AngryKernel, SpacePundit, Lost In Space (you have a message)

from Stardock Forums
I was patrolling the Metaverse and came upon y’all’s (I’m from Texas, so I type with a drawl) player entries. I was drawn to the many Military Conquest win conditions that y’all attained. I have only been playing for about 6 months but I haven’t seen any posts from you guys so I was wondering if you would like to swap some war stories and/or tips. I learned early in life that you could either be a student of history or the next chapter’s victim. If given the choice, I would choose the former. I would never ask of someone else that which I myself could not deliver. With that in mind here is the tale of my last game:

My last game #66 was a 4 day 12-15 hour bloodbath. The Drengin were intolerable (with their demands) so I just said to hell with regular diplomacy lets try "gunboat diplomacy". I was two turns from wiping out their last 3 planets when the Altarians went belly-up (as in yellow belly-up) and surrendered their 3 planets to the Drengins (on the opposite corner of the galaxy). I gave the Drengins death by 10,000 cuts while they (the Drengin) and the Arcean's decided to tag-team my military and trade. I had to use extreme measures (sync'ed freighters and mid-turn military re-calcs) to keep my empire intact. I could have made it easier on myself by using diplomacy but I am drawn to giving the AI's there come-uppance vis-a-vis the military. This was not my toughest game, but one of the toughest in memory.

SpacePundit, I noticed you’re in Texas. If you (or anyone) would like to swap or hear any Texas Ranger stories (the early lawmen, not the baseball team), let me know.

I have found that the Forums are like most things. You get out what you put in.
325 views 18 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
Good story look forward to reading more.. :D I guess your looking for Foundation Players. :p
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
I guess your looking for Foundation Players.
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Nope, I have been trundling out my war stories at numerous places in the forums. There are few true military types in the verse. As you know, war get short shrift in the Alliance-friendly Metaverse. Check-out the Embassy thread involving Icho. Read the missives. Then tell me if I am even remotely a recruiter type. I have too much respect for people's free will to do anything but help them identify all of their options. BTW, isn't Desert Fox a reference to Rommel? Interesting choice for someone who professes not to like war. ;)

If you like war stories I will post another here in a week. Thanks for your interest.
Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
My war strategy is to keep the peace until I can pull off an alpha strike. The risk is sometimes they see ya coming and declare war a couple of turns before you're in position. It's especially nasty if your victim has a ship in range of your mini-freighters. That happened to me once against the Drengin on a large map. Barely saved my best resource starbase (+68% economic) from annihilation.

Another tip is to do the alpha strike when the target race is at war with another one. In my last game my final war was against the Drath. (I'm giving alliance victories on gigantic maps a try.) I'm in position, but there's too many defending ships. My invasion force was light (a handful of paladins, some battle hammers - a change from my usual frigates - and always bunches of antimatter missiles), and there were too many big ships defending. So I bribed the Altarians to declare war so the Drath would send the big ships to attack. Away go those pesky dreadnoughts and phoenixes, in comes my fleet.

I don't know if this works in AP, but here's a trick that works in GalCiv 1.21. Send your invasion force. Stop within your striking range and outside theirs. (I always have a +1 or +2 on speed, and have traded for Gravity Accelerators by the time I start warmongering.) Declare war. Enemy sends ships away from planets and toward your ships. (If a planet has only one defender, the AI will not order that ship to leave under any circumstances.) The planets are more lightly defended, you go around the ships that are attempting to intercept you, and the planets are yours.

On gigantic, always take +2 speed, +1 on large or smaller. Never played Huge for some reason. I prefer to have some terraforming ability. I routinely nab size 14 worlds and sometimes even 13's so I'll (hopefully) have more planets than the other races. After the initial colonization rush my Prime Directive is building the Galactic Stock Exchange on the second biggest planet, and soon after that the Galactic Exhibition on the biggest (which by that time should have a Manufacturing Capital). That world becomes my Super Econ Planet, where I build as many wonders that boost the local economy (which is most of them) as I can get away with.

I usually don't need to build my military deterrent until the GE and GSE are built. I used to build BattleAxes, but they don't add much to the military score. I've recently switched to Battle Hammers - they're more expensive at 280 pts, but they add much more to your military value than BattleAxes, and cost less to maintain than Frigates.
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
the Galactic Exhibition on the biggest (which by that time should have a Manufacturing Capital).
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Just a minor remark: since Galactic exhibition give planetary inflence bonus with the empire wide influence bonus, it could be interesting to build it on a planet whose star has a high base influence. Sol is in this case, since every homeworld has a base influence of 21 when yellow stars rarely exceed 14.

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Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
Aww Nuts Yeah the name is I found out later connected to Rommel. I made up the name from a nickname I had when I was young and wild people called me The Fox. I had a way with the ladies you see. :D

I do enjoy the stories a lot I will take a shot at making one myself. :)
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
Much thanks for your input. You truly have a wealth of knowledge.

My war strategy is to keep the peace until I can pull off an alpha strike.
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I am with you on this one. Especially when my fleet is way behind in numbers to the AI's. If our fleets are somewhat close I will use a 1-2 punch. I create double duty strike forces that take out half of their systems,(then sue for peace if I can) and then take out the other half a couple of turns later.

my usual frigates - and always bunches of antimatter missiles
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I could use some tips here. My anti-matter missiles get taken out as I can't seem to protect them during a protracted war. Frigates are puzzling for me. In my 1.21 Universe both my Frigates and the AI's fold faster than a 2-7 offsuit in Texas Hold'em (Poker). Hey Newfy (fellow player), I need some help here. How do you get your Frigates up to 7th level and higher?

I will have more feedback/questions later. I have to go be humiliated on a local golf course with my hombres.

Thanks again for you input.
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
connected to Rommel
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Methinks the lens of war has clouded my vision. I completely missed that you're from NV and that Desert Fox would have another connotation (i.e. meaning). I'm looking forward to hearing about your latest conquest.
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
My anti-matter missiles get taken out as I can't seem to protect them during a protracted war
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Are using putting them with others ships (who have a high defense) in a fleet? Don't forget that you could always move a fleet, split it before attacking, and rebuild it after the attack.
Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top
My invasion force was light (a handful of paladins, some battle hammers - a change from my usual frigates - and always bunches of antimatter missiles), and there were too many big ships defending. So I bribed the Altarians to declare war so the Drath would send the big ships to attack. Away go those pesky dreadnoughts and phoenixes, in comes my fleet.
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I usually get the AI's to go to war as a delaying tactic and/or to become their major trading partner and/or to take their resources. I like the "lure them out strategy". If they are too well entrenched I Terror Star them to the great beyond. I haven't had to use Terror Stars very often as I employ the Alpha ship strategy. It's the basic best-best idea. Take your best planet, build your best class ship (Hammer, Dreadnaught, Avatar, Overlord, Excalibur), give their ships the best ship-building social projects and then add the full measure of all of the weapon's resources and you have the biggest, baddest, dogs in the fight.
These ships regularly take out the AIs best ships two classes above or higher. Moser's (fellow player) has an excellent Anomaly mod pack for the military (or anyone's) type. It gives bonuses for ship speed, military production, hit points, sensors and much more.

here's a trick that works in GalCiv 1.21. Send your invasion force.
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Great tip. I've never tried it but I will in my next game.

It's especially nasty if your victim has a ship in range of your mini-freighters.
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If the AIs have been chippy (feisty/violent) I will sometimes employ the sync-ed freighter trick. Here it is:

Sync-ed freighters- It’s the term I use when I create all of my trade routes from the same planet to the same destination at the same time. What happens is that all of the mini-freighters then move in one stack. What I do is then take two alpha ships and place them in the from-to squares so that the mini-freighters are then escorted all the way to their destination. Just leap-frog the alpha ships so that you only have to move one ship per turn and space-bar the other.

The best part about this strategy is it's natural evolution from the "surround your trading partner's planets with freighters" trick. I will have to expound on this later as I wrote this down in another thread ( I think it was "Haul out your cheese thread"). The gist is that if you surround a planet with 8 freighters you can keep large amounts of hostile capital ships at bay. Great for propping up a minor or lesser major and it's a hoot to watch. I used to keep a running total record of how many capital ships I've held off with mere freighters.

More later




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Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top
Spacepundit you gave some excellent tips I do not go to war often but when I do I will try it differently now after reading your tips. I would love these tips posted at my site. :D

Aww Nuts yeah it is kind of odd how I picked a name like this for my Nick. LOL I will post a storyline of my conquest in the Star Fleet Story thread later on today maybe. This should be my best game ever. :p

Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top
The amount of experience a ship gets for winning depends partly on how tough the enemy ship was.If I wanted a high level frigate for some reason, I'd find a weak enemy with lots of small ships (or I'd build lots of small ships and give them to the weak enemy).

This is a quote from Matthew Downie (a fellow player). I have used them (frigates) as smaller capital ships and had them take on similar classed opponents. This would suggest to give them a graduated combat experience to muscle them up for tougher assignments later. WTG Matthew, thanks
Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top
Are using putting them with others ships (who have a high defense) in a fleet? Don't forget that you could always move a fleet, split it before attacking, and rebuild it after the attack.
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Peace, I think my problem with them stemmed from the fact war would breakout while they were moving towards their way points (I think the game calls them Rally points). I would then use them on nearby enemy ships but they couldn't eliminate them by themselves. I would then lose a military piece while only damaging the enemy ship. I gave up on them early, but I will try to work them back into the rotation. Thanks for your help.
Reply #15 from Stardock Forums Top
To avoid getting your anti-matter missiles attacked, you need good speed (gravity accelerators are a must) and good sensors so you don't accidentally move them within range of an enemy ship - either get Eyes of the Universe or have a sensor drone in the area. And make sure you keep an eye on their movement - don't just give them a destination in the middle of hostile territory and expect them to make it on their own.
Or: don't get into a war before you're ready to use them. You can usually sneak a fleet up close to an AI planet without them attacking you. If one of your fleets stops in an adjacent sector, the AI may attack you, so keep them moving until your forces are in place.
Remember, they are most efficient when used against powerful ships - the bigger, the better. And there's a chance of them doing little or no damage, so don't rely on just one.
Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top
This would suggest to give them a graduated combat experience to muscle them up for tougher assignments later.
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I wouldn't recommend that at all. I was talking about the hypothetical situation of someone who (for some bizarre reason) wanted to get a Frigate up to level seven.
I'd have thought it would be easier to rush to Dreadnaught technology and use them, or get hold of a lot of military resources so your Frigates are tough from day one.
Reply #17 from Stardock Forums Top
trick that works in GalCiv 1.21. Send your invasion force. Stop within your striking range and outside theirs. (I always have a +1 or +2 on speed, and have traded for Gravity Accelerators by the time I start warmongering.) Declare war. Enemy sends ships away from planets and toward your ships. (If a planet has only one defender, the AI will not order that ship to leave under any circumstances.) The planets are more lightly defended, you go around the ships that are attempting to intercept you, and the planets are yours.
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I tried this in a few games and got good results. It alters my play style some as I play heavy control. This means that I usually take out a few objectives and then get a cease fire all in one turn. This way I don't have to build and position 15+ strike forces at once for an all out alpha strike. I would instead do it in 3 strikes of 5 groups, or 4 strikes of 4. Doing this all in one turn precludes attacks on freighters, starbases and ships moving to way (rally) points.

This strategy sure does lure them out though. Thanks again.

Reply #18 from Stardock Forums Top
No good war stories in my last few games. The only one that got me going was one of the AIs decided to play culture war with me. I decided to respond in kind by creating a terror star (think of an Octoberish Halloween terror/horror flick). I "showed" their home world one Terror Star performance. They were really blown away by the special effects. :D
They must have enjoyed it as I didn't hear any complaints.