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Reply to Thalan Super Ability in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

I am also awed by the Thalan's colony rush. In my Thalan game (medium map, 5 opponents) I had more colonies than all my opponents put together without really trying very hard. I obtained an unassailable lead in research even before I could build any labs! I have to say, though, the higher tech factories/labs aren't worth it in my opinion, because they cost so much more to build. If you need to boost econ. you're better off increasing your trade building tech than trying to reduce your m

Reply to Fleet Building in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

When it comes to building your military rating for diplomacy, any old ship will do. So far as I can tell it'll just add up all your weapons and defenses and compares the total with the AIs'. One thing to keep in mind is that being in orbit gives a bonus to attack and defense, which is included in the military rating. 5 ships orbiting one world are scarier (worth more to your mil rating) than those same 5 ships in a fleet, even though the fleet is much more dangerous in actual combat.

Reply to No economy for the Iconians??!?! in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

You know, the one time I played Yor my econ was fine. Sure, I had to max efficiency studies and get the government techs early, but I happen to prefer passive econ bonuses to buildings. Although I did get trade centers off someone somehow - I forget if I bought it or got it from conquest. It's worth going for imo - an extra 5% universal eco and a cheap spammable eco building to fill up your spare planet slots.

Reply to Beam weapons seems a lot stronger than the other options in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Beam weapons are good, but it is better to choose any different technology than the other races use. The reason: if most of the races use some weapon technology, they usually use the protection against this technology. However, if you have a weapon, that does not match their protection, you can beat much stronger foes: defender shield 16: gun 4 is as effective as laser 16 (4 = sqrt(16)).[/quote] In Dread Lords this was true but in ToA I've noticed that an AI species' weapon type

Reply to How do I stop the blight of industrial sector? in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

Since he posted to the ToA forum, I think it's safe for us to assume that's what he's playing. If this was the strategy forum, I one would need to specify.

Reply to Good Starter Tactics in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]So say I trade Ultra Spices to the Torian for 500 bc. Do they receive the empire-wide bonus to morale in perpetuiy or for a limited time? If it's limited, how long do they get it? If it's in perpetuity do I get 500 bc a turn or just the initial 500 from the trade? I'm assuming also that I still retain the bonus myself after the trade since I still have the item - is that true?[/quote] Think of a trade good as a technology that you get to patent - like a tech, if you sell it t

Ethics techs in TA in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

I'm poking through the new racial tech trees, but you can't look at ethics techs until you pick one of the three. So far I haven't found anything new, and so I've reverted to mostly neutral for learning centers and free terraforming, even though I know neutral usually doesn't get other unique techs. Does anyone have a list of the new ethics techs?

Reply to Would like to hear opening strategies for your race in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

If you're just starting out, I strongly recommend playing Torian. Their racial bonuses - +morale, pop growth, [I]super breeder[/I], are all exactly what you need to sustain yourself during and after the colony rush. Their racial techs only enhance this - they start with a set of very powerful 1 per planet improvements: a +10/-2mt factory, a +3mt/+10% food/+20% pop growth farm(!), and a +15% morale/influence temple. Every colony should buy the factory and build the farm and temple. Your morale te

Reply to Help understanding Tech Trees in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

It seems that every race gets a weakish super project right at the start. Humans get one that gives +1 speed (local shipyard only) 50% influence, and 5tp.

Tokens in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

Is it possible to purchase ToA with TotalGaming tokens? The version of SDC I'm using doesn't list a token price for it.

Reply to The exact release of Twilight of the Arnor in Modding GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]There's not a 'market release', per se. It's not going to be in stores, according to Frogboy and Kryo. You can either purchase it separately as a digital download/physical CD shipped to you, or you can get it in the 'Ultimate Edition', which is download only.[/quote] Hmm. I wonder why this is the case - I suspect the retailers made them [url=http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/04/exclusive-inter.html]an offer they had to refuse[/url]:[quote]We had a meeting with GameStop to talk a

Reply to Comparison to Sword of the Stars? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Last I heard, the 30th of this month, but afaik you can pre-order the bundle now and download the beta.

Reply to espionage stolen techs changed in TA? plus 1 more ? in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

Apparently, the passive chance to steal a check begins at medium. It does make intuitive sense that placing spies on research would lead to stealing tech, but to my knowledge that's not the case.

Reply to What is the second best way to deal with Dread Lord events in DA? in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

I'd like to second using spies to block their factories. Dread Lords NEVER neutralize spies, and their ships are very expensive (which is why their homeworld will have the best factory on every tile). By locking them down with spies, you can restrain their ship production to the point where you could conceivably overwhelm them with many weak craft and then take them out with an invasion. Dread Lords go after starbases very aggressively. Since bases tend to have lots of hit points, try a

Oops in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I managed to confuse myself into thinking that "Dread Lords" was the first xpac for GalCiv2, and that the gold edition didn't include Dark Avatar. So I went and bought the Gold Edition and DA on the same account. Is there anything I can do?