Wyndstar

Reply to Starbases in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

We have been complaining about how weak starbases are in combat (even fully upgraded) for a long time. I think at this point it is a lost cause. At the very least def and attack racial boosts apply to the starbases. The research time and constructor cost for a fully upgraded is not a worthwhile investment, in most cases. It is hard to make a hard and fast rule. Still, some starbase upgrades are worthwhile. It just means that they can never really become self supporting. They need

Reply to HUGE Off-type Defence Bug in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

An alternative is to have basically independent *effective* defences in each category. So a 100/0/0 ship is really 100/10/10, and if I hit it with 0/10/0 damage it changes to 100/0/10. There is a minor drawback here in that different damage types do not support each other, and penetrating his shields with your mass drivers doesn't help your lasers against his shields. My understand from the thread on the new combat system during the beta is that this is

Reply to Poll: victories in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

It can also depend if you are playing for a higher score. If you think you are going to become a metaverse junkie, then military victories are the only way to go (you don't even get a medal for winning with every different victory type) because they consistently give the highest score. If score is not a factor, I tend to leave all of them on and go for the one which will end the game the quickest. Once I have gotten to a point where I know I can win, it's just a matter of taking the t

Reply to HUGE Off-type Defence Bug in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

Yeah, and I've done some more testing, I'm pretty sure I know what is going on. The problem is that non matching defense is being reduced by sqrt(value-dam) rather than sqrt(value)-dam for non matching weapons. Just to use the two examples we have already posted on this: a 199 gun attack against a 345 beam defense... the guns will do about 100 damage per round, but the ship never loses defense, because it is still left with about sqrt(245) defense at the end... if it was bein

Reply to Optimum Freighter strategy? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I think trade revenue is by and large a major disappointment in this game. You rarely get a meaningful boost to your overall economy from trade. In DA, I typically get twice or more in revenue from econ treaties than I do in econ from trade. However, trade routes have a use in that they are diplomatic tool to help you control relations. I generally establish routes with races that start to have relations dip against me, whether they are close or far away. Higher populations (up to

Reply to HUGE Off-type Defence Bug in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

I like the current cost and size of defense, otherwise large fleet attack values were too dominant. For some reason there seems to be an issue with off type defense, so we have not gotten to see the new intended game balance. I don't want them to revert to the old system (which may well have also had this bug, it just didn't show up as much because the AI used def less) - just get the system to working how it is supposed to.

Reply to Why we love Stardock in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Thanks again.

Reply to DA 1.50X Race & ability picks in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

For an easy win, go for the tech advantage - Take Altarians, add another +20% research and take technologists, set tech research to very slow and turn tech trading off. Put your other 6 pts into +30% econ and +10% morale...and luck or creativity or something. Keeps you with money for that +65% research you start out with. Planetary improvements will take that up to a +75%... Nano research comes from sensors III and can be picked up in the first 6 months or so as well. St

Reply to HUGE Off-type Defence Bug in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

Thanks Entorpy Avatar for letting me take a look at your saved game. Yeah, this is definetly broken. And it is not because high attack values can be reached with weapons that all roll 0-1. His example the weapons being used are much higher on the tech tree. Maybe the off-type defense isn't degrading at all? If you play on full combat viewer you just get way too many 0s for damage done against a ship that should have squat armor against you. I like the defense module changes

Reply to Research order for DA in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

But you still get a taxable population... and you can always research the appropriate techs after you have your empire churning at a nice pace.

Reply to Research order for DA in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

They USED to be worth quite a bit in tech trading, they aren't anymore. Because galaxy creation is random, it is hard to say for sure, you will need to adjust depending on the number and quality of col. tech requiring worlds on your given map. However, I never research the colonization techs anymore. They take to long to be able to compete with the AI. If I start with one from a SA I will use it. Otherwise, if there are damaged worlds near me I just invest a few turns in p

Reply to Getting really confused with combat... help please in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Yeah, I don't know what is going on with non-matching. Sometimes ships (and starbases) that shouldn't are coming up invincible it seems.

Reply to Getting really confused with combat... help please in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

However, the above is NOT stormbringers problem, he was using Neutrino Bullets. I still would like to see the actual numbers on the fleets that he was fighting with/against.

Reply to Getting really confused with combat... help please in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Oh it's definitely not in our heads. In my test, a ship with 199 attack targets a ship that *should* only have 18 defense and can barely scratch it. It's like Rutherfords experiment: firing a 15-inch shell at a piece of tissue paper and having it come back and hit you. I meant no offense, I know we have talked about this elsewhere - and I do believe you. Yeah, I'd like to take a look at it. One question I have that doesn't require you emailing me your

Reply to Economic collapse during wartime - why? in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

You can win entire wars in one turn if you are well prepared enough. I know, lots of people think this is a cheap tactic, but I agree with NewForfeit. The key is to be at war for as short a time as possible. Also, I have said before and agree again, that all that matters in war is territory, not ships. Sadly, the AI always seems to look to see if its military rating is higher when it decides whether it wants peace, not noticing that it already lost half of its worlds to me...

Reply to Survey -- Military starbases -- Do you use them? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I will use them (on medium maps) to protect vital areas, especially if I am fighting the Korath... but that is because I don't defend my worlds. How I use them: Build 4 in a sector with key worlds. Upgrade each one only two to three times, the -2 enemy speed, +1 speed, and sometimes the second +1 speed. This gives a -8 speed to enemy ships moving towards your key worlds. This drastically stops enemy long range attacks, and enemy ships will move at you only one square per turn. At t

Reply to Getting really confused with combat... help please in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Yeah, I read through this, and there are probably a couple things going on here. First, in a one on one, defense ships win. In a fleet on fleet, attack ships win. Its all about getting to that magic number where you can overcome the defense on one ship. Or conversly, its all about having defense on one ship greater than a fleets attack. Evilstormbringer, you said you had a few smaller ships with guns as well. Those smaller ships may have been targeted first depending on the

Reply to Tech trade impossible? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

I agree at the very least that the AI values treaties and planets too poorly, which does hurt its self interest. A treaty is a free bonus for your whole empire, you should want those things. A few planets in your favor can turn the tide to give you a lead, if someone is SO desperate that they are offering a few planets... especially if habitable planets are rare, the AI should realize it should just take the trade and laugh all the way to the bank. Some things really are worth somethi

Feedback on the 1.5x patch in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Ok, I've messed around a lot this last weekend with the new patch, enough to give some feedback on the changes: - PQ population and tile invasion bugs were (thankfully) fixed. It now makes sense to capture and hold enemy worlds again. - Tech trading, wow. I only played on suicidal, and tech trading is next to useless now. This is probably a good thing - although the AI seems to trade with each other as often as it always did. Maybe they are just researching REALLY fast. Tu

Reply to Conquering Suicidal in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Well, you might want to ignore most of this post now. Since the 1.5X update, playing with the strategy I listed above doesn't work well anymore. I have lost several games already surprisingly fast. Don't know if they made changes responding to my feedback, or that of other players. In any case, most of these tactics are no longer really useful. Except for money - you still need that to compete. Good luck aspiring emperors!

Reply to For the AI's sake, why the heck doesn't this game have *automatic* fleeting in orbit? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

With the changes to how attack and logistics effect an outcome, defending with a single ship is now never a good idea. If you ARE going to be on the defensive (not a good idea, but a position the AI will certainly be in at some point) - you really want the bonuses logistics gives you. Making this change would make it feasible to defend low PQ worlds as well, that wouldn't otherwise have the space for an ofm - from the AIs point of view. The OFM could still be changed to add other bonu

Reply to Tech trade impossible? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Yeah, I've lost three suicidal games since the new patch, although I was less playing to win and more playing to test the new rules. The game has gotten a lot harder at that level. Tech trading at the highest level seems now to be more of a vehicle of desperation. If there is some tech you absolutely NEED, then maybe it is worth the price. Of course, in part, I think the update was designed to ruin some of the strategies I posted in response to Brad's question as to how people were b

Reply to Disappearing Tiles on invasion (DA) in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

Fixed in my latest game. Thank goodness this issue is gone, you can now increase your territory meaningfully again.

Reply to [DAv1.5x] Nerf Defense! (lol) in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Defense needed to be buffed for the AIs sake, and the way it uses defense. However, I have run one test in game and got some real weird results, that I don't even know how are possible. Here was the setup: I was Krynn, with a +100% defense boost and a +50% luck (I was universalists). I built up a starbase on my territory with the following stats: Attack 13/6/6, defense 10/10/10. Happily for me, the defense racial boost seems to apply to starbases, because I only had resea

Reply to Turn off diplomatic/influence victory? in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

If you want higher metaverse scores, it can be a good idea to turn influence victories off. This is because scores reward military victories, and you are likely to accidentally win by influence before you have wiped out the last few pockets of resistance to your cause. This can be avoided by constantly staying at war, but watch out... if for instance your dominating influence lasted for 7 of the 10 turns, then you went to war, then won and there is another civ out there, you will accidentally