Twirlip

Reply to Getting Butt Kicked Need Help in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Population: Pop growth is tied pretty tightly to morale; e.g. below 54% it doesn't grow at all, and taxes (they don't DIE, they just hide from the government ;) ). Planet quality also proves crucial for maintaining morale, e.g. a PQ20+ world can take a large population far better than a PQ15, and anything less than PQ14 you should probably think about skipping unless you've got PQ bonuses or you need the planet for range purposes. Budget -- don't expect to keep spending at 10

Reply to Things you would like to see in a Galactic Civilization expansion set in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Starbase notes: The AI should value starbases based on how well-built-up they are, how much any associated resource helps them (in particular, military / influence / econ should probably be hard to buy), whether or not it's needed for ship range, and how easy they are for the AI to defend. If you're offering a starbase surrounded by ships belonging to one of the AI's enemies, it's not exactly a good deal; on the other hand, an empty base built merely to extend range may be valued

Reply to Funny things that work in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I was trying out a diplomatic-monster strategy and toying with trading in 1.04.62 (huge/normal *shrug*), and found once I'd established a military big enough that the tribute requests stopped coming, I could stay at peace. I then proceeded to work as a tech broker, and found myself able to fund at 100% even without having many trade bases or bothering to boost econ resources (to my knowledge, I owned all resources in the galaxy; the ones the aliens beat me to, I bought). The pa

Reply to minor civs question in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Watch out for the I-League and certain other minors. Incidentally, as of 1.04.62, the minors were made easier to deal with diplomatically. They're cash cows if you have a very good diplomatic skill, especially early because they start with a considerable amount of BC.

Reply to Things you would like to see in a Galactic Civilization expansion set in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Kiernan -- Select planet, to the Details screen, and check the "Projects Completed" list. If memory serves, the numbers in parentheses after each item name is the per-turn maintenance cost in BC. The Cancel Project option likely destroys them, although I haven't yet tried it. You might be able to destroy soil enhancement... I seem to recall that the AI sometimes destroys *everything* if it knows that the system is going to defect, leaving you with an overcrowded extremely un

Reply to Would you trade away gravity accelerators? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

IonMage -- You either have to invade them and take them over, or wage war on them and demand enough tribute to shut their economy down. Both will be very difficult early on, say, huge maps, because they could literally be on the other side of the galaxy. (And it IS irritating when some one-planet minor in some isolated corner literally all the way across a huge galaxy gets Aphrodisiacs, and you can't even find him to bid for it until it's the game's rather far along.)

Reply to Another option instead of "Nothing" in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

It's easier to boost research capacity into the stratosphere than it is military/social production, especially with the computer techs.

Reply to Resource disappeared entirely from the map (1.04 patch) in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Drizzt -- Yeah. Just select it and double-click; you'll find out what sorts of bonuses its giving.

Reply to Double your luck and have none? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Luck. *grumble* I once rolled six ones, on six six-sided dice (my own dice, too), in a game where ones are bad and all ones are VERY bad. I must have offended some Random Number God many, many times.

Reply to Things you would like to see in a Galactic Civilization expansion set in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Capturing ships in space battle should be pretty difficult. After all, with the high-tech weaponry they're not going to get that close to each other. It would be interesting if space battles sometimes left behind "space junk", and perhaps sometimes gave a small amount of research points if the defeated ship had superior weapons, ship, armor, propulsion or sensors (and anything else ship-based) technology.

Reply to How far in the red can you take your treasury? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

*evil chuckle* I once sent an AI down well past -50,000 BC. I'd beaten it badly in war, but they were curiously rich (~7000 BC on hand, unusual for a normal-level major that's getting hammered, I'd think), so I managed to demand something like 7000 BC x 100 turns or so. Ouch.

Reply to 1.04.59 or later bug reports in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

EtherMage -- Sure, your Terror Star just *happened* to be parked next door. ;)

Reply to New lease system in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I think I'm going to have to break out the "Diplomonster" settings again. (+60% diplomacy, plus Populist => +80% diplomacy at start, if memory serves)

Reply to 1.04.60 Update! in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

New lease system *and* diplomacy more involved in trade? Interesting.

Reply to What is the power of a terrorstar? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

They're mobile starbases with the added ability of obliterating entire star systems and any hapless defending ships. Party Palace Terror Stars are also pretty useful; packing one full of cultural improvements and then taking it on a slowwwwwww tour of the galaxy can net you systems. Their movement is only 1 parsec/turn, though, and last time I checked this was could not be boosted by other starbases.

Reply to How far in the red can you take your treasury? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Not only can't you buy anything once you hit 0, but once you hit -501 you can't spend anything on production or research -- it all goes into maintenance, paying off leases and tributes, and bringing your treasury back up.

Reply to Paying extortion, is it ever worth it? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Richard Heaton -- Maybe they're refitted as pleasure cruisers for their diplomats and other officials. :) Diplomacy through gifts did seem to get a big boost in 1.04.

Reply to Shipyard canNOT help to increase the hit points of my starships.. why ?? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

If the text still says hp, it's wrong. It boosts attack/defense.

Reply to Had someone income from trade more than 80.000/turn? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

(...or was the value mostly because the mini-freighters were always in the sector that gave huge bonuses?)

Reply to Had someone income from trade more than 80.000/turn? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Incidentally, would this mean that the "older routes are worth more" bit counts age in terms of number of round trips, not turns? Hmmmmm.

Reply to Had someone income from trade more than 80.000/turn? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

*blink* You built *140* starbases in one sector? *blink* *blink*

Reply to 1.04.59 or later bug reports in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Not bug, but it's a bit goofy: if the "your emissary insulted somebody" random event shows up and causes a much weaker race to declare war on you, you can then call 'em up and demand tribute as a condition for peace. Aliens that would be willing to sue for peace should probably just lower relations to worst non-war, and possibly sever trade routes once embargos are allowed (unless that'd be fiscally suicidal because no one else would / could trade with them or their economy couldn't handle the

Reply to Resource disappeared entirely from the map (1.04 patch) in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Ah, I'd been wondering whether Terror Stars interacted with resources at all but never gotten around to testing it... Have you tried moving one from one resource to another? Hm.

Reply to Newbie questions in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

*shrug* Well, technically you COULD, if you're willing to truly abuse the global treasury. You lower your spend rate until you're generating a surplus, then apply that surplus to leasing whatever it is you want to buy on individual worlds. It'll cost you quite a bit extra, 'though, unless (and possibly even then; I haven't checked how strong the Interest Rate ability actually is) you've gotten numerous "corrupt businessmen" events and made a habit of choosing the "evil" path.

Reply to Problem with buying starbases strategy in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Not with one or two techs you can't, not even at Normal, and I was playing a maxxed-out diplomacy race (Populist, +60% or so as well, diplo translators, et al -- ended with an alliance victory with something over +200% diplo). A barely-started military-resource base, if memory serves, cost me something like 1500+ BC plus several non-trivial techs. The fact that I was Saintly and that the seller was the Drengin might have affected it, 'tho.