Mascrinthus

Reply to The Galactic Diplomats in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

Last month I completed a detailed suicide medium map game which I would like to post but my AAR depends on spaces for formatting which web browsers ignore. I'm an experienced developer but I novice when it comes to HTML but I Google search gave me the answer. Just mark the text block with . 2228-07-08 Claimed an influence galactic resource near Toria freed when the Drengin destroyed the Torian's starbase. Invaded Akilians I (Class 15+

Reply to destroying your own buildings. in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

First click to select the tile you want to change, then double click on the planetary improvement on the right side you want to replace it with to queue up an upgrade. If you select decommission then the tile is immediately made empty. Galactic Achievements, Super Projects, and Trade Goods can't be destroyed!

Reply to AAR help in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

Stupid question: how do I run the game in window mode? Go to the Options Menu (you can select it from the launch menu or from within the game), then click on the Video tab, and finally make sure the FullScreen checkbox is unchecked.

Reply to Bug ? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Which version of the game are you playing? The combat system from DL to DA was changed but a bug was introduced which made non-optimal defenses work better than the optimal defense. This was resolved in DA 1.6, so make sure you have the latest build. Luck also plays a major role in combat. Say you have a ship with 200 attack and 0% luck. Then your attack varies from 0 to 200 for an average of 100. But if you have luck 25% then it varies from 50 to 200 for an average of 125!

Reply to What is your research order in your games? in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

Second, I'd like to note that the strategy assertion reminds me of another post I read recently but can't easily cite that said basically "If you play on the top AI+bonuses levels, you are playing a different game than the rest of us are." I've been playing at Tough (AI has no penalties or bonuses) since I finished familiarizing myself with GC2. Playing at harder levels can make a big difference but so to can switching map sizes, going from DL to DA, and/or c

Reply to Gamasutra Interviews Stardock's Brad Wardell in GalCiv II News GalCiv2 Forums

What is planned for "GalCiv II: Expanded Universe" other than graphic improvements? What is the target release date?

Reply to A Collection of Game Play Stories, Plus GalCiv II Stories in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

I added 2007/07/23 The Last Battlefield - Yet Another "Unconventional AAR", 2007/07/15 Oops! Shouldn't have declared war... , 2007/07/11 AAR for the DA campaign , 2007/07/05 Diary of a Terran Soldier - An Unconventional AAR , <a href="https://

Reply to Altarian Rebillion AAR in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

I haven't tried to all labs strategy because I prefer the flexibility of the all factories strategy. The medium map is the hardest map to win on suicide. On tiny maps you can rush the AI. On gigantic maps the colonization phase lasts much longer (the AIs don't get aggressive until this phase ends) and the AIs will cripple their economy by expanding too fast (quickly spending the starting game capital on buying colony ships and factories rather than building them). Also these map

Reply to Wanted - an AAR on Suicidal, Medium in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

I completed that medium map suicide/ultimate AI game and I have a very detailed AAR with lots of screen shots. However, when I post the formatted text, the forum strips off my whitespace making it harder to read (especially the planet invasions)! The medium map is the hardest map to win on suicide. On tiny maps you can rush the AI. On gigantic maps the colonization phase lasts much longer (the AIs don't get aggressive until this phase ends) and the AIs will cripple their economy

Reply to 10 years into the gane ..I can't win !!!! in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

I've been playing since Dec. 2005 (I was part of the beta), mostly on gigantic maps. Other than when I was first learning the game, my longest war was in my last DA 1.6 suicide medium map game. The Thalan Empire with only 7 planets declared war on me on 2229-01-08. That same turn I took 2 planets and 1 more on each of the next 2 turns. However, their last 3 planets had Orbital Fleet Managers, so I needed to defeat fleets with much higher firepower and HP, plus moderate defenses, thanks to the AI

Reply to 10 years into the gane ..I can't win !!!! in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

What difficulty and research rate does it take to have a game take that long? OK i can see a 10 or even 15 year game with many planets to invade on the larger sized maps. Military victories on gigantic maps with several hundred planets don't take more turns than a medium but each turn (sometimes over an hour if you need to do a lot of micromanagement on hundreds of planets!) takes much longer to play! The more planets/population you have the more troops trans

Reply to What is your research order in your games? in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

Always researching the cheapest tech is a bad strategy! If you play on level suicide where all AIs at set to ultimate you will lose with this strategy. At this level you need to always be working to one or more goals. Everytime you make a research choice you need to consider more than the cost of a tech but also how it will assist you in achieving your goals. One turn researching a cheap tech that does not help you is a wasted opportunity. Here are the research choices I made i

Reply to AAR help in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

Your welcome. I look forward to adding your AAR to my Collection of Game Play Stories which is in need of updating. I recently completed a suicide(all AIs set to Ultimate) medium map(size that the AI plays best) DA 1.6 game which I documented in great detail to assist players who have not yet mastered this difficult level. The biggest challenge playing the all factories strategy is keeping from going broke before your s

Reply to 10 years into the gane ..I can't win !!!! in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Like Purge I play an aggressive fast paced game. Once I start building troop transports for my first war, I never stop because once I have conquered an AI player I'm already mobilizing my forces for the next. Shortest Gigantic, Everything Abundant, 9 Incredible AI, Military Conquest?

Reply to Gamasutra Interviews Stardock's Brad Wardell in GalCiv II News GalCiv2 Forums

Even with Galactic Civilizations II, which had a wide retail presence and sold over 200,000 copies in stores, we still ended up making about a third of our revenue via TotalGaming.net, which is pretty spectacular given the vastly lowered cost of doing business digitally...[adoption rate for the game's expansion pack at this point is] around 25% of the GalCiv II installed base... How many copies of GalCiv II were sold online? DA is available at retail as part

Reply to IGN Publishes New Interview on Sins of a Solar Empire in GalCiv II News GalCiv2 Forums

To put the fighter's size in perspective, capital ships are up to 1000m long (100x that of the fighter), planets are up 10,000m and the distances between solar systems are up to 250,000,000m (25,000 planet diameters!) apart. Is this a typo? Shouldn't it be "planets are up to 10,000km in diameter and the distances between solar systems are up to 250,000,000km (25,000 planet diameters!) apart"? For comparision Earth's diameter is ~12,750km, average distance

Reply to Farm Spies in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

I tried placing an agent on the Tri-Quan superproject to cause the enemy's soldiering to drop 25 before invading but their soldiering remained unchanged! Only after I captured the planet with the Tri-Quan did there soldier drop. I think this is a bug because when I place the agent it suggests the enemy is taking a soldiering hit but remains unchanged during the invasion.

Reply to The Death of Morale Buildings in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Wyndstar: The only other consideration to spend (waste?) time on morale buildings late is because approval effects score. You can get a higher score (in my testing) by taking the income hit and trading a lot of things to make less money. Economy can get you a lot of points, but it feels like at some point the value must be getting square rooted in final score. One of the things that seems to get you a fair amount of points is high approval throughout your game. <b

Reply to invaid key in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

I purchased DA some time ago and got invalid serials as well. Stardock sent me an obtuse support email which was no use at all. anyway i just moved on to other games. Then why are you still posting on the GalCivII formus?

Reply to AAR help in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

First startup some program that can save .JPG files like MS Paint. Next run the game (DL or DA) in window mode not full screen mode. Press [Print Scrn] to save the current screen to the Windows clipboard or Alt-[Print Scrn] to write just the active window. Then Alt-Tab to the image program, type Ctrl-V to paste the clipboard, and save the file as a .JPG file. Upload the .JPG files to an image hosting site like www.imagehosting.com or <a h

Reply to Are constructors of that much value? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

YES! Claiming and building up galactic resources can mean the difference between victory and defeat; this is only possible with constructors. I don't build any of the core ship designs but instead build my own. I'll create a fast constructor with good range to claim a distant galactic resource. I'll use a cheap constructor, just a constructor module slapped on a hull (the cheapest possible, cargo, small, or tiny depending on my minaturization level) for building up a nearby economic starbase or

Reply to Terrific ! in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

What you describe is not uncommon when playing on suicide against ultimate AIs which have huge bonuses including miniaturization or if the ships are receiving boosts from military galactic resources. Do you have the AIs set to random? If so check and see what the Terran Alliance is set to. Check if they have military(red) galactic resources which each would boost its ships attack and defense 40%. Also military starbases (not to be confused with military galactic resources) boost ships within the

Reply to How can it be? Certainly AI doesn't cheat :-) in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

I think the point he is making is trying to make is why can't he build ships like that of the AI. What you describe is not uncommon when playing on suicide against ultimate AIs which have huge bonuses including miniaturization or if the ships are receiving boosts from military galactic resources. Since you have the AIs set to random, check and see what the Thalans are set to. Rather than taking on the AIs superior ships, attack its economy. Take out its starbases which are poorly defend

Reply to Tips for Maximizing Your Game Score in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

I don't bother with the early expensive evil weapons. This is one of the advantages of very fast tech. With research focus, I can push up the weapons tech tree pretty fast while I'm building out all those manufacturing centers, making the early evil weapons obsolete very quickly (and one less thing to research). In my medium map games with very fast research I would go with the evil beam weapons for most of the game (picking up normal advanced weapons from th

Reply to Tips for Maximizing Your Game Score in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

Pick super-breeders. Flip from 100% to 50% approval as cash allows from day 1. Are you saying you don't keep morale at 100% until you max out your population but instead have morale at 50% on the first turn? Does the super-breeder receive a population growth bonus when morale is Pick four or five opponents (seems to be optimal, keeps the AI weak enough and limits group research). Do you pick the weakest AI