Hmm, does anyone else agree that having a good starting position was more important back in GalCiv 1? I remember to have used it quite frequently back then, I'm not using it that often with GalCiv 2.

Don't rember much from GC1. But I agree you should not restart. My last game I had 2 empires around me. I out colonized them and they could not expand past the Initial colony rush (another thing to rember the AI fizzles out after about 6 planets colonized and gives you amble room to surround them).

Of course If your into Neatness it does not look pretty with a couple of AI civs in middle of your empire. But after you get Built up they do not last long and have no real chance agaist you.

Craig what Difficulty do you play and map size? Moral effects Population growth which will effect Colonization, and taxes in the end

Yea, seriously, the high tax rate doesn't work too well without the 70% population bonus. Without it, the high taxes cause population to expand so slowly, the increased revenue isn't justified. With 1.31, I've been playing as Yor with gigantic universe, everything abundant, masochistic difficulty, and 8 races. I disable the Iconians partially because they're the same color as the Korx and also because there's too many good races when playing as an evil race.

The corner is the best in my opinion. As long as you have some stars above you. You dont have to worry about getting flanked or anything

The corner is the best in my opinion. As long as you have some stars above you. You dont have to worry about getting flanked or anything

Yea, it's nice to know they can't hit you from behind. But, you can do well from a middle position. I've played games both ways and don't have a particular preference. I mainly go for a good clump of stars with some distance between me and any other race. If I'm right smack in the middle of the board in a good clump of stars and there aren't any races right on top of me, I'll take it.

because you can out Colonize the AI everytime if you do it right

My hat is off to you if you can out colonize the AI on suicidal in v1.31. I used to be able to (barely) out colonize suicidal AI in v1.2 but in my first v1.31 I basically got my a** kicked. I think with a lot of work and adjustments I can achieve parity with suicidal AI in v1.31 but out colonize them everytime, I don't think so.

I got a question pertaining to the opening moves. I remember reading back during 1.2 about if you only buy one factory at the start, build the first then buy the second to not waste MP. I was wondering if this is still the case? Thanks.   

About the original post... I think there's plenty of room for disagreement.

My hat is off to you if you can out colonize the AI on suicidal in v1.31. I used to be able to (barely) out colonize suicidal AI in v1.2 but in my first v1.31 I basically got my a** kicked. I think with a lot of work and adjustments I can achieve parity with suicidal AI in v1.31 but out colonize them everytime, I don't think so.

Agreed Mumble - they are much better now. On a gigantic, loose cluster, abundant everything (which yields about 500 habitable planets), against 6-9 AI, I would generally have colonised around 120-130 planets in the rush with 1.2. This is down to 75-90 in my games so far with 1.31. Still makes me the single most powerful empire, but not so far ahead.

I've been playing as Yor with gigantic universe,

Try playing a 1 v 1 against the Yor at suicidal on 1.31, ctrl-N for a balanced position for both, and watch them completely own you in the colonisation race - their miniaturization bonus is so powerful early on.

pretty much the only thing i agree with is the building of a basic factory on your first turn. i always research weapons first. i prefer to be in a corner. i try to keep my moral above 70. i dont upgrade my colony ship. i settle only one more planet. then i work on making a powerful but small fleet. this way noone declares war on me and i can pretty much destroy anyone that comes inside my territory. then i slowly expand outwards. I've only lost 2 games out of who knows how many this way.

Wow! great discussion!

First, the a button is the auto-survey button and that is what I meant, my bad.

As for what games type I play, I play gigantic, scattered, abundant everything, normal or above settings.

I actually re-launch my initial colony ship with 1 colonist and upgrade it immediately. Then I re-launch it after the upgrade with full capacity. This way you get max population growth on your homeworld while the colony ship upgrades for one turn. It may not make much difference (I've never crunched the numbers), but, as you say, the first turn is the most important.

The technique I describe always upgrades the colony ship in one turn over the turn break, so you do not lose any time or movement.

Lots of comments about restarting in the corner. I wrote this as a guide for newer players, to give them the best starting position. There is an awful lot more in strategy and techniques after this. I play a game where I use aggressive colonization and production to dominate the game quickly. At first I thought that a corner position would be perfect as it secured my flanks. After playing a number of games I found the time it takes to develop the technologies for warfare secured my flanks just fine until I could build my race into an economic engine that could outproduce anyone, and therefore dominate militarily. Being in the middle allowed me a much greater chance to grab choice planets and resources that I simply could not reach in time if I am in a corner or to one side. I have won plenty of gamed where I was cornered or sidelined, but it was 2-3 times as hard then if I was in the middle.

There's more than one way to start out in a corner. If you're within a competitive distance with a good number of planets then you might want to give it a shot, the benefits could outweigh the drawbacks. Same deal if you've got some decent-looking starsystems cornerward from you, this gives you a 'backyard' where you're almost guaranteed first shot at any colonies, resources, or anomalies in the area.

On the other hand if you find yourself seriously wedged into a corner, with rival planets inbetween you and most of the nearby colonizable space.. you're going to be facing an 'unfair' challenge. If that's what you're looking for you should probably just crank up the difficulty a notch or two. Personally, I always wuss out and ctrl-N until I've got a competitive sphere of likely planets that I can probably get to first.

I'm also not so much a fan of only sending colony ships to do my colony-rush exploration. Depends on the context, definitely, and it's certainly wise to upgrade that first colony ship to get a bit more speed(as well as the obvious, make sure it's full-up on colonists before it sets down on a planet). But scout ships can be produced faster, cheaper, and are reusable. Using 'colony scouts' you might find a system with one habitable planet, use up your colony on it, and have no idea that the next star-system over has multiple habitable planets.

So I usually use a vanguard of one scout ship per major arc of exploration, assuming there's enough breathing room. (edit) Another nice thing about having these scout ships out there is if you've got the research to back it up, you can make a new design with a particle beam stuck on it, upgrade a scout ship, and obliterate enemy colony ships that would otherwise usurp your 'rightful' planets. Evil? Yes. Warmongering? Yes. But that planet could make the difference between forcing 'peace through power' later or having terms dictated to YOU.

If you end up with too many colony ships at the end of the colony rush and no place to send them to, just move them back to planets, launch them with 1 colonist, and upgrade them into constructors or traders. I've noticed the expense of switching their role is massively less than the expense of purchasing them, and since waiting for ships to build is an expense as well it's a big cost savings and can also help you get a ship to where you need it asap. Hell I'd say it may even be worth turning a fully-manned colony ship into a constructor if it lets you get first grab at a valuable resource.

One of my favorite positions is to be just about halfway between the center and a corner. I can expand diagonally to cut off alien expansion, then backfill the worlds between my homeworld and the corner at a much more leisurely pace. This has the advantage of putting my most advanced worlds closer to where their production will have more impact in the late game.

This had an interesting effect in this current game when the Drath, Dregin, Iconians, and myself managed to explode so fast off the mark that we locked the Torians, Yor, Arceans and Alterians into pockets. The Thalans were doing alright until the Drengin went hostile and beat them into a back corner.

Its been the first game I've played ever that the Altarians got boxed in and weren't able to emerge as a powerhouse.

Talking about powerhouse AIs.

My powerhouse AI are always Arcean.
Very low profile until mid game, and sudden growth in military and hence drop in friendliness.

MY dregin AI wipe at mid game almost every game ......

There was this game where I was planing to play a softcore tech vic, and see Dregin getting ganked up on by 3-4 other Good/Neu empires, and has given him quite a few Medium ships with correct defense on the agreessor's offense. PRoblem is, Dregin only keeps all my ships on a SINGLE planet and doesnt use them at all even when all other planets are shipless.


Btw. nice first turn strats.

I have really enjoyed reading everybody's input. I mostly play on Tiny,Painful,Common everything, Rare anoms.

One of the reasons I stay away from larger maps is:

-The time. I can play a fun Tiney map and win conquest in 3 hours.

-The colony rush. I hate the colony rush! I hate it! I hate it! I hate it!
I think managing an extensive colony rush is what really seperates the men from the boys. I just have the hardest time balancing navigating,tech priorities, production priorties, social priorites, deciding when to slide the slider. I'm not knocking the game, I just get so overwhelmed trying to balancing needs.

I'd say that using Ctrl-N to get the uber starting position makes the game monotone.

eeew... if hitting ctrl-n makes it go greyscale maybe you should check the dot pitch fluid in your monitor.

Great info. I'm learning a ton from you veterans. I'm semi newb. I have a question: With custom race, what are the best abilities/technologies to start with? Are there any that are a given, or are they totally based on the galaxy size and AI difficulty?

Morale and economy bonuses are a must.
A LOT of people swear by population growth bonuses, but I don't use them.
Luck also seems to be surprisingly useful.
After that it seems to be prett much according to taste.
I always get the planet quality bonus but that seems to be an unpopular choice.
Scincerely,
Scintor

Thanks for the help I've always been curious about what Luck does. I figured it had a hand in finding precursor ships etc, but does it do anything else?

Luck seems to help in several ways:
Better anomolies,
more and better bonus tiles,
more purple stars (with pq26 planets).

>>> Go to the shipyard screen and upgrade the colony ship design and add another engine.

There's no room for another engine without first upgrading technology, no? Are you suggesting removing a colonization module to make room?

The default colony ship design is bugged. It was designed for the pre-Beta balancing and then never changed. On the release version of the game, Colony ships easily have enough room for another engine. Try designing one from scratch on turn 1 and you'll see.

(Citizen)No118October 15, 2006 06:48:20Reply #1If you start a game and find yourself in a corner, RESTART THE GAME!


Cheese. Part of the game is dealing with whatever hand is dealt to you. If you're stuck in a corner, deal with it.

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Perhaps, but gigantic map game eats much time. If a person desires to avoid a dud game (it happens), then odds might be better out of the corner. Myself, I like a corner or edge position if there are not too many AI players near my position. The way I see it in Dark Avatar, location hardly matters. The new planet type (radiation, barren, etc) adds an entirely new dynamic to the game; I often settle these all before any AI; I then have a empire scattered all over the map. It can be quite interesting. Game settings may also matter. My game settings include very slow tech rates in a gigantic universe with lots of stars, but few regular worlds; and, I don't play the max difficultly levels (I have lots of fun witout doing so).

Try designing one from scratch on turn 1 and you'll see.

Well, then, I don't know what the heck I'm doing wrong because I've tried that, many times and having researched engines and hulls, and can't fit another engine. I pick the ship hull with 55 hard points; each colony module takes up 25; that leaves 5 hard points. Not even an Impulse 3 will fit in there.

I know I must be doing something very stupid, but I can't figure out what it is. I'm playing the latest version, I've noticed that some ship component sizes have changed from what was recorded in player guides of earlier versions.

use only one colony module

the core colony ship shows two modules but functions as though it only has one.