Rigit

Join Date 01/2007

Just another newbie question

My wife just bought me this game for Christmas. I've never played the original so I'm really new. Is there a really thorough how to play for dummies somewhere? I'm in the game but either I keep going broke or my stuff gets taken and I can't figure out how to build a warship much less use it. I've researched up to mass drivers and have shields but can't do anything with them. I can't equip my ships or nothing. Somewhere there is a war screen but I haven't found that either. I'm not sure what I'm doing to make credits is good either. The game I'm in now I'm ok but only because I extorted cash from a planet that was mine but a rebellion took over. What I really want to do is take it back. Any help would be appreciated.

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Mystikmind

Join Date 06/2004

+20

If you have played games like Alpha Centauri or any of the civilisation games, and other similar turn based games, then you can play this game easily.
Just think of planets as being cities and the rest is easy!

Money is a serious problem however, especially early on in the game, It is pretty much set up at the start to self destruct you, this is normal.

You must learn to handle your finances, there is not an easy enough level in the game to help somone who dousnt understand finances - it will spiral down your economy to the point of total stagnation every time.

I like to research all the trade technologies first up then trade them for other technology the AI players have. build freighters ASAP and get your trade routes opperating.

Don't try to build anything on planets you colonise at the start of the game, leave them till your finances turn 'green'.

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This website has a good beginner's guide. That should lead you though the basic steps of playing the game well. The manual is ok for answers to specific questions.

There are two main ways to make money, tax and trade. Taxes come from a combination of population, tax rate, and market buildings. The trick is that high taxes cause low morale, and population grows slowly or stops when morale is low. Trade comes from researching the tech "Trade", then building freighters and sending them to alien worlds.

You need to design your ships using the shipyard. Design a ship with the guns and shields you researched, and then your planets will be able to build it. The game provides some predesigned "Core" ships, but they're never really useful.

And in order to conquer a planet, you need to research the Planetary Invasion tech, and then design and build ships that have troop modules.

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The best way is to play on easy mode. When the game is set up, you probably don't want your computer competitors blocking you from the rest of the universe. Look at the mini map with the first icon in second row on. It will show where people are. If you don't have enough breathing space, hit Control-N and the computer will generate another universe and change the starting point. If you don't want to ally and want a military victory, don't exchange techs. Look for anomalies with money. You need a ship with a survey module. One of your first ships already has one (the flagship).

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Yea I've got it on cakewalk right now. Just to learn. I've actually got the money thing handled for now too. Lots of factories, as many trade routes as allowable right now, and a booming population for tax revenue. I can actually turn that down for 85% or more approval. I'm not sure what everybody means by "turn based" I know that I have to hit turn button to keep going after I've done all I need/can do. Guess that means it's the computers turn. Seems like half the time something bad happens.

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Mystikmind

Join Date 06/2004

+20

I'm not sure what everybody means by "turn based" I know that I have to hit turn button to keep going after I've done all I need/can do. Guess that means it's the computers turn. Seems like half the time something bad happens.

'Turn based' dousn't really mean anything. It is a term given to this game simply to set it apart from 'real time' games. Real time games being games where all players are active at the same time. It is like comparing chess with tennis... in chess one player moves at a time, in tennis, both players move at the same time. Chess being a 'turn based' game, and tennis being a 'real time' game.

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OK so all of the sudden my population went to 0. No wars or planet destruction just 0 people. Of course when that happened all of the 10,000 credits I'd worked for were gone I had no money was in debt and no way to get out. I can't research build or nothing. My approval rate was always at least 50%. Then again I don't know if approval would cause people to disappear. Learning this game is maddening.

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Mystikmind

Join Date 06/2004

+20

OK so all of the sudden my population went to 0.

What the...? You must have put the taxation slider bar too high? Taxation should never exceed 50% - between 30 and 40 percent is best.

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The population will not have actually disappeared.
They are just so pissed with high taxation, that they have stopped paying.
The Population figure just shows the number of tax payers.

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Taxation should never exceed 50% - between 30 and 40 percent is best.

The lowest I keep my tax rate is 50%, I don't use trade routes and I disable tech victory and tech trading... Of course I do not play above painful as of yet so this may be why.

This depends on how you play, there are 1,000,001 different strategies you can use to win. Your task, if you choose to accept it, is to figure one out for yourself.

Anyway, the one thing that I have yet to see is what version you are playing and anyone telling you that you need to down load version 1.4X. This is important, there are many bug fixes and changes to the game versus the boxed version. Two completely different games. So, if you have not updated to 1.4X, you should do so as soon as possible.

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Mystikmind

Join Date 06/2004

+20

So, if you have not updated to 1.4X, you should do so as soon as possible.

1.3 isn't that bad! It does have a much higher 'fleet' advantage than 1.4 if you can get the 'first strike' attack high enough, you won't loose any ships or take any damage in 1.3. This is admitedly a bit 'cheesy' but how they fixed it in 1.4 has other 'cheesy' consequences.

Let me explain... in 1.4 when high end weapons are around, you can have a fleet of 10 super dreadnaughts at 100% strength, attack a lone 90% damaged frigate, and unless you had specialised your defence, you are guarranteed to loose one of your dreadnaughts every time. If you took just one of those dreadnaughts by itself and attacked the frigate, you would win with no casualty.... this is serious CHEEEESE.

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kryo

Join Date 05/2003

+458

'First strike' in battle was removed in 1.2. The combat system in 1.3 is the same as it is in 1.4.

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'First strike' in battle was removed in 1.2. The combat system in 1.3 is the same as it is in 1.4.

I might be wrong here, I am not exactly sure so maybe I should just keep my trap shut but...

Since his wife bought him the game for Christmas, I do not believe he even has the option of downloading 1.3.

Again, I may very well be wrong on this. I know I cannot find the option myself.

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Mystikmind

Join Date 06/2004

+20

'First strike' in battle was removed in 1.2. The combat system in 1.3 is the same as it is in 1.4.

not that i remember anything that tells me Kryo is right, but i would trust his words are correct.

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Yes I do have the option to update to 1.4 and I did. I guess I'm having a difficult time figuring out the economics of the game. Trying to keep taxes low enough while still having a positive cash flow has eluded me. I turned off taxes for a while in the game that my population went to 0. Didn't make a difference. Now I have money but my planets won't build any ships. They just say time to completion is never. I know strategy is a learned thing. It's just that it's difficult to stay in a game when a critical part that's necessary from the start just isn't there.

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Just hang in there Rigit, I'm convinced that anyone who likes this sort of game can learn how to play it. For my first few games I had absolutely no clue what I was doing, missing most of the information on the tabs because it was just to much.
Just to get going, I focused on the obvious things, getting some taxes, doing some research, building some buildings. From there on trying to get another planet etc.
I remember from the first couple of games I only scouted my immediate environment, leaving the rest of the galaxy in the 'grey cloud', just ignoring the AI's. Sooner or later they came for me of course.. Oh, I remember the thrill of taking somebody elses planet for the first time!

There is so much to learn in this game, even months later I had situations were I 'discovered' information on some aspect could be found in some particular tab.

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I guess I'm having a difficult time figuring out the economics of the game. Trying to keep taxes low enough while still having a positive cash flow has eluded me. I turned off taxes for a while in the game that my population went to 0. Didn't make a difference. Now I have money but my planets won't build any ships.

all of your colonies will start out with a negative cash flow, don't worry about it too much until you run out of cash.

there's two approaches to balancing taxes and morale:
1) keep taxes low enough that most colonies hit that magic 100% approval for double population growth
2) keep taxes high enough that all colonies hover just above 45%, maxing out your income generated.

also, check out the strategies board there are a couple threads in there full of advice for newbies.

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If your time to production on a ship is never you probably need to revisit the economics tab. Make sure you have some percent of resources allocated to military production...While learning to play, it might actually be smart to make sure that none of the sliders in the economic tab are set to zero.

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Mystikmind

Join Date 06/2004

+20

In most other games, you actually have to do stupid things in order to go broke.

However, the key difference in Galciv is that finances are pretty much set up to self destruct your empire from day one. Of course, actually doing stupid things can make things exceedingly worse very quickly.

To survive in Galciv, you have to learn to do the right things financially or you are destined to fail every time.

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