I'm Sure This is a Newbie Question

from GalCiv2 Forums
Relatively new to the game and it is starting to grow on me the more I understand about it.
Won my first game on "normal" difficulty with ease using the influence method and never really had a long drawn out war or battle sequence.

In my next game on "Tough" was lagging behind early and then fought my way up to the top/near the top in all categories (except military, oops) when I guess for some reason or another some lackey in my gov't thought it would be funny to assisinate the leader with the top army and of course WAR is ensuing (incidentally I'm holding my own due to a manufacturing advantage coupled with a small tech advantage).

My question is about gameplay and it is this:

I'm having trouble keeping track of the enemy ships and how they are moving between turns (playing gigantic galaxy). As an addicted player to Civ4 I always liked the "Show enemy moves" function, but I haven't seen that in GalCiv2 (DA). Right now the way I deal with it is clicking the "ships" on and off in the minimap menu. Unfortunately I'm color blind and as it happens my ship color and their ship color look identical to me, so I'm having to basically check each "blip" every turn.

Like I said, I'm new to the game and I'm sure there is some easy solution I've just overlooked.

Thanks
9,602 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
If your enemy is with in your sensor range(ie ship, planet, or starbase) you will see their moves. the best way to keep track of your enemy is the "Eyes of the Universe", buildable after you've researched sensors IV, with the "Eyes" you don't have to waste space on your ship with sensors all starbases and ships get maxed out sensors.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
That's about it, actually, although it doesn't help the color blind thing. A lot of this game's strategy is taking advantage of the fog of war.
Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hmmm....perhaps I mis-stated.

I totally understand the "fog-of-war" issue. Of course I can't see ships in "my area" if I don't have sensors on them.

My question is more along these lines:
I have a big border with the Iconians (sp?) and their ships could enter along many points but along the way I have ships with decent sensors to reduce my fog-o-war. When I hit "end turn" and one of their ships moves into my VISIBLE territory the game doesn't TRACK that ship (perhaps there is a function in the game setup I'm missing?).

I suppose my solution would be to hit F1 and sort the ships by "owner" (or whatever the equivalent is) and then just toggle through the enemy ships within range each turn.

This of course wouldn't work in the situation where a ship pops into my VISIBLE territory and then makes a U-turn or "hard-right" right back into the "fog-o-war"...which I would have noticed if it was TRACKING between turns.

Is that more clear?
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hi, I believe I understand what you are after, something like a function that would pop up at the start of your turn and show any new AI ships that are now visable? That's a crude interpretation but i think that's what you mean. Unfortunately i know of no such function that would allow you to do that.

The only thing i could think of that would work is, when using Eyes of the Universe (buildable after researching Sensors IV) it shows each ship individually that is. So what might help you is to know where and what you ships are doing in the border zone you mentioned, then as you click turn and the AI does it's thing, watch the mini map. You will see the AI ships pop up on your mini map and be able to follow their movements. Of course you will have to manually track them to their exact position, but it will give you an indication of any "intruders". Having the mini map zoomed in on the ares of question may give you a detailed look on their movements.

Hope this helps










Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I also find scrolling the map out until it turns 2D to be a big help. It's much easier to spot ships in this view than in the normal view...It doesn't help much with them looking the same color as your ships though. The one thing I would suggest there is that you can change your color scheme when you first set up the game, so try to pick something that makes your empire look as unique as possible next time around...
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
There is a toggle-box in Options / Interface entitled "Follow Auto Pilot Ships". I believe that when this is turned on, the Interface will track ALL computer directed ships within your visible envelope, yours and the other civs. However, it jumps between tracked ships very quickly, and it may not be much use for situational awareness. Being zoomed out to near max when triggering the turn, with this option ON may help.

drrider