This game is strange... AI laffing at me in battle.

Or I`m completely not used to futuristic fighting...

from GalCiv2 Forums
Ok, this game is slightly strange to me.

This is because I`m doing fine economically (on normal settings), built a really large economy and financial base. Diplomatically getting on well with every one.

Then the Iconians cooked up some ruse that my diplomatic insulted them so it was time for war. OK. They want a fight, they got it. I hadn`t been lazy in my technological military research, so started putting together the best type fighters and battleships that I could. Sent them out to fight the Iconians who`ve already destroyed a couple of my economic and influence satellites.

1st battle:

My ships are slaughtered. Back to the drawing board. Better armour, different weapons. I try Photon Torpedoes with a sort of gauss rifle thing.

2nd battle:

My ships are devastated.

3rd, 4th, 5th battle:

Devastated again.

20+ battles.

Not one battle won!

I now have my one planet left: Earth. I still have plenty of cash, although the iconians are busy destroying all my trade lanes, but I just can`t seem to fight militarily.

The strange thing is, in most strategy games, i`m rubbish economically , but always do well in battles. Anyway, the AI is just rubbing my nose in it and laughing. There`s so many of their fleets now, that I doubt I can beat them even if I make the Ultimate ship. And why can`t I get the other nations to attack the iconians? I can`t even ally with them now, as I did with the Terrans before.

I know I`m doing lots wrong, but what?
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Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
You didn't confuse cargo hulls with normal hulls did you? Remember cargo hulls only have 1 HP.

Aside from that try to research defensive techs. I know a lot of people think they aren't needed but I can tell you from experience that if faced with an enemy doing upwards of 25+ points of damage a shot the only way to survive is to have some defense against their attacks.

As an example my current metaverse game with v1.1 I've been locked in a war with the Dregin now for about a year. I'm destroying its fleets left and right while my ships are barely taking a scratch. My secret? Well I'm using ships that have 30 defense against their missiles . They are expensive as all get out but doesn't matter when you don't lose any in battle. And of course there is the side benefit of the hp gained from experience.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Are you putting your ships together in fleets? Are your fleets big enough (that is, do you have the best logistics tech trade or research can get you?)
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Did you remember to group your ships in a fleet? Were their fleets bigger than yours? And has been mentioned, don't use cargo hulls for fighting ships.

You probably can't get the other guys to attack the iconians because you're not offering enough to make it worth their while, and the bigger the Iconians are compared to them the more they're gonna want from you.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Also, what is the general diplomatic situation?

1) How strong are the Iconians?
2) Are there any other large races and what are their relations with the Iconians?
3) The Terrans seemed to have liked you before - what is their strength and relations with the Iconians?

There seems to be two problems here - your military situation and your inability to work the political situation to your benefit. The more info we have, the more we can help.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Examine your opponent's ships. If they have 7 points of Beam attack and 3 points of missile defense, do not attack them with ships which have 5 points of missile attack and no shields (beam defense), instead give your ships shields (beam defense) and either beam or projectile (mass driver) attack.

Group your ships into efficient fleets, for example if you have 12 medium ships and 17 logistics, put them into 3 fleets of 4 ships (16 logistics points per fleet iirc).

Speed counts - the more often you can be the one initiating each battle, the higher chance you will survive, because you shoot first.

Don't fight near his military starbases, they give him an advantage. So do yours, so try to engage him near your own military starbases, or away from any starbases. If you have any allies, their starbases may help you if the GC has voted for allies starbases to help each other in battlers. This works for them too, so always know who is allied to who.

Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Make sure he doesn't have a Military Starbase outside of your fog of war that's pumping up his ships.
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Build a bunch of AWACS shps if you don't have the eyes of the universe galactic wonder. Intelligence is key and so is speed. if you know where he is and you can move faster then all the battles will be on your terms.
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
In my limited experience the AI simply looks at what you have and builds to counter it. In a recent campaign against the Drengin I'd put a lot of research into beam weapons and when the first battle came about - surprise! - the Drengin ships were almost entirely missile-equipped with shields. Your options are easy - click over the map and see what the enemy are using and then either build ships to counter as quickly as possible or, as I prefer to do, re-design a class of ships (say, using mass drivers) and upgrade at least some of the existing ships to the new design. Your ships are stuck for a week upgrading and it can cost a bundle, but it also allows you to take the offensive right away - a very nice advantage for those with enough $$$ and income. Of coures there's nothing stopping the enemy from doing the same, but I've yet to see the AI throw itself into massive debt to upgrade.

pnich of the hapless Terrans, conquerers of the Snafi
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
- Make sure you're not using the cargo hull as your "battleship." You have to research bigger military hulls.

- Use fleets (groups of ships) to gain a huge combined attack rating and combat the enemy fleets. Read the manual or check out the buttons when you have several ships in the same "space."

- When you design your ships it's usually best to only put ONE weapon type on a ship and lots of them. If you put on any defense at all only put on the defense appropriate for the enemy you're fighting. Later on you can deviate from this but initially you probably want to keep your ships simple and straightforward. The way combat works it's usually best to have one big attack rating of one weapon type, which becomes even larger when you combine those like ships into fleets.