Noob Haylp - Not Sure What I'm Doing

Modules & Upgrades

Hi, first post, long time Civilization IV player who thought Civilization 5 was pants and decided to give GalCiv a go.

I'm literally on my third game (first two were just experimental to get used to things), just on beginner as I'm getting used to concepts.

There are a couple of things that I'm unsure of. I keep researching techs that say they give me space station modules (for defence, mining, attack, that sort of thing) but I can't figure out for the life of me how you actually make one. The info screen for the space stations don't seem to have an upgrade option for adding modules so I'm a bit stumped on that one.

Second and similar, how do I upgrade existing ships (such as the flagship) now that I have some weapon and defence tech?

Let's say I'm not interested in building my own ships yet and want to use/upgrade core ones. The builder looks a little bewildering to a beginner such as myself.

Any help much appreciated...now back to that game where I appear to be stomping everyone culturally, but will get pounded if I can't figure out a defence force of some sort.

Locked Post

Advanced Search

Watch this post

Do not email me updates for this post Email me updates for this post

Successfully updated karma reason!

Forum's not that busy then huh? I'm a regular over at CivFanatics so you usually get a reply within about 30 seconds...it's bred impatience in me!

Update though. I figured out that Constructors add modules to starbases so that's OK, but upgrading ships in general is still looking a little fiddly and I'm a little bit frightened of the shipyard. I had a go and created a ship, but didn't have enough room for both an engine and a laser, only one or the other, so despite being close to an ascension victory, I can't build any offensive ships.

It seems that it can take a looooong time for an actual war to take place. Is this normal? It seems the game is geared to letting people build up a bit of an empire before having someone attack (stopping the kind of rush tactics you'd get in Civilization in the early game). Is this a fair assesment? I'm not worried if that's the case as I'm more of a builder anyway.

Ramble over.

Successfully updated karma reason!

Upgrading ships: Before you can upgrade, you need to have a newer (or at least different) ship design of the same size, either made by the AI ("core") or by you. Click on the ship, and you should have a few options such as guard, sentry, and upgrade. Choose upgrade, and you'll get a screen for upgrading options. Squint, and there's even an option for "upgrade all" underneath the ship's picture. This can get gd expensive. Also, you'll see that the AI designs usually don't have engines and often don't use your best weapons/defense, and never have life support for range, so generally speaking, you're better off designing your own ships.

The AI won't give you an upgrade for the Flagship, but you can make your own by finding the flagship template and building a new one based on that design.

The delay in wars starting is most likely because you're playing on a lower level. Trust me, once you get going in higher levels, this will not be a problem!

Hope this helps!

Successfully updated karma reason!

Note that you can only upgrade ships to another design which is based on the same hull (cargo, tiny, small, medium, large, huge.)

As you research further you'll find techs which allow for smaller and stronger components, making it possible to fit more stuff into a given hull size. You'll also discover miniaturization techs which allow a given hull to hold more stuff.

Note that you don't absolutely need to put one or more engines into a hull. You have a base speed (varies by race and techs learned) which applies to every ship. Adding one or more engines increases a ship's speed.

Compared with Civ the game does have a long buildup before wars begin. The AIs focus on colonizing until all habitable planets (which are in range for them) are occupied. At the start of the game you don't have any weapon techs and some are required for war. And the planet invasion tech (without which war is not very useful, though there are advanced tricks which may change that statement, they don't matter while you're still getting your head around the game) is a fair way down the research path. It all adds up to a game where it takes a lot of focus on your part to make early fighting happen (the AIs won't do it) and it still won't be "early" by Civ standards.

Successfully updated karma reason!

Thanks all, this helps a lot.

Successfully updated karma reason!

On a slightly different note. Your civ will expand in size and economy more if you build extra colony ships and simply ferry people from heavy populated worlds to fledgling worlds. Send 500 out, bring 1 back, send 500 out again. Its a bit of effort keeping track of 6+ colony ferrys, but its definately worth it, in EVERY way. Get you colonies over a billion population as quickly as you can. The benefits are endless...

Successfully updated karma reason!