Mike Hussey

Reply to how do you tell how many turns a game lasted? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

One turn per month, so my superior mathematics ability tells me that's 270 turns :) .

Reply to Need help guys in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Some good tips from SW, although personally I prefer 80% military and 20% research to start, I also increase tax to 50% for the early game and gradually reduce it as the empire grows. Be careful not to build too many social improvement, the maintenance can kill you, also research 'Trade' ASAP and get those trade routes going, at the end of a game I find trade can be your primary source of income.

Reply to How long are your games? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Hmm... my current large/bright game has taken two days so far. I'm obviously doing something wrong. I tend to put quite a few ships on patrol though, so I do spend a lot of time watching other people's wars.

Reply to Easter Eggs and such in Gal Civ in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Given the the role of influence and cultural conquest in GalCiv, I keep expecting to find a planet called 'Banks' :) .

Reply to Midgame strategy rut in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I've noticed that if you play 'good' or even the goodish side of neutral, the Altairians will often come to your assistance against the Drengin, even if they are not your allies. I recently finished one game (all AIs bright/large map) where I had a bad start (stuck in one corner), but managed to colonise enough to carry on playing. The Drengin started threatening me even though they couldn't reach my systems, so I told them to sod off. After a couple of rounds of this they declared war,

Reply to Easter Eggs and such in Gal Civ in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

joea64: 'Bullwinkle - did anyone get this one?' You bever saw The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show? Rocky was a flying squirrel and his best friend Bullwinkle was a moose.

Reply to Help! in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Well morale on the individual planet affects population growth too, i.e. the higher the morale, the faster your population grows, which in turn lowers morale. However unless the morale is so low on a particular planet that it causes riots, the universal morale is more important, as that determines whether you win elections or not. Ideally you should control universal morale by using taxation, wonders and trade goods and micromanage it on individual planets with morale booster buildings. I forgot

Reply to Galactic Civilizations: Most Mod-able Game Ever! in Mods Stardock Forums

That should be 'its own thread' of course, someone should release an editor for forum posts.

Reply to Galactic Civilizations: Most Mod-able Game Ever! in Mods Stardock Forums

There is an editor, it's called GalCiv Writer and has it's own thread :) .

Reply to How do you get a higher rank? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Veteran, Diplomat etc. are awarded by Stardock, normally for contributions to the community. Ensign, 2nd Lt. etc depends on your Metaverse scores.

Reply to Help! in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I'm no expert, my best win is on 'Challenging' so far, but here's a few thoughts: 1. Most people seem to think that Stellar Cartography is a waste of research points, by the time you get it your scouts should have found all the habitable planets within range of your colony ships. Personally I prefer to head straight for trade, your trade routes should be providing a large part of your income later in the game and the sooner you start the better, IMO. This is not a hard and fast rule, ot

Reply to What is an independent player to do?? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I follow Groucho Marx's advice, I don't join any club that would have me as a member.

Reply to GalCiv priceless humor in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

The price of those chocolates that the Drengin ambassador likes is definitely a joke.

Reply to Alien Personalities...What are they? in Strategies Stardock Forums

I think you're supposed to work out that bit out yourself, that's why it's called a strategy game :) .

Reply to For Download Purchasers??? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I just copied the downloaded zip file to a blank CD. I believe there's a function in Stardock that will do the archiving for you, but I just used ahead Nero.

Reply to Why does everyone get angry when I ask for money for techs? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

If they accept your offer it doesn't change relations, I believe, but I'm open to correction, that if you keep making offers they don't like, relations deteriorate. On the plus side, if you give them stuff free, relations improve, always handy if you need to improve relations so that you can ally with them.

Reply to No hall of fame? in Strategies Stardock Forums

Miguel said : 'I'm tempted to reinstall the game, but I just read the "fix the research events, etc" post and it'd be silly to reinstall the game, so I can have a less-fair version of it, which might post.' If you are talking about the post by HawaiiFive-0, Stardock incorporated those fixes in the latest patch. But I agree an in-game high score table would be nice.

Reply to I have given up on this game. in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Was HOI published by Strategy First in Europe? Paradox are a Swedish company and seem to have different publishers in different countries, certainly with EU. I must admit I don't see many Strategy First games on the shelves here in the UK, a couple of budget games such as 'Rails Across America' is about it.

Reply to Most Powerful ship is Surveyer in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Yes, I've had my survey ship single-handedly stop fleets of battleships too. I find that you have to be careful with auto survey though, as often the ship will gain you a 25% increase to current tech. research when your next tech. is only one turn away.

Reply to Gameplay question in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

The AI is different for each of the species, according to Brad, and the default Drengin are programmed to go for a military victory and subsequently concentrate on military technologies and build-up. However because of this they tend to miss out on a lot of the infrastructure improvements and if you can ride out their early threat, by alliances. trade or just old fashioned bribery, they will often fall behind in the tech. race later in the game. They (and the other AI species) will pick on you i

Reply to Does anyone get Corvettes any more? in Strategies Stardock Forums

I've never bothered with them at all, even before the latest patch, I just go straight for Battleaxes and Battlehammers. The Hero (or HMS Endeavour in my games :) ) normally finds a couple and I put them on Sector Sweep on the outskirts of my empire and later give them away for diplomatic reasons. One proviso: I normally go for the peaceful trader route and haven't tried above 'Bright' Level. YMMV as they say.

Reply to good game music? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Anything classical, my personal prefenced are Mozart and Strauss waltzes - it gives the game that '2001 - A Space Odessy' feel and it's easy to find legit. free classical MP3s on the web.

Reply to Installation of Galciv on two different PCs in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I should think Stardock's official position is the one in the license. I presume they wrote it.

Reply to Stardock Central and Seti@Home in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

The Drengin don't like being spied upon :) .

Reply to Fix it yourself Bugs ---originally posted by Hawaii 5-0 in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Yes Vanir, you're right and I'm wrong, I just tested it by buying one and my economic ability stayed at +33%. It looks like not bothering with them, at least for an economic boost, until late in the game is the way to go.