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Blowing things up in me ship.

• For Officers, I'm currently going full Reload on Torps for Weapons, 3/2 Defense/Engine for Support, Full Sonar and Full Evasion.  My justification for the Defense/Engine is for the Shimakaze specifically, because it has Defense and Engine upgrades innately.  Otherwise, I would probably go full Engine.
• Use the map (M) when determining where an enemy is.  As a DD player, I don't know what "here" means when locating a sub without VOIP.  "D-3" means all the world to me and will get me excited to help you.
• It's important to familiarize yourself with different ship classes and what they mean to your role on the battlefield:
• Against enemy BBs - Look for torp run opportunities and torp wall assist your bigger ships in stand-off duels.  Launching torps in their direction will force them to turn or take damage since they're typically angled for broadside engagements.  If you can force them to turn to minimalize their damage, that means your BBs will be able to deliver greater damage through attrition.
• Against enemy CVs - You can typically hunt these after the bigger ships are destroyed because good CV players know how to utilize space.  By this, I mean they will be behind the rest of their fleet, typically as a support vessel that is still connected to the battlefield.  They will have eyes everywhere and to chase these guys first means losing out on more important engagements that will swing the battle more (killing enemy BBs for example).  Very easy target for DDs otherwise.
• Against enemy SSs - Spam the crap out of Sonar in areas where subs are sighted.  1-5 means you should set charges to either 1-5 depending on the status of the enemy sub.  For example, if the sub just went below and I can no longer see its silhouette, I will set the charge to 3 and see where that gets me.  If I don't hit, I'm going to go for 5 and go from there while hitting Sonar everytime the cooldown is up to reconfirm the depth.  If you can still see the silhouette, then guns and prox torps will get you pretty good results, and DCs at level 1 will be very deadly.  A good prox torp spread will drop most subs in one volley.
• Against enemy CAs - Apply the same philosophy of BBs but know that you are hitting a much smaller target that have better speed, turning, turret speed and reload.  This means that they're just as dangerous if not more dangerous than BBs because you will need to put damage on a more maneuverable ship.  This will make your torp runs more difficult.
• Against enemy CLs - You should play a pure support role in this case and let your BBs do the heavy lifting.  Most CLs bar the torpboats are almost a direct counter to DDs because of their speed and much more powerful guns.  They are able to put a lot of fire down range quickly and effectively, and have the speed and maneuverability to chase and apply damage while dodging torpedoes.  Approach with care.

• Torps can practically travel across the map if you set them to Slow instead of Fast.  The only time you want to use Proximity is if you're fighting against really fast and agile ships with low HP.  Otherwise, stick to Contact because you need the greater damage potential.
• DDs take a lot of micromanagement, way more than other ships from my experience playing so far.  I will stress 5 key points in this next section:
• Speed - You will need speed in order to reach targets of opportunity, to close gaps and to escape.  Save your engine burn for making a torpedo run or for making a dash to escape.  I tend to spam the burn key if I need to reach a target, but I save it if I know the firefight is going to get bloody and I'll need to make a quick exit.
• Maneuverability - In order for you to stay in the game, you need to be able to move.  You have virtually no HP and you have to be unpredictable with your movement and be in constant flux.  Simply waving back and forward will not do it.  Mix-up zig-zags, engine burn straights, tight turns, wide turns, and basically anything you can think of to shake of pursuit.  This includes sending proximity-armed torpedoes in the direction of enemy ships.
• Fast Turrets - I meant for this to be in a section of its own because it's a difficult subject for fast-moving DDs.  Most of the time, I'm either running for my life or going for a torpedo run.  During this time, I'm also finding targets to shoot at constantly so you're always clicking around and doing something.  When I say fast turrets, I mean that as the DD player, you should always be training your turrets in the direction that you're firing from, regardless of your ships orientation.  If my target is facing west, I'm going to click in that direction with BOTH guns and torpedoes as I move.  I'm constantly toggling guns and torpedoes, aiming them directly at the target every 2-3 seconds, or the exact space of my reload times.   This way, you're always on target, regardless of your ship's crazy orientation.  If you ever find yourself not having to adjust, you're probably moving in a straight line, in which case you're probably going to die in the next few seconds from a manual-aiming BB.
• Fast Reload - You should always be dealing damage in the game.  Your faster reload means you'll have the ability to consistently put out damage while being a difficult target to return fire at.  If someone is chasing you, you should be firing off anti-pursuit Torps while constantly shooting at the targets behind.  IJN Destroyers are typically geared for this purpose as they have 2 aft double-turrets.  This means they can put out greater damage if they're being chased from the rear.  Regardless, you should note your gun's orientations and make constant adjustments to target priority and range so you can constantly put out shells down range.  Often times, I see DD players going for several seconds without doing a single point of damage.  This is because of poor micromanagement and the inability to adjust speeds, dodge, while simultaneously train their guns AND torpedo launchers, while making quick and accurate shots.  Yes, that's a lot to do in a span of a few seconds, but you're playing DD and that's expected in high levels of gameplay.
• Torpedoes - And here we have it, the crux of playing a good destroyer.  You NEED to be able to utilize the true potential of your DD in order to take down major targets; otherwise you have no use in higher-tier games.  Sure, sub hunting is one thing, but being able frighten larger ships is arguably much more important than dropping a few Depth Charges.  If you have no weapons to be feared, you're pretty much dead weight in any given fleet.  Continue reading below.

• Slow when I need the Torps to travel and Fast when I need better time on target.
• Proximity when fighting fast, agile ships with low HP.  That means I will also use Prox to finish off severely damaged ships.  Otherwise, I use straight Contact for CA+ class ships because Proximity will just tickle them.
• Always Gradual, because you will need to read target orientation.  More on this below.
• Wide when I need a larger spread because it's the safer move.  By this, I mean that the target is lower in health and you just need a few torps to finish him off, or when you have the broadside of a BB and its hull will eat all of your torps anyway.  Thus, it will be safer to make the shot using Wide.  I will only use Narrow when I need precision in a shot to deliver maximum damage.  For example, a BB at full health moving abeam and not turning, or a stationary target.  Narrow is a ton of damage, but very risky because you can miss with all of them.

• Make sure the target is distracted and that its turrets are trained at another target.  Their turret speed COMBINED with your speed is what's giving you this opportunity, nothing else.  All the good players driving these ships will be able to manual aim your ship into the ground if you mess up on the run.  It's literally do or die and you have no second chance unless your target is dead.
• Figure out the best way to approach the ship, and from which direction you're approaching from.  There are several different vectors, but the main ones I'm going to be describing will be when the target is..
• Abeam - When moving in opposite directions, side by side.
• Abreast - when moving in the same direction, side by side.
• Closing - When the enemy ship is coming directly at you.
• Away - When the enemy ship is moving directly away from you.

I'm worried for GW, not gonna lie.

• Prices have gone up again.
• Design has been really questionable to downright shitty.
• Complete watered down army books in terms of material for the same prices.
• The business decisions GW makes are utter nonsense with their limited releases and availability.  Not to mention the idea that they think their shit are considered collectibles.

My wife called me a robot this weekend.  Does not compute.

• It started on Thursday with the 9pm PST release, I already had it pre-loaded and I ended up playing till 5 in the morning.
• Woke up last as hell on Friday, called out of work because I was dead tired, but still ended up playing until 1am.
• Decided to run some errands on Saturday, watched my brother play with Harmony for a bit before jumping on myself and played until 5 in the morning.
• Woke up early, jumped on and played until right now.  All in all, I played way too much Civ and my wife thinks I might some problems.  I don't deny it.

• I've only played with ARC, Pan-Asian Cooperative, Polystralia and Fraco-Iberia so far.  Out of those, I feel that Polystralia and ARC are the strongest.  Fraco can be good, but the technology bonus needs to be timed really well to get the big pay off.  Pan-Asian's worker speed is nice, but not as good as ARC and Polystralia's bonuses.
• Why?  Because ARC allows you to spy faster and get more intrigue, which allows you to do nastier stuff.  I don't really care about this in particular, what I really care about is the faster operations.  Faster operations means you can steal science faster, which means you get faster research.  This is huge, and very consistent since steal technology gives you random crap.
• Polystralia sings well to one of the game's assets right now and that's trade.  Trade is absolutely huge in this game and you gotta set that stuff up quick.  Once you get your trade routes established, the money starts to flow and everything is smooth sailing from there.  Energy and research gives you everything you need to jumpstart your game and stay ahead of the other races.
• If you have a coastal city, sometimes its best to start with the small trading convoys and then upgrade to trading vessels later on.  Water cargo gives you a lot bigger payoffs and allows you to reach out to other continents.  If you're doing well on exploring and you're getting a good amount of energy, feel free to go for vessels immediately on coastal cities.
• How I like to start off a faction is to pick the faction, go for Artists because of the +2 culture and +1 health in every city, Fusion Reactor for the faster 2nd Explorer, Laboratory so you can immediately start trading and save yourself some research time, and land on a Terran world because you get land, water, and multiple trading areas and playstyles.
• Once I get in game, I look at the Prosperity tree in Virtue for a large amount of my time.  The +10% growth is great in early game and helps me get more citizens while I go straight for the free Worker and Colonist.  Basically, anything that's free or near-free is extremely good at getting going early game.  It's very much a snowball because if you get a good location with healthy trade routes, expansion opportunities and your shit doesn't get fucked up by the local aliens, then you're good to go.
• Double Explorer is vital because it allows you to go around the world, scout things out and get research pods.  Pods gives you all kinds of different bonuses, but the culture ones are exceptional because of the free virtues they give you.  If you get a free affinity level, put it into Purity because it makes it so aliens don't attack your explorers.  This is super useful in early game when you're cracking all the expeditions open.  Combine this with Pathfinders from the Prosperity tree and you're rolling in free expeditions.
• Another reason I go Prosperity is because of the health bonuses.  Sure, grabbing the buildings that give you health is great, but having a virtue that gives you Mind Over Matter for +7 the heath is fucking ridiculous.  When you expand and your cities grow, your health starts to go down and everything slows down if you fall into the red.  The same thing happens with you annex other cities after you kick their ass or turn them into puppet states.  Good health in this game makes you stay on top of the other factions.  Every single game, all of my cities are floating around 20+ and staying in a Utopian society for max +bonuses.  It's just essential if you want to have a good economy and kick ass with your military.
• Speaking of which, don't build your military up too quickly, and hold off on the Might virtues until you're ready to roll out.  The +50% experience is great, but often times that's enough from that tree.  Once you get into later game and you have a lot of science, the Foresight from the Knowledge tree is also fantastic.  After you're ready to build your late game wincons like Emancipation Gate, go into the Industry tree for faster buildings and wonders.
• I can't stress the importance of having healthy cities and a good economy before military units.  If the local aliens are giving you a hard time, look into getting the fence from Ecology that keeps them away from your capital buildings.  If they start attacking your convoys, getting the fence will give you the quest option to make your convoys immune to alien attacks.  Always get this if your convoys are getting attacked or else you're just bleeding money and falling behind.
• When looking around for good expansion spots on the map, you must know what kind of resources plays well with your affinity.  For Supremacy, you want Firaxite nodes, Xenomass if you're going Harmony and Floatstone if you're going Purity.  The only way you're going to find this out is by having a lot of scouting and uncovering as much of the continent that you're on ASAP.  At the end of the day, the map will determine which affinity you will be best for, which kind of sucks if you really enjoy the Supremacy playstyle or whatever.  If the map doesn't have any Firaxite, you're pretty much screwed unless you trade for all these luxury resources.  This can be a huge waste of money in the long run, so its best to let the map determine which affinity you roll with.  This is another reason I like having Pioneering pre-researched, since it allows my guys to go on water via the Planetary Survey research in the same tree.
• The Spy Agency is pretty important in this game and so is intrigue.  I always try to get as much stolen research as possible to shorten the time I need to research sometime.  It's consistent and gives you a keeps you ahead on the research tree.
• I'm the kind of player that likes to build 3-4 cities and then keep them as healthy as possible.  I don't think you really need more than that, because if you need more, just build an army, kill other players and get yourself some puppet states.  Don't bother annexing them because it's a serious hit on your overall health.  Hopefully by this stage in the game, the cities you destroy have some kind of trade established and you can just build the vessels/convoys at your cities and send it over to them if you don't have any.  Otherwise, just raze them into the ground.  I believe this particular playstyle of having fewer but more powerful cities is called "tall" for all those civ fans out there.
• Research small upgrades that gives you boosts to your economy early on.  While rushing to that Spy Agency via Computing might seem like the best thing ever, if I can grab 2-3 research options that will improve my economy first in the early game, I will most likely do that.  It's also smart to go for the luxury materials foundries because you can always work those tiles early.
• Don't get caught up in building Wonders in early game, but let your cities build what's really important: anything that contributes to your economy.  When I say economy, I mean trade routes, science, health, production, food, energy, because anything that boost the performance of your cities will keep you ahead for the rest of the game.  Wonders will come when you're at 3+ cities and you can dedicate your city with the highest production to building them, which is probably going to be your capital (since it should be the most developed by then).
• Laying siege to towns is really quick in this game compared to the other Civ games from what I'm told.  My brother has played nearly every civ pretty competitively so he's been one hell of a coach.  What you want to do is get yourself no more than 3 artillery pieces because believe me, that's pretty much all you need to bring a city to its knees.  Your cruisers are also really effective at laying waste of coastal cities, so I always bring some naval units when I'm waging war on the seas.  While you can build a Gunboat to patrol, I wouldn't go near any of the aliens in the water until you get yourself some cruisers to take them down.
• Speaking of combat, all the races play pretty differently when it comes to warfare.  Purity is a pretty defensive faction with a lot of buffs that target their defensive traits, and most of their stuff can float above the ground thanks to Floatstone technology.  Supremacy is very much about the attack, having good range, damage bonuses to standing next to adjacent units, and can shoot twice on their shootier stuff in later game.  Then comes Harmony, which is about speed, healing and using miasma to improve their units in combat.  You typically want to start your assault with the field covered with miasma because it deals damage to your enemies and give you bonuses.  It's basically scorched earth tactics at that point.

Emancipate them with Angels!

Victory Conditions

• Domination: conquer the capital cities of all other factions.
• Contact (Science): discover clues left by the intelligent Precursor aliens who once inhabited this planet, decode "The Signal" and contact them. To start, complete two of these three tasks:
  • Find a fragment of The Signal via an Explorer Expedition on Progenitor Ruins. The chance is slim, but possible.
  • Launch a Deep Space Telescope orbital unit to search for a fragment of The Signal.
  • Research the Transcendental Math technology and solve the Transcendental Equation to derive a Signal fragment.
  Then:
  • Build the Decode Signal project.
  • Build the (Contact Beacon) Planetary Wonder to attract the attention the aliens.
  • Achieve oneness with Carl Sagan.
• The Promised Land (Purity): tame the planet in the name of Humanity and make it a home for our Earthbound brethren.
  • Research Orbital Networks and build a Lasercom Satellite to reestablish communication with Earth.
  • Achieve Purity level 13 and build the Exodus Gate planetary wonder.
  • Receive 20 colonists from Earth through the gate and settle them.
  • Profit.
• Transcendence (Harmony): awaken the planet's sentient superorganism and mind-meld with it.
  • Research Nanorobotics, Transgenics, and Swarm Intelligence to develop the Cognitive Link.
  • Achieve Harmony level 13 and build the Mind Flower planetary wonder.
  • Defend the Mind Flower from the unclean and support it with resources and Mind Stem buildings.
  • Achieve eco-nirvana and become one with the planet's consciousness.
• Emancipation (Supremacy): annihilate humanity on Earth. Er, I mean, "free" them from their biological bodies.
  • Research Orbital Networks and build a Lasercom Satellite to reestablish communication with Earth.
  • Achieve Supremacy level 13 and build the Emancipation Gate planetary wonder.
  • Send military units through the gate to effect the mass genocide of humanity on Earth. Er, I mean, "liberate" them from their trifling, unenlightened existence.
  • Go directly to Hell. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200.

• Emancipation's victory condition is sending 1000 strength worth of units through the gate and you can only send one per turn.  That means you want to send in your biggest dudes like the Angel so you can essentially complete the victory in 10 or so turns.  Don't worry, you get your Firaxite back once the Angel goes through, so you can keep buying more of them to send in.  Ideally, you want to be producing one and buying one so you never slow down a turn.
• For the Promised Land victory, you might end up wanting to kill yourself because its a huge pain in the ass .  The colonists that come from earth are slow as fuck and have limited movement, and you need to settle 20 of them on the clusterfuck world you're already in.  To make matters worse, the settlers abide by all the standard 3-tiles away bullshit so you need to spread them the fuck out too.  This one took me forever, so fuck earth and these dumbass colonists.  You can tell I'm salty.
• The Transcendence victory is by far the easiest one to complete IMO.  Just build Mind Stems and wait for the stupid thing to blossom.  Poof, instant hippie victory.
• For the Contact victory, prepare for some massive RNG because you need to explore a lot and uncover ruins that decodes the signal.  I just lucked out hard with my victory.  Proof below!  Oh, and once you turn on the beacon (30 turn wait), it will use 1000 of your energy immediately and all energy income will stop.  I guess that's what you get when you turn on a giant flashlight and point it into space.
• Lastly, the Domination victory is when you just go around kicking everyone's ass.  I did it with the Purity affinity and waged war across multiple continents like a badass.  Feelsgoodman.jpg.

Prepare to roll that D6, or D20, or 3xD20, who knows.