Tridus

Join Date 03/2008

+110

Newbie questions before purchase

Hi. Thinking about picking up this game, and I've got a couple of questions.

If I get the ultimate bundle, can I still play the campaigns from the first two games after installing Twilight of the Arnor? If so, how do I do that (is there another start menu shortcut to run the old game?)?

Another person on this forum mentioned a tutorial. How indepth is that? Can a newbie play it and then have some idea of whats going on when they start a game? (One of the biggest problems I had with Sins of a Solar Empire was that the tutorial glossed over some stuff that was pretty important.)

Since there doesn't seem to be boxed copies floating around in stores here, does the digital download version come with an instruction manual?

Thanks.

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The other two campaigns can be played via the original GalCiv and Dark Avatar. There are seperate icons/executables for those two games.

There is no tutorial for GalCiv2 or the expansions.

You will get a pdf of the manual with your purchase.

-HM

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1. You can always go back and play earlier chapter/campaigns of the game. When the initial game window pops up you will see a button to click on to switch it.

2. About a tutorial, I've been playing so long that I dont remember, but the GalCiv2 Wiki is very helpful for any questions you may have.

3. It comes with a manual in PDF form.

Welcome!

Sentient species taste better...

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There is a tutorial. I don't remember it very well because it's been a long time and I don't have it installed. I vaguely remember video and voice dialogue.

But GC2 can be a fairly complex game. It'll be tough for a tutorial to cover everything. Reading through the manual at some point will likely be necessary, unless you like experimenting and figuring everything out yourself.

But definitely, definitely don't let this stop you from buying the game. It's not that difficult to learn and since it's turn based, you can play at your own pace. There is a very broad range of difficulty levels, so you can start easy while you learn the basics.

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Cool, thanks.

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It's not really a tutorial. There are a handful of movies you can watch which show the basics of the game. It's not interactive.

-HM

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My personal suggestion is try playing a sandbox game with a small universe and only a couple of opponents. Try being nice to everyone and play around with all of the tech trees. If the AI is on beginner, the opponents shouldn't beat you up too much. And it will give you a baseline for what works, and what doesn't. Rince/lather/repeat to your fun level.

Additionally, there are a lot of guides on this site and Wiki. Also, come on back any time and post your questions. most folks on this site are more than happy to answer questions. Don't be shy or think the question is too simple. It is a complex game and pretty much everyone here is happy to help out.

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Chances are high that you'll scratch your head quite a bit at first - I remember being absolutely baffled as to why the 'turn' button is sometimes green and sometimes not (I still don't know, but it doesn't matter ).

Don't worry about this - it is just a sign that the game is not a straightforward hack and slash. It DOES take some effort to master - and this is what makes it so enjoyable, so replayable, so... addictive.

A bit like music. You hear a record, you like it straight away... you tire of it quickly. But you hear a record, you aren't sure but you think it may have something, you play it several times, it starts to grow on you... these are the records that you will still enjoy for years to come.

So it is with GalCiv!

The manual, the online document that descibes the first few turns, the wiki, and above all this forum, will provide you with all the help you need... but the main thing is just experiment - play with it - and

have fun

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I wound up making the purchase a few days ago and spent quite a bit of that with no idea what was going on. Its starting to come together now though. Thanks folks.

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Newbyl, the Turn button turns green if you have no ships left to move. If it's not green, that means you can cycle through all the ships that have movement left via the Find button.

-HM

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Zydor

Join Date 03/2006

+38

There are as many opening styles and gambiys when you start learning as there are after more experiance. My only comment at your very early stage is dont get put off if you went in "feet first" on suicidal (some do - crazy people

) and got blown away like a piece of loose flotsum amidst the ravaging demons from hell descending on you .....

Use the lower levels as a learning experience - they give you time to react and think about the basics and Strategy, as the AI gets crippled on the lower levels - On Cakewalk for example, the AI just about manages to say "ga-ga" and dribbles profusely, cant do much else!

A few do go in at Suicidal and are fine, the remainder of us mere mortals stepped up slowly through the difficulty levels, learning as we went along. The problem going in at too high a level to start with, is you spend your time trying to stop being overrun by rampant civilisations, and not enough time learning what you should be doing to stop them descending on you in the first place.

Takes a few weeks/months to really get Good at it, persevere, its great fun.

Regards
Zy

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Hey, I'm also a complete newbie, and I didn't want to create another thread so I'll just, er, hijack this one. I have also just bought the Ultimate edition.

Now, from what I could see, one of the biggest selling points of the new expansion was the improved graphics and performance. Does that apply to the expansion only, or is that a full update to the previous installments? I do find it a bit odd that if I load the Dark Avatar engine I get an option (in the Campaign menu) to play the original one, but that doesn't happen if I load Twilight (that is, the only campaign available there is the Twilight one). Is this how it's supposed to be, or have I screwed something up during the installation?

Thanks!

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What you've stated is accurate. Currently you cannot play the old campaigns via Twilight. And the graphics have not been updated for the earlier games.

-HM

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Hm, that's a bummer. You said "currently", are there plans to update the previous games?

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I'm not aware of any, but you never know, thus my disclaimer type wording.

And I believe someone around here figured out a workaround to at least get the other campaigns running within Twilight. If you poke around the forums a bit, you'll find the thread.

-HM

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