Starting at the center of the galaxy

from GalCiv2 Forums
It seems to me that the games that I truly dominate in (versus struggling for a win or flat-out losing) are games I begin at the center of the galaxy. Starting in a corner or on one side carries with it massive exploration penalties; while I'm building better life support, the other races are busy making weapons to clean my clock.

Perhaps in a future version, there should be some racial benefit that starts a person out closer to the galactic core or, perhaps, a spherical universe that wraps around at the edges, so that no one will ever have to start in a corner again.
6,367 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Playing on smaller maps helps alleviate this. But I agree that it's true to some extent. Just like I did in the Civ series, if I start a game and my immediate surroundings aren't lending themselves to shoring up the early handicap I face at harder difficulty levels, I restart immediately. To me, that's just the way 4x games are sometimes.

Starting at the center can be a disadvantage, too, if you're surrounded by neighbors early. A lot of times I simply have to pick an area that looks like it has a lot of planets, and go their with colony ships blindly. I emphasize one or two directions, and colonize everything I can, with survey ships leading the way whenever possible. Sometimes I luck out and get a lot of good planets, sometimes I guess the wrong direction and get a few 6s and 7s.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The few games I've lost I had a middle start and got dogpiled late early game and had the AIs comming at from every direction.

I perfer to start in forward position of a cornor it just suits my style of play.
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
during my picky perfectionist trader moods, i prefer being stuck at the furthest corner, with most other civs on the diagonally opposite corner... this shall maximize my trade routes profit (longest distance)... from there i proceed to colonize/conquer planets at the middle, making em ideal staging ground for my troops to go to everywhere else.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Personally, Starting in a corner is easier to me. My back is protected and trade routes tend to be long and profitable.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
i'd like a center start option. nearly all strategy games that i can remember where i've had a great experience, happens when i'm in the middle of the map

you just can't beat having multiple fronts, it really makes the AI seem that much smarter
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
you just can't beat having multiple fronts, it really makes the AI seem that much smarter


Also having muiltiple civs around you can help militarily if you have allies, if they help in wars they eliminate possible enemy attack fronts without any cost to you.
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
what i am having problems with is life support it seems that the ai's are able to pile on life support and weapons thus extending range about 3X as far as i can with starbases and i mean 3 or 4 life support and 20 weapons on a defender able to attack me without any base supports from half away on the map