Gosh I feel like an idiot!
from 
GalCiv2 Forums
GalCiv2 Forums
I was playing on a huge map, doing pretty well (thank to all the tips I got from the forum). Leading in research and population, have more influence then 2 AIs combine. The military while I'm only rank 6th, but the Hydra class frigate and the Pagasus fighter do more then enough to protect my empire. Any AI gets a funny idea are sent packing with their invasion force a bloody nose.
But I have this big defeciet on the budget though, all of my colonies are full however, and I figure I need more to support a bigger fleet. Since 2 minor races are already wiped out by other major races, I think I should get my share. Even better, the one near me also own 2 mining camps in the vicinity, so it can be quite a score.
Ok, so I build some invasion force. It went without a hiccup, the Pagasus and the Hydra still prove superior to the defenders. After that, I set my eyes on the second minor race which also happen to be close by.
And woot, they're different by a milestone! this minor race have the best ship around, comparable to my ship if not better. At first I intended to overpower them, but even with the Hydra frigate my lost ratio is 4 to 1. Uh ... that's ugly. I figure the guy must have orbital fleet control. This is the first time I attack a planet with this facility, I thought "Cool. so that's how useful it is"
"Ok, time for a bigger gun" - I think, plust it time I need to put all those new tech I have for a new ship. And then, the Athena Cruiser is borned, barring state of the art weapon and more, having both weapon and defense optimized for this particular goal of getting the planet.
Waited for a year to get some ships down the line. Then when the day is marked, a fleet of Athenas, escort with Hydras mounted a second assault. Guess what, the lost ratio is 1 to 3. Ok, that's rediculous. I was tempted to make a post complaining about orbital control is too powerful. But I give it another try
Spent the next year to build a Military base (cheesy I know) nearby and have it boost my ship overall performance. Then, another attack was launched. This time, I still am at a 1 to 3 lost ratio
. "What's going on, stardock is gonna get a serious complain the next morning". A new Logistic research came in, so I have place for one extra Athena. Here goes nothing, another assault, with a loss of 1 to 2 ratio 
Ok, technically my Athena fleet is supposed to outgun the AI's fleet even with its orbital control. However in my last assault, I noticed something that should be very obvious for me to reconize in the second assault. The Athena is shotting something look like Plasma. Opps
I rushed to my ship design screen and see 2 Athenas class on the list, figure!
The problem is I design new ship each of my play, but use the same names since more and more the designs get better. It turns out the Athenas that I built is the Athena from my last game, while also using large hull rather then medium hull like the Hydra, it has the same amount of power as a Hydra (talk about bad design). So instead of building:
- The Athena with Phasor 2 and Shield 3
I built
- The Athena with Plasma 2 and ... ECM 2.
Wow no wonder I got raped badly, I turn off the computer when I reconized my mistake, and come to realize on how playing at 2 am do to your sense
