I just flew into this galaxy, and boy, are my arms tired!

(There goes the neighborhood)

from GalCiv2 Forums
Greetings!

The better part of my "surfing time" over the past 10 days has been spent doing a lot of research on GalCiv II. As a self-proclaimed hardcore TBS gamer going back to the days of "Empire" on the PC and "M.U.L.E." on my Atari 800 (which still runs, thank you very much), GalCiv II has been somewhere on my radar ever since I started hearing about it and the awards it's garnered over the past couple of years. Later tonight, I am finally going to take the plunge, trust these guys with my credit card number, and download the "Ultimate" GalCiv II package.

There are a number of reasons that I've decided to do this, based upon what my research has turned up:

First and foremost is this website. There are a lot of games out there with fanatical fan base support, but this one seems to take the cake, and my impression of it is bolstered by the rapport that the game developers seem to have with their audience. I've poured through the forums, and I have to say it's refreshing to see people having adult conversations and respectfully disagreeing with each other when there is a difference of opinion instead of the juvenille flaming that is so rampant in, well, most other forums of any sort. I know now that if I ever have any questions about the game, this will be the only place I'll ever need to go.

Secondly, I intend to play the game on my laptop PC, as I often have some downtime while commuting or traveling. My laptop doesn't have a CD/DVD drive, and the fact that I can play this game without having to have the CD inserted is a major selling point. For that reason alone, it is going to get more playing time than Civ4, which requires that I hook up my clunky external drive so I can play with the disc.

Thirdly, as good a game as Master of Orion II is, it has become somewhat stale in the past, what, thirteen years (?) since it came out. I skipped MOO3 entirely based upon the mediocre reviews it received, so it's time I moved into a new galaxy with fresh meat to hunt.

Last, and certainly not least, is that fact that EVERYONE -- from players to reviewers to the entire population of Betelgese VII -- keeps talking about what a great game this is. Millions of carbon-based lifeforms can't be wrong, and after all the poking around I've done on the 'Net, I'm tired of just looking at screenshots; I want to PLAY the doggone game!

So wish me luck. From what I've read, the AI is probably going to clean the floor with me during my initial forays into the GalCiv II universe, and that's OK. I'll learn, and I'll be back. With extreme prejudice.

Hold all my calls...
16,564 views 19 replies
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hi!
AI is probably going to clean the floor with me during my initial forays into the GalCiv II universe,
End of quote
As a self-proclaimed hardcore TBS gamer going back to the days of "Empire" on the PC and "M.U.L.E."
End of quote

Ummm, don't expect too much from AI. It is true you need to learn the game mechanics, but AI can do only so much. It's good at colonization and micro-managing their empires, but lacks somewhat in warfaring.

Anyway, welcome!

BR, Iztok
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Welcome to the galaxy. Be forewarned: this game has the ability to warp time, and minutes often turn into hours. If you have any questions, (and you will), search these forums first, and if you don't find the information you need, just ask, and someone will be around presently to answer. And remember; this game can be an awful lot of fun to lose. ;)
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The maturity level of this forum is very impressive indeed. One trip to the WoW General Forum or reading break.com or youtube.com comments will cause you to lose faith in humanity. The SINS forum has a few trolls in in it, as I am sure this forum does as well, but all in all, these games must attract very mature and sensible audiences.

Way to go Galciv2 and SINS fans!!!!!
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
*sniffs air hopfully* oh boy! fresh meat for the grinder! *charges his laser*

good luck, and HAVE FUN! ;)
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
.......forum has a few trolls in in it, as I am sure this forum does as well
End of quote


That would be me. Grumph.

As a welcoming present, I will save you from a hideous strategic gameplay error. I have recently been trying to up my "land-grab" skills, and came up with the following fatally-flawed hypothesis(Twilight of The Arnor, Immense Galaxy, Abundant Everything).

Don't do this:

Build 2 factories on each of the first two planets, then research the ability to build a Recruiting Center. On every new planet, build a recruiting center and a starport. Seven turns later, each new planet will be able to build a colony ship every 10 turns. If you have 10 of these planets, an average of 1 ship per turn will be achieved, not counting the original two planets. If you have 20 planets, then it is two ships per turn.

Here's the problem: The economy is driven by population density and taxes. I was de-populating the new planets too fast, and my economy completely crashed after I got 18 planets. So, the nine AI players continued to snatch up the rest of the galaxy while my production rate sat at "0" to allow my economy to recover. Needless to say, I did not survive very long on "Painful".
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
It wouldn't be so hideous if you were playing Super Breeder. Even the starting 250m pop can grow fairly fast with that 8x bonus (effective 4x bonus due to it replacing a 2x).

Sorry, OT.

Welcome, dc_alpha. When can we expect dc_beta? ;)
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Well, my problem was compounded by the fact that I had to send out ships from the new planets with 1/4 to 1/2 loads. I just couldn't get the growth rate to keep up with the colony ship production.

I like the Super Breeder idea, though. I'll be willing to bet that the strategy could be made to work by using the SB super ability, and only using some of the new planets for ship production.

Thanks, Sole Soul! I'll go give it a try.
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
You could always use colony ships to spread your pop around too.
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Greetings!The better part of my "surfing time" over the past 10 days has been spent doing a lot of research on GalCiv II. As a self-proclaimed hardcore TBS gamer going back to the days of "Empire" on the PC and "M.U.L.E." on my Atari 800 (which still runs, thank you very much), GalCiv II has been somewhere on my radar ever since I started hearing about it and the awards it's garnered over the past couple of years. Later tonight, I am finally going to take the plunge, trust these guys with my credit card number, and download the "Ultimate" GalCiv II package.There are a number of reasons that I've decided to do this, based upon what my research has turned up:First and foremost is this website. There are a lot of games out there with fanatical fan base support, but this one seems to take the cake, and my impression of it is bolstered by the rapport that the game developers seem to have with their audience. I've poured through the forums, and I have to say it's refreshing to see people having adult conversations and respectfully disagreeing with each other when there is a difference of opinion instead of the juvenille flaming that is so rampant in, well, most other forums of any sort. I know now that if I ever have any questions about the game, this will be the only place I'll ever need to go.Secondly, I intend to play the game on my laptop PC, as I often have some downtime while commuting or traveling. My laptop doesn't have a CD/DVD drive, and the fact that I can play this game without having to have the CD inserted is a major selling point. For that reason alone, it is going to get more playing time than Civ4, which requires that I hook up my clunky external drive so I can play with the disc.Thirdly, as good a game as Master of Orion II is, it has become somewhat stale in the past, what, thirteen years (?) since it came out. I skipped MOO3 entirely based upon the mediocre reviews it received, so it's time I moved into a new galaxy with fresh meat to hunt.Last, and certainly not least, is that fact that EVERYONE -- from players to reviewers to the entire population of Betelgese VII -- keeps talking about what a great game this is. Millions of carbon-based lifeforms can't be wrong, and after all the poking around I've done on the 'Net, I'm tired of just looking at screenshots; I want to PLAY the doggone game!So wish me luck. From what I've read, the AI is probably going to clean the floor with me during my initial forays into the GalCiv II universe, and that's OK. I'll learn, and I'll be back. With extreme prejudice.Hold all my calls...
End of quote


Well, welcome to the best space tbs game ever made. You will quickly realize this after a few sleepless nights of playing. Oh, I can also share something else with you, if you like empire series then you may want to check out 'advanced tactics' over at matrix games website. That one is the best in its class I have ever played and it was just released a few months ago, another great laptop game.
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hi!AI is probably going to clean the floor with me during my initial forays into the GalCiv II universe,As a self-proclaimed hardcore TBS gamer going back to the days of "Empire" on the PC and "M.U.L.E."Ummm, don't expect too much from AI. It is true you need to learn the game mechanics, but AI can do only so much. It's good at colonization and micro-managing their empires, but lacks somewhat in warfaring. Anyway, welcome!BR, Iztok
End of quote


Depends on your skill level... AI creams me on anything above normal! Then again, I'm new to here.
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The recruiting center and starport strategy is good but on a large map I beef up production on my home planet to produce a colony ship every 5 turns from the get go. Researching the right techs etc. will soon have that up to one ship every 3 turns and the 250 population hit does not kill the planet.

I will eventually use outer rim planets for colony ships but not until the have at least 6 bil population. Even then I might not put but 100 aboard.

I only play on tough so I don't know how it would work with the AI getting big financial bonuses but it works fine on a level playing field. I know the AI will rush buy as long as they can afford it.
Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Welcome home.

Speaking of Mules, if you've ever read Isaac Asimov's Foundation novels, The Mule is, in fact, a complete badass who carves an interstellar empire out of a few scattered and fractured planet-states.

Hmm, I think I just had the inspiration for my next custom race...
Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Thanks to all of you for welcoming me into the GalCiv community. I've had the game installed and running for all of a couple of hours, so I can't say much about the gameplay, although it looks quite impressive.

Also, kudos to the game designers for making the game run as well as it does on any number of platforms. My laptop has a discreet video card with only 64Mb of dedicated memory, yet the game looks absolutely stellar. The only concession I made was to turn off anti-aliasing.

I'm one of those grognards who reads every word of the instruction manuals for games and such, usually before I even do an install, so I'll be spending a lot of initial time with the .pdf doc as well as in the forums here. And I'll watch every one of those tutorials, too.

It looks as if Civ4 will now be demoted to second-tier status in my pantheon of favorite games, and the venerable MOO2 has now been deleted from my hard drive. May it rest in peace.
Reply #15 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
it's refreshing to see people having adult conversations
End of quote

One thing I like about this game is that it requires a lot of thought. I believe that kind of game attracts intelligent mature people mainly. I do like the forum here because I feel like there are a lot of piers contributing to the discussions. I enjoy reading their insightfull and well written posts.

Take a look at this post. You'll see the game has a pretty wide demographic.
Reply #16 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Well hello dc_alpha, before i begin i must announce that this is also my first post, although i bought the game about three months ago and can often be found reading on this forum. So yay first post of many i imagine :D

I went through much the same steps as you did making my decision to purchase, although i did have a "preview" of the game first i reasoned that the degree of after-sales support, development and interaction with players here on the forums was above and beyond anything else i had seen. Thus it warranted a purchase even on my very meek budget, im currently a fourth year student at Edinburgh university, wondering how i am gunna pay my rent.

My essays of late will also attest as to its addictiveness, it can be a REAL struggle to force my mouse pointer away from the ever inviting next turn button.

Have to say it was most definitely worth it, given the hours ive invested, and to summarize my thoughts with few words instead of half a page of reasoning, its a great game !

Ive seen a few comments on the ai here, and i have to add that yes the ai is superb, but it is also imperfect and i have found that my playing style has adapted such that now i have to give the ai bonuses to make a tough game.

One of the great things about the game and stardock as a whole is that generous thought, care and effort goes into continually making the game better, playing a newly released patch can completely change the game experience and techniques needed to win, meaning it hasn't gotten stale... yet :D

Also id like to point that is very seldom you see the proper use of an apostrophe as in {'Net} kudos my friend, kudos.

Well have fun and come back and post your thoughts.....
Alex
Reply #17 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Welcome!

I think the little dialogue box that pops up when you quit the game says it all. The words are something like 'Surely a couple more turns wouldn't hurt?'
the first time I saw that, I thought what an odd little dialogue box it was.

Now every time I see it I smile, because I know how tempting it is to always just have 'a couple more turns'.

I've been playing for nearly a year now, and it is still as fresh, challenging and enjoyable as those first games.

After all that analysis, I hope you enjoy the game as much as most of us here do!

Cheers
Reply #18 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The number of different difficulty levels for this game means that everyone can have their own level of comfort when playing. You dont necessarilty need to get wiped at first, if you want to start off easy until you learn the game its possible to do so. Of course, playing a bit beyond your capabilities will show you where you need to do better.

Good luck.
Reply #19 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I've been learning Sins of a Solar Empire (great game so far) so I've been browsing the Sins forum. It's hosted by Stardock so it looks similar to this one (my user ID even works there), but I can tell you, the overall tone is a lot different. There's a bunch of trolls there offering up digs in just about every thread. This forum is so much nicer and more intelligent. Still, I'll spend time on the Sins forum just to learn the finer points of the game, but I'm not going to "hang out" there.