Sword of the Stars was an excellent 4X strategy game, and Kerberos really were pioneers of their time. From races that genuinely behaved.

I think the most interesting Race to play is the birds, cant remember the name, Anyway.I build Waldo+industrial techs that boost industrial or -ship costs (expanding like mad)Basicly, 1colonizer+1tanker x 30-40 of em. Liir do very well with precise weaponry. Liir tend to do well at research in general, though they do have some deficiencies (lower chances on mass drivers, heavy armours and inaccurate weaponry). They also get shields a lot and are the most likely to go all the way on shield techs.

Biotech is another Liir strength, especially their bioweapons (just ask the Suul'ka! Eeeexactly).Beams, torpedoes and shields are mainstays of the Liir fleet. They're also the only ones who mount a medium turret on their extended range destroyers, so you can arm your forward scouts a little better than most.Speed is the Liir's achilles heel.

They should be ready to fight up close and personal. If you can fight at a distance though, it'll make up for the fact that your ships are armoured with tissue paper and bundled newsprint.Research like mad, the diversity of weapons available to you (not to mention armour research) will make up for your initial weaknesses. Research is your greatest advantage, and remember that if the Liir lives to the late game, he's the biggest fish in the pond. General opening moves for me are checking my shipyard, and building X number of extended range destroyers to scout out nearby star systems.

Generally do not colonize anything about 300 planet hazard that early (it will seriously eat into your budget).In terms of research, stuff like the waldo units. I make it a priority to get polysilicate armor (or whatever it's called). Any improvement over no added armor is good.

THAT being done (.or not), I make a point to make sure my home planet (or, if I set the game for a start with multiple planets) has a full complement of defensive satellites. Lets me focus more on exploration and less on having to worry about asteroid strikes.Absolutely make a point to get your treasury above 1 million.

5 million if you can manage it. Your planets get an industrial boost (I believe it's industrial and not economic?) when their loyalty is at 100. Also, bearing in mind that your treasury gives you 1% interest on a given turn's budget.I also cannot stress enough the necessity of researching trade, particularly if you expand slowly. The boost trade can give your economy is quite considerable.

Edge in economy = edge in tech. I am sometimes left wondering if the AIs use of trade is what causes many people to claim the game cheats: they see the AI has colonized some pretty hazardous worlds and yet are competitive in fleet size and tech.Sorry for the generalized tips: I'm not entirely familiar with the Liir. I generally feel, for better or worse, that considering while certain races favor certain techs, the variation isn't enough for me to, well, care. Unless it's the zuul, in which case, I simply have to desperately expand and enslave as much as possible to remain competitive and compensate for the constant overharvesting.

(I get the feeling this race is much much more potent on small to medium sized maps as opposed to the large ones I usually do.)(this is something ACM tackles: there still is randomness but certain races greatly favor certain tech routes. In my opinion, from a 'no tech' start, your early destroyers will benefit more from a passable small mount (Sniper, UV Lasers, Beamers, Emitters) than from polly armour, with Emitters beeing king due to their point defenseness.I would also rate squadron CNC as higher than Polly armour too.On industrial matters:-depending on the specifics of the game, Pulsed Fission (if you are a race that has it), Waldos (especial Tarkas, Tarka Hammerheads have 4 mounts!) and suspended animation are all about equal in my opinion. Different races have synergy with different techs though-the construction tech following Waldos (Orbital construction?) is a bit of a winner for Tarks, as Tarka Strafe sections have a metric crapton of guns.Also evil: Early Zuul DD swarms with UV Lasers. They have a lot of them, and can outrun nearly any opponent, allowing them to stay at out of the enemies range envelope.Apart from that, everyone who is not a Zuul does not really have a preset research path imho.

There is one and only strategy, for all the races: 4E aka expand, expand, expand and then expand. Following it to all 4 letters, in single player with no handicaps to script i achieve hilarious results like having all the galaxy except small clusters of other races colonized at turn 150.Details as follows:- you build colonizers (tankers, borers, gates as needed). You colonize with them everything which is not locked, caring only not to go into red; you almost not defend, recolonize or move on. 2/3 of circle must be light blue, on rest you build new colonizers. It is advisable to drop colonizers till planet have 10 infra, and crank overharvest furthest right.- extra funds (when you sent colonizers everywhere you can) go into industry, terraforming and engine techs, in that order.- when you run out of empty planets, you research light emitters (skip if you ravens - DRONES, if no emitters restart game or suffer with lasers, mines and point defence) and declare a crusade on swarm and derelicts.

About this time you research some languages to get ceasefire-NAP with everyone you can, give bribes as needed, do not shoot unless they wipe your 'important' planet and you 'can win'.- trade when light blue sector starts to shrink despite your best efforts.After these phases galaxy is yours, you roar MWAHAHAHA, research ai techs in 12 turns - all 4 in 12 turns total i mean (if AI rebels, you still have 1/3rd of galaxy and can research virus before serious attacks) and pick weakest empire. Repeat till gg.Best races for this are crows (rule with great gap from others bcs best speed/good ships/no traps/research rates/DRONES), hivers (best ships and logistics), and Zuul in ACM (gunboats pwn). If you happen to be fishes, before doing any combat you 'have' to go for shields1 or at least deflectors.

Liiry sheeps are 'frail'. Same for tarka and their living steel.Worst race is humans.

Because you get stuck for aeons for a slight mess in lanes which 'will' happen. Click to expand.Another serious mistake. As i said earlier, when colonizing you watch only for absence of big red sector not hazard rating, of course prioritizing tasty planets first.In terms of research, stuff like the waldo units. I make it a priority to get polysilicate armor (or whatever it's called).

Any improvement over no added armor is good. Multiwinia cheats. THAT being done (.or not), I make a point to make sure my home planet (or, if I set the game for a start with multiple planets) has a full complement of defensive satellites. Lets me focus more on exploration and less on having to worry about asteroid strikes.