GalCiv2 Forums
Usually in my games i go for Missiles all the way, as the first Massdrivers are usually the worst weapons when it comes to damage per space and still they are the longest too research. Lasers are actually the best early weapons but the AI will usually get these and Beamdefenses first, so there is no real point getting them.
I choose my weapons-type by determining what the AI is using and picking the type that is not being used or is being used by the least number of the AI. Often, I find that all or the majority of the AI will pick the same weapon-type so that makes my choice rather easy. The reason I do this is that the AI will also tend to develop defenses against the most common weapon type so my choice will result in the least developed defenses. There are exceptions of course and this approach does not work 100% of the time, but I find it to be a good general approach. One result of this is that I rarely use beamweapons because it seems the AI tends to gravitate towards that weapon type.
I'm not sure whats "unbalanced" really. The three types each have their advantages at different points in the game. Missles are, however better in almost all cases. Not to say its unbalancing, just different, especially if the AI goes for missles. I used to see the AI always goping the missle route and on very high difficulties you can't count on them all using the same.
If you are evil, the special evil beam weapon is quite superior until you get near the end of the weapons trees. The are also a different number of techs to get to the end wich can be good or bad. More to get is bad, but you get more upgrades faster.
Also you may have to look at the corresponding defences. If missles are the best weapon, it may be (and i never checked) that missle defences are also powerful. Mass drivers may stink, but if armor techs are also hard to get etc. then the weapon type isnt so bad. I like when the AI goes for missles since it gives me the excuss to get Aeron Missle defence which has a trade good associated with it. BTW I like that the trade good has nothing to do with defences but gives a reserach bonus.
Maybe someone will do a study...
Hey wouldn't it be cool when you research to the end of all three weapons tress there would be one weapons that is part of all of them, like a super weapon. It would have to be late in the game before you had all ofthose techs.
They should get rid of the superpowerful weapons at the end of the tree, those do unbalance the game. Or they may have added them in since that is really end-game, and they figure it makes it easier to just smoke everyone left on the map.
I find a nice even combination of all weapons and defences is a good way to repel most enemies. Then later on design a specific vessel to counter your enemies weapons and defences.
Well, I think it makes sense to leave something that can break a stand-off plus it gives you some incentive to go down to the very end of that branch. Most long tech branches will give you something really worthwhile at the end (tech victory, spin control center, ...) so why not for weapons?
I've seen a rather detailed weapons comparison on this board before but it's impossible to find it back 
I think the gist was that 1 branch was cheaper in the sense of damage per cost, the other packs more punch for the same size. What I remember is that it made clear that each of the 3 types had its own merits.
That was in DL/DA.
With TA, things were changed around, weapon techs were left out or forgotten, and missiles now rule the roost. Psionic beam is the only other weapon of note, and that's the sad truth.
As I recall this is the TA forum, so i'm obviously talking about TA techtrees and it really makes no sense to get anything else than missiles other than having most of the AIs going for missile defenses which is nearly never happening...
I really hope they change the way the whole tech tree works, so that way you must research certain 'basic' techs before being able to get other very advanced techs (even if they are in a completely different category).
Because if you research only weapons the whole game, you will eventually have Black Hole Eruptors, now the thing is, you understand how black holes work so well, you can make a weapon out of them, but you still don't know how to make a farm.
They should add some prerequisite techs along certain paths which would in essence force the AI to research certain things. These certain things would be those that are an essential to good AI gameplay. This way, all AI's would stay somewhat up to speed on weapons and defense, and would never be so weak they just get steamrolled.
This would be how the 'generic tech tree' is... and every civ would have their own unique branches of techs coming available at certain points, after a certain tech is researched, as it is now.
I've been toying with the idea of doing some kind of mod around this idea, since you can specify more than one prerequisite for a tech (or a component, and I believe even for an improvement). Now, the tree doesn't really support showing both or all eight of them (for instance) in a "tree" fashion, so it would require some familiarization and memorization to play, but it would still probably make for a more enjoyable teching experience, and at the very least would be more realistic.
My memory's a bit fuzzy, but I believe it shows you what a tech's prerequisites are when you click on the tech. A component or improvement, on the other hand...requires more trial and error. Given TA's display of the techs with the bonuses they unlock, I'm not sure exactly how it would work out-I haven't tried this since DA 1.8.
I must say, that would be a mega-mod, and would require a ton of balancing... since all the tech trees are mostly somewhat different in ToA. The way the tree is, I don't think it would show 'lines' going from certain tech's to other tech's, but if it did show what the prerequisite techs are, and what techs it unlocks, it wouldn't be too bad.
The thing that would have to be done first is to determine what tech's for each civ are 'essential' to improve their gameplay. Along with what tech's certain AI's often don't research until it's too late. I remember Terrans not researching weapons, but I know Stardock fixed that issue, because they seem to research weapons fine now.
How would any hardcoded AIs cope with such an alternate (modded) weapons path (along with its non-linear, double edge sword of pre-requisite highways) in a reasonable strategic fashion, may i ask?
Even considering balance issues when we actually now have a whole bunch of 12 different trees can only mean two things; swift defeat or slow victory & vice-versa.
Add salt to the sugar and you'd be souring the cream pie.
I agree, Modding the tech tree to balance he weapons in your theory would take away from strategic value and take aay from stratage. there are reasons why lasers are cheaper and missiles are more expensive, why mass drivers take a long time to research. Did you notice missile probably cost the most to put on a hull, therefor your ships would be more expensive to build. same with the defence expensive. Mass driver is cheap to add to a hull, making the ship cheaper. laser is easy to research. They are balanced already just in a more "over all" way. If you mod the tech tree you'll also have to mod the defences tree, the weapons files and the defences files.
This isn't just limited to the price tag of the tech you know.
i really don't think cost is a significant factor to be honest, massdrivers are cheaper but the difference is quite unnoticable if you can only put one ore two weapons on the hull, why would i build a ship that will lose every fight but costs maybe 20bc less? why wouldn't i build a ship that wins every fight but costs 20bc more?
Well, it starts to count once you upgrade a number of large / huge hulls packed with mass drivers. There you could say you're upgrading more ships for the same price, resulting in an overall stronger fleet.
Except that the firepower per space is pathetic compared to missiles or even beams on large and huge.
Your logistics aren't necessarily higher, so your argument doesn't work.
As a general rule, mass drivers are superior on tiny/small, everything's about even on medium, but missiles win hands down on large and huge.
I guess cost depends on whether you want to pump ships out faster or not. it may not seem like much in the short term but think about it.
A ship with mass drivers might take 2 weeks to build,
A ship with missiles might take 3 weeks to build,
In the short term there isn't much difference and it's considered irrelivant. But in the long run under the same conditions 10 weeks in the future, you could produce 5 mass driver ships compared to only 3 missile ships with a 4th 1/3 of the way through construction. that's a hefty difference on the battle field.
I'm just pointing out the cost does make a difference, sometimes. (Sometimes)
Well the point I was thinking of was in the hopes that for GC3 they might implement the tech tree in a slightly different way to make sure the AI's actually research weapons and defenses. Or just implement a better AI researching code. Because now, in my suicidal game, the Thalans have not researched a single weapon or defense tech, and the game is 2.5 years in. I gave them laser 1 and some cheap armor piece just to help them out, but they still aren't researching anything higher, so I had the Drengin declare war on them, just to clean their non-sense off the map. (Most civ's at this point have phasors and the similar tech for mass drivers).
The Drath in that same game also have very very very low researched techs for weapons and defense.
This was why I was thinking they should make weapons and defense more of a priority (especially if a civ is falling behind), or make the tech tree require certain 'basic weapons' just to keep them from being defenseless.
well some races have their own weapon tech tree's (the iconian kenetic beam weapons as an example). maybe that can be expanded so all races have their own military path to follow. now that would require alot of strategic planning.
That sounds like the MoO2 techtree and i really loved that one, you could be researching engines and the next step would be a powerful weapon, or planetarys improvements followed by defenses etc...infact it made alot of sense, as both improvements belong to the same field of technology
This reluctance or inability to research weapons is a trend among several AI that I've noticed since 2.02 came out. I've seen it with the Thalans, Altarians, and the Drath. I don't recall this being a problem on previous versions. I really like the more expensive cost for weapons techs that is present in 2.02 because it makes the earlier weapons systems relevant (previously most just researched right past them to get to the more advanced techs which was possible because the research time was so short), but I've got to wonder if that increased cost is not what is causing the AI to often not research weapons.
Usually I decide for one type of weapon by looking at the techs the AI is using.
There isn't much sense in researching missiles if everyone else is using them, as they will develop missile defense pretty soon.
The other factor is kinda stupid, it's the aesthetics 
For some reasons, I don't like the looks of missiles, I prefer beam weapons or mass drivers, though I'm probably the only one to do it like that...
@Mac2411:
I get this a lot in 2.02
I suspect that it happens especially if they research planetary invasion techs soon, as it probably takes them so long that they don't have time to research the weapon tree as well.
Interestingly this AIs are doing quite well sometimes (not every time though) in my games.
Beam weapons, imo, are the coolest looking. Plus, depending on how many actual weapons are on a ship, it shows that many beams being fired. For mass drivers and for missle weapons, it may do the same thing, but it is not as noticable.
Beam weapon battles of various Terran Fleets:
2 Marshall Class destroyers and a Normandy Class defender bump heads with a Torian Fleet.
A Planetary invasion begins spearheaded by the Patton Class Battle Cruiser.
A lone Patton Class Battle Cruiser getting pounded by a very large fleet of enemy ships.
The Patton Class unleashing a deadly fury of beam power from it's forward undercarriage.
Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
