nix nivis

LordZarth's comment is not completely off base. If you can manage to do something economically with the Iconians, it is much easier to accomplish it with the Arceans. My experience with them in this version suggests that they are best played aggressively with an all factory strat on anything below a large map. But it may be a question of difficulty levels or map size, I tend to play on medium/large maps at crippling with the ai's forced to use the CPU, so if you are into suicidal games, I can

It's Coreward, Rimward, Spinward and Trailing. No updates from Namus in the last couple of weeks- I hope he comes back to resume the story, this is one of the most entertaining AAR's I have seen.

I like the Altarians in TA. They were my favorite in DA and I was prepared to be dissapointed, but I like the direction that Stardock picked for them. I think that the developers seemed to want to push us into playing them as good so the good portion of their tech tree is now worth missing all those evil planet bonuses. The military and social boosting techs seem to balance the high maintenance costs for factories and research is still an Altarian strong point, so you can take Technologists a

[quote]First, you could limit Hyperion Matrix like an orbital fleet manager... only one per world no matter what.[/quote] I think that this is a great idea- Stardock should consider your initial suggestion for a 12/12 output while reducing the population boost to manageable levels (2-3 maximum) and add a reasonable maintenance cost (not 50, more like 25 so you could afford to maintain one on each planet during the colony rush). This should encourage the Thalan to rush hard to c

I trusted that you had worked everything out already and was only using this AAR as an in game demonstration. I doubt that the situation would change with larger maps (in fact I think the Thalan, Iconians and other "flawed races" are at their worst on small and medium maps). My only issue with your intitial idea for the hyperion matrix is that it would be a huge boost early (rush buy two on your home planet and even without focus you could out produce and out research anybody else in the first

Nicely argued Wyndstar. The Thalan were nearly too good early in DA, they are clearly too weak in TA 4. You have aptly pointed out that the game is decided in the first turns on tiny maps (and most of us would agree that it is decided in the first few turns on larger maps) so it is crucial that the developers balance the early game far more precisely than any other portion of the game. The Thalan need some adjusting and your AAR points out the most critical weaknesses in their current incarna

I played an Altarian game on a small map with 3 AI's at painful last night and I noticed the economic crunch after the colony rush while playing an all research lab strategy. The Altarian manufacturing buildings and research labs have a much larger maintenance cost than most other races (5 cost for 6 research for the first lab and it doesn't get any better as you upgrade), so you are going to want to get less of them and rely on the numerous unique galactic achievements and techs to boo

Much of this is from Kevin's list, but I agree 100% with some of his points, the rest is mine. 1. Arcean should have recruiting station like everyone else. 2. Korx should have custom economic buildings. The standard list of banking stuff just doesn't seem to do them justice. 3. Minor race steal techs can lead to tech jumping (hyperwarp, etc.) 4. I like creativity (thanks!). But it is now too powerful for a single point. 5. This has been talked to death, but Krynn super s

There was in interesting topic here: [link="https://forums.galciv2.com/?aid=170370#1394961"]Closet Anarchists[/link] I think that the government choice techs should be tied to ethics. It seems logical that evil races would be more authoritarian, while the neutral and good races would be more likely to utilize higher forms of government.

I agree that government techs should correspond to alignment and the general motivations of the race in question. Democratic Korath are a ridiculous notion. Good alignments tend to be at a disadvantage anyway, so linking the government options to ethics sounds like a great idea. As for the government system having a dramatic input. I tend to go for star democracy early so that I can drop the political capital on my starting world and net the 50% morale boost. That doesn't mean that

If you look at the Terran tech tree, you will see that they have solid lines in both mass drivers and missiles. Beam isn't bad, but for the Terrans it is not nearly as good as for the Torians, Drengin or Korath. Easy access to Disruptors makes beam great for these races (as well as the access to the evil beam weapon tech). When I play Terran, I stay neutral so I find that the seven techs in Phasors make beam research a dead end compared to the other weapon lines. With Terrans

Iztok has spoken, so you have a definitive answer from a veteran player. For my part as a less experienced player. I build the biggest hull possible and I never use tiny hulls (even when I play Torian). If you have some space, you can go straight to medium hulls (I play mostly medium or large, so I never have the time). Early on, you want at least 1 pt of defense (usually ECM III is the best in terms of cost and size). Later with larger hulls defenses become less important a

The techs that are randomly popping up in TA are ridiculous. I have a current game were the Korath are using 15+ speed ships that are armed with Mk IV lasers. Everybody else is at 3-7 speed and I am using an all research lab strategy, so there is no way that they could have gotten that to that part of the tech tree before me.

Play them all or you will be missing out on alot of the diversity in the game. Also the game has gotten a good deal more complex, so you should play each civ at least once so that you can better understand the strengths and weaknesses of their particular tech tree. To start out, I'd go Terran or Arcean. The Terrans have a very complete tech tree with some great fleet boosters and propulsion techs. The Arceans have only one minor hole in their tech tree (ship propulsion) with

It depends on the race that you play. Some tech trees have certain weapon groups, other tech trees have other weapons groups.

Another great chapter in the story Namus, I look forward to the next.

I played another two games this week with the Iconians and Torians (still trying to behave like unofficial beta tester). In both games (on large map with 5 AI on painful) the Krynn and Terrans just pulled away from everybody else. I won all the battles and won the games, but it was far more difficult with the Iconians. A few things that I am noticing. 1. Economic development is weak in comparison to other races because the Iconian settlement pattern is so dispersed. When ev

I agree that the Krynn are very unique to play (as are most of the other races). The diversity between civs now is incredible and really adds alot to the game and makes matters much less predictable then in DA (although I have noticed that most races will start weapons production on the missile line of techs and remain there until you force them to switch with your defenses). I also agree with ShockMeSane, the Iconians seem slightly more difficult to play at the moment (compared to Kry

Happy Birthday Wyndstar, I enjoyed your AAR and have tried a few of your strategies out and have no grief with your style of play. Try not to take any criticism too seriously, you deserve credit for thinking outside the box and being inventive with your playstyle.