once an alien hive is cleared, it won't return. There's currently no way for a new one to spawn.
* the game gets a bit less complicated and less demanding (some might say boring) once you've dealt with the aliens in the start of the game.
It's not just your sublime playing style. Any comments or suggestions about this are more than welcome, for example here
* be sure to read Earthmichael's Manuel- it's the best that's around for more detailed information and tips at this moment.

[Earthmichael]

Great starting hints!

I would just add that you move a selected unit by right-clicking on the target square. This personally took me awhile to figure out.

You select a unit by left-clicking on it.

[SephiRok]

Nice!