jecy99

A bunch of question help me be a pro!

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A bunch of question help me be a pro!

from GalCiv2 Forums

 

I've owned the game at least a year, and you know how being a strategy game fan is.. Next turn becomes a year long time warp. But the other day i decided to fire the game up, and boy i have to wonder what the heck i was waiting for! One of the most fun games i have ever played. (seeing my first game played was pong/space invaders when they first came out) I think that says something.

 

But i got lots of Q's

 

First, Mod's,  I see something that talks about fixing some broken AI, and fixes, but really kinda fuzzy on what it does, or what the value of the mod is.  Is this something i should install for sandbox play?  Is this something i have to use for the game to work right?  So far it appears like the game works just fine. So I'm wondering what exactly the mods do for the base game..  Mod i'm talking about is  Altarn's, But in his video he mentions others..   just curious what is out there, and what the really fix. Just trying to get an idea what they are all about, or how much i should worry about them.

 

 

 

1,On to the Q's..  For a while i was going with communications first, then planet techs, but now i wonder if racing to xeno research might be more worth it. the game has tons of techs so this sounds to me like a good concept. Talking in the very early times seems a bit pointless to just trade with a couple civs that might be close. Perhaps part of that has to do with my second Q

 

2, i like playing spread out larger maps, so less planets/stars, but larger maps)  to me this seems like the game is much bigger/aka space.  Maybe makes engine upgrades more important, plus holding strategic locations.  does the game give as good of a challenge if players are really spread out?  so far i have only played on settings up to challenging, and i have yet to even see a single war..  One game i had over 2/3's of the system, and still not a single one even bothered to attack, and i didn't have a single war ship!  

 

3,  I was reading population effects income, aka money buildings.  they produce more money on planets with higher populations. Is it worth setting up money colonies on class 5-7?  or should i shoot for class 10+?   I have seen some class 20 planets too, are these the ones you want to colonize for max money?

 

4, early game money has been an issue..  I am wondering if putting 3 factories, 2-3 research, 2-3 money buildings early on my home world is a good idea?  for a while i was making expansion worlds my money worlds, and that did not seem to be working well. Population size must be part of that?  What if i moved populations to the worlds?  Like say a class 6, along a trade route, make a starbase for trade/economy?  is this a valid idea?

 

5.  I read about moving populations, How do i do this? Build a colony ship i would guess, but then how do i fill it?

 

6, Colony ships to start colonies, Do i basically just need a single colony module, maybe engines/support for distance? Maybe i can strip down for faster build times for closer planets? just trying to think about the bare minimum i need for these.

 

7, trade ships..  How do i build them?  do they need just a single trade module?

 

8, early game, Is trade better than economy buildings? I have found fast expansion leaves me in a hole, but how can ya pass up class 10+ planets close to you?  Or even the larger ones that need some sorta terraforming..  I would think you would wan't to grab 4-5 big planets close to you before your neighbors do right?

 

9,  My most recent game i played at challenging,, I have tried something a little different, Max out colony ship building, reduce research and building construction, for like the first 20 turns, this gives me 4 colony ships, and a few scouts.. (i buy a factory/research building on home planet, then a factory/starport on the first expansion so i can start producing a few deep space scout ships.. (these are small ships, with 4 basic life support, and 1 sensor, which has almost 2 parsec's more distance for same time. I think it is a parsec, the squares you can see on the map grid)

After i get the 4-5 planets semi near my territory colonizes, i switch to both planets building constructors, cut military to like 20%, and crank up research to close to 60, and keep about 30 in buildings.  I then build more research buildings, and try to catch up my delayed research.  Before long i have 4-5 planets really working well, if i can figure out how to boost my economy a bit more. Perhaps going trade vessels on one or two ports.

 

Is what i am doing sound in theory?  or if i start going higher in difficulties will glaring holes show up?  Basically i am trying to learn the right way to do stuff, or at least the non noob way, so when i crank up the difficulty higher i am not stuck with tons of strats that all suck :P

 

10, If i find challenging not so challenging, what difficulty should i try next?  bump up one? or skip ahead?  not sure how much it ramps.. so far i have not noticed a huge jump over the lower end ones..

 

11,  I had thoughts of specializing worlds, Like research, or economy, or starship building, But i wonder if more balanced worlds are better.  But perhaps a focus research world would be a good thing?

 

12, happiness buildings, do they effect the whole empire, or just the planet they are on?

 

 

that's all i can think of right off the top of my head.. and i will go back to my latest game..   One that i had just a single good planet to habitat near home,  But 5 that need Terra-forming..   Lucky me 2 were aquatic, and my closest/first found neighbor were those guys that always have the aquatic planet tech.  I think i made the right choice by trading Xeno research and Xeno economy, for Aquatic planet Terra-forming..  Costs were less to me, and i couldn't help notice them trying to settle on them both, as i was just a few turns quicker!..  I wonder if that will cause a divide between us. :)

 

any help would be great..

33,064 views 34 replies
Reply #26 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Every game and layout is different, of course. so specific advice may not work from game to game, which makes the game have replay value.

Let me add a few tips, though.

- the larger the galaxy and the higher the anomaly setting, the more value there is in additional survey ships.  For example, in a very large galaxy with anomalies on "abundant" I generally research sensor and ion+impulse engines early and build at least three more survey ships.  The cash flow and little bonuses will far more than pay for them.  They will even stave off the dreaded cash crunch.

- the AIs preferentially target starbases in wars.  It is a good thing in time of war to take out any enemy red bases while protecting yours.  Your green bases are more valuable to you than green bases are to the enemy AIs on higher difficulty levels, because of their bonuses, but their removal can still slow their shipbuilding and research rate.

- gaining high enough intel levels on enemy AIs allows you to ID the destination of ships and fleets.  This can be out to great use, especially when your ships are as fast or faster than the AI's.  For example, you can let them chase you away from your bases and planets.  If the AI is at war with anyone beside you, you can even lead their ships right to another foe who will attack them for you!

- bases simply cannot defend themselves after the early game (you need defenders).  However, military starbases can be very useful for slowing down enemy ships while speeding up yours, and they can boost the power of very small and very cheap ships.  On maps with few anomalies to be mined, economy bases with modules to boost production at your best world(s) can be important, especially when you can locate them to affect multiple production planets.

- when I begin to build warships, I am generally researching as I go.  I often time the production so that multiple planets are at about the same completion time for the warship design.  Then, right at one turn left, I lower the military production rate all the way to zero so that the warships are not completed.  Meanwhile, I boost research and get better defenses, weapons, engines, miniaturization, etc.  With each tech advance, I "upgrade" the design in the shipyard design screen.  This instantly changes the ship being built on each planet to the new and improved design!  I turn on military production after every change and, if necessary, I allow the ship production to proceed until they are again all at one turn left, then reset it to zero, and then repeat the process.  This approach often lures AIs into declaring war on me, not "knowing" I am one turn away from having a good fleet.

- in conjunction with the above, I generally research invasion before warships.  This allows me to move population around, reduce over-populated planets so that taxes can be higher, and pre-positions me to invade planets when I get into a war and my fleet arrives!

Reply #27 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Quoting MarvinKosh, reply 21

You can also increase your tourism income by building Embassies or Cultural Exchange Centres on planets with a high ip value.  Homeworlds are a great place to build those.
Hope this helps!

Why homeworlds in particular? In my current campaign, Earth has only two bonus tiles: both are 100% Influence bonus. At first, I thought I'd rather any other type of bonus over these. Then I read your comment. Thanks in advance

Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #28 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Check a look at the civ capital tile - it has a 50% Influence bonus.

Additionally, all homeworlds have a high base ip of 25 (in the tooltip for ip this is 'From Planet').  It doesn't sound like much, but few planets you come across (apart from hoemworlds) have that much.  When you add all the bonuses on, homeworlds are far ahead of many planets in generating influence.

Reply #29 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Quoting MechaGodzill, reply 27
Why homeworlds in particular?

Homeworlds have a base influence of 25ip. That is pretty huge. Most worlds have one of either zero or around 10ip. You can see the actual value when you place your cursor on the ip value of that colony (either in the Colony Management screen or when selecting the planet).

Homeworlds also have a very high max population, which increases the influence even more. In addition to that, the Civ Capitol grants a 50% bonus to influence.

All of that combined means, that the homeworld is one of the best influence producers in the game.

Edit: ...aaaand ninja'd.

 

 

 

Reply #30 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

all awesome info, thanks!

 

@LTjim,  I have done what you mentioned about ship building. Swapping it, and stopping it right before it is build, and waiting for an upgrade.

 

 

Another Q, are those mining boosters,  Like influence, economy, military, ect.. basically those colored things on maps you build starbases on.   IS there a way to adjust how many of those show up?

 

I see the anomaly and asteroid slider, but i wonder how to adjust those..    are they connected to either of those sliders?  or is there something else i must adjust?   Personally i think having less would make them more strategic.  though i have noticed on maps where i have a green on right near my homeworld has helped a bunch. 

 

One map spawned and i had a green and blue one, right in site of my starting planet, with out moving!  I saved the map, or so i thought i did, but i have this habit of clicking done, instead of save.. and it was lost.. when i tabbed out...  :(   I really wanted to try that one.

 

 

One question about modding though..

 

Ship range..  I wonder if there is a simple way to cut ship range, so adding life support is more necessary.  Especially on small maps, it seems like It is totally pointless.  Zero reason for researching it or adding it when your ship can go anywhere on the map from turn 1.    While engines still can be important on these maps still, as many move slow.. (mining ships for example)

To me, if i could cut ship range by 1/3 that might be a great starting point.  This would make researching life support to explore the galaxy much more important.  My main concern is how that would effect the AI and their tech trees, and what they research.

outside of having zero clue how i would go about doing this :)

 

I think after i complete a game or two, i will get into the mods a bit..  they sound good in theory.. but taste is very subjective in mods, and what someone might think of as wonderful, another might think it is not so hot.  One that sounds really intriguing is a mod that boosts the Minor civs abilities and makes them more powerful. I guess i will delve into those a bit later..  But the range thing is something that i would like to try sooner than later..

 

Reply #31 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

In an old thread, one player stated that he always got sensors very quickly and then built a cargo hull filled with nothing but sensors with the intent to "see" every anomaly and habitable planet within that expanded sensor range.  I have never tried that, so I cannot confirm that it works or is helpful.

Reply #32 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

interesting i will have to try that...  with all your help i figured i would post some screenies of my latest game..   And show off a couple ships i made..  I have a couple high level ones too which i will add, as soon as i get to that tech again.. I started a new game with all your advice!

 

Latest Game,  Alterians, Tough-huge, 6 random races, 6 minors..

I expanded early to a class 16 and Class 20, built a starport, and started building constructors, as 3 green cubes and 1 blue, and 1 red were close by.. the only way i thought to claim them was go into the hole for my economy and slowly loose ever turn, but the bonus would be to claim all the asteroids/mines in the area, along with having a good base on the planets when the population caught up.

One of those planets had 700 and 100 research, and the other 300 and 100 factory, so i thought why not sink my economy a bit and get that really nice boost to ships, and research. I think it worked as i was able to jump ahead in diplomacy, get some planet techs, and trade for about 15 techs total, for a few minor techs, and a barely 1k influence, It seems to have paid off so far

I have 4 planets close to home all upgraded and growing, and now time to build my starbases, military, and start claiming the far off places..  fun fun fun!

 

 

G-9 construction I3,   Affection known as "the turtle"   this is a early game Fast contruction vessel, 3 ion drives let this vehicle make it's way to the father reaches of our territory in record time. Increase our trade, or Lay claim to our asteroids, this ship does the job

 

 

 

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee58/JeCy99/GC2TwilightOfTheArnor2013-10-2923-57-18-45.jpg

 

 

The Zulu Scout vessel,   this ship is a very early long range scout vessel. It has upgraded sensors, and added life support to find planets far and wide. 

 

 

 

 

The Nomad,  early trade vessel,  Has decent range, and Dual Ion engines to help start the route up faster

 

 

 

A Triton,   (3 colony module short range people mover)

 

Reply #33 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Quoting jecy99, reply 30
Another Q, are those mining boosters,  Like influence, economy, military, ect.. basically those colored things on maps you build starbases on.   IS there a way to adjust how many of those show up?

Not directly. Their amount is random, but it depends on map size. So, if you want more of them, you need to play on bigger maps.

 

Quoting jecy99, reply 30
Ship range..  I wonder if there is a simple way to cut ship range, so adding life support is more necessary.

The starting range also depends on map size. Those values cannot be changed. However, there is a way to influence that indirectly. For this, you need to edit the RaceConfig.xml, and give every race a penalty to their Range ability. I never tried a value of -100, but I wouldn't be surprised, if that would remove the range altogether. So, I wouldn't go too much below -50.

The RaceConfig.xml can be found in the Twilight\Data\English folder. Just make a copy of it, and place it in the Data folder of a Mod folder (e.g., NameOfTheMod\Data). You can find the Default one under Mods in the main directory of the game. Either use that one directly, or make a copy of it and rename it. The XML file can be edited with any text editor.

In my mod, Autumn Twilight, I reduced the bonuses you get from researching the Life Support techs, and the values of the life support modules instead. It works pretty well. Both from a player and an AI standpoint.

Quoting jecy99, reply 30
One that sounds really intriguing is a mod that boosts the Minor civs abilities and makes them more powerful.

That's another thing I did in my mod. I gave the minors the ability to colonise planets, and made them smarter. They are now pretty much on par with major races. The only difference is, that their tech tree works differently, that they have no say in the UP, and that influence doesn't affect them.

Tolmekian did the same in his TechTree Fix mod too.

Reply #34 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I went down a slightly different road with minor races, stripping down their tech tree and reducing the cost of their techs.  This gives them a bit of a lead against the major races, but they're limited to their home planet.  I've left in their invasion tech though, in case someone wants to mod them into ravenous conquering barbarians. ;)