Feargus

Reply to please explain my metaverse score in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Actually, Gerakken is adding an extra step (since dividing by X and then multiplying by sqrt(X) is the same as just dividing by sqrt(X) - 1494/sqrt(7) is still 565. Note that there's also something odd going on with weighting versions of games and "decaying scores", though darned if I know how that works.... but you'll notice that my scores [5891/sqrt(16)= 1473] don't quite work out anymore. [Of course, this might also be because they're still doing the big recalc.] Bottom

Reply to The computer doesn't cheat at Intelligent, and I am the Dalai Lama (with proof!) in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I have also noticed this. On the one hand, I suspect that indeed, the AIs have some special techniques that keep their people happy when mine would revolt. On the other hand, I suspect that there might be a reason why a system decides to revolt and change over to the light side - maybe because their AI rulers didn't have any special advantage after all? Maybe the AI unloaded a system that was PO'ing it (P'ing it O?) onto another annoying race? :)

Reply to Cadet seeking empire in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I can no longer remain silent.... while you show a few disturbingly evil tendancies, your name - Piety - shows that you must have a few good-old-fashioned-midwestern values. The American midwest was settled and is still governed by people from (specifically) Norway, (generally) Scandinavia, and obviously Europe and of course Terra or Earth. If you are considering one of the evil empires, please have a look at one of the good ones instead. :) Plus, we speak the common tongue, HTML</

Reply to How do i turn off Cultural Vic. while in a game? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

You can only do it at the very beginning of a game; I think it's the first screen (not the AI choosing one), at the bottom right. If I recall correctly, you can only disable tech victories, cultural victories, and alliance victories (if you kill everyone else you've won, period!).

Reply to How do i turn off Cultural Vic. while in a game? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Does anyone know, if you turn OFF a victory condition, does the scoring penalize you for playing beyond the point at which you could have won if you had the option on?

Reply to Colonising planets threshold in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Brad (Frogboy) has said something to the effect that anything below PQ15 is a money-sink; there's probably some mathematical analysis that can back that up and that's probably why the AI doesn't colonize anything below a 15. That said, I also stick to 14+ and if you're really looking to run up the score through population, you can go lower (as pointed out above) and raise the PQ pretty quickly.

Reply to Caught in an Infinite War in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Reference post #2, I've seen this every once in a while - all of a sudden one of your friends (or enemies!) just attacks you at a newly acquired system for no apparent reason and with no warning (much like we human players do... doh!). :) I suspect that what has happened is that the AI has effectively put some ships on autopilot to a destination, so that when the ships get there, by george they're going to attack no matter what has happened in the meantime. I must confess that

Reply to Entertainment Network Viewers Guide in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

And of course: Fox: Who wants to marry an Altarian? CBS: CSI Betelgeuse NBC: Yor Factor CNN: Special Report - Why are we killing the innocent Drengin? FOX News: Special Report - How we're destroying the evil Drengin! BBC: Earth-Skowbo Cricket ...and in syndication everywhere: Baywatch! (How else are we going to culturally conquer the galaxy?) :) [Message Edited]

Reply to How do i turn off Cultural Vic. while in a game? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Hmmm - but he's going for a military conquest, that would never work....

Reply to The Babe Ruth of Galviv!!!!! in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Galviv? :)

Reply to Early Colonization Bug? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Hmmm - I've heard of a "first colony ship unlimited range" bug - this may be it. Also, the AI already knows it's worth the effort! Also, message editting is cool! :) [Message Edited]

Reply to Caught in an Infinite War in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

There's at least one other thread discussing this problem. Sometimes you can take advantage of it (while the other races are locked in combat around you while you stay neutral) and sometimes it just sucks to be you. Your best bet, if you can manage it, is to go to them and make peace with ALL the other races in the same turn. Might be worth coughing up a concession in the form of one tech you offer EACH of the others at the same time (so they can't then trade it amongst themselves).

Reply to Early Colonization Bug? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Range is based on galaxy size, so 4 and 5 sectors isn't necessarily absurd (though it is certainly annoying, I'll grant you.) Some races also may get a speed bonus. It's also not a bad tactic to start colonizing from the outside in - that sets your initial borders as far away from you as possible and keeps others from getting footholds to advance into your territory. Of course, this works best if you already know which stars have habitable planets....

Reply to How do i turn off Cultural Vic. while in a game? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Of course, you could always just keep saving and reloading the game, thus resetting your culture and never hitting the time limit. ;p Note that you may get penalized for not winning as quickly as possible, but I dunno how exactly that works.

Reply to Hanging Chads... in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Er, I would say losing with a 71% approval rate is surprising but not unheard of. I've lost control with approval ratings in the 60s before. I don't know how it really works, but I would have guessed that votes are determined by "rolling the dice" for each senator based on the approval rating. Even with 100x71% chances, sometimes you're going to end up with less than 50 people rolling in your favor. Any combinatorics specialists available? What are the odds of 50 (or more)

Reply to How do I build a Terror Star? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Of course, in the Star Wars universe, a terror star would have zero chance of having a Party Palace. :)

Reply to Winning with intellegent AI in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I don't want to get into a national bias argument, eh, :), but first of all this IS a 4X game, not just a 2X game, and second if Earth was about to get invaded by a bunch of Drengin, I think people would be willing to see a whole lot of their money going towards military funding. I'm sure I'm couching this wrong, but I believe that at the end of WWII 70% of the US government's income went for military spending.

Reply to The computer doesn't cheat at Intelligent, and I am the Dalai Lama (with proof!) in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Richard - yes, my last five games I have been playing against intelligent AIs and managed to win. I only sold trade goods in the last one (didn't think of it until I saw it in a post!), I've never given away a starbase or colony, and I only give away obsolete ships (gee, another USS Defender Fortune! Hmmm - who can I butter up....) The general strategy I use is to try to make friends with the good guys, let them get into wars of attrition with the evil guys, and tough out any wars I ge

Reply to Recalc Underway? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Well, something is definitely different. I submitted my 16th game yesterday and my MV score no longer seems to follow the basic total points/sqrt(number of games) formula. I now have 15,340 points in 16 games for what I thought would be 3835, but instead I'm at 4357.7. Perhaps the aging system is starting to come into play, in which older scores decay after a while? I note Andrew Chai's scores don't come out "right" by that formula either. If they're actually recalcing, they

Reply to How to stay out of WAR!? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I'm afraid there's no trick; the bottom line is unfortunately just like life in the real world: if you don't want people to attack you, you'd better be stronger than they are. Keep the military might status chart up and make sure you're on or near the top of it. To be a little more specific: I usually find that if I play as a "good" guy then the other good races won't attack me just for spite (as they will if if you're playing "evil"). They might still attack you if you're re

Reply to How does one build the sun-destroying Death Star? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

You can add modules after you've built the star, even while it's tooling around the galaxy - just run a constructor into it as normal.

Reply to Espionage Is this any use ? in Strategies Stardock Forums

Actually, I've gotten that event even when my espionage status for a race has been "high". It's a little annoying when you see you've spent many thousands of BCs on spying on a race and then a random event tells you you could have avoided trouble by spending more money on spying....

Reply to economic bonuses still do not pay in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Just to be irrelevant, I say "bonuses". It's a common american fault to use the apostrophe for, well, just about anything, but it's meant for contractions (i.e. "I will" -> "I'll") or possession (i.e. "the house of Mike" -> "Mike's house"). :)

Reply to Schizophrenia on the Metaverse? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Hey now! I've actually given 2, 3, 4, and 5... hmmm, maybe that explains my post #10.

Reply to How did I get this Metaverse score? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

CM - you're getting a little cranky! :)