The Cyborg

Cyborg race icon from VGA Planets Nu

Overview

The cyborg are loosely based on the borg from Star Trek the next generation. In VGA planets their main advantage is assimilation.

Assimilation

Assimilation turns native populations into borg clans at a rate which the host defines (typically 1-1). The maximum number of mines, factories and defense posts a planet can have are related to the total number of clans on the planet. In this way a planet that has been fully assimilated can produce large quantities of minerals, supplies and be a very tough nut to crack. A good native government will produce more megacredits than a borg world but assimilation of poor native governments produce clans that can be taxed at above average levels - the net effect is that if left unchecked the borg economy slowly but surely becomes the best in the game. The borg need their amazing economy because their essential warships are very, very expensive both to build and to arm.

Ship List

• The borg probe. The B200 class probe can hyperjump. By carrying clans and supplies, dropping 1 clan and 1 supply on planets of interest the borg can assimilate vast swaths of the cluster. The probe is essential for ferrying MC back to cube building worlds and is useful to test enemy defenses and sniff out important worlds. The first key to borg victory is the probe.
• The firecloud class cruiser. The firecloud is the most feared and coveted ship in VGAP. A firecloud can open a warp chunnel wormhole to any other firecloud (owned by the same player) and instantaneously travel to that location, bringing along with it ships that were in the same location. In this way the borg fleet is extremely mobile and dangerous. Experienced borg players produce networks and chains of fireclouds to keep their sprawling empires always within reach.
• The Cubes. Cubes are the borg attack fleet and are amongst the strongest ships in the game. The annihilation is the classic cube from StarTrek, it launches torpedoes. The biocide is much akin to the annihilation but launches fighters. Both ships have their advantages, the biocide is arguably the stronger of the two but costs much more to arm and equip. Neither are a pleasant site to see on your doorstep, and when the borg firecloud comes knocking they're not far behind.

Borg Economy

• The payday loan, if all goes well, have the most powerful economy in the endgame: money is plentiful, minerals are plentiful, supplies are plentiful. The trouble, as always, is the question of how to translate this marvelous bounty into deadly, overwhelming force, payday loans and thence, to translate this force into scrap metal under your salvage beams. Logistics, the science of how to get what you have, to where you need it, is a constant travail of the Cyborg, your greatest strength, and your greatest weakness. A Cyborg player deprived of his Fireclouds is an easy target. Protect them. Do not expose them unnecessarily. Other players will be gunning for them, to capture them and to prevent their spawning fleets of cubes.

Three Fireclouds are required to make a two-way endpoint: one at each end as a target, and one to make the trip. Don't make a one-way Chunnel if you can avoid it.

Strategies

Early-game

• Build B200s and spread them throughout the quadrant. Seek out forgotten crannies that other races fail to exploit, and assimilate them, or, at the very least, assimilate their natives in order to deny the benefits of those natives to your future enemies.
• Make a friend early. Make two friends early. Make as many friends as you possibly can.
• Nearly everyone will gun for you on general principles: your ships are weak, your planets are easily rooted out, and most players know that the time to deal with the Borg is before they have cubes.

Late-game

• YOU WILL ESCORT US TO SECTOR ZERO ZERO ONE, WHERE WE WILL ADD YOUR CULTURAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DISTINCTIVENESS TO OUR OWN. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.
• Things can get very, very bad for the borg's enemies. The borg rule straight up conventional warfare in the end-game.
• 30+ cubes appearing to break everything in sight is not unheard of, attacks come from all directions simultaneously, their fleet resupplies, arms and

refuels like no other. It can be a nightmare scenario.

• Example finished games on nu: Rebirth3, Beta2 (!), Fast start 19, 6585:Kahless system

Tactics

• A Firecloud can only be used as a chunnel target if it a) has fuel b) is set to warp 0 and c) is not under tow. Chunnel happens in the Host Order after normal ship movement. You may tow a Firecloud onto a planet, and provided the towing ship runs out of fuel at the planet, the Firecloud will not be under tow and thus will be a valid chunnel target. This can provide a nasty surprise.