The Yor Collective's economy problems can cripple their superior production abilities. When choosing racial bonuses, pick the Economy + 30%, Morale + 15%, Population Growth + 25%, and the Federalist party (Economy + 20%). Build the recruitment center on all of your planets as you colonize them. Build at least one charging stalk and the research matrix on each planet. Focus your research efforts on the efficiency, population growth, and charging stalk technology branches. When you get the efficiency centers, build one on each planet. As the game progresses, research the diplomatic branch and the first trading technology. When you have a diplomatic advantage over some of the other races, trade for technologies that provide economic and morale bonuses. (You can right click on technologies in the diplomacy screen to see a technology description). Also trade for the superior government types,(Republic, Democracy, Federation) if possible. With this solid economic foundation, the Yor can produce excessive numbers of ships to overwhelm their opponents.
The Iconians suffer from economic troubles caused by their high improvement maintenance costs. Choose the Economy + 30%, Morale + 20%, and Federalist Party bonuses. Build the recruitment center on all of your planets as you colonize them. Build the Precursor Archive and Library improvements on nearly every planet. Build the unique Iconian morale +25% buildings and greatly raise taxes. Research the Iconian economic branch as quickly as possible. The first building provides a 10% bonus, the second a 14%, and the third a 50% bonus (restricted to one per planet). Build the + 50% one on every planet. Economy-focused worlds are especially important to the Iconians . One of the many ways to save money in GalCiv II is to not be building a ship on every planet. You are not charged for the military production you do not use. This practice is very inefficient for the Iconians because their advanced production buildings' maintenance costs are so high. Once you have economic building technologies, convert production planets into economy planets if you do not have enough money to build a ship on every world that has a starport. (It is important to do this BEFORE you approach bankruptcy.) To increase production, quickly research and build the Interstellar Refinery on every planet. To keep other races from attacking you, research the Organic Materials, Basic Miniaturization, and Scatter blaster technologies. Scatter blasters are large and weak but very cheap. With the miniaturization bonuses, 2 guns can be placed on a small hull. When you have a diplomatic advantage over another race, trade for their manufacturing technologies. Also purchase the economic, morale, and government technologies if possible. Research the self-healing ship technology before fighting a war. With these techniques, the Iconians can overcome their limitations and fully utilize their HP and Repair advantages.
(These general strategies were formulated and tested on a Large/Abundant galaxy with 5 opponents on the painful difficulty setting.)
