So, I just started...

A cry for help from a newbie.

And I'm more than a little confused at basic strategy. It should be noted that I don't have Dark Avatar yet, just DL. If I play at even the "beginner" level, the AI seems to have 3-5 planets by the time I have 2, and a bunch of ships besides. I know it's not cheating, and at the lower levels it even gets penalties, so how does it do this, and how can I copy or surpass it? Also, how much does approval matter as a dictatorship? And what is a good buy/build order for my planets, both starting and later? Should I use my colony ship on Mars/Mars Equivalent, or send it off to find new stars? Is there any way to make my Flagship roam about and collect items automatically?

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If I play at even the "beginner" level, the AI seems to have 3-5 planets by the time I have 2, and a bunch of ships besides. I know it's not cheating, and at the lower levels it even gets penalties, so how does it do this, and how can I copy or surpass it?

And what is a good buy/build order for my planets, both starting and later? Should I use my colony ship on Mars/Mars Equivalent, or send it off to find new stars? Is there any way to make my Flagship roam about and collect items automatically?

Welcome!

Look for hints and tips on how to perform a good Colony rush. There's lots of different opinions on rush buys, what to build, etc. My IMO is:

1. Don't use Colony ships to explore.
2. Develop a cargo hulled based explorer instead of building/using the scout ships.
I call 'em "Discovery" ships.
3. Initial tech tree: Xeno Research->Stellar Cartography->Sensors 1
4. Sensors 1 gives you the Survey module. Upgrade all the basic Discovery ships to use the Surveyor
5. Use Auto-Survey. I also play games with "Abundant" anomalies.

Your surveyors will not only seek out anomalies, but reveal planets for you to colonize.

Planet improvements: I rush buy the first factory on every world to "grease" the production of everything else. This is my own personal preference, opinions on this vary widely (!)

Don't worry about the other races having more ships & techs than you do in the beginning, its not unusual. Once the Colony rush is over, what you'll need to focus on is economics, and good enough diplomacy+military to keep the other civilizations non-hostile, and give you time to develop your infrastructure.

Also, how much does approval matter as a dictatorship?

Approval does matter, because it can affect your population growth, as well as very low approvals can lead to planets rebelling (although from what I've seen this is rare for the player)

Here's a good site which may answer many of your questions:

GalCiv2 Wiki

Good luck, and happy empire building! If you ever consider joining us in the Metaverse, I hope you'll give the Hegemony a good look

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Thanks, this game looks very fun, if a little more challenging than some 4Xs I've played.

Ah, where can I find the "auto survey" command? It's not a DA only thing, right?

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Nope. Just double click on your survey ship, and a ship screen will pop up. On the side are two options, Auto Survey and Auto Explore. You want Auto Survey. Eventually you will run out of anomalies, then you can switch it to Auto Explore (a screen will pop up when this happens).

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Ah, I didn't know about that screen. I'll check it out.

One more question, in games with lots of customization, like this one, I tend to get overwhelmed militarily, there's too many choices. What are some good ship building strats for having a competitive military?

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don't use the core military ships build your own or modify the cores

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I realized that, it's just that there are a lot of military options.

Also, is there any good level for the espionage sliders to be set at?

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Usually, if you want to prevent an AI from going to war with you, just slap as many weapons as you can to the biggest fighter that you can, and build that until your military surpases others'. If you actually want to wage war, you should probably make space for some engines and maybe 1 life support.

Espionage is difficult to say, some people will only spend bucks on it when they are getting spies in their empire, others keep 1-2 around and stop there, others actually use them offensively.

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realized that, it's just that there are a lot of military options.

Also, is there any good level for the espionage sliders to be set at?

Military:

If you have doubts as to whether or not you should add another engine or gun, go ahead and add it. You're better off with a ship that's faster and deadlier than is necessary than you are with an expanding cloud of gas that the Drengin just got done vaporizing. Basically, when it comes to designing ships, try to keep two rules of thumb in mind:
*1) Speed is life
*2) There is no such thing as "overkill", only "open fire" and "I need to reload"

Try to stick to one weapon type (beams, mass drivers, or missiles). If you have really good beams, you don't need mass drivers or missiles unless the enemy has really good shielding to counter it. Check out the AIs' ships in the diplomacy window, and look at what kind of weapons they have. Tailor your ships' defenses to counter the alien weaponry, and start either researching or trading for weaponry if your weapons techs are too out-of-date.

Specialize your planets. One planet with 14 factories churning out warships will be better for your war efforts than 2 planets that each have 7 factories.

Research the soldiering techs when you get a chance. It may seem expensive to get a half-dozen or more techs just for planetary invasions, but believe me, it becomes worth it when you can take down a world with just one transport instead of seven.

Espionage:

In DL, 1 tick over (click on the right arrow 1 time) is usually plenty of espionage. If I really want to raise my espionage level in a hurry, I'll bump it up to 3 or 5 ticks over. Remember to reduce espionage back to 0 on a race once you get "Advanced" level with it, since more money won't do anything.

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