Technology tree for ships????

from GalCiv2 Forums
I am really new to this game and I have a question. Does anyone know what technologies to research when it comes to different ships??? ????
Perhaps a technology tree for ships is available somewhere??
I am going crazy researching for ships over here so any quick help would be nice. Otherwise this game goes into the "big round archive".
3,277 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Well, there is not really ship tree around of which I would knew, but there is also no need for one.

The core designs all suck anyway.

So, just design your own ships. Because:

-they will be better

-they will look better

-they will feel better

-and sometimes they will call you "mama"


Well, ok. The last two were lies, but the rest is true. So, just research weapons, defenses, engines, sensors, hulls and stuff and build your own "Conquer the galaxy in just under 5 minutes" ship.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
You need to design your own ships to be successfull. I make my research decisions based on the time it takes to research the item, it's benifits to my future design, and how soon I need the new ship.

For example, my first ship was made after researching space weapons and impulse drive, the two components I planned to use. These ships were effective enough that I didn't have to design a new ship until after I had researched up to Sensors IV, Advanced Life Support, Medium Hulls, Advanced Miniturization, the highest version of the Harpoon missle, the armor right before admantium, and the best Warp drive.

These ships went into production right before I was attacked, allowing me to complete a single fleet of 3 ships. That one fleet was so far advanced over what my enemy (who had the strongest military rating on the map) sent at me, that I not only destroyed his invasion force, I went on to conquer his civilization. My enemy wisely switched to laser weapons towards the end, to counter my armor protection, but it was far to late to make a difference.

So, yeah, look around at what the other civs have, and decide what you want your ship to have. Research the technology you need to build your ship, and then design it. The pre-designed ships are pretty useless, even the AI designs it's own ships.
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Ok, thanks for your answers. I guess I will have to keep on trying then. Can you recommend a few basic researches so that I can start designing my own ships???
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Ok, thanks for your answers. I guess I will have to keep on trying then. Can you recommend a few basic researches so that I can start designing my own ships???


Well, that's imho quite easy to decide. Usually each new item you get with a new tech is superior to an older one, so just use the best stuff you've got available, as for what you need to research, I often go after the following rule:

If I feel that my ships are to slow, I'll research engine techs, if my ships lacks the "oumph"-factor (the "oumph"-factor is the sound a Talan does when he's hit by a neutron star) I research weapons techs. If my ships are to often blown up, I'll research armor technologies.

Just experiment with it, try new stuff. If you play on normel difficulty, you can make some mistakes without being destroyed after a second. Research a bit of everything until you know what you get from the different technologies and then concentrate on what you like or what you see as important.

And know, have fun.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The best thing I've seen so far is to mix speed and weaponry. I've also noticed that it's usually a lot easier to shrink a given technology than to make a new one. I've often cut off at Plasma III rather than pick up Phasors, instead investing in miniaturization- the short term benefits are greater because fitting a fourth Plasma III is going to do more for my damage output than being able to fit two Phasors. Of course, you can't totally ignore new weapon technologies- but it can be a critical difference in the short term.

Also, I've found that I get more bang for my buck sticking to the Small and Tiny hulls for a while, and instead working on Miniaturization and Logistics. Logistics helps me out not just with fleets but also with starbases, which is a winner both in and out of combat. Not saying you should ignore the bigger hulls completely, but don't be in a hurry to reach Massive.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
i agree to stormcaller, first research drives then weapons, use the most efficient damage/size considering the amount of remaining space in your hull after putting some big drives, then last go for defenses tech.

When researching defense, get medium hull then, smallest size 1 ratiung defense of each types (superior deflector, ecm3, and titanium3 if i remember correctly) so when you design your first med sized hull ships you can mount 1 module of each one, giving 1 def in each category.
Why ? simple enough, during combat defense capacity add the designed defense for the specific defense plus square root of the 2 others
IE : against missiles you add 1 point of ecm plus square root of 1 for guns plus square root of 1 for beams. Got it ? with 1 module of eache you get 3 defense against any attack type wich is great at first.

Specialise in defense only if all your ennemy is beelining deeper in a specific weapon branch and look like sticking with it for his ships. Obviously, reckon is critical in military research planning.
But remember, there is techs that are always usefull anytime, drives, miniaturization and loigistic so try to get them first (maybe except for the very bigger ones like hyperwarp)