Check my profile. I'm one of the very few people who managed a 0 year win... ever. A 0 year win doesn't mean that I won on turn 1. It means that it took me less then 52 turns to win. Year 0 translates to 2225(DL) and 2226(DA). A 1 year victory means won in less then 104 turns. Year 1 is 2226(DL) and 2227(DA). I won by late Autumn, 2227 making a 1 year victory.

Actually there are only 48 weeks in a GalCiv year. 4 weeks per month. Only the 1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd of each month are used. As FB pointed out winning anytime within the first year is counted as a 0 year win. Winning within the 2nd year is a 1 year win. Most people deal with this by referring to reported year 1, etc. The date is always displayed in the upper right of the main screen.

Also there is a one week (i.e. one turn) delay from the point where the victory condition is achieved until you get the victory screen but that one turn delay is not counted in your reported game years.

So when on Dec 22nd you conquer the last planet of your last opponent the game doesn't immediately end. If at that point you looked under your civilization manager screen under the victory conditions tab you would see that you will achieve victory next week. You would assume that means that you will win the game on Jan 1st of the next year but the victory will actually be credited on Dec 22nd. This is of minor importance because if you really did win on Jan 1st then the game length would be reported as another whole year.

Is the 4 weeks a month thing DL only? I always calculate the amount of time played by going to the timeline and seeing how many weeks are recorded and dividing by 52. Its always worked out correctly, but that could be just because dividing by 48 isnt too much of a difference.

I don't know. My experience is indeed limited to DL and I "assumed" it was the same for DA except for the starting date delayed by a year but perhaps not.

Can someone shed some light on this?

i've never seen dates other than 1, 8, 15 and 22, so i think DA is 48 weeks as well...

yeah, its 48 weeks. AS for winning in the first year (@Califdude), its hard but not impossible unless its a cultural victory, the game doesn't allow that victory in the first year. Individuals, such as myself and FireBender, have mastered our conquest strategies to be order to quickly take the AI. While it is theoretically possible to win an Alliance and Tech victory in the first year, its extremely difficult so most 0 and 1 year games are almost always conquest victories.

Just you try it... Cloned from Drew Barrymore's DNA, she's worth all the fembots in the galaxy times, like, eleventy!

Btw, is a slave still a slave if the MCC makes them want to work all day for no pay?



Time to dust off my space armor, it looks like. Captain Freedom to Wardrobe... Captain Freedom to Wardrobe...

/obscure?

I've been in RL-imposed semi retirement lately except for the MVL, and I think even the light duties of team captain may be becoming too much. Still, the lure of kicking some alien butt is pulling stronger lately...

Thats good to know its on a 48 week schedule. Probably never noticed because I've never gone out of my way to make sure it didn't roll over into January. In the MVL games I always seem to land in April-June area for the ending date

The point I made about Dec 22nd is a good one for you to consider. It's always a good idea to extend the game to Dec 22nd just to get full "credit" in your score for the number of game years that you're charged with.

Running Man isn't it?

The more I think about winning a game by conques in around 50 turns, the more I know I have a lot to learn about this game. Glad I joined up with T of E and hope the members don't mind questions. Anyway, is it possible to win a game by conquest without invading the AI colonies...that is, without having to research the techs and build transports, and then move transports across the galaxy to the AI colonies? Seems like the minimum number of turns it takes to do this even on a tiny galaxy would not leave enough turns to complete a conquest in 50 turns, but what do I know?

Something else that has me wondering about being an evil race...does this increase the likelihood that AI's will declare war on you, that is, just because you are evil? Does the game play that neutral and good players are not attacked as much? My winning percentage is a lot higher in games where I was the attacker vs games where I was unexpectedly attacked by the AI.

As always, thanks for replies.

FTW!

well, there are ways to win a conquest victory without actually invading a planet. You could attempt to buy off the AI (literally by up their worlds, note that its nigh impossible to convince the AI to sell some of its worlds but it does happen). Another is to declare war and later have the AI surrender to you. Finally, having all the AI worlds flip to you (culture) but not having the Influence victory enabled will result in a conquest victory.

Note that in any of the above strategies you still need a powerful economy, amassed military might, and generally lots of worlds under your control. Usually, it is just faster to invade.

Being evil doesn't necc. mean the AI will come after you...but it does affect it depending on their own ethical behavior. Being the only one evil empire in a galaxy of Altarians, Torians, and Iconians however...well its gonna be tough going. You get diplomatic benefits being the same ethical alignment as another race, but you also receive detriments if you are not.

As for doing something within a year....it comes down to cost. Each tech, structure, and ship has a specific cost. The more research and manufacturing points you can create, the faster it will be for you to "pay" that cost. Also, in the starting screen, check the speed that you set the research speed to. On metaverse games it will reset automatically to "Normal" so you have to set it each and every time to the speed that you want. I play my games at Fastest but some players, that like long drawn out games will play at Slowest. There are benefits and cons to each.

The Iconians always seem to give me the "you're to evil to survive" line and then attack me whenever they have a stronger military. I am usually kind of slow to build my main military force so this happens quite alot to me (I will usually start out building defenders with a few laser weapons on all my planets so the other Civs concentrate their defenses against lasers, then I will build all my other ships with mass or missile weapons).

Thanks, guys, some interesting stuff there.

Round 6 is up guys.

MVL Round 6

I've been reading the seminal threads by Wyndstar, Purge and Mumblefratz on strategy for GA, posted by them in October, 2007, and have a question: Were these strategies developed while playing DL, or were they playing DA by that time?

Some of Wyndstar's most vital ideas had to do with the tech speed in the game conditions. I had been playing all my games at normal tech speed, so I thourght I would try one at the fastest tech speed. Just when I thought I was going to win the game, I had to leave for a dental appointment. I hurried back as soon as I could, but the AI's already had photon torpedoes and influence techs to flip my colonies and I only lasted a few more turns.

Important news:



Now there's only 141,991 points between us and 4th place. Now lets go "save the whales"!

DA at the time for me, although I have about equal game time on both versions. I know Mumblefratz is still DL. Can't answer for Wyndstar, although if it's the thread I saw, he was DA, because he was talking about extreme planetary colonization. I've found many of the strategies work well between versions though.

I do recall the thread too i believe, and yes DA. The three guys you just mentioned CaliDude, if you read all that they have to say about the game and it's strategies, then you will be on the right track. Mumble and Purge for your big maps and Wyndstar for your smaller ones, though many strats can be used on both.

Great to see you in our thread Purge, don't be a stranger now, Mumble has his own seat here now!!!

i'll try to get in a Giga map before I leave for Michigan tomorrow; see if i can close that gap or hopefully pass it.

141K you say? I'll hopefully get this game of mine posted this weekend and it should exceed that with no problem

Thanks! I do tend to lurk when work is slow!

I hope you bundle up real good. It's supposed to get pretty cold up here this weekend. About 5 to 10 degrees F (wind chill is gonna be like -10 to -20 degrees F). Oh yeah, and about a 90% chance of snow in some places (but that's really nothing new - I mean...snow?...in Michigan??...in Winter???).

haha i know right?! i always check the weather before I go; my mom lives right on the lake shore so she gets a lot of lake effect snow and my Mustang just isn't made for those kind of driving conditions. I'm not worried about the temperature, its not that much warmer down here in Indiana.

Well you should well know the 4 seasons that Michigan has: Winter, Almost Construction, Construction, and More Construction.

((I'd should stick deer hunting in there, that's pretty much a state-sanctioned holiday season right there))