Franco fx

In a recent game I got one of the few mfg precursor tiles I have ever seen on my home planet. They are supposed to give a 7x bonus. There was also a 3x bonus tile. I bought the 3x factory first and the following turn I bought the 7x factory. Arrgh, the 7x tile did not work. On the summary it said 0 bonus. I am wondering if this is a bug or something else. I have control N'ed endlessly but can't get another 7x bonus tile. Where are the XML files for bonus tiles? I looked in plan

[quote]Perhaps this is what the insane tourism income from a couple betas back was intended to finance, and Stardock simply fumbled the timing by releasing them separately? [/quote] Makes sense, if the tourism was put back to previous levels the ship maintenance would be affordable.

To me the troubling part is that the economy problems are pervasive with any difficulty level above beginner even on sub-normal an experienced player can have some difficulty. I think it is fine to make the higher difficulty levels very difficult but easy should be easy for anyone but a complete beginner. The only level that is completely easy relative to economy is cakewalk and at that level the AI is completely brain dead in every aspect

[quote]Heh, tell that to my Huge ships with 400+ attack each. I kept my homeworld as an economic capital and had it cranking out transports to avoid the high pop penalties. I'd have no trouble doing a Conquest victory if I wanted to.[/quote] If that works out in practice for you then I must be wrong. Meanwhile, I built one of those mega ships in a recent game but my economy would not sustain me on a large map so forgettabout huge and immense for my level of ability

[quote]very close to a Diplomatic Victory, and could easily just finish the game with a Tech Victory if I wanted to. [/quote] I believe the Thalians are probably noy suited to a conquest victory, especially on the larger maps. I have also had no difficulty staying ahead in econ and tech and an influence victory on small maps seems relatively easy. While I have not played any huge+ games, the issue of sustaining the economy on huge or immense maps with the population limits woul

Creativity is pretty neat in TA. The effect is obvious. Luck is not that obvious but I assume it works. I never pick luck as an ability. The resources are all empire wide and the effects are huge. You need to get as many as possible I use the home world for a little of everything since it is your main contributor in the early game. One or two factories depending on bonus tiles, a lab, a market, etc. it will always wind up being my political capital but seldom any other capital<

[quote]I really don't like the concept of nerfing. If someone is too powerful, then I tend to like to correct this by making everyone else subsequently more powerful.[/quote] Thanks for that. I do get bored with the "way too powerful" gang.

[quote]First of all thanks to everyone that replied with such great detail... now onto a few more questions is there a way to turn off/down production on specific planets? I know how to do it universally but cant seem to find it on a planet by planet basis how do I build a trade ship? How do I build some sort of population transport...I don't see any sort of module for personnel transport and my homeworld is getting pretty freaking full... is it a bad idea to

what you didn't realize is that the super tech is bogus. You spend big bucks outfitting with the big weapons only to find out you have been had and the real fp is only 2

It occurred to me while I was designing a colony ship that it would be neat to have a new category cargo ship tied to tourism income. It could establish cruise routes similar to trade routes. Any planet suitable as a tourist destination would have to have a resort improvement. Star bases could also be built as tourist destinations It would open up some diplomatic opportunities and it would present some great random event opportunities as well.

I can't answer whether the AI could be programmed for better diplomacy but as to the tech choices, AI in any game is based on attrition, attrition and attrition and in this game that means war. It is natural for the AI to research ship tech. (BTW they often choose missiles in my games)

A lot depends on your game preferences. I tend to play a peaceful game that often ends in a culture victory. To succerssfully do this I have to load up on economy ability and play the Federalist party. Playing as the Terrans (or an economically gifted race like the Korx) I can usually make it through the tight period without letting the AI get ahead of me in real estate. You have to be careful with improvements. Most of my outer planets only have one factory and a star port until the money start

Not to quibble but it is more like 6 meters

Currently, if you trade for the Legacy it unlocks the buildings for you as well

I pretty much agree with that, I can not see the reality in trading away Inherited Tech en masse, any more than I understand trading a concept like Traditional Research. I do think that real tech like the Central Mine, the Dream thing, etc, should be available at some price. Willingness to trade could be set at a fairly high number. BTW as we speak the Precursor techs are still tradable but the Traditional Research trading has been blocked.

I might agree that they should be held dearer by the races but there should be some way to acquire the abilities by trade or conquest. The individual abilities such as Central Mines, Harvester are things and as such they should be acquirable.

As an influence player, I would probably have no problem exploiting that ability

I don't post frequently and I have been gone for awhile but I want to compliment Stardock for the Twilght expansion. It has breathed new life into the game for me and I wait anxiously for each new beta release. The new tech trees are fascinating and add much strategy to the game. Great job guys

Are the new improvements (precursor archive, dream conclave) boosted by bonus squares? I would assume they are but my assumptions have not always been right.

IMO ftl is next to impossible. We may be chasing it for a thousand years. Far more possible is life extention and along with it a sea change in our concept of time. If life can be extended indefinitely the stars will be ours for the taking at sub light speed. Early on space travel within our system will be a commercial thing and colonization will be simply a matter of living where you work.

as long as they are optional i see no problem but there is nothing I hate worse in a game than to have played well and be robbed of victory by some event that I can't possibly overcome or that requires me to adopt a style that is not mine. IE: forcing me to all out war to prevent some faction from getting godlike power

One possibility might be a new weapon like the Combat Wasp in Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy. It was a super fast multiple weapons drone that had just about replaced all weapons systems. It would be restricted to huge hulls to simulate the carrier effect. The ships could be designed and upgraded to carry from 1-50 combat wasps and launchable in groups of 1-50. The individual wasps would have offensive and defensive capability but can only be countered by other wasps.

A few months ago the AI would sell any starbase for a song. Players complained that it was making the game too easy so they changed the AI to where it is next to impossible to deal for a resource starbase. Just to see if there was any way to make the deal, I once offered all my planets for an influence mine and the AI refused. FCS, the base would have reverted to them in the next turn. I think they will sell sometimes but it is as rare as the precursor library Apparently i

All you can do is pick a similar shaped small hull and apply the same jewelry. It should look very much like the tiny hull version.

I agree with the weapons idea. A larger weapon should be more powerful. As for engines, since some of the engines involve things like quantum theory instead of just impulse, there should be engines that just won't fit on smaller ships.