Jagged Knife megaevent

from GalCiv2 Forums

        I seem to get this event fairly often.  They usually tend to take my cluster of stars that I have enhanced with star bases (which are suddenly worthless), and had been providing a large percentage of my production/research.  They are usually not aggressive, but did attack me in my current game (which is now in the mop up stage) after everyone else did.   It all started with the Altarians "Remember the Akilians", and soon I was labeled the aggressor.  (playing as neutral Thalan)  They Jagged Knife did prove to be my most dangerous opponent.  They would build some fast ships (speed 16) to take out unescorted constructors or transports.  They also made some Battleships that would 1 shot a developed Thalan starbase.  (everyone had nightmare torpedos fairly early)  I invaded them with expert logistics and lots of escorted/guarded transports (as many as 30,000 troops).  You only lose 1 transport doing it this way, so you can blitzkrieg several planets in a short time with this strategy.

         Anyway, I digress.  How does everyone deal with this event?    Also, do I get it more often because of my tendency to spam clusters of planets with clusters of economic starbases?  (Events are set to frequent as well.)

 

 

10,060 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

"Save and Save Often" is my strategy for the JK. Just revert to the previous save! The event usually accompanies a "Peaceful" Galaxy, or lack of wars. If you are the top expander (most planets) in the game, you will stand the most to lose as the event will take at least one-third of your planets. If it happens early in the game it's worth playing it out. Late game can be very hard to recover from as secured resources may now be vunerable.

I always start filling troop pods (my design) as soon as I can and have a few in orbit around as many planets as possible. It will make taking back the planets easier and if not need for the JK, you can use them in a invasion.

Troop Pods - Nothing but troops, no engines or any other systems or weapons. They will get your default speed and modifiers for speed so in the later game they can be useful but slow.

Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

      I only load saved games in the event of a game crash, so that doesn't help much.  If it happens late game, you can (if you want) simply work around the event and secure your victory.  If you were playing the Korath, this event would be very easy.  Each planet gets a free Spore ship, possibly simultaneously throughout the galaxy.  Even if you couldn't hold them all, you would win with all the free tech.  (if tech stealing is on)

       I think next time this event occurs, I will build up a transports for a huge surprise attack.  (the kind the AI hates)

 

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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I kinda like the Jagged Knife event as along with the other Megaevents it adds a new dimension into the game and means that the game can go any which way but straight. With the new beta (1.99) i have the event slider set to frequent to really throw the game to the wolves :D

Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

What difficulty are you playing on Bently 241 when the jagged knife usually appear? Because usually when I play on normal, they are not aggresive at all. It doesn't matter what alignment I am playing as, the Jagged knife will ALWAYS show up when there are no wars occuring. They also tend to be whatever alignment I am playing as in the game. Since I am usually pissed off when they seize some of my worlds, I just invade EVERY LAST PLANETof the Jagged Knife. XO

 

Bdw, does anybody know if the Jagged Knife reappear in the game or do they just show up once?

Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

The Jagged Knife are a PITA but I eventually have a good experience from their appearance.  I tend to grow slower than the AI in most games, so they don't hit me as hard as some other empires.  As mentioned previously, the JK are a doormat to invasion.

IIRC the JK get all the current tech of all players when they appear.  This can be a nice extra, and maybe even more so in TA. This means if you are a little behind in tech, or if the AI has discovered enough unique techs, it is a real opportunity to not only pick up some extra worlds, but to also pick up some free techs.  So I rarely just take back my own worlds.  I snap up as many as possible, because if I am ahead in the tech race, it gives the AI a chance to pick up some of my tech.

So as a whole I welcome the JK and the extra tech I will soon acquire.  Ourobourous, AFAIK, one appearance per game.  I have never had the Jagged, Jagged Knife!

Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

     I was playing Thalan on masochistic level.  They did not declare war until everyone else did as well.

     They did suffer from low morale - probably from a tanking economy.  Actually, all of the AI had a tanking economy because I had all of the resource bases.

      Since they are a minor race, they cannot be flipped.

       In the future, I will just load up on transports and attack.

 

Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I just finished off the Jagged Knife yesterday.   I think that's great advice about loading up transports and orbiting them--not a bad idea to be doing when your worlds hit the farm ceiling anyway (although technically, they need to be launched).

What was horrid about the event for me was that, in peacetime I like to start building the most expensive ships I can, but not finish them (i.e. just leave them a couple shields shy of completion).  That way if there's a war I can always research a few more weapons/defense techs and spit them out.   Incomplete ships don't charge maintenance.   ...Well, the Jagged Knife screwed that all up.   They used that against me and put out the latest & greatest ships the next turn.   :(

 

Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I base the amount of transports (troop pods) in orbit from the population of the planet. Like I mentioned before, the transport in orbit formula works great against the JK, IF you actually need to go after them. It will take the JK a few turns to start pumping out derfensive ships so on the turn they show up, I take my worlds back...