So yeah...im getting owned and...

How is it possible a smaller Civ is Producing more then me, Making more money, AND getting more Techs?

They did their homework.

 

 

sorry, couldn't hep myself

they specilised their planets and prob put all their funds on mainly tech and social so they could get a head start then all onto millitary to build their Invaiding fleet...





Oh they also did their homework







as in I mean they probably been spying on you

oh they may also have had some HUGE bonuses on their planets like 700% tile for Research and Manufacture

Bugs, you got to be kidding me? What you do is squash them.

I'm assuming you were playing with more than 1 opponent. In that case, the computer was doing what people call "tech trading," which basically causes all computers to share all their techs (not quite that simple, but it happens). Anyhow, what this means is that a player who does not participate in this trading is going to fall way behind in tech (and better tech allows a better economy and better ships).

There is good news though, I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geiko.

Seriously though, in 1.1 there will be an option to disable tech trading. That will probably even out the playing field.

actually i'll tell you how they do it. at normal i think they are actually normal all the intelligence is there and everything. (there is an exact answer floating in the forum somewhere) after that, the next level up they get a production bonus to make it harder for you, more production means faster producing of things and more money. each higher level gets a higher bonus. i think even frogboy said he has a hard time at the highest difficulty, but i could be wrong.

"Tough" is the difficulty at which the computer plays its best game without cheating. If you play higher than tough, the computer is getting production (or economic, I forget) bonuses.

The AI optimizes every turn on difficulties higher than normal. Where you will just click end turn they will go through every planet and adjust and focus according the the best mathematical production values. The AI also will "borrow" from the bank, in other words buy on loan or lease and pay dividends in the early game to get better production facilities early where as you will probably wait until they are built or spend your 5000cr's and stop there. The AI is always using the best possible calculation to get the best advantage. Use that STAT page where you look at your rleations and use the MISC and Society tabs and economy tabs and you'll see what the AI is doing and how much better it is playing than you. If you're only getting a handful of planets compared to the AI you're suking right there in the early game. I always get as many or more than any other AI and I play on "tough" all intelligent AI races. I'm #1 in economy and #1 in technology the first 50 turns of the game.

actually, i think intelligent is the final non-cheating level. unless you count knowing all known human tactics and countering each one of them cheating

Intelligent for all AI = Tough so your are both right.

I personally don't see any point playing on any difficulty above cakewalk.

the bonus points you get as you increase difficulty is not enough compared to the increased difficulty.

Its like on Freespace 2, the points you get per kill and mission is based on your difficulty level, but i have learnt that the bonus points you get in insufficient compared to the difficulty increased.

So i see no point in playing on higher difficulty.

I have noticed the AI produces ships and research vastly faster then me....they always have Master trade within 10 turns of the game starting. :/

If he has more tech than you, he can outproduce you and of course will have more ships and money. You also have to tech trade or else you're competing against the technology of everyone else combined. Once you get the hang of it, you'll have no trouble stomping the bugs out of existence on tough level with intelligent A.I..

i still see no point in playing any difficulty above cakewalk...you don't get anything special for doing it.

I personally don't see any point playing on any difficulty above cakewalk. the bonus points you get as you increase difficulty is not enough compared to the increased difficulty. Its like on Freespace 2, the points you get per kill and mission is based on your difficulty level, but i have learnt that the bonus points you get in insufficient compared to the difficulty increased. So i see no point in playing on higher difficulty.

How about something called "challenge"? Seriously, I stopped playing lower difficulties quite quickly simply because they were too easy. I really don't care much about my score.

I have noticed the AI produces ships and research vastly faster then me....they always have Master trade within 10 turns of the game starting. :/

I kinda doubt that. . .

Technology, upgrades, starbases, there are many ways to upgrade your production capibilties. Just watch out for them to sneak up on you. Tech-trade a lot in the beginning while keeping diplomatic technologies to yourself (to keep a good bonus). Trade strongly with the weaker civs, attack them only when its to your advantage. Build up tech, social, and keep an eye on them for your military. Build Starbases later on and get out the economy/influence. Build and get em!

one advice is to get your economy running. To do that on a Huge galaxy I set up 5-7 planets with VERY high pop. These will be your economic powerhouses and will pay for production of the rest of your empire. Build 2 factories then a couple of farms and 3 entertainment complexes... rest is banks. This should help you stay in the + mid to late game.

trust me, its true.

especially when its the Altarians.

i still see no point in playing any difficulty above cakewalk...you don't get anything special for doing it.

Please tell me that you're joking?

I doubt it.

i still see no point in playing any difficulty above cakewalk...you don't get anything special for doing it.

The reason to play above cakewalk is to have some real challange. If you never go above you'll never learn to deal without your bonuses. I've NEVER played cakewalk and I'm doing well with the Beginner AI. It's not that the AI is super human, it's just knows what it's doing well.

i still see no point in playing any difficulty above cakewalk...you don't get anything special for doing it.

Of course not. After all, playing a game in which anyone with any level of skill pretty much can't lose and will steamroll the AI is more fun than a challenging, exciting game where you barely win by the skin of your teeth, where you savor a beautiful victory snapped from the jaws of defeat. Nope. Nothing special at all.

What are you? An accountant?

I personally don't see any point playing on any difficulty above cakewalk. the bonus points you get as you increase difficulty is not enough compared to the increased difficulty. Its like on Freespace 2, the points you get per kill and mission is based on your difficulty level, but i have learnt that the bonus points you get in insufficient compared to the difficulty increased. So i see no point in playing on higher difficulty. I have noticed the AI produces ships and research vastly faster then me....they always have Master trade within 10 turns of the game starting. :/

It's not a question of score. It's a question of whether you are letting the AI play to what its capable of. The settings for the overall race intelligence run Cakewalk, Easy, Beginner, Normal, Challenging, Tough. After that the AI starts to have production/economic bonuses. It is only at Tough that all the algorythms for the AI are unlocked. Any time below that you are basically playing a crippled AI.... on cakewalk and easy, they even have production and economic penalties.

Now for me, I don't see any reason to play beyond Tough. I've never liked the AI getting free stuff even if they need it to win. Civ 4 for example, I managed to beat the game a few times on Deity but I vastly preferred playing it on Prince. Deity was a constant stress and a focus on one single strategy to beat the AI down, Prince was a balanced fun game where I could relax.

One thing that's really important in Galciv is that on the lowest difficulties the AI is plain stupid. It doesnt do much and what it does do it does inneffectually. By playing on that, it's like have a clay pigeon shooting contest with a blind man.... or any other unfair analogy you can think to insert here.

So yeah JamieKirby, it is your game and play it as you like , but I think you will find that the game has a lot more shelf life and variance if you play to your level.

well, i have finished Half Life 2 on all difficulties and i have yet to feel a single sense of victory you are preaching about.

ITs all the same to me......cheating, not cheating, makes no difference to me.

i get no sense of victory, no matter how i finish the game.

I can't even finish the story campaign, its too repetitive, i get bored and the fact you HAVE to start from scratch each level puts me off even more.

I cheat on SP games all the time, i only play fair when it affects others. (ie. MP Games and Metaverse)

I have noticed that the only way to have a decent game on Normal is to stay strictly neutral and just trade and win by Cultural domination and that is only IF you keep the Altarians out of it because they expand way too fast compared to the other Races. (well, i personally see them expanding vastly quicker then the others)

I have a problem with multi-tasking....you know, colonising the galaxy as well as building warships or fighting, its one or the other, i can't do both.

Thats whats good about games like this, you can actually play on the lowest level and try to beat your score each time. Me, I usually play GalCiv2 and CIV4 on average (or slightly higher) levels just so I can have fun and at the same time try new strategies and see how well I do each game, attempting to better my scores each time. Since these games are a new game each time, you never know what you run into. I have had times when I played a CIV4 game on the same exact level with the same settings trying the same strategy, I would get owned in one game and dominate in the other. Now GalCiv2 is the same way, heck I even had this happen in GalCiv1 more then once. Can you say replayability??

weak

What's the point of playing GalCiv2 on Cakewalk?? I think most 7 yr olds could destry everybody in 2hrs like that... wait a minute... 7 yrs old/not liking a challenge... I think I'm beginning to see a trend here...

I personally don't see any point playing on any difficulty above cakewalk.

Weak

Sorry. Meant to say that to Jamie'weak'Kirby.

And what is wrong with editing my comments?? I keep getting server errors.