Captain Jack Sparrow Captain Jack Sparrow

G.R.O.S.S. communication thread.

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G.R.O.S.S. communication thread.

from Stardock Forums
Cringe in fear do gooders. The G.R.O.S.S. (Get Rid Of Slimy alienS) empire is now formed. In less than an hour we have jumped 95 other Pacifist Doo Gooder victim empires and lept into 40th out of 135 ranked.

We are an evil empire bent on controlling everything and showing all the other empires out there who's boss. US. Are you listening Euro-"Oh lets let everyone be a senator and give em a vote doo gooder democracy alliance?" We come for you.

For a limited time, (untill I decide otherwise) 5 Pure Evil games, (or just impressing me with your game evilness) submitted will get you a Senatorship. Later, being the evil empire pyramid scheme we are, it will take 10. Of course, being the evil empire we are, that gives you no benefits, no pay, but all the alien carnage you crave most.

Now we do realize that sometimes, you just have to fake being good. You sometimes just have to infiltrate that pacifist party. We understand. But we aren't a kinder gentler empire and don't let their pacifism go to your head. And just sometimes, you gotta let the Aliens live (where else would you find slaves for the heavy metal lava mines?)

In the future, we shall update each other in the empire via this thread, brag of our conquests, drink blood wine, and generally just poke fun (creatively and humorously) at those players whom we find to be too goody goodyish.

Our mottos.

G.R.O.S.S. Where being good is merely a temporary strategy.

Just win baby.

Here's your ration of skin you do gooder wimp Drengin slime. Now get back to work

EBZeroMatrix you have been made a senator.

I repeat. Cringe in fear, we come for you.





100,829 views 3,706 replies
Reply #2626 from Stardock Forums Top
Yet the game was marketed (I know: marketing hype) on the basis that the AIs would play as if they were people.
End of quote


Actually it marketed that they would NOT play like people (playing a game ie just plain totally gang up on you if it looked like you were getting ahead.
It was marketed that they would react just like a normal empire would to a given situation. Would a normal empire refuse 80 bc in exchange for 10? Well they might if they just hated humans that much. But in that case, they'd just refuse to trade or speak with em at all.


Mind you, there would be so many 'surprise' attacks that it would get very frustrating very quickly.
End of quote


That would be tough in Galciv simply because once capital ships come into being, there is a huge advantage to attacking. It's very unbalanced in that regard. There are no defensive specialist ships past Battle Axes, which are unable to withstand even a good frigate barage. With a good defensive ship to counter that, alpha strikes wouldn't be quite so effective. I dare suspect that as it is, Galciv would quite frankly stink multiplayer.

Reply #2627 from Stardock Forums Top
Wombie: Your painful was low due to alliance victory condition. It scores considerably lower than military. Well I'm out of here awhile. Junior wants the puter....
The Political Machine 2024
Reply #2628 from Stardock Forums Top
Killa,

I didn't start it yet. I was still trying to figure out what plan of attack to use. I've been reading the boards for maso hints and still really don't have a full grasp on what is expected. I am currently working on a normal small.

So you're saying don't go abundant. Hmmmm. Ok.

B
Reply #2629 from Stardock Forums Top
Quack--
Another great reporting pitch!
Everyone should want this be a pirate...

-Cypher
Reply #2630 from Stardock Forums Top
Hail Spymaster! I too, have just done the business at Painful - and scored not much more than you did on a small map. Man, the more I play, the higher the level, the less I score Do you usually look for an alliance victory at that level?
End of quote


In my early games, I just kept all the victory options on and took whatever win presented itself. That would usually be a culture bomb since I am at peace most of the time. Then I tried a couple of games with culture victory turned off, but not for the purpose of getting a military win, but because I wanted to see what Beyond Human looked like. I found out quite by accident in one of those games that culture flipping the last major planet (while I was researching Final Frontier, grrr) would result in a military victory. Then I went back and turned all the options on again.

My usual tactic of late is to go for all this peace and prosperity bit (lots of trade routes, few wars) and watch out for when I get close to cultural victory. Then I try to set up an alliance win before the 12 month clock runs out, but I will gladly take the culture win if I can't pull off the alliance. I know that I could stall the clock by going to war, but that's not my style to prolong a victory I already have to get some more points.

Out of my 19 games, I see one Beyond Human, 4 Military Conquests, 5 Alliance Victories, and 9 Cultural Conquests. I guess that makes me a trader and a politician more than a warlord when I am playing Galciv.

Besides the Beyond Human experiment and at least one accidental military victory that went with it in pursuit of a tech win, I also had an alignment experiment where I deliberately took the evil road for few games for an obvious reason anyone in GROSS should already know. :) But my overall approach to alignment is play good for better trade and relations against opponents who are usually set at their default alignments so I get a mixed bag. (I did try an all evil game once. That was fun!)
Reply #2633 from Stardock Forums Top
People,
a new rank!! (Probably been there for a while I just noticed.) Congrats :CONGRAT: to all those vice admirals!!
Reply #2634 from Stardock Forums Top
Pontius/Killa/Gerakken - thanks for the feedback. I realise that Alliance is lower than Military, but I thought the multiplier was 0.9 for alliance vs 1.0 for military - didn't think it would make that much difference.

I am trying to develop a strategy that builds on the GCCG and incorporates elements of Matthew Downie's pacifist theories; I won that Painful game without fighting at all. It needs a lot of refinement, especially when it comes to exactly WHICH wonders/TG and the whole research tree development persuit. I still have trouble deciding what serves me best in terms of maxing score. Anyway, interesting to keep working on it, although the maso masters are about to swallow me on the board.

Hurls - you and Pontius should be due for promotion; you have to submit a game for the recalc to occur. Your next game submission should see your status rise.

Footy - go SWANS and PIES! Both into the semis! (As a Carlton supporter, I have absolutely NO interest :notsure: )
Reply #2635 from Stardock Forums Top
Hurls - you and Pontius should be due for promotion; you have to submit a game for the recalc to occur. Your next game submission should see your status rise.
End of quote


Thanks Wombat. Finally started a game last night with some chance of finishing/submitting this week!

Now to your tactics, I usually play with no war at all. Even trade tech to other civs to esnure they are even when fighting each other. I still try for every wonder/TG and max the tech tree. But we shall see, first real game with X-pack.

Hmmm...
Reply #2636 from Stardock Forums Top
I usually play with no war at all.
End of quote


Ahh...Saint Hurley! Now I know the secret of that angelic face! I agree with going for all the wonders/TG/tech, but if you look at the final score I still wonder how to improve the 'society' element of the total score. Given that you aren't going to score on the military scale with a pacifist strategy, which planet improvements are critical to boosting that score?

I also wonder if you are rewarded for researching the techs yourself or simply possessing them (through trading). The end game score gives you the data re 'techs researched' and 'techs known' and looking at the other civs scores, I am not sure that trying to research EVERY tech yourself is worth it, as opposed to just GETTING every tech any which way you can.
Reply #2637 from Stardock Forums Top
Wombat. I usually am able to get all the wonders on painful or just miss the occasional one. I'll be sure to note the tech order and give it to you my next game. Of course I may have to adjust it on 1.09.

I usually research most of em except when I need one wombie. But it's not like you're gonna go from 15k to 25k or something. By far the biggest factors in score are A) setting the aliens all to evil (yields about 1/3 more points) and B) The victory condition of military conquest.
Reply #2638 from Stardock Forums Top
Now I know the secret of that angelic face!
End of quote


LOL LOL

I try and improve society by just building everything! I still go for some military score by building lots of high-end ships. Also, although I win by cultural dominance it shows as military because cultural is turned off.

Hmm, don't know about tech tree research yourself or trade. Given there are some techs inaccesible to research if good/evil I trust it is trade is OK.
Anyway. Back to assignments... :(
Reply #2639 from Stardock Forums Top
Thanks Pontius! I thought the 'alignment switch' had been nerfed in 1.09 too. I haven't tried playing pure good to the civs all pure evil at that difficulty yet.

Hurls - build everything?! Don't you send yourself broke with maintainence costs towards the end of the game? Building high-end ships towards game's end even if not needed is probably a good idea though; any sooner and I found they get blown away when you get the inevitable war declaration at some stage. I tend to have a quick 'freighter build' at stages through the game so I can keep the trade up.

Sorry about the assignments, man... ;)
Reply #2640 from Stardock Forums Top
Wombie: I tend to build Anti Matter missiles rather than the big boys if I am planning on culture flipping. They pack an offensive punch, get 100 on attack (plus bonuses) For the price of one excaliber, you can build and maintain about 20 amms. well worth the tradeoff. and with only 1 per turn manintenence. Cheap military rating. It does have an effect I think but not a big one. Kill ratio has no effect on scoring.
Reply #2641 from Stardock Forums Top
Actually if someone could take one of their loads a turn from the end, disband their military and see if it affects their meta score (if it lowers it by all means don't then submit) we'd have our answer as to whether military rating means squat.
Reply #2642 from Stardock Forums Top
Hurls - build everything?! Don't you send yourself broke with maintainence costs towards the end of the game?
End of quote


Yes it gets exciting! I can also guarantee at least one recession per end game in my experience so far.
Reply #2643 from Stardock Forums Top
I tend to build Anti Matter missiles rather than the big boys if I am planning on culture flipping
End of quote


Thanks AGAIN! That is a really interesting tip; I have never built an AMM in a game yet. I have always felt ships provided the better value. Must have a go at that in terms of protection from warmongering threats, too.

I can also guarantee at least one recession per end game in my experience so far.
End of quote


Now, you have your own consulting business, right? Hmmm...no wonder you need to keep teaching ;p LOL LOL
Reply #2644 from Stardock Forums Top
Check out my post called "late game economy" and see if you have any suggestions. Too much to crosspost.

thanks,

B
Reply #2645 from Stardock Forums Top
Well geez half the time my posts aren't even posting. Pffft. Guess it's time for bed.... Cya tomorrow everyone. Back to the old grind tomorrow.
Reply #2646 from Stardock Forums Top
#105 and climbing!!!

B
Reply #2647 from Stardock Forums Top
It was marketed that they would react just like a normal empire would to a given situation. Would a normal empire refuse 80 bc in exchange for 10? Well they might if they just hated humans that much. But in that case, they'd just refuse to trade or speak with em at all.
End of quote


If they hated humans a lot, it might encourage them to take the deal, since it damages the human's economy to the tune of 70 bcs. :)

Killa - my story was disturbing? Well, we are pirates, and that's the nicest piracy I could think of. Hell, they didn't even make anyone walk the plank. Lots of pirate crews would just kill everyone to get rid of witnesses. But when you're as strong as GROSS is, you don't worry about witnesses...

I need to find more time to play this game myself - I finally managed to take out a tiny maso, I'm just saving it up till the exp pack's released. Fine, call me cheap, see if I care. LOL
Reply #2648 from Stardock Forums Top
B - doing really well - congrats! :CONGRAT:

I did look at your post but am not smart enough to diagnose your problem! I see you are basically using the GCCG research protocol; Pontius' points are well taken and you and I will BOTH need to be more flexible when progressing to higher levels.

The GCCG is a good start but we need to get more sophisticated in choosing what to research and build. I think building TOO MANY things is a key problem at higher levels, no matter what Hurley thinks! :p The GCCG doesn't have that problem because you 'rush' to victory too quickly for it to be a factor.

Scanning the structures on captured planets is something I will be doing more thoroughly from now on, as will differential building - I just usually have used the governors to set a single build queue (same for every planet). My current enjoyment surrounds exploring the pacifist route (i.e. an influence-based victory) and I think I'll need to come up with direct research and building lines for this in the way EBZ did; the start was critical in his method, that's why he didn't elaborate the entire tech tree, just the first ten key moves or so.

At the moment, laying down lines to get ALL the influence wonders, TGs, and planet improvements to start followed by the research-based wonders/TG/improvs would be the next logical step. I have seen others (notably Matthew Downie) suggest actively NOT trading weapon/mil techs to other civs - I must say that I tend to need all the credits I can get, so withholding is usually not an option.

Anyway, keep talking it up!
Reply #2650 from Stardock Forums Top
Hmmm....people still talk about the GCCG and me, :D .

Well I haven't forgotten you all, just to let you all know, I've been...errr....well, you know doing EBZ things...heh.

Anyways, I still update my site every now and then, so check in if you guys ever feel compelled to (or if you're really bored :P).

Well I need to stay low for now...

*EBZ dashes back off into the darkness...