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Reply to Question About AI Colonization in Colonies GalCiv2 Forums

You need a 4:1 influence ratio (I think) over the planet before it can revolt. I forget exactly what it's called, but if you look at the planet's properties, there will be a number which normally is very small or 0 if there are no other influences around. When that number reaches 4, then every turn it randomly flips. I've had planets flip immediately after achieving the proper influence and I've had them never flip ("never" meaning I eventually invaded them because I didn't want them

Reply to custom weapons in Modding GalCiv2 Forums

Um, huh? If no one can get defenses for your weapons, but you can get defenses for their weapons, you have such a huge advantage militarily that it's not even funny. Why would you even want that?

Reply to The "Big One" in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

That's pretty much what i do. In a map with 900 or so planets i only colonize to about 30. From then on, i follow an AI's colony ship with one of transports, he colonizes it and i take right from under him....cripples their economy too... This strategy only works for large/gigantic galaxies, right? Otherwise it seems that colonization will have been completed before you've researched the techs required for planetary invasion. (It's a cunning strategy,

Reply to Sigh....again in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

Shouldn't there be an XML file that can be edited to remove them? I looked in GalCiv2\Data\English\Events.xml, and didn't find anything relating to the dreadlords, but they do exist as a race in RaceConfig.xml. Maybe they can just be removed from that XML file?

Reply to All AI's, all missles? in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Ah-ha! I never paid much attention to the sizemod, or really knew what it meant. Now I understand. Does anyone know if it's rounded up, or down? Ex: size 30 hull, weapon of size 10, sizemod 4. 10 + (4 * 30 / 100). Is that 10+1=11, or 10+2=12, for rounding up?

Reply to Auto-add posts to watchlist? in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

Yup, but that doesn't tell me when someone replies to a thread that I replied to. I either have to manually add each thread to my watchlist, or go check the "My Posts" and "My Replies" sections to see if anyone responded. Every other forum I'm a member of has an option to automatically subscribe to any thread I create or post a reply to. That's all that I'm suggesting.

Reply to How does one become a professional programer? in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

Assuming you're in high school -- sign up for the next available beginning programming course. If summer vacation has begun, or is about to, talk to the programming teacher and see if he/she can recommend some books for you to read over the summer to get you started. I'm sure you'll be able to find tons of books like that at the public library, or of course can buy some at Barnes & Nobles, Borders, etc... If you've just graduated and are going off to college, be sure to sign up for pr

Auto-add posts to watchlist? in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

(Submitting a second time, since it didn't appear to show up.) Not sure where the best place to post this would be, since I didn't see a "Forum Support" section, but I'm sure it's somewhere. It would be nice if accounts could have the option to automatically add any threads to the watchlist that we create, or reply to. Many forums do this, but I can't find an option anywhere in my account settings to enable this. (It could be turned off by default so only people who c

Reply to Sunny days and game development in GalCiv Journals GalCiv2 Forums

Any plans to relocate to Seattle?

Reply to Text Issues & Random Crashing (Vista) in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

You may need to run under an administrator account in order for the game to be able to write the file, if you're running as a limited user. This still hasn't been changed? I wrote about this back when Vista was still in beta. The debug file should go under the user's directory instead of being written to the same directory as the executable. The only time an application should write to the program files directory is to update itself.

Reply to Unfair Beta distribution in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Hey Brad, I don't know if you've had anyone suggest this, but I think that we should be able to take control of individual ships and see it from the perspective of the ships' bridge and walk around inside the ship. What do you think? Can you do this for Dark Avatar? (Sorry, couldn't resist!)

Reply to Epic Generator -- a feature too far? in GalCiv Journals GalCiv2 Forums

I'd like to restate what some others have been saying, along with a couple additions: 1. It's a very cool idea, but very hard to do (as you have found out). So if it's taking too much time, cut it as a feature. 2. Leave logging in. Preferably, in an XML format so that everything is easily parsable. 3. Log EVERYTHING. The more the better. Log the starting maps (stars, locations in some coordinate system, planets, etc...), log every ship movement, every fleet creation/change,

Reply to Write your own AI in Ideas GalCiv2 Forums

Exactly V1m. I've read many posts where people complain about what the AI is doing and then they add something like "it can't be that hard". Well, it IS hard, and if it's something that's easy to expose, I think it would be awesome if we were given some APIs to write our own AI. I doubt most people would even think about it, but it might add some interesting twists to the game -- people could use someone else's AI to change things up a bit.

Write your own AI in Ideas GalCiv2 Forums

It seems like every few days, we see a post with someone complaining about how the AI did something stupid in some circumstance. Sometimes these are accompanied with "I mean, how hard can it be?" type posts. A couple weeks ago, I posted to one of Brad's replies asking about letting those people put their coding where their mouth is by adding some AI APIs so people can write their own. I didn't receive a single reply, but I kinda like the idea. Since I know that "customize the AI" is

Reply to Microsoft Flight Simulator X Demo in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

I agree that it should have checked for requirements before starting to install. But if you'd read the product info page , you'd see that SP2 is required. Also, what do you mean, "Then, I executed the zip"? The demo I am downloading right now from Microsoft's site is a .EXE, not a .ZIP. Sounds to me like the demo got repackaged by Gamespot. How much time did it take to extract the files from the ZIP befor

Reply to Don't know if anyone else got this in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

I'm betting it was related to the memory bug in the first 1.3 beta, which is fixed in 1.3 beta 2. Possibly, but he didn't indicate that he tried playing the game in between reboots while things weren't working. I wouldn't expect that GalCiv installs any drivers or other system components when it installs, does it?

Reply to The Desktops Thread in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

I won't post mine. I'm sure it would be against the forum guidelines, and the little kiddies might be permanently scarred.

Reply to 1.3 beta 1 bugs in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

Yes; the release was supposed to happen last week on Friday. But Brad Wardell's wife went into labor, and so he scooted off to the hospital. I assume it will be released this week sometime instead, but I wouldn't hold it against him if he stays away from work for a while to be with his wife and new child.

Reply to Game Diary: The Terran Dominion in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I much prefer the story. Some strategy is great to throw in, but the story is what makes it interesting.

Reply to 1.3 and still the AI can't focus in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

The starbase stuff is trickier than one thinks. When I code that stuff, I know exactly what I want. The code appears to do what I want. And yet I will often see the same thing you do - a lot of wimpy little starbases right next to each other. It's frustrating. Hey Brad, is there a possibility of providing an API (the same API that the AIs woul

Reply to More game examples coming soon? in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I did one myself, but all of two people bothered to read it, so I didn't bother to do another. What you mean is "all of two people bothered to comment about it". I find myself reading some AARs but not commenting because I want the story to "flow". When you get 25 comments in between postings, it gets annoying (to me, the reader). Of course,

Reply to Why be good? in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

My current game, I set it up to have 2 neutral (Arcean and the insects), 2 evil (Yor and Drengin), and 2 good (Altarians and me). I made 3 "good" choices and 1 "neutral" choice (I couldn't take a -38% production bonus!!!), so I was leaning good, though just barely. Even after I researched Xeno Ethics and chose "good", the Altarians at best have me at "warm", but that was only after some really good gifts when they were at war. Most of the game they were "Cool" with me. So I don't buy

Reply to ONE WEEK = what? in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Some people just don't understand that they have to suspend disbelief to play a game.

Reply to INVADER-Mod 4.0 Teaser Screens. (Plus Mod) in Modding GalCiv2 Forums

Have you seen the AI use the invasion mods that "destroy" a planet? And similarly, have you seen them "restore" a planet?

Reply to Alternate Reality - Unique Mod Beta Release 2 in Modding GalCiv2 Forums

100s of new techs, in several unique tech trees I've always wondered -- how well does the AI use the new techs? If the AI doesn't understand what it all means, it seems that designing your own tech is just giving you an unfair advantage. (This is an honest question -- I've never added any new techs or used any mods. I'm just wanting feedback o