My Questions

One month.

It's yours.

Yes.

Yes.

You see it firing back and forth once, and then one vanishes.

When you see an enemy ship come into view, make your ships move away. If you engage in a battle, it's to the death.

What do you mean by warships? Because if you look for all the right Anomolies your starting Survey Ship can become QUITE powerful... I have played a few games where I just beef it up and neglect the rest of my fleet...

All ships can make the fog of war go away, only Survey Ships, Starhawks and Rangers (missing any?) can explore Anomolies...

I'd say this is impossible.... if you only have 1 planet there's no way that the other races arn't going to stomp you... remember, they're playing to win.

You could, but I don't see the point or how that would be fun...

I think he means more like without military and combat, conquering worlds, than without colonizers

And that is possible, to win a game without going to war is, theoritcally possible, although it's pretty difficult with all the different races that exists.

/Flemming

Thanks for the quick responses! Especially for the honest 'you could, but I don't see the point or how that would be fun...'
But you have to remember that some people refuse to play this game just because it's not multiplayer, so I guess people's fun differs.

Oh, another question. Can I turn fog of war off?

Can you express to the aliens to keep their ships out of your sectors? Or to get their ships out of your system? If so, do you have to declare war to attack it?

I'm buying this game no matter what now, because I like the idea of building an empire big enough to orchestrate everything and try to keep a balance of power... winning by trade and cultural domination sounds fun too. Just trying to find out the little nuances of the game so when I daydream of owning it I know more what it'll be like.

If I'm trading something to an alien culture, a special trade good that boosts morale, and then stop, would this cause morale to go down just that amount, or would they be more upset (people tend to get more upset when they've had something and lost it than when they never had it at all, though GalCiv is close(hope I never lose it))

I have found that if you do not build at least a small number of ships, some of the more agressive AIs will eventually declare war on you (unless you kiss thier ass and give in to their tribute demands).


-Dave

Hmm... I'll just have to get enough influence to get another race to save me.

Trade routes will only bring in $$$, no other bonuses will be received by them. However, races can build "Trade Items", social projects that will be trademarked once built (only one player in the galaxy can make them). Once built, the trade item will have some sort of positive effect on that race (morale boost, diplomatic boost, ect). The player can then use that trade item when bargaining with other civs (Trade Items are worth ALOT on the bargaining table). When you trade it, both civs will get the bonus for the rest of the game.

:notsure: Hmm...I hope I answered your question somwhere in there

You can play pacifically and win. I often try this approach. You don't even need to build up your military, just form an alliance with a race which has a good military and other empires will think twice before declaring war. If they do declare war your ally will often give you free ships to help fight!

You can also try to play without expanding. This works very well on tiny galaxies with rare planets. In these cases most empires will only own 1-3 systems anyway. It can be a very enjoyable game.

Paul.

Thanks Solitair, BoogieBac. I don't like that you can't yank the trade items from other civs to hurt their morale, but no game can be perfect until Frogboy's done with it.

I have played several games where the only military buildup I had was defenders(the lowest ship class) on my planet, and pretty much left it at that. You can win on fairly high levels if you know how to work the diplomacy system.......destabilization is a useful tool here.......

How does fleet vs. fleet combat work?