MarshallONeil

Reply to Population makes no sense in this game in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I like to think of the population size as the number of taxpayers who pay enough taxes to make a difference in a galactic economy. Right now, in 2001, I think Earth would be hard-pressed to find even a hundred million such taxpayers, and almost all of those would be corporations, not individuals. So by 2225, 5 bil doesn't seem too unrealistic. There are still going to be all kinds of service economy jobs by then, because it would be ridiculously expensive to replace a minimum-wage earne

Reply to WTF is a space truck? in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I saw that, too, and was hoping that the 'space truck' would be like a freighter that would shuttle resources from the asteroids to your planets; and that asteroid bases themselves would still be built by constructors. If they're really another type of constructor, needing that level of micromanagement... sigh. I barely have the patience to make good use of constructors as it is.

Reply to Reducing Luck in Ship Combat in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Sometimes, an outside chance is all that the AI factions have. As it is, I hardly ever take losses in a fight unless the AI has declared war on me before I was ready for it. If it weren't for luck, the human player could prepare and execute a complete war plan without ever worrying about anything unexpected.

Reply to Tile bonus in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Build your capitals and super projects on plain tiles. The bonus tiles only give their bonuses with "normal" buildings like research labs. Good luck with game 4!

Reply to The GalCiv II Metaverse Needs YOUR Award / Medal Ideas in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

so if I now post five loses (retires) I'll get that medal? Actually, retires don't count toward the WIA medal, only end-of-game losses; you have to go down the long, bitter road to total defeat five times to get that one.

Reply to The GalCiv II Metaverse Needs YOUR Award / Medal Ideas in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

I was thinking about this back in June, but I didn't want to necropost. Since the thread has been resuscitated, however... I would like to see medals awarded for victories in the different galaxy sizes. There are many paths to victory in GCII, but the only path to the top of the Metaverse charts is military conquest in a gigantic galaxy. Not everybody has the time to put in for this kind of massive slugfest; and not everybody has a computer capable of handling a gigantic galaxy

Reply to How On Earth Do You Keep 29 Billion People Happy in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Here's a different take on the matter of population, approval, taxes, and farms in the game. What I have found is that you can use those farm tiles on many planets and push their populations up above 24 billion without your civilization melting down. A high population and a high economic rating are the basis of a good Metaverse score, so I've recently been working through various methods of achieving them. It can be done if your game and playing style meet a few prerequisites:<br

Reply to AI Using Massive Attack, Little/No Defense On Ships in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I just uninstalled this game. Going back to Rome Total War Um, yeah... make sure you go back to their boards, too, and complain about the uber chariots and the truly awesome tactical AI that fights every battle like the consular army at Cannae - no matter who you're fighting; Greeks, Romans, Parthians, Gauls, etc.; it makes one stupid, th

Reply to MINITURIZATION HAS BEEN FIXED! in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Now that's what I call a small miracle! (Taps cigar, waggles bushy eyebrows.)

Reply to Galactic Guide Book usage in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

No. If it were available at Sensors II and could be built in about 15 turns on a crappy 3-Factory planet, I would build it; in galaxies >= Large.

Reply to Approval Advice Welcome in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

...it's never worth bosting your pop to 20b on a single planet, go easy on your pop, only build one farm and don't build it one a farm bonus tile and don't research up the farming tech tree. If you're going for a military conquest or technology victory, this is probably the best thing to do; one advanced farm and one VR center per planet are all

Reply to Food Bonus Planet Tiles in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

There's no point building a farm on a PQ 3, 4, or 5 planet. The population won't even grow to 5 billion, no matter what the approval, and it will never need a morale building. On planets with a PQ of 6 - 19, I build one farm (and NEVER, ever on a farm bonus tile) and upgrade it to Advanced (top-level) farms to get the 15 billion pop. I always take some ability points in morale, so building one morale building and upgrading it to VR Center is enough to keep these planets happy. <br

Reply to The AI will not be human - could game options help? in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

An engine limit would make the Huge and Gigntic galaxy sizes unplayable. On those sizes, it already takes multiple turns for ships with speeds over 40 to get into action. In the smallest galaxies, you will never have time to reach the point where a limit would have any effect. It would be better if the AI would just use more engines.

Reply to AI Factions Stagnating in Mid-Game in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Finkster; I set the AI intelligence with the adjuster, but I have long been in the habit of checking each one afterwards to make sure it is where it is supposed to be. Another way to check (and I did before my first post) is to start a new game and check the intelligence level that each faction is set to before adjusting any of the options on the screen. This will be the same setting that your last game used. I wonder if, since the developers solved the problem of AI factions building

Reply to AI Factions Stagnating in Mid-Game in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

@Kblore, I know what you mean: I have witnessed AI factions destroying improvements on worlds that are close to flipping. In the case of the Torians in this game, as well as the other factions' planets that I can see, there is just very little there and nothing being built. In my first turn of Torian Blitzkrieg, I took at least ten planets, some fairly deep in their territory, without building up near their border beforehand. They were all crap.

Reply to Ship Names in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I like to name my large- and huge-hulled ships for wildflowers and small woodland creatures. It's a leftover habit from my days playing Traveller. We'd have some great dialog when they moved into an enemy system. "Admiral, long-range sensors have detected two Human warships approaching." "Only two? Approaching our glorious battle fleet?" "Aye, sir. Their registries identify them as... Buttercup and Cottontail?" Splutters "Buttercup AND Cottontai

Reply to ----HELP ME PLEASE---- in Modding GalCiv2 Forums

please don't spell like thissssssssss Maybe he's a Thalan... I'm at work, otherwise I'd post the file, sorry.

AI Factions Stagnating in Mid-Game in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I got a new (i.e., modern) video card, and for the first time in months, I'm playing a game in a Gigantic galaxy. I'm seeing a few AI behaviors that I've seen others discussing on these boards, but I haven't been experiencing them on the smaller map sizes. I have been playing on smaller (Tiny through Large) galaxies since before v1.2 was released, and have only very rarely encountered the problems I have listed below on those sizes. FYI, I'm playing as Terrans, Crippling, Gigantic, ni

Reply to Logo's disappearing. :( in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

You're welcome. I had the same problem and it took me ages to figure it out; glad to save someone else the trouble.

Reply to Logo's disappearing. :( in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

Yes. The save game file has a hardcoded file path to the logo and portrait graphics. They're in My Documents, which will be a different path on both computers unless your user accounts are set up identically. One solution is to open up Windows Explorer on your laptop and navigate to C:\Documents and Settings. This contains a set of folders for each user account; create a new folder that has the same name as the account on your desktop computer. Inside of that folder, create a new fold

Funny Screenshots in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

I recently built a passenger liner to move people to a high-population planet. I decided to zoom in and look at it on the main map, and caught it just as a planet's moon slammed into its flank: ... http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/3137/onoesqa2pr8.jpg The colonists were scared; I guess they didn't understand clipping...

Reply to Case of the missing tiles in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

I'm in the middle of a game playing as Neutral now. I haven't started conquering the galaxy yet, but I've culture flipped several planets - all of which have this problem. In fact, many of them have fewer tiles than their stated class level. The last planet I flipped was Class 12, but only had nine tiles available. It's like the bonus is being inverted into a penalty. Instead of X tiles becoming available, X tiles are being subtracted from the number of available tiles.<

Reply to Winning the landgrab in Strategy GalCiv2 Forums

1) Instead of trying to find the planets, I make the planets come to me. No, seriously - when I start a new game, I set stars, planets, and habitable planets all to Abundant. With these settings, almost every single star will have habitable planets, and most of those will have at least one good habitable planet. I don't even bother with scouting. The flagship goes on a permanent survey mission until the anomalies are gone. Every time I crank out a colony ship, I just send it ei

Reply to Pet peaves in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

1) My #1 pet peeve is... people who misspell 'peeves'! (I'm sorry, sometimes I just can't help myself...) 2) The fact that I had to open IE to be able to use the smiley icons. (I'm not flaming the forums, let's not go there again - just a peeve.) 3) Thalans, Drath AND Terrans all grab a few systems, then stop colonizing, and seem to stop researching, too. I've started ca

Reply to How 2 get troups in a transporter (newbie) in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

You're welcome, and welcome to the forums!