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).  

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.  

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.  

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.  

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.

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.

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.  

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.  

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.

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.

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.

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.

Good point!