tetris is too easy. i need something challenging but not to the point of insanity, given that galciv is not a sellout and that i like, what i dont like is you have to get your ass wooped a few hundred times before you "begin" to get the basics. Now galciv is a good challenge, but i got to work and got school and sports, therefore, i rarely have time to play it. when i do, i get killed. i though it would be more like civilization only in space. well i was wrong, but it has its ups and downs. more ups than downs though otherwise i wouldnt keep on trying. my problem was that in the first dozen games, i tried to play in a tidy professional manor. colonizing a few star systems every year or so. thats my mistake, so i changed my strategy, and i made it past the year 2219 yesterday! and the pure good civilizations were on my side this time, probably cuz i took over one third of the map quickly. and i want to thank you for all your help. the yor collective is my enemy and the drengins are getting there, my problem is i wanted to make it all happen in the beginning, you know, building up my military and economy before going out and colonizing. see the strategy guide said for me to do that, except i missed the part where it says, increase my military funds more than anything. but i read it over and this time i actually wooped the yor in a war and took over half thier terroritory, sucky thing, their on fools. i want them to be on normal, but i guess im not ready for that yet. anyways i dont have any saves left of the ones in which i was gettin wooped. but thanks. i probably in the end will still get wooped, but at least im getting closer.

That's music to my ears, Soldier! I personally have a very strong vendetta against those robotic ba$tard$. You seem to be getting the hang of it, now! Don't worry, none of us just started playing and had an easy time of it. But as you'll see, because the game is so challenging, you'll want to play it more than other games!

Remember, if you need help, there are plenty of us here to ask questions. Be patient and we'll help you all we can. Be sure to visit the Strategies forum for more help, and good luck!

I know. GREAT!, Ain't it. LOL
I was a civ player too, find them easy. One of the things I am having to relearn is to not build every damn thing available on every planet.

I have found that (contrary to some comments) building the manuf cntr first, before anything else, helps out a lot. I build the fusion plant too, if available. Then I take the best suited planet for the manu capt, and micro the sliders for the others while building whatever. And of course, lots of constructors. Get those manu SBs up and running asap. Once I reach a certain point, it snowballs to victory because I have the production capacity to handle what the AI has at that time (best results game was: all normal AIs with one at intelligent, default alingments).

One of the things I read ppl complaining about on the other game boards is how that game has a really crappy AI. I find it refreshing to have a challange. Esp if you don't cheese the AI (too much), it can certainly keep up a good pace.



Me too. The symbiont can't live in a toaster. Just the Viraxian story line keeps me from being nice to them. LOL

I am not surprised by this development at all because this is exactly how learning this game works. I knew that if you were having a hard time at that level that there must be just a simple little thing you were doing wrong. Congratulations on figuring out colonization!! In many turn based strats, especially this one, this is typically how your learning curve goes. More of a stair step than a steady incline. This is because it seems like you learn one or two new things each game that make the next game you play so much easier. When I started, i had figured out from the strategy guides that I needed to be aggressive about colonization. However, I understood nothing about tech trading for techs and money. Before I understood this, parts of the game seemed very hard. Once I "discovered" tech trading, everything got so much easier. I know from experience that it can be very frustrating until you learn the small but vital tricks to managing your empire. For instance, youve learned to colonize better and have already seen a vast difference in how the game is progressing. My optimistic guess is that things will begin to progress a lot more rapidly in your games from now on.

Some quick tips:
1) Start out by playing as a Pure Good empire and have at least a couple of Pure Good AI's. Establish trade with them as soon as possible. This will not only give you extra money but also increase your standings with them (ie make them like you). Just because your both Good doesnt mean they wont attack if they smell blood (weak military) or you have no sway over them economically (no trade). However, since you are both good, they will be less likely to attack and more likely to help you than the evil races. Especially if you have trade with them. In order to do this, start by researching Comm Theory, Univ Translator, Diplomacy, and then Trade in that order. As soon as you get Trade, pump out two frieghters from Sol and send then to the capital of the nearest Good race. It helps if youve been scouting with scout ships before hand to actually find the other races. You can send your frieghters to evil races as well but they wont be as easily swayed and they will be getting money from the trade which might not be a good thing.

2) Pick a large bonus to diplomacy at the start. This has a huge impact in your ability to swing "better deals" when in discussions with other races. Both in trading techs with them, convincing them to attack someone else, and convincing them to NOT attach you.

These two things will greatly help your ability to remain at peace with the other races and ensure your survival. At least long enough to learn other things . Good Luck!!

My incredibly simple guide to winning:
Play on very low difficulty. Give your empire a high Diplomacy bonus
Set Spend Rate to 100%
Colonise some PQ 13+ planets
Research Universal Translator
Meet and talk to other races. Make deals with them as often as possible, trading anything for anything. (But never give away a planet.) Green text = deal that will be accepted. At this difficulty level, they are so generous that every deal can be in your favour. They will even trade money for money in your favour, giving you 120 credits for 100 credits. Deals where they pay you cash over a long period of time are best. Use this to keep yourself rich and your enemies poor. Victory will then be just a question of time.



~SDC~

I lost my first 12 games... Don't give up.. don't surrender.. keep trying different things.. read the forum .. there are lots of tips out there... the main thing is to colonize quickly. reach as mant systems as you can before the computer players. and only colonize 15+ planets (Only colonize 1 per system to start with.. as you can always get the others later). GalCiv is unlike most other games out there were in them its better to build up your initial planets before you explore out.

I myself have written some msgs in here to help newbies like myself.. EBZ has a good tutorial. and there are at least 3 others out there that have written things to help too.

Just remember
Never give up, Never Surrender

Couslee,

I have gotten about 5 anomalous scores with the cranking guide. But every one of them went away when I resubmitted it. It may be cheese, but we want this guy to have at least one win.

B

Check what kind of level you are playing, I had to start at cakewalk, and then slowwwwwwwwwwwwly, very slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwly went up into the higher levels, right now I am playing at normal, I tried challenging and I got wooped real bad, so I have to polish new ways to fight the Torians, they are nasty when you put them as chaotic evil.

When I started I got whooped too. Then I came to forum and found the link to the Orion Strategy Guide: http://www.orionsector.com/pages/galciv/downloads/The_Unofficial_GalCiv_Strategy_Guide_v1_0.pdf

A second link you may find helpful is EBZeroMatrix's Gal Civ Cranking Guide (GCCG) at http://ebzeromatrix.tripod.com/. There have been reports GCCG can deliver an anomalous score on the metaverse because you whip the AI so bad. But, if you get that good, you can move up to normal. LOL.

Hope this helps.

Rick
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The Torians are bad enough on pure good and fools, theyre the true challenge of the game, becuase they go after you wether your good or not and whether thier good or not. Im currently at war with them and they took over two of my sectors one had three stars and the other had two. Thier some tough bastards and im out to get them now that the yor has fallen to them and me and the altarians so the universe is a little emptier but better. I have the altarians and arceans on my side against the drengins and torians. but the drengins are also at war with the torians, yet, they are miraculously still wining, and theyre on fools and pure good. so yes it is fun at challenging, now that i have gotten past being outnumbered and outclassed right when the game starts, but still, the difficulty is something im not proud of. o well.

What kinds of ships are you using Soldier and or what ships can you build? What is the AI using against you? If you let us know then maybe we can spot something that would work better for you.

One trick I know that a lot of players use is to ignore all the AI's combat ships except the transports. Without transports that cant take your planets. Something to think about anyway.

You can also improve your military ships by building shipyards and Advanced Quality Control Centers on the planets that are building them. If you can grab a military resource (red ones) and mine it, that helps a lot too.

luck!

P.S. In my current game the Torians are being a real pain the a## as well. Maybe they get better on certain days of the month . By the way, does anybody else think they look like ET?
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I started my first game at normal and have never played anything less than that. I usually play painful/tough and up. My key as mentioned by others is trade and culture. Regardless of how you intend to win you need to be culturaly equal (if not dominate to) the AI. I often seek out the cultural wonders. Pay attention to the fine print. Some wonders increase that specific systems influence, as well as the empire as a whole. So place it on a influential system near an enemy(ies) that you want to take. Also plan your trading partners wisely. You can sway the opinion of the Yor if you are a major trading partner with them. They will be less likely to attack you. Oh and build those starbases, both cultural and trade. Stick the trade base on your trade routes and depending on the difficulty stick the cultrual ones in or adjacent to your enemies systems.

I think there is a bug with the Torians or something, i mean no matter their alignment, they attack you still without very good probable cause. Ive been to war with them more times than the yors or drengins combined. If its not the torians, its the altarians. is there a bug with the pure good alignment or something? becuase the only one to not declare war on me and attack is the arceans, who are set at neutral. the drengins and yors declare war on me but they dont do so or attack as much as the pure good alignments. hmmmmm??????? bug??????

Well if you are evil the goods will gang up on you.

B

thats just it i wasnt evil, in fact i was reported better than them in goodness ranks.

'Pure good' = rabidly self-righteous Jerry Falwell type fundies.

The behavior of 'pure good' civs makes sense when you keep this in mind.

I can usually play a whole game at any difficulty level without being attacked. It's just a question of knowing when to bribe them.

~SDC~

Well thats my problem, i dont give into bribes, i think its cowardly (even though its just a game). And once again i was defeated, the drengins had an overwhelming force somehow gathered up within like five years. the torians were the first to go (good ridance those backstabers) then came the arceans and altarians, it was epic. i fought it out long and hard, man it was sweet. i was poed that i lost cause i gave everything, it was battleship to battleship, armies to armies. it was an all out war. even though i lost, im glad i got to play the game to the fullest (on simple difficulty however) i mean, thats the way it should be played, epicly. i guess you just gotta be patient and learn how to play the game. i tell you what though, those drengins lost almost all thier systems and military to me, it was total war. but at least i got a chance to even out the score before i got defeated. now to take the difficulty up a notch. if there are any designers of this game out there, you should add a game editor like that on civilzation 3 before laucnh. that would be cool.

I suspect they've been programmed as "bullies" - they generally don't attack if your military is better than theirs!



And vice versa!

Alex


~SDC~

It seems to me that if you just leave all the settings alone and just play the game on it's easiest setting,with your opponents on their simplest settings the game is very playable, and beatable.It sounds like Soldier needs to relax and remember these games are supposed to be fun, and this one is definitely fun. I'm no expert, but I've had some success just playing below the "normal" settings, that is when the AI starts to get aggressive in my experience. Good Luck Soldier, it's really not that hard.

Yeah it is pretty hard actually unless you play below normal. But then, if I play below normal, its not as fun as to play on normal. Plus, ive been beaten many times on cakewalk. Thats pretty degrading. I usually now set the Drengins on Pure Evil and Beginner, the Altarian Republic on Pure Good and Normal, the Arceans on Neutral and Beginer, the Torians on Pure Good and Normal, and the Yor Collective on Pure Evil and Normal. This makes the game AI a little easier, but still normal like, but the difficulty is on beginer.

Curious regarding all the alignment changes you make. I think you might be putting too much emphasis on alignment. I use the default alignments, and don't get much grief from any of the AIs. I think what you do during the game is more important than alignment. I have had warm pure good AIs when I was pure evil and the pure evil AIs be really ticked off. (like to play all normal AI with 1 at intl)

Soldier:
Don't give up! You will find "your game"! Practice makes perfect, and you'll find that things will start coming together. Once you pass a certain point everything will begin to fall into place.
I have no specific suggestions. Just take note; all of us started where you are, and all of us have strengths and weaknesses. Personally, my military game has never been as good as my economic/cultural game.
Yes, the learning curve may be steep, but once you get past the troubles you'll begin to see your skills grow exponentially.
Stick with it! In my opinion this is truly one of the best games out there! And keep an eye to these boards; some of these ragamuffins really know what they speak!
Best of luck!

Good for you! Never give in to the AI's posturing! In addition to what people have said you can try starting with fewer races at the beguining. Just double click on the picture of the AI you want to remove and 'Vwala' thier gone . . .

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Wow, I didn't know you could do that.