Beginner Tips?

Item 1 depends very much on the map. On a Tiny map with rare planets, you'll probably have a hard time finding a place to put the colony ship you start with, on a gigantic map with abundant planets I find that using your starting money to keep spending at 100% for as long as possible is more important. Between the two, there's an area where it's a race for the most best planets, and there you might need to lease a few colony ships.

Other than that, I'd say you've got three solid tips

The manual is pretty hopeless for beginners, it took me several tries to finally win a game even with the intelligence on low. U do learn a lot from ur mistakes. This forum was and is still a great help to me.

On my first go i managed to come first (was against beginner ai) but i didnt manage to get very far in research even tho i was the technologists! just how much research is there to do in the game?

NicM

See this link http://www.galciv.com/forum.asp?id=23579&BID=GF&page=1#72454

or go directly here: http://webpages.charter.net/trevorpowdrell/

Hope this helps.
[Message Edited]

I won my first game because of the demo. The demo's really useful and download the Manual of a sight( cant rememr which one) It's really useful aswell.

I just played my first game last night...and I got pounded...the game lasted about 6 years (MAX). I started on a small universe.

I set all the opponent levels to NORMAL. This game was no where close to being NORMAL. I mean I thought I was a pretty bright person...but there was no way that I could have managed my money better...I was watching the military spending, research spending, and everything.

After the game was over I looked at the summaries and all the races had made more money than me...had far more tech, all had small armies (i had 1 scout ship and was still researching PHASERS).

The list goes on and on across the board.

Okay...so after my first game...i figured the game comes down to 1 element...CASH.

That is the 1 element that you need to manage an distribute in order to be competetive, without cash (income) your dead in the water.

So how could I have been beaten so badly in the cash department when all the races are supposed to start at the same level and we all have to develop our planets to enhance cash income...

Just some of my insights

If you would please help me to understand what happened...I don't want to be stuck playing the game always set to the beginner level.

I will try again tonight...but I just can't figure out how the aliens were able to generate so much more cash than I was.

Over and out!!!

i've played a few couple full games (on small/tiny and realy low AI levels).
currently playing a medium sized map with normal ais doing well i think.

here's what i've picked up so far:

1. tech whoring will get you all the cash you could ever spend. (though i've heard that at higher dificulty it wont work, we'll see).

2. taxes directly affect morale and morale affects taxes, so raising taxes will often make you LESS money and vice versa.

3. keeping "spending" at 100% is prety important, find ways to compensate for the fact that it spends more then your tax income by trading/selling/extorting or anything else.

4. if you find a far off civ, its realy worth it to get one of their extra freighters in a trade. you get the freighter next to their planet, send it right back into the planet and get a quick trade route.

5. for resourses, building a starbase with 2 constructors (second builds the mining improvement) is much easier then finding another resourse.

6. military is not a must! especialy in the beggining. my second game i didnt build any military at all untill i decided that i was far enough ahead of everyone in tech to crush them, and i was, and did.

7. being evil is not a bad thing. though the "good" aliens wont like you too much if you are, i think the planet bonuses make up for it.
8. governers are usefull, but only to a point. i wouldnt try to get them to run you whole empire. this aint MoO3 where the viceroys SHOULD run everything.
=============================

things i'm glad i found in the forum.

1. more planets is not always better.
2. dont build everything you can on all your planets (it kills your economy). made this mistake in my first game, though didnt realize it was a mistake untill after i read it here.
3. buying colony ships on turn one. havent used it yet, but it sounds like a great idea.

Instead of buying colony ships and going into debt, consider just puting all your spending toward military and raising it to 100% untill you've spent all your starting money (or untill you run out of worlds to colonize). That way you can build lots of colony ships without winding up with leases that last for years.

~SDC~

[Message Edited]

Oh Yeah I also played as UNIVERSALISTS.

I think this is a bad idea, because you automatically become a "jack of all trades, excellent at none".

I have determined that POPULATION is very important to cash because that becomes your tax base. If I am not mistaken "the quality of your planet greatly determines how rapidly your population grows, so if you are competing against aliens that have planets with 20+ ratings...you are automatically behind the eight ball.

So if you want to win the SOCIAL war...you need to have a POPULOUS/growth mentality.

I think Universalist is a bad way to go.

Please jump in here and correct me if I am wrong on my tactical theories...like I said I have only played once...and got pounded by the way.

Man this is a good game...a lot of little nuances going on.

I wished the in game graphics were a little better. But I will take game play over graphics any day of the week...especially in a turn based game.

Population growth is determined by morale and by your population growth ability. Planet quality affects population growth indirectly, by increasing your morale.

So taxing too highly can in the long run hurt your income, by making your people unhappy and reducing your population growth. For newbies, I'd say it's best to set your tax rate at say 39% and never touch it for the whole game.



Using freighters to start trade routes is important.

On the lower levels, you can sell things to the aliens for cash.

Your population will grow as long as your morale is above 53 (and it will grow twice as fast if your morale is 100), so definitely build Entertainment Networks, Multimedia Centers, etc. when it starts to dip. The general consensus is that Virtual Reality Centers aren't worth the high maintenance, though.

Morale is proportional to PQ, and there are caps on production and income based on PQ, so high PQ is definately important. Also, planets with PQ of 14 recieve no income, and planets below 14 cost maintenance. Don't colonize those unless you know what you're doing.

~SDC~

Mostly true, although if you take +25 luck and
+25 creativity they are actually quite good, but you have to play to their strengths (like with all parties). Having your defence being 8 "Lucky Rangers" by mid-game is not hard. I think all of the parties are balanced, and it becomes a matter of style. I think for larger maps they will be weaker as you probably want more bonuses elsewhere, but on small maps where you often will be limited to one or two systems they are quite strong with the population growth... and the Rangers.
[Message Edited]

brasscorpion:
Cash comes from population as you saw, so you need a big population. In order to get that you need a big morale, so you will want to set the tax slider so that you are right at 100% morale. You get better morale on high-PQ planets, so settle these if you can. Planets less than 15 PQ have a poor morale. Planets less than 13PQ actually cost money so don't settle these. Planets with 16+PQ give you bonus cash whatever the population.

You want to build only those improvements that increase your money, which are (in that order) +PQ (soil enhancement, habitat improvement), and then +econ (banks,...) and +morale enhancements.

Next, you have to trade with the ai, by using freighters. You also want them to trade with you, so it's a good idea to put the ai at war against one another so you're the only trade partner left.

Don't build too much of a military that you have to maintain. Don't build starbases except on resources in the early game. They must pay for what they give and they cost 10BC to upkeep each. Don't build social projects that you won't use (+production is only useful if you spend at 100%).

Don't rush buy/lease in the early game.
Try to get Diplomatic Translators to get better trades in diplomacy and Galactic Stock Exchange which gives +25% boost to your economy.

Note that on normal, the ai actually has a malus in terms of economy, but they can probably settle more/better planets than you as they know where to look for yellow stars.

Thanks for all the tips

I played again last night and actually did better...I switched to INDUSTRIALISTS. And changed my civilization bonuses.

You know, your right...I noticed that the aliens seem to be able to move faster to the good planets. Early in this game my population took a heavy dip in comparison to the other factions but I am on my way up.

I totally missed the concept of selling tech for cash...what I ended up doing was trading tech for tech...so I research the MEDICAL tech and exchanged it for DEFENSE and WEAPONS tech.

I am still behind the eight ball in this game but I am doing much better than the first. I think I am getting ready to be attacked by the Drengen (spelling) because under the diplomacy section it says they hate me.

I will keep you updated on the progress. Should be over shortly if I can't manage to build a couple of combat ships.

You're better off selling military techs for other techs than the other way round. The ai values military techs a lot. Really a lot. Even crappy techs like defense theory or deflectors will cost you a lot to buy, so you're better off researching them yourself and trying to exchange them for whatever the ai might have (tech, money, ships, IP...).

Hoe do I change the difficulty level?

~SDC~

Each computer player has its own intelligence level. The level is based on them. All of them set to Intelligent is called "Painful", all of them set to Genius is called "Crippling", etc. Set them to several levels and it comes up with some kind of average.

~SDC~

Tips for the beginner, by drunken Smack:

1. Play a few games at low difficulty. Masochistic will spank you, no matter how smart you are, until you know a few things.

2. Make sure there are 'balanced' alignments in the game. All good aliens will unite. As will all evil. A mix allows you to play them off each other.

3. One resource, maxed out, gives you a 68% bonus (with late game techs). That's a heck of a lot better than any wonder or trade good.

4. Attack rating and defense rating are increased for ships in orbit

5. Only attack rating counts towards your military rating, by which, the aliens judge how much to be agressive with you.

6. Speed is a great bonus pick on any map. Helps initially with colonization, and later with tactics.

7. Despite what others have said, you don't need a big population, at first. Focus on getting real estate.

8. Influence -> cultural victories. This is the easiest way to win, on any map, still (1.2). It's not as fun though.

9. Researching techs that the aliens do not, is the best way to get decent trades. As many have said, research the green/yellow techs ahead of the brown/red techs, IF you want to trade.

10. Tech 'whoring' is aptly named. Use it to win all games before Masochistic. At maso, just follow #9 and trade your way to a good position, hopefully.

11. Did I mention resource star bases? Trade for them, or park constructors next to them and start a war between the owners and an opposite allignment. Maybe you'll get lucky.

12. Trade for Diplomatic Translators if you can't develop them. They are worth their weight in future gold.

13. Speaking of trading. Tech 'whoring' means: Get to know as many civs as possible. Trade an unknown tech to all of them on the same turn, for whatever you can get. Don't worry about giving them things that'll help them. You'll be so far ahead this way, it won't matter. Be warned that the aliens trade amongst themselves, so keep a few techs on hold for later, if noone researches them. Ones the AI never researches 'Improved Environment', 'Interstellar Refining', 'Organic Piecing', and any other fairly dead-end techs you can find, including stellar cartography. They might not be worth much, but the AI values them in trade. Keep one as long as possible and the AI might eventually offer 'Dreadnaughts' for 'Improved Environment'. Happened to me. The trades the AI comes to you for are generally worth considering.

14. Save the game often. If you don't know how to save and reload to gain advantage, well, you are lucky and naive.

15. Speaking of cheating. Why not save the game, turn on cheats, and hit Ctl-U, to see where the aliens and planets are? They know where you are, after all. Then re-load the game from save. This can save you from painful starts that look good initially, but are full of woe.

16. Do not ever attack the aliens, unless you can win.

17. Start wars.

18. Keep a high military rating if the enemies are at 'cool' or lower.

19. Rush-buying your first colony ship is not a bad idea in situations with a lot of decent planets nearby. If there's a 20+ nearby, promptly move half your staring population there, which will speed growth rates on both planets (low pop ~= higher morale ~= higher growth).

20. You MUST stay at peace, until really ready for war. It's just a principle, that has exceptions.

-Smack

Doh, I forgot the most important:

21. Trade routes improve your relations with the aliens. This has some implications:

a. if you are the first civilization that an alien meets, give them 'Trade', if they don't have it. They'll promptly send all their frieghters to you.

b. get to know the other empires quickly for diplomatic/trading victories. Keep away from their sight if you are opposite alignment, until you are ready to negotiate and send them frieghters.

c. trade with minors is fine, but it's only the majors that will really matter in the end. Thus, send trade to majors only, if you can help it.

-Smack

And here's what I'll say about political parties and racial picks. This isn't even a principle, just a personal opinion:

It's easy to increase local production, with improvements, starbases, or wonders. It's far more difficult to improve local economics. Take economic pics and enjoy keeping your spending at 100% for the whole game.

Did I mention speed?

-S

It's far cheaper to just build colony ships, and it only takes two turns longer. Unless those two turns will be the difference between you taking the planet and someone else taking it, I recomend just building it.

And I can't say enough how huge an advantage you get by picking speed. In my last game where I took speed I would up colonizing almost a third of the galaxy. If you want to dominate the galaxy right from the beginning, choose speed.

~SDC~

PJ, I do agree that in most situations it's fine to just build the darn ships. But there are maps where speed is everything. Also, it's worth considering settling a nearby planet initially with half your population to keep morale and growth high while churning out twice the ships!


If the nearest planet/star is really nice, the initial rush helps quite a lot:

Turn1: move initial colony ship away, or to a local 15-16 planet, as it's only 100 million colonists. Rush-buy your first colony ship, spending 100% on research for this turn (as you don't need any other production!)

Turn2: Settle the nearby juicy star with half your population (~560million) Build at 100%

Turn5: Two colony ships@120 million colonists

Turn8: Two more, etc.

Thus, after 14 turns, you've produced 8 largish ships, the first pair of which could be 18 squares away.

Without rushing, you settle the nearby planet on turn 4, then send out 2 ships on turn 7.

With a speed bonus, your first 2 ships are 6 squares ahead with the rush-build technique. That's half a sector, which can be enough. You also get halfway to communications theory on the first turn.

In an imaginary situation where colonizable planets were always in range of thier first turn:
Turn:#ships produced:

1: Rush
2: Settle
5: 2 ships
8: 4 ships
11: 8 ships
14: 16 ships
17: 32 ships

Oh yeah, speed. As you are two turns 'ahead' of regular building, that's 6 sectors per ship launched, with a speed+1 bonus. In our imaginary situation that's:

(2*6)+(4*6)+(8*6)..., or 12+24+48+96+192 =
372 moves ahead on turn 17. It adds up.

With rush-building the first ship, it's quite rational to settle them on a local planet, if it's fairly nice. Your next wave of ships is only a turn behind a straight building/send-far-away from earth approach.

-Smack
[Message Edited]

why not take the speed pick in this case. So you colony ship can be able to conquer fastly distant planets.
A problem with rush building is the cost: you have only 1000 BC at the beginning of the game. So if you rush build, you won't be able to sustain a 100% spend rate as long as without it. And fees over lots of month can be annoying for developpement

I guess I'll keep defending this concept, as arguments against are not persuasive. Take the speed pick, AND rush build the first colony ship, in some instances. Lemme give another example:

Starting Sector: Sol is the only nice star, but Earth is a PQ 16, while Mars is a PQ 20. Rush half your population to mars. Double production in one turn. Rushing is best done on turn one, as the effect adds logistically.

As to cost, sometimes it's best to rush, sometimes not. Getting a few PQ 20's instead of the Drengin is worth any cost, IMHO.

-Smack