HighWater

To add to qrtian's statement: it is indeed Creativity that you are talking about. Luck is definitely a factor in space combat (lucky races do more damage than they should) and some other things, but it is Creativity that can give you a tech you are researching significantly before it is due. Combining creativity as an ability point with a political faction that boosts this and perhaps some research that also gives + Creativity should increase chances of it happening, but in my experience

[quote who="Tattyhat" reply="3" id="3152149"]I bug? The game shouldn't have any bugs, GalCivII has been out for 50 years, all bugs should have been eradicated. [/quote] Agreed, but the Pink Blob of Doom seems unwilling to die...

As far as I know, it does indeed make no difference, unless the defending force is extremely small (a few million, rather than billion). I've had invasions where I have taken no losses though I should have lost a few mil. With the enemy population over a certain threshold (I don't know the cut off point), overwhelming them with numbers makes no difference in your losses.

[quote who="HeritageNotHate" reply="2" id="3141112"] LOL! I hate you, dude. Really. Oh, yes, the sweet taste of the underdog victory.... I have since started a new game but this one, like the last, has me positionally challenged. I so want to just quit and try again, but now I have the old appetite for the come back... Where's that espionage budget..... Maybe if i start augmenting what I have with starbases..... I haven't played in a few years

Couldn't the "Civilization Capital" be a Mark 3 or 4 Colony (or equal to)? Certainly in the early days, a civilization's capital would be better than that of colonies, but as colonies progress it isn't that odd that they become true metropoles of their own. I personally wouldn't object to making the capital become relatively less powerful as time passes (in a way it already happens with the political, manufacturing, technological and economical capital structures in the game).

Hello and welcome aboard. I'll try to asnwer your questions: Most likely you're playing the most recent expansion, Twilight of the Arnor (ToA), when playing GalCiv2 Ultimate via Steam. An easy way to tell is if there's a giant Terror Star in the background of the Main Menu. (Big structure with a rotating beamlike thingy around it.) It's also possible to start the original game or the older expansion (which is at least as good), but I don't know how that's been

Making a come back is the most rewarding galciv experience if you ask me. I greatly enjoy being the absolute underdog. Recently, I had a game on a Huge galaxy, playing as the Yor, with 8 other majors and a few (intelligent) minors. It was one of those games that just proves "location, location, location" as I was stuck in a corner of the map with just 8 colonisable planets nearby (none of them above a class 11), while the galaxy had over 250 habitable planets in it (I h

The best ship design is the one that blows up your enemies at the lowest overall cost. As the enemy generates different ships each games, your ships need to be customized to fight them off, there is no magic formula that always works. It can be useful to rush Medium Hulls though, Frigate-sized ships are significantly better than fighters and make researchding defenses much more useful. Basically equip your ships with defenses aimed against the weapon your (most likely) enemy is using

Hello nerdymidgetkid, Let me start off by saying that we've all been there. My first few games I started out on normal (or maybe even lower) and indeed got served by the AI. Especially the AI in Dark Avatar can be really daunting (in Twilight, it is still impressive but hindered by the very ambitious techtrees which the AI, frankly, wasn't built to handle). For future reference, it can be useful to state what kind of map you're playing on. A Gigantic

[quote who="erischild" reply="23" id="3132392"]New to this game and enjoying it immensely. Been reading the forums and enjoying that too.[/quote] Welcome! It is indeed a great game. ;) [quote who="erischild" reply="23" id="3132392"] What does a trade route do for relations? [/quote] Whenever a freighter of yours has established a traderoute to another AI, or vice versa, a positive relationsmodifier is activated. You can find these modifie

[quote who="Neilo" reply="20" id="3095230"]I wish i never did. I've had more fun with GC2 these past couple of months than i ever did prior. I only regret the community is not as it was whilst i am wallowing in my new found joy.[/quote] You are quite right, but at least you found the right way to play galciv2 in the end. ;) Though I never really-really played for score, I did play for "maximum level opponents", which made for some interesting games, but also created

Not always though. During my previous game, the Krynn, who controlled 80% of the galaxy and had a military at least 5 times the remaining two races combined (the Altarians and my hamstrung Yor) received not one, but two precursor rangers, the Alterians received nothing and I received two crappy Lucky Rangers (that came nowhere near the PreCursor Ship) before eventually receiving my own PreCursor Ranger (which was then swiftly blown up because by then its lead on the rest of the galaxy wasn&#3

The short answer is no, though. Galactic Civilizations II doesn't have a multiplayer in the way that Sid Meiers Civilizations does. It's a shame, but the forum thread that discusses the how and why is reasonably convincing.

Addendum to the morale hit from "permanent deficit": You can maintain a negative cashsupply for quite a while, but after a certain amount of turns the game will warn you that it is starting to hurt morale (it will show a sad smiley face in the lower left corner, near the money and morale indicators and will present a pop-up next turn), this is the moment to sell your tech for bc's to get you in the plus (preferably to minors). You only have to be in the plus for one day for the whole coun

For most worlds it isn't interesting to try and raise your population above 16-20billion as the morale hit they take around that number is too severe to overcome with a reasonable effort. However, with the popgrowth bonus of tolmekians mod, the farms can reaslly speed up population growth up till that point. As for the balancing the budget: the Biggest and Most Evil Trick that Galactic Civilization plays, is that it makes you believe that keeping a balanced budget is the smart thi

Personally, I find diplo-ing for planets 'gamey' exactly because the AI has no perception of future worth. I only occasionally trade a few planets for ships and/or tech, but they have to be pretty established planets (lots of inhabitants so that the AI notices that they have significant worth) and the AI has to be in desperate need for the supplies (e.g. losing a war that the ships and tech might help turn around). That kinda makes me the arbiter of my own "fair" play, which can make

The AI probably figured you were watching and decided to mess with your head...

The willingness of the AI to trade away half their recently colonized galaxy for some techs and warships during a period where no warships are necessary (for instance, when there is no war). The AI needs a bit more intellect when it comes to valueing future gains. The Troop Transport thing makes fighting an AI that is vastly, vastly more powerful than you not a lost cause, the AI is quite bad at exploiting crushing military advantages for actual territorial gain. As for AI troop trans

Funsies. Perhaps I shouldn't comment on modding questions. [e digicons]^_^[/e]

You'd have to disable tech stealing and such, or they might get it anyway...

I find that it makes for a much better endgame if races aren't equal in strength. The starting position helps to ensure that, but I often find it lacking and turn on "randomise intelligence" to make sure that some races are better than others... (Wow, that sounds... wrong...) Too often have I played a game where, after I finally defeat my nearest neighbour (I prefer playing on a setting that will almost kill me), the rest is suddenly easy pickings because I have doubled in size (b

You should avoid attacking this warmachine head on until you can actually beat it. Till then, I advise researching Planetary Invasion (if you haven't already) and going on the counter offensive. Ignore the Precursor Ranger, send your ships in to clear enemy planets of their orbital defenders and land your troops on the ground. You should be able to conquer more planets than you lose, and you can even do the same to planets you lost as soon as the enemy ship goes out of range. Don't be

Spies are on DA aswell and very useful for crippling morale just before information warfare. You can also use them to diminish population on a hostile planet by deploying them on any farms it might have and then waiting a turn for people to starve off. Never do both at once though, the decreased numbers that hitting farms causes with negate the effect of sabotaging morale buildings. Spamming destructive invasion tactics just until the planet is about to fall works great against enemie

I think (I'm not sure, because I never activate this option) that Tech Brokering constitutes trading research you traded for: If you bought Soil Enhancement from race X, you can't then go and sell it to race Y, Z, A, B, C, D and 1. The AI sometimes goes a little over the edge with this, but more importantly, the human player often goes over the edge with this (I'm innocent, I swear!) and gains a tech ánd makes a tidy profit... Disabling tech trading makes it impossible altogeth

The problem is indeed that the Dreadlord ship is superior. It is the best of all ships present and because all ships should have been destroyed, only the strongest one survives: the dreadlord vessel. This 'tie rule' is heavely biased towards the strongest attack, which makes killing thát ship a major pain in the behind. I'd try sending in "suicide fighter" with all out weaponry to beat the DL ship down to 1 HP, and then a large fleet of mass-defense in an effort