I agree with Naselus that in tactic I won't beat the AI.

On the other hand I don't ever intend on fighting a war with the AI UNTIL I OUTNUMBER HIM 10 TO 1. Until I get to that point, the strategy will be: divide, appease, and manipulate.  

Once you have overwhelming numbers, you don't need tactics.  The unending eternal swarm is all you need for victory.  

In Starcraft 2, I play zerg.  And I know their mechanics VERY well (build up your production as much as you can get away with).  

Also, to answer my doubters in my NEXT Let's Play thread, I will stick to the Thalan race instead of custom race.  

But first let's finish this one.  

As I see it, being able to custom your race is no different than being able to custom the galaxy.  Cheesy? Maybe.  But it's still valid.  It is in fact a legitimate and designed part of the game.  

A pretty pathetic showing. Only managed 62 colonies by turn 40. Of course I still have 30+ colony ships looking for places to colonize, and I have completed the Gaia Vortex giving an automatic +4 to production on all my worlds, and the Altarians in 4th place (average) have ONLY 17 colonies (see screenshot) and I have first place in population and production (thank you, Gaia Vortex), and I can research anything in 2-3 turns with a 0% research slider, BUT I HAVE DONE BETTER IN THE PAST. 

Either 1.02 was a bigger patch than I thought or maybe my skills are getting rusty.  

Should I continue this?

Next step: Build Hives on all my worlds and finish the Hyperion matrix.  The Hyperion Matrix will give a +50% research boost in all my worlds, which btw are producing at minimum 5 science EACH at 0% research slider thanks to Benevolence Research Lvl 5.  

Then build Fertility Clinics.

Trade with the AI for techs.

If the AI starts getting uppity, bribe one AI to attack another.  That way they won't attack me. (Duh).  The AI is sort of dumb and pretty easy to bribe to do stupid things (don't attack me, I'm peaceful.  I'm bad at this game.  I only know how to peacefully expand and BUILD COLONY SHIPS.  Go and attack the guy with 14 colonies.  The civilization with SIXTY TWO colonies, THREE TIMES MORE THAN YOURS, and expanding more ISN'T A LONG TERM THREAT TO YOUR CIVILIZATION AT ALL. Nothing to see here, move along).  

I don't even need pragmatism Lvl 1, no attacky for 50 turns.  As a result I'm trying to get Malevolence high enough to get the +25% manufacturing boost.  

I also don't give a shi- about what AI tactics or fleets they'll build.  As I see it, when I finally go war, I WILL outnumber them TEN TO ONE with equivalent military tech, in which case it shouldn't matter what they do, right?

 

Should I finish this game? Because at this point it starts to get boring.  

 

I never said what i want or what others should do. I am saying that this problem is in part a player created problem. If you choose to set up your map in a way where you can get a hundred colonies before meeting the AI, then don't be surprised when you get a hundred colonies before you meet the AI. This isn't going to change based on any balancing: if balance makes you expand slower or faster, you will still get 100 colonies before you meet the AI, assuming the AI gets the same restrictions/buffs.

In the end no matter what you do, this is primarily a problem of amount of opponents divided by map area.

 

Further, from reading the rest of your post, it just seems you want the LEP to scale based on mapsize and non-linearly based on amount of colonies. Like it does in most games. 

The game is very poorly balanced, man.  

If the only way to have fun is to restrict yourself, I reckon the game mechanics need some MAJOR redesign.  Also, the whole "bribing the AI to attack one another" thing is extremely abuse-able.  And THAT will work on any map.  

And no, for the Large Empire Penalty, I want them to scrap it COMPLETELY.  

It's a stupid way.  A much better way is to increase new colony upkeep costs significantly using a logistic model like in Civilization 4.  That way early game economies cannot support large empires that I showed in the game above, but later game economies CAN.  

 

People asked for you to finish a game, so you should probably do that. 

 

Nobody said it was, we just said you shouldn't brag about beating godlike untill you actually do it.

Though your attempt is kinda lessened by doing exactly what draginol said you would do :/ Shouting harder isn't gonna make the game get fixed to your liking faster, doing what the devs ask when they reply to you probably does. 

Very well, more tomorrow then.  Or maybe more later tonight, but not right now. Off to Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer and then maybe Skyrim, and then back to this. But keep on posting and showing interest and I'll keep on posting up my game.  

And yeah, I do consider you a fan, albeit not a very appreciative one, but that's fine.  It's not as if I've acted in a way that increases likeability.  

Yeah, the achievement is lessened.  But the developers were the ones who put in those features in the first place.  If they didn't intend us to use it, then why was it placed there anyways? 

Also I might point out that without those bonuses I would probably have only twice as many colonies as the AI.  As opposed to 3x as much.  The key is "fast +2 to ships." That helps tremendously.  

FIRST we establish a base case where I UTTERLY stomp the AI with bonuses.  THEN we establish the second case where I merely stomp the AI with a normal civilization by colony spamming.  Like everything else in science, you need a control first.  

But fine, first things first.

And I really hope that when the developers programmed the game it was programmed with flexibility in mind (i.e. no hard coding and all values are scale-able, right? Because if it was not programmed with flexibility in mind, it's going to be a lot more work later on if they attempt to fix it)

Ofcourse you can use it. Taking this logic to it's extreme, you can also play 1v1 on a insane map, and then complain you can get 800 colonies.

You choose to play this way, not the game or the devs. If you consider adding more AI for a given map area limiting yourself, no amount of AI improvements is gonna help. You will always be able to set up a map where this scenario occurs.

Dude, the last screenshot I can see is on Turn 39.  While I agree some balancing is needed, you haven't proven anything except you can fast expand, which isn't news.  The game has hardly started.  Even with vastly fewer planets the AI will be able to produce and research faster than you when you are surrounded by numerous AI and once the colony rush ends.  When I've played on Suicidal (and I've won without cheats) on a Large map with plenty of AI, I managed to defeat two empires completely ... I still remember thinking it wasn't that bad after all ... and then got STOMPED and had to reload (more than once!) and try again.  The game is far from over.  Don't forget the bonuses the AI gets include ship hit points and so on. 

https://forums.galciv3.com/466398/page/1/#3556291

 

 

 

 

Welcome to almost every 4X game that ever existed.  Few offer a challenge on the highest difficulty as strongly as Galactic Civilizations does.  The real question is ... can you setup the game to help ensure you get a challenge and have fun?  The answer is Yes.

the comparison with the pirates was purely rhetorical. if I would play against marigoldran strategy, which states that all pirates are disabled, I guess they would be disabled for me as well....

also, the amount of attack is irrelevant since he's using only nonmilitary undefended ships, which can be shot down by any military craft as weak as they may appear to you (in mathematical terms a 1 attack ships power is omnipotent in comparison to a 0 attack 0 defense ship as it will win in 100% of all cases). other stats are much more interesting, for example speed, and here pirates are kinda weak/slow... just a thought

Turn 48: 

87 Colonies.  Power graph is approaching double that of the nearest competitor, as you can see.  My power is still exponentially increasing.  I haven't built a single military ship yet.  Not needed.  

Researching everything in 1 turn. 

Don't give me the BS about how the AI can pose any challenge at this point, Icemania.  By colonizing this many worlds, I've ended up nerfing the AI even on God like.   I'll continue playing but each turn is going to take 15-20 minutes.  Next time I'll try this on a smaller map with the same number of AIs, but need to get through this slog first.

And if there's any AI that is a potential challenge, I'll just bribe him to attack someone else.  They're dumb that way.  It's a civ IV trick.  

Building up my worlds now, mostly.  Building constructors and pumping out starbases.  About to get rank V in Malevolence for more production.  Got Extreme World Colonization for more ideology points.  Saving Rank IV Benevolence boost each world by 1 tile for later.  

I really WISH some AI would attack me so like I have something to do.  The moment anyone attacks me though I'll IMMEDIATELY trade for the military techs that other AIs have.  Consequently I can match anyone who tries.  

 

And yes,  this is a slog.  I build starbases, so I can build more constructors, so I can build more starbases to increase my production so I can build more constructors, ad infinitum.  This is normally when I quit.  Wish the AI was smart enough so this could be AUTOMATED and I can focus on the BROAD STRATEGY.  Instead I have to micro manage ALMOST EVERY SINGLE THING to make sure I get reasonable results because I don't trust the AI to be smart enough to do it.

IT TOOK ME ALMOST 1.5 HOURS TO PLAY 10 TURNS.  THE ONLY THING THAT'S KEEPING ME FROM QUITTING IS THE DESIRE TO SHOW YOU'RE WRONG.  OTHERWISE IT'S A SLOG.  

(Maybe you shouldn't have gotten this many colonies.  Fine, a reasonable point, except that THIS IS THE FASTEST WAY I CAN FINISH THIS GAME.  IF I DIDN'T GET THIS MANY COLONIES EARLY, THAT MEANS I HAVE TO CONQUER THEM LATER.  THE POINT IS I'M GOING TO HAVE TO MANAGE SEVERAL HUNDRED PLANETS AT SOME POINT ANYWAYS).  

The problem is when I start a war with the AI each turn is going to take longer.  And it'll literally just be me rolling over their unfortunate carcasses.  Also, I might point out that on Godlike, the Synthetics consistently have a higher score and pop than the non-synths.  

I'm REALLY tempted to just declare war on everyone and see how it goes.  BUT I'll ONLY do that if everyone will admit that at this point I've got the game won.  

 

Silly idea.  When you play chess for fun, do you restrict yourself? Answer is no.  When you play multiplayer against another person, do you restrict yourself? Answer again is no.  I see no reason why Gal Civ III PvE is any different.  

IF THE DEVELOPERS ADDED SOME NON-CHEAT FEATURE, THAT MEANS IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE USED.  AND I WILL USE EVERYTHING THE DEVELOPER OFFERS ME.  IF THEY DIDN'T INTEND FOR A FEATURE TO BE USED, THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE OFFERED IT IN THE FIRST PLACE.  

I might also add that the AI gets MASSIVE bonuses on the hardest difficulty.  

Consequently I see no reason why I can't customize my race with some bonuses too.  The bonuses I'm getting is SIGNIFICANTLY less than the bonuses the AI gets.  Kapeesh? I might add that the POINT of PvE strategy games it to USE MINOR ADVANTAGES TO OUTSMART THE AI.  In other words, customizing race and giving yourself minor advantages (compared to what the AI gets) is part of the overall game. It's no different than outsmarting the AI with tactical smarts or designing better ships.  If you tell me that customizing my race is "cheesy", than I'm going to point out that customizing new ships is CHEESY TOO. After all, what's the difference? 

Also, I would like to point out I haven't reloaded once.  It's been a "clean" game in that respect so far.  

Unlike others I never doubted you were going to win because I've won myself on Suicidal without even using the colonizer trait.  How easy it will be in the end I'm not so sure.

Chess is boring, I couldn't care less about chess.  With respect to 4X gaming ... on the one hand I FULLY AGREE with your comment the developers should modify the game by balancing features that break the game.  But on the other hand as per my last post ... it's about having fun.  And once again this problem applies to any 4X game.

 

Having fun comes from breaking games.  

You know, I agree, that's very true ... for a while.  How many hours did you say you've played ... not many right?  Now if you enjoy these games and want to have a closer contest while min-maxing you have to look inwards and ask yourself ... how do I set-up the game to have fun after you've figured out what to break?  

Looking across 4X games, I normally use a combination of set-up options and increasingly these days my own Mods.  Sometimes even that is not enough.

The way I see it ... the developer needs to pay attention to this thread.  But also, step back on the balcony for a moment, and consider what I've suggested.

Too much common sense and wisdom.  I don't like those concepts. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr  

Okay one last post on this subject...  

If you're not having fun playing with this game setting, there are many other game settings that you can choose from.  I suggest using a smaller map or more factions on a larger map.  By doing this you will not be able to expose your fast colony rush.  For instance if you play above 80 factions on an insane map, you'll have a hard time getting to 20 planets before they are all gone, then you'll have to start war to get more (or culture flip).

As other suggested turn on pirates this will provide a little more challenge to your colony ships.  I'm not saying the AI is super but, it's decent and playable.  Could it be better always something could be tweaked or improved.  If you want to challenge yourself, use the suggestions.  If you want to continue running away with wins play the way you are, however, as you said it's not fun for you  We gave you options on how to attempt to have fun and you are refusing to use them.

Chess is a flawed example, because it doesn't give you any options. You always play on the same board, with the same pieces, and the same win conditions.

GalCivIII gives you a lot of choice over what kind of game you want to play and how you want to play it. You are, of course, free to restrict yourself to only playing it in one particular way, but that is your choice, not a failing of the game or its design.

 

This is really the story of the entire thread. There is no significant advantage to not taking a planet the moment you see it, even if it's terrible. 

 

In GC2, this strategy would not have worked. Marigoldran would have been force to stop expanding by around turn 10, because he would not have been able to generate enough money to keep his factories going. This forces the player to start making choices immediately - do you push heavy research? Do you build up a cash stockpile for another burst of expansion? Do you churn out some cheap scouts to note places worth taking next, while building up your planets? Do you REALLY want to take that class 5 oceanic planet and have to support it, when it's likely to take 500 turns to pay for itself?

 

I think a colony should [i/]break even[/i] at 33% econ. Presently, as of the 1.3 op-in, it turns a significant profit instead, because colony capitals cost 0 maintenance. Just picking humans at random (on fast pacing)and immediately colonizing Mars, I've just gained 4.4 manufacturing, 3.1 research and 3.1 econ... and I'll get that from every single new colony. Mars is a terrible planet, but I've just increased my Empire's income, manufacturing and research by 30% by landing 2.5 population (population which will now grow, regardless of the lack of any amenities).  You have a bunch of population generating cash, industry and research, and you are spending nothing on supporting it. You can put all the population to work doing 100% research, or 100% manufacturing... and that's fine, you're never spending any of the main resources. The population needs no support.

 

For the next one, don't even use the Thalans. Use the race least suited to the strategy. I think that, upon meeting the AI, he'll still have 50% or more worlds more than them, and an unassailable position.

I'm having the best fun I've had so far with Gal Civ 3 playing the third campaign mission on Suicidal difficulty.  I'm about 100 turns in and have allied with the Iridium.  It's fairly even between us and the Drengin/Yor with plenty of action.  Highly recommended.

 

Good point!