Lizards

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Lizard Alliance race icon from VGA Planets Nu

Origin

The Lizard Alliance also known as Lizards are based on the Gorn Hegemony, from the "Star Trek" universe. It's a reptilian species, which showed in the Episodes TOS: "Arena", Enterprise: "In a Mirror, Darkly Part II" and in some books/games.

Race abilities

  • Ground Combat: 30:1 (offensive); 15:1 (defensive) - strongest in the game
  • 2x faster mining
  • "Hiss" mission - ships with beam weapons can threaten colonists and natives on a planet to increase happiness by 5 points per ship per turn
  • Cloaking device on some ships - Reptile, Saurian, and Lizard
  • can take 150% damage on their ships (ships will explode after combat if damage is above 100% and if they are in orbit of a planet)

Strategy Guides

From Donovan's VGA Planets site:
It Ain't Easy Being Green
The Lizards Guide to the Echo Cluster

Ship List

Tech Name Mass Fuel Cargo Crew Engines Beams Torps Bays MC Dur Trit Moly Special
1 Small Deep Space Freighter 30 200 70 2 1 10 2 2 3
1 Serpent Class Escort 55 160 20 35 1 2 40 15 33 5
3 Neutronic Fuel Carrier 10 900 2 2 2 20 10 2 20
3 Medium Deep Space Freighter 60 250 200 6 1 65 4 4 6
3 Reptile Class Destroyer 60 120 50 45 2 4 50 22 33 15 Cloak
4 Eros Class Research Vessel 35 110 30 78 2 2 30 4 3 13 Terraform Ship (lowers temp)
4 Lizard Class Cruiser 160 330 290 430 2 4 3 190 42 81 30 Cloak
5 Vendetta Class Frigate 100 140 30 79 2 4 4 170 12 23 57
6 Large Deep Space Freighter 130 600 1200 102 2 160 85 7 8
7 Saurian Class Light Cruiser 120 260 150 336 2 4 2 85 32 67 23 Cloak
8 Loki Class Destroyer 101 140 80 265 2 2 4 170 10 20 43 Tachyon Device
9 Madonnzila Class Carrier 331 290 150 910 2 4 5 420 110 123 90
9 Neutronic Refinery Ship 712 800 1050 190 10 6 970 125 150 527 Alchemy Ship - 1 Supply + 1 Mineral -> 1 Fuel
10 Super Transport Freighter 160 1200 2600 202 4 220 125 13 18
10 T-Rex Class Battleship 421 490 190 810 2 10 5 350 140 153 100
10 Merlin Class Alchemy Ship 920 450 2700 120 10 8 840 625 250 134 Alchemy Ship - 3 Supplies -> 1 Mineral

Notes

  • Build an Eros starbase early on to pump out HISS-er ships. Every large cluster of planets should have one HISS starbase. Eros ships are 100mc each (ish) even if you outfit them with t5 engines (nice but not necessary).
  • Some players build tons of small deep space freighters late in the game to fill up the build queue, then recycle them for priority build points. The Lizards can do one better - build Serpents with tech-1 engines and beams and use them to HISSS! until you want to recycle them.
  • starbase-inna-can ships are extremely valuable for getting starbases up and running fast. Null-tech starbases can still pump out HISS ships, and you may not get the chance to make them later.
  • The T-Rex is a midrange attack ship, and is extremely cheap for its armament. Don't treat it like a heavy warship - it's in fact the least powerful tech-10 ship in the game. (Nevertheless it is superior to Fascists/Crystals (Diamond Flame)/Privateer and Fed (Missouri) main warship if you have a Lizard crew on board). T-Rex Classes often are one-way-ships when it comes to fighting carriers.
  • LCCs are awesome but they're heavy and they suck up fuel. Make lots, but be aware that scavenging for fuel in enemy territory is hard, particularly if you're gravid with troops.
  • Lizard players can win alliances by offering to HISSSS! other players' planets - have them tow a Serpent with tech-1 engines and beams to the planet of their choice. Note that you can't give your ships to them - you must be in control of them in order to HISSSS!
  • The Lizards are very versatile on both the offense and the defense, but definetely an aggressive race. While on the offense they "colonize" already developed spaces, they should treat their own territory as soft matter on the defense. With cloakers and ground attack, they can just lift one leg, as soon as a strong battlegroup appears to be attacking. And put it back on, as soon as the enemy has left this planet.
  • Never underestimate the psychologic effect of cloaking devices. You see everything in your turn while your opponent often believes that there is a little or nothing.

Strategies

Alliances

With the Solar Federation

  • Refitting of ships
  • You can provide cloakers, which they can make pretty good use of (immune to Lokis)
  • can HISS his planets
  • Madonzilla benefits highly from Fed ship bonus (extra bays)
  • Economies: they have double taxes, you have double mining - trade-off (hissing a fed planet will make it a cash cow)

With the Empire of the Birds

With the Fascists

With the Privateers

With the Cyborg

  • HISSSS! their planets! The Borg need fighters for their deadly Biocides, and for those they need a TON of cash.
  • An amazing strategy to try:
    • Put a cloaker (Reptile, Lizard, or Saurian) on an enemy planet where there is also in orbit a very strong enemy ship (say, a Colonial Virgo). Make sure the ship is cloaked.
    • Have the Cyborg player move a Firecloud about 80 lightyears away from the planet - enough to reach in one turn.
    • When you are both ready, have your cloaker tow the enemy ship to the Firecloud.
    • The same turn, the Cyborg should chunnel that Firecloud (and, by extension, the enemy ship) to one of his worlds, where he has a low-ID Biocide waiting, mission set to "Kill!".
    • When the enemy ship comes through the chunnel, its shields will be down. Because the Biocide has the lowest ship ID, it will attack the enemy ship first, easily destroying it.
    • If the friendly code of your cloaker is different from that of the Firecloud, you can stay around and do it again!
  • Cool any hot planets they may have (above 50) using Eros Researchers. This increases not only the rate at which their colonists grow, but also increases the maximum colonist population. Essential when combined with assimilation.
  • Borg colonists are deadly when given to LCCs. Capture enemy planets (and even starbases) with those clans via ground combat.
  • Probes, Firecloud Classes and Biocide Class Carriers are very desirable ships for the Lizard.

With the Crystals

With the Empire

With the Robots

What you can give:

  • Hiss mission boosts his torpedo production.
  • Mining rate boosts his fighter production.
  • Your cloaking ability shows robotic carriers where to strike.
  • The Lizard Class is a very good robotic minelayer and -producer, due to his great cargo hold.
  • The Saurian Class is a very good offensive minelayer due to his large cargo hold and low fuel consumption.
  • Be careful with giving cloaking minelayers away. They are gold.
  • The T-Rex is an ideal shield-killer against all carriers.


What you can get

  • Huge mine-covers destroying the last weapon your opponent has against your cloakers.
  • Carriers and fighters making your weak combat groups the strongest in the game.

With the Rebels

With the Colonies

Enemies

The Solar Federation

Offense

  • Feds have a rough time getting minerals; hit their laden freighters.
  • Their Nova can easily take out two T-Rexes in a row. Be careful.
  • Your ships are immune to the Loki Class, so ground attacking his bases is fairly easy.
  • A captured starbase will destroy (or take over) all non-refitted ship-hulls.
  • The Solar Federation is your natural prey, ground attack them until they are ruined.
  • The Fed becomes strong in the mid-game, when he can refit his empty ship hulls. So try to attack him as early as possible.

Defense

  • The most federal ships have small fuel tanks. Beam up all fuel, most colonists and one torpedo-relevant mineral from the planet and take it back as soon as it has been captured.
  • The Federation has a hard time to destroy starbases.. build and guard defensive bases with a torper or a small freighter, so that an attacking torpedo ship will discharge it's tubes and beams before attacking the base.
  • Counterattack immediately and ruin his economy and his supply lines.
  • Lay mines in the beginning to provoke him to put the most (mineral-) expensive beams into his ships.

The Empire of the Birds

The Fascists

The Privateers

The Cyborg

Offense

  • Kill them early if you can! The Cyborg are at their strongest later in the game, while the Lizards are strongest earliest in the game. If you are playing as the Lizards and you come across a fledgling Cyborg player, don't hesitate to destroy them - you probably won't get another chance.
  • Don't make the mistake of building only T-Rexes. A single Biocide well-stocked with fighters can destroy four, maybe five T-rexes depending on their torpedo tech. A Rex-Mad-Rex or Rex-Mad-Mad combo will usually do the trick. Annihilations are somewhat easier to destroy (as they are torp ships), but they can still destroy several of your ships, so be careful.
  • Don't overestimate the Cyborg, although they are your natural enemy. Cubes and starbases are hard to destroy, but all other ships are weaker than your Lizard Class Cruiser. Without his large-scale economy the Cyborg cannot produce enough fighters for the deadly Biocides, so go for fireclouds, probes and freighters.

Defense

  • Take out all Firecloud Classes as soon as possible to cut the connection to his main space, and to stop offensive minefields. Then take out all Annihilation Classes. Then the carriers.
  • Beam up all fuel, supplies and colonists, and take back the planet via ground attack, as soon as it has fallen.
  • Cubes have a very high fuel consumption, so their range is pretty limited without Firecloud Classes. Just let them run dry, and then gather the battlegroup that will destroy them.

The Crystals

The Evil Empire

The Robots

The Rebels

The Missing Colonies of Man

Offense

  • Go for the ships supporting the Virgo Class Battlestars, like the Cobol Class, Gemini Class and Sagittarius Class.
  • Always try to keep the Colonial Player on the defense, fight in his space, destroy his freighters and his economy.
  • Hang around cloaked over his main bases and tow off any ship that can be destroyed. Like this you gain control over a base that is maybe (still) too hard to take.
  • Only fight Virgo Classes if you have to. Do so with a T-Rex Class / Madonnzilla Class combination and a torpedo ship as backup.
  • Use Mid-Tec beamed T-Rex Classes for Minesweeping.
  • Never forget the main aim to colonize enemy territory, especially his starbases.

Defense

  • Take out intruding Cobol Classes by any means, because they are the legs of the colonial battlegroup. Then all other supporters. Then the carriers.
  • Beam up all fuel and fighter-relevant minerals from planets. Beam up colonists and take it back by ground attack, as soon as one planet has fallen.
  • Guard starbases with a torper.

Other

See Also