I loved this game but now I hate it

"But for some reason (random event?)".

Without any additional info on this part of your complaint nobody here can say something appropriate to your complaint. It could be due to a random event (well, that's life than ), it could be caused by another empire with stabases in your neighbourhood and a lot of cultural influence. And some other reasons. And finally, it could be a bug.

So can you explain what has caused this more in detail?

Sure. First My influence was 55 in the universe and Torians had 43 and Arceans had 2%. and in that sector I had the most influence among everyone else. I don't remember the exact name of the minor nation that rebelled against me, but now I remember that there was a warning before the event that "Some evil was taking control" of my colony Lasius and I "better evacuate the colony." So I guess I just ignored this message, but then (after a year) another message came up saying it rebelled because of "evil powers" and evil is spreading through universe. What doesn't make sense is that first of all it can't be caused by torians because they are good like me. Second Arceans are too weak to cause it(and they are very far away in the galaxy). I understand that this maybe caused by a random event, but whats not fair is giving them all those ships that are technologically superior to me. And its not even just technology. What kind of a battle ship is one with 37 attack????

Sounds like the old "rising evil" event again, though I thought I'd read in one of these threads that it had been disabled by one of the patches for the lower intelligence levels (do you have the latest patches?)

It's a very low probability event, and it's one of those where you're given a vague/cryptic warning of it before it happens. There is something you can do to prevent it going off once you get the warning, but I don't remember what it is.

Also, although I've never had this event myself, from reading other threads, I've picked up that there's a bit of story that goes with it, telling you why it spouts up with some pretty nice ships.

So in summary:
1) Get the patches
2) Act on the warning when you're given it, preventing this event from exploding
3) It's not a cheat, but a story-driven event.

See # 3. What level had you set the AI to? Fool, beginner etc. Random events can either hurt you or benefit you. But indeed, when this occurs, you get a warning, and that's something you have to act upon on one way or the other.

This sounds like the "Draginol" event. The event is prefaced by the warning: "A dark force is growing on one of your planets. The Senate encourages you to abandon this colony."

This happened to me--fortunately, late enough in the game that I could hold them off.

The system had three planets producing 1000 BC per turn and thus building three Dreadnaughts per turn. Fortunately, I was cranking out Overlords and was able to keep the Draginol in check before I destroyed the system with a Terror Star.

I have the latest patches (the bonuspack). And there was nothing I could do to prevent the evil from coming; moral was perfect and everything was working fine. Should I have abondened the planet? and if so how do you TOTALLY abonden a planet? I know you can transport the people to other colonies, but there will still be people thats left there.

Freya: It was beginner.

You can abadon the colony by clicking the destroy colony button in the details menu.

~SDC~

Here is the warning you get (from English.Str):

There are rumors on planet %s that an evil force is growing there. Experts say that something terrible is going to happen there. But no one is sure exactly what. Some members of the senate are suggesting that we abandon that colony.

Here is the message you get when they take over the colony:

An evil force has seized control of %s. In fact the entire star system is now under its control. This dark being is rumored to be called 'Draginol', a creature that archeologists say is a mythical being that supposedly created a race of beings known as the Precursors. We don't know his plans but he has summoned forth an incredible military ability and seems to be emanating a sense of fear as morale on our worlds (and elsewhere) seems to be affected. \n \n The only way to end this is to use our efforts to wipe out this enemy.

It is a matter of opinion how you look at random events. Most people here love it, but some don't. The last have requested to being able to disable the random events. Brad implemented in the latest patch (.042)the occurence of the "nasty" events at lower AI settings (like beginner)are reduced. Specially in the early parts of the game. Since you played for 15 hours, you were far past the early part of the game, so it might happen to you than. See #7 on how to abandon a planet, or build a colony ship and load all your people into it.

"I have the latest patches (the bonuspack)."

If the most recent thing you DLed was the bonus pack, then you're several patches out of date, I'm afraid. Stardock Central has had several newer versions since the bonus pack was released. And I think the patch that toned down the random events was released post-Bonus Pack.

"how do you TOTALLY abonden a planet?"

There's a Destroy Colony button on the Details screen of each planet menu.

"And there was nothing I could do to prevent the evil from coming"

Not true; you could have abandoned the colony. You were warned to, and decided against it. That the situation came up in the first place was random. That Draginol arose and wrecked havoc was not random, it was a direct consequence of your actions. You can complain that the game documentation doesn't adequately explain the power some random events can have, but every one HAS a solution... you just have to listen to your advisors, or sometimes think strategically on your own to find it.

I'm sorry that you lost the game, but the game didn't cheat or present you with a Kobyiashi Maru (no-win) scenario. It gave you a warning and a choice. You made your choice, and the game dealt you the appropriate consequences.

Don't hate the game because you chose wrong... learn from it, and next time choose differently, if the situation warrants it.

- Ash

~SDC~

Yeah... I had it were my colonies rebelled one at a time til I was left with zero... I had more tech then the more populous race but they continued defecting over. In fact I was conquering any ship he sent at me... I was about to build a nice invasion fleet then all of a sudden one of my planets rebelled and went on his side, then another then another within 1 hr I had lost the game where I was about to turn it around. Now that was annoying to no end.

I know they have that if computer player feels it cannot win a fight it will give up but obvious they built in a rebellion level that will start rebelling your planets over to the most populous race even starting at the 50% mark for population... Sorry but don't feel this is right myself nor is it accurate to do so. if say a race had 3 stars left vs a 25 star monster then I agree no win scenerio but when you are at 15 stars vs 12 stars... population is double... nope I disagree...

It is a fix required here. This actually ruined the fun of the game... as I know when I see that little dead mans cross above my star I know I have lost it with no way to recoop within 12 turns which sucks...

Then you know that another will do the same very soon... and it becomes a dynamo affect... unending... til you loose that last planet.

"but obvious they built in a rebellion level that will start rebelling your planets over to the most populous race even starting at the 50% mark for population"

Umm, no. Not obvious. Wrong, in fact. Colonies will rebel if the culture of another Civ is considerably greater in that sector than yours. If it's happening, improve your culture (population affects culture, but it isn't the only determinant). Low morale also affects this, so check that and consider improving your morale. The I-League has quite a powerful draw on low-morale planets, so if it's a factor, deal with it.

Rebellion isn't built in just to be a pain; it's built in as a specific result of specific strategic decisions that you make. If you have a problem with rebellions, change your strategy accordingly.

- Ash

~SDC~

Uh, could you like explain what exactly your problem was? You rambled a tad too much to make much sense.

If your colonies rebelled to the AI, then that's your fault. Population don't mean squat if they are all unhappy! If the AI built a bunch of culture producing buildings and starbases and started destabilizing you, that sounds like the result of what you experienced. I could have 3 stars and you have 25, and I could still be producing more culture than you and slowly take over your planets.

~SDC~

Either keep combat transports right next to the evil planet or a Terror star. Stop the sickness before it spreads.

I was at 53% moral level which is near the recommended level in the players book... Best I have hit was 57%. No unhappy planets at all... Even built all the influences I had as well as economic and moral boosters on each planet. The sector had my color code in it meaning I was the majority owner in that sector except for a couple of stars... Hope that cleared it some.

don't forget that players can drop wads of money to destabilize civs. I spent 1000s BC per turn on destabilization of the Drengin and I helped cause their civ to rebel and turn mostly independent (they went from top civ to the bottom)

wow! gab9 sounds like I did..before I ..got better.
I had the same thing happen to me recently. Just built transports and kept evacuating the planet. As soon as the dreaded evil thingy happened, I invaded my own planet ( the traitorous pop was really low since I had all the good guys in transports. hell, now I dont even remember why their warships didnt attck me right afterwards.
Hey, Asharak, maybe you can answer this for me as I've asked before but no answer yet: where in game or in files does one know which version of GalCiv we are using? I downloaded the bonus pack, but I dont feel like downloading every single little update- prefering to wait for a major update. (Plus, I cant seem to get StarDock central working so I just downloaded from THIS site.) When another major upgrade/bonuspack/goody pack/ whatever comes up, will it be on this site under download? Do I have to keep a record of what version I downloaded separately or can I see it somewhere in game or in files?
When will I get these answers?
When will I be loved?
When you gonna buy me a canned ham? (I been waitin so long)
When will my medication wear off..................

"gab9 sounds like I did..before I ..got better."

When you were registering your nick with the GalCiv site, I think you misspelled "Winston Smith".

"Hey, Asharak, maybe you can answer this for me as I've asked before but no answer yet: where in game or in files does one know which version of GalCiv we are using?"

I can answer it; good thing I decided to browse some old threads tonight, since I totally missed this before.

The general version number (i.e. to two decimal places, 1.00, 1.01, etc.) can be found at the top-middle of the in-game options menu. If you want to know what the precise version number (1.01a.031, for example) you're using is, you have to load Stardock Central -- make sure you have "Show Application Revisions" checked in the Tools --> Settings menu.

The major updates should all have substantially different versions, though, I would imagine, so you'll be able to tell from in-game. Also, updates will be available outside of SDC, but they will be far less frequent than through SDC (the next standalone installer will be released this Tuesday; it will be a compendium of 4 or 5 updates that have been available through SDC for several days now).

"When will I get these answers?"

When I click "Submit". In other words, now.

- Ash

~SDC~

Personally,i LIKE it when the game throws me an obsticle, i was playing a game Large galaxy, abundant habitable planets, and i started near the drengin Empire, and as a 'good' race.

I decided to exterminate them, they complained i hit them too early before their military had built up and every other turn begged me for peace then, when they had but 3 systems left, one their homeworld , they got the 'Discovered precursor RANGER class' the best i had was battleship!, it was a shock i can tell you when it appeared right in front of my drengin homeworld invasion fleet .

At seeing this, i begged THEM for peace, which cost 34 cred per month for 12 months, and seven technologies!, now they have gotten me under the thumb, paying tribute which is rising every 4 months, im racing to try to discover tech that will allow me to destroy that damn ranger ship and continue my invasion before im bankrupt!!, is it just me or are they looking awfully smug now?? :notsure:

~SDC~

I'd rather get killed than pay the evil Drengin tribute every month.

Getting back to the "rising evil" -- I was hit hard by this during my first few games. Because of how often it happened when I first started playing, I'm very surprised by the fact that I haven't seen it for a long time -- even though I've upped the difficulty to "intelligent". One event I have noticed which has occaisionally popped up is the pending formation of an evil cult of some kind, but because I've invested some money in espionage I track them down and stop them before they can do anything. I don't know if this is related to the "evil rising", but maybe good espionage is the answer.

P.S.

Gab9, don't give up on this game so quickly. Even after I've learned some solid strategy, it great to have a game that will still occaisionally kick my butt (I have yet to make a dent with the A.I. on the "genius" setting). Take a good look through the strategy forums -- they can help a lot.

The whole issue of AI cheating will never be resolved until a reveal map cheat is available, until then we can all speculate as to whether the event can be explained away by somehting we were not aware of. We could blndly trust the developers who say it does not cheat, but the true cynic would say "they would say that wouldnt they".
Back to your original post, the really nasty random events dont occur on the easier setting with version 1.02. Also you can simply reload the last save before the random event and more than likely it wont happrn again.

Just stick with it... sometimes things happen you don't expect. Just today (not with good ai though... sub-normal on all 5) the Drengin were taking over the whole Galaxy, I had three planets, one of them seperated (the Altarians gave up to me, this was on small galaxy) and they were beating down the Arcaens and the Torians, they left me alone because they just kept demanding money and using that to kill the Arcaens/Torians I was sitting back and trading/researching like crazy (was doing over 50% of the trade) and the Drengin literally had almost the whole Galaxy. Eventually though I kept giving the Arcaens money and tech (gave them Battleship, Dreadnought, various weapon techs) and the Arcaens started to make it back (Drengin were losing money REALLY fast, they were fighting a powerful minor race too) and to make it short I won, allied with Arcaens, came out and went Beyond Human ^^