Peter Harris

Do I need an internet connection to play GalCiv3? in GalCiv III Support GalCiv3 Forums

I do not have an internet connection at home. I was planning to buy a boxed game and load it. Can I load the game and play without an Internet connection? Thanks :)

Reply to Galactic Civilizations II: Would you purchase a multiplayer expansion? in GalCiv II News GalCiv2 Forums

As I don't play games on the internet I would have no use for multiplayer, at any price. OTH I do buy your expansion packs when I see them on the shelf in a local store. I am very reluctant to buy on the internet. More particularly, when I buy software I want a disc so I will always have that game without any dependence on a supplier maintaining an internet presence. (eg I still play MOO2 and Civ2 although the producer, Microprose, no longer exists). I bough

Reply to Colony Module Difficulties in Modding GalCiv2 Forums

I believe you can have more than one module after you research enough miniaturisation techs to fit two modules and an engine on a cargo hull. (Researching drives can get you smaller engines too). It is then just a question of going to the shipyard to design and save your ship. (I have done this with transports IIRC but haven't actually tried it with colony ships). BTW Did you join the Apolyton forum recently?

I can't save a file. Why? in Modding GalCiv2 Forums

I am trying to change a file and then save it but my computer won't let me save it. What do I need to do to save a file? More details: I open the custom planets file, using wordpad, and change the value of my home planet from 10 to 15. I then hit the save button and get the message "access denied". Next I try to do this using notepad and have no sucess overwriting the existing file. I have Windows Vista on my computer. BTW. I have

Reply to A Bunch of Questions in Strategies Stardock Forums

1. There are definitely no life resources. They were removed before the game was released (although they are mentioned in the manual). 2. There is no means of ascertaining the economic might of a minor. You can see the population and military strength in the diplomacy screens, you can see income and expense for each planet on the galaxy map and that is about it. (Every now and again you get a pop up telling you galactic rating) 3. I understand that minors do have a morality. I

Reply to Thank-you and noob questions in Strategies Stardock Forums

QUOTE (from above post by PrimusPilot) .... I think I sat with my jaw open for twenty minutes when I first came to the website and saw that the lead designer was not only posting, but posting current and legitimate information, .... ENDQUOTE Even more impressive: The Stardock people not only read and post on this forum but also on other fori giving out information, responding to queries, looking for player feedback etc etc etc! (eg. The lead designer wanders over to the

Reply to How do you get a relation of close with Minor Races? in Strategies Stardock Forums

To get "close" with a minor: - give them a free tech or two every so often, no harm giving them techs the majors already have - give them some of your trade goods for free - establish a trade route with them and relations will improve over time (one will be enough it need not be starbase enhanced) - you could give them a free planet but there is really no need to go that far (unless you also wish to strengthen them) - you could also give them a free fully decked out starbas

Reply to Heck forget expansion pack--I'd just like to see an improved UI! in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

On the upside. I reckon the UI is darn good compared to most other games. :)

Reply to Questions for Stardock about tech in Mods Stardock Forums

So far as I know only one race (Arceans) has a defined research path. Eventually, the AI does research everything so can add stuff at the top of the tech tree. You can add stuff lower down the tech tree but I have not yet figured out to get the AI to give a high priority to a particular tech. Someone will research it in their own sweet time. The workaround is to not add techs that are really valuable because the AI will take its time getting around to that tech whereas the human would r

Reply to How do you keep your spending levels UP? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Adding a little to the point made by Gibbie99 about not putting many buildings on low value planets. You need population to fill your transports so take the population from those low value worlds. Leave the few really juicy planets fully populated.

Another use for a minor. in Strategies Stardock Forums

I was playing a game the other day and got into wars with all of the other majors so, as you can imagine, I was somewhat outnumbered. I noticed that several of my minor allies had Overlords with far more hitpoints then mine. I gave a system near the Torians to the Scotlingas (who had very hitpoints on their ships) together with several Overlords. The Scotlingas killed off the Torian ships as fast as the Torians could produce them. One problem solved. Elsewhere the Carinoids wer

Reply to Questions for Stardock about tech in Mods Stardock Forums

Umh, that may be it "an AI line". Maybe I forgot to include that in my new techs. I shall check tonight. thankyou. :)

Reply to Questions for Stardock about tech in Mods Stardock Forums

I just ran an experiment partly to see if there is a fixed research sequence and partly to see if i might have somehow stuffed up my custom tchs. I removed the prerequisite for universal translators (so i could immediately research to find out what everyone else was researching). I set up a game in a tiny galaxy at normal difficulty, researched translators, built scouts and contacted everyone ASAP. The research sequence for all races, exept the Drengin, was the same up until at least un

Reply to Question To All Galactic Cilization Players in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Umh, well I think HercMighty is correct in which case it seems OK for you to innocently ask such things. OTH If you are an adult what the hell possesses you to post on another game companies message board asking such questions?

Questions for Stardock about tech in Mods Stardock Forums

First the background to put my queries into a context. I modified the tech tree in an attempt to create a pre-warp scenario. I left the GalCiv tech untouched but put in about 25 extra techs in a tree culminating in "Interstellar Colonisation" which I made the prerequisite tech for the basic techs on the standard GalCiv tech tree (ie those techs that normally have no prerequisite. I found that every major and minor AI civ completely ignored my pre-warp techs and instead immediat

Reply to Frog, Cari: Any improvements to mid/late game AI planned? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Getting back to the original subject of this post, if I may. A spot of modding to reduce the maintenance cost of the various planetary improvements does a lot to keep the AI vigorous and competitive up to and beyond the dreadnought stage. I play at Normal or Challenging and now find, after 5 minutes modding maintenance costs downwards, that the game is no longer decided by the time I get battleships or often even dreadnoughts. It seems to me that there is not a problem with the AI but

Reply to Something i'd REALLY like to see... in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I like your idea, that would be very useful for crafting a game to ones own liking. :)

Reply to Minors and the I-League in Strategies Stardock Forums

So far I have only seen planets defecting from a major do one of the following, and always immediately: - join another major - join the I-League - join the Fundamentalists I have not seen any defecting planet become independent.

Reply to Freakin' Altarians... in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Umh, I think the Altarians are just as nasty as the Drengins! Both races are equally prone to extortion and violence. I see messages such as "the Arceans are paying tribute to the Altarians to survive" although they are allied. Also messages that "the Altarians have a campaign to destabilise the Torians" even though they are allied. The only thing either AI understands is brute force. If you got more than them they leave you alone. If you have less both will bully you. Alignme

Reply to A.I. loyalty? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I usually give a minor a nice system in my space and send all of my trade to that system with plenty of trade enhancing starbase modules. I make a ton of money and the minor makes a ton of money. The minor has the cash to support a powerful fleet to defend itself against the majors. I sell some techs and trade goods to this minor but give plenty of freebies. My trade is uninterrupted, the minor never attacks me but I can usually bribe it to help out with that huge fleet if needs be. The

Reply to Cultural Rebellion, how do you stop it? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Three options available: 1. Build things that resist alien influences. The News Network is IIRC the first such improvement available, others come later. 2. Enhance your own culture with culture enhancing improvements and starbase modules. Bear in mind that culture spills over from one sector to another. If, for example, you have a culture rating of 100 in a particular sector then about a quarter of that spills over into adjacent sectors so they should each have about 25 of your culture.

Reply to United Planets Concept. in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Look at it another way. The UP issues are the only important things that come up. All other UP stuff is just administrative trivia. Seems realistic that such an organisation would devote most of its time to trivia (to keep the bearueacrats busy) with only a few important items coming up. Maybe your empire put up some of those resolutions? :) ;)

Reply to Known Bugs / Cheese Listing (Game Mechanics Only) in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

It seems that the AI tries to build every improvement on every planet with the consequence that it saddles itself with a lot of improvements that are worse than useless. It builds an economic millstone around its own neck as there are so many improvements available that really ought never be built or at best built only on the very best planets. This can be easily fixed by modding the opreating costs of the buildings. BTW This is also a trap for new players. In my first game I t

Reply to Known Bugs / Cheese Listing (Game Mechanics Only) in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I think the cost of a starbase should be tied to the greater of either: - the value to the selling AI civ: or - the value to the buying human civ (Using Staffa's example of a starbase adding 20,000bc per turn then the AI should realise the starbase is of immense value to you and charge accordingly) I have only purchased a resource starbase once. Handed over a planet for it on a medium abundant map. So cheap it seemed like a cheese so I haven't done it since. (It was worth far mo

Reply to Question: how to get a balanced, long lasting game? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Umh, making the game last a bit longer? I find the AI tend to drag themselves down by building everything everywhere. There are a great many buildings that are rarely, if ever worth building. The AI thus builds a huge economic millstone around its' own neck. I tried reducing the operating cost of every building so that it would be worth building. The results seem gratifying. Later in the game the AI races have more vigour as they have not "built themselves into the ground". I a