JanuHull

Reply to How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Jagged Knife in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

The only thing that irks me about the JK is the crash when you try to get planets from them. Once that's resolved, I'll have no problem with them. To me, these guys can't be any worse than the old school neutral empire that would rise up against evil nations in DL. So now the sides are even. My first run in with the JK resulted in me switching from Constructors to Transports, and instead of Influencing the Thalan Empire and Drath Legion into obivion, I just picked off the worlds the

Reply to Terran's Diplomatic Super-Ability in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

You can also trade more often as the so-called "silent treatment" effect does not last for as many turns as other races. That's the key one to me. Especially when you manage to work your way into a full on tech trader AND peacebroker. When someone asks you for help getting another race to lay off, you DON'T refuse. I think it also helps you when you're allied to two races that go to war with one another. Depending on your diplomacy rating, I t

Reply to AI could be more responsive to non-military "attacks" in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

The AI does respond to culture invasions, but its VERY mild. I tweaked the nose of the Yor pretty hard by swarming them with dozens of constructors every other turn basically prying open spacelanes through their empire with influence starbases, and really all I managed to do was take relations with them from Friendly to Cool. They weren't happy with me, but not irritated enough to attack, even as the fourth Influence starbase with the Cultural Domination modules maximized went up in the Iconia

Reply to The Good, the Ugly, the Bad of DA in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

This game's design has a LOT on the table. As it was, my first tough huge galaxy resulted in a five day long game (about 20 hours). Throwing in more detailed ground attacking would stretch that to 40-50 hours without breaking a sweat.

Reply to Super Dominator Corvettes crashed my game in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Even an average ship with midgame technology will mow through herds of them without serious problems. They're only 3 points of railgun attack. I did discover that the Drengin have a very good use for those things. They mow down starbases, miners, and freighters like nobodies business. The Drengin in my first complete DA game went to war with just about everybody, and after I manipulated a peace with them, I just walked a horde of constructors around the galaxy and took all the visib

Reply to Minor race peace negotiation crash in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Had that one too. Finally got sick of it and abandoned that game. I suppose you've just gotta kick their butts to get them to go away.

Reply to Hearts & Minds of Robots in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Trade

Reply to ctrl-N no longer works ? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

When I try to use ctrl-n to set up a new game, the whole computer locks up. Is this normal, or do I have a problem? I can get out of it using ctrl-alt=del, but it takes several attempts. The reset is working, for whatever reason it takes a bit of time to do it, so if you really don't like the initial set up and have to control-N a few times, its going to take a while...a LONG while.

Reply to How much RAM is need for a gigantic map in DA? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

The slowdown isn't graphical, its the AI logic. You turn it up high enough with large enough AI empires, and it'll take some numbercrunching power to get them from one turn to the next.

Reply to I hope this is a bug. in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Given the critical nature of the colony rush, I'm surprised how expensive those techs are. I never research them, myself. I always trade others for them. 25 weeks a piece at the time they're unlocked with 60% of my spending invested in Research is just too damned steep to bother with. In the time it takes me to bother with those, I've got the Cultural Domination line maxed out and I'm throwing out Influence starbases like they're going out of style.

Reply to The Good, the Ugly, the Bad of DA in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

The e-peen is strong with this one...and that one, too.

Reply to Zillions of (Pointless) Corvettes in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Can always customize them.

Reply to Zillions of (Pointless) Corvettes in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Yeah I remember that one. I also remember being on the receiving end once and damned near having my economy collapse trying to maintain them. I played more into my game last night, and the Drengin remained pretty fierce, even as I was steadily breaking their back. After wading through hundreds of disposable corvettes, I finally found the heart of their fleet, which was hordes of standard frigates packing HD Spikes and Black Hole launchers. Was a real wake up call after a hundred shre

Reply to Which Combat Camera View do you like best? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Oy, tell me about it. I let it go after a battle was over once so I could do some screenshots, and damned near got seasick...

Reply to Surveying - quickly useless? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

The other whammy that hit surveying is competition. You're not the only one after anomalies anymore.

Reply to So do you all like DA? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

The challenge level is way up and the old one note solutions to winning the game have been completely disrupted. Man are you right about that one! But hey, that's what makes this game so great, right? Amen. The colony race is cuckholded after you run out of easily colonizable worlds, and in my experience, I usually end up simultaneously using Influence, Alliance and Conquest. I get so tied up, that I h

Reply to Alliances in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

It usually happens for me when I get a race close, I go to ally with them, and they don't have it yet. Once they get it, the option comes up and all is well with the world.

Reply to The Good, the Ugly, the Bad of DA in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Them recruits gotta come from somewhere. What could be done is some kind of population percentage that can work as soldiers based on military spending. When you go to war, the number of troops that defend a planet is based on this number, and its ONLY that number that is depopulated when you go on the offensive. This would prevent the need for conquest via genocide, too.

Reply to Zillions of (Pointless) Corvettes in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

It does have an effect on the other AIs. They're terrified of the Drengin because of the perceived power of their fleet. In that sense, it makes the player the "hero" who's got to go toe to toe with them. The game I'm in now has the Iconians under the influence of the Precursor artifact that's slowly increasing their power, and the Drengin are beating the crap out of them because they're afraid to go on the advance. In a sense, it gives the Drengin pretty limitless initiative when picking f

Reply to Which Combat Camera View do you like best? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

From Ship. In a fleet, it bounces around nicely from ship to ship, showing the view from attacker to defender, focusing on both enemy and friendly ships. Better than cinematic, that will sometimes bounce to useless views.

Reply to Zillions of (Pointless) Corvettes in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

I can't complain. I had one cruiser ambushed by the Drengin Horde go from nothing to level 15 with minor damage. I can live with that.

Reply to So do you all like DA? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

DA is an infinitely more complicated beast than the original. The challenge level is way up and the old one note solutions to winning the game have been completely disrupted. Definitely a move in the right direction.

Reply to The Good, the Ugly, the Bad of DA in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

This isn't an expansion, in my eyes. Too much has been rebuilt, and the game itself is infinitely deeper. This is GalCiv 3. The old regime of strategies has been taken out back and shot, and a new and improved regime given power. The old colony rush in the opening game has been pretty much eliminated, I see the AI making a lot more use of scouts to map their expansion. Colonization is now something you need to keep an eye on as each new technology opens, and in the games I've played, I've s

Reply to The reasoning behind nerfing defense? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

I haven't been disappointed in defense so far. Just 8 points of Duranthium armor in a Tough game I'm playing allowed a single medium hull cruiser armed with two Nanorippers to fend of an onslaught of 15 five small ship fleets of Drengin ships. I kid you not, 15 FLEETS. The Drengin seem to have bought into a cheese strategy of high volume swarm attackers, and as a result, I now have a level 15 medium cruiser at my disposal. I run small and medium ships, primarily, averaging 4-8 points of de

Reply to Alliances in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Need to research the tech, and make sure they have it too.