CaptainPatch

Reply to Lopsided techtree/superability combinations in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

I've played several games as a Research-intensive custom race, 7 majors and 8 minors. The 7 majors are: Arcean, Drath, Iconian, Korx, Krynn, Terran, and Torian. In _every_ game, by the time we were all rubbing elbows, nobody wanted to mess with me because I was sooooooo far ahead of them in tech. (Despite the fact that my military value was zero.) Plus favorable Diplomacy relationships because I was waaaaaayyyyy ahead in Diplomacy/Influence tech. However, the Krynn consistently over

Reply to Morale in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]It may or may not be that easy. Having 20 Billion people, but with room for 30 Billion more may not be as ideal as you think. The average Joe saying "They are building MORE High Rises? It's bad enough that I have to wait ever loven hours at the till now." Whereas a population of 8 Billion might be enforced due to architectureal or geological boundaries that leave a relative paradise for the inhabitants.Just because you CAN do a thing, it doesn't always follow that you SHOULD do a thin

Reply to Ascension in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

I doubt it. Zoom in on crystal; person bathing in like. That sort of thing? I asked about your stance because of "I would have liked a bit of smug power wielding with the races bowing down before me and submitting to my wonderful power." It struck me that that wasn't a Good -- or even a Neutral sentiment. ;) :)

Reply to Morale in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

Thanks for the explanation. Hmm. I can see population pushing Morale down. But I would think that that would be mitigated by the overall environment. That is, yeah, the planet has a huge number of people on it, but if the planet is a PQ 30 (practically a Garden of Eden), with lots of space to spread out over, it wouldn't be like living in a sardine can. Furthermore, I would think that if you hit your population ceiling where people aren't allowed to have as many children as they lik

Reply to Ascension Victory behavior in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

Or, conversely, the first one to Ascend, being competitive on the racial level, ("I'll do whatever it takes to make the Universe safe for _my_ race."), uses their awesome to powers to exterminate all of the other races that remain behind, just to be sure that they are not followed to the next plane of existence, thus making even that place more crowded.

Morale in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

One thing throughout the GC series I have never been able to sort out is Morale. Using my current game as an example: Through research, events, Super Projects, Morale Resource mining, and anomalies, my race's Morale stat is about 150%. Most of my planets are at 100% Morale, but the older ones -- especially the homeworld, just can't seem to get their Morale into comfortable numbers. Like, even if I drop taxes to 0%, I still have a half-dozen colonies with Morale below 40

Reply to Ascension in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

Just out of curiosity, when you Ascended, what was your Ethical stance? Evil, by any chance?

Reply to Ascension Victory behavior in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]"...try and get the crystals after we are gone".[/quote] Oooo! Interesting line of questions: Are the Ascension crystals reusable? Considering how long ago the Arnor went bye-bye, leaving the Ascension crystals behind, is there a possibility that a whole bunch of previous races came and went, Ascending one after another, so long ago that no one remembers who they were? What if the _Arnor_ were johnnies-come-lately, having inherited the galaxy from **th

Reply to Ascension Victory behavior in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Watch StarGate SG1 sometime. The Priors are a race of Ascended beings who hang around the galaxy and "Force" the rest of the inhabitants to worship them. Even the Ancients were around sticking their noses in, and just forget about trying to take over a planet that they lived on. As for [/quote] [Just as a note, the Ascended race is the Ori (the beginning of the word "origin" perhaps?) and the Priors are their human henchmen. I find it interesting that it seems like the Ori, i

Reply to Biosphere - planetquality 72 for everyone? in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]As far as TERRAforming is concerned, we humans are so parochial. We see everything from the "Human" perspective. In Astronomy, Stars are called "SUNS" and distances are based on AU's (the distance from the Earth to the Sun), etc... I find it funny. So why should video games be any different?[/quote] Well, I note that it wasn't until ToA that each race got its own tech tree, mainly to highlight their individuality. Perhaps, many lightyears down the road, we'll see a GC versio

Reply to Biosphere - planetquality 72 for everyone? in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Shouldn't we be able to use it to terraform a hostile planet?[/quote] [quote]Take that a step further: Why couldn't you use that to colonize an uninhabitable planet?[/quote] 1.) First, let's recognize that though similar, the Genesis thingy and the Biosphere are NOT the same thing. I'm assuming from the Biosphere mechanics that the Biosphere uses a localized effect. Something like affecting an area the size of Greenland. [Why the three new clear tiles are scattered al

Reply to Biosphere - planetquality 72 for everyone? in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

I've got mixed feelings on this. Remember Star Trek III? (I think that was the number; the one before "Search For Spock".) The Genesis Project: Turn any world into a Paradise planet. Now, in the movie, they made the system flawed so that it eventually collapsed in on itself. But imagine if it had NOT been flawed. That would equal PQ 72 in GalCiv. The real challenge would be to keep it _out_ of the hands of your opponents (as in the movie). Having it available is not as us

Reply to help -- ship speed bug? in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

Any race that has a Super Isolationist Super Ability slows down the ships of other races anywhere in their territory to 3 movement points. If you happen to have a planet inside that race's territory, and then launch a fast ship, it will seem like a bug until you get outside of that race's border. As mentioned, the Yor have a Super Isolationist SA.

Reply to Biosphere - planetquality 72 for everyone? in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

Oh, I have just _got_ to try this! Thanks for the heads up!

Reply to Ascension Victory behavior in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

I really, really, really dislike the way the Ascension Victory is handled. For one thing, what is the big deal about Ascending? _Why_ do all of the other races hate you for Ascending, and are willing to go to war just to stop you? Stop and think about it: You have a substantial empire encompassing quite a few heavily developed worlds. Your race Ascends and ALL of your people turn into some kind of energy beings, able to roam the galaxy at will. The galaxy that remains behind no lo

Reply to TA - A Dummies Guide in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

1. For those not paying attention, the Colony ship that you start with has only 100 colonists on board. The max capacity is 250. Starting your first colony with only 100 colonists makes for a much slower development than with 250. Therefore, it is a good idea to land the Colony ship and increase the cargo to 250 colonists before heading out to populate the galaxy. 2. That first Colony ship has a substantially greater range than anything that you will be able to build for awhile. Ins

Reply to Does the computer cheat? in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

Well, I've got two points on that score: 1) What is your definition of "it's going to take some time"? I'm currently playing my third game of ToA, all of them with Immense galaxies, 7 major opponents and 8 minor races. In all three games, I encountered another major race within 20 turns, with the nearest opponent's colony being with 20 movement points. (Conversely, when I get to the other side of the galaxy many, many turns later, I discover that the area is still largely unsettled.

Reply to " upgrading " ships in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

I'm put off by the two kinds of "upgrade" available. One is at the shipyard, where you can upgrade the _design_. The other is when a ship is out in space. doing it's thing. You can upgrade the _ship_ simply by hitting the Upgrade button on the ship screen, then choosing FROM ABSOLUTELY EVERY DESIGN ON FILE, and then decide how fast/how much you want to invest in the conversion. Doesn't that last type seem ludicrous? It's, like, you could convert an aircraft carrier into a submarine

Reply to Does the computer cheat? in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

I sometimes wonder.... So, I play a game in an Immense galaxy as a Super Adapter. That means I can immediately colonize planets with Toxic and Aquatic environments. From my starting planet, it seems that practically every planet within 50 movement points is either a 0, Barren, Radioactive, Heavy, etc. Everything _but_ Toxic or Aquatic. So, the next game I play in an Immense galaxy as a Super Isolationist. That means I can immediately settle Barren planets. But from my star

Reply to Yeah Mega Events in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

Does anybody know exactly how many different mega-events there are that may appear in ToA?

Reply to What does my population want? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]What you will want to avoid is the planet going into negative population growth because there isnt any room for anybody to bend over to pick up the newborns that are then trampled.[/quote] I am reminded of Larry Niven's books, "The Mote In God's Eye" and "The Gripping Hand." IF a society can NOT damp down its citizens' drive to procreate in ever increasing numbers, the day will abruptly come when the stocks of necessary resources are insufficient to meet the demand adequ

Reply to What does my population want? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Hmm. Sociological perspective. Any sane population will learn to regulate their numbers. With high infant mortality, families would as a matter of course have 4+ children. As infant mortality drops, so does average family size. However, there are always some people that think they were placed on the planet expressly to "go forth and multiply." IF the society has a mechanism to deal with such people, the continuing rise in population CAN be nullified. (In fact, there would be a distinct da

Reply to Is a Galciv 3 planed? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Well, I note a patterN: GC -- the basic game, with vague references to the Precursor history. Running through the expansions explored the mystery of why the Terrans and Altarans look alike, which suggested a deeper Precursor design. GC2DL -- the game framework solidified and expanded. Much in-depth history concerning "where did the Precursors go?" The answer to which ultimately is, "The Dread Lords are still here. But to balance them there is just _one_ Arnor." GC3

Reply to Mines in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

The reason that most of us don't notice/pay attention _is_ because it is such a hassle to find them. Really, aren't you the least bit concerned that one of your colonies just lost 5 points of production? But since Mine #123 can be **anywhere** on the map, no one wants to spend 10-15 minutes trying to find it. Which highlights that in this regard, this game mechanic is NOT user-friendly.

Reply to Mines in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

It would help immensely if, when you are notified that a Mine has flipped to another race, the screen shifted to that location. At least that way you would know where on the map your Influence is weak/strong so that you, for instance, might build an Influence starbase nearby in order to encourage the Mine to come back to the fold. As it stands, locating a runaway Mine in an Immense galaxy is a heckuva game of hide-and-go-seek.