HydroAC

Reply to Altarian Rebillion AAR in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

I have to admit I appreciate Wyndstar’s can-do spirit, willingness to experiment, ruthless determination, and insight. There’s nothing like an honest to goodness demonstration to blast hardened opinions to little tiny pieces. That is why I like the AARs - I learn much more by reviewing an example than by uber-scores or quip-like tactical throwaway comments. The former gives no understanding of how (and suggests twisting the mechanics to up the score) and the latter lacks context. <

Reply to Altarian Rebillion AAR in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

Master Wyndstar, Thank you for an excellent AAR. I appreciate the insights of your thought process, tricks, tactics, and your thinking-outside-of-the-box strategies that makes for a top notch read. What I particularly enjoyed was how you were able to use unconventional strategies, and also how you demonstrated how various Super Abilities can be used to better effect. For those of us who are **ahem** more linear thinkers this was a real eye opener. Very nicely written, too: cle

Reply to Getz AAR: Super Breeder in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

May 2230 The Terrans have been eliminated. In early March 2230 I finished the Tir Quan, which increased my ground combat and that is always a good thing. I had fleets positioned to the Terran’s east and a few ships to the north. My first cruiser showed up for the adventure. When I had accumulated three fleets of 3 transports and 3 fleets of ships (logistics 15) I declared war and moved in on March 2230. A few other straggler ships and transports also moved in from the west with a few sc

Reply to Getz AAR: Super Breeder in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

May 2229 The two minor races are now conquered. The Jessians were subjugated in January 2229 and the Lentzlandians in May 2229. In the process I worked through shock troops and also planetary defense for a total invasion bonus of 45%, which is more than enough against minor races. I also had to research 2 levels of logistics to get it up to 15 so I could group 3 transports for 6B troops during an invasion. My ground combat plus technology advantage meant only 1 transport was deployed an

Reply to Tech trading off option in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

No tech trading is a different game. Tech is more valuable, which means a couple of things: • Getting tech via espionage might make it espionage more valuable since • Invading is more powerful due to the free tech. After all, if you can’t trade – just invade! • You don’t have Group AI Research. If you’ve poked around the turn files you’ll see quite a bit of AI to AI tech trading going on, with a shocking number of good deals – none of which you’ll get as a human player. The AI e

Reply to Getz AAR: Super Breeder in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

As to war, well it's too late. My alignment was ever so slightly 'good' (just a touch above neutral) and I got a generic message stating "The Korath have declared war on the Altarians. Do you as a good aligned race want to support them?" or something like that. Note that I am not 'good' but just lean that way. After giving it a moment of thought I decided I did want to take on the Korath. I’d recently finished conquering 2 minor races and was at loose ends. Although the Terrans are an e

Reply to Getz AAR: Super Breeder in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

March 2228 The turns have slipped by, I’ve gotten a little lethargic and I need to stir things up. I’ve researched through laser 3 and have gotten 1st level miniaturization so my speedy little frigates now have an attack of 3. Having one or two planets producing these keeps my military rating at the top, which is good. I’ve researched industrial, research, and trade planet improvements, so almost all my planets are busy. I’ve also gotten the first terraforming technology so my planets c

Reply to Alpha Squad in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

Yikes! The images are too small to read. **sniff** Is there a way to enlarge them? Hydro

Reply to Getz AAR: Super Breeder in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

tetleytea, I can't comment on the Torians vs the custom Super Breeder since I never played them before. In many of my games the Torian AI has a similar population growth curve, which results in a very good early economy and relatively high influence. The main difference here is the speed +2 pick, which was tough since I had to sacrifice quite a bit of other techs to get it. Hydro

Reply to Getz AAR: Super Breeder in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

May 2227 I now have 10 worlds with the colonization of 2 high-grav worlds (PQ12 and PQ3), which beats the AI which has a maximum of 6. [URL=http://imageshack.us] [/URL] Image 7: galaxy map in May 2227 My empire is somewhat coherent, and I have wrapped around the Terran. Overall I think the speed advantage has paid off well, as has high-gravity colonization. Every edge counts, even if the tec

Reply to Getz AAR: Super Breeder in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

November 2226 My colony ship finally made it to Macrinus IV (PQ11), one of the rare planets in this galaxy. It is also the planet paired with Macrinus I – a PQ19 jewel that will be an economic powerhouse in years to come. Now I have 7 planets, which edges out the Terrans with 6. I recently met the Yor. They are stuck in the far corner with no planets, so I was actually a little surprised they were out so far. When my survey ship met them there were scouts, their survey ship, an

Reply to Getz AAR: Super Breeder in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

Well, thanks all! I had to stop since I have to work and have a rather long drive for family events over the Easter weekend. GalCiv2-induced sleep deprivation and driving don't mix. My early colonies are already near max population, which is pretty darn good. They’re still hemorrhaging cash, so I may have to divert research to get more economy techs and building improvements under my belt. Perhaps this would make sense since it amplifies my advantages (high population). This would delay

Reply to Getz AAR: Super Breeder in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

August 2226 I thought I was in for a long colonization dry spell and then my speed 5 colony ship that was snooping around the edge of Terran space found the Marcrinus system with PQ19 and PQ11 planets! I immediately snapped up the PQ19 planet, and a colony ship is finishing at my capital next turn and hopefully I can grab the PQ11 planet before the Terran. Fortunately it appears the Terran’s economy has imploded since research and industry has collapsed. Good. Not to be mean, but I like

Getz AAR: Super Breeder in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

Isn’t imitation the sincerest form of flattery? I read the AAR by Wargazmo (GalCiv 2 forum), who ran a custom Super Breeder. He also had a number of picks I hadn't considered. So, since I haven’t tried Super Breeder of the picks I though I’d give it a go. My settings are similar if not identical to Wargazno’s: +2 speed, +30% economics, +20% morale with populist party (+10% diplomacy and +10% morale). I want happy and economically productive breeders. For technology I selected 3 propulsion techs

Reply to Altarian AAR in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

March 2231 In February I took the Drengin and former Iconian capitals. More Korx, Drengin, and Arcean planets are defecting to the Altarians, so I’m coasting to victory: Arceans – 6 planets, 183 research Korx – 16 planets, 475 research Drengin – 6 planets, 59 research Altarian – 54 planets, 1171 research. [URL=http://imageshack.us] [/URL] Image 10: Galaxy in March 2231 I’m re

Reply to The Bloodbath.... a tale of war and conquest. in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

I second the motion. Very nip and tuck. I like how you used your abilities to the hilt, had a clear strategy to optimize your bonuses, and kept focus. Small and rare is not necessarily less epic! Every planet counts, and it does avoid the huge grind and tedium of big galaxies. I've always run a fairly even split for military/social/research. I'll have to try maxing one or the other. So, congrats on a well earned win! General comments: you have a good narrative voice,

Reply to Screenshots in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Tabing out of the game used to crash the game for me, so be careful. My CPU is slighlty above the recommended CPU. The problem was largely solved when I upgraded from 512MB to 1.5GB RAM. Hydro

Reply to AI not expanding (v 1.50X.072) - Dark Avatar in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

I had this problem too. What I think happened is that I was fiddling with the AIs and my fiddling carried over to subsequent games. It seems that previous settings are saved, which is a nice feature - except when the AIs are turned into mouth breathing morons! I'm pretty careful now to check the AIs after I've fiddled with the AIs for any reason. Hydro

Reply to Minor Races- Questions in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Minor races that come later in the game have comparable tech. In a recent game the Vegans showed up with Beyond Mortality, which I’d just finished researching. I got a warning that they were about to get a technology victory! Fortunately for me I got the tech victory the next turn. Otherwise, minor races have never been a threat. I’ve never seen them expand, and by the time there are wars raging they get eaten like popcorn. I have to admit I like conquering them since their planets hav

Reply to The Bloodbath.... a tale of war and conquest. in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

Yikes! No touchy-feely can't-we-all-be friends in this scenario. Did you specifically select this setup to have neighbors to beat up on? You had nowhere to go – but to your neighbors. Also, I noticed your homeworld had almost no factories. The early transport must be very cheap to produce or take a really long time. Perhaps having no engines makes them cheap? I’d have thought that with this few planets that more than slight specialization would be a liability. I’ll stay tuned.<

Reply to Alpha Squad in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

GalCiv2 humor! Love it!

Reply to Extortion in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

Dominators worthless in mid and late game? Not true! You can scrap them for cash! They can literally dominate the early game. The Drengin AI is good at declaring war on everyone, getting peace (for a price), and then declaring war again. Swarms of Dominators are difficult to deal with. Hydro

Reply to Always a negative income starting the game in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I play my early economy for a ‘soft landing’. Like other have mentioned, I decrease taxes until I get 100% morale at my low pop world (which isn’t hard); higher population worlds have morale that is lower, but that is OK. In the early game this costs next to nothing, but the growth is significant over time. Since population = taxes this is a good thing. My income is always lower than the AIs, but my population is absolutely huge. When most planets are established (~3B to 6B) I’ll increase my tax

Reply to Altarian AAR in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

Iceciro – why thank you, and please do an AAR! GalCiv2 is a solitary game, so it is useful to see how others deal with situations. My overall take is that there is rarely one ‘right’ solution, but that all solutions have consequences – which is the interesting part! Master Wyndstar – your comments are exactly why I started posting the AARs. I can be rather…linear, so seeing other ways of approaching a problem is a good way to strip off the blinders. Hydro

Reply to Altarian AAR in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

December 2230 The Yor – blast their mechanical hearts – surrendered to the Korx in November. This was a little irritating since I’d build the Hall of Empathy, which is supposed to double the chance of a race surrendering to you. So now the Iconians and Torians surrender to the Drengin instead of their friends the Altarians, but the Yor surrender to the Korx. What is ironic is that this now makes the Korx, who had been an also ran, a player since they have a similar number of p