LTjim

Reply to All-factories mechanics and ideological purity in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

I usually play All-Fac and keep the sliders at 1/99/0. All-Fac is so strong in DA that they nerfed it a bit in TA. I only play DA and generally at Suicidal. The first 10 - 20 turns get played differently, depending on the bonus tiles on the Homeworld and the surrounding environs. That is, if there are multiple very high PQ worlds nearby, I may build/buy an extra colony ship. Otherwise, I buy a research structure and put it on a research bonus tile and

Reply to the games economic system in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

4X type games usually involve a zero-sum principle in production and a rock-paper-scissors in combat. The deeper such games differentiate the players by racial traits, race-specific buildings, etc. The GalCiv2 way is just a different implementation of the above, that's all.

Reply to # of usefull planets in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I believe loose has the most in DA.

Reply to Faster Repair Rate in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Upgrading them to the identical model they already are is the only way I have been able to do it.

Reply to Spies - Do you need to leave them there? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

When a minor has that event and the race they stole from was powerful, I instantly change strategy to get the techs from that minor. The simplest way, I've found, is to threaten them into gifting them to you. That is, get an invasion fleet overhead, declare war, then offer peace for that price. One trick is to gift them a planet of yours deep in your space (after you clear it of all but one population, of course). Then, even if some other race invades the

Reply to Ships with no attack no defense in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Note that I did not praise the AI tactic, just that there is a basis for the script that directs it. In addition, forcing the expense of the addition of weapons onto invasion transports (that go away), has some value, as well. I would also note that (at least in DA) some AIs put weapons on transports, perhaps anticipating " 'neutered' " defenders.

Reply to Ships with no attack no defense in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

IIRC, a planet cannot be invaded if the player has a ship in orbit. Any ship, with or w/o armament.

Reply to Random events discussion thread in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

MisterAedan - Great game!

Reply to Against All Odds - A summary of my first immense, chaotic game in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Very nicely done!

Reply to (Beginner Qs) Holding control of mines, stealing tech, etc. in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

1a) I believe you can click on a planet or mined field and see the influence score. Thus, you can see how you are doing that way to flip an enemy or get rid of that symbol on your own. 1b) The symbol reflects the influence score. One way you are supposed to be able to use spies to help flip a planet is to place them on influence structures (such as stock markets) on that planet. Another way is to reduce that planet's population, which can be done if the planet is

Reply to AI playing strength when using a very powerful computer in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I have played the game for years on a core duo and also on a quad core, and always on the max CPU setting. I have detercted no difference between the two. In my opinion, the faster machine would simply let the "AI" complete whatever it was going to do more quickly, rather than get more things done.

Reply to Economy and Research treaties in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

The research and economic treaties give the receiving race an amount equal to 10% of the giving race's output in research points and BCs, respectively. Note, the race giving the treaty does NOT lose that 10%. The receiving race gets that amount w/o penalty to the giving race.

Reply to What is your best bonus on a Planet in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

Many times for me, the best bonus planets have been too small to take full advantage of the bonus. How big was that planet? And, did it have any synergistic bonus tiles? (e.g., a research bonus tile). IIRC, I once had a PQ18 planet with a 53% ship bonus that even had a 3x and a double manufacturing bonus tiles. That might have been my own personal best. Now, if yours was that size and had a 7x research tile!

Reply to Scout Ship AI in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I never build or acquire scouts. Better, I think, to build colony ships and/or constructors and let them be able to do something with what they discover. One thing to be alert for are minor race constructors, especially early in the game. The minor races send 1-speed constructors straight for the resource points as soon as they can be rush built. That is, they "know" where they all are. So, if you build a faster constructor/explorer and come across one

Reply to Missing out on all the late game fun in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

As Sole Soul suggested, increasing the difficulty level is likely the simplest solution. You might also disable the random AI selection and choose the AIs so as to avoid the pushovers who are bugged. I did not buy ToA because of the many reports of AI failures to expand or build, and I did not want to tinker with things like editing AI personalities as a partial work-around. If they fix ToA in a patch so that I can play it w/o having to do work-arounds, I might still buy i

Reply to Galactic Civilizations II news! in GalCiv II News GalCiv2 Forums

You might look at my posts #28 and #35 in the GCIII Tactical Battling thread. I suggested an approach along the lines of SEIV, in which players could establish genreal guidelines for their fleet commanders. For example, concentrate fire on the strongest or the weakest ship, try to maintain maximum range, try to close to shortest range, etc. A structure such as that would be able to be applied to the AIs, and even have them vary by race, etc.

Reply to The community of past, current and future GalCiv2 players. in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

GW Swicord - An "old newbie" - I like that! I started a project, left my on-going suicidal games on hold, and vowed not to start another until I finished. Also, I swore not to start any other pc game or even load one until the project was done. It's just too easy for me to lose hours and hours .... I do check in here every week, though. Many of y'all helped me when I started the game, and I enjoy passing on that knowledge, along with the

Reply to How do you break an alliance? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

In my case, I specified the number but had random selection toggled. I was testing the effects on Colony Rush timing as the number of opponents changed with all else constant, but with varying races.

Reply to How do you break an alliance? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I must confess that I knew that only because I struggled with the same problem last year. I finally had to stop the random opponent thing to make it stop.

Reply to How do you break an alliance? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

You can look at the Relations screen, or whatever the screen is that has the colored lines between race synbols for treaties and war. The "Team" line has a separate color.

Reply to Population in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

The Dyson Sphere thing reminded me of a science lecture I attended many years ago. The lecturer asked the class to describe what a Dyson Sphere would look like from many (1000s?) light years away. He pointed out that all the enclosed heat of the star would still have to be radiated away through the "floor" of the artifact. We worked on it for a while, and it appeared to us that it would look an awful lot like a red giant star. That is, it would have&nbs

Reply to What Are Some Methods To Attack A Planet? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

On the mass driver micro-invasion "exploit," there is another way to rationalize it. The Devs and others have said that the planetary population # should not be seen as the # of folk on a planet but, instead, the number of folk who are part of the political body and who pay taxes. That is, the # is the # of taxpayers. So, such a micro invasion using mass drivers could be considered as a "show of force" or a "terror tactic." That is, many cease to be tax

Reply to What Race Should I Pick For An Alliance Victory? in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

Alliance win may be easier if you handpick the other AIs. For example, Good races and Evil races start of not liking each other, etc.

Reply to Population in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

See my Reply #1 above.

Reply to Everytime I start negotiation a surrender even when I'm winning, when negoations are over I'm destroyed??? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I am no expert on what the latest revision is to which game, especially when it might be the earlier games. You might ask the Q separately, in a new thread. That is, "What is the moste recent revision # of ..." then insert your game title (Dread Lords, or Dark Avatar, or Twilight of the Arnor). You might add the revision # that shows on the bottom left of your load-up screen, and see if you get confirmation in replies. You see, IIRC, one had to use Impulse to get the