Game Strategy - Technology Outsourcer
aka The Techno Pimp
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GalCiv2 Forums
GalCiv2 Forums
Game Strategy - Technology Outsourcer
So having played a few games, this is a strategy that I've found working well on with a large number of races, and I've got it working as high as normal difficulty (not tried intelligent yet). I don't think it'd work well in a small map with only one or two opponents, and haven't tried it. Anyway, the general aim is to run the research for the whole galaxy to the point where they come to rely on you totally. Then.... crush them.
Prepare: You'll be relying totally on research and diplomacy, so get the biggest starting bonus you can manage here. Economy helps too, so fit your race and bonuses to that.
Start: Colony rush. Grab as many planets as you can, no matter what, although this is as much to deny the enemy resources as it is to get them yourself. Meanwhile, all your spare money should be going into research labs. Your initial planet is going to be dedicated to research, so don't build anything else.
After that, go out and make contact with everyone ASAP. buy any techs available, and sell them back to everyone else. Here the main rule kicks in - don't sell ANY diplomany tech to anyone other than minors, who you can sell everything to. You're running a strategy based on getting people to buy everything you have for as much as you can get away with. Don't give away your major advantage.
Buy your first few research labs, and keep buying them. Research a few diplomacy techs first, keep them to yourself, and meanwhile make money selling off techs other races come up with. Money in the bank is money not building tech. If you're not researching tech or building tech capacity - stop.
As soon as you can, get TRADE, and sell it off to everyone. Hopefully the AI will start making trade routes. That's ok, more money for you, and a trading galaxy is a peaceful galaxy where you don't have to waste money on defences.
If anyone (including you, Drengin scum) still wants to build up a military, buy off some of their ships in echange for tech, and either defend yourself with them, or trade them off to a rich, peaceful neighbour of theirs and incite war.
Hopefully now you're at the point where you're pumping out and selling tech faster than the other races can buy it. Great. Alternate between things like planetary improvements to trade off (encourage them to build up so they're not making warships or spending much on their own research) and improving your own research and diplomacy skills. All spare cash goes into trade routes to improve your relations, and bulking up on your economy. I rarely build factories. That takes money away from research, and you shouldn't be doing that. Your starport should only see use for any starbases you want built.
Defences - Buy in any ships you need for defence as part of your daily trading, and thanks to your superior diplomacy skills and good relations, you should be getting them for a nice discount without the hassle of having to build factories.
Weapons tech - choose a path to specialise research in and sell. Research the relevant defences and keep them for yourself, just to be safe. the other guys will spot everyone using those weapons and build the defences theirselves, but so what, your research should match or exceed the combined output of everyone else put together at this point.
Once you've settled into the "one tech for me, one tech to share" path, you're all set for the inevitable path to dominance. If you're not getting all of the AI money every time you sell your latest tech, you're not trying hard enough. Once you've got them giving nearly all their money to you - it's hard not to lose.
The only problem I've encountered with this is if you have a very militaristic neighbour who rushes you. Otherwise, diplomacy and spreading ships around should keep war from affecting you, and your "get paid 8x for each item of research, leaving the other races bankrupt" economy puts you far enough ahead to pick them off one at a time later.
I just feel a little dirty inside sometimes, because the trading AI lacks at times. When someone has a struggling economy and is possibly involved in a war or two, they shouldn't hand me all their ships and the entire contents of their bank account in return for terraforming.
Comments?
So having played a few games, this is a strategy that I've found working well on with a large number of races, and I've got it working as high as normal difficulty (not tried intelligent yet). I don't think it'd work well in a small map with only one or two opponents, and haven't tried it. Anyway, the general aim is to run the research for the whole galaxy to the point where they come to rely on you totally. Then.... crush them.
Prepare: You'll be relying totally on research and diplomacy, so get the biggest starting bonus you can manage here. Economy helps too, so fit your race and bonuses to that.
Start: Colony rush. Grab as many planets as you can, no matter what, although this is as much to deny the enemy resources as it is to get them yourself. Meanwhile, all your spare money should be going into research labs. Your initial planet is going to be dedicated to research, so don't build anything else.
After that, go out and make contact with everyone ASAP. buy any techs available, and sell them back to everyone else. Here the main rule kicks in - don't sell ANY diplomany tech to anyone other than minors, who you can sell everything to. You're running a strategy based on getting people to buy everything you have for as much as you can get away with. Don't give away your major advantage.
Buy your first few research labs, and keep buying them. Research a few diplomacy techs first, keep them to yourself, and meanwhile make money selling off techs other races come up with. Money in the bank is money not building tech. If you're not researching tech or building tech capacity - stop.
As soon as you can, get TRADE, and sell it off to everyone. Hopefully the AI will start making trade routes. That's ok, more money for you, and a trading galaxy is a peaceful galaxy where you don't have to waste money on defences.
If anyone (including you, Drengin scum) still wants to build up a military, buy off some of their ships in echange for tech, and either defend yourself with them, or trade them off to a rich, peaceful neighbour of theirs and incite war.
Hopefully now you're at the point where you're pumping out and selling tech faster than the other races can buy it. Great. Alternate between things like planetary improvements to trade off (encourage them to build up so they're not making warships or spending much on their own research) and improving your own research and diplomacy skills. All spare cash goes into trade routes to improve your relations, and bulking up on your economy. I rarely build factories. That takes money away from research, and you shouldn't be doing that. Your starport should only see use for any starbases you want built.
Defences - Buy in any ships you need for defence as part of your daily trading, and thanks to your superior diplomacy skills and good relations, you should be getting them for a nice discount without the hassle of having to build factories.
Weapons tech - choose a path to specialise research in and sell. Research the relevant defences and keep them for yourself, just to be safe. the other guys will spot everyone using those weapons and build the defences theirselves, but so what, your research should match or exceed the combined output of everyone else put together at this point.
Once you've settled into the "one tech for me, one tech to share" path, you're all set for the inevitable path to dominance. If you're not getting all of the AI money every time you sell your latest tech, you're not trying hard enough. Once you've got them giving nearly all their money to you - it's hard not to lose.
The only problem I've encountered with this is if you have a very militaristic neighbour who rushes you. Otherwise, diplomacy and spreading ships around should keep war from affecting you, and your "get paid 8x for each item of research, leaving the other races bankrupt" economy puts you far enough ahead to pick them off one at a time later.
I just feel a little dirty inside sometimes, because the trading AI lacks at times. When someone has a struggling economy and is possibly involved in a war or two, they shouldn't hand me all their ships and the entire contents of their bank account in return for terraforming.
Comments?
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