NEW (UNOFFICIAL) Strategy Guide Posted

To get us started:
(a) PLEASE add page numbers
(b) In 1.2, the words "increase" and "decrease" seem to have been switched (if the game is too hard, I think people should try easier AI settings...)

I am sure that Robert and company did great work, but I guess I have to wait for the .pdf version. Wordpad is giving me an obscure error message whenever I try to open the file.

So try and get the other version out so I can see the goodies!

BRILLIANT!! Well done guys, thanks.
I got Word to put in page numbers (had to put a blank page as page 1)

Thanks again

Great job, guys.

My comments:

1.3 Map Size
Since you are talking about Map Size, a short section on habitability will be good. Rare plays differently from Abundant.

3.1.2 Ship Strategies
Fleet defense bonus should be taken out as it is now a confirmed bug which would be fixed in the next update.

3.3 Morale
Another way to keep planets population at 100% is propaganda.

5.1 Culture Bombing
Step 2: Note that building a culture starbase in enemy sector may lead to them asking for it else declaring war.

4.2.1 AI and Military
Re: Key Hint. Note that you can’t bribe a AI which has warm or higher relations to another to attack that race

4.2.2. Relationships and Alliances
I believe Cari mentioned that trade is needed to get you up to close. Tributes can only bring you up to friendly.

That's all for now.
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MS Word 97/2000 viewer... free...
http://office.microsoft.com/downloads/2000/wd97vwr32.aspx

Section 3.1.2 -
Ship building cheese: This is not cheese. It's suppossed to work that way! A useful suggestion for people who have not realised it, but rename it from cheese to strategy.

Section 3.4 Trade strategies
You can build multiple trade routes between the same systems! Choose two system build all trade routes between them and build multiple trade improvement starbases on the route. HUGE income!

Alexians are the easiest minor race to culture flip so beware in they are in a region of enemy culture

Beware of culture flipping a major trade partner. It can cost far mor in lost trade than the gain in extra planets.

Paul.

~SDC~

OS's thread discussing this can be found here (just in case I forget to come post the link here for any updates...)

http://forum.orionsector.com/viewtopic.php?t=1074

Of course, I'll try not to forget, but work has been a nightmare from hell this week......
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Well done. One extra tip. I like to keep my trade going straight rather than diagonally. It makes it easier for me to keep track of where to put my trade upgrades on starbases.

Thanks, Atarex. Now I can look at the goodies. Back to the topic...

Thanks for all the tips guys, keep them coming! I wish there were more 'ground-breaking' things in there, but i feel most things have been talked to death already.

Speaking of the guide, when I say 'rare planets', anyone know a rough average ratio of good planets : total planets?

Ie Rare: 10%
Common: 50%
Abundant: 70%

And what about different strategies? I just put the obvious (next paragraph). I've never really played around with this option, i like the normal level as it is.

Differences as good planet abundance increases:
More planets per system, therefore each system is worth more in terms of total production and military value.
More ships, because you’ll have a larger economy.
Starbases are potentially more useful, since the amount of planets / sector increases

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Another question:

RayChua mentioned that the AI will demand culture SBs in their sector. If they no longer have the most cultural influence in that sector, can they still demand your SB?

Reverant Leader: Actually when you think about it, the way to get the most trade money out of a sector is to have the route diagonal from one corner of the sector to the far-opposite corner. That said, it's mostly impossible to do. You are better off looking for really good planets to trade with, and just deal with the route as it is. (IMHO)

Actually, I have to disagree. Check this picture out:

..1 2 3 4 5 6
1 * * * * * *
2 * * * * * *
3 * * * * * *
4 * * * * * *
5 * * * * * *
6 * * * * * *

OK now let's say we have a ship in 1,1 and we move to 6,6 (as you suggest is best). Now if we had to move over to 2,1 before dropping to 2,2, then you would be right. But in GalCiv ships move directly diagonally. So they go from 1,1 to 2,2 to 3,3 to 4,4 to 5,5 to 6,6. That's 5 moves.

Now if you go from 1,1 to 1,6 (or 6,1) you also go 5 moves.

So if you try to mess with diagonals, unless you nail it perfectly you are going to get less time in sector than vertically or horizontally.

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To add your own page numbers:

Save document
Open document
Click View to Header and Footer
Scroll till you see a box called Footer and left click in it
You should see a toolbar called Header and footer with a button that looks like white page with blue # on it. If you left click this you should see a page number pop up.
You can highlight this number and center it (look for lines buttons for Centering - middle button)
Click the close button at right end of Header and footer toolbar and then check print preview (white page with magnifying glass) or left click File to Print Preview

Don't forget to save doc with page numbers now


Let me know if you have trouble with this
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BTW, on the trade route thing, when I have a planet in the same sector as the alexians, I love to trade within the sector - all the SB get built just inside the one sector. Stuff the bonus for distance: maximum impact of SB is worth more, AFAIK. (Plus its easy to defend the trade ships...)

Just watch that teh Alexians stay wealthy - don't want to flip them!

i've just made pdf version from doc file myself. Navigation pane and TOC links are working.
+ some comments from this thread and page numbers included

http://dark-avenger.hypermart.net/docs/the_unofficial_galciv_strategy_guide_v1_0.pdf

~SDC~

marketanalyst: Can i send you the .doc file to convert to pdf? I already added some stuff (including the page numbers of course!)

Robert: THanks for the analysis. You are quite right, I forgot about the grid thing. The actual distance in a diagonal is longer (why do you think monitors are measured on the diagonal?) but grid-wise it's the same. Anyway more comments anyone?

Gibbie99: sure.
my email is [email protected]
and your?

~SDC~

Market: My email is [email protected]

Gibbie99: so why dont u send me .doc to convert?

You should add something about speed modifying starbases and their role in trade enhancement:


Keep them between wealthy planets but in the same vertical or horizontal row of sectors.

Builds trade centers when you have a large military spending capacity.

More Advanced Trade Optimization:
(For trade routes spanning multiple sectors only)

You might notice that starbases with speed bonuses do apply to mini-freighters. To get the most out of your trade, you'll use these starbases to move mini-freighters faster though the lower income portion of the route and slowly through the most profitable portions.

First pick a sector trade your trade routes already spend quite a large amount of time in. Build all your trade center starbases here. If there is a tie, sectors closer to your planet's end of the trade routes are more preferrable (more about this later). I'll call this the Alpha Sector of the trade route.

Now once you have a few (5) trade centers in the Alpha Sector, start plopping down speed enhancements in the other sectors of the trade route.

If you have a huge excess military spending capacity, build enough speed modifiers so the mini-freighters move 12 spaces (it covers the entire sector in one move), but one per sector is sufficient. You can add more, but do the math and make sure that mini-freighters are still spending 12 turns inside your target sector especially on the way back.

The last option for speed modification is building more speed modifiers in the sector before the Alpha Sector such that mini-freighters shoot through the Alpha Sector on the way out. On the way back this doesn't happen and you get the full 12 turns inside the Alpha Sector.

The difference is that the base value of the trade route is larger on the way back. Now the closer the Alpha Sector is to your own planet, the more effective this is at increasing revenue (base value of 56 bc rather than 11 bc).

Using this technique, on a small map, I was able to make a 5 sector long trade route average ~350 bc/turn.

The eight trade mini-freighters were generating 5 times my economic income even though I owned a prosperous half of the galaxy. But note: low tax rate of ~25%.

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Oh, add in reminder that starbases are worth 5bc in maintenance.

And a bit more on wonders, which ones to get:

Eyes of Univ and Tir-Quan are great for military campaigns.

The Terraformer is always good with warning (AI might jump over prerequisite techs to research evolution control)

A known bugs listing would be nice too.

Other galatic events:
Arcane energies!? - double pop growth
Xenophobia
Cultural Blooms
Pirates (prison)
Space Monster (zoo)
Space Snake
don't know exact names but these, maybe missing some.

Just thought I would bring this back up to the top and test out something.
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Okay the trade stuff is in there. The others will be added later.

Thanks!

Here's another mirror for the PDF version.

http://www.orionsector.com/pages/galciv/downloads/The_Unofficial_GalCiv_Strategy_Guide_v1_0.pdf

The strat guide is great!