I think trade doesn't matter enough in keeping good relations. I had something similar with the Altarians. When any ai becomes stronger than you, its opinion of you starts deteriorating.
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I think the concerns are right for one given size and difficulty. For instance, on small maps the strategy of selling trade goods works up to but not including incredible ai's: Good luck getting an incredible ai give you a penny (except a few minors). My questions are: What can change the equation? I see two answers: -Propose an alternative to dreadnought in terms of military deterrant. A turtle unit which makes the ai not want to attack you but is useless in attack. -Pro
"There is an editor, it's called GalCiv Writer and has it's own thread" That is not an editor. That is a very nice UI around text files. Personnally, I still prefer vi over that... What I want is a map editor, plus the ability to swap mods around. When this is available, the GalCivWriter will be really great (I know it may also edit some graphics files).
Hawaii, did you check the ModSwapper for CtP2 at Apolyton? I sent a message over there last week but can't get on apolyton for one more week because of firewalls. ModSwapping is the most important feature imo because it cannot be done easily with a text editor, and you don't use it once but everytime you fire the game. I wish Stardock provided something more modder-friendly for making full-blown mods/scenarios, otherwise we need to be able to group mod files together using some "scenario
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Drengins don't just dominate lower settings, they also dominate smaller maps. Yors are the weakest of all civs as far as I can say. They have been powerful maybe once in scores of games. I play a lot tiny masochistic, and the Drengins can bully everyone fast there, so they always have a huge tech lead, which means they are quite powerful mid-game. But then if they lose one war, here come Altarians and Arceans...
"Anyone claiming to know how scores are calculated to any serious precision is mistaken." Brad, do you mean even you don't? ;p (sorry, I couldn't help typing it) I think the point wasn't about the specific population case, but that the longer game earns more points damages the scoring system.
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One dumb thing I noticed on the tech browser: The tech text is shown but not the effect: You know that you find instant communication, but have no idea of the bonuses it gives or the ships you can build or whatever. Makes the thing useless if that's the case.
I guess we have to wait to see how they handle bombers. I agree that repeated bombing makes a difference vs. transports, just hope the ai will keep a good warship on top of the bombers to prevent leased AMM counterstrikes. chaoticspyder, I tend to win culturally or by alliance on bigger maps because it is tedious to move all the armies around. Also, I prefer smaller maps, so I habe more varied results there. And I think tech win is far too easy on big maps because it is very easy to kee
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I used the trade good for money technique effectively in my first masochistic win on a tiny map (1.02). Since 1.03, however, it won't work anymore, because incredible ai's will gladly buy a trade good for 4 or 5 techs, but not for money. Or maybe for 4bc over 3 months, at most, if you're lucky. At lower ai difficulties, it works very well, admitedly.
It's usually better to go to war, destroy the starbase and replace it, then sue for peace. I agree that the ai is a bit over protective of starbases, but it prevents abuse, so it's a lesser evil IMO. I don't think it would be easy to evaluate properly all the ins and outs of a situation, and the evaluation function should be biased in favor of the ai so that it doesn't do foolish things. Here, it seems a bit excessive indeed.
I'd advise you to check out the Stella Polaris project. It may still be alive, there were lots of ideas thrown (probably in every direction too) for that game. Look for it on the Alt Civs forum at //apolyton.net/forums. I am not sure their forum is still open, and can't check now, but you can at least get the archives. Also check for existing projects if any would suit you (and Mark Everson's "Join an existing project or make your own" thread). Good luck anyway.
I got a few deals with the ai who wanted to give me a star. Usually it involved ending a war "or else". Once it seemed easier to get a planet that was halfway of the culture flip. Maybe it was something else, but the ai definitely values some of its systems more than others. As for the altarians not giving half of their remaining systems, why would they do it if you are going to kill their last system just afterwards?
"And the other thing I am SURE that members of Apolyton Empire do (old and young) is have really long, arcane conversations about the latest mod they created on a game which just went Gold 24 hours ago. " Well,... yes. :D Plus, some of us have really long and arcane discussions on games they have created but which is not really even in alpha yet. Or it is. Or there is a demo or two somewhere. ;p
They have more influence than you there. It means they probably have stars/starbases in neighbouring sectors, whose influence is big. They may also have influence resources mined. You should check the influence value (small button in the top-right of the main map). It is very possible to flip planets by building bases in adjacent sectors.
I am not sure the bomber will do any difference. Currently, ai uses transports as bombers: They land on planet, deal some damage to population, but don't conquer. Unless the bombers deal massive damage (like say a fixed amount of around 5billion + a percentage of planet population), they will not behave differently from transports.
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I do widely different things at different games. I play many different galaxy sizes, so tiny games with rare stars are always different games, even one form another, because you might use the colony ship in one game, or not, and then you'll be a major power, or not. Then I choose good/evil depending on whether I want allies later on. As for the research path, I often go the trade goods way, but sometimes I just go for impulse drives + military... Depends on how the Drengins look like
I think it's a great idea. Another fun thing is succession games (you pass a game along). I have internet access problems from home so can't participate right now, but still it is a good thing to do. As for ranking/suggestions, I think the most interesting 'competition', if you want to indulge in it, is fastest win. I never thought of saving/reloading... and miss the point of limiting starbases. The things to do would be to decide of a map size and difficulty settings.
I agree with Ellestar here, Apolyton is a real community, and spans more than one game. About old, well, I'm just 31... but overall the description fits nicely. Though many people talk of just about anything on the boards over there.
They come to help but I didn't see a pattern as to when they would help in a war. I'll check to see when my Torian allies are going to drag me into the current war against Altarians...
I agree that tiny maps don't suffer from the problem as drastically, particularly with rare stars. The ai can usually focus on a nearby planet, but doesn't behave properly at mid/long range. I yet have to see the Arceans successful in 1.03A. They somehow seem to always get bullied to death very early on, and then surrender to whoever will be the most painful for me. I second what Viandox says. The flaws I talk about are common in all games of the genre, but GalCiv still has the best
You have to choose which starbase type you want to use. It is possible to spam space with starbases, but that will be shot down in an upcoming patch I believe. Already, starbases cost 5 to maintain. Without a resource, you can use starbases in your home sectors to boost trade and production. In border sectors, you can use them to boost trade and culture. If you feel like you're going to be attacked somewhere, ship attack bonuses can be interesting. I wouldn't use a starbase as a buf
Ellestar, I am not sure bombers would change the situation much. It puts one more variable into the AI equation, which means it would open more loopholes. I think the current ai should be improved without adding totally new elements. I realize I'd like ships which have specific tasks to get combined arms, but the game is not ready to handle these. Also, I think part of the problems with the ai is that there is no terrain limitation, so blockades are hard to manage. In that sense, MoO3's
OK another game, where the situation is not as desperate for me. This time, it's the Altarians who fight like sh*t. They had 2 nice military starbases, giving them rangers zith +200% attack/defense, where I had only 100%. They were not able to conquer planets. Then I managed to destroy their starbases because they were not protecting that sector effectively, and AMMs are really messy This time, I am far from losing, but mostly because tactically, the ai sucks. It doesn't know
Scores by galaxy size would be interesting. I agree that all sizes are quite different. In particular, I see three different sizes as far as strategies are concerned: Tiny, small/medium/(large), (large)/huge/gigantic. You can't use the same tactics on tiny and gigantic maps, because contact with other civs don't happen as early in both games. I wonder whether the difficulty itself dhouldn't be afforded a separate category, or at least a filter: You should be able to setup the
I agree that the Torians can be lousy but... I had 2 star systems (just gave a lot of them to the I-League for a few techs). I was at war aith the Torians. They had all the rest of the galaxy (medium map, abundant planets), a huge fleet. I spent hundreds of turns hitting end of turn button. I did send an AMM from time to time, but really that didn't mean much. I must have spent about 250 or 300 turns researching, with no defense on my planets. It's OK for the ai
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