Play testing the Iconians

way late at night

from JoeUser Forums

Tonight's late late game is a test of the Iconians.  In theory, the Iconians should be quite impressive to play as. They have access to Precursor technology which no one else in the game does. However, they can't trade that tech so that hurts them diplomatically.  They also are relatively weak on weapons technology.

On the other hand, Iconian ships can be a lot tougher than other ships and they have access to self-healing armor.  This game is a brief game I played this evening/morning to see how well they worked out and what tweaks need to be played.

It begins...

To start with I choose Precursor studies. This is the key branch for the Iconians as it houses their industrial and research technologies. It instantly gives me access to the Precursor library -- the Iconians can build their own Precursor libraries.

Within a couple of turns, I've constructed the Precursor archive (which provides this Iconian world with a copy of the Precursor database) and a Precursor library which enables me to research technology even faster.

Where the Iconians are quite weak, however, is their initial manufacturing capacity. The basic replicator is the weakest manufacturing building in the game. However, they do get quick access to the Interstellar refinery which produces 16 IUs (but you can only build 1 per planet and it has 8 maint).

Another area the Iconians are relatively weak early on is economically. They don't start with a decent economic building. On the other hand, they do start out with the Dream Conclave, which is the best morale improvement any player starts out with (25%).

The main challenge for the Iconian player early on is going to be money. Players will likely make good use of the cheap food and cheap morale improvements to make more money via population as opposed to using readily available economic buildings.

My first weaponized ships start coming out. That's when I find a show-stopper:

My organic hull modules aren't showing up which is absolutely crucial to my strategy. D'oh!  Back to the drawing board...

But first let's see how we compare:

Thanks to my population, my economy is keeping up. Research is okay. Manufacturing is okay. Approval is the best despite high tax rate thanks to cheap, powerful morale buildings.

Home Planets


My home planet

 


AI: Terran Alliance

 


AI: Yor

 More soon...

15,767 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
the Iconians can build their own Precursor libraries


That's really cool - and the improvement graphics are very nice. Given the new model for planetary conquest, I'm guessing that the Iconians' unique buildings are destroyed when their planet is taken over by anyone else - probably just as well, I'd hate to see the Drengin gain that kind of research power...

Have you changed the Iconians' 'stackable' starting abilities at all?
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
If certain iconian techs cant be traded, can they be stolen by planetary conquest? It looks like a tech stacking strategy with the iconians would be extremely effective. Also what sort of rules determine the probability of stealing a tech on conquest? 1 tech can be stolen but there is a roll for each individual tech because If the only thing to steal is hyperwarp then it is a lot less common. Luck improves chance of getting a tehc while creativity increases level of tech. This si how I think it works from my observations.
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Is there a changelog for this new build?

Thanks,
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
If certain iconian techs cant be traded, can they be stolen by planetary conquest?


It is possible, since they are seperate attributes, but generally, a tech that has been set to not be tradeable is also set to not be stealable. I can't think of any off the top of my head.

On that note... the trade-ability of Iconian techs seems... odd to me. The "Advanced