Sirian

Kylearan's Challenge - AAR Brought to You by Realms Beyond in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Kylearan, a Realms Beyond regular, is trying to make the jump from Crippling to Masochistic. He has had problems doing so, having some success but not quite there yet. So he posted a report of a game he played and lost, even on replay and with spoilers, and issued a request for others to give the same map a try and share results. I've done so. Click the first link to read Kylearan's report and challenge. http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/message?forumid=237344&messageid=10679

Reply to Fundamentalists Event - It's Broken in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

[quote]Fundamentalists have never been a problem for me. In about 8 games where I have played Evil, I have yet to lose a single planet to them. I think the key is keeping morale high (which I do for production / tax purposes)... a neat side effect is that I've been thus far immune to both the Fundies and the I-League.[/quote] The Fundies event that broke the camel's back and led me to post this rant took place when my entire civ was parked on 100% morale. Seven systems, fourtee

Fundamentalists Event - It's Broken in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

The idea of a new minor race popping up by overthrowing the yoke of evil empires on a few planets is a cool idea. In principle, I like it, I welcome it. In practice, though, it often destroys my games. The event is way unbalanced, at times beyond absurd. I have seen the Fundies ovethrow ENTIRE empires. They have never completely wiped out my empire, but they have taken 80% of my planets on the worst occasions. This is out of control. The implementation of this event is broken.

Reply to Daily-Meta warrior tracking in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

[quote]Sirian has gained 18 ranks.[/quote] *Theme from "The Jeffersons"* :HOT: Well we're movin on up. ... Movin on up ... To the top ... Movin on up. ... We finally got a piece of the pie-ie-ie-ie. LOL - Sirian

Reply to Travel to Realms Beyond Your Ordinary Gaming Experience in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Congratulations to JaxomCA. He has posted three wins on Maso now, and he's already cracked the first page on "Average Scores" for individual players, giving RB two players in the top 20 on average score. (Hey, there is SOME advantage coming late to the party, since Maso scoring was boosted along the way in some of the patches, and players who have been around since the start have some lower scores of old to drag along). Jaxom and I would seem to have vastly different philosophies about

Reply to Travel to Realms Beyond Your Ordinary Gaming Experience in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

For those who requested info about UFO:Aftermath, my extensive review is posted on the RB general forum. Here: http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/message?forumid=60822&messageid=1067471295 Kylearan writes a good AAR, so be sure to check that out, too. :) RB continues to climb, pulling away from the pack and advancing on our goal of entering the top ten Empires. Jaxom is making bold strides, and when KoP starts posting scores, who knows what all might break loose. :D <

Reply to Travel to Realms Beyond Your Ordinary Gaming Experience in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Thanks for the replies, guys. The whole topic of scoring mechanisms for this game looks like a sinkhole for energy and emotion. Too bad the scoring can't measure the game more accurately. To close one abuse, the whole tech victory option gets the axe? Grand. So we go from one loophole to the next. Now it's turn off cultural victory and win by culture, but get credited with conquest. If they close that one, what will they have to break to do it, and then what's next after that? Sometimes

Reply to Need another option on the Stellar Frontiers poll in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

citahellion: Yep. I haven't voted on the poll because there is no option to match my situation. If the option you spell out were there, that's the one I would pick. - Sirian

Tech Victory Scoring - The Ubernerf? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Ack. The scoring nerf on tech victory is SEVERE. I had thought that tech was scoring so low because the games really drag out the extra turns on those last couple bits of research, and the game length was the reason for the low score, but no. I just managed the most massive trading economy I've ever had, on a gigantic Maso map. I had 2k in local economy and over 5500bc income per turn from trade. With TECH SPENDING at 100%, backed by full research facilities and two fully mined research

Reply to Travel to Realms Beyond Your Ordinary Gaming Experience in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Ack. The scoring nerf on tech victory is SEVERE. I had thought that tech was scoring so low because the games really drag out the extra turns on those last couple bits of research, and the game length was the reason for the low score, BUT NO. Nope. I just managed the most massive trading economy I've ever had, on a gigantic Maso map. I had 2k in local economy and over 5500bc income per turn from trade. With TECH SPENDING at 100%, backed by full research facilities and two fully mined re

Reply to Why 1 morale for new colonies? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Most likely, the problem involves sending TOO MANY COLONISTS with your colony ships. The default setting (why is this default???) is to send HALF of whatever is on the planet. That's way too much in almost every case. Morale is a function of population relative to population capacity. More people than the planet and its improvements can handle, bad morale. PQ15 planet can only handle about 200 million people or thereabouts before morale starts to drop. If you send half the popu

Reply to Travel to Realms Beyond Your Ordinary Gaming Experience in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Two more RB players have arrived. Our empire score now tops 200k points. The new patch certainly feels different with the minors now stretching their legs a bit more. - Sirian

Reply to Alternative Galactic Civilizations Game Mechanics (from the developers) in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Regarding the (very) faint glow around 3D Starbases... my monitor is darker than average (not from lower brightness settings, but inherently -- extremely low emissions to help protect my eyes) and I cannot see the "faint glow" showing sector ownership as it is. I would love to have the ability to set the amount of that glow, so I could get enough to actually use it. Fortunately, on the tactical display, I can tell (in a pinch, if I squint) who owns which sectors. Barely, except for the

Reply to Bug report thread v1.11.078 in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

When I first tried to patch to 1.11 early this evening, something failed (no idea what) and my existing installation became corrupted. Stardock no longer recognized that I had any version installed, and the program would exit immediately when I tried to run it. THIS SHOULD NOT HAPPEN, especially not with no error messages and no indications as to what is happening or what should be done to correct it. I had to burn two hours to uninstall the game, reinstall from scratch and re-download the patch

Reply to Gal Civ 1.1 scoring change vs. 1.10 in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I'd say the scoring nerfs are off. If so, hooray! I do not turn off victory conditions, and as such, most of my games are played to the first available victory. I am here for fun, not to slave myself to milking the scoring. Not having to milk a won game to a military finish just to boost score is a definite move in the right direction, whatever the changes may actually be. In fact, in my view, there should be (minor) scoring penalties for disabling victory conditions. That only makes th

Reply to Maso Strategies in Strategies Stardock Forums

[quote]the minors are here to be used, by design. [/quote] That's obvious. I'm not suggesting otherwise, only that racking up the diplo picks enables a lot more return out of trades with them, increasing the urgency of seeking them out. My point is not that one should avoid dealing with minors, but that the urgency of sending ships out immediately in search of minors to begin using them as soon as possible has consequences. Holing up and waiting for contact to come when AI trade ships a

Reply to Travel to Realms Beyond Your Ordinary Gaming Experience in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Breaking News! RB scientists have developed new technology: color television! To capitalize on this innovation, our logo has undergone minor revision. Now all we need is to invent some way to control the darn thing that does not require me to get up off the couch over and over again. LOL PS: We have exclusive trading rights to this new luxury item. The benefits would appromimate out to +10% morale, +15% star influence, -10% productivity. HBO upgrade module costs extra. See your local RB

Reply to Mid-West Confederation communication & recruiting thread in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Just popping in to express appreciation for the MWC Empire Stats utility. Those pie charts are a feast for the eyes. :D Your CGI or other scripting, offering live readings on demand, is simply marvelous. I spent half an hour poring over pie charts today, absorbing statistics, checking out other empires and comparing the peculiarities of Realms Beyond with the norms. One question: small maps are not shown in the size chart. Is that an oversight? :) Keep up the good work. I'm sur

Reply to Travel to Realms Beyond Your Ordinary Gaming Experience in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Ray, yes, I like your suggestions. Those are all on the table. We try to be careful about restricting options, though. We do not rush to judgement. There have been some issues in Civ3 that have both legitimate and exploitive uses, and writing rules to cover those for our Civ3 tournament is never easy. In some cases, we've concluded that it is necessary, but for some others, we have developed traditions where the items are not expressly forbidden, yet abuses are heavily frowned upon. If

Reply to Travel to Realms Beyond Your Ordinary Gaming Experience in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

[quote]While it seems to be the vogue thing these days to cheese the game any way it allows, there is a minority willing to draw the line and not resort to what "everyone else" is doing.[/quote] Excellent. :D Always nice to know there are folks of similar alignment floating around. Perhaps together, our starbases can spread the word and we can woo some fellow sentients back from the dark side. ;) - Sirian

Travel to Realms Beyond Your Ordinary Gaming Experience in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

This thread is intended to recruit new players to the Realms Beyond community through our Metaverse Empire. We don't exactly need a thread for discussion, as we have our own GalCiv forum attached to the RB website. (Realms Beyond is a veteran community of gamers with an established presence in several strategy and role playing games). However, some have suggested that our "meteoric rise" in the galactic standings represents a "mystery" and a possible threat to other empires. Surely not, says we.

Reply to Maso Strategies in Strategies Stardock Forums

[quote]The general way to beat more advanced opponents in tiny maps is to wait until they're at war with someone else (or pay them to start the war) and their warships should leave their planets. You can then attack with just transports and maybe a battle cruiser to take out any Defender type ships. It's harder if they have Battleaxes, and conquer them completely before they can respond.[/quote] Perhaps you missed where I said, "No sucker punch on undefended colonies." That is a gross h

Reply to Maso Strategies in Strategies Stardock Forums

I have played most of my Maso games on Medium and Large maps. I wouldn't say, for my strategies, that these are the hardest. I definitely find the tiny and small maps harder. This, with no diplo picks, no 1 IP, and no sucker punch on undefended colonies. Perhaps with those bits in play, smaller maps would be easier than mediums, but I'm still not sure. The influence bonuses the AI's get on Maso are tough, and the smaller the map, the more they are in your face. A lot really depends on t

Reply to GalCiv 1.11 Stuff in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Brad, I have questions about the ability to measure influence on the galactic map. Currently, the player can check influence in any sector at any time. This allows for knowing exactly where your rivals are to start a game, and which directions they are expanding as the game progresses, even in distant parts of the map. This information is strategically significant. As the chief architect of this game, what are your intentions regarding influence readings? Do you intend for players to us

Reply to What are the minor races....? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I ran into the Venge today. Like the Draginol, they appear to be related to a random event, though I must have overlooked the significance at the time. There is more variance among minors on larger maps. Small maps, all you see is the Alexians and Carinoids all the time. Scottlingas are the third "starting minor" if the map is large enough, and Kwilasians the fourth. The rest seem to be tied to various forms of events, although some "take over" existing worlds while others automagically transfor