I don't understand the concept of reloading in a TBS game (unless you crash or have some other technical issue.)   Kind of defeats the whole point of playing IMO.

I don`t understand it either, but i`ve played a lot of games and been on a lot of forums where some people (who previously called themselves Aces playing on the Hardest difficulty) also revealed that they always Reloaded whenever something they didn`t like happened. So I wouldn`t be surprised if some of these `Grandmaster` players do the same thing. For years I used to wonder how these guys did so well on some really high difficulty games, hardly ever explaining how with brief comments like in the OP, until I discovered this.

However, now there`s a way they can prove it, Do a `video of how they play their game` so well and post it on u-tube for us to see. Then I`ll believe.

If, after 8 hours of play, Marigoldran feels that he has already broken the game, and it is too easy, perhaps he should move on to a different game that provides him with more of a challenge.

On reloading ... you guys are using it to falsely rationalise that Master players are cheating.

The comment about reloading was made by me ... not the OP.  I've never said Gal Civ 3 was too easy on Suicidal.  I said that I found Suicidal rough but winnable.  I don't consider myself even close to being a Master player of Gal Civ 3.

With my first win on Suicidal, initially the Yor went on the rampage and I failed to bop them.  I reloaded, failed to Bop them again, and then changed my victory target to an Alliance victory.  I just wanted to see if it was winnable at all at that point.

My other two victories I was min-max score hunting.

I haven't won yet without reloading that's for sure.

With respect to other 4X games, it's a similar story.  I play Extreme difficulty with Distant Worlds, never reload, and almost always win.  The only times I haven't won is when I've played with my own AI Improvement Mod.

So rationalise all you want that anybody winning on these levels reloads ... and that maybe true in the future for Gal Civ 3 ... but at the moment when there are these excessive exploits around ... I don't doubt it some are winning without it.

And you`re making the mistake of assuming that i`m saying all  Players who win on the hardest difficulty are reloading. i`m not. I`m pretty sure that there are very good players who can and do win on the hardest difficuly without doing that as the game is at present.

All I`m saying is that we must be careful not to `fix` or alter FUTURE versions of the game to make it ridiculously harder without really knowing the facts. I would bet money that the amount of people who do that well without reloading are in the minority. Which means that, in practise, a game could be made impossible to beat without Reloading on the Hardest level.  Heck, even I would like to try the hardest level one day without it being impossible unless I Reload again and again.

Okay I agree on that ... but that is not what you said before.  And in this case what the OP has done can be replicated.  He even has a Let's Play thread.  What Stardock will hopefully do is close the exploits, not just improve the AI ... and reduce some of the utterly ridiculous bonuses on Suicidal.  To me, that is key to Suicidal being fun to play long-term.

I'm not directing this at you ... but there are so many people here that are defensive and lack an open mind.  The fact is that it's a game that has essentially just been released.  Of course there are some exploits that are excessive that should be closed.  That is no surprise and also no problem at all ... like any 4X game at this point.

But the way so many have accused the OP of cheating, including the developer, I find to be really poor form.

some people reload a lot because nobody knows the detailed rules of the game until they have hundreds of hours of experience with it. 4X games are generally full of hidden mechanics and poorly explained gameplay systems.

i'd say for most "competitive" strategy gamers (i.e. people who like adversarial games), the major difficulty in most 4X games comes from understanding the rules because tutorials cover a small fraction of what goes on. actually figuring out which decisions to make and how to optimize an empire is usually very easy for these people once they grasp the mechanics.

i don't know how galciv3's MP is like, but I would suggest looking into that if you find the game too easy. that's the best way to actually experience most 4X games as they were designed to be played (without cheats/bonuses for certain empires)

Have you tried a game on more interesting settings where these exploits are a lot less effective yet?

Thank you, Icemania.  

With the exploits and a good map, it is quite easy to win on Suicidal.  No need to reload.  The Let's Play was done with no reloading and I demonstrated pretty conclusively how it could be done.  

But yeah, maybe I should normal maps more with more AI.  Thinking of changing ALL of the AI to Yor Clones....

Maybe Abundant/Abundant gigantic NO TECH TRADING (kills most exploits) but still lets me expand against 9 or 10 Yors.

Not those settings ... allowing the expansion is the problem.  The question is, with the right settings, will you find it so easy?

Avoid abundant settings as it gives you too many colonies and enables the exploits here.  Use occasional or common planets rather than abundant.

Avoid gigantic maps as it leads to far too many colonies to manage until we have better automation tools.  You'll get bored and won't finish the game.  I would recommend smaller maps, anything up to say Large.  

Carriers with Assault fighters are another OTT exploit I'm avoiding entirely and which needs to be closed.  It's not just for the player ... any AI that uses them suddenly dominates even if they are otherwise way behind.  On Suicidal I can avoid them as a player, but if the AI uses them, it's game over.  It basically breaks the game.  I really didn't want to Mod anything yet but while waiting for Stardock I've just had to Mod this to keep having fun.

https://forums.galciv3.com/465770/page/1/#3561376

What let's play is this?

I highly recommend Normal/Large map with all the normal factions as Godlike AI's.

All the tactics I've seen you employ so far rely on the un-opposed colonizing dozens of worlds, while my play experience rarely sees more than 4-6 worlds per faction before you run up against each-other. 

The game is balanced around competition, and your play style seems to completely avoid having to compete for anything during the Age of Expansion and early Age of War.

https://forums.galciv3.com/466895/page/5/#3564012

Sure, the settings he's chosen push the point where actual competition kicks in back to turn 100ish... but the AI also isn't competing with anyone until then, and handles it very poorly. Even on Godlike, the AI's ship building choices and economic settings early on are unfavourable to expansion. This means that it NEEDS to put you under pressure within the opening 30 turns or so or else it falls hopelessly behind.

It also emphasizes the point that the Age system breaks down pretty badly on very big maps - it's entirely possible to still be in full-on expansion mode deep into the second age even with 40+ empires.

I think the difference in people's experience with AI difficulty mostly comes down to the early competition thing. While you're right that the AI isn't optimal early any more than it it later, it kinda overcomes this with strong enough handicapping bonuses (x6 production on Godlike for instance).

The trouble is there's a definite difficulty curve which slopes down - the game gets progressively easier the longer you go on. Of course this is because you get stronger, but I think it's also because the AI gets relatively weaker toward the late game. There's two main reasons for this I believe:

1. The AI's early colonies gets huge boosts from great base multipliers; but as they can't specialize (yet), a human player (who also produces more efficiently) closes that gap as human planets get progressively better. The difference in production between human and AI planets reduces quite rapidly.
2. AI ship designs rapidly become more expensive, without a commensurate increase in power. This is partially a blueprints thing, and partially a cost-creep issue, especially with stuff like Life Support exponentially increasing in cost for little tangible benefit.

If you don't need to contend with the AI's 30 attack medium ships at turn 35, and only just encounter his 100 attack ships at turn 105 then yeah you can quite easily overcome them by rushing all the colonies you like and not worry in the slightest about military until the AI has passed it's peak threat.

Marigoldran, stop beating around the bush. Either post the link to your YouTube 'let's Play,' or shut up.  You can't have it both ways.

He did

https://forums.galciv3.com/466895/page/1/#replies

Even though his personality trait is Unlikeable -2 ( ), his strategy does work

No he didn't.  All he posted was a different forum post.  If you click on his link all it does is take you to a different forum thread, that he calls 'Lets Play.'  Don't be fooled by him calling a forum thread 'Let's Play.'  That was merely a forum play-style suggestion - not a 'let's Play' video from YouTube.

I want to see an actual YouTube Let's Play where he shows the set-up parameters that he uses, explains what he is doing on each turn, shows everyone on a turn by turn basis and, above all, plays a full game.  Frankly, I don't think that he can do this.

He did include an awful lot of pictures. And in the forum post, he explained his parameters and explained what he was doing on a turn-by-turn basis. I don't think Marigoldran can actually finish a game, since I don't think he really has the attention span,  but I've no doubt that the strategy works and someone who could keep playing beyond turn 100 or so would have a fairly easy time moping up. It's pretty obvious that the AI only gets weaker as the game progresses, so as long as he's managed to outpace them early on he can coast to victory through sheer weight of numbers. 

As another poster mentioned, It's one thing to set up a galaxy that is extremely weak against your play style (and then brag about it), but it is another thing to set-up a galaxy to be strong against your play-style, and post a turn-by-turn YouTube 'Let's Play' video explaining your strategy for overcoming the difficulties - all the way to the end of the game (with a Power Score & a Game Score).

Doesn't change anything. My claim was beating Suicidal difficulty was easy with standard number of AIs and a reasonably large map. 

In what way is my claim false? 

And yes, I lack atte-

OOooooooo.  Greece is going down the drain.  Stocks are going to fall tomorrow.  Did you know that?

My unlikeable rating should only be at -1.  Grrrrrrrrrr 

Quoting marigoldran, reply 97

Quoting anninhilator,

reply 92

Quoting Ambermonk,

reply 91

Marigoldran, stop beating around the bush. Either post the link to your 'let's Play,' or shut up.  You can't have it both ways.

 

He did

https://forums.galciv3.com/466895/page/1/#replies

 

Even though his personality trait is Unlikeable -2 ( ), his strategy does work

My unlikeable rating should only be at -1.  Grrrrrrrrrr 

-3 actually.

[quote who="dragoaskani" reply="98" id="3564246"]

-3 actually.

[/quote

Some people might say you're being too generous.