EtherMage

Reply to 1.09[b].001 Bug Report Thread in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Problem with the hyperlinked ship/starbase location dialog: If you right-click on a second ship/base while the dialog is still up, it switches to the new base, but leaves both "selected"...then when you try and transfer one of them into the trade, it moves both...behavior is a bit erratic though. Problems with the "Total Routes" button dialog: If you click the "Total Routes" button in the Espionage window, all of the trade routes are labeled as "to X", where X is the empire the rout

Reply to About star bases in Strategies Stardock Forums

Yes, they do. In fact, a prime tactic for generating lots of cash is to make a very short trade route (only passes through 2-3 sectors) and then just make as many Trade Center starbases as possible in those few sectors. Trade bonuses are not unique in this - multiple starbases with modules providing the same bonuses always stack. -EtherMage ~SDC~

Reply to Starbases? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

You don't need the repair module. It simply makes things go faster. Starbases and ships repair each turn based on your repair bonus, which starts at nothing and is increased by a number of different techs. If you haven't gotten to Basic Repair tech yet, your ships and starbases will not repair themselves at all. Also, it is commonly believed that ships in orbit repair faster...I've not checked that one myself though. -EtherMage ~SDC~

Reply to 1.09[b].001 Bug Report Thread in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Crash to desktop again. Here's the SmartException log: Stardock SmartException Logging Information ------------------------------------------- OS Version : Windows XP Video Card : NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 Application Exception code: C0000005 ACCESS_VIOLATION Crash Addr: 00441B0A 01:00040B0A D:\Program Files\Stardock\Drengin.net\galciv\galciv.exe Processor Registers (x86): EAX:00000000 EBX:00000000 ECX:00000000 EDX:0DAA54A0 ESI:00588249<b

Reply to What starting abilities do people use and why ? in Strategies Stardock Forums

I usually take Federalists, speed +1, and then some military production and/or population growth bonuses. The Federalist party offers the most generally useful bonus - who doesn't want more money? Meanwhile, my racial picks jumpstart the inital land grab, by giving me the speed to get to new systems first, the productive capacity to make the ships and get them on their way, and the people to put in said ships. BTW, does anyone else think that the range pick is way overvalued?

Reply to Colonising below 15 worlds in Strategies Stardock Forums

Yeah, the AI won't touch sub-15 planets, so you're safe leaving systems without good planets alone. Trying to colonize a world like that just isn't worth it; this is by design. Sure, you CAN colonize a class 1 planet, but the costs to maintain the colony would be far greater than the colony's productive/tax-producing value. Once in a while you might colonize a borderline 13-14 planet and enhance it to habitable standards, but even this is a questionable practice early-game when you need to be

Reply to Metaverse cheating Exploit and a solution to the presented problem in Strategies Stardock Forums

Already the Metaverse has algorithms to check games for anomalous conditions that might represent unbalancing modding (similar to what you've described), or other methods of cheating, like hexing a savegame. Now granted, CAREFUL cheating might get by these checks (and this IS a problem that's being worked on)...but how often are cheaters careful? -EtherMage ~SDC~

Reply to Specifics about planet invasions. in Strategies Stardock Forums

I've successfully invaded very late-game (50+ B) systems without using more than mini-soldiers. Unless you don't care at all about the system aside from getting it out of the enemy's hands, I highly recommend you stick to tactics that don't damage PQ. Infrastructure damage is fine, but PQ damage is irreversible, and therefore unacceptable to me. You can take out any system if you throw enough transports at it. The altairans had one heavily populated system with FOUR habitable planets, but my

Reply to Terror Stars in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

The link is the answer to your question. Follow the link, select "Terror Star" in the first box, and click "Generate Graph". The result is the series of techs you have to research to build a terror star. -EtherMage ~SDC~

Reply to IRC server down? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Ahh thanks. I'd noticed the downtime and visited that page earlier this evening, but the notice hadn't been posted yet. -EtherMage ~SDC~

Reply to what am i doing wrong in Strategies Stardock Forums

One more thing: watch what you spend! Money sinks: a) Ship maintenance. Every scout, transport, star fighter, etc. will cost you money every turn. If you have a bunch of scouts and nothing to do with them, give them to the AI so you won't have to pay the maintenance costs. Plus, you get a diplomatic boost sometimes as well. b) Improvement maintenance. This is NOT a build everything everywhere game. In fact, there are a number of buildings that you probably shouldn't build a

IRC server down? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Don't know where else to put this...is anyone else unable to connect to irc.stardock.com? The SDC chat window says "Unable to resolve server" but the name resolves fine. I tried a vanilla IRC client (IRSSI to be specific), and the connection timed out. If the server's down, any idea when it'll be back? If not, why in the world would I be unable to connect at all? -EtherMage ~SDC~

Reply to Oh my goodness - they did an awesome job with the expansion! in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I must say that the beta hasn't been the stablest for me. So far it's crashed 4 times since I installed it this afternoon...may be a specific issue with the game I was playing, but I was unable to pinpoint a cause. I definitely agree with all the other comments though. Rally points, trade embargoes, the tech tree browser, and the hyperlinking are all great. If you saw my trade shot in the other thread...that was so great. I was getting about 2/5 my income from those 2 sectors, and t

Reply to 1.09[b].001 Bug Report Thread in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Small issue with the locking sliders: If you lock one slider, adjust the other two, and unlock, you appear get the desired result. But then if you switch to another screen and return to the sliders, you'll find the percentages have been readjusted to match the slider positions rather than what they were. I'd like to see the slider positions adjusted to match the percentages if you unlock everything. Also, I've had 2 CTD's now since I installed it. Nothing all that interesting in debu

Reply to Money Cheat? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Well, I just tested, and it's definitely taken care of in the expansion beta. -EtherMage ~SDC~

Reply to I'm a newbie in need of help! in Strategies Stardock Forums

~Low Population: How can I make it grow faster? Population growth is based on morale on a per-planet basis. The base growth rate per turn w/o modifiers is 6% at 100 morale, 3% at 54-99 morale, and nothing below that. So if you want to grow your population faster, lower your taxes. Keep in mind that a higher population will in turn lower morale, so you'll need to either build morale-improvement buildings or keep dropping your tax rate to keep your planets at 100%. Also,

Reply to Specifics about planet invasions. in Strategies Stardock Forums

1> Generally speaking, the stated population of a system (ie. the number of taxpaying citizens) is the number of defenders. What made you think otherwise? 2> Not sure about this. 3> Your "Tech" number starts at 1.0 and increases as you learn techs with soldiering bonuses. I think the soldiering racial pick and TQT wonder affect this as well. 4> I believe estimated advantage is an overall rating for your firepower (ie, how likely you are to take out more soldiers than you lose). Yo

Reply to GalCiv 1.09: Expanded Universe Beta 1 in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Astax: once it's complete it will be available for free download to all GalCiv purchasers on SDC. Trying the beta now is a perk of a Drengin.net subscription, which you can purchase for $30 if you already own GalCiv. In addition to getting access to the beta, you get all their other games. -EtherMage ~SDC~

Reply to 1.09[b].001 Bug Report Thread in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I think that obsoleting a ship should affect the "To" panel of the Global Military Swap in domestic policy. Also nice would be to only list in the "From" panel ships that 1 or more planet is actually building. -EtherMage ~SDC~

Reply to How does one d/l the new stuff from Dregnin.net?! in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

It _should_ remember your DN serial once you've put it in. ~SDC~

Reply to How does one d/l the new stuff from Dregnin.net?! in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

You need to get Stardock Central from the download page. Once you have installed that, go to the Drengin.net software tab, and choose Tools->"Register Products". Put in your Drengin.Net serial number. Lastly, to see the expansion beta, make sure View->Show Pre-Release Versions is checked. Then you should be able to install GalCiv w/expansion beta. -EtherMage ~SDC~

Reply to 1.09[b].001 Bug Report Thread in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Also, a longstanding minor issue: the descriptive text for Overlord Technology talks about Excalibur ships...which obviously aren't the ones you get to build from that tech. -EtherMage ~SDC~

Reply to 1.09[b].001 Bug Report Thread in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

If there is a word-wrapped entry in the diplomacy window, and you click on the second line, the entry below the wrapped one will transfer to the trade window. Similarly, all clicks below the wrap are shifted down one line. -EtherMage ~SDC~

Reply to GalCiv 1.09: Expanded Universe Beta 1 in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

http://ethermage.net:800/~codemage/Trade%20Master.jpg There're a couple of the new stars. Oh, and a bunch of Trade Centers. I set a rally point for all my constructors (visible) right between 2 sectors, and sent them from there in sets of 4 to make Trade Centers as they arrived. There're 6 trade routes between my nearest planet (just off the screen to the left) and the Arcean worlds. When I established the trade routes, they only had those two, but then the Torians surrendered to th

Reply to No music in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I frequently find that the music will stop playing for no apparent reason in the main game. However, sound effects keep working, and I can just pull up a diplomacy screen with a major, and their theme plays. Then when I leave the diplomacy screen, the regular in-game music returns. -EtherMage ~SDC~