cyberj914

To answer the TC: For as long as I'm able to log onto Stardock Central. Ultimately whether I play GC2 depends on what GC3 becomes. If it is simply GC2 but with even MORE stuff then I really won't need to play GC2 any more. Its analogous to the situation with Dread Lords and Dark Avatar right now. Since DA was released I've had no urge to play DL because I enjoy all the things DA added to the game. Playing DL now seems like I'm playing a beta or something. ;p So long as so

Every time we players get an update for GCII all I can think is *just imagine what gaming would be like if every developer had the opportunity to support their game the way Stardock can*. I just want to say as one extremely satisfied fan of 4X space based strategy games thank you. I know I haven't been around a lot recently (work) but now that I've gotten some of my free time back I'm certainly going to put it to good use trying to take over the galaxy one planet at a time <img src="http://ima

Well for what its worth here's my $0.02. SD is what the game industry could be. I won't say they are perfect because everything can be improved upon. However I have never bought a game that has had this level of support. I can't think of any other game ever where you could go to the company forums and actually have the person who writes the code reply to customers. Or the fact that the development team is actually still together and actually still working on the game. That alone is

I think you misunderstood what I said. I didn't say that the AI gives special treatment in terms of trading to the other AIs that it won't give the player. All I meant was that the AI offers 1 - 1 trades to the other AIs and to the player using the same rules. Now if the AI won't accept that exact same trade if made by the player with the exact same bonuses to diplomacy and such then this is indeed a bug. However before you start pounding the keyboard lets think for a second about ho

Hmmm... now save game load times are something different. There was an issue with DL (I forget which version) where it was taking a long long time to load things. This was a bug that was eventually found and fixed. Not saying it is same thing but there is always that possibility. Might want to create a thread specific to that issue with actual times to load. A quick fix could potentially be a drive defrag. I've found at times that doing this clears up my save game load times. And

Yes it is a waste to put sensors on any ships after you have EoU. The max sensor range is 15 and you cannot go above that.

Actually the AI treats the player no different then any other player in the game. So they don't give each other better deals then they are willing to give to you. Also remember you can manipulate the tech trading to your favor by simply researching things that you *know* they won't trade to you and then ask for things they will. Instead of researching say Xeno Factory, research Harpoon II and then trade to get Xeno Factory. Sure you may have to do 2 for 1 or pay some BCs but you'll come out

Yeah the planetary exit icon is just really misleading. We tried to get it changed in beta but I guess it wasn't enough of a concern to warrant the artist's time to fix . No patrols. This is a game. You are supposed to play it. Too much automation and you might as well be watching a movie. If you can't be bothered to move fleets around to uncover enemy ships then research Sensor IV and

A few things to consider that I didn't notice anyone else mentioning. 1) Do you have the Allow AI to use extra CPU cycles option turn on? This does exactly what it says and on a non dual core machine it will slow the game especially with all the AIs you've got in game. 2) GPU Throttle. On or off? This had more to do with crashing due to overheating the vid card then anything else but it can be an issue for performance too I think. 3) Norton. Ok this has been mentio

You can modify the raceconfig file to add anything you want to your race after the fact. Also there are .xml files for all the standard races as well. So those can be modified to suit whatever you want to do. Just have a look at the files or check out the Modders forums for tips and formatting. Everything in this game is meant to be customizable. So save for a few *under the hood* things that are game play mechanics you can adjust this game to the point where you can make an entirely new ga

I'm not 100% sure on this but I think a spy in the field has some percentage chance every turn it is active to steal a tech. No idea what the percentage is or if that is even true. Also I think the *Luck* racial bonus plays a role.

So what level of espionage do you need to reach in order to see what techs they have, and how do you manage to see them? Is there a screen in the diplomacy section where they're listed? You need to have an espionage rating of at least High or may be Advanced. I'm not sure on which since I've stopped getting espionage altogether. But anyway once you've got a high enough level you can see what they've researched

Weaker? I wonder what you are basing that on. All I ever play is a custom race and I have no problems defeating the built in races. While it is true that for specific strategies the regular races can be stronger and have bonuses that the custom race cannot get. However I've never felt my race is underpowered compared to the regular races.

I personally do not give away weapons or defenses to anyone. So why should the AI? I believe that a restraint like this to your trading will harm you in the long run. Very often in the early/mid game there is a single race that poses the greatest threat to you (usually Drengin or Korath as they both seem to expand effectively and are aggressive). To be able to resist that threat my initial military techs are picked to work

I will agree to a point. Tech trading has always been a bit dubious in game. It can be exploited. It can be absurd. And I know it has been tweaked several times. Each time SD has tried to tighten up what the AI will trade for and with. In general military techs are a no no. But why is this so hard for some to see as a normally smart thing to do? I personally do not give away weapons or defenses to anyone. So why should the AI? In previous versions the AI would gladly give you w

I think there may be a very rare 2500bc anomaly in DA. There might be but in the anomalies.xml file it only lists up to 1000 BC. So may be a hard coded thing or its in a different file. I didn't check DL to see if there is one there. And to be honest I could have sworn I've gotten 2500 BC before. Ah well. This is what happens after you've played your 100th game. Things start to blur together <img src="http:

I can only answer #2 since I don't bother with the campaign nor any race save for my custom. Spies are more micromanagement then *interesting*. You build one and place it on a planet to negate one building. For instance if you place it on a factory then that factory's production is zero until that spy is removed. Normally it only takes the AI a turn or two to take the spy out. Also you accumulate intelligence points for every spy you have active within an enemy empire. This is now

Belanos: Well I'm glad to see you've figured out most of what you were doing wrong. And yeah most of the time financing ships can ruin you but if done right and with strategic goals in mind you can put yourself further ahead then without it. A lot of times I use it late in the game when I'm probably going to win in the next 50 turns or so anyway. Once you become supreme ruler of the universe no one cares that you are 1000BC in debt. Planetary bonuses are given out in an atte

First off it is possible. Most expert players would say the Krynn are actually a bit behind the colony rush but that's something different . Just because you cannot at this stage replicate the AIs performance simply means you've got more to learn about the game . If you finance colony ships you can get 2 or

Starbases fall under that *by design* category. Having said that it would be nice if they got a bit of a make over as well. Make more powerful: No. Never. Please. The last thing I want is to be in the late game where I really need to take out that military space resource of an enemy empire to keep their ships from shredding mine only to find out its going to take me a dozen fleets all in wave assaults to dent it. Starbases are meant to be protected by fleets. Research Mod

Political capital, galactic resort, secret police center, and any trade goods that effect morale do not gain bonus from a bonus tile. Again their modifiers are applied either at the planet they are built or on an empire wide scale. Of course I'm not 100% sure on that and Kyro will most likely clear it up if I'm wrong .

You know you are on the right track when you can get your economy positive with a tax rate of around 39%, morale of 75%-80%, and 90%-100% spending. This can be done just as the colonization phase ends. That seems rather excessive to me. I have no problems running tax at about 50% and I try to keep my morale at or just above 45%. Below that figure and the numbers actually turn red, so it's a convenient target for me.

Yep all sound advice. And on top of what I said earlier I will also say this: the easiest way to learn this game is start messing with things and see what happens. Keep in mind these early games aren't about winning necessarily but to give you a feel for the economy system in the game. Understanding it is the most important thing and one of the harder concepts for a new player to grasp. A lot of games while not won in the first 50 turns are certainly lost because of mismanagement in terms of

Bonus tiles only count for buildings that actually produce the item in question. Placing your technology capital on a research bonus is a waste of the bonus. Same goes for all other capital type buildings. The way a bonus works is it increases the amount of production of the building by that amount. A 100% manufacturing bonus behaves in game terms as if you had 2 factories on that square. However you only pay BCs on half the second factory. So if you produce 8 MP/SP with a factory

For me personally the sandbox mode was the place to start. The campaigns, while they have a story line, tend to be a bit restrictive in what you can do. Also things don't carry over from one scenario to the next so you end up playing a lot of little games. My advice would be to start on a medium sized map, abundant everything, normal tech or fast tech, 3 - 4 AIs chose ones that aren't militaristic, and set the difficulty to Easy. This means that the AIs will still interact with you b