Bingjack

I don't think unique racial techs related to a building should be tradeable...I think the racial buildings are too tied in to identity and balance. I think [I]some[/I] unique race techs should be tradeable, just to keep diplomacy interesting. However, "shopping for bonuses" is not neccesarily a problem with the unique techs only. "Planetary Improvements" isnt all that unique (except to the drengin), but it's easily aquired by them, and another fat +10 to all production types acros

[quote] Drengin get negatives. Their "factories" have a -influence effect. I meant global negatives as well eg -10 military production. If there were to be any they would prob have to be quite rare and the tech would have to be worthwhile obtaining even though there was a negative bonus. It would be a reflection that not all technological advancements are without a penalty to society(s) in some circumstances.

[quote]Lots of time I stuck with upgraded manufacturing that bankrupts my system unless I delete all of them.[/quote] If it were a simple case of reverting to old buildings, that is accomplished in the "availiable projects" tab...though as you say, it can be cumbersome when you have many worlds. Once again though, it's not about the buildings, its about the potential passive bonuses that were lost when the tech slot was overwritten.

[quote] I never saw that episode scouts honor that I didn't steal the design [/quote] No one's accusing you. It's only vaguely reminiscent. I just like trying to cram in a "quatloo" reference wherever possible.

[quote]I'm def in favour of the racial tech tree bonuses though(negatives could be considered also).[/quote] Drengin get negatives. Their "factories" have a -influence effect.

Heh, after reloading twice after invasions to get my own tech back, they finally slipped it in on me again at some point when I wasnt looking, and now my fat passives are gone for good.. I'm not actually sure that race specific building tech should be tradeable/or able to be gained through conquest, aside from picking up buildings already built on a conquered world. It seems like thats part of the "balance" and identity built into the races. I mean, shared techs and some of their uniqu

FORTY QWATLOOS ON THE NEWCOMER!!!

It's not [I]only[/I] a Derngin phenomenon though. All the races seem to have somewhat more of these bonuses compared to DA/DL...the Drengin just seem [I]particularly[/I] blessed with them, especially in regards to all the easy population growth bonuses they get. Admittedly, their factory units are gimpy, take a long time to research, and I don’t begrudge them +military bonuses to compensate. Any of the races can also trade( or conquest) for one or two techs with significant stacki

It would [I]seem[/I] there’s a much larger number of researchable passive bonuses (+x military, +y social/econ/pop/morale, etc.) in the tech trees, especially in the drengin tree (though I haven't looked at the other two as closely). On top of this, it seems an easy matter to go shopping for the techs from the other civs that provide even more bonuses ( many of which stack), and layer those on top of your own. It seems by about midgame, you're swimming in so many bonuses, from tech and

[quote] Did you go check your civilization stats to see if you lost that bonus when the tech was overwritten? [/quote] The tech wasn't researched yet. The [I]opportunity[/I] to research it was lost.

[quote] Can't you just select the 'all' tab under available projects, on the planet screen to show the 'overwritten' improvements again?. [/quote] In the example I mentioned, its not just a matter of the tile improvement in question...the original tech slot gave a +10 pop and +10 morale passive bonus that is far more valuable than just the buildings themselves...franky, one doesn't [I]want[/I] their farms overly potent. The slot had not yet been

I understand that captured/traded techs are supposed to overwrite their counterparts tech slot if they are superior. However, it seems as if the definition of "superior" may be a bit subjective, and a player choice option may be required. Situation: Was playing as drengin last night, happily going about my business invading the Arceans, and thinking about how awesome my farm tree branch was, with its fat, regular passive growth bonuses (which seems too good to be true by the way

[quote] Ive done it frequently. Of course the the base has to be largely defenseless for it to work, and the ship has to have enough life support to operate within its new range releative to the new owner, or it does have to plot a course back to its new territory, same as a player would have to. Life support aside, You must be luckier than me then, i have never been able to get a gifted ship to attack a starbase! Oh sorry, once i had

Here's one for the Korath: Bundle a bunch of spore ships with a couple cheap engines with a ship with a colony/troop module and a fleet speed module, for a fast, economical one-two planetary takeover punch. Stop at a planet, detach a spore ship into it, land the troop module to deposit some seed population, take back off, re-fleet and move on to the next world. Rinse and repeat.

[quote]+ TWEAK: Typo in Arcean tech tree “PlanetaryFortification” -> “Planetary Fortification”[/quote] This could have been a much more interesting mispelling...I'm disappointed. Think about it.

[quote] Also, for the benefit of new players, I'll just relate the well known exploit of using the AI's fondness for killing starbases against them. I do not see this working much at all. Typically the AI will stupidly rush the gifted ship off somewhare else instead of killing the starbase. Starbases are only a priority target when the human player owns them! [/quote] Ive done it frequently. Of c

[quote] I mean re-work, sorry, I come from Austria, so English is not my mother-tongue. [/quote] No problem at all...your english is excellent, aside from that point which needed clarifying. I'm not aware of any posted intentions to do major overhauls on the ship graphics...most of the graphic work Ive seen mentioned has been directed at the interface and planetary improvements/textures. Doesn't mean it isn't happening though...I'm not

Also, for the benefit of new players, I'll just relate the well known exploit of using the AI's fondness for killing starbases [I]against[/I] them. If your opponent has a mining starbase you covet, but you dont want to dirty your hands... Just drive some old attack ship you dont need anymore , along with a constructor, to the starbase you want and park them right next to it. Gift or sell the attack ship to another AI, and pay them to go to war with that civ. They'll likely kill that

[quote]A: Read my whole post (which was pretty much a compliment to the clever Terran crippling that nicely explains GC1) before you comment next time.[/quote] I did read your whole post, but you led off with a comment that is wildly exagerrated and does no one any good. It needed to be corrected. The terrans are in no way [I]crippled[/I] because of this one minor drawback. I dont think that word means what you think it means. Choose you words more carefully before [I]you[/I

[quote]But why are those models in the TA Beta? Yor are not included, and you can't build those ships ingame (at least I think so). Does this mean there will be new Yor Hulls in TA, or that the design of all races will be overworked, just like in DA? I hope someone knows the answer.[/quote] The Yor aren't in yet because their tech tree isn’t in yet, and for testing focus reasons, not necessarily because no work has been done on any art assets. Also, do you mean [I]re-w

[quote]However, Bingjack's earlier idea about making cheap "rocket booster" ship networks is a very feasible idea in light of this information...[/quote] I'm actually more interested in trying to use fleet modules to make drengin minion spam into an unstoppable mid game fighting force now I'll be trying that out tonight.

As others have mentioned, prevention is the best defense. Give the AI something else to do, rather than attack you and your bases...sponsor wars. Trade isn’t worth it so much for the revenue in most cases, but early game it can be used to suppress aggression (for a time). Finally, pick the two races that scare you the most, and give them each a tech or an econ treaty...you can pick up a boatload of tech and almost infallibly keep them from attacking you until you’re ready to screw them. Your

[quote]Think Battlestar Galactica (new, not old - never personally have seen the old series) - the vipers always engage the cylon raiders before anybody gets near a command vessel. If somebody tries for a command ship, it tends to be a situation where the other force intercepts ASAP.[/quote] The Galactica has some big ass guns, and nukes to boot. It's more of the classic "carrier" archetype (not to be found in GC sadly, but that's another thread...). I think the more appropriate analo

I wonder if the speed module command ships can be used to make super dominator minion spam actually useful. Come to think of it, command ships + minion spam might be a really effective early to mid game fighting force. If those things were all of a sudden moving at 6 speed , rather than 3, it dramatically changes their usefulness.

Thought I would open this up, and invite those of you who really understand the nitty gritty of the combat system to chime in here and comment, to know how to best make use of the fleet modules. It seems to me that since you wouldn't want to dilute the firepower of your normal ships with these, and you only need one per fleet, the addition of fleet modules will see the creation of a new dedicated ship class in TA, the "Command Ship". The question is, how best to construct these?<