Diplomatic/Economic win always ends in tragedy

from GalCiv2 Forums
Being of fan of the economic/diplomatic win, I often find myself in a position where myself and one other alien race become the powerhouses of the galaxy. What happens then is that the other race is typically a super-power by virtue of militaristic expansion and I have to sit idly by and watch as every minor player gets sucked up into their empire over time as the result of conquest. Typically at the half-way point of the game I am faced with the ugly situation that I have to conquer my friends and neighbors SOLELY for the purpose of keeping them out of the hands of the "other" superpower. Essentially, I have to seize them first even though I would prefer to play nice and keep playing the 'economic game' instead.

Aside from feeding weapons and money into the failing fodder empires, is there another way to deal with this problem? I hate having to destroy my neighbors in order to save them.
economics
20,473 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Surgical strikes against your enemy? I've found the AI will sue for peace after a few losses. I've found success with fast moving strike forces taking out starbases and a few planets then working hard to survive the counterattack then suing for peace. Depending on how the map is spread out, the AI's tendency to produce slow moving ships can make it easy to flank it's defenses and survive the slow counterattack, especially if you don't plan on holding onto the areas you just conquered. Some of the planetary invasion options can leave the planet a pretty big mess so losing it back isn't such a bad thing.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
launch attcks against the aggresor, make an alliance with your neighbours. giving them tech and ships improves your relations with them.

My favourite trick is if i feel a freind is losing badly pump out the constructors build a military starbase over one of the main combat points pile on the assist modules and the defence and weapons then gift it to said race along with a few ships.

More than once i've seen the AI scramble for cover when all of a sudden their former victim is now a gigantic powerhouse within the ranger of influence of that star base.
Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Just a passing thought, but could you use your influence & cash to instigate a multi-front war against the other super power? There would certainly be losses, but if your primary foe is having to divide attention between three or four fronts, that may weaken it to the point where some of the lesser civilizations could make headway, not to mention the Snathi
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
From my personal experience, I've beaten the game through sheer force of culture alone. If you focus on culture rather than weapons, you may have a better shot. In fact almost every time one of my worlds was taken over, I got it back in a few turns because the planet revolted and came back into the fold. And if you research Xeno Ethics and decide to align yourself with "Good", you can create that one improvement that will automatically have any race who surrenders, give themselves up to you.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
And if you research Xeno Ethics and decide to align yourself with "Good", you can create that one improvement that will automatically have any race who surrenders, give themselves up to you.

No, the "Hall of Empathy" only increases this chance, it doesn't give a guarantee.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
If you're having problems dealing with an opposing super-power, obviously you aren't being enough of a political animal. Come on, man. You're a human! Get creative with this stuff.

Convince allies to engage in war. Support the underdogs. Build up a few ships and hit him while he's busy killing weaklings. Sell the victims totally awesome battleships that you made. Give them technology that will directly counter their opponents. Heck, you could just pay the superpower alien to make peace if you're looking to buy time.

As for it always ending in tragedy.. I win damn near every Freeform game through influence and I'm not even trying.

..seriously, I turn influence victories off just so I can research the higher tier stuff.
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I always ask the aggressor to make peace with the little people. Then help those little people build up fast. Give them $$$, ships, starbases, and anything else i can do to help them. Doesnt always work but prevents me going to war.

Not that i dont mind war, i just personaly like to build my empire in peace. If i have to go all out i will.
Why i personaly feel there needs to be more diplomatic options in game.
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
..seriously, I turn influence victories off just so I can research the higher tier stuff.


Same here, I got tired of influence victories, so I turn off the option. I've only run into a problem with enemy influence once, in the last game I played on a gigantic map. Unfortunately, the Drath managed to get ahold of two influence resources and the Resteraunt of Eternity. My 1 influence resource just wasn't cutting it (especially since I hadn't really upgraded it besides some basic defenses), but I wasn't about to allow my citizens to be corrupted by the Drath's culture. I am the one true source of goodness and light, it says so once every 15 minutes on all the entertainment channels, and I'm not going to let the Drath make them think otherwise. So to stop them I went to war (reluctantly of course, it was a real hard decision to stab one of my allies in the back, I had to ponder it for at least 10 minutes, maybe 15), took a few of the most populous planets, then sued for peace. Unfortunaely, the Korx used this and the money I gave them as an excuse to move in on the Drath (who for some odd reason, didn't have many ships left. Maybe it was the design flaw that made them blow up when my ships wandered anywhere near them), and 2 turns later they surrendered to the Torians.

Of course, that meant that I now had 3 influence resources, one of them upgraded most of the way in an attempt to deal with the Drath. 20 turns later, the outcome was pretty clear, so I decided to go ahead and upgrade the rest of the influence resources. After annother 20 turns or so, the entire gigantic map (and I mean the whole dang thing, every single square) was my color, and I was gaining 1-4 planets per turn from rebels. Some of the planets I kept taking over were half filled with embassies, so once they finally flipped, it just started snowballing. At the end of that game, I had a logistics ability of over 50, since I kept getting the hyperion logistics centers of other races. I was trying for 60 so I could have a fleet of 10 Huge ships, but the last race surrendered before I got there.

And man, I really need a spell checker on these forums.