Matthew Downie

Reply to Perfect game in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Setting all AIs to Incredible will definitely help.

Reply to Some thoughts on the state of PC gaming... in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

[quote]was skittish on on-line distribution and after-release electronic updates because they believe piracy is a big issue [/quote] Call me cynical, but isn't it obvious that a publisher is going to be opposed to a distribution model that ultimately eliminates the need for a publisher? [quote]Right now there are only two true advantages the PC has over the console market: much higher resolution displays and potentially unlimited memory and storage space. [/quote] And mouse and

Reply to Can't give gifts in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

When it says something like, "Ah, more presents" it means that the gift would do no good for your relationship at this time. In this case, the gift is cancelled / rejected, despite the message. If you really want to give them something and don't care if they're grateful, you could trade it for one influence point.

Reply to Intra system migration in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

You can build a colony ship, launch it with, say, half the system population (half the pop of each planet), and then drop them all on the PQ28 planet. This destroys the colony ship. An automatic relocation system might be nicer, but it's usually not a serious problem.

Reply to Someone sending viruses in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

All viruses fake their 'from' address these days. A lot of annoying virus checkers send automatic responses to the innocent people whose addresses were stolen. How could it have got your address? If it's on the internet, it could have been found by an auto search and added to someone's spam list. But I'd look at anyone whose sent or received emails to/from that address. They probably got the virus accidentally, and it's stolen your email address from their inbox, outbox or address book, and it r

Reply to Morale Tips in Strategies Stardock Forums

[quote]I've noticed that getting new colonies (either through cultural or military conquest) boosts the morale of the whole empire.[/quote] Do you meant it boosts the morale of all the colonies in your empire? I didn't think it did. Or could it just boost the average morale, by spreading out the same population over a wider area? ~SDC~

Reply to just an idea i thought of, might be bad but... in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I've done GBA programming. The problems would be: Small screen, 240 by 160 resolution. New control system needed, since there's no mouse. Large amount of memory needed while running the game - seems to be over 100MB at the moment, while a GBA has to fit the whole thing in 32MB or so. GBA processor is many times slower than a modern PC - expect long pauses. Save games are too big, over a megabyte, far more than the largest battery backup memory you can get on GBA (I think).<br

Reply to Starting a game directly besides a minor? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

[quote] I usually get lots of freighters coming in from the minors. [/quote] So do I, but not from all the minors. Some trade with me, some don't. I go to the diplomacy screen and click on the button in the middle that tells me what % of their income comes from trade with me. If the number's too low, I start preparing to invade. ~SDC~

Reply to Any option about AP 1.49K in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

...and the really annoying thing is that we have no right to complain about it not working, because it's Beta. ~SDC~

Reply to Any option about AP 1.49K in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Yeah, I can't submit games either, and the fix didn't do me any good. I don't know if it's worth saving up save games and submitting them with the next patch, or if the savegames will all become invalid when that happens. ~SDC~

Reply to Renaming ships, starbases, etc -- HOW? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I think you just click on the starbase, then click on the name. ~SDC~

Reply to Starting a game directly besides a minor? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

[quote] decide not to trade with you[/quote] I meant decide not to send you freighters. They'll trade techs for techs, but once you've got all their techs and they're left behind technologically, there's nothing left to get from them apart from influence points. And to me the word 'Cashcows' suggests that they would give you large amounts of money, not techs. ~SDC~

Reply to Starting a game directly besides a minor? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Not enough said! How does that work for Maso minors who refuse to pay cash for techs, and who decide not to trade with you? ~SDC~

Reply to Starting a game directly besides a minor? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I like having minors as neighbours. They build up their planets, saving you the trouble, and when they've done a manufacturing capital and economic capital, I conquer them (unless they're doing a lot of trade with me, in which case I spare them. It's less good if you're going the pacifist route. All the minors you can meet at the start, apart from the Alexians, are incredibly culture-resistant. Still, no reason you shouldn't be able to get along. Just try to colonise the neighbouring stars b

Reply to AP Tips in Strategies Stardock Forums

Playing this mission now, normal difficulty. Altarians seemed to trade techs and money fairly. I managed to get by for a long time when the Korx didn't bother sending any transports after me. If you build no ships at all for a while, the Excalibur goes off to bother the Altarians, giving you a chance to send out a colony ship without it getting destroyed. Now, much later, I have dreadnaught tech, gravity accelerators and eye of the universe. I kept building antimatter missiles until I succes

Reply to Fundamentalists taking the in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

What makes you think high morale helps? Sometimes I set all AIs to evil and play as good. When this event comes up, the Fundies frequently take over the majority of the galaxy, even though Maso AIs tend to have 100% morale. I like the Fundies myself - good trading partners. ~SDC~

Reply to Two Starbase Questions in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I don't think he's here - it's an old thread. ~SDC~

Reply to little bit of help please. in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

There are lots of morale and overpopulation tips on the strategies forum. ~SDC~

Reply to Howdy, and Thanks! in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Wouldn't help. My name isn't up there. I'm not the leader of the Fellowship empire - I'm merely the steward, holding down the fort until the rightful emperor returns. ~SDC~

Reply to Howdy, and Thanks! in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Actually, it's pretty tough recruiting even hardened Tolkien fans to the Fellowship, when there's an empire just above us led by a guy called Theoden of Rohan. ~SDC~

Reply to Howdy, and Thanks! in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Hey, Gandalf. You might want to join an empire - that way, there will be people who are grateful for every game you submit. Just, you know, if you can find one with a theme that suits you... http://www.galciv.com/metaverse/empires.asp ~SDC~

Reply to I-league seems to take over in Strategies Stardock Forums

[quote]i got all the techs there is and i cant remember being able to build missiles?[/quote] I'm guessing you're playing with the original version of GalCiv. AMMs weren't added until later. ~SDC~

Reply to Decisions, Decisions in Strategies Stardock Forums

If you're already a long way ahead technologically, you have a good chance of winning a straight fight (if you think that would be fun). I've attacked AIs who have a military three times larger than mine and found them incapable of putting up any real defences. Try to develop all the military resources you can. Locate any he has, and buy or destroy them. Build antimatter missiles - they're cheap and capable of taking down an Avatar if you're lucky. Switch to 100% military if you have to. If the

Reply to experts: overpopulation morale effects, are there #s? in Strategies Stardock Forums

[quote]No, as your morale increases (by removing people, for example), more people will start paying taxes (being reported) and show as population growth.[/quote] I think there's more to it than that, as Phoenix says. It's not just population growth, it's an immediate effect that occurs at certain morale levels - I'm not sure which. And there's a further point that hasn't been mentioned. Say you take off half the population from all your planets. Morale will go up immediately, and you ca

Reply to experts: overpopulation morale effects, are there #s? in Strategies Stardock Forums

[quote]depending on how long the games goes...[/quote] I always find with morale resources, terraforming and so on that I can keep up with my population growth in the late game - maybe this would be less true if I wanted to hang around and research Final Frontier. The only time I find population a major problem is when I've culture-flipped an alien world, and he's stripped it of all improvements to annoy me. In that case, I have to build a colony ship and take away almost all of the popu