That's right, when a new minor civ appears, it's like getting a free planet. They always start with only 100 population, and no fleet to defend themselves. The computer AI is too dumb to realize that this is a free goody to be exploited. My play balance suggestion is that they start off with a better fleet and a higher population so they aren't so easy to conquer right off the bat.
pdifolco is correct, the original Atari went out of business many years ago. It's only a name that someone bought. But it's a cool name.
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There are zillions of reasonable military strength calculation algorithms one could come up with that are a lot better than what's currently happening. I have to agree that the AI more rationally judging your military strength would make for a better and more enjoyable game. And it would eliminate the "cheese" tactic of building a lot of starfighters. As it stands now, there isn't really a choice. The only way to keep the Genius and Incredible AI off your back is to build a l
As Za H says, the key to winning against Incredible opponents is through Diplomacy. Starting off with +70% Diplomacy, Populists, and rush-buy the Diplomatic translators. Then the key is how you USE your Diplomacy. They only way to keep up in the tech race is through trading. With the AI's huge bonuses to everything, in a short time you will find that they have all these technologies and you're in the stone age. At Incredible level, the AI won't buy anything for cash
I think the game is pretty easy to win even at genius level. But Incredible level is almost impossible (but I did it anyway). I think it was an error in judgment that the game developers created so many layers of difficulty below intelligent and only two above it. Clearly, the ability of the game player was underestimated.
From a moral perspective, if you're the only one who uses both the desktop and the laptop. you should be allowed to install software on both computers. It's like going to a bookstore and you have to buy TWO copies of a book because sometimes you read at home, and sometimes you read on the subway going to work. But the official Microsoft position is that each computer has to have its own copy of Office XP... oops, that's a different company.
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I don't see how anyone plays on a map bigger than Small. I tried the Medium once, and it was just too big. It's very tough to win against Incredible opponents on a Small map.
I have ships, starbases, and entire planets, all disappear on me. Saving and exiting the game, then starting it again fixes the problem for me.
It seems to me that at Incredible level, the computer AI gets some pretty big bonuses. On the other hand, the human have the benefit of doing diplmoacy like a human, and not like a computer AI player. A big advantage for humanity.
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I never thought that combat transports were too powerful. You get them with Battleship technology. A Battleship would have no problem taking out a combat transport. Invading enemy planets is difficult enough without making it any harder.
Obviously the game developers have been listening to all the comments about the Battlehammers being so cost-effective in comparison to Frigates and Battleships.
I tried my first game where I set all the AI to Incredible. What I noticed is that none of the other civs would buy any technology from me. They would still trade techs for techs, but despite my +90% diplomacy that I started the game with, I couldn't sell anything to them (except for pocket change, like less than 10 currency units). This certainly makes the game a lot harder. What other difference are there?
I say Diplomacy is the most useful. Take populists and +70% Diplomacy. Then you can make money trading techs. When you play the game, research Universal Translaters ASAP. Send scouts out ASAP to find all the other civs. The sooner you start talking to them, the sooner you start making money.
I've only played small maps. I tried medium once. It was too big. The game was going on too long. I was winning when I quit. On a small map, you still want to do the things they do on big maps. You want to build a scout right off. Then you want to build a colony ship real fast. If you have yellow stars set to common, then you can always find at least two other systems to colonize. I always start the small map games by putting military and spending to 100%. After you colo
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One of the reasons the AI is stupid is that it builds Frigates instead of Battlehammers. Battlehammers are the mainstay of my military until I get Dreadnaughts.
On the starbase being destroyed to easily issue: Yes, a starbase can hold off Corvettes and Frigates, but then as the ships get more powerful, the power of the starbase doesn't increase at the same speed. You need to GARRISON your starbases. Stick a Battlehammer on them. Built Battle Stations for them to make the Battlehammer more powerful. I find that building the defensive improvements are a waste. The best way to defend your starbase is with offensive improvement
Alf's advice is good. Adding to the tribute thing. He's right, don't ever pay it. You can get away not paying tribute a few times before they actually declare war. The first time they demand tribute is a reminder that it's time for you to start building up your military. The exact way your military gets rated is somewhat of a mystery to me--I wish someone would explain it--but the more military ships you build, the higher your military rating, and the less likely the
If you are going to buy something, the long term lease is a good deal. What's a bad deal is the inflated prices in the first place. Your money is usually better spent buying tech from the other civs. Sometimes I rush buy key trade goods and wonders. While it's preferable to build them, time and time again waiting around to build them another civ beats you to them.
In a small galaxy, there aren't 10 planets to trade with anyway. As the game nears its conclusion, you start losing trade routes, because the planet you were trading with joins up with your culture (or you conquer it) and then the trade route disappears.
In all games of this type, mopping up was always a big pain. In all the games of this type, like MOO, Civ, SMAC, I would always play on smallish sized maps, and always quit when it looked like I had won the game.
On a small map, I find that I always win a cultural victory before I have the opportunity to research all the techs. I disagree that it's cheesy to build a Party Palace. It was put in the game for you to research, how can it be cheesy to build one? You don't have to build multiple party palaces per sector, or even in the same sector you want to convert. It seems like all I have to do is put a party palace in an adjacent sector, and the planets start joining up with m
The Populists are the best party. 20% Diplomacy helps you make money trading techs with the other races. And 20% Morale helps to keep your people happy, and avoids the need to build expensive to maintain morale enhancing structures.
On the first suggestion: I did this in the last game I won (small galazy, all genius AI). Found a plent with quality 22 in the next sector, took everyone off of Earth (except 100) and moved them all over to the better planet. I won the game so it must have worked. This maneuver is based on the the principle that a single planet of high qualiy is more useful than a whole bunch of lower quality planets.
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It's funny that people are complaining that the developers are working on improving the game. The game is generally getting better with the subsequent releases. And it's also worthy of note that the developers are catering a lot to the advanced players, and not the average person who perhaps buys the game and never reads these forum messages or never even upgrades from version 1.0. Most developers don't care about the advanced players, they just want to sell many copies to a m
Star Pilot made an interesting coment about come from behind victories. They don't seem possible in GalCiv. Once you're down, the AI will keep beating you until you are completely destroyed. They don't give you an opportunity to make peace and rebuild. I think the AI should do a better job of respecting peace treaties. And extortion too. If they extort you once, they should lay off for a while. As it stands now, giving in to the extortion is a losing strategy, they
