CraigHB

Reply to noob confused, botf veteran in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

You're welcome. I tried to avoid confusing things with too much detail and I expained things at ground zero so apologies if that seemed patronizing. In any case, there's lots more that can be said just about starting a game alone. Post any more questions and I'm sure any of use will be more than willing to answer. BTW, I should mention that I don't build scouts per se, but I do put survey ships in auto-explore mode mid-game when they're faster and anomolies become scarce. If you t

Reply to noob confused, botf veteran in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

There are lots of "right" ways to play the game so you don't have to play a certain way, but here's one example of how I typically start a game. Hopefully this will be helpful. Galaxy setup is everything abundant except asteroids on common. Tech rate is very fast. Pick a race with good starting techs and good free bonuses. Yor, Thalan, Torian, Krynn, Korath come to mind. Put bonus points in economy, morale, and military production. Select Federalist party for econo

Reply to So, what am I doing wrong...Get smushed alot by the AI... in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Also, plan your research. Don't just research the next cheapest technology. You can almost always outresearch the AI if you proceed along a tech line until you get what you want. The AI tends to be more mish-mashed in its researching ability, but you can win with a determined and focused research effort. [/quote] That's a good point. The AI tends to look at the tech tree in one big line, covering the lower techs in each area before moving on. By focusing on a particular line, you ca

Reply to computer technology chat in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Did you sell your old card to recoup some of the cost? Even if that 20% in 3dmark carries over to gaming (I think 3dmark is pretty useless unless you like competing for 3dmark scores), 20% isn't nearly enough for me to justify a new card.[/quote] I realize that benchmark scores don't often reflect real world perfomance, but they provide a comparable reference. I don't have a problem with the expense because I can usually get a fair return by eBaying the old card. The difference was

Reply to So, what am I doing wrong...Get smushed alot by the AI... in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]I still prefer PQ6 and higher over the PQ 1-3 at the start, simply because in the short run, a pq6-9 will be a benefit to your game, while PQ1-3 will be a penalty. [/quote] Definitely. I only grab the 2's and 3's because the AI will grab them right away and I don't want too much outside influence in my own area. But, they do cost money until you can terraform up the PQ. [quote]Getting everyone at war with someone is an excellent way to defend yourself.[/quote] For sure.

Reply to computer technology chat in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

Well, my bad then. The GT card I bought does have have a 700 MHz core clock. Comparing list prices on the eVGA web site, the 700MHz GT goes for $300, the 700MHz GTS goes for $370. So the GT is a less expensive card and I don't think the performance difference is all that big. I'd like to avoid those bulky double wide cards anyway. Like I mentioned before, the new card gave me a 20% increase in benchmark performance over the old GTS which is huge AFAIC. I feel like it was an excellent inves

Reply to computer technology chat in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]actually, there's a G92 version.[/quote] Hehe, these GPU makers are coming out with new chips so fast, you have to watch 'em like a hawk to keep up with what's happening. But yea, I was thinking in terms of the older GTS. The new one looks a lot better. OTOH, when I first looked at the GT cards, most of them were on backorder. I imagine you'd have to wait a couple months to see the new GTS cards widely available. You pretty much just have to go for whatever is available at the ti

Reply to So, what am I doing wrong...Get smushed alot by the AI... in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]I don't know what happens if you actually do go broke, but I assume that it's bad.[/quote] It's a matter of degree really. I've run my economy pretty far into the ground and pulled it out. I've also run my economy into the ground and had to scrap the game. What happens is you have to set spending to zero. If you can hold out for a number of turns spending nothing, your populations grow and you can pull it out. If you dig yourself in too deep, you just keep going more and more int

Reply to computer technology chat in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]I don't know why so many people seem to be married to Newegg[/quote] Some of these vendors are pretty shady and I've been through a few of them. It's hard to find online vendors as reliable as Newegg. I don't mind that I'm not getting the best price possible. I'm willing to pay a little extra knowing that the item is properly represented and will ship promptly. If there's a problem, I can RMA it with little fuss. Too often I've tried to save a few dollars and ended up spending tw

Reply to The Galactic Diplomats in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

I think us score mongers tend to get stuck in that paradigm. The number of habitable planets you play with has a big impact on strategy and also, the best place to put your points. As mentioned above, a planet quality bonus is going to have a big impact in a small game and very little in a big game. It's just another one of those things that makes the game interesting.

Reply to MVL Round 6 in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]In battles, I haven't seen evidence that DA gives a 25% bonus to ships in orbit...I haven't been surprised by losing a battle to a weaker ship in orbit...and I don't see that in the DA manual. I plan to experiment a little with this in my next game. I plan to ask about this in the DA forum.[/quote] There's something odd I've noticed with this. You do get the extra 25% military rating with ships in orbit, however, they don't seem to fair 25% better in battle. In any case, it works in

Reply to The Galactic Diplomats in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]My usual spending is 30% economic 20% morale and 30% pop growth.[/quote] I was putting my points into those areas as well, but now instead of pop growth, I put them into military production. It seems to me that pop growth is more expensive with less noticable benefit. Also, races get bigger free bonuses in DA. For example, the Thalans get a free 33% social and military production bonus. The Yor get 20% free in those areas. It's quite noticable when playing them. Unlike DL, you c

Reply to The Galactic Diplomats in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]The Korx are probably not the best racial choice for this feat but since they're next on my list, I'll have to make do.[/quote] At one point, I thought I'd go for the racial medal, but some races feel handicapped compared to others and I just missed those extra bonuses too much. Hats off to those who can play any race *and* score well. For DA, the Super Hive ability is a real biggie for me. It shaves at least 6 months off the game and saves me a ton of clicking since I can let plan

Reply to computer technology chat in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]there are also some big technologies i think i can expect to see become common in my lifetime. [/quote] I think the most exciting thing to see will be the establishment of habitats on the Moon and Mars. Consumer electronics can be great to see, but I don't think anything holds a candle to space exploration. BTW, I'm very happy with that 8800GT video card I bought. I recommend it. I'm getting scores around 12k on 3DMark06. My big old monsterous 8800GTS only scored around 1

Reply to The Galactic Diplomats in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

Hehe, guess I get to keep the gold a little longer. Sorry to hear of your troubles Mumblefratz. I actually went through the same thing some time ago and it was discouraging. In any case, I think the last game I posted is going to be it for a while. I plan to pick it back up when TA is released in a couple months.

Reply to computer technology chat in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]i was 16 and it was 1998 when i got my first computer, so it's waaay before my time. [/quote] Yea, you youngsters didn't get to see what life was like without cellphones, PDA's, laptop computers, video games, and the internet. There were a lot less distractions when I was that age in 1976. Although, I remember spending some time at the arcade playing games like Asteroids and Pac-Man.

Reply to Humanity at its Worst in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

My wife and I joke about how people should be required to have a license to reproduce. Think about how many problems could be eliminated by only allowing people of a reasonable genetic and psychological standard to breed. On the other hand, if anything could start a bloody civil revolution, that would be it.

Reply to more space in Modding GalCiv2 Forums

You can modify the GC2Types.xml file to make hulls whatever size you wish. Make a copy of that file, edit it, then place it in, for example, C:\Program Files\Stardock\Total Gaming\GalCiv2\DarkAvatar\Mods\Default\Data Enable mods through the game setup and specify the Mods directory. Don't edit the stock file in place or you won't be able to play Metaverse games with your installation. If you do that, you'll get a warning when attempting a Metaverse game and if you post it,

Reply to computer technology chat in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

I still have a couple of those old Voodoo cards laying around. They're quite worthless now that everything has gone to newer versions of DirectX which those cards don't support.

Reply to Can we tone down the unique tech trading some? in Beta Reports GalCiv2 Forums

I don't think the "mod it yourself" argument mitigates the need to balance the stock game. There's the Metaverse issue of course, but also, people shouldn't have to mod the game right out of the box.

Reply to MVL Round 6 in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

I normally play with surrenders off. In both DA and DL, I've seen races surrender prematurely, in other words, they still have plenty of resources. It can be aggravating you're battling a race down to the wire then your enemy suddenly inherits a significant number of planets on the other side of the map.

Reply to Terraforming is not feasible in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]another possibility which is undermentioned is Venus. If a way to cool it down could be found (perhaps by building a massive orbital system of mirrors to reflect the sinlight away from the planet enough) it would have water, a fairly easily fixed atmosphere, and a size pretty comparable to earth.[/quote] Terraforming Venus would be much more difficult. You're starting with a planet that has 90 times the atmospheric pressure of Earth and rains sulphuric acid. The surface temperatur

Reply to Terraforming is not feasible in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Getting Mars to an earth-like state would be a massive task. Personally, I'd settle for just getting temperature and pressure to a tolerable level (melting the icecaps might achieve both). If people can walk around with just a breath mask and some heavy sunblock, that would certainly be a big help toward further development.[/quote] The Earth's characteristics protect us from *a lot* of solar radiation. Even with normal atmospheric pressure, I don't think you could ever just walk aro

Reply to Can we tone down the unique tech trading some? in Beta Reports GalCiv2 Forums

At the tip of this issue is the feasability involved in making changes. I'd be surprised if the devs are willing to completely rewrite the code that handles tech trading. I agree the best we can reasonably hope for is techs flagged as no trade/steal. We may see nothing done at all. I have a feeling that something seemingly simple as making unique techs more expensive would involve a lot of changes and/or extra coding the devs may not be willing to do for this expansion. Of course, the devs

Reply to happiness is... in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

My last game started with a precursor mine on my homeworld (700% manufacturing bonus). It's pretty rare to start with one of those and it was a big help. Of course, I've never had that plus two research bonus tiles. Should provide a big jump on the start. Have fun!