Fumbleing on start?

from GalCiv2 Forums
Hi All

All the games i play (AI on Normal) i seem to get a bad startm they out-weigh me in everything and within the year im to far behind in research, military and the rest!

I find a balaence bettwenn building and buying and i dont even build a military, by the time i do im cut up! Also the coloney ships i pump them out but sucks on money to much, it really feel slike the AI are cheating and it kinda whines me up a bit

Has anyone got any tips or routine they have for when they start a game?
Or dare i say it?, i think i will cheat?

Thx
Lukemax
2,991 views 2 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
First, if you are new to the series, drop the ai down a bit to make it easier. Secondly, early one most the races trade tech, so can you. Its a good way to keep up with the neibhor races. Later, people become more specialized and don't share, especially military tech, but early on sharing helps.

You obviously want to pick up a few good planets to start, but don't forget to upgrade what you have. I usually buy a factory outright on a new planet, it really speeds up development.

Finally, if you have too many colonies too early and not enough economoy to support it, either all you money is goind to infrastructure, which is still slow devlopment since you have so many planets to upgrade, or you aren't builiding infrastructre at all.

A strong economy and wheeling and deeling with AI really helps.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Balance is a matter of perception.

First thing set your spending at 100%, next raise taxes until your moral is about 50-60%. Set military spending at 60% and research and social at 20 each. With these settings you should have a positive cash flow at the start.

Use your 5000bc to build a factory on earth and on the first couple of planets you colonize and buy at least the first colony ship. It is also a good idea to build a faster colony ship before your first turn

Get as many planets as you can. Go for the High HQ planets and the planets closest to your rivals first. Back-fill later. With the faster colony ship you should dominate colonization in the early game set on normal or below.

As you acquire more planets build factories (production), markets (money), entertainment (moral), labs (research).

When you have your base empire, you can readjust the economy sliders to something like 35-40 military, 35-40 research and around 25 social. Except for a special needs crunch they can stay at that level through the mid game and/or when you are not at war. Be sure to use the emphasis buttons as needed instaed of messing with the overall economy.

Start building farms, (careful with the farm bonus squares) and embassies on HQ planets. I like to make HQ planets either balanced or financial centers and
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