The Firefox Advantage in Unification Wars

Not all browsers are created equal as evidenced from the results of the browser wars. However, for Unification Wars, the browser you use makes a big difference to your playing success. A survey of the browser reveals several options:

1. Internet Explorer
2. Mozilla Firefox
3. Opera
4. Apple Safari
5. Google Chrome

So what are we looking for in a browser to give us that added advantage? Firstly, we need the browser to be fast to operate. Secondly, it needs to have the option of opening multiple tabs. Finally, it needs to be able to auto-refresh web pages at specified time intervals. Matched against these criteria, all the above browsers are able to meet the first two requirements. However, the third requirement, auto refreshing of web pages, is only offered by Firefox, Opera and Chrome. However, Firefox requires you to install the ReloadEvery add-on, while this feature is standard on both Opera and Chrome. However, my own experience with Opera is that while it is fast, it suffers from some incompatibility issues with Unification Wars. When you click on events, the military events display always gets messed up and this happens on both the Linux (I use Ubuntu) and the Windows XP/Vista versions. Some of the critical messages such as reinforcements and battle results are missing.



So the choice is between Firefox and Chrome. Chrome has the advantage of speed although I do remember when Chrome was first launched, there were small problems like the back button triggering a page refresh along with unintended results, such as building ships again. However, I do know that these problems appear to be fixed since many players in Unification Wars play using Chrome with no problems. My choice of Firefox is mainly out of habit.

The key to using Firefox is ample use of tabs and the ReloadEvery add-on. I have the following tabs open whenever I am online for speed and convenience.

1. Fed members page with ReloadEvery set at 1 minute refresh rate. This gives me regular updates on the Fed's op status.
2. Military records filtering Federation members with ReloadEvery set at 5 seconds refresh rate. This keeps me up to date on hits on myself or on fed mates and reminds me to check whether I need to refresh my fleet or outpost.
3. Military fleet for quick access to current fleet status.
4. Military shipyard for quick access to rebuild. When out attacking, I also have several of the shipyard tabs open with values preset to build outers and main fleet. This speeds up response time to attacks.
5. While out of damage protection, I also have events set to military events with ReloadEvery set at 5 second refresh rate so that if I were hit, I would be able to judge whether there was a chance of a quick retaliation to score planets.
   

In more extreme cases, or if you have a large enough monitor and/or good eyesight, you could set up a dashboard style screen like this below.



In any war game, real or virtual, information is key. And this gives you information presented in a very timely manner that allows you to play the Unification Wars game to the fullest. Enjoy!