EvilMaxWar

I like to play in a Gigantic Galaxy but with somewhat low Star/habitable planet density. Edit: I only play ToA btw I do not aim for diplomatic victory though, In early game I beeline diplomatic techs and try to rush diplomatic translator so i have a big advantage in diplomacy compared to most other civs. I use this to trade and sell techs for money. I always give priority to minor races and weaker civs and usually dont trade at all with the one ore two strongest.

I can currently win a game with 7 masochistic level AI but I make big use of superior diplomatic skill and tech trading. I am not sure I could do it without this loophole. I am thinking about making a game with tech trading disabled, to get out of my comfort zone. What other strategies are you guys using to help win games at high difficulty level? Someone mentioned buying off planets with low pop from the other races.

I just came across what looks like a frustrating bug or maybe just one more blatant example of how the AI is allowed to cheat on you at higher difficulty level. Terran just ninja'd some of my planets. I have high level espionage on them and know all their tech and they DO NOT have Toxic atmosphere reductor. Yet they colonize the toxic planets. If I research it, I can even trade it to them, proof they do not have the tech. This is very annoying to me :(

[quote]I'll hang a big YES on ignoring defense. It's nearly impossible to get enough defense to matter against a Dread Lord.[/quote] Makes perfect sense, thank you.

Here is my tech trader approach. If you sell or trade a technology to another race, also sell it to every other races the same turn. This assures you maximum reward for your tech and prevents the other civilisations from trading it. By trading the same technology to every races i could sometimes get 6 techs from one tech. Then repeat the process with the newly gained techs. Always trade the lowest tech possible first and Never trade diplomacy boosting techs. Instead you specialize your research

Last time i dealt with them this way. I would put spies on all their factories, then produce a large amount of small cheap ships with appropriate defense and attack but no engine. I work a little on logistic and amass a fleet of something like 28 ships ( 4 fleets of 7 ) with around 6-2 ( attack/defense) each ship. I bring them all close to the DL planet then attack with everything the same turn. Usualy that would deal with 1 dread lord unit. Then when their defense is down i usualy conquer their

I need advices for the mission where you have to ally with the iconians ( Mission 5 i think, unless i missed some ). I play at Painful and had an easy time on previous missions. Now however I am frustrated because i cant get my relation with the iconian past the friendly level , even though i try hard with trade, gifts, treaty etc... It seems i have many "+" and few "-" in the relation report but still cant make it. In fact my only "-" are from militaristic and alignment, while i have 5 "+". An