Some general questions . . .

from Stardock Forums
1) For galactic resources, you have some obvious "sector bonuses" for military and social production/mining. But you also have a specific bonus depending upon the resource - morale, military, influence, etc. Are those civilization wide? Most everything (mining, defense, cultural, etc.) appear to be sector bonuses, but these don't specify anything.

2) Agenta centers - why have them? They seem to cost far too much and take far too long for what you get out of them. I haven't built a one, but the AI at average seems to try to build them far too much.

3) On the diplo screen you can buy "influence points". It may say the Torians have 3,000 of them. What is this - it is their total influence production? And if you buy them, it is just simply added to your total?

4) Can you get any benefit out of building two starbases in a sector and stacking their bonuses for military and social production - and other bonuses for that matter? That would seem far too powerful given the way you can pump out constructors by mid/end game.

5) I've seen the AI build starbases on no resources but with no additional upgrades. Is there any value in this?

6) On harder AIs (above average) does the AI ever go in and "backfill" on less inhabitable worlds like 13s and 14s. At mid game I was building additional colony ships and sending them to these worlds since I had the time and resources, but I saw the AI doing nothing with these worlds in their sectors. A flaw or just a characteristic of "average" AIs?

7) What the heck are the "electrical" charges appearing on my ships and starbases that strangely seems to knock off hitpoints? It bugs the heck out of me, and I've not seen an ingame explanation of this phenomena. It also seems to come and go for some reason.

8) What is the button on the diplo screen in the middle below the portrait that says "Eat bugs" when you press it?

9) Do galactic wonders give influence points? It doesn't say so in the description anywhere. Or do they just give their specific benefit?

10) You can ask the AI for systems, starships, techs - but I didn't see starbases anywhere. Did I miss this, or is something that can be added?

11) Are the victory conditions listed anywhere. I won a cultural victory today, but don't know why. Yes, my culture was overwhelming - and I knew that, but I don't know what conditions I met. It would be helpful to know so that you can tell what to do to win.

Thanks in advance - finally won my first real game - not counting that screwed up game where I won a cultural victory by a bug.

Grifman
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Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
Can't answer very many of these for you, but the "electrical charge" seems to mean that a ship or starbase is being repaired - either because it was damaged or because it's being upgraded (for example because you completed researching a new tech). Eventually the repairs are complete and the electrical charge goes away.
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Here are the answers I can give from what I have learned in the past (but some of them may have changed):

1). The characteristic of a galactic resource (morale, influence, economy, research, and soldering) apply galaxy wide.

2). I think Brad will have to answer this one.

3). The influence available for trade is the total a race has earned since the last UP meeting (or the start of the game if there has not been a UP meeting).

4). I have not yet tried building more than one star base in one sector since the bug where building a second SB in a sector removed the upgrade benefits of the first, but according to the response from Cari the upgrades of the second star base are not supposed to be cumulative with the first. I suppose that means they could be additive, which they were at one time. As for being too powerful, try building a Hyperion Manufacturing Center without stacking SBs with manufacturing upgrades.

5). Brad may have to answer this, but is it possible that you just happened to catch the AI at a dissadvantage somehow such that it never got the opportunity to upgrade them?

6). Last I saw the AI never builds on anything less than a 15, but once Brad sees what we do he may change that.

7). jmqarth is correct. Try setting "show ship damage" (sic) to off and it SHOULD go away (I think I will have to check the latest build, but I think the more recent builds have been failing to follow this option).

8). It is a place holder. They may have had a use for that button when they created that screen, but so far none of us has seen or heard what it might be.

9). If you look at the file "wonders.imp" you will find the affects of each of the wonders. Influence enhancement is granted by building "Galactic Monument", "Historical Preserve", "Galactic Exhibition", "Restaurant of eternity", "Propaganda Machine", and "Hyper Distribution Center".

10). AIs are prohibited from trading star bases and construction ships. Many requests have been made to change this, bu t I suspect it will not happen.

11). The user's guide (accessable via the "encyclopedia" button at the top of the forum) lists the conditions for winning by most of the methods that had been discussed in the past, but leaves out the economic method for some reason (perhaps because it is not in the code yet).

Galactic Civilizations IV