Wyndstar

Reply to Improvement Invasion Bug in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

Did some more testing. Can't get this bug to show up when invading minor race home worlds, or high quality starting worlds. My last game it happened every time I invaded damaged world - one that required colonization tech - or any time I conquered a PQ4 or below (most races start with one of these). I tested invading with different alignments, and alignment makes no difference. Sorry for the red herring. However, I think the reason it happened every time with spore ships was

Reply to Conquering Suicidal in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Well, the small/tiny suicidal missions you were referring to were all posted before the release of DA, so even if spore ships *did make that size easier, I didn't take advantage. And I keep going back and forth on tech trading. If you turn it off, you need to focus more on research, and I always take the technologist political party. If you turn it on, no need to spend almost anything on research, but it is a lot harder to really outclass an enemy in tech... you more have to beat them

Reply to Conquering Suicidal in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I only once did a suicidal huge, and that was some time ago. I work as an attorney, so I don't have lots of time to spend on a game. I like to play on my (lmited) time off, and I like the sense of satisfaction of completing a mission, so I try and design challenges that will take me 2-4 hours to win or lose at. I found huge maps easier because I was able to develop more infrastructure before my first war. Also diplomacy was easier because I didn't have to deal with the close borders

Reply to Hows the new AI? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Yeah, I agree with nullspace's additional strategies. And yes, turning tech trading off (imo) makes the game twice as hard. For one, you suddenly have to worry about researching yourself, which means building research buildings, etc. nullspace's point #5 describes perfectly how I play with this option enabled. And also nullspace's point 7. I meant that destroying a civ in one turn was ideal, but really if you can even knock out half of their planets to start you will win. T

Reply to Hows the new AI? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Yes, you get your treaty back. How broken is that?? (I Love it)

Conquering Suicidal in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

In another thread Frogboy mentioned he wanted to know how players beat suicidal. Here are my two cents: Sure, I can tell you how I beat 8+ AIs on Suicidal: (And no Ctrl-n cheese, play with what you've got) First - Money. I need to do everything I can to maximize my money so that I always produce at 100%. Always spend the 4 points for +30% economy boost. Go evil to get a +100% economy boost. Second - Diplomacy. Starting out I research xeno comm, univ trans, diplom

Reply to Hows the new AI? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Sure, I can tell you how I beat 8+ AIs on Suicidal: First - Money. I need to do everything I can to maximize my money so that I always produce at 100%. Always spend the 4 points for +30% economy boost. Go evil to get a +100% economy boost. Second - Diplomacy. I research xeno comm, univ trans, diplomacy, trade, interstellar, alliance, republic, adv diplo >> majesty, and then democracy and federation in that order EVERY game - from there I look and see what areas I need to re

Improvement Invasion Bug in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

When I invade a planet with a spore ship or as a "Neutral" ethical civilization, I often knock out all improvement tiles that have a queued task on them. I only ever invade with Traditional warfare or Information warfare, and I never get a message saying that planetary improvements were destroyed. Tiles are only wiped out to the level my enemy had researched in tile enhancement. i.e. If my enemy had soil enhancement only researched, after invasion a planet would be filled with

Reply to Research Treaties Bug in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

Thanks for your quick response, but I'm pretty sure I was playing with the latest patch. I witnessed this activity about 10 hours ago while playing a game using the 1.50.059 version. I also restarted after downloading the update. Perhaps I need to re-install, but the reason I posted this was because I had been hoping it was fixed with the patch I downloaded.

DA Planet Quality Strategy in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I like a lot of the new re-balancing. One thing that has really changed is the value of planet quality. By taking away Neutral alignments ability to auto get SE, HI and Terraforming, all three of these techs have become WAY more valuable. It seems like every low quality planet (1-4) now ALWAYS has loads of possible upgraded tiles. This has the effect of making them more valuable, almost immediately. Also, it makes the +20% planet quality improvement bonus racial ability less

Improvement Invasion Bug in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

When I invade a planet with a spore ship or as a "Neutral" ethical civilization, I often knock out all improvement tiles that have a queued task on them. I only ever invade with Traditional warfare or Information warfare, and I never get a message saying that planetary improvements were destroyed. Tiles are only wiped out to the level my enemy had researched in tile enhancement. i.e. If my enemy had soil enhancement only researched, after invasion a planet would be filled with

Research Treaties Bug in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

I've played 6 games now since the campaign, and have noticed a few more bugs. First, my estimation for time to complete a research assignment is always wrong in the middle game, I finish research projects 1-3 turns slower than projected. I think this must be research treaties. At the start of the game, research works correctly - I always finish a task in the appropriate time. At the end of the game it is always accurate as well, but by then usually no one is willing to let me

Reply to Korath and Krynn in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

In a related issue, the "Racial Victory" medal didn't go away before I posted games with the two new races.

Korath and Krynn in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

When I post Korath and Krynn games to the metaverse, they show up as "custom" race rather than the right race.

DA Campaign: Super Abilities in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

I've brought this up elsewhere, but it seems it should be in a spoiler free thread. I can't get super abilities to work in the new DA campaign no matter what settings I change. They don't work for me or for any of my opponents.

Reply to The meaning of it all in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

First, assuming that by law we mean laws made by humans to govern human activities: "How does a law rule without a human to interpret and/or execute it?" A law doesn't rule, people enforcing a law rule. Laws are simply sets of enumerated restrictions with penalties attached, and "breaking" a law means that the society you are in has agreed that you will suffer a penalty for your actions. That might sound like a narrow definition, but it is really quite expansive in ap

Reply to DA: some observations from the peanut gallery in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

I like a lot of the responses to this thread, and people make some good points. Espionage is very different, and at first it is hard to adjust. Previously, you could easily wage espionage warfare on all of your enemies, but all it gave you was information and a random tech every now and again. Now, it is very difficult to run espionage on 9 other empires, but if you stick to one (maybe two) you not only get information and random techs, you can literally shut down an entire em

Reply to Comments on the DA Campaign in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I agree with Iztok the problem seems to be poor population cultivation leading to a negative money cycle. Also, if you start spying on the Korath at all, then they will also try and dump money into espionage to remove spies. It is strangely satisfying/disheartening to "View" every enemy planet and see them with 1-2 Industrial production and that's it. You know you've won, and you haven't even fired a shot yet. Also, I spent some time doing testing. I can't get super abilities to wor

Reply to Comments on the DA Campaign in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I was not aware of this bug. I think the campaign has a few bugs (like super abilities). However, I did not restart (Ctrl-N) on any of my missions, so that doesn't really explain what I saw the AI doing.

Reply to DA: some observations from the peanut gallery in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

I agree with some of your observations, but disagree with others. First, the engine re-balancing really does seem to hurt the AI. Put the 8 points into getting plus 2 speed and then search up to warp drive and you are just about unstoppable. You will get all the anomalies, and your basic move 7-8 ships can out react the AIs move 1-2 ships. Add in Super Warrior and you can field some pretty fast first strike cargo hull fleets, use your speed to move in and kill, then retreat out of th

Reply to Comments on the DA Campaign in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I agree with some of your issues. **** More spoiler warning! First off, I would like to say really good job overall on the expansion. I really enjoyed the new campaign (played on Obscene) although some of the missions were waaay to easy. The story moved along OK, but... 1. The Dread Lords are now pansies. Spying is the way to go in every mission with them. You can often guess the two or three spots that their home world is likely hiding in. I would send engi

Reply to Size matters in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I really enjoy Tiny maps, and an Arena fight is a good way to think of it. On a Tiny map with 9 opponents, if you set everything to Rare each race will be left with only their starting planets, which makes for a very interesting change. There is essentially no colonization "rush" phase, but you will want planetary invasion almost right away. With enemies stacked right on top of you from the outset (if you play any good/neutral race and start near the drenigan or yor they will start th

Reply to Dark Avatar -- Starbases in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

IMO there are two ways to counteract the weaker starbase problem. First, as mentioned above, implement some way of increasing the base hit points of a starbase. This could be a whole seperate upgrade tree available to all three kinds of starbases. Second, let them join fleets. Rather than putting a fleet on the same square as the starbase, give the starbases a logistics value and join the fleet. This way, a few small, lower tech ships could run interference from enemy fire (