New GalCivII addict with a question re: Economics in GCII...

from GalCiv2 Forums

I have purchased GCII Gold edition and I love it! I am an old timer PC gamer that was once addicted to Master of Orion and Homeworld (amoung other games on the PC) and this has rekindled my love of turn based Space Strategy games...

My question is that when I am in Planet/Colony management and there are the three items at the top (Military, Social and Economic) and I understand how they function but I am confused as to why there is also that other screen where there are sliders where you can balance your allocations to those same three things for your whole race? In the Economic control screen.

What is best practice when utilizing those changes made at a planetary level and at a global level? What effect is the global sliders on the planets when I aslo micromanage the colonies from the colony tab and play with thier allocations to increase thier output based on what is happening right now. Like a factory heavy planet pumping out ships... I push military up.. Fledgling colonies I push social up to grow that planet fast and the rest I push Economic up to increase cash flow if they are not doing ships. But then why is there a screen where you play with the same balances for your entire race?

Can anyone clarify?

Thanks.

C.

4,841 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hiya M8 Let thisx newb take a stab at it

The 2 screens(the colony screen and the finaces screen) are ino for different playstyles, as well as for beginning and complex strategy development.

With the colony screen, you can adapt the planets for what you want them to do(like u said with ur factory planets, and with your newly aquired planets) the finaces screen is when you have a lot of planets. that way you don't have to spend a lot of time going to each and every planet to micromanage.

Personally, i never use the colony screen, the finances screen is plenty adaquate for me. if i only have one thing going on(no new planet faculities, and no ships that need built) i put my research slider at 100% then adjust(if i need to) the overall production modifier, till i have either a 0 balance to slightly negative balance(like losing -8bc a week) If i need like 10 or 12 economy bases for my newly aquired freightor routes(which imo is a must) then i set the research slider and the military slider at 50% each, then adjust over all production(that slider at the very top) to once again to get either a 0 or slight negative scale. If the game wants to cheat(lol, i said cheat) and give every other freakin Civ that precurser planet system growth where before they had a 20, 17, and 3 "0" planets, but now they have a 20, a 17, and now 3 "14" planets. I switch to 100% military, and hope that my economics holds out till i can make those 14's back to 0's.(or i just die, cause all the civs declare war on me, and totally anialhite me)
btw i only saw that once, and it was all in a row. I lasted roughly bout 30 turns.

hope that helps.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I don't use the ability to emphasise production area much except in the very beginning of a game when I only have a few planets. I mainly rely on the sliders. Think of the silders as a global control and emphasis from the colony manager screen as a local control. I believe the approach is sort of a compromise between micromanagement and the ability to have some control over things on a planetary basis. Hypothetically, you could have sliders for each planet, but then management would become impossible for large numbers of planets in bigger games. The sliders offer a way to control spending empire wide without the need to address each planet individually. Emphasis offers some ability to control things planet by planet without creating something you *have* to do for every planet.
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Thanks for the feeback!

So it sounds like I can play using both or lean one way or the other. As I recall in MOO we generally did this planet by planet. Planning a planet was a strategy within itself as you knew that some would be military and others technological in nature.

So to simulate that I could leave the Economy screen to all balanced and then micromanage planets to my hearts content? Does that make sense?

The other way is to build balanced planets and use the sliders globally? Would that be considered more of an Easy mode?

Or is my thinking flawed here.

C.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I think most people use both as the need arises. However, the emphasis settting may have no effect under some extreme slider setttings. For example, if you put the sliders on 100% research, there's no need to have research emphasised on any planets. Conversely, even with military spending at 100%, emphasising social production can divert some spending on a particular planet.

It's really going to boil down to how many planets you're managing. In a big game, where you can be managing hundreds of planets, you'll have little need or desire to use planetary emphasis. When you only have a few planets, every bc counts and you'll probably find you need to use it a fair amount.

BTW, the best place to manage planetary emphasis is not through the colony manager screen. For bigger numbers of planets, you'll find the colony list from the civilization manager most convenient.

Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Also local focus on a planet can be handy eg if you want to build a ship more quickly on a planet that normally focusses on research, but you don't want to buy the ship. Change focus for that planet to production until the ship is built, then change focus back again - leaving settings for other planets and the sliders unchanged.

So as well as being useful in smaller galaxies, it is useful for specifc tactical requirements as they arise.

Cheers