Matthew Downie

Reply to Jedi Republic Communication Thread in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

[quote]unless you haven't paid homage to Star Wars by putting up a huge SW poster in your room.[/quote] I have done in the past. I joined the Fellowship because the scores were interestingly close and mine was, at the time, just enough to put them in first place ahead of GROSS. And then I got interested in the Evil Ray storyline. And it was (and still is) a friendly place. But the Evil Ray plot ground to a halt, and the Fellowship got so far ahead it made the metaverse seem less int

Reply to Jedi Republic Communication Thread in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

The worrying thing is, they're responding to the empire-hopping by hopping empires. If enough people act that way, there could be a massive chain reaction, ultimately resulting in the end of the metaverse as we know it! If I go back now, will that undo the damage I've done, or compound it by adding yet another hop to the equation? ~SDC~

Reply to Why 1 morale for new colonies? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

How many people a planet can handle depends on PQ and morale bonuses and is very complicated. Cutting taxes and creating morale boosting buildings will help. If you have two planets in a system, and one is overcrowded, one solution is to build a colony ship there. Fill it up with (say) half the system's population. Then land it on the non-overcrowded planet. That will transfer half the population of the crowded planet to the other planet. Or you could take the population to a high pq planet

Reply to Jedi Republic Communication Thread in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Wow. I had no idea me joining would inspire mass resignations. I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised. It's a bit like the way people tend to fake their own deaths rather than sit next to me. I was starting to consider staying and writing some Star Wars themed stories, but if people prefer to think of empires as rigid cliques rather than places where people are free to drop in and visit whenever they wish, perhaps I should be (sniff) going. Maybe I could destroy GROSS by joining it...

Reply to The Fellowship Halls (Fellowship of the Ring Empire Thread) in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Treachery is fun! The scores now stand at: Jedi 2376386 Fellowship 2375875 If any of you guys can submit a decent game right now, you'll be back at number one. ~SDC~

Reply to Jedi Republic Communication Thread in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Hm... What's the Star Wars equivalent of an elf poet/bard? Just visiting, probably. But at the time of writing the scores are: Jedi : 2376386 Fellowship : 2375875 ~SDC~

Reply to Cotal's at it again! in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

[quote]you're about 2000 profile points short to actually reverse the positions[/quote] Apparently not... Check it out the empires list! Don't expect this to be a permanent side-switch... I just like having the Metaverse score this close. ~SDC~

Reply to Gal Civ 1.1 scoring change vs. 1.10 in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

[quote]. Wonder if someone can hit the 60k cap with a Huge Maso or a Gigantic Crippling??? [/quote] I did it with a Large Maso (the one above medium), so I would say they can. ~SDC~

Reply to shipless military victory in Strategies Stardock Forums

100% taxes? You can do that? ~SDC~

Reply to Cotal's at it again! in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Hey, I could more-or-less put the Jedi at number one in the metaverse by switching sides at this point. And I'll do it for a big enough bribe. ~SDC~

Reply to Gal Civ 1.1 scoring change vs. 1.10 in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

44K Large Maso conquest game resubmitted, scored 60K. I think they just made a big increase to Maso scores like they said they would. Well, if they leave the cap in place, it means it'll be possible to get maximum scoring games more quickly than before, either by playing in non-gigantic galaxies or by winning culture/alliance victories. But if it goes like the last time they upped the maso scores, they'll get around to increasing the cap soon. ~SDC~

Reply to Games people play in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Tax attack You know how there's an optimum tax rate point at which you get the maximum possible income? How high can you get this point to be? Increasing the rate gradually and boosting morale in every other way seems to be the key. Today, I managed to get my taxes up to 91% without harming my income. ~SDC~

Reply to Maso Strategies in Strategies Stardock Forums

I'm trying to play an entirely cheeseless maso game. For a change, I took +70% productivity instead of diplomatic boost. Not a technique I recommend, since none of the bonus production is free. In the early stages, you can't afford to make use of it, and in the later stages, you could achieve the same thing by building productivity starbases. I also refused to: Bribe AIs to attack each other Give starships to warring AIs Bribe with 1 IP Buy starbases or transports Map the

Reply to Do they cheat? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

If you can build Dreadnaughts, you can build Antimatter Missiles. These are very effective weapons against any powerful enemy ship, as long as you get first attack. But you should focus on capturing planets, not destroying ships. ~SDC~

Reply to Do they cheat? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

We must stop meeting like this. ~SDC~

Reply to Do they cheat? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

20 corvettes cannot hope to destroy a dreadnaught - that's not the way the combat works. (Ships take turns attacking, pitting their attack rating against the others defense rating. 20 ships effectively attack one at a time.) A combat transport has apparently zero attack, but when a ship with defense higher than attack gets attacked, it gets a bonus to its attack rating equal to half its defense. I can't explain anything else you described. ~SDC~

Reply to Do they cheat? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

But the minor might sell it to all the other empires. Anyone know how often they do this? I once threw all my resources into building a fleet to take out the Scottlingas just because they had built Diplomatic Translators and I wanted to stop them giving it to anyone else. ~SDC~

Reply to Roll Call: Where're you from? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Well, when I was there, there were no earthquakes, the gasoline prices were about a third of the normal European price, and there was no Los Angeles. Well, not in the bit of California I was in. ~SDC~ [Message Edited]

Reply to Nice Bug? - Megacolonies in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I would have thought players would more commonly want to load their last saved game rather than their last autosaved game. ~SDC~

Reply to Roll Call: Where're you from? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

[quote]Is this a common thing, do a lot of English people dream of California in a romantic way? [/quote] Ah, California, the rolling hills, the wide open spaces, the mighty redwood forests, the magnificent budget deficits, the huge muscular governors... Not sure about 'romantic' as such, but I'd say it was one of the few places that almost everyone thinks of as a desirable place to be. ~SDC~

Reply to Roll Call: Where're you from? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I am another British player, born in Kinrossshire, Scotland. Earlier this year I emigrated to California, but then I had to leave the US before I could be deported. I am now back in Sussex, England, where I have lived most of my life. ~SDC~

Reply to Nice Bug? - Megacolonies in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Perfectly reasonable, apart from the 'restore last civilization' label being hugely misleading. ~SDC~

Reply to Games people play in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

[quote]Better art, or better pointless Torian killing?[/quote] Why not both? ~SDC~

Reply to Do they cheat? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

The 'highest possible return' might cause low morale and slow population growth and so lower productivity. I don't know what popularity means. The number of seats you won in the last election? ~SDC~

Reply to Do they cheat? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Minors aren't supposed to start on an equal footing. They have big initial cash reserves, but don't build starbases and rarely colonise other worlds. There is also random variation in starting position. The planet quality of earth varies from game to game. (And 60% tax rate might be too high.) ~SDC~