Starstriker1

Reply to What should someone who hasn't played the game before start off with? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Well, the expansions do add a lot of complexity. However, you might as well just jump into the deep end, since a lot of things are streamlined in TA for new players (like, for instance, automated ship designing) I'd suggest sandbox as well. Make sure to set the AI to truly brain dead difficulties for your first game, just so you can get a hang of the economy and such. The biggest changes introduced in the expansions are the hostile environments, spying, and multiple tech trees... so I'd

Reply to Disabling Spore Ships? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

The Korath are the only civ with the spore ships. It is, in fact, their super ability: the ability to take planets relatively painlessly. I can understand why it's frustrating, but have you tried countering it? Spore ships are usually easy to take out if you have interceptors and/or sensor filled ships to catch them, and they can't do anything at all if your planets have a ship in orbit. Just put a ship in orbit of every planet you own, and they cannot invade or spore you without first

Reply to Please slam my game in GalCiv Journals GalCiv2 Forums

I'd like to see the luck ability removed from combat considerations. As it stands, 25% luck is like a 12.5% weapon bonus that also gives you special events and lucky finds. Luck should be a random, roll of the dice ability instead of a reliable boost to your ships fighting ability... let alone a boost that is a more efficient use of your ability points than putting the same points into weapons!

Reply to Arcean speed penalty in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

I find that the Arceans are best suited to turtling. Buildings that increase your soldiering abilities, space cannons (which also improve morale), and weather control all do wonders in that regard. One thing you might want to try bartering for are Ion Engines and Impulse Drive. Ion engines are small and cheap, which is a big advantage in ship building, and the impulse drives (which you can't normally research) negate your disadvantage. There's no getting around it, though, the

Reply to Perfection Is Overrated in Blogging Stardock Forums

Then I suspect that my definition of art (be it martial, visual, or audio) is a personal one... I always approach it with an eye towards constant improvement. And I'll disagree on another point: I don't think that we should accept imperfection. I don't think that paralysis or frustration as you describe is helpful either, but flaws should be taken note of with the intent of doing better next time. It's the only way to improve! :D

Reply to Perfection Is Overrated in Blogging Stardock Forums

I'm totally guilty of this as well. Taken to its logical extreme, I find the same mindset also stops me from trying new things, as I'm generally terrified of screwing up. Still, I find that perfectionism is actually a helpful trait for many of the things I enjoy. Programming without putting a lot of thought into your work beforehand tends to result in all sorts of pain down the road, for instance. And for me, my definition of "art" is something where you are in pursuit of perfection...

Reply to You can spend money to ASSAULT a planet, why not spend money in DEFENSE? in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

Well, the attacker is SUPPOSED to have a huge advantage, but I agree, it'd be nice to have the option! Since we're on the subject of wishlists, heres some defensive tactics I'd like to see: Scorched earth policy - Gives a large bonus to your defenders, but the planet will have reduced quality and loss of improvements (regardless of who wins) Guerrilla warfare - If the opponent succeeds in the invasion, all improvements are destroyed. If possible, you might even want to add a pro

Reply to When our Country changes, is it not for the Good of its People? in Blogging Stardock Forums

Well, let's not knock conservatism too hard here. I'm going to use the analogy of a boat here... liberalism (in the sense of being pro-change) is the engine, conservativism (resistance to change) is the anchor, and the driver is the "will of the people". This article basically asks why you would want that anchor slowing down your perfectly good boat. Well, I'm just going to go out on a limb here and establish the fact that pretty much everyone already knows: the "will of the peo

Reply to Why is usable tile placement...so stupid? in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

Another possible justification: the tiles listed are areas where the GOVERNMENT is allowed to place their mammoth industrial complexes and research cities. The rest of it is being used by private landowners, cities, or any other number of justifications... the only thing the government cares about is which areas are practical to put their shipyards, top secret research labs, etc. Furthermore, you could just regard the whole "tiles" thing as an abstraction... the actual buildings aren't built on

Reply to Dark Avatar, Twilight of the Arnor, or both? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

...especially since you've expressed an interest in modding. TA, aside from having unique techs per race and all sorts of other fun goodies, also comes with editors for maps, scenarios, tech trees, components, and a few others... a total of 6, I believe. ...plus, who can argue with the requisite massive AI updates? :D

Reply to Is tax revenue the only thing population affects? in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

Your population also has a strong influence on planetary influence. Moreso, in fact, than it does for economics. The tax benefits tail off as population rises, but influence doesn't (so far as I know).

Reply to What is "The Scientific Method?" in Ethics JoeUser Forums

I'd emphasis something that Artysim brought up. Having it reviewed independently is important, but the public availability of the results, method, data, assumptions and inferences has to be guaranteed for it to really be science. Stuff that comes out of think tanks (aside from not always being peer reviewed) tends to also only publish a portion of the research, and that compromises the validity of the results.

Reply to Iconians +100 espionage in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

No, it does not. That's how you'd EXPECT it to work, but what it actually does is increase the maximum amount of your monthly income you're allowed to reallocate to buying spies. So instead of being able to spend 25% of your income on agents, you can put 50% in! Nice if you have the money to spare, I suppose, but it's overall a blatantly useless ability. Me? I'd make it so that it decreases the amount of cash required per agent, which would actually be useful. That said, espion

Reply to Does ToA require a lot more system resources? in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

DethAdder, theres a huge difference between a 3000ghz computer with a graphics card and a 1500ghz one with an embedded card. :P ToA does have a much lower MEMORY footprint, which is how the new immense galaxy size came around. As for CPU usage... I don't know. The graphics had a large overhaul, which might contribute to it somewhat... they don't use as much memory, but the ships DO look much more detailed. How many AIs are there in your game? The AIs have had a ridiculous amoun

Reply to Please slam my game in GalCiv Journals GalCiv2 Forums

1)Changing the mousewheel zoom to something like what sins or supreme commander has, so that it zooms in on the mouse cursor instead of the center of the screen 2)When setting the exit point on worlds, make it so that pressing the button doesn't try to set it to the tile you're currently pointing at, but to the last VALID tile you pointed at! It's very aggravating to try and set the exit points from a high zoom because you're seeing the highlighted tile where you're thinking you're setting i

Reply to Research changes in ToA? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Technologies have always become more expensive the higher you go. This is especially true of industry and research technologies. Fortunately, with the research techs, you have the option of researching the new buildings, building them, and then using that new researching capacity to finished the more expensive follow up tech. As for research strategies? Varies by race now that everyone has unique tech trees. Experiment, mess around, and see what works.

Reply to I've seen the light! in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

If you want all the tech unlocked from the start of a game, use the "battle of the gods" scenario when starting a game. It might not be on the front menu, but it's the next best thing!

Reply to Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor Info Guide in GalCiv Journals GalCiv2 Forums

Awesome, thanks for putting that out for us to read, Draginol!

Reply to Is stardock going to make changes to espionage after twilight? in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

A 2.0 update? Man, you guys really don't mess around when it comes to post release support!

Reply to oooooooo Dread Lords so scary in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Besides, to have a terror star you basically need to be near their level technologically, at which point the more productive option is just to crush them and bombard them with transports to take their juicy, high quality world.

Reply to Excerpts from the Reviewer's Guide for Twilight in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Brad, you better publish this review guide sometime. You can't just tease us about stuff like this and get away with it! :D

Reply to Joystiq Interview with Brad Wardell & Chris Taylor in GalCiv II News GalCiv2 Forums

I'm going to have to assume he's talking about more than just Object Desktop or something like that, or he wouldn't be so dead set on being tight lipped about it. Or maybe it's a bluff. Wheels within wheels...

Reply to Gamma Testing: Gameplay Example for Twilight in GalCiv Journals GalCiv2 Forums

Eeeeeexcellent. Looking forward to playing the final AIs when the final release rolls around. Out of curiosity, how much post release support is planned for TA? I understand you're busy with god knows how many projects at once, but I have to wonder if the AI is going to get even BETTER sometime post release... ;)

Reply to The existence of for-pay stuff doesn't hurt you in Personal Computing GalCiv2 Forums

Draginol, I agree with almost everything you said. However, I think you're delving into an entirely different issue with your TF2 example. In that case, the players who don't buy the new class WOULD be hurt by the existence of it, as it would be fundamentally altering the game balance. As a competitive multiplayer game, it's tough to say that giving people who pay more a new class (with unique abilities that give new strategies) does not harm the people who do not buy access to it. You're essent

Reply to Gamma Testing: Gameplay Example for Twilight in GalCiv Journals GalCiv2 Forums

Hey, Frogboy, are you going to update this? I really want to see how it panned out! :D