am i just that bad?

from GalCiv2 Forums
i don't know if i'm just that bad of a player, or if there is a secret starting move that ensures victory, but i've been going thru the campaign, and except for the first 2 or 3 maps, i've never won. i've never even gotten close. the dread lords come in with one punt fighter, and destroy my starbases, or medium cruiser or whatever i happen to have in front of them. all of this while i'm on the 'cakewalk' difficulty. laugh if you want, but after your done ROTFL'ing, send some tips, cause i'm getting really frustrated....



-marvel
4,982 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Learn to beat the regular game with ease on normal, otherwise your allies are useless. The DL are pretty AI independant the first few times you meet them, since programmed mistakes or no programmed mistakes, they have damn powerful ships. Your best bet is to get soldiering techs maxed out, so they can't invade with 10 people. Then go straight for the drengin world. That's about it, I always find it worse when you have to wipe out the DL entirely. But that's 2 missions away for you, what fun you have in store!
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I dunno if you want to take a walk on a wilder side, but normal or higher AI so your 'allies' wont be tards. I know, DL will be smarter too, but I think having better allies made it worth it to me.

There's no shame in having the DL hand you your ass. I've been there. I won' t laugh. Good luck on your campaign.
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Try colonizing more worlds south of you so the Dread Lords have a harder time wiping you out.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
thanks, i had never considered that the allies would be dumb as well as the enemies... so much for all my college learnin...

-marvel
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
If you want to try it out, here's one strategy that's working quite well for me so far on the first Dreadlord level. I researched up the sensors tree to whichever one lets you build the Eyes of the Universe, Sensors IV I think, then built the Eyes. I did a bunch of engine research too, up into the warp drive techs, and then built a few ships with cargo hulls, one laser, a few life support modules, and all the engines they can hold. They can see basically everything and are fast enough to pick off Dreadlord transports and run away from everything else, so it doesn't matter that I can't kill their ships, because they have nothing to attack and they can't take my planets. It only took 2-3 of these ships to have a defense that the Dreadlords just can't do anything about, though I'm not sure it would work well with the up the AI to help your allies strategy, because the enemy might start escorting transports then.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Biggest tip...move fast. Trim the "fat" of the campaign...research only the techs that will most clearly get you to the particular scenario goal. Don't bother trying to develop a balanced civ, sustainable economy or anything like that.

The Dreadlords start at a massive disadvantage 'cos their infrastructure takes an extremely long time to build up (because they're trying to build the final factory types on bare planets...and those things take an age to build even when you have several more basic factories on there to start with, let alone the basic colony manufacturing ability the DLs have at the start). If you give them the time to build their infrastructure, or capture a few planets (which amounts to the same thing), they become virtually unbeatable.

Another possibility; early on you can take their fleets down with fleets of high offense craft. To counter their shields you need LOADS of attack, so use cargo hulls if you have to. The DL attack ratings are so high your ships will likely die in one volley anyway with anything less than large hulls (and you're moving fast, so you won't have had time to develop them) so you lose nothing by only having one hitpoint. Speed/sensors are also priorities as you HAVE to get first strike with this tactic. If you do this early enough, you should be able to wipe out all their spacecraft before the infrastructure is replacing them quickly (this I have done before). You could probably then blockade all their planets (this I haven't tried). You should be able to keep up well enough militarily to win since you'll only ever have to take out one ship at a time, albeit a bit of a monster!
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
those guys gave good tips so nothing more i can give you but good luck on your campaign. i finished the campaign with lucky as well. its okay to lose one or two missions though (as there are alternative easier ones).