Did you try the GalCiv2 Wiki?

Question: Is there any consolidated source of strategy information?

I've mined the wiki but found very few actual strategies, mostly just the same info as found in the game's manual.

Question: With the changes to GalCiv2 with the latest patch, what impact does this have on early game building/colonization/etc?

I mean, I hate to just start repeating questions and then getting the same variety of responses and just add yet another thread that is briefly helpful but then is difficult to find for a future person searching for advice... why isn't there a single place with multiple strategies and evaluations of each? Or is there something like that that I'm not aware of?

Is there any consolidated source of strategy information?

As you've already found the answer is no.

Why is it so hard to find in-depth strategy advice?

The reason is that it's so hard to write up. It's very difficult to write up a simple cookbook strategy guide, there are too many ifs, ands, and buts. When you do come across a strategy guide they can often be based on a very reasonable premise and seem to be relatively simple, but when you actually try to implement the strategy you find out very quickly that it's far easier to say than to do.

The beauty and difficulty with this game is the wide variety of potentially successful strategies. This leads to problems. You can't simply take a good idea from one place and another good idea from another and put them together. You need to look at your strategy as a whole and make sure it fits together. Also, not all advice given is good. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference.

I'm sorry I have no easy answer for you, the best advice is to listen to other peoples ideas, use the ones that work for you and ignore the ones that don't. Also, it can help to join an empire, if you aren't already in one. It's not really a matter of having any real "secret strategies" it's more a matter of people sharing a common goal being a bit more helpful to one another than they might otherwise be without the common goal.

Post your questions, describe your problems in-game and you will get an answer.

I agree that this is the way to go, however you won't get an answer, you'll get ten different answers and they'll often conflict with one another. But you're much more likely to get good results by breaking down your questions into bite sized chunks and then wading through the response's for ideas that you like.

With the changes to GalCiv2 with the latest patch, what impact does this have on early game building/colonization/etc?

This question, for example, is definitely answerable, whereas your first was not.

I'm still trying to adjust to these changes, but I find myself building far more advanced markets for early income than I used to. I also find that I can't seem to keep my approval up to levels that I used to. This means my growth rate is lower and therefore the rate at which I can colonize is slower. I used to make my home planet my manufacturing capital fairly quickly and pump out a colony ship with 500 colonists every other turn. In v1.31 I still make my home planet my manufacturing capital but I adjust the sliders more towards research and produce a colony ship every third turn. To make up for this slowdown, I try to get my first one or two colonies up and producing colony ships as soon as possible (it probably takes 8 months or so). On any colonies other than the first one or two I build factory followed by three or four economic buildings. I pay to rush build on my first one or two colonies but never rush build on any other colonies until much later in the game. I still take the 70% pop growth racial ability and the 30% economic ability and take the Torians for their free 25% morale bonus. Hope this helps.

No one has mentioned it yet, but the Empires collect their own versions of "best strategies" some of which is posted here and there in the open, but some is not and is only available to empire members. The Diplomats have some of the best players in the MV and have a private collection of outstanding strategies, hints, and tips. Some of this is in the open in the empire-neutral threads at the Core (www.thegalacticcaore.com). Drop by and join the Core for a good time chatting with good players. Join the Diplomats, or another empire if they fit you better.

Thanks all for the responses... What you say makes sense, as far as to why I am having such a hard time finding strategy resources, but I at least understand it now. I'll try to explore with a few more games and decide if I can come up with some better specific questions or examples and see if I can't finally get better at this wonderful game

Thanks again for your responses, everyone had something interesting to say and I will be following pretty much everyone's advice. (Including checkout out the core )

PS: Also, if anyone wanted to link me to a few of the aforementioned really good strategy threads, I'd appreciate it... I've been lurking and searching all week and have only got to play half an hour's worth of GalCiv2 this week, hoping to make up for that this weekend and don't know if I'll have the patience to actually search some more before I do.

If not, that's no big deal and I understand that all our time is valuable, but several mentioned that they're out there and so I figured it'd save me both time searching for them and then time evaluating which among the many that I find are among the "better" strategies, in regards to general applicability. Thanks much!

Yea there r tips a plenty if u read through the B.C. Space Orcas thread. No need to join but please consider it.  

I am constructing a list of 100 tips (1 per day), check it out u may learn something new. They r pretty much random tips, but when the 100 is complete I will try to put them all together in one post, for all. I believe the final 100 will turn any beginner into veteren, but be warned they will contain spoilers for those who like to discover the game themselves.

One of the strat general guides


You might find some valuable information. It helped me a bit. Don't take everything as "the truth" but I personnally found it helpful.

edit: it's outdated, it applied to 1.2 I think, not the current 1.31 version

Research points are carried over to the next researched tech?
Good to know. Thanks.

Research points are carried over to the next researched tech? Good to know. Thanks.

It is sort of hard to be real specific on this topic but here's my observations;

At the beginning of the game, the RPs will be carried over to the tech that you choose to research next. It will not show up in the tech research bar on the main screen but it is there. I'm pretty sure it works this way for at least the first 12 turns or so -- at least it does for the way I play my first 12 moves.

At some point in the game the RPS are carried over to the next tech in the same tech branch as the tech that just got research. It'll usually show how much in the tech research bar in the tech screen and the one on the main screen too. The RPs will still be in that tech later if you choose to research something else in another tech branch.
Not really sure how soon this starts but it is pretty early in the game.
And yes you can get multiply techs in 1 turn -- I've gotten 5 or 6 at least doing a new branch late in the game.

Here is some advanced advice

The prime thing to understand in GC2 is that while there are many ways to win, you have to be coherent in your strategy. you can't be good at everything early on. you have to choose a strategy that fit your play style

for me, it all start with custom ships. understanding how you can specialize ships.

some of my favorites:

vulture: cargo hull, the smallest possible weapon (only need 1 point of dammage), the rest is mostly for drives (speed) and a little for range and maybe sensors (but not really needed, read bellow) - purpose: destroying defenseless ships such as colony ship, transport, freighters, scouts, constructors.... it's part of a denial strategy. you're oponent will not be allowed to build trde routes, starbase, etc...

scan ship: cargo hull, only one drive, no range(usually - except for deep scan ships) the rest is all sensors (survey module cheaper early on) - purpose: those ships have hugue scan radius, you can think of them as modile undefended scanning starbase. their scan reach can be larger than one quadrant. you can see ships approaching from 10+ parsecs and get ready for them. full border protection

intervention fleet: 2-3 drives, 1 armor of each type (if possible), range needed only for assault fleet, the rest is for weapons. purpose: attack and retreat. as a result your fleet don't get destroyed, they take turn. they get experience and hit points. and they are really worth upgrading.

you can check for my other posts for some hints on race design. I'm mostly an explorer and like speed (through ship design, not race habilities) and big orion-like planet

Try reading through this.
Its very very long so may have what your looking for. I havent read all of it myself, but give it a go

http://db.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/galactic_civilizations_ii_dl.txt

http://db.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/galactic_civilizations_ii_dl.txt

I refer to this all the time. I have it printed out and frequently thumb through it while playing a game. Some of the data is old and there are a few actual errors in it but it's the most comphensive thing I've seen. Actually you need to follow the link below and then click on the FAQ's tab.

WWW Link

Here's a guide with lots of pictures that could be useful to you.

Dark Avatar Visual Guide