I just posted some news on the concerns of those with alignment scores and anomalous scores on the site.

I got an anomalous in the game I tried playing with this strategy. I had tons of money at times but ended the game with almost zero. I emailed Frogboy, and he mentioned that they think it's related to the lower tech cost in beta 3.

~SDC~

Thanks for this interesting guide EBZ, I had some fun last night testing it out. While the speed at which you play is considerably different than mine, we have alot of the same goals/style. I'll share with you all here a few refinements of my own that may help you out a bit.

1) When you land that first colony ship, set that planet to produce a scout. This little bugger only costs 1 credit per turn in maintenance, and is well worth it. He allows you to streak around the map finding all the other majors While the Hero gobbles up eggs. Since you have found all majors before you do your first tech trade, you don't run the risk of trading to only part of them and having them retrade your tech to the others you haven't found.

2) When I did my first build cycle, I chose not to put all 5 of the specials on one planet (I had 6). The best planet did Manufacturing Capitol and 2 others, while the first 2 planets done with the que did the other 2 wonders. This saved me about 10 turns of wasted time, which in the early game is very significant.

3) When tech trading, I *always* add some influence onto the end of the trade. When you have reached the limit of the money your sucker, erm customer, will give you, they will always also add on some influence. We could start a whole nother thread on the importance of influence, and if people are curious then I will. (especially do this with minors, they give influence in shiploads and dont seem to care)

4) In mid game, when I have everyones economy utterly buried, I ask for a few freighters in one of the trades. This shaves a few credits off the trade, but not enough to notice, and you can immediately drive them to a planet to establish a route. They are randomly set to one of your own planets, and it doesn't matter which. Don't worry about the money you're giving the other guy, you'll just take it back in the next trade.

5) Be careful about building the influence wonders too soon, you can flip everyone mighty easy and you dont want to do that till you have your tech tree done
Once you have completely stalled the other guys economies, they aren't going to build them anyhow.


Again, thanks for sharing this info EBZ, while I am more of a micro person than a macro, I have enjoyed your method as well

Alignment scores do seem to make a difference even in 1.009.b3.

If you can get a domain name, I can find you some space - .co.uk type names start at around 6ukp - $10 or thereabouts for two years. Take a look at 123reg http://www.123reg.co.uk - they are about the cheapest around -certainly in these here parts.

Alex

~SDC~
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Mad Prophet,

I also add influence to the deal as well. But did you know that you don't have to use the sliders on the money. You can type the amount in as well. On bigger trades when clicking the arrows from right to left will sometimes vary 100 or more credits/turn. So I will start a +50 to the last green and get it down until you get to the exact number. This usually reduces the amount of influence you get, but you've got a good point. Last night I got dinged by the share tech event. I had just traded all but the diplomacy ones and guess what they got!

B

Yep,

I always type in the credit amounts to wring every last credit I can from them, but thanks for pointing it out, some folks may not know that. Also good on you for pointing out another important fact; after the first couple tech trades, never seel the suckers any tech that adds to their diplomacy. Generally at that point I sell them war techs and happy techs (to keep em in game a bit longer).

Luck to all...

Medical techs...the tech whore's friend! LOL

Thanks for the offer arobertson, but I'll be out of the UK soon, and even so, more people are used to the .com ...I am planning on still continuing with Tripod.

I sell everything...just no TG's...for some reason, even if I sell then the diplo tech, on my usual settings I still never have a problem out-diploing everyone.

Hey EBZ,

Is there any scoring based on fleet strength? I usually beat my games with my Hero ship and a few transports. But would I score better if I dumped my money into battleships just before game end??

thx,

B

I was able to build my first terror star on my last submission. I didn't blow up anything(although you ought to get massive negatives to moral if you use one and perhaps some negative for building one. But I had it decked out with the pleasure palace trying to get the minor to flip before the major. Alas, it didn't work. Anyway, does the terror stars count for more points?

B

Minors are extremely culture resistant, B. Except for Alexians.

Don't think ships give points. Terror stars are SB/ship hybrids but don't think they count for score as well.

bpleshek,

As you can see, I have published my research in the GCCG. Any other info. I would know of very little. I stay strictly to my GCCG, and thats all. The GCCG was written as a comprehensive guide to show those that are beginners and experts a strategy, and another way to play the game. It was all written to be dedicated to those hardcore crankers, liek myself, however, I decided to release the info. to help teach others new and a improved way of playing the game.

I don't mean to sound liek I am giving you the cold shoulder, because I'm not. Just saying that the guide was written based off of my experience, and what I strictly adhere to. However, if you look in it, please feel free to experiment, and if you chose to do so, send me any results. Perhaps I can append some kind of page of experimentations that ppl have done with the GCCG.
[Message Edited]

EBZ a question: To get your 20 minute game, do you just bankrupt them and invade with transports or do you advance turns alot and build up a lot of wonders? I think I might experiment a little, but just curious.

thx,

B

B

Speaking as the great one's disciple, I know he never builds a ship, apart from the initial colony rush. Bankrupt the AIs, build ALL the wonders (and BUILD them, dont BUY them) and research the entire tech tree through to Final Frontier. At beginner level, you wont need to build a single ship other than your initial colony transports. No invasion, EVER. The GCCG begins to break down at higher levels because the AI won't let you get away with NOT having a military. I've used it for wins at normal but ended up building a military for the final civ defeat. At challenging, it falls apart and I have to revert to a longer, more 'standard' victory plan. Don't worry about time - I still can't break 45 mins for a game, although I'm playing with 1.05 - I understand you get through the tech tree quicker with 1.09.

I believe that I can probably win a game in about 30 minutes if I bankrupt the AI and then immediately invade. I might not get as high of a score, but right now, I can crank at about 2-3 hours if I await the influence turnovers(and build all the TG and wonders). I got that part down pat, they never get anything and rarely out of debt. And I do make use of the escape and enter keys which I'm sure are part of the key to this.

B

Oh, and I did get one of my anomalous scores fixed. I will have to wait until tomorrow to see if I can get the other one fixed.

B

B - be sure to keep your spending at 100% for the ENTIRE game; don't slack off it because it's part of the timing thing. You certainly WONT get a high score for just invading ASAP because it's the wonders/TG/techs that drive the score, followed by population. You tend to build up a big bank when bankrupting the civs, then run this down later in the game as needed. I use the tech govt/tech&dip bonus starting setup as described in the GCCG, I find it delivers the best results.

Great to see one of your scores fixed - we need every point at the moment!

arobertson - did you see my Q re cash payments to civs? Do you give them just a little, or enough to give them a positive cah flow before hitting them again?

Wombat,

I too use Tech +50 res +50 dip. I ran it out like you said and I had to drop my spending a bit because I was at -1200/turn at 100% and I only had a bank of 50K. At that rate I still won, but it took me about 2 hours(less the time I spent chasing and putting down the kids for bed). I did get my highest score yet--9460--and up into 394th place.

I got two in tonight, so I'm off to bed now. Good night and thanks for the tips. All help is appreciated. Tomorrow at work, I'll attempt to fix my other anomaly score and then try to complete another game.

later,

B

Nope, I just do what the GCCG says.

Errr, this was in response to a earlier question if i build ships.
[Message Edited]

Great job Wild one on your knowledge of the GCCG. It pleases me much to know that you have the technical skill now to even help others!

Greetings sensei! It pleases me to please you and I shall try to humbly do your bidding to assist other disciples!



B - look at that closely. If you're losing 1200 a turn with 50,000 in the bank, you will run dry - in about 40 turns. By that stage, hopefully one major or minor will have recovered some funds and you'll be able to rape them again (I love this strategy!). I'd push along at 100% spend for 30-35 turns and then check the civs out again for funds.

I notice from your games that you're an evil kind of person - just once, for fun, set all the other civs to pure evil and play all pure good yourself. See what it does to an average game score for you. The Top 200 is not far away!

And yeah, those kids really put a cramp in your gaming style...trust me, I know...

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You cannot fail if you follow the GCCG.

You only need to bring their balance positive (as positive as you want them to pay you per turn). At the levels the GCCG works at, they only look at "cash in hand" to determine what they can pay.



Note that you could (if you have sufficient balance) recover their funds with a gift - instant repeated rape....

Alex



~SDC~

Wow,

Just posted a score of 13k using this LOL

Of course, since I don't have v1.09 yet, playing good vs all evils is prolly making a bit of a difference. The only thing I have trouble with is keeping the majors from flipping too soon. I even had to stop and build the yor a culturebase at the end of this last one.