The 2 "diplomatic" AI's (Arcean & Torian) also tend to build Embassies early on for a +10 influence boost. Both will prioritize influence resources (relative to the Drengin and Altarian, who prefer Military/Economy). And, at Maso difficulty, the AI's enjoy an inherent Influence bonus as a racial trait. ~SDC~
#2 LifeWish, The AI does not always ignore PQ13's & 14's. If it will receive a PQ-bonus random event for colonizing that planet, it will land on these as well. Apparently, it figures this into its calculation as to what the final PQ will be as a result of its colonizing, thus knowing these events "in advance". Also, at Maso level, the AI receives an inherent +PQ advantage; it will settle any PQ13's & 14's as a matter of course at this difficulty. ~SDC~
A second note: Production time (turns to completion) appear to increase by 1 at the second Bell-curve...the "trade-off" for increased revenue. ~SDC~
I also believe there is a "double Bell-curve" taxation effect on Huge/Gigantic maps. Revenue appears to peak between 30-35% initially, decline between 36-51%, then increase again 52-54%. This is modifiable, dependent of morale-bonus structures and SB benefits. ~SDC~
Tacit, To answer your initial question, there are no deleterious effects to running any tax level at 100% morale (aside from the minor inefficiency loss noted by Ralegh). The ability to raise/maintain planets at 100% morale while reaping tax rates of 50%+ is the exact reason to build the bonus morale improvements in the first place. This is especially true under 1.05, where the calculations are modified to: a) permit greater populations before overcrowding effects are impos
JoB's "Terraforming" mod addresses this point excatly. It adds a tech and social improvement which allows even (iirc) PQ8 planets to be raised to productivity (PQ15+). However, because of the AI's not being programmed to take advantage of it, it could be considered an "unbalancing" mod. Basically, in addition to the PQ+3/+7 pick choice & The Terraformer, the player now has another route to gain and improve his base PQ bonus. ~SDC~
AIL.ST, I've had the same thing happen...some AI relations will never progress to Close, no matter what is gifted, or how many trade routes you have. I believe this is a "balancing" factor at the higher levels: to keep the game interesting (or simply make it harder) your nearest competitor simply will not ally with you, and will downgrade its relations periodically to force a war. However, this is merely an observation, and I have no empirical evidence. I would be inte
Yes, but usually to a Major! If it's a PQ15-17 system, I will delete all social projects and gift it to them. That system will then act as a "speed-brake" on their Morale and Tax Rate, limiting their overall development pace until they spend enough bc's to "catch it up." Works awfully well against the Drengin and the Yor. The Arceans and Altarians seem to have high enough Morales & incomes that they can absorb the new system relatively quickly. The Torians merely go into debt t
Actually, GalCiv's invasion combat screen reminds me a lot of MOO2's... ~SDC~
Yes, if you reload your save-game file, the graphic will appear. It happens every now and then. Hopefully the expansion pack will fix this, since its been reported since 1.02. ~SDC~
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Sorry, I only watch the show... ~SDC~
#6 Harry, Yes. Different color stars have different base-influences. Purple is the best. Yellow is average. White appears to be the worse. There is also a "Precursor" random event which raises a star's base influence. According to the manual, systems the Precursors inhabited are considered more important in the overall scheme of things. Settling one nets you increased influence. ~SDC~
Sephlock: To Ally, you must first: - research/obtain the "Alliance" tech; - reach "Close" relations with the target Empire. At this point, "Alliance" will show up in the Diplomatic bargaining screen as an option. You can offer it just like a tech or TG. Depending on relative size & relations, some AI's might demand extra stuff to accept. AI Empires will not offer to Ally until you have researched the tech, btw. To get "close" relations, the most
Yes, Syd Barrett-era Floyd is certainly close... ~SDC~
#19 Bairman, Yes. Any Capitals on a planet you capture (or trade for) stay active and contribute their bonuses to that world's production. In this manner, you can have multiple Econ, Poly and Sci Capitals operating in your Empire. And I, too, only use Standard Warfare. The other options just cost too much, and I usually have extra TR's cruising around, anyway. (Although I have found, with the higher population limits and TR costs of 1.05, I'm now building only about 1/3rd the n
OTOH, it makes a certain amount of sense given the backstory. Earth didn't just come across the other Empires. Diplomats had been in contact via the stargates before the Hyperdrive was created. So, if you are willing to invest the time on the F2 tac map, it stands to reason you could at least locate their "Central seat of power", i.e., where they had the most influence when the race for expansion started. ~SDC~
Espionage-spending past advanced has 2 effects: 1) Information collected on the "Stats" page does not automatically refresh. Continued spending is necessary to update treasury figures, %-bonuses and current techs being researched. This is important if you are trying to track such things as who: - recently built/improved a SB; - has better combat-bonuses than you; - is "benefitting" from the Draginol event, etc. 2) Destabilization. Destabiliza
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Ray, I agree. I too have dropped back from Maso to Crippling. Basically, I found that the game was almost immediately over if I started in a bad position, or one of the Brilliant AI's got the Draginol event too early. Wreally decided the issue for me is, playing Maso in GalCiv is very reminiscent of playing Deity in Civ3: - The AI's bonuses make it far better to tech-whore (and catch up from behind) than research anything yourself; - all the early TG's
Goonies: No, you will not. The computer will conduct the combat and assess losses. To take a planet, you need to eliminate the entire enemy population. You will lose TR's = to the cargo capacity affected. For example, if you have 15,000 marines on 15xTR's (or 3xCombatTR's) and lose 8,500, you will have 6,500 left, embarked either on 6xTR's (or 1xCombatTR). Nine TR's (or 2xCombat TR's) will be lost. The remainder (500) will be landed and constitute your starting planetary population.
AIL ST: AI's cannot currently score a tech win (1.05). If you want to even things, you must disable this victory condition. As Crypt notes, it will be enabled, probably in the upcoming expansion. End-games can become tedious due to size of map and length of time necessary for a cultural or alliance win. Culture victories require 90% of all sectors to convert to your dominance; alliance victories require an alliance in effect with all current AI opponents. This, in turn, necessi
#15 Drizzt, Some starts are like that. I had a game once where Earth at PQ15 was the best planet for about 2/3rds of the map. A good rule of thumb is to colonize those planets equal to or greater than its PQ, to prevent the "speed-brake" effect. ~SDC~
I would buy GalCiv2 just to support Brad & company. #8 Duglis - what musuem are you antiquities director of? ;) ~SDC~
This was only recently changed, however. In 1.03, you could go into Sol's "Details" screen and "cancel project" your Capital. It could then be rebuilt on any planet of your choice. The effects of the Capital are undocumented. The manual only states that to lose it causes massive morale/influence problems. ~SDC~
Oh! And of course, King's X... ~SDC~
Flaming Lips rule. Also on the multi-player: Buckethead (excellent guitarist - most recently toured with Axl's reconstituted Gn'R; did 6 independent CD's) and Spacehog. ~SDC~