Why can't I use mass drivers?

It depends...if you're playing the campaign, then certain techs are unavailable during certain missions... if you're playing sandbox game, you should be able to research all the mass driver techs under space weapons

I'm playing sandbox. I can research the mass driver techs all I want to no avail. None of them ever show up as components that I can actually mount on my ship designs. All the beam and missile weapons work just fine.

thats just weird, maybe a debug err will show a reason why, but ive always been able to and i dont think anyone has ever mentioned that as being a bug so send some info and a saved game to stardock or something

In the shipyard above the part where it list all the weapons you find three driffent planes saying "lasers", "mass drivers", and "missles." Simply click on "mass drivers" to get access to all the mass drivers weapons you researched. It's a UI improvement so that it's easier to organize your weapons.

That's just it - none of the mass drivers that I research ever show up in the weapons list. The lasers and missiles show up in the lists like they're supposed to, but not mass drivers.

I'm thinking something maybe got permanently screwed up a long time ago in applying all those beta patches. I'll probably just do a full reinstall and put on the last patch, after I finish my current game.

I'm thinking something maybe got permanently screwed up a long time ago in applying all those beta patches. I'll probably just do a full reinstall and put on the last patch, after I finish my current game.

that probably sounds like the best idea if some file got messed up on your computer.

I'm thinking something maybe got permanently screwed up a long time ago in applying all those beta patches. I'll probably just do a full reinstall and put on the last patch, after I finish my current game.

Do it, old files from beta can cause all sorts of weird niggles.

I just got around to completely reinstalling the game from scratch, and this problem still exists - no mass driver weapons are ever available in my games, no matter how many of the mass driver weapon techs I research. In fact even none of the computer opponents seems to be able to use them. And maybe this is a coincidence, but in my last two games, no one ever got one of those random event were you find a precursor ship that is loaded with mass driver weapons. They are still available as upgrades on starbases though.

Am I really the only one who has this problem? I've never seen a miniball, and I'm curious if it is really everything they say it is.

Heh... no nano rippers?

Dude! You gotta get that fixed!

Dunno what the problem might be. I've never had any difficulty.

To see if it's possible to use mass driver weapons, or if your game is somehow crippled, start a new game. The first screen is Galaxy Setup. In the upper right, chose Scenario 'Battle of the Gods'. Then continue to start the game normally. This gives you all techs from the start.

Then get to the ship builder. Create a 'new' ship, select a hull and then select weapons. There are three choices under the weapons tab, Beam, Mass Driver and Missile. Select Mass Driver and you should see things like Black Hole Gun, Neutrino Bullets, Spike Driver, etc. Scroll down and you would see Miniballs, and Nano Ripper etc.

The game is stored in two places. First I'd try to Uninstall via the control panel. Uninstall both Stardock Central and Galactic Civilizations. Then go to c:\Program Files and delete the Stardock folder.

The other part of the game is stored under My Documents\My Games\Galciv2

I'd delete that whole folder too.

Then re-download the game and re-install.

I dunno. Good luck though!

astreeter,

If an uninstall and reinstall does not fix the problem, please try disabling mods in the Options menu and see if you are still unable to use mass drivers.

If that still does not help, please send the following to [email protected]

1. A saved game where you cannot build mass drivers
Saved games can be found in My Documents/My Games/Galciv2

2. GC2Types.xml
This file can be found in program files/stardock/totalgaming/galciv2/data/english
(If you use a different language, substitute "English" for your language above)

3. Debug.err
This file can be found in program files/stardock/totalgaming/galciv2/

These files will help us to determine why you are unable to use mass drivers.
Please also include a link to this forum thread in your email messages.

Thank you.

To see if it's possible to use mass driver weapons, or if your game is somehow crippled, start a new game. The first screen is Galaxy Setup. In the upper right, chose Scenario 'Battle of the Gods'. Then continue to start the game normally. This gives you all techs from the start.

I just tried this, and it looks like I have most of the weapons available to mount on a ship, but am still missing some. Miniballs and Mass Drivers are not in the available weapons list.

I just double-checked my GC2Types.xml, and it looks like the reason I don't ever see weapons called MiniBalls or Mass Drivers is because the MiniBalls techs give the the Railgun and Railgun Mk II weapons, and the Mass Drivers techs give me the Railguns Mk III through Mk VI. I mistakenly assumed that the weapons techs always gave you weapons named the same as the tech names (why are these the only ones different? Seems confusing to me, but since I was apparently the only one confused then I suppose I am just an idiot). Is that how its supposed to work? If so, then I guess my reinstall fixed my original problem where I didn't have any mass driver weapons at all.

So there never was a weapon called MiniBalls.