LTjim

Reply to New to GalCiv questions in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I use "Guard" a lot and have not seen that behavior.

Reply to New to GalCiv questions in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I know I am a relatively new guy here, but i still think that if you have ships or fleet on "Guard" status, you will get the option to attack an enemy first, even if the starbase is heavily defended with module upgrades making it esentially the toughest thing in the hex. I'm not sure what the difference is between "Guard" and "Sentry" though. Maybe one would work better than the other. I have never been able to find that explained in wiki or elsewhere.

Reply to Spin Control Center + Military starbases in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

So, let me be clear. One could build some mil bases whose intersection hex is the SCC planet, and the AIs would thus use the multi-augmented ship attack factors in their math. Note that the sequence of the math is important. That is, say there is one ship in orbit with 20 attack factor and the bases add a total of 200 attack factor (to each ship): - is it (1 ship) x (20 AF + 200 bases) x 5 (SCC) = 1100 or - is it (1 ship)

Spin Control Center + Military starbases in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Do military starbases stack with the Spin Control Center? That is, when AIs do their assessments, they include the "false" modifier of the SCC. Do the AIs use for that same assessment calculation the real-but-positional attack factors of ships as-modified by military starbases whose zones they are within? That is, does a ship with actual 6 attack factor with, say, 44 more attack factor from military starbase(s) look like a 50 attack ship for that math?

Reply to Influence borders in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Fair enough. I, too, am grateful for the corrections/clarifications. I do have a follow-up question, though. Is the area of a base's influence - where its "border" would be drawn - the same no matter how strong the base's influence is? That is, if one creates an influence starbase in empty space, it generates an area within a circular border. If one adds modules, does the area increase? It seems not, so I have presumed that the borde

Reply to New to GalCiv questions in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

In MOO2, ship speed contributed to initiative in combat and, since combat took multiple turns, could play a part in battles. Not so to either in GalCiv2. Setting ships and/or fleets to "Guard" will give you the chance to attack an enemy force before it attacks the base. If you do not attack, the enemy can bypass your ship/fleet and attack the base. If your defenders get destroyed, the remaining enemy can then attack the base. If you have attrited the enemy en

Reply to Influence borders in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

From my reading of the wiki, I think the UP votes are based on a score and not an area. The score would involve an equation with population, race bonuses, planetary improvements, Restaurant of Eternity, and researched levels of influence and government. I would guess influence star bases would be added, but i am not sure. I could be mistaken. Hopefully, someone else will chime in.

Reply to Influence borders in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

If there are no other influence sources, then only map edges would make the area different and - since it is an inverse square function - the circle size would not grow all that much no matter what the source. That is, an influence base in empty space would have a circle a little larger in area than a planet with 6 pop, but not all that much, especially with a few modules. I've always felt that the real difference was in the influence strengths closer to the point source.

Reply to Influence borders in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I am not sure if you still have a question. The way I conceptualize the influence border is that it is a depiction of where the mathematical boundary of my net influence drops below "detectable" - where detectable is the threshold value recognized by the game for influence victory purposes. Remember that influence drops, IIRC, by the inverse square law from its point source and that the point source value is what population, capitals, modules, etc. are all affecting.</

Reply to Multiple Unique Improvements in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

TA versus DA. There are no race-unique structures in DA.

Reply to Multiple Unique Improvements in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

Is this TA? In DA, I think all building remain. In fact, some players deliberately give Trade in deals to minors just so they will build the Economic capital so that they can later capture it! Same with the Hyperion logistics and miniaturization buildings. The same is true for Trade Goods, as their presence on a planet has always raised that planet's target priority for me.

Reply to Winning against Suicidal AI? in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

Thanx again! I may well have to do something like that. That epic (for me!) game at Suicidal ended up in defeat, as I was unable to finish crushing the Terrans before they got the Research victory. I had been sabotaged by the memory crashes several dozen turns earlier when one AI surrendered to me (I was not at war with them) and the game crashed at save. Every time I re-ran it, that race would surrender to some other race, and not me, despite my trying perhaps 5 - 1

Reply to What's the optimal setting to enjoy the game most? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

In the early years, the way masters beat computers at chess was to get them out of the book as quickly as possible. After that, it was easy, since human masters could prioritize which variations they would analyze while the software had to treat all possibilities equally when analyzing. (Heh-eh! You could send programmers back then into wide-eyed fits of stammering by mentioning "nodal pruning"! I know this because I was guilty of that and similar sins!) T

Reply to Winning against Suicidal AI? in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

I am reluctant to play with fire and files, and for similar reasons. When it comes to editing code, I seem to have the Sadim touch.

Reply to Space combat/smuggling game in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

I've seen references to Smugglers 4, but i have seen no review that upon which I could rely. Google "smugglers-4" If you try it, please post your review here!

Reply to What's the optimal setting to enjoy the game most? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

YAQW! If you go larger than Medium, adding more AIs might help. Say, medium with 6, the next larger with 8 or 9. I have not yet managed to beat the game at Suicidal in DA, but the game I'm in now might do it - gigantic, 9 AIs, 8 Minors, all abundant, scattered, normal research I'm crushing what was the #2 AI but just got the Research Victory warning for my humongous ally (#1) on the other side of the map. I need to get some combo of victory in the

Reply to Winning against Suicidal AI? in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

Thank you! I will copy and save your post above and that in that other thread for future use. For the moment, I am reluctant to mess with the xml files.

Reply to What's the optimal setting to enjoy the game most? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

From my year or so experience and the comments of others, I think one candidate set of conditions would be: - medium galaxy (the AIs do not prioritize well in the extended colony rush phase in gigantic galaxies) - tech trading off OR exclude minor races (minor races are otherwise money trees the AIs do not well exploit) -not abundant anomalies, the rarer the better (the AIs never build survey ships) - at least one level above Tough (and w/max CPU), to

Reply to Winning against Suicidal AI? in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

I can see how to change the name of the Homeworld, but I cannot see how to change the name of the Home system star. Must one go into the xml files to do that?

Reply to Winning against Suicidal AI? in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

Thanx! I have not figured out yet how to manipulate the system w/o cheats to get the homeworld and secondary the way I'd want. That is, I can Control-N for Homeworld placement and tiles, but the size and secondary world thing remains some sort of "secret clan knowledge". I'm good with that! ;-)

Reply to Very bad homeworld Moral? in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

Micro-managing 50-100 colonies can indeed get old. One quick Q though, do you use the colonies tab? The one that shows all your colonies in a spreadsheet mode? I ask because I have found that screen to take a lot of the burden out of it.

Reply to Winning against Suicidal AI? in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

Yes, my Qs were indeed somewhat similar. I have been tinkering ever since with variations. I would have one Suicidal won except that I forgot to disable the Research victory. I may win it yet, but it does not look good. On a separate but related thing, I had forgotten that the races start with different Class Homeworlds. Many start with Class 10, some with Class 12, and the Thalians with Class 15. Some interesting potential there, but it seems that the Th

Reply to Out of Memory Errors Persist... in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

I went to the Options page and dialed back to zero all the choices for textures and other memory elements not related to actual game play. Upon rebooting the game, it seemed to help. At least, it got me through many more turns w/o more crashes. I still have not completed that game, but I am hopeful. It's not nearly as pretty as it was, but I can live with that.

Reply to Winning against Suicidal AI? in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

Sooooo, disable the other victory conditions! I suspect, though, that the easiest victory at Suicidal may be the Alliance one. The second easiest may be the Research Victory. For that one, you might iterate until you get 7XResearch + Morale tiles, limit the Colony Rush to maybe a 10 planet circle, then turtle up and go at it like crazy. I've not tried that one yet, but the limiting aspect might be paying for all the Research w/o a wide Empire full of tax paye

Reply to [Another] Alliance Victory question in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

That's too bad! Otherwise, all one needs to win at any level would be to get just ONE alliance with any major AI. Then simply declare war on all the others .... ;-)