Dread Lords Random Event is Overwhelming

Ignore the rangers and take their star system early. That way their rangers will disapear.

That thought had crossed my mind but these guys appeared in the early mid-game on the other side of the galaxy. If they were closer to my position or if I had better ships this would be more doable and the AI races aren't doing anything to assist.

magus, are your starbases maxed on defense?

If this had event had appeared later in the game it would be more easily dealt with but it showed up shortly after things had reached the end of the mass colonization period.

My Starbases only have, at most, 3 upgrades each.

The situation is aggravated by the fact that the Dread Lord homeworld is within easy reach of three of the AI factions but they are doing nothing to attack the homeworld. The AI ships and Starbases are just dieing.

Magus, the same thing happened to me, even earlier in the game. I didn't even have Battle Axes to toss at them. Worse, I just went through a round of Pirates, who had ships far superior to any of the species. (It was like having the Barbary Pirates armed with Ticongeroga Cruisers and Nimitz Carriers).

It was so early in the game and so overwhelming, it might as well have been "Random Event: You Lose".

I've tweaked this so that it can only happen much later.

That's a good plan, Brad. Another alternative is to allow it to happen any time during the game, but have the Dread Lords ships be limited to the highest technology in the galaxy (perhaps a little greater). So if the rest of the galaxy has Battle Axes, the Dread Lords might have Battle Cruisers, but not Rangers. Conversely, if the rest of the universe has Avatars, the Dread Lords might have them too. That keeps them from being either too powerful or too weak.

I got the 'Dreadlord warning' screen late in game. I got the 2nd screen 'looking for orb'. By then I had lots of Avatars and 2 Overlords in game. Game ended before they appeared. Just wanted to see if they are as bad as you say.

BTW:
1) I got the recessing warning every game but never got the 'enhanced economic activity'. nice touch!
2) The Ultra-drive is excellent. Makes the game much more dangerous.

To do:
1) Get the AI to build up existing starbase in sector before starting 2nd (or 5th).
2) When overlords appear, need starbase defensive improvement. They are too easily destroyed by Overlords (att 100 & 320 HP vs def 20 and 200HP). My 2 overlords destroyed almost every starbase in large galaxy when I got my cultural victory. Their HP at end were 300+ each.
3) AI still only attack 1x per ship per round. This is left over from os/2 galciv.

Ted, I just got Ultradrive. It seemed to impact only me - Aliens were just as slow as always. Is that what you saw as well?

sorry, didnt notice if they got UDrive too. The game was basically over by the time I got it.

I was in the same situation. I got UltraDrive, and within a half dozen turns the Drengin Empire's economy collapsed, they got caught in a flood of Coca-Cola, and I got a cultural victory.

I had the Dread lords. They were on the other side of the galaxy and stayed there. It only caused me a problem when my star hawks were over there getting anomolies. So eventually I made peace with them in the minor races screen. Eventually I started trading with them.

Red, are you saying the Dread Lords are wimps?

I got UDrive mid game. It changed a survey ship (speed 8) to speed 24. It got so farcical after that point in my view that I gave up and have been lobbying on the forum for the thing to be removed ever since.

I also got Ultra Drive once, it's too powerful. The least Frogboy can do is reduce the effect from triple to double.

Or you can make it as another +10 increase in speed.

No Ted

I could'nt have beayen them, but as they were on the other side of the galaxy they did'nt botherme until my survey ships went there. Then I made peace with them easily. I don't know if this will always be the case.

beayen should be beaten

The other problem with Ultradrive is "what if the Drengins get it"? Then it changes from "Random Event: You win" to "Random Event: You Lose". 3x completely changes the game balance. +50% would probably be towards the top; it would still change the game balance, but it would still be possible to lose with ultradrive (or win if an alien has it)

Did anyone check - is it a Trade Good as well?

Instead of a random event, why not make Ultra-drive a research item? Since it has the greatest impact in Gigantic galaxies, dont't eliminate it. Lets not forget Trans-warp drive either (the Borg have it).

Master Lame is right. Make them both 'adds 10 to speed'.
I like my Overlords with 22 moves. The old Excaliburs and Battlestars had a +20 base speed.

BTW, where are the Battlestars? They outclassed the Excalibur/Overlord starship but cost 1g/100 shields. Bring back battleship 6 tech.

I miss the Battlestars, but I miss the Excaliburs more. Overlords are slower and more expensive.

Brad hates the name Excalibur (said so in prior post).

I don't mind if the name changes. What I miss is the concept. Up through Avatars, ships get more and more expensive. When the Excalibur comes along, you get a very fast ship for 3/4 the price of an Avatar.

That meant that one strategy was to try and hold off a serious war until you had Excaliburs but your opponent didn't. You could then outbuild him 4:3, and have a substantially more dangerous vessel to boot.

An Overlord is too expensive and too slow to be used in this way.