Be the bad guy?(Or: Dread Lords...in Dread Lords.)

from GalCiv2 Forums

I wonder whether a mod/scenario/campaign utilising the Dread Lords as a player/A.I controllable Major Race(Rather than their current 'pseudo-minor' status) has been created already?(It's certainly been long enough.)

I've searched this forum('Dread Lords Mods') but nothing.(Maybe one existed and it disappeared?)

How difficult would it be to create such a thing-in The Dread Lords?(No access to Dark Avatar.)

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Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
This is about all there is in that vein, AFAIK: https://www.galciv.wikia.com/wiki/Dread_Lord_Strategy

IIRC, one or two people have made a custom race designed to be the Dread Lords, and while I think they've done a good job on them, there's just nothing like having the DLs pop up in your current game...so long as they're far enough away from you that they get a chance to build up first.

You might want to take a look at this: http://library.galciv2.com/index.aspx?m=273

Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
there's just nothing like having the DLs pop up in your current game...so long as they're far enough away from you that they get a chance to build up first.

Not an option: They only show in 'Dread Lords on Parade' in The Dread Lords and their difficulty is set oddly: the article you mention mentions that the Terrans are set to 'Fool'. I presume the code switches control between you and the A.I....so the Dread Lords are seemingly set to 'Fool' in the scenario, regardless of everything else.
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I was referring to Mega Events in DA.

I would assume the reason the Terrans are set to Fool is because, starting out as a player-controlled race, they have no actual intelligence level.

I'm fairly certain the DLs aren't set to fool unless you play the scenario on cakewalk.
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
they get a planet with 50M population, it takes them _forever_ to build even their first ship, or building, because they have no population and no tax base to invest in building anything. however, if you invade them they are nasties in combat - those 50 troops fight better than several thousand from a normal AI race. from what I have seen when they pop up in the campaign scenarios they have ships etc and are quite powerful, but when they pop up as a mega-event they just have the one small-pop world with no ships and are kind of wimpy like a minor power that can not even spam constructors (until you invade them, but heck even then 2000-3000 troops might be good enough).
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
They have, if memory serves, an 800 default soldiering. You're not invading, PERIOD, until you pick up tech for adv troop modules, minimum, even if you don't need the adv modules themselves. You'll get SQUASHED.

(Which makes it funny when they show up a month into the game, but that's another story altogether.)

Again, if you give them time, or if this happens to be on a gigantic map where you don't control everything yet and they're in a distant system, they can actually become a challenge.

I do agree that when they show up due to Mega Events they're weaklings, though. But then again, I think we all do.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Then again, with the Dread Lords, one ship is enough to break the Galaxy-it's like Space Monsters all over again, only the monsters couldn't SPREAD.(Oddly enough, the ships DO look somewhat like the old Space Monsters....)

If they started with even a single ship(Or worse, Ship+Transport), would we still be saying they were weak?
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Im pretty sure an update to DA gave them some starting ships when they first show up to make them more competative.
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
nope, no starting ships as a mega event, only in campaigns (up to the current version of DA) and with a 50M planet I don't know for sure if they can _ever_ manage to build a ship even they get to sit forever. i tried letting them sit for maybe a decade and still not one single DL ship. and yes, even one dread lords ship (until late in the game, late game tech I would guess can handle them no problem) is a killer - although since I have not tried the campaigns I can only go on what others have posted. if they gave the DL a ship for the mega event it would be viewed like the jagged knife or the peacekeepers - it would be a huge game effect and some might like it or some might not. but to me if you play with MEs you are saying to the game you are open to these possibilities so I think it might be a good way to make DL meaningful in sandbox mode. adding a transport would only let them take one planet - I think the DL threat is based on whatever ships they start the game with in the campaigns and, even there, not on their empire building potential.
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Well, giving them a starting ship would resolve the "mega event" where the DLs appear and surrender to you a turn later, based on how low their military is compared to yours. I'm not sure one ship would be enough, though. Three battleships and three transports sounds like a good mix, but might be too much of a challenge.

Though, if the surrendering algorithm, and in particular how the AI views military, could get an overhaul, that would benefit a lot more things while fixing that as well.