*sigh* another one...

Might I ask, what difficulty are you playing at? What settings did you choose?

One of the great things about this game is that you can play it tons of different ways. Unfortunately, you suck at playing the game. Sorry, but its true. To have an economy so poor (especially with the humans) that can't handle a few star furys, you have to really do something wrong. Mayhaps you should look at your strategy in the new expansion (which kinda expands the options and such for some reason) before blaming it for being different from what you are used to.

If you visit the wiki, you'll find that the AI only gets bonuses at very high difficulty levels, and actually gets penalties at lower levels. Approval ratings are very subject to civ bonuses, mining resources, buildings built, tech researched, and so on. The fact that they are "at 60% on every planet through the whole game" means that you haven't found the end turn button yet, you can't read, or you have your settings just right to get such results.

Technology research speed is set when you first start a game. There are many settings, including a random one. You perhaps should have chosen differently. Stupid game for not finding the right option for you!

I am not aware of any civ that can colonize class 0 planets with the exception of the rare minor race that is created during game play and a few rare in game events. These can actually be disabled for the most part by (again) an option before starting the game.

I'm sorry you don't like the new female leader of the Terrans. You can easily mod it out (even being metaverse safe!) by switching the images with the old ones and using a custom race to replace the Terran's leader's name.

If you don't like the expansion, play the old one, pick settings you like, or ask the freindly forum community what options/mods/etc can be used to make it the way you like.

One thing that does deserve a WTF, aside from the op I mean, is this forum. I can't edit my post despite being logged in. To clarify the contents of my parentheses, in "tough" (aka 'intelligent'), the ai gets no bonus. Everything below that level it actually receives a penalty.

If you follow the story campaign you'll find why Jena is there.

Research times can be adjusted as with so many other options. This is an expansion pack with some of the options and techniques reworked. If you can't adjust to them then I suggest you lower the difficulty even more until you do, or go back to Dark Avatar. Nobody is forcing you to play the game.

Also the fact that the AI is telling you what is doing, I find it better, because it's taunting you with its technologies and it's a way for you to know which line of research they are following. This way you don't have to invest in espionage so much and you don't have to go into the reports to find out what they are researching. It's fun, at least for me. The tell me: "Behold, we are researching Lasers III! Tremble at our might", while I line up my Disruptor ships to their planets. Pulls a snigger off my face

So, I suggest you calm down, and stop insulting and yelling at people who try to help you, and try some new strategies. Venting off here will get you nowhere, and the result is that people will not help you in the future. Take the Dark Avatar preconceptions and shelve them if you want to play Twilight, because it's almost a whole new game.

Then bluntly put you need to change your strategy. The AIs in fact recieve (as I recall) a 25% PENALTY to numerous abilities at that level. It's the simple truth that the economy in TA is tighter than in DL and DA, and as such strategies will need to be adapted.



Fix your economic strategy and/or adjust the tech speed at game start and that shouldn't be an issue.

I'm playing on 'tough,' uofadave, and am not having any problems with economy. I'm not doing as well as the AI, and it can sometimes be challenging to keep it going up rather than down, but I am not broke by any means. And I'm certainly no expert at this game.

My research is set to "very slow" because I prefer the longer research time. What is yours set at? Your above post doesn't say.

If you find a lot of people having the same problems you're having, then I can see that there are problems that need fixing (ie. colonizing of class 0 planets, etc.) but I haven't seen anyone complaining/exaggerating quite like you have in this post. If you think we're being fanboys/sheep/chumps and not helping Stardock by being so, your being rude/moronic/clueless would be just as helpful. But being that no one here is having as hard a time with the game as you are, I'd say that something is either seriously wrong with your install or you just suck really bad.

Sorry if the truth hurts.

Judging by your attitude so far in, I can only offer the following advice:

"You're doing it wrong."

Well done Hunter. I wish I had had the patience to respond as kindly as you have. An excellent suggestion.

I can't win. Must be the games fault. Stupid game that forces you to think ahead to win. What a stupid idea, they should have just made a overpowered unit so I can win with it.

Theres no way you 'll take 50 turns for the most basic of all techs unless your production is set to 10% or your research rate is way too low or zero. Or you picked a Very Slow tech game. Please do upload a save game!

The reason its taking 50 turns is because you are not generating enough Research points. There is a whole host of reasons why that happens, and it usually does when you first start getting used to the game. It takes time and practice to get used to balancing off the pro's and con's of each resource you have - Factories, Research Structures, use of Natural Resources, generating a sound economy etc. From the responses you gave you really do need to go back to basics and wrap your head around the different factors involved.

The game is meant to make you think and mull over the best way to achieve ... whatever... Its not a turnkey shoot-em-up with point and click options. If you are really game to learn it, and get rid of the frustrations, I would suggest starting a new thread, and work your way through it step by step, with other forums members posting to help you, and pointing out all the various alternatives.

For that to work, it will need to be with the mindset "guys I'm having issues here, I am getting slaughtered, would appreciate some help". The biggest obstacle to learning this game, is the player themselves - acknowledging they are doing something wrong, and not just blaming the game (and wow is the latter tempting when you first start ... we've all been there   ). Of the hundreds of thousands who play this game it is exceding rare to find someone who became a living godlike expert from the Get Go. We all needed to get help from others, and pointers on how to get going when we first started, and it takes time to learn it, weeks sometimes months.... Frankly without the help from this Forum I would never have got going in the first place.

Now when I look back at what I was doing when I first started, its embarassing to think of what I did get up to - boy was I being dumb at the time  , and had lots to learn - even though at the time I never appreciated how much I did have to learn. Post specific things that you have problems with - and at the start, with most of us, thats pretty much everything  .

Regards
Zy

I haven't bought TotA yet, cause I'm awaiting a reply from support, but if it's taking you 50 turns to research techs like that, you might wanna develop an "academy planet", or two. No clue what to suggest with the economy.

..Neutrality learning centers? As in, the thing you learn after researching good & evil? You've obviously been playing that game for a number of turns. And yet you picked Mars of all places for your research capital. How many tiles did Mars get in your game? 10? 12? 16?

Try this:
1. Go to http://rapidshare.com/
2. Browse to your last savegame file using the button on your screen
3. Upload it and paste the link here for everyone else.

Within 24 hours you'll probably get a complete breakdown of what you need to do to make your gaming experience more pleasant. My first guess, if you understand the mechanics of the game, is to break away from the SimCity mold and go do stuff. But in order to make more than a guess we need to actually see what's going on.

Huh, uofadave--I'm playing a fresh install of TA and I'm playing Terran Empire with the level above Tough as my difficulty. No, I'm not winning (I've never been one of the amazing players), but I have had no trouble getting my economy up and running. And while I'm still using Xeno Labs, I can research most simple techs in 1-5 turns. I honestly don't know if you are seeing a weird bug caused by a messed up install or if you just really, really, really don't get it...