Some newb questions

I've been playing GalCiv2 off and on for years, and I just got back into it this week, playing TA. I'm loving it, but I have some questions.

1. Is there a way to tell what ships are orbiting an enemy planet? I'm besieging the evil Drengin home world, but I can't see what I'm up against (mostly because they die too fast, mwuah). I have the maximum intel, so I can look at the homeworld's screen, but I can't see what's orbiting there. (Come to think of it, can I see what ships are in orbit around a planet when I'm looking at my own colony detail screen?) The only workaround I've found is to conduct diplomacy and look at his ships that way.

2. Is there a way to tell how many troops are on an enemy planet? Again, even with top intel, I can't tell without just sending in a transport and hoping for the best.

3. Also, what does each number represent -- a million troops?

4. Can someone explain the shorthand for ships in the narrow screen (F1 or F2, I forget which) on the top-left? It looks like 0 / 0 / 5 S:1.0, or some such. Maybe moves, sector location? I can't make head or tail of it, and couldn't find it in the manual.

5. I've won the first two or three DL campaign missions, and they have been fun, but I'm starting to tire of them. Are they worth doing to the end, or is it more of the same? Also, is it OK to run them from the TA main menu?

Thanks!

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Hello!

1. If you click on an enemy planet, the info for this planet wil be displayed in the info panel on the lower end of the screen. That includes the ships orbiting this planet, just like it would when clicking on a planet of your own.

2. see 1. Population = troops

3. I think the number is meant to be billions. So a planet with a max pop of 8,000 will have 8000 million or 8 billion people living on it. This is for population at least. However I think the idea that the entire population will take part in the defense of a planet is a little strange/unrealistic. So I tend to think about it like that: for each unit of population on a planet/in a transport, a certain fraction of them will be soldiers. I think something like 1-10 million troops per 1 b. pop would be sensible. Thats my own explanation though, maybe the designers did indeed intend every last one of your citizens, down to the most pacifist cripple to fight for you.

4. No idea right now, sorry

5. I think the sandbox game is more fun, but I played throug it once and had some fun with it. The campaign may be interesting if you want some story. You can run the campaign from TA but I think you end up playing with TA rules, which may cause problems with some of the missions (it can be done though)

Hope that helps!

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Thanks for your replies! Very helpful.

Anyone else have thoughts about question 4, the mysterious shorthand in the fleet-overview sidebar?

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WIllythemailboy

Join Date 03/2006

+70

It's the weapons/defense breakdown. Beam weapons/missiles/mass drivers, then shields/point defense/armor.

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Ah, thanks. That explains most of it. But there is a letter -- looks like an "S" -- toward the end of the string of characters. I thought maybe that designated the unit's sector number, but I don't think so. Maybe I'm misreading a "5"? I'll look again...

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Yes, the game font can be deceptive. Look closely and you will see the difference between the 5 and 8. I had the same problem until I changed screen resolution.

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