Too many Ships for my taste. What can I do about this?

from GalCiv2 Forums

In my last campaign, AIs with less than ten planets (usually about 8 or 9) had built over 250 ships; almost all with tiny or small hulls (I play with the "very slow" tech option enabled). The game ended fairly early (I won a research/tech victory), so eventually they would have built far more ships.

250+ ships is too many for my personal taste. It reduces the importance of each ship when you (or the AI) has that many (just like having too many planets does, IMHO).

Why question is: is there a modding solution to having so many ships that doesn't unbalance or break the game? I could reduce all civs military production in the RaceConfig file; but what else would I have to reduce to keep the game somewhat balance (like growth rates, social production, money)? Is there a way to reduce military production by a percentage, not just a flat value?

An alternative to this would be to increase all ship production cost. but what is the easiest way to do this? Would I have to mod all ship components? That could take a while! and other issues would come up, such as: do I also make constructor ships cost more production as well?    

also: to avoid the small ship spam which seems to come with playing on "very slow" tech, I'm thinking of giving all the civs the tech that comes just before medium buildings (I'm not sure that what it's called); in the hope that medium ships would make their appearance sooner. Another issue with playing with "very slow" tech enabled is that the AIs don't research "planetary invasion" for a long while. I might either reduce it's costs, or better still: give all the civs the prerequisite tech. Overall, I really like the effects of playing with "very slow" research (especially with tech trading disabled).

Can you please offer some modding suggestions for reducing the number of ships in game? And any other thoughts you might have on this topic? Thanks in advance

Edit: By the way, I'm using the APT 1.3 mod.

   

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Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Why question is: is there a modding solution to having so many ships that doesn't unbalance or break the game?

No. At least none that I know of. Reducing the military production or increasing the buildcost of ships will only delay the inevitable, but won't prevent it.

Is there a way to reduce military production by a percentage, not just a flat value?

The Military Production ability works as a percentage. Just give every race a negative starting value in the RaceConfig.xml.

An alternative to this would be to increase all ship production cost. but what is the easiest way to do this?

Just increase the cost of the hulls. You can find them in the GC2Types.xml.

 

While I prefer to build only a handful of powerful dreadnoughts instead of many fleets, I don't think that doing the latter is unbalancing or gamebreaking. Especially as part of this game is all about fleet battles. You're supposed to have huge fleets. Well, as huge as you can afford anyway.

If this bothers you that much, then this game may actually not be for you.

A much more fitting game for your preferences would be Ascendancy. In it, ships are limited to one per star system you control (two for your home system). However, it's from 1995, so getting a copy might be a bit difficult.

Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Quoting Gaunathor, reply 1

Why question is: is there a modding solution to having so many ships that doesn't unbalance or break the game?

No. At least none that I know of. Reducing the military production or increasing the buildcost of ships will only delay the inevitable, but won't prevent it.

Is there a way to reduce military production by a percentage, not just a flat value?

The Military Production ability works as a percentage. Just give every race a negative starting value in the RaceConfig.xml.

An alternative to this would be to increase all ship production cost. but what is the easiest way to do this?

Just increase the cost of the hulls. You can find them in the GC2Types.xml.

 

While I prefer to build only a handful of powerful dreadnoughts instead of many fleets, I don't think that doing the latter is unbalancing or gamebreaking. Especially as part of this game is all about fleet battles. You're supposed to have huge fleets. Well, as huge as you can afford anyway.

If this bothers you that much, then this game may actually not be for you.

A much more fitting game for your preferences would be Ascendancy. In it, ships are limited to one per star system you control (two for your home system). However, it's from 1995, so getting a copy might be a bit difficult.

I'll give every race a negative starting value in the RaceConfig file (and then maybe decrease the cost of constructor ships to balance this), but it sounds like I'm just going to have to get use to there being plenty of ships. This is definately a great game for me; though I wish that there where maybe a third less ships. Each would be more valueable. but I suppose the loss of even a single medium or above hull size ship can be felt.

By the way, what do you think of what I thought of in my original post about reducing the cost of the tech path to medium hulls and planetary invasion? I'd like to see larger ships earlier (though still with basic weapons), while keeping everything else at "very slow" reasearch speed. Any unforseen consequences in doing this? Thanks in advance 

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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Quoting MechaGodzill, reply 2
By the way, what do you think of what I thought of in my original post about reducing the cost of the tech path to medium hulls and planetary invasion? I'd like to see larger ships earlier (though still with basic weapons), while keeping everything else at "very slow" reasearch speed. Any unforseen consequences in doing this? Thanks in advance 

Doing this is quite easy. Just change the value in the TechTree.xml and all race-specific tech trees that use alternate costs. The Thalan, for example, have a higher cost for Planetary Invasion (1600 compared to 1200).

As for unforeseen consequences, I'm not sure. It could lead to earlier wars, but only actual testing will tell.

Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Im very much a newbie to this game but isn't playing on slow tech research the problem here? ie-if no player can research larger expensive ships then they will be producing lots of cheap, smaller ones...

Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Yeah in my last game I think the Torians had about 1500-ish ships.  It can get really crazy on slow tech.

Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Quoting MarvinKosh, reply 5

Yeah in my last game I think the Torians had about 1500-ish ships.  It can get really crazy on slow tech.

Yes, I think this effect is the result of slow tech. I'm thinking of either reducing the research cost of advance hulls and medium scale buildings or modding it so that all the races begin the game with advance hulls already researched. Which of these two options do you think would be better? Thanks in advance