RE: Biologicals

If you notice, when you get the radical discovery for the Bios you have
a bio on you list that is below your current tech levels. That is what
the message means about them being weaker. It appears that you are not
suppose to be able to change the stats, that is why they are grayed out.
You would have to get another radical discovery later to get higher
stats on the bio. It looks to me that it is a bug that you can select a
different ship type, then max it out and switch to bio to receive higher
stats. Of course this bug makes the bios quite useful. A bio with 0
range eats no people, and makes a good satellite. They can also be good
for reducing the population of ally's worlds. Just keep hopping among
your ally's worlds. The only draw back is they are quite expensive
compared to fighters and sats.

________________________________

From: larry_fluke [mailto:[email protected]] 
Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2004 10:31 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [ho5palm] Biologicals


I have a question about biologicals for you expert Ho-ers out there:

When I researched biologicals, I ended up creating a bunch of them at 
level 3/2, though my current level was 11/12. I dismantled them and 
tinkered some more and created some at 11/12. The levels are grayed 
out when you create a biological ship type, so it seems that the only 
way to create a high level biological is to click another ship type, 
click Max, then set the drop-down ship type list to biological. Is 
that the right way?

I understand that biologicals are useful mostly in the end game when 
there is little metal. I'm using them for the first time, and they 
seem to be very useful. I'm being careful that they always have 
enough fuel to make it to an enemy planet then back to a populated 
planet for lunch. Is that your strategy? They also make good 
satellites.

I used to get all upset that my biologicals were eating my people, 
but now I've learned to be a lot less empathetic. I've got lots of 
people and no metal, so the real cost of refueling my bios is very 
small. Will bios eat all the people on a lightly populated planet 
given the chance? If so, it seems that bios can only be used near 
planets with high populations.

The research message says that biologicals aren't too powerful, but 
I'm finding them to match up well with other ships. Are they really 
weaker?


Thanks for any help you can give me.