Fastest tech path to offensive ships?

Help me fend off the Drengin!

from GalCiv2 Forums
It seems everyone is able to build offensive vessels before I am.

What's the quickest tech path that will enable me to be able to build offensive ships to fend off the Drengin's pesky heavy fighters and whatnot?
11,312 views 13 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
take every red tech. Within two levels you'll have a gun and can start cranking out extremely low quality ships. But really you're better off waiting until you've researched a gun with an attack level of 2 (for reasons of economy and the longevity of your ship design). That means going a short distance into one of the three offensive weapons trees - lasers, miniballs or missiles will all take you there.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
well, the Space Weapons Tech will get you Defenders, which is the first warship you can build, but as you said, the AI seems to have everything before me. lol
The Political Machine 2024
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
if you are talking bout defence, you just need the first lvl weapon, the first level defence (I say weapon/defence couse you can pick your favorite, I use beam/armor couse they are CHEAP) and then get the first level of starbase attack and defence. once you have these basic techs, and about 6 constructors to max a military starbase, you can hold off an invasion fleet, I have a stardard ship I use alot, at1/deff1/hp6/move3, named the Cheap0. in the campain I used military stations and this ship alone(nice not to have to research weapons/deffence) to ezily destroy insane fleets of dreadlord(on highest diff). just remember to make a few cargo ship crammed with sensors, and upgrade the engines on your ships when you can, and military bases with lite fighters can own anything.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I always get xeno research weapons centers first, that way I can research things faster so I may end up being 3 turns behind the AI in the very beginning but I catch up fairly soon. I also reasearch other techs as they become either necessary or a better investment than another notch up the tech latter. I also usually research Universal Translators fairly early so I can start making allies and trading techs.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Just make sure that you spend some time researching social stuff and not weapons exclusively. What will wind up happening is that you'll have the upper hand for a while. But then the other races will surpass you socially, gaining significant ground in research and commerce. It'll only be a matter of time before their ships will be better than yours and you'll wind up in a world of pain.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Are you trading with the AI? They are very willing. I've even had them sell me their defense force (we weren't at war) which I sold to their enemies (for a profit).
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I know your pain with this! So yeah, grab the early red ones.

At somepoint I switch to 100% research to get the basic techs for ship attack at 1 turn a piece. Then 100% military to pump out a fleet ot cheap & nasty warships. I dont epect anything of them, they are there purely for military rating at the start so that the AI will seek out "softer" oppertunities.

I used to wait until I had some better weapons that take up less space and knew the AI weapon type so I could bolt on some defence and then the better factories to build them with but the truth is I always ended up at war with at least 3 races. By waiting for all this I became easy pickings since the AI just looked at my ratings and saw me as last.
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I normally unlock Space Militarization and ride the peace-time out.

That is to say, I know that nobody's going to declare war on me until everyone unlocks Planetary Invasion (I normally keep to myself and try not to piss people off with Starbases during this time), so I don't even bother spending time on weapons for the most part.

First, I get the translators up and research up on my diplomacy and social improvements (throwing in propulsion and minaturization in for good measure). As I put at least 2 research tiles on every planet I manage to colonize, I pretty much stay ahead of the game because the AI is normally balancing their non-military techs with weapons and defense research. By the time the AI has armed fighters in space, I've got plenty of social/political techs to trade - and as these techs normally take longer to research, they're worth a pretty penny depending on what each AI currently needs. Then it's simply trading those socio-political techs for weapons techs.

The key to this strategy is to ensure that you're the only one profitting off of your techs. Keep ahead of the game by selling and trading at a level or two below your current tech grade. For example, if you've unlocked Master Trade, sell Advanced Trade (or normal Trade, if they haven't developed it) to every AI you can. By doing this, you ensure that a) you're still more advanced on that current tech branch and b) by trading the tech to everyone (this isn't always possible, of course), you ensure that nobody's going to be swapping techs behind your back. That is to say, the AI usually goes for bum deals when dealing with each other (ex: Trading Laser for Harpoon) so a tech you sell to just one AI when everyone else needs it means that soon enough, you'll see the rest of the AI picking up the tech and you're not benefitting from it at all.

Sneaky? Sure. But look at the tag below - chaotic evil, baby.

Of course, this strategy is terribly liquid, so you have to keep a close eye on your ambassador screens to see if anyone's surpassing you in a particular field. Adapting the strategy dynamically is paramount to success. That is to say, if you've only got, say, Xeno Factories and you see that the AI is starting to manifest Manufacturing Centers in their trade lists, buy it from someone with some of your exclusive techs, and whatever techs you use to buy from the one race, you sell to the rest to make some cash money as well. Naturally, you'll want to be careful about what you want to give up for an advanced tech - sometimes it's not worth it to trade 4 weapons/defenses for Invention Matrix, for example.

Finally, pay attention to what the AI is doing with their own weapons/defenses. They normally split their forces between two different types: one for planetary defense and one for offense. For example, defending ships may be outfitted with missile techs and invasion/patrol fleets making use of mass drivers. Try to avoid trading valuable military techs that may potentially cripple your own efforts. For example, if nobody's been working on beam defense, the logical course of action is to research/trade for beam techs and focus your own offensive ships to them. At the same time, the AI may or may not be working on beam defenses and if you nab any, be sure not to sell them to other races as it will render your weapons less effective (costing you more ships and resources in the long run). On the other hand, feel free to sell defenses for weapons that you're not developing or planning on using. It helps to keep the AI focused on ignoring what you're developing. If like in the previous example, you've been working on beam defenses and everyone else is actively working with missiles, sell missile defenses to the other races as it will be pretty high in value and has no major impact on your own weapons development.

There. I think that answers (and then some) your questions. haha
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Missiles will get you high yeild weapons the fastest. You can get Harpoons with 3 attack very early in the game, when most of the others still have 1 attack weapons.
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yeah, that whole system of assessing military strength by looking at total offense plus total defense is broken. Ships with good defense, particularly if they are greater in size, can take out large numbers of "offense only" type ships without sustaining many casualties, particularly if the small ships do not have any advantage in logistics.

I often find myself at war with an AI race who became convinced that I was an easy target, despite the fact that my military tech was far beyond theirs.

After I beat them down for a while (usually with little or no losses) they see the error of their ways, but a human player would have known not to start that war in the first place. Even if their numbers make up the difference in the beginning, they spend all of their resources pumping ships while I continue to tech and build infrastructure.

I'm only playing on Normal. I presume at higher levels that the AI would just show up with superior numbers and drop ships and start taking planets before I could respond adequately.
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'm only playing on Normal. I presume at higher levels that the AI would just show up with superior numbers and drop ships and start taking planets before I could respond adequately.


That's not actually a valid assumption... it just does things better across the board. I think the naming conventions of difficulty settings needs to be reworked making what is now called "tough" into "normal" so people play on that level and post things based upon a fully unlocked AI.

You can convince the AI you are weak by using fleets of multiple small but low damage weapons and armour and having them superpumped by your fully upgraded starbase. Even then the AI will try to manoeuvre round the starbase influence if possible.
Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'm only playing on Normal. I presume at higher levels that the AI would just show up with superior numbers and drop ships and start taking planets before I could respond adequately.


They pull the same tactics on you on Suicidal... only they're faster at it.