Mid-game indecision.. what would you do?

from GalCiv2 Forums
I've got a good game going right now on a Large map with all normal opponents but I can't decide how to "close" my strategy.

I figured a "What would you do?" topic might be interesting to see how people play and maybe get some new ideas.

This is the situation as it stands now: Large galaxy, playing as Terran with 6 normal opponents. Currently dominating social production, manufacturing, trade and economy. Recently took the lead in research and population. Military exists but is unfocused and consists of a handful of defender and star fury fleets to deter military aggression.

Treasury has about 7000bc and banking about 150bc per turn with 50% tax rate and 75% approval.

Research is heavy on trade and diplomacy, also ahead on research, miniaturization, engine and sensor techs. (already have eyes of the universe). The only military techs have been acquired from minor races.

I'm personally thinking of switching gears to a tech heavy military conquest, but I'm also pondering going for an alliance victory and having proxies take out the militaristic Drengin and Korx.
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Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
First thing I would do: lower your tax bracket to 49%. Big morale difference between 49% and 50%.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Well, that was just for reference. I actually have the slider as high as it will go while still getting 100% approval since I currently don't need the money. But if it was at 50% that's what the income would be.

I'm hoping for more "big picture" type ideas.. maybe I put too much detail for that. Maybe not everyone is as bored at work as I am.
The Political Machine 2024
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I would begin a ship building campaign. Build lots of transports with a min of 2000 troops each. Also get to at least medium sized hulls and build lots of fast high damage ships. When you have enough transports + escorts + battlefleets attack your nearest neighbor. If you do it right you can wipe them out in 1 turn. Repeat until you have no one left to fight.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
FIrst build up the cash and start buying up mining resources, this step will greatly increase your empire in almost every way. Next I'd build up military and start a proxy war on the krox or drengin, once their fleets are buzy I'd build an upgraded military starbase covering their prime planets (assuming your military strength has been neglected your fleets may need starbase assistance), take their prime planets while trying to keep most combat within the military starbase influence. Once you feel the enemy back is broken mop them up, repeat for other aggressor, influence or ally with the rest.

And a final word of advice your never "don't need the money" in galciv2, buy any good techs, buy all resources, buy military (from others or rush build) and if you have all those start buying planets. My moto is when your making twenty-five thousand bc theres nothing you can't do.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
howarya, if it was me id do it by conquest , ive tryd to do the alliance bit and all the rest but then i get bored
the best and most exciting is by conquest. youve got the money , the approval, just research strong weapons
and large hulls. then go get them, yeha!
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top


#3 by ChaosD
Monday, April 10, 2006 6:02 PM


Trolling
Insightful



I would begin a ship building campaign. Build lots of transports with a min of 2000 troops each. Also get to at least medium sized hulls and build lots of fast high damage ships. When you have enough transports + escorts + battlefleets attack your nearest neighbor. If you do it right you can wipe them out in 1 turn. Repeat until you have no one left to fight.


i should have pointed out before heres a man after my own heart!
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yeah I'm liking the military conquest idea more and more. As for buying mining starbases, I can't get anyone to budge on those. How much money do you need to buy one usually? The Korx have one in my influence and it's annoying me. I might go to war with them just to take it.
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Looks to me like you need to work on your economy. 150BC a turn is good, but at 50% tax and 75% approval it seems to me that you've got a lot of room for improvement. That 150BC will fall quite rapidly when you start building serious offensive fleets if you neglect economy and you'll soon be operating very much in the red. What form of government are you using? What levels are your farming and entertainment technology at? Get your population and approval up, increase taxes and you'll be able to race ahead of all of your opponents.
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
And a final word of advice your never "don't need the money" in galciv2, buy any good techs, buy all resources, buy military (from others or rush build) and if you have all those start buying planets. My moto is when your making twenty-five thousand bc theres nothing you can't do



Yep you can even have a little fun and fight wars by proxy. Pay off a major race to attack a minor, then give the minor a bunch of money and ships, heck even buy a couple of planets from the major and give them to the minor and watch the fun.
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I haven't messed with governments yet. They are whatever Terran starts with, Imperial and Federalists I think.

I'm at Xeno Farms and Media Center levels. I don't know what specific techs those are but not far up the tree. What do you recommend on that front? I thought my economy was pretty strong as it's higher than any other race.
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Personaly, I would build more starbases. Economy starbases to make it easier to crank out the big ships in one turn.
Or fleets of constructors to make instant military starbases covering multiple enemy teritories, for massive conquest.

And make your you are storing away transports of troops, taken from whatever planets are nearing their population caps.
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I usually research up to Star Democracy. You get huge benefits for higher forms of government. Xeno farms is fine, but go higher on your entertainment. Once you've upgraded the entertainment buildings on your planets, 100% approval should be a snap and you can jack up your tax rates. I wasn't doing this when I just started playing, but the people on this forum told me how important government and populations are. They were right!
Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

It may seem like you're in good shape but you're not. 150/bc a turn on Large? Late in the game? That's usually when I'm making closer to 1,000bc a turn if not more. (Highest was 10,000bc a turn very very late in a Huge game) If you decide to get belligerent and start cranking out military ships you're going to get into financial trouble unless you do something to solve your money problem. (Yes, you have a problem - you're in the green but 150bc a turn is chicken feed)

It is -way- past time you switched to Democracy (or Federation if you have the tech for it)
Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yup, that's a low income. Star Democracy gives massive bonus to the economy, and maybe you need a few economic planets. Try "Aquiring" some from a weak neighbour.
Reply #15 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
150bc per turn without max production is interesting, but it could be due to insane numbers of factories/labs or bonus tiles. I had a planet with a 500% and a 300% factory bonus tile, and a manufacturing capital, and I nearly bankrupt myself trying to build a ship with it the first time. That was more mid-game though.
Reply #16 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
i get out of the defualt government as soon as i can keep 75% approval at 100% production and still be making a profit.

the bonuses from the advanced govenments are fantastic...

anyway, if you are Good, get the Hall of Empathy, and then start the proxy wars.

while your proxies fight, wait for the enemy to surrender to you, and see if you can get a Research victory before another victory condition sets in.
Reply #17 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
As for buying mining starbases, I can't get anyone to budge on those. How much money do you need to buy one usually?


Mining starbases can range in cost anywhere between 15K and 30K, a little less if they're not fully developed (assuming you have maxed out diplomacy). You need to be making at least 4K a turn (you could do it with lower but that would take damn near forever) to really start buying them up and after you do you'll probably end up making 3, 4 or even 5 times as much per turn. 4K a turn may seem like a lot but once you develop a knack for building a strong economy its not that hard to reach it mid game. Anyways buying all mining resources may be a bit beyond your current empires means but definitely grab any you can by conflict just make sure to develop and protect them.
Reply #18 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I would dig down and improve my planets.
Mainly just to avoid a victory type I don’t want.
Then do the proxy war thing and while your enemies slug it out you have all the time in the galaxy to research. I would research tile improvements first and then larger hulls all the way.
Weapons could probably be traded or bought for by now witch could help a bit in that regard.
When I had guns and bombs and rockets n’ stuff that I thought was neat enough I would build a Fleet worthy of a Dominar and eradicate all those evil aliens.


Rygel XVI - Dominar to over 600 billion (more or less) loyal subjects.
Reply #19 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'll have to look into governments in more detail, I've largely ignored them so far.

As far as economy starbases, I only use them in the path of trade routes. How do they affect planets in their sphere of influence, by just boosting tax revenue? Along those lines is that how market centers, etc affect a planet's economy?

I think I'm going to keep to myself for awhile now, and optimize my economy and keep plugging away at the tech tree.

What do you guys do when you don't have any ships in particular that you want to build? I've been just making constructors and upgrading my starbases since I have enough recon with the Eyes and my military/diplomacy is high enough to be a deterrence.
Reply #20 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The Korx might make a good proxy themselves, honestly. They're relatively manipulatable, so you could probably have them and the Drengin fight it out, then walk in a pick up the pieces -- at gunpoint. Which of course would require that you build up a better fleet to take them out. You might dump a second proxy in on both the Drengin and Korx, if possible. Three way wars can be very interesting.
Reply #21 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
What do you guys do when you don't have any ships in particular that you want to build? I've been just making constructors and upgrading my starbases since I have enough recon with the Eyes and my military/diplomacy is high enough to be a deterrence


Well don't build any ships then, unused production is not wasted it just goes back into your bankroll (though its always nice to have some fast troop transports on standby). But definitely have a plan on what kind of attack ships you want so you can get the techs and crank them out when the time is right.
Reply #22 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Personally, at the point in the game that you've described, I like to try an influence-based strategy.

If you have any neighboring nations that are particularly close by (particularly if you are sharing star systems), try building up a handful of influence starbases and 'persuading' them to join your side. I get a kick out of subverting worlds in that fashion, while still playing the role of 'the nice guy' diplomatically, and while still building up my social structure/tech/finances.

If the safety of the starbases is a concern, build up their defenses first, and their influencing abilities second. You can build them 'within' your own borders to push your borders outward, or if your relations with a race are pretty good, you can sometimes build a few right next to their worlds (in their own space). If you're quick about upgrading them, then before they can really get annoyed by it, your borders will have moved to encompass their worlds. By then, they're well on their way to becoming part of your empire.

There isn't anything more satisfying for me than having other planets convert to your empire not by force, but by sheer persuasion. Probably one of the aspects of this game that I love the most.
Reply #23 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Go at least star republic. Get friendly with a civ or two (hell I allied with the Korx) and support that civ. Best yet find a civ on the verge of defeat, build a military starbase fully loaded with ship support and base attack/defense and give the civ a couple fleets. I had the best time watching other civs get worn down before the weak civ finally capitulated. By then I developed medium hull and harpoons, with appropriate defense per cool/wary/hostile enemy civ, or anybody else you'd like to see gone. Even with "warm" relations, if they have a nice planet in a sweet location, I'd take that. Being of a neutral ethic, tiles are abundant (I grabbed a class 56 planet that I grabbed from the Drengin, who held it for a mere class 26). In the end, the most powerful civ was most willing to declare war on others. Then ally with the civ that you had the powerful civ declare war on after a short while, and you're done. Go on a diplomatic or conquest or tech victory from there, as practically you've won, but influence will require more work on such large map.
Reply #24 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I keep opening the game up and not doing anything, I just pore over the map and all the planets and stuff. I've never played a game that was so much fun to NOT play!

I was off on my economics by the way, I'm pulling 450bc at 50% tax rate, but currently the tax rate is about 25% and I have 100% approval and 100bc coming in.

My plan is to ally with the Altarians on my way to Star Democracy and since they are in a war with the Korx already I will use that as my excuse to take all the Korx planets and resources. My military is 7th of 8 right now, but I have the tech and production capacity to dominate, all the AI is using right now is mass drivers.
Reply #25 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Kill'em all.

The methods have already been mentioned: transports, sneak attack, take all their planets.