EVIL - a tough row to hough!
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Stardock Forums
Stardock Forums
I was wondering if anybody could help me play a good evil/bully game. I have gotten pretty good at GalCiv and I can fairly easily trounce the computer on Intelligent.. but I always play the same way. Be nice to everybody, trade a lot, build up a strong economy and research infrastructure, get dreads first and pound at least one player... then either pound the others or, with my newly expanded empire, swallow them culturally or turn them into allies.
I would like to play as evil, and not only as an evil version of that strategy, but as a bully, like the computer Drengin player. Anyway I figure the two sort of go together, as an evil player without a strong military finds himself continually picked upon by the computers. But I just cannot seem to hack it. I am taking the War Party and all military related racial picks (normally I do Populists, +20 econ, +1 speed, +1 sensors). I simply can't keep up when (a) I don't have my usual bonuses and (b) I have to concentrate on keeping a strong military at all times. I get way behind technologically and I'm sure you can imagine where that ends me up. I should mention that it also seems unduly hard to research even when the lack of normal morale/econ bonuses is taken into account. By any chance does being evil hurt your research?
Another reason I find it so difficult is that it's really hard to be a bully because of the way the game is set up. First of all, you have to go meet races, unlike the computer which can start extorting the minor races from the first turn (since it sees everything). Second, you don't get green/yellow messages when extorting like you do when trading... so the only way to find the right amount is to start too high and then slowly work your way down, which is maddening.
Does anybody play as an evil bully and know what I can do to make life easier?
-Drake
~SDC~
I would like to play as evil, and not only as an evil version of that strategy, but as a bully, like the computer Drengin player. Anyway I figure the two sort of go together, as an evil player without a strong military finds himself continually picked upon by the computers. But I just cannot seem to hack it. I am taking the War Party and all military related racial picks (normally I do Populists, +20 econ, +1 speed, +1 sensors). I simply can't keep up when (a) I don't have my usual bonuses and (b) I have to concentrate on keeping a strong military at all times. I get way behind technologically and I'm sure you can imagine where that ends me up. I should mention that it also seems unduly hard to research even when the lack of normal morale/econ bonuses is taken into account. By any chance does being evil hurt your research?
Another reason I find it so difficult is that it's really hard to be a bully because of the way the game is set up. First of all, you have to go meet races, unlike the computer which can start extorting the minor races from the first turn (since it sees everything). Second, you don't get green/yellow messages when extorting like you do when trading... so the only way to find the right amount is to start too high and then slowly work your way down, which is maddening.
Does anybody play as an evil bully and know what I can do to make life easier?
-Drake
~SDC~