Where did I go wrong?

Early planet development.

from GalCiv2 Forums
After pasting the AI on normal a couple of times I decided it was time to turn up the difficulty to tough and see how it would go. I played version 1.0x, tight clusters, abundant stars, common planets, uncommon habitable.

My custom race has a 20% bonus to economics and research with some points thrown at weapons for good measure. Even with a federalist government the AI's economies were blowing mine away from the get go. I was behind in research as well and my diplomacy was not good enough to allow me to tech trade effectively. After winning a long costly war with the Korx (who had declared war on me) I felt I had earned the respect of my nieghbors and would be left alone for a time to build up some more infrastructure. That's when the Yor and Drengin decided that they needed my planets more than I did.

I never did see a Yor ship other than some scouts who were swiftly dispatched, but the Drengin were relentless. My state of the art M-4 fighters and Imperator class Frigates were worn down by wave after wave of Drengin fighters. My masterfully executed but desperate counter-attack into the heart of their territory failed because my tech level and soldiering were insufficient for me to capture any planets. I managed to convince the Arceans who had the second best military to assist me but it was too late. What few of my people survived now live under the cruel yoke of Drengin occupation.

It is clear to me that my early game planet development strategies which served me so well on earlier difficulty levels are somewhat wanting. Can anyone offer some tips?

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Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The Yor and Drengin saw u as a soft target, probably because after the war with the korx your military rating was low. Rather then earn the respect of your neighbours, they were greedly rubbing there hands together, looking forward to a soft kill. Keep that military rating high and avoid being picked on. Look around for other posts on how to get a good economic start, plenty around, written a couple myself. to give u a few ideas.

Good Luck.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
ok, focus on certain things. my econ rating is always in the toilet early on, and my military rating is barely enough to keep them away. I usually need to resort to bribes early on. forget economic benifits, though, go pop growth and maybe diplomacy. the pop growth will do more for econ, and tech trading is mandatory early on (if you have it turned on, of course...because the AIs will do it). make defenders early...cheap, so you can build a ton of them, and research powerful stuff. I usually get attacked, because my mil rating will be fairly low, but my superior tech can whip their stuff...though they have alot of it...that gets the respect. a costly war wil almost always be your demise, unless you have really good relations.
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Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Another thing on war.

I tend to be stubborn with war. If someone attacks me I will keep after them, even if it takes me a while to gather the transports to take any serious real estate from them. The result is that I get tied down in a long struggle that may not completely wear me down, but keeps me occupied at the expense of economic development. All of a sudden, a big, bad neighbor - like the Drengin or Yor - will come at me with a fresh military.

I am starting to learn that if I have an enemy on the ropes with one war - but can't readily finish them off for some reason - I will try to offer peace, for a price...

It gets me some quick gains, lets me refocus on my economy and helps me keep my military ready for any other potential challengers out there.

Once I am prepared to restart the war, it's an easy task. I just attack them, or start building influence starbases to really annoy them to the point that they attack me.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Starting patterns are very important. There seem to be several valid ones, but this is mine:

I usually take bonuses in ecconomics, diplomacy, and morale. Federalists are the best government by a long shot, though populists are nice as well.

So I start the game, and hit ctrl-N until I'm comfortable with the galaxy. I set the spending slider to 100% (and leave it there for the entire game, usually), raise taxes until morale is in the high 50s, set research to 50%, military production to 50% and social spending to 0%. That's right, 0% - you only need a couple of factories, a startport, and a research building on everpy planet in the early turns, and I usually just buy them outright at the rate of one building a turn.*

I research sensors first - scout ships with survey modules can be QUITE lucrative, since you can get as much as 2500bc from a single anomoly. Then I rush for trade (grabbing the essential early technologies of universal translators and diplomatic relations along the way). I'm usually done building colony ships by the time I get trade, which is good because you want to establish as many trade routes as early as possible. Not only will this net you lots of money, but aliens are reluctant to attack you if you have a lot of trade routes with them. Lots of trade routes with your biggest scarriest neighbor is a good policy!

Anyway, after you build your freighters, balance out your slides as befits the situation, build the diplomatic translators if you can, and build lots of eccomonic starbases along your trade routes. This is also the time you want to start researching weapons and building warships to discourage oportunistic attack.

Hope this helps.

P.S. Oh, and if you get desparate for money, selling technology isn't a bad scam.

*On smaller galaxies, where there's a tighter colonization rush, I often set social spending to 50% and buy all my ships outright instead, but I find that the above strategy will get you father on huge or bigger.