All this talk has got me thinking.

from Stardock Forums
I've never even submitted a game to the metaverse. I guess all these angry threads have made me think what would score well, based on the exploits I know.

FOr those MV vets, which of these work/don't work?

Pregame
=======
Allied to everyone
9 opponents - all the better to trade with
Suicidal -cos that just increases the rate that the other civs get/do things
Tech trading on in setup.
Enable conquest only in setup
Max planets and max stars in setup.
Galaxy size prob should be as big as you can stand, given how boring this game is going to be.
Max out pop growth and backfill with economy picks.

Start
Tech trade everything you can
Rush build Aphrodsiac ASAP. Give it away. You want the AI to be expanding as quickly as you.
Build farms as soon as you are approaching max pop on any planet.
Do you need to keep them happy? my guess is that you don't need to keep them that happy if you've maxed your pop growth in picks and wonders
(is the -ve pop growth for 1% popularity outweighed by the +ve of having maxed out the pop growth in setup?)
Get Restaurant

Mid game
Head down max weapon damage route. Build more and more ships and keep them docked at home
Avoid any defences or engines on ships as hp and attack matter
Does spin centre affect your military score... i.e. does it fool the scoring as well as the opponents AI.
If so build it ASAP.
Grab resources, by bribing the AI's to attack each other wherever you've not got one. Max out mining modules on resources wherever possible.
Go neutral for NLC's and PQ improvements
Lots of constructors to build influence and production as applicable
Get other influence wonder. There are other wonders which are probably useful in building a big score. I'll have to look at the decriptions as they come up.

Mop up
Flip planets with culture rather than war. That way you keep their populations.
Continue reasearching even when the tree is done
Continue building til you've flatlined all the graphs and then keep pressing turn until you fall asleep or get RSI.
metaverse
31,992 views 17 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Friendly is the highest relationship setting for a MV game...
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Tech trade everything you can


Bad idea, u get a lot more points for researching a tech rather then trading it.

Do you need to keep them happy? my guess is that you don't need to keep them that happy if you've maxed your pop growth in picks and wonders


A happy people are a high scoring people, u got to keep them happy.

Does spin centre affect your military score... i.e. does it fool the scoring as well as the opponents AI.
If so build it ASAP.


No, I don't think it does, neither do starbases. Think its just based on ship stats. Military resource may effect it.

Finally only sado's and metaverse freaks would play a game like this. U know them people who hate having fun...
WindowBlinds - Free yourself of the default settings, customize your desktop.
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Meglobob

Sorry I guess I forgot to say I'm only using this thread to guess what the exploits on the Metaverse are. I've heard about players claiming 200K-300K games completed within 4 game years on gigantic Universes.

I've no reason to doubt their truthfulness, just wondered what sort of mindless exploit they could be using.

As I said I've played prob 30-40 games and haven't been bothered to submit one. My scores are pityful - around 25-30K. I play on conquest, medium maps, suicidal with tech trading off...

Are you sure it is the doing the research yourself rather than spending your research dollars that gets you the points... I'd heard that you carry on getting points even after finishing the tech tree... Which means it is points spent not what they achieve... Therefore trade as much as you can but carry on spending past the end of the tree seems the way to max points.

I don't think I'll ever submit a game... Sad really but like most things in life if you are going to judge yourself by metrics then you've got to be sure that it is an accurate measure... and sure as anything mv scores are not accurately reflecting playing strength. Just a whole new set of cheesy exploits to "break" the game with.


Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I've deliberately not asked him for many details, because I really don't want to know too much about it. That one guy's high scores are partly due to having gargantuan population and he's found some foolproof method to grab nearly everything during the colony rush and keep the AI under thumb long enough to exterminate them.

Plus it's on suicial, which gives a bonus to the score. Plus it's an extremely short game, so more points. And another bonus for it ending on a military victory rather than diplo or tech victory.
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
mikeswi...

I guess I'm the curious sort. To get a gigantic universe over so quickly means that something is seriously broken. My guess is that somehow they are in colonize mode for the whole game.




Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hi!
I don't think I'll ever submit a game... Sad really but like most things in life if you are going to judge yourself by metrics then you've got to be sure that it is an accurate measure... and sure as anything mv scores are not accurately reflecting playing strength.

As I already stated I play for fun. But if I want to put some meat behind my posts on forums I need to show I can play. So I played metaverse games.
Franky, what I check in metaverse scores isn't points, but number of games played and their difficulty settings, and that can't be faked.

BR, Iztok
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
@Iztok Bitenc
I've never looked at your scores but I can tell from your posts that you can play.

I guess the numbers mean something, but even the number of games and the difficulty settings don't mean a right lot.

@Purge
Thanks. Shows I never play Metaverse games. Still seems a huge advantage to set everyone to friendly, if for no other reason than immediately being able to tech trade.

Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Don't know if your guys are doing this but if 1 were to take advantage of the save/load feature of an extra round of ship moves when it was to their advantage, they could probably dominate even suicidal level. Sort of hard to believe that there aren't any players out there taking advantage of the feature. I do alright without taking advantage of it myself on suicidal gigantic maps but i'm not into scores just finding a strategy/strategies that'll win. And until they firm up the foundation of the game don't think i'ld be impressed with anyones scores.
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
Well having spoken to unfunf I think his "exploit" is just "good" gaming. There doesn't seem to be any weird bug that he is taking advantage of as such... certainly no huge reloads, blockading planet, allying to everyone.

I guess he just wants to make the AI better.
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The save load lose a production turn bug will die in the next 1.3 release according to carielf.

Couldn't be soon enough for me.
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
never play Metaverse games



With all due respect, maybe I misunderstood what the medals at the bottom of many people's posts represent. I thought those were the result of playing Metaverse games. Where, in fact, do they come from?
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
@jimmyb2

They are the result of Metaverse play...He's posted a game since the original post.

@xpyre

Setting the relationship setting is a huge advantage, otherwise you have to wait until you encounter a race to tech trade. Also, it lets you trade things you don’t want your immediate neighbors to have to the far side of the galaxy where it is no threat.

@megablob

I second xpyre’s earlier research comments. In addition, if you tech trade, the advantages in technology let you score more points earlier in the other categories. For instance, you are building ships that are worth more points at an earlier date. I have played games at different tech settings, the higher the tech pace, in general, the better the score.
Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
@purge

ta.

@Jimmyb2
I did change my mind and post a single game. Since which I talked to unf about what he is doing. He is just a bright boy who has a regimented way of playing. No exploits really.

I guess there are people out there who are prepared to spend a heck of a lot of time to get great scores... I don't think I am.
Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Actually my point is to try to spend the least time possible getting good scores .
Reply #15 from Stardock Forums Top
@unfunf... good point.
Reply #16 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
@megablob

I second xpyre’s earlier research comments. In addition, if you tech trade, the advantages in technology let you score more points earlier in the other categories. For instance, you are building ships that are worth more points at an earlier date. I have played games at different tech settings, the higher the tech pace, in general, the better the score.


Are you sure it is the doing the research yourself rather than spending your research dollars that gets you the points... I'd heard that you carry on getting points even after finishing the tech tree... Which means it is points spent not what they achieve... Therefore trade as much as you can but carry on spending past the end of the tree seems the way to max points.


Having thought about it, u r both right it is how many tech points u spend each turn and getting tech quickly will result in a high score. The reason the AI's were outscoring me in tech is because they were getting a big research bonus and thus producing more research points. Thanks for helping me figure that one out. I thought by making the game harder I would score more points but in the metaverse this is not true, always.
Reply #17 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
mikeswi...

I guess I'm the curious sort. To get a gigantic universe over so quickly means that something is seriously broken. My guess is that somehow they are in colonize mode for the whole game.


May be that could be achieved by blocking access to one single planet with 8 ships surrounding it. If the ai does not react to that, then you would occassionally have to open one field (but just make sure the armada of colony ships coming over does not get to colonize the planet by closing in the right time again).
Very cheesy, but could work.