Technically Evil

from GalCiv2 Forums
I never thought I'd do one of these, but some questions came from league play and I thought I’d share some of my strategies. I’m not a story teller, so this will be a technical account of an ongoing game as it unfolds.

First, some ground rules.

The game will strictly adhere to the Metaverse League’s Round 1 rules.

I’m taking an evil alignment and outlook, so treachery will be the flavor of the day. Narrow minded ideologies such as morality and honor have no place in this game. If this offends you, my work here is done.   

Shameless plugs of the glorious and wonderful "Tyranny of Evil" empire will not be tolerated. At no point will I try to convince you to join us, nor condone others from such an awesome empire to recruit you, even though it just makes sense. You already want to join anyway. You know you do.   

Here’s a quote of the rules…


We are shooting for a Technological Victory in a Medium Galaxy with 4 opponent's with these settings,

Abundant Habitable Planets
Random Number of Planets
Uncommon Number of Stars
Scattered Star Density
Occasional Anomalies
Common Asteroids (DA Only)
Slow Tech Rate
Random Minors

Enable Tech Trading
Disable Blind Exploration
Disable Mega Events
Enable Super Abilities (DA Only)
Enable All Victory Conditions

Players may see fit to play with the intensive cpu algorithms and whatever race settings they like. Play with your normal difficulty or higher.


I’ll be playing for 20k points as a specific goal.

With this in mind, a modified "all factories" strategy will work best, since research can be totally shut down at will and more effort can go into economy and military. My own research abilities are somewhat unimportant, because I’ll be trading for or stealing my opponent’s techs and will take them out militarily if they get too close to a win.

The number of habitable planets will likely be small for a medium map due to uncommon stars. Occasional anomalies means not much money from my survey ship. No need to build surveyors and speed won’t be much of an advantage. From this, I know that the Thalans are the race to choose with Planet Quality and Economy as the abilities. Morale will take up the extra slack.

Having only 4 opponents will be difficult. From the rules, it says we can play with whatever race settings we like, so I’ll be careful with the opponent choices. I’ll need opponents that have good tech abilities and an alignment that will make them predisposed to want to attack me once I choose my alignment. I want their abilities to compliment mine and war is essential. I won’t go as far as to choose abilities and politics for my opponents, even though that would be within the rules. If I did do that, I’d give them extra research abilities and technologists for gov. Too much time and effort involved with that one though.

Suicidal difficulty, Tech trading on and all victory conditions enabled are pretty standard, so no extra thoughts there.

I play DL, so the other settings are not applicable.

Time to enter the Metaverse and set up the game.
aars
104,598 views 32 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Initial setup. These graphics are pretty self-explanatory.







Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
A nice start. I’d prefer to be closer to the middle of the map, but this will do.


Also nice, but a double edged sword. A 700% and a 300% social bonus will be hard on my economy. I’ll need to develop my homeworld slowly after the initial factory rush buy. This is something I didn’t anticipate, but will take advantage of it. I set the focus to research.


After landing and re-launching my colony ship, I can set the sliders. I’ll need 100% approval. 92% social and 8% military. I can return later and set the military higher as needed.


My first few builds will be customized colony ships. I took some life support off to make room for an extra engine. I’ll send my original colony ship to the close star system northeast in the Altarian direction and a faster one to the west in the Terran direction. I see no hope of expanding further than that with colonizers. I set my survey ship to auto-survey and will ignore it for now.
SoundPackager - Customize the Windows sound scheme
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Here's a no-brainer. Always choose the evil ethical choice. Even if it doesn't suit your purposes. In this case, it does anyway.


It doesn't take long for my economy to tank, but then first contact is made. Things are about to go heavily in my favor. I'll trade whatever I have in exchange for anything I can trade to someone else. Unlike what you've been told so far, this includes diplomatic techs. I'll make a little ready cash in the bargain. With my opponent's help, my economy will be cooking along real soon.

Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
There was another planet to be had in the direction of the Altarians, so I snagged it during the short lived colony rush. I met the Terrans and a tech free for all began. Then, yet another break came my way. A minor race…



Over the next several turns, I met the other races and traded every tech I had to everyone else. Trading has been very good to me.

The Dark Yor have an impressive military guarding their planet. That should keep them safe until I’m ready to attack.


The Iconians started a military buildup. Some turns later the rest of the races start in. I respond by building constructors. I plan on building some small fighters, backed by military starbases. My relatively low tech level and weak economy won’t let me build powerful long range ships, but if I can get Xeno Ethics researched in time, I can build a short range force to be reckoned with. My eye is on the Dark Yor homeworld. I move my constructors in their direction.

Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The Iconians become a threat. They have Planetary Invasion researched. It’s time to seriously focus on my military.



I wait until one turn before I get Xeno Ethics and stop my tech trading. I spend all of my BCs until I’m negative. This will allow me to choose an Evil Alignment without having to pay for it. It’s like getting an extra 2500BC for free.

I choose an Evil Alignment and trade some techs. My starbases are in place and ready to be built up. I have some tiny fighters built with 1 attack and 1 defense, but no engines. The starbases will be my engines, weapons and defenses for the fleet.

I add modules to my starbases and prepare to attack with my tiny 1/1 fighters. I’ll use 3 troop transports. I recheck the Dark Yor and see that they have ten ships on their planet. I’ll need a fleet of at least nine fighters to take them out. Nobody has any logistics to speak of, so my attack method will be to send a fleet, but disband it right after the first hit on the Dark Yor. Each fighter will then have 1 turn left. This will magnify the attack by 900%. Judging the distance, I see that my tech level is too low for my two starbases to do the job. I’ll need three.



After I take the Dark Yor, I focus on building my economy and social strength. I keep the three military starbases and surround them with 1/1 fighters. This usually acts as a lure to entice the enemy into a trap. If a nice, juicy fleet comes close enough, I’ll pounce and immobilize them. I can use any combination of ships for this, whether they’re fighters, constructors or transports. I just need to surround them. I can tie up large fleets with cheap ships and use the starbase assist to destroy them when I’m ready. My luck continues. Both the Arceans and Altarians happen by with some nice, expensive frigates.

Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
This is nicely Motti

It's good to get an insight into another player's game play...i will follow with interest...



/Bad Muther Fraker\

Purgatory is upon you. Redemption is forfeit. No-one will be saved. Your destruction is our dawn.
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
lol, thats a cheap ass tactic. I approve. I dont have the patience for that myself though.
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
This is nicely Motti

It's good to get an insight into another player's game play...i will follow with interest...


Thanks, neilo!   

For those who don't know, neilo is the emperor of the greatest empire to have ever graced the Metaverse, the Tyranny of Evil.   

lol, thats a cheap ass tactic. I approve. I dont have the patience for that myself though.


Kinder words have never been spoken. Thanks, millertime335.

There will be more cheap shots and evil tactics along the way.   
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Thanks for doing this Motti, I'll be reading with great interest   
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Feb 2227 and the game has been won. Once you have the MCC, you have to try real hard to lose. I am now in firm control of the direction that the game will go.



The Arceans are at war with the Iconians and the Altarians are at war with the Terrans. It didn't take a lot of prodding to get them to do that.

I captured another Arcean fleet of frigates in my lure. Tastey.   

The Iconians were about to fall and I still hadn't built a true military ship yet. No biggie. I'll use the Arceans' military might for my purposes and send an armed transport over to the Iconian homeworld. I don't need to build one though. I'll just upgrade one of the two left over transports from the Dark Yor attack.

I'm building up the military starbase array. I'll use it to slingshot my ships to the far reaches of the galaxy, boost my diplomacy and increase my score. When all is said and done, my two biggest scoring assets will be my overheated economy and my military.

The opportunity presents itself at New Iconia. The Arceans have destroyed their fleet and the Iconians only have a transport in orbit. Easy pickins.


My opponents are getting weak. I need to choose one to assist. I decide that the Terrans will be my unwitting ally. I map out their future domain in my mind. I need to keep them strong enough to counter my growing influence. The Arceans are a second choice, so the demise of the Altarians is now close at hand.
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Thanks for doing this Motti, I'll be reading with great interest   


Thanks, DethAdder. At first, I thought this would be a royal PITA, but it's actually enjoyable. I'm trying to remember to do screen captures as the game unfolds. Not the easiest thing to remember though.
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The Altarians prove to be an easy target. I build up my starbases and add two closer to their homeworld. My 1/1 fighters destroy the trapped frigates and attack the two planets close by.


I use the slingshot effect of the starbase array to send 1/1 fighters to attack Altaria. She falls, taking out 3 of my fleets. Not a problem. The 1/1 fighters cost very little and I have dozens of them by now. The Altarian war machine, which was moments ago killing my friends, the Terrans, collapses.




One fleet takes Wisp and the Altarians are no longer within easy reach. I offer peace and get some cash out of the deal. My attention turns toward boosting the Terrans’ strength. They’re not fairing too well on their own and are currently at war with both the Arceans and Altarians.

Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hmmmmm. vedy vedy interesting, TGE will be watching and learning these beautiful but evil violent tendecies on unsuspecting weaker beings in the neighboring systems.
Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hehe. Thanks Playjeff45.    TGE?
Reply #15 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The Altarian war netted some nice technology. I now have Photon Torpedo III. The new tech yields some nice Missile Ships.


I work on helping the Terrans, building a couple of beefed up influence starbases along their border and gifting them as they’re built. I also gift them the influence mine deep within my territory. My shiny new Missile Ships take out the last Altarian world. That takes a little pressure off of the Terrans and stabilizes their border. It also frees up one economic and one morale mine that the Altarians didn’t care to sell.

I continue building my military starbase array as technology allows. Each starbase is now capable of giving two speed points to my ships.

My economy is still too sluggish to generate the massive points I’m aiming for. I need more planets and population. My eyes turn to the Arceans.

Six Missile Ships come on line and two more are in the queue. I move the ships to the “sweet spot” of my starbase array and form them into a fleet. They’ll need all of the speed assist that I can muster. The other “sweet spot” holds a newly formed fleet of four Troop Transports. They bed down for a turn and soak up some assist. I do a little more tech trading to fill my coffers with some Arcean ready cash.
Reply #16 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Mayhem greets the Arceans on the next turn. The first to fall are the two fleets of frigates caught in my lure. A fleet of tiny 1/1 fighters takes the planet close by to the north. The 6 Missile Ships go to the far northeast corner and take out the defenders on both planets. The survivors head west towards the remaining planet to the north of me. Arcea and Hammer are spared, as is New Iconia V to the far east. The Troop Transports make their rounds and take the three planets laid bare by the first wave. More Transports and Missile Ships will be coming on line the next turn. The Arceans refuse a peace offer.

The battered fleet of missile ships from the first wave strike the planet to my north and speed back toward Arcea. They arrive one space away where two fresh ships join them. A wave of tiny 1/1 fighters soften the homeworld up before the Missile Ships finish the job. They then easily wipe out Hammer’s defenders. I use Tidal Disruption to take Arcea and will have to rebuild it. Hammer and the other planet fall without incident. My plan is to take the last remaining planet, the PQ3 New Iconia V to the far east on the next turn. I offer peace and hit the turn button. It’s all falling into place.

Instead of a quick battle, I’m faced with the inevitable dilemma. The influence victory looms.

Reply #17 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I send some constructors to the empty areas of the map so I can build more influence starbases for the Terrans. (I held the map ccw at a 45 degree angle to fit the whole thing on one screenshot.)



I had a decision to make. Declaring war on the Arceans without winning would stop the influence victory. I could attack New Iconia V without using a transport to buy myself some valuable time. I could then build up the Terrans’ influence and avoid getting the wrong type of victory.

Being true to my evil self, I opt to destroy the Arceans. (This is a nice effect. I captured the screen into the buffer a couple of times while the scene played and pasted it into Paint. I didn’t notice the double paste effect until just now.)



I’ll need to fill the empty areas of the map with influence starbases and boost the Terrans quite a bit more. I now have 9 turns before all is lost.

I build the influence starbase in the empty space near New Iconia V and add 5 influence modules. It lights up with a nice deep blue glow when I gift it to the Terrans. My influence goes up from 79% to 80% instead of going down. More constructors are coming on line and there’s a lot more empty space to fill. The Terran population is stagnant. In the mean time, my population and influence are growing.

My evil side rears it’s ugly head yet again. I’m hungrily eyeing the three Terran planets to my west. Heavily defended and with large populations, a PQ18, PQ20 and a PQ9 planet await me. Can I take them for myself while still boosting the Terran influence?

8 turns left.
Reply #19 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Gifting more starbases to the Terrans takes the threatened influence victory off of the table. Now, I can concentrate on building up my economy and military. I’ll need the rest of the Terrans’ planets that they’ve built up so nicely. Their defenses are stronger than my offenses, so a buildup ensues.


The 20PQ planet that I was eyeing becomes a 21PQ with my Planet Quality ability. Not bad. The 19PQ becomes a 20 and the 9 stays at 9. A good harvest.


Earth and Mars are valuable assests. Earth has been built up to PQ13 and Mars is PQ4. Mars is also a civ capitol, so the max pop is 12b instead of the normal 6b. I’ll need to make sure I take Earth first and then Mars. I’ll need to do that during the same turn I gift a civ capitol of my choice to the Terrans. That way, Mars won’t revert to a standard planet. Remember New Iconia V?

I set the Terrans’ new planet up with a political capitol and a galactic showcase. I don’t need diplomacy or influence by this time and the Terrans won’t be needing a starport.
Reply #20 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
It takes time to build up a strong enough force to take the Terrans down in one turn. They have a substantial military, with battleships defending the planets and fleets in space awaiting an attack. There are also some pesky economy starbases in my way. I take it all out at once while relocating the Terrans to their shiny new PQ3 planet. I made sure to depopulate it to 100 colonists before I gifted it over. I can now concentrate on researching my Tech Victory.



The Terrans gleefully accept peace. I’ll continue to build up my economy and military while the research goes on.



I set the focus on all planets to research. Each turn from here on out becomes a painstaking balance between economy, military and research. Politics come into play as well, since there are elections happening from time to time. I adjust sliders, buy ships and buildings and move colonists around my empire. I need economic starbases to boost my output and get some trade income going. Pennies count. Four trade ships go into the queue in the Weber system and constructors converge there. There are four planets there that can host eight economic starbases. It’s not perfect, but it’s the best I can muster.

Edit - In reply #19 above, I mentioned a PQ19 planet that became a PQ20. It was actually a PQ18 that became a PQ19. Hazards of writing this while away from my gaming computer.
Reply #21 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The Tech Victory is finally at hand in August of Year 6. I just need to time it so the game will end in December for maximum points.



I can rush buy all ships needed to continue building my military. I've been converting my planets to all economy except for those that were doing research. Now, I can convert the rest of them over and have just a tiny amount of research going. Factories won't be needed from here on out. I adjust research to end the game around the middle of December.



My economy is perking along nicely. I'll rush buy and build stock markets as fast as I can to make sure that it continues to gain strength.

Reply #22 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The time comes to adjust research to end the game in one turn. The Weber system has the economy starbases that help research and production. I want the rest of my planets adding the maximum possible to my economy.



It's important on Tech Victories to set the final research to end on December 15th instead of December 22nd. The Tech will finish, but the game will continue past that point for one more turn. Waiting until December 22nd will cause the score to drop.



Tech ends right on time.
Reply #23 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The final score is a little higher than planned, even though first contact and initial trading went a bit slower than usual. I suspect that the social bonus tiles in the beginning of the game had a lot to do with that.



Posting the game furthers the cause of evirul.   


Reply #24 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Very nicely done!
Reply #25 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Quite enlightening indeed.