Keep on trying, Smeagol.

I find that stronger minors with more systems make for weaker majors. Try taking the minors systems from them before taking on the majors. On rarer habitability maps, it really makes a difference.

In addition, seems like the the tech-sell nerf have been relaxed for the Alexians in 1.11. I have been able to sell the Alexians tech for big bucks in my current game. However, from this single experience, it seems that they only buy in cash if they have >1000bcs in their bank.

~SDC~

Which, IMO, should be fixed for all races, minor and major. There is no reason why an empire (even a minor one) that has money surplus will not be willing to pay for tech, ships, systems, etc. I think Stardock nerfed the tech-selling to much in order to make it more difficult. I would keep the trade guidelines in Maso EXACTLY like in lower difficulties, just give the AI some significant +diplo to make sure you don't really get a good deal for the stuff.

Maso AIs do have a diplo bonus of about +30-40% IIRC. I agree with you that I rather see them getting a higher diplo bonus but willing to buy techs with cash.

Minors should get the same boost as well.

Currently, it's weird that only the starting minors get this nerf but event minors don't.

~SDC~

Yes. Give them +100% diplo if you need to, but keep the trade mechanics as they were. I understand the rational behind this (make it more difficult for the player to sell useless techs to the AI), but this can be solved in a different manner. The AI's should adapt how much money they are willing to give by their total economy (so that minors will give you less money, because they have less), and make the AI estimate certain techs less (like stellar catagrophy).

Right now it feels broken, made unrealistably difficult just because it's Maso. I rather get miniscules amounts of money at a loss while sell tech then nothing at all.

The Alexians have always seemed easy to flip - especially compared to the Carinoids - but in 1.11, they're clearly lower across the board. Easy to trade with. Easy to flip. Virtually no military. Almost like they're playing Intelligent difficulty at Maso, instead of Genius or Incredible. Anybody notice similar weaknesses?

This is really frustrating. The GOTM is ready to go, but when I take the serial number out, or replace it with Ellestar's pirated one, my game crashes. I suspect that Stardock may have added some checksum so that the game crashes if the serial number is changed. *sigh* Thoughts?

Grr... why the heck is the serial number in the save game in the first place?

*sigh* I give up for now. Going to dedicate some time to increasing our empire score.

I played a game with an X'ed out serial just yesterday, no problems. See my AAR from that game, linked in a new thread here on the forum. I had no problems inserting my serial and submitting the game to the Metaverse, even.

Just use a hex editor and replace the numbers and letters with X's. Kylearan didn't even do that everywhere, just the game.galaxy file, on his initial change, and even that took hold OK, spreading to the .civ# files. I did paste my serial over every instance of the X'd out ones before submitting, though.

Now the question Kylearan brought up at the Realms Beyond forum is whether the Metaverse will allow more than one player to submit off the same start. We don't know yet. Be crazy if all your GOTM players got the axe as "cheaters" by some kind of auto-enforcement program just for submitting a result off the same start. LOL


By the way, I've never played Maso WITHOUT the "no cash" option. I like it this way. You can still use your cash to buy (or to help supplement other offerings). You just can't get cash FROM the AI's. What's the problem with that? You don't really want to sell certain techs anyway, since holding them is more valuable. The only ones who don't have tech to trade you for your tech are the trailing civs, the weaker civs, anyway, and trading for techs from one civ then "paying for it" by brokering to other weaker civs is a sure fire way to make the game way wayyyyyyyyy too easy.

In Civ3, I once had a single turn where I acquired fifteen late-game technologies through trade. Techs in Civ3 are "meatier" and fewer than the ones here in GalCiv, so that would be equivalent to about forty or so GalCiv techs. If they un-nerf the "no cash sales" limit currently on Maso, then they'd need to add another higher difficulty, because the "hardest" one would no longer be legendarily challenging. At least in my opinion.

If the AI's got yet more free diplo boosts as an offset to re-enabling cash sales, that would wreck some other aspects of trade that are currently well balanced, and it would further inflate the already high value of diplo picks and translators. I wouldn't be in favor of that.


- Sirian

Weird. I did exactly that. I tried Xing the numbers and letters in the game.galaxy file, and that crashed my game. Then I tried putting in the serial number used for a previous GOTM, and that crashed my game too. *shrug*

Send the GOTM to me, vincible. Let's see if I can load it.

~SDC~

done.

Well, I tried to mercilessly tech whore in my most recent game with everyone at intelligent. I did not have the heart to continue taking the poor fools after swapping a lot of low level techs up to battleship over several trades during the early course of the game. I just researched almost everything myself after the battleship tech trades, relying on my bigger economy. I am just not ruthless enough. :notsure:

I chalk it up to having a different philosophy when it comes to trades. My use for them is to put me on a near equal tech footing with the aliens after the colony rush and provide me with a little income boost for a limited amount of time to help me build the empire. After that, I am on my own. I cannot get into the concept of using continual whoring to bankrupt the aliens into near paralysis or even surrender. This is not meant to knock anyone who uses rampant whoring, I am just not into it myself. I guess it means that this combined with my lack of total ruthlessness in a military rush would make me a bad maso player if I seriously tried that level.

Whatever you think of the maso money nerf (I think it's a good thing, personally) I don't see why Stardock made just the Alexians give money. This turns the early game into "find the Alexians."

Cleared the bar for FA with exactly 80 games and a personal profile of 352k so the 80 game / 350k mark seems accurate. The huge maso is a nice size map.

Can't believe Cotal/Amidala split. Thought something was broken or wrongly displayed at first. Never a shortage for Theoden to write about is there?

We are closer to 3 million but it is football time now. Talk to everyone later.

Only the Alexians? Not what I'm seeing. I just sold a boatload of techs to Cari for ~2500g for 15 turns. Trying my first Giant Abundant Maso. Sold to Alex, too, but that was a much smaller, earlier sale. Alex has a whole cluster to himself and is bigger than the Altarians. He's got over a dozen planets and a respectable number of Rangers.

Sold for cash to I-League also, once. Far as I can tell, the minors are behaving the same as they always have. They'll buy for cash, if they have it to spend.




Nonsense. Maso is beatable without sleaze-n-cheese. Now if the promised "enhanced AI" turns up in the next patch or two, you never know. Perhaps that could change. But I have won a decent pack of Maso games now, on the full gamut of map sizes, habitability, politcal parties, bonus picks, alignments, and victory conditions. That doesn't happen by pulling the same trick over and over. There are many ways to win.

Besides, you can't exactly whore effectively on Maso when you can't sell techs to majors for cash. All you can do is catch up to them. You can't pass them and bankrupt them. Since that already fits your preference, I don't see a problem for you.


- Sirian

Well done and congratulations on being the 3rd person to achieve Fleet Admiral, Rick!

With Amidala MIA, the FOTR holds the monopoly for FAs at the moment.

~SDC~

The call of the Ring is particularly strong today with the gold medal a mere 20k points away.

But I think I will leave it to Rick to be the FOTR's flag-bearer in challenging for top honours.

~SDC~

vincible,

I can't download the .sav file in hotmail for some reason.
Need you to resend the savegame directory and .sav in one zip file.

~SDC~

Midway through my Maso Gig Huge game and the Fundies struck in an all-evil universe. They took 12 systems which is about half this rare universe. I lost 4 systems myself including Sol (I believe most of the 4 systems had 100% morale). Needless to say, the rest of the AIs were badly hit, esp the Tors who were cleaned out.

Was actually thinking of teching out and then destroying the 5 or so major planets left for a win but I thought I'll have a go at the Fundies. Sold them my TGs for 2000bcs for 20 turns and basically cleaned out their 20,000bcs treasury. Then I researched all the soldering tech, Tir-Quan etc and got all the surviving majors to declare war against them. Their battleaxe defenders really didn't stand any chance. I've already taken back 2 systems and would be retaking the remaining two soon.

~SDC~

Won the game but was slightly irritated by a little bug where trade ships were stuck in the fundie systems thus preventing me from invading.

Think I have had enough of 1.11. Will be waiting for 1.12 before playing another.


~SDC~

And hey I've just realised that I've turned neutral.
I think the neutral icon goes better with the FOTR icon.

~SDC~

Three Pure Evil games in a row? I see Good Ray may be here on the boards, but it's Evil Ray who's playing the games!

tis the ring.. tis too powerful for mear mortalses and hobitses.. gives it backses to me'ses PLEASES.. Smeagol knowses whatses to doses with Precous.. My Presouses needses meses it does.. and its trying to findses its ways homes

Nice RAY... Smeagol doesn't want anything bad to happenses to Ray.. Smeagol will take that nasty ring away from ray.. No!!! its not nasty.. its my precous.. and me neeeeedssss it... and Smeagol WILL haves its soon...

500

Alex

~SDC~