Torian Kamikaze: The Ritual Suicide of a Galactic Civilization
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I first got Galciv the week it came out, and played it for a couple weeks or so -- long enough to win a game with all AIs set to the highest level and to briefly hit #3 in the metaverse. At that point, though, I burned out and lost interest. A couple days back, though, I heard about the expansion and decided to try another round. It was a lot of fun for a while, but ended in a disappointing way that highlights a couple of minor problems with the AI -- and one very large one. (I'm sure others have addressed these points before, but as I haven't been around to hear it and all the ones I mention have been around since I quit playing, well. . .)
First, the background: The game was set with all opponents to Intelligent. (From what I remember, this was the highest level before the game starts giving the AI stat bonuses; is that still the case?) I picked a gigantic universe with abundant worlds and tight clustering, since I like big, epic games and like the effects that the clustering has on strategy. I used Control-N once to give myself a decent starting position. Not the best; that went to the Torians. (I used the sector-influence map to find everyone's starting positions. I'd consider it a cheat if not for the fact that the AI pulls similar stunts.)
I expanded for a while, deciding to see what would happen if I didn't develop Universal Translators. As I remembered how other civs had always harassed me for tribute before, I thought, "Why talk to them before establishing a military base?" Well, it seemed to be working for a while, but eventually the Arceans decided I was too tempting a target to pass up and sent a note declaring war. Unfortunately for them, I'd had time to build a strong industrial core sector (three starbases serving about 8 planets), a couple of military resource starbases, and just enough of a fleet to steal their own military starbases plus one of their planets and its Dreadnaught technology. As we'd been about equal in size to start with, I was able to push them well back until they, to spite me, surrendered to the Torians.
Ok, so far, so good. The Torians had many more stars than I did, but a seeming lack of military resource starbases made their fleet laughable compared to mine; my attack and defense bonuses were 529 and 474 vs 116 and 66 for them. My fleet was a bit smaller, but one of my capital ships could take... I don't even know how many of theirs, but a lot. The only powers left were me, them, and my sole trading partner, the Altairans; our overall rankings were in that order. The I-League was hanging on, too, as the only minor empire.
Here's where it starts getting weird.
After the Arceans surrendered to the Torians, I went to the Torians and demanded one of the old Arcean worlds that my fleet had swept past and was now isolated within my borders. A human player probably would have given it to me as a sop; I'd been fighting for it, after all, and it would fall under my cultural influence soon anyway. They didn't want to hear it, though.
Therefore, I decided not to pull back any of the invasion fleets that had been in Arcean space. I didn't do anything with them, I just left them where they were. This annoyed the Torians, naturally, but they did nothing about it except complain. I was sitting back and waiting for the tech victory, and there was really nothing they could do.
They tried anyway.
There commenced what must have been one of the most disastrously unsuccessful sneak attacks in galactic history. In a single turn they lost 51 capital ships while killing 11 undefended constructors and scouts. (I was amused to see a Phoenix felled by a mighty constructor!) The Altairans, who had been allies with both of us, declared war on me; the bottom fell out of my treasury as all my trade ceased.
That was as good as things ever got for them. I immediately stopped my research spending and balanced the budget. My fleets started back on the warpath, and it was a slaughter. How much of a slaughter? Well, by the time I'd used up my transports and decided to offer peace, I'd killed an additional 501 ships while losing 7.
The I-League declared war on me a few turns after the others; they'd been allied with the Torians. I remembered that it was possible to convince a minor power to surrender all their planets, so I decided to try. Sure enough, they handed themselves to me without the trading of a single shot.
Eventually, as I said, I gave them peace again. . . though not without claiming some planets in the exchange. With re-established trade I set my sights back on the tech victory, and had it shortly thereafter.
So that's the story. Here are the disappointments:
1) The AI doesn't seem to take into account the percentage bonuses to military strength when it decides whether to go to war. Maybe it uses the same calculation as the graph, because that doesn't, either. Somehow, I don't think the Torian AI realized that the military it was attacking wasn't just slightly stronger -- as the graph showed -- but one that could butcher it in 70-1 ratios.
2) Military resource starbases are a little too powerful. Sure, they should be strong, but giving a bonus to both attack and defense is enough to make the player who has them almost indestructible in the mid-to-late game. One +60ish bonus more than doubles the strength of the fleet, and multiple bonuses, well...
3) The above wouldn't be such a major problem except for the fact that AI doesn't appreciate their importance. Once the game is in the Dreadnaught phase, I park at least one capital ship on top of any resource starbase that is near a front and doesn't have Overlord Killer-class defenses. The AI should probably do that too -- especially for military bases! I had no trouble at all taking the Arcean bases, and for them to lose +40ish attack and defense while I gained the same bonus for myself was a mortal blow to them.
4) The I-League declaring war and then surrendering all their planets on the same turn. . . this one speaks for itself.
Now, having said all that, I want to make it clear that I still think this is a great game, and the AI is very interesting to play with. Much as I loved Master of Orion, it didn't give me stories like these. Still, I think most of these problems are easily fixable, and for them to be fixed would be a good step in making this game an even greater one.
~SDC~
First, the background: The game was set with all opponents to Intelligent. (From what I remember, this was the highest level before the game starts giving the AI stat bonuses; is that still the case?) I picked a gigantic universe with abundant worlds and tight clustering, since I like big, epic games and like the effects that the clustering has on strategy. I used Control-N once to give myself a decent starting position. Not the best; that went to the Torians. (I used the sector-influence map to find everyone's starting positions. I'd consider it a cheat if not for the fact that the AI pulls similar stunts.)
I expanded for a while, deciding to see what would happen if I didn't develop Universal Translators. As I remembered how other civs had always harassed me for tribute before, I thought, "Why talk to them before establishing a military base?" Well, it seemed to be working for a while, but eventually the Arceans decided I was too tempting a target to pass up and sent a note declaring war. Unfortunately for them, I'd had time to build a strong industrial core sector (three starbases serving about 8 planets), a couple of military resource starbases, and just enough of a fleet to steal their own military starbases plus one of their planets and its Dreadnaught technology. As we'd been about equal in size to start with, I was able to push them well back until they, to spite me, surrendered to the Torians.
Ok, so far, so good. The Torians had many more stars than I did, but a seeming lack of military resource starbases made their fleet laughable compared to mine; my attack and defense bonuses were 529 and 474 vs 116 and 66 for them. My fleet was a bit smaller, but one of my capital ships could take... I don't even know how many of theirs, but a lot. The only powers left were me, them, and my sole trading partner, the Altairans; our overall rankings were in that order. The I-League was hanging on, too, as the only minor empire.
Here's where it starts getting weird.
After the Arceans surrendered to the Torians, I went to the Torians and demanded one of the old Arcean worlds that my fleet had swept past and was now isolated within my borders. A human player probably would have given it to me as a sop; I'd been fighting for it, after all, and it would fall under my cultural influence soon anyway. They didn't want to hear it, though.
Therefore, I decided not to pull back any of the invasion fleets that had been in Arcean space. I didn't do anything with them, I just left them where they were. This annoyed the Torians, naturally, but they did nothing about it except complain. I was sitting back and waiting for the tech victory, and there was really nothing they could do.
They tried anyway.
There commenced what must have been one of the most disastrously unsuccessful sneak attacks in galactic history. In a single turn they lost 51 capital ships while killing 11 undefended constructors and scouts. (I was amused to see a Phoenix felled by a mighty constructor!) The Altairans, who had been allies with both of us, declared war on me; the bottom fell out of my treasury as all my trade ceased.
That was as good as things ever got for them. I immediately stopped my research spending and balanced the budget. My fleets started back on the warpath, and it was a slaughter. How much of a slaughter? Well, by the time I'd used up my transports and decided to offer peace, I'd killed an additional 501 ships while losing 7.
The I-League declared war on me a few turns after the others; they'd been allied with the Torians. I remembered that it was possible to convince a minor power to surrender all their planets, so I decided to try. Sure enough, they handed themselves to me without the trading of a single shot.
Eventually, as I said, I gave them peace again. . . though not without claiming some planets in the exchange. With re-established trade I set my sights back on the tech victory, and had it shortly thereafter.
So that's the story. Here are the disappointments:
1) The AI doesn't seem to take into account the percentage bonuses to military strength when it decides whether to go to war. Maybe it uses the same calculation as the graph, because that doesn't, either. Somehow, I don't think the Torian AI realized that the military it was attacking wasn't just slightly stronger -- as the graph showed -- but one that could butcher it in 70-1 ratios.
2) Military resource starbases are a little too powerful. Sure, they should be strong, but giving a bonus to both attack and defense is enough to make the player who has them almost indestructible in the mid-to-late game. One +60ish bonus more than doubles the strength of the fleet, and multiple bonuses, well...
3) The above wouldn't be such a major problem except for the fact that AI doesn't appreciate their importance. Once the game is in the Dreadnaught phase, I park at least one capital ship on top of any resource starbase that is near a front and doesn't have Overlord Killer-class defenses. The AI should probably do that too -- especially for military bases! I had no trouble at all taking the Arcean bases, and for them to lose +40ish attack and defense while I gained the same bonus for myself was a mortal blow to them.
4) The I-League declaring war and then surrendering all their planets on the same turn. . . this one speaks for itself.
Now, having said all that, I want to make it clear that I still think this is a great game, and the AI is very interesting to play with. Much as I loved Master of Orion, it didn't give me stories like these. Still, I think most of these problems are easily fixable, and for them to be fixed would be a good step in making this game an even greater one.
~SDC~
