Couple of Beginner's Questions

from Stardock Forums
Hi everybody,

here are some unsorted questions which I have come across playing GC for a week now. Maybe this was explained in the manual, if so I have not found it:

1) How do ships regain hitpoints after being attacked?
2) How do starbases regain hitpoints after being attacked?
3) How much hitpoints does a planet have or how is the defense of a planet handled?
4) How do I defend a starbase? Just by putting spaceships "on top of them" in "guard" mode?
5) How can I tell which autopilot aim belongs to which spaceship? Can I only tell on the tiny map or is there a way to display their heding in the large map, too?
6) If I want Colony Ships to travel really far what do I do if I get the "vessel is out of range" message? Build a starbase?
7) Sometimes ships (especiall when found or given to you) get stuck too far from home. What to I do against the "vessel out of range blablable hopefully no-one is afraid of the dark" message?
8) Is there any good reason why I should step away from the Imperial government system?
9) In my last game I had about 8 or 10 planets and some 4 or 5 starbases (just built them where there were ressources). Is this a reasonable proportion? Should I build more starbases? Or rather less but upgrade them like crazy?
10) Is there a keyboard shortcut to flip from one planet to the next - on the main map! - to check on all of them? (I know there is the "planets-tab" in the bottom button bar, but this will list the planets on the righthand side. There I can click on then planets and get their status-screen, but just by their name I can not remember which planet I am looking at. I need to see the map first).

Sorry to bother you with these naive questions... I'll get better ;)
419 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
Andi5000,

Heres a quick reply:

1) How do ships regain hitpoints after being attacked?2) How do starbases regain hitpoints after being attacked?3) How much hitpoints does a planet have or how is the defense of a planet handled?4) How do I defend a starbase? Just by putting spaceships "on top of them" in "guard" mode?5) How can I tell which autopilot aim belongs to which spaceship? Can I only tell on the tiny map or is there a way to display their heding in the large map, too?6) If I want Colony Ships to travel really far what do I do if I get the "vessel is out of range" message? Build a starbase?7) Sometimes ships (especiall when found or given to you) get stuck too far from home. What to I do against the "vessel out of range blablable hopefully no-one is afraid of the dark" message?8) Is there any good reason why I should step away from the Imperial government system?9) In my last game I had about 8 or 10 planets and some 4 or 5 starbases (just built them where there were ressources). Is this a reasonable proportion? Should I build more starbases? Or rather less but upgrade them like crazy?10) Is there a keyboard shortcut to flip from one planet to the next - on the main map! - to check on all of them? (I know there is the "planets-tab" in the bottom button bar, but this will list the planets on the righthand side. There I can click on then planets and get their status-screen, but just by their name I can not remember which planet I am looking at. I need to see the map first).
End of quote


1+2: Starbases are considered ships so the answer is the same. Time repairs ships. Ships repair faster in orbit. Repair starting picks or technologies will also improve this rate.
3. Planets are 'defended' by ships in orbit. Once all the ships in orbit have been destroyed, a planet is defended by it's population (which must all be killed to capture a planet). Only transports can invade planets...
4. Starbases are pretty tough. You can defend them with ships, but my sending additional constructors to a Starbase you can augment it's defensive capabilities, along with it's mining, econonmic, military, and cultural abilities. Growing starbases is critical to beat higher difficulty levels.
5. One of the buttons on the galactic map will display ship routes.
6. Starbases will extend your range. Colonizing other planets also extends range. Except on the biggest maps, range problems will tend solve themselves as you colonize systems and obtain propulsion techs that extend your range.
7. Autopilot the ship back within range (it may take a while).
8. Yes, every form of government is 20% better than the previous version. There is no discernable penalty for switching. Leaving government at Imperial puts you at a disadvantage.
9. I generally only build starbases on resources. The exception being when I have 3 plus good planets in a sector.
10. Don't know.

Hope this helps,
Cypher
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Nice reply Cypher. What a nice forum. :)

Just to add a little . . .

9) Try to capture as many resources as possible by building starbases on them but do this later in the game when you can afford the 10 bc per turn starbase maintenace fee. When the AI wars against each other and destroys resource starbases, it often helps to have a nearby constructor swoop in and claim that resource for your own. Some of us think some resources are more valuable than others and it depends on play style. I play a pacifist, culture flipping game so I prefer influence resources, then economic, then military (mostly to keep them away from the AI), then morale, and hardly find a use for tech resources because I usually don't have the income (I play maso) to pay for the extra tech boost.

After resource mining, starbases are very handy for cultural influence (party palace starbases), and somewhat handy for boosting military and social output in a a multi-planet sector (again depends on strategy of play - if you are only building constructors they are less important than if you are building expensive warships). I used to build trade starbases but haven't found them all that helpful on really big maps where the mini-freighter may transverse a dozen sectors or on maso levels where trading to prevent war becomes even more important than trading for money. On smaller maps you can set up trade routes that tranverse only a couple of sectors and trade starbases help. Also if you play with a big military you might not HAVE to trade with all five major AI but if you play with no military, it is wise to trade with everyone so they like you. You can also make terror star starbases which are handly for destroying star systems too tough to capture. Those are the main reasons I make starbases.

10) I don't know that one either. In the right hand column, I find listing starbases by social or military production very handy and occasionally you need to check the morale situation. You can view from most to least or least to most by clicking on the information bar above the planet listing. In the main map, use the mouse wheel to zoom the mini-map, then click on the mini-map to get the planet I want to see on the main map. That's how I do it but there may be a more efficient method.

Please keep asking questions and good luck. :)
Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
You definately want to move up to higher forms of Government as quickly as possible.
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
#10-- No keyboard shortcut, but if you are viewing one of the planets, there should be a couple of little arrows right above "set rally point". Click on those to cycle through your planets.

You can, I believe, double-click on a planet in the right-side "planets" view, then click Done on the main view, and you will be centered in the main map on that planet.

Hope that helps--
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
The other thing that I do to address the fact that the answer to number 10 is basically "No" is to name my systems according to their coordinates. Systems in sector 4,2 would be named 42A, 42B, etc. (Or in a Large or Huge map, 0402A, 0402B, etc.) It gives you at least a general idea of where the system is that is being examined.
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
10. If your wanting to view your planets by system, this is easy. when you bring up the planet list, you see all theplanets in whatever order the sort is set to. When I want to do a system by system search, I like to start with Sol (easy to remember the starting point. Click on Earth to bring up the planet screen. Then click on the world icon between the arrows at the bottom-center of the planet screen, and the right side list switches to the system list instead ofthe planet list. Check out each planet in that system, click the arrow, and Viola', you are at the next system.

Have not found a way to do this with the galaxy map up, but the system list itself don't hold a lot of info. just as easy to look at system info when the planet detail screen is up (if checking for income vs expences vs morale, ect.)