LTjim

Reply to Saved game - difficulty level in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Willy - You are obviously not talking about DA. Is that TA?

Reply to Saved game - difficulty level in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

So the Influence points trade games cannot begin until after all the Diplomacy techs? Don't the advanced gov'ts give Diplomacy bonuses? Do you build the Translators improvement? Even when it has said I have "Incredible" advantage, I have been unable to get any Influence points trades. I'm still having trouble envisioning enough Research gains out of three planets. I can duplicate something like the Colony Rush Kontana mentions up to Crippling, but not in

Reply to Saved game - difficulty level in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Well, okay. I've beaten SEIV and MOO2 on the highest difficulties many times, so I am familiar with what you said. Still, surely one cannot do what you said with just 3 planets, can one? That is, one starts with one, and one colony ship, and one miner that can be converted into a colony ship. So, at Suicidal, how many colonies does one go for? Can you do All Factories? If so, one needs several planets and/or Manufacturing Centers to get a decent Research

Reply to Saved game - difficulty level in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I would think the AIs would colony rush swamp me if I put the vast bulk of my resources into running down the end of the diplomacy tree. That is, until one has more than a handful of planets fairly well along in development, one has a very small base for research and the rest, and meanwhile the AIs are piling up Influence, etc. If I put lots of points into Research traits, my economy suffers, etc. I've read a Suicidal AAR or two and have been at this game for maybe a year,

Reply to Saved game - difficulty level in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I have often seen references to using Influence in trades and selling Influence. I have tried that many times and have yet to have an AI agree to any such thing. I have tried selling Influence for cash. In fact, I tried a great many variations, including 990 through 999, as one poster reported success with those specific values - - no luck. Even using Influence as the last little bit to close a deal has not worked for me, let alone trading just Infue

Reply to Saved game - difficulty level in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Ah! Thanks. That was just a "Crippling" save game, then. I can beat it on "Tough", "Painful", and "Crippling" but the jump to "Suicidal" is proving to be hard for me. I play gigantic plus abundant everything with max players and all victory conditions, with Research on "Slow". What I'm finding is that the AIs sustain the colony rush longer going right through Extreme Colonization with hardly any delay and still bludgeon the research tree of everythi

Saved game - difficulty level in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Is there a way to tell the difficulty level of a saved game? I do not randomize AI intelligence. I can tell from the Intelligence report that the AIs are "Genius" but I do not know if that means I was playing "Suicidal" or not? I ask because I've been trying to win on "Suicidal" and have this one won, but I forgot what the difficulty I selected back when I started! (I want to play it out if it's "Suicidal" but not otherwise.)

Reply to Question about the AI in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Two thoughts: 1) Did you try any counter-attacks? For example, did you invade any planets of your foes? A couple taken planets often gets an AI to be willing or even eager for peace. If not invasions, then did you scour their planets of defenders? The AI tends to rush build cheap defenders to avoid unescorted invasions. The cost of those repeated rush builds hurts their economy a LOT soon. 2) If you had not researched invasion or engines good enou

Reply to A few questions! in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

The name of the Dread Lord world is Amalda. I have not had a problem seeing their icon on the galaxy map unless the planet was in a place I had not surveyed, or otherwise "seen" with ship sensors. One way to find the Dread Lord planet if it is in sight and you just have not recognized it, is to go to the planet menu, select enemy, and look for Amalda. If you have not used the planet menu, you get to that display by toggling (IIRC) the far left button on the bottom of the

Reply to Newb Questions in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I have never understood Trade, and rarely play Korx for that reason. For example, does a Trade Route revenue vary with freighter design? More modules = more BCs? How many freighters to build? Auto replacement? How?

Reply to Strange Bug with Population in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

No, but I just put it on my list! ;-)

Reply to Motherboard upgrade question in Personal Computing GalCiv2 Forums

If you're VISTA, I think a motherboard change means you need to buy an OS again.

Reply to Strange Bug with Population in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I just play DA (so no Terror Star), but there is a way to do the same thing w/o it. Conquer the last AI then, before hitting the Turn button, give every planet to a Minor. I may have to try that!

Reply to Strange Bug with Population in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I was pretty sure that a Minor's homeworld/capitol cold not be flipped, but i was not sure about colony worlds gifted to them. I got an interesting message on the Victory Progress screen. It said something like, "Research Victory Conditions Disabled"! But I had all Victory conditions enabled when i started the game. What nay have happened was that the Minor ran out of things to research and "won" a research victory. Since it was not entitled to win, the

Reply to Strange Bug with Population in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I did end up with an Alliance victory. The Minor I gifted my Empire to just kept researching and building ships, and even got into several wars on its own. They remained the true dominant power. I'm not sure any Empire invaded another or flipped. Perhaps the Minors cannot flip another's planet under any conditions? Eventually all got tired of beating against the Minor, so that I could get Alliance with just one or two holdouts. I then bribed the Minor to

Reply to Best way to play? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Ah, yes. The "Rush" strategies. The first one I recall was the Russian "Tank Rush" way back in "Red Alert". In MOO2, the quickest victories were in the smallest galaxy, taking Telepathic, rush building/buying a cruiser (just big enough for telepathic takeover), and getting to the home planet of a production-oriented race before that race could defend itself. In DA, the addition of the Extreme planets made a great difference, IMHO. As long as t

Reply to Strange Bug with Population in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Oh, I definitely did have fewer votes the second time! Hmmm, you're right, though. I needed to include all my Influence points in that gifting. I wonder if I did? I just may have to go back and try! Can a Minor win? Or, rather, can a Player lose because a Minor meets the victory conditions? I'd guess that on each turn the game checks to see if any Empire meets the victory conditions. Does that check include the Minor races? HeckifI

Strange Bug with Population in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I was trying to test if a Minor Race could win an Influence victory. I got to just over 75% and then gifted everything but one planet and a few of my best warships to a Minor. Too early, as it turns out, because I'd forgotten that my anomaly-gained influence did not convey. What I should have done was to get the % higher than 75% (maybe 85%) first. One way might have been to ready a fleet of constructors for Influence Base building in that last 8 or 9

Reply to gripes, complaints, and questions from newb in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I think most folk scout with colony ships, especially early. That way, if you find a good planet, you can scoop it up right then. One thing NOT to do is to waste time in the early colony rush, especially on Tough and above.

Reply to ship levels? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Maybe in TA, it does that, but I just play DA. In DA, some new stock ships become do become available as I get new techs, but I never use them. For example, I never put engines on orbital defenders. Also, in the early game, I go heavy on defense but try to make sure I have the weapon for which the enemy does not have defense (and must defend with square root). Thus, even my late early game warships are something like 3-8 attack-defense, because it's not u

Reply to ship levels? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I had not known that time element! Thanx!

Reply to WAYS TO ANNOY YOUR TEACHER(S)! in Everything Else GalCiv2 Forums

Most of us in one high school class made a secret agreement to look at the teacher - give him attention - if he was to the window-side of a pre-designated point. We used a piece of colored chalk in the blackboard tray. If he was on the door-side of that chalk piece, we looked down or otherwise broke eye contact. Within a few days, we had "trained" the teacher to stay on the window-side of that chalk! The next Monday, we moved the chalk a bit closer to the wind

Reply to ship levels? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

On the flagship as a later game warship, one thing a player can do after some miniaturization levels and engine gains in the early mid-game, is to upgrade the flagship simply to make it a lot faster. That lets it get many more anomalies ....

Reply to ship levels? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Be advised that any ship ordered to upgrade will not be able to move while the upgrade is going on. If a ship is in a fleet, I think the fleet is also unable to move, as fleet speed is the speed of the slowest ship (here = 0). Hence, you may want to disband or manage the fleet. Also, on upgrades, I have found it helpful to create ahead of time several somewhat-similar upgraded designs with carefully selected names. Then, when I toggle the "upgrade" button for a ship,

Reply to Population drop in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Is it identical in DL, DA, and TA?