MarshallONeil

Reply to Show off your most vile starships in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Gah! I think I would need to be in full space armor to watch someone else use that thing during a game... over a webcam!

Show off your most vile starships in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Stalker : This is the most hideous vessel I have created yet. It was the last thing millions of Torian colonists saw out of the domes of their doomed colony ships in my last sandbox game. It's a deep space scout (cargo hull loaded with engines and sensors) modified with a first-gen Particle Beam to hunt down the Torians, who had me completely cornered, and give me some breathing room. Taker : The

Reply to best custom race setup? in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

My favorite custom race ability/political setup so far is: Diplomacy: 2 points Economics: 4 points Morale: 2 points Population Growth: 2 points Political Party: Populists (+20 Diplomacy, +20 Morale) The high Diplo helps by improving intergalactic relations and by helping me practically steal the other races blind in trading. Imho, putting points toward Diplomacy is like putting two or three times as many points into Research, and that's ignoring th

Reply to Iconians in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I used to put a lot of racial ability points into Research, but I didn't think it was working very well - then I did some reading and realized that the Research bonuses from racial abilities and political parties only yield half of the stated value. I quickly gave up on that and put those points into Diplomacy, instead. By itself, high Diplomacy will improve other race's relationships with you. It also lets you buy or trade for their techs more

Reply to Warning system in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

The best I have been able to do is create a line of high-powered sensor vessels so that most of the edge of my civilization is covered. Each one usually has 12+ sensor range and decent speed (6+), so this is a mid-game endeavor for me. I try to keep a couple of extras around for when I flip a border planet, too. I put the ships on Guard or Sentry mode, which keeps them out of the movement rotation until an enemy vessel comes near them. Crude

Reply to There is still no difference between "Intense Farming" and "Advanced Farming" in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

Actually, I usually go Neutral - though I'm trying to be Good in my current game. Must... resist... evil trade... can't hold out... much longer... I'm still playing 1.0x, btw.

Reply to Tech Trading Idea in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

"Maybe this could be some sort of "barter-tech" that you can research." I like this idea. It would be even better if they worked the phrase "Who run Barter Town?" into the description. I would gladly sacrifice a few game-weeks of research to save time fiddling with those sliders and arrows every time. My own little gripe about tech trading is that it turns minor races into your personal ATMs. The other major races don't seem to trade much wi

Reply to There is still no difference between "Intense Farming" and "Advanced Farming" in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

I have a very good purpose for Advanced Farming just the way it is. On the turn before you finish researching it, go into Options and turn off automatic upgrades. You can turn these back on anytime after you've finished researching Advanced farming. Never, ever build Advanced Farming on any of your planets. Instead, on the turn after you've finished getting it, pimp it out to every single major and minor race in the galaxy, espec

Reply to AI's build choice on a captured planet... in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I think your AI may actually be smarter than mine - and I've been playing at Challenging/Tough for a while now. I mean, it actually used the manufacturing bonus and has a somewhat balanced mix of structures. I've NEVER seen an AI race make a good choice for Econ Capital, so this doesn't surprise me. In my last game, the Drengin snuck in and colonized my secondary (PQ 4) home system planet. O Noes! <img src="http://images.stardock.com/gc2/T_DL/smiles/

Reply to Surprise! We're Militant! in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I've been playing at either Challenging or Tough. I find that a combination of two things keeps the AI hordes away until at least the middle game, when my military/industrial complex can handle a serious war. 1: Speak Softly: Research the first few Diplomacy techs ASAP and tech trade at least intermittently with everyone. A high Diplomacy rating improves your relations with other factions. Watch the level of your relations with them. If the

Reply to Early Game, Research or Factories in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Sephlock - is that a Klingon word? Anyway, as for speed increasing after researching engine techs: Read the descriptions for Impulse I, Warp I, and... er, whatever the highest engine tech is called's level I. Each of them states that all ship speeds will be increased by 1 when the tech is researched. If you've ever noticed that suddenly your flagship is going faster, for instance, this is why.

Reply to Early Game, Research or Factories in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Lately, I've been experimenting in the opposite direction from most of the posts above. Turn 1: Turn off military spending; buy 1 factory and start building another; buy a Deep Space Scout (cargo hull crammed with engines and sensors); park the starting colony ship in homeworld orbit, unless the survey ship spots something juicy right away. Turn 2: Return spending to an even split between the three categories; get to three factori

Reply to There has got to be a better way.... in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I tend to do a combination of Darth and Butcherski's methods, sort of. First off, I always put at least a few ability points toward econ AND morale, especially if I choose a political party that has neither. Usually population growth, too. First turn, I purchase one cargo hull loaded with engines and sensors, and one factory on the home world, then park the starting colony ship in orbit (unless there's something juicy in sensor range). Then

Reply to First French review ? in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I was hoping for a French Revue - you know, scantily-clad dancers, raucous music... I like to colonize a PQ-5 planet at the edge of my empire (or of the map) and rename it Ile du Diable or Zinderneuf .

Reply to Before 1.1 Final.... in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

As for anomalies, I don't think they should respawn. Instead, make a certain percentage of them visible at the beginning. Then, each time you complete a new level of Sensor research, more of them become visible. Note that this would not be related to the Survey module - the Survey module just allows you to go into anomalies, not to see them. (Though AutoSurvey would have to be tweaked so that it only goes to anomalies your sensors can spot.)

Reply to Request for 1.1 in Economics GalCiv2 Forums

Zaren13 , to go with your AutoTax slider, I would like to see an AutoSpend slider. That way I could set the thing ONE TIME to keep my spending out of the negative or to keep a set amount going to the treasury, instead of going to this screen to micromanage it every single turn. I think that both Auto options should go dim when you adjust the original tax and spend sliders (to show that you have overridden the Auto settings) and light u

Reply to Econ, Tech, Manufacturing Capitals in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I'm fairly new to the game myself, so hopefully someone will either confirm this or set me straight. I think the best place for an econ capital is on the planet that has (or will have) the highest population in your empire. IIRC, it boosts (doubles?) the income of the planet that it's built on, and planetary income is based solely on population. It might actually be best, if you have a large, spare planet laying around, to build mostly farms

Reply to Tell your Custom Race story here. in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

There's actually a forum subtopic for AARs. Problem is, you have to use the teeny little dropdown on the main forum page and click 'Go' to get there. There are several well-thought-out subtopics in that list, but they're so hard to find that there's almost nothing in them. The straight url for AARs, btw, is: https://forums.galciv2.com/?ForumID=350&AID=0&p=1&s=2&d=1

Reply to Stardock: The Deli in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Looks like someone didn't get his nappy today. My two-year-old couldn't handle the amount of cheese found in that post, and she practically lives on the stuff. I know that GCII isn't perfect. Part of the reason I can enjoy it as much as I do now is the fact that I know more updates are planned, and that a few of the Stardock staff actually maintain a presence in the forums and engage in dialog with users. Maybe my experience with other game

Reply to How do I reset the racial abilities to their defaults? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Do the AI oppenents use the race settings from your custom files? I was wondering about that. If they do, it could be interesting to tweak them all before starting a new game. otoh, I'd like a way to toggle between settings.

Reply to Game Example: Cultural Domination in GalCiv Journals GalCiv2 Forums

/fricking double-posting forum app/

Reply to Game Example: Cultural Domination in GalCiv Journals GalCiv2 Forums

This really looks fantastic, I can't wait to try it out, bugs or no. (Bugs Mr. Rico! Zillions of ’Em!) One question first, though - if I install the beta, can I still play in the Metaverse? Haven't yet, though I want to give it a shot soon. btw, I liked where Draginol said, "...having that McDonalds hamburger while drinking a Code...". I think Java goes best with fast food (except maybe Taco Bell). VB is way too fizzy for me, and

Reply to People shouldnt forget... in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

My take on the first few posts in this thread is that the various AI races have very little individuality due to unrestricted tech trading. When somebody researches a new tech, everybody in the galaxy has it within a month. They all develop the same tech lines at the same time, and they all develop (for instance) beam weapons because the first faction to develop weapons decided on that type. I'm very much looking forward to seeing what happe

Reply to A question about constuction ships in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

This is sort of tangential, but I would like to be able to select a starbase and get a list of the components that I could potentially add. This would be most helpful for new players - more than once, I've elected to upgrade a starbase only to say to myself 'Oh, I guess it already has (mining, influence, etc.) maxed out. Guess I'll add sensors...' Even now that I have a feel for how far I can go with the various upgrades, having t

Reply to IM a republic and I dont have the voting power to go to war! Help in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

And then, when the rest of the galaxy accuses you of prosecuting the war all by yourself, you can say "You forgot the Paulos!"