tetleytea

The espionage thing is deceiving. The military/social/research numbers you are seeing on the espionage screen are not what it gets if it does 33/33/34 spending--it's if it does 100/100/100 spending (which it can't). In other words, if you see 52/52/24, that means it gets 52 military if it was 100% focused on military, 52 if it was 100% focused on social, *OR* 24 if it was 100% focused on research. And building economy buildings will do nothing to chan

[quote]I have noticed that there is a tendency to get creative towards the end of the cycle[/quote] I am seeing the same thing--sort of. I keep getting creativity early in the game, and after I complete researching a tech. I get the following (partially researched) tech for free. If your formula is correct, it may be that the best way is to massively over-research the little techs, like Xeno Communications, and there would be a good chance you get I

Hi, I have a question, if anybody knows: how can you maximize the possibility of Creativity kicking in? I tried putting my Research slider at 1% all game, but that never worked. I only get the Creativity early-research event whenever my Research slider is really high. Is the likelihood some percentage chance, multiplied by the number of RP you get that turn? I seem to get the best luck whenever my research slider is at 100% and I s

[quote] I also like to use the minors, all at once, to attack the next Major race I'm planning to attack. It will soften them up quite nicely. If the situation is right, while a minor is attacking a Major sometimes I'll sell them a transport after I fly it right next to a Majors planet. I only give it 500 troops so the minor cant actually take the planet. It serves two purposes...1) it weakens the Major and 2) You dont take a diplomacy hit for declaring war. [/quote] That reminds

I just finished off the Jagged Knife yesterday. I think that's great advice about loading up transports and orbiting them--not a bad idea to be doing when your worlds hit the farm ceiling anyway (although technically, they need to be launched). What was horrid about the event for me was that, in peacetime I like to start building the most expensive ships I can, but not finish them (i.e. just leave them a couple shields shy of completion). That way if there's a war I

I understand what CY is saying. For context, IP = industrial points. It is reasonable to say that more BC = more IP and RP -- *IF* your economy is running a deficit. You have to cut back production to make ends meet. Thus more BC lets you crank up the production. The problem is, by the time I even think about researching Stock Markets, I am not in that situation. I can barely keep the 20,000bc lid down. So BC does NOT equal mo

I don't plan on playing a Gigantic map anytime soon (except with sparse planets), but I just can't convince myself that economic planets are a game-winner. They strike me as more of an empire-building/high-scoring thing that people like to do when the game's already won. But I do like the idea of using it to culture-bomb/culture-defense a planet, though. I may try that, if I can just bring myself to research Stock Markets.

Looks like the mistake I was making was upgrading Stock Markets from Bank Centers. It doesn't work that way. You have to build them directly. SM's seem quite worthwhile now, but I still have yet to hit a situation that late in the game where I need the money. By the time I research SM's, I need IP and RP, not BC. But I do like that influence bonus. A nice well-placed "economy" world will probably do some good things; and you get to recoup y

Please pardon my noob question, but I've been playing since Galciv1, and I just don't see the point of economic planets. Do the markets stack multiplicatively? Or are you just aiming for a high score, what? By the time you're done pouring all that extra money back into your planet to build more stock markets, the game's over.

A PQ26 to me is just a planet. I treat it just like any other. But later on, as my budget goes in the green, I start spamming low-level factories on it, to make it a mega world. Then it starts building the late-game wonders--it certainly has the extra tiles for it. My Recruiting Center (if I'm playing a race that has it) is always the first or second building on the planet, no matter what the class is.

That Good bonus is really stupid. So basically being Good confers you 50bc a turn. Wow. Whoopee. I just think No Mercy is not very useful as a Super Breeder, because what's it going to do...save you population?

I upgrade my surveyors after the anomalies start to wind down. Then I replace them with cheapo 25bc survey ships on Tiny hulls (I get the Galactic Guide Book). They make cheap sensor ships anyway. Even my PQ3 planets can crank out one of those in 2 turns. First, I build my surveyors on small hulls early on, so they've got some hit points on them. If they find a Starship Graveyard, it's a no-brainer: I upgrade it to a fighting

What about Drath tree + Super Breeder? The Super more than makes up for the population penalty, and you have soldiering. Leverage profiteering to fund your economy while you lower your taxes to get the 100%. Declare war just to declare war. Korx + Super Manipulator/Super Diplomat looks like it would be fun, and for a similar reason. They've got profiteering, too, and you can manipulate other civs into killing each other's starbases s

I think some advertising can be in perfectly good taste. Like in Warcraft, I wouldn't mind some neutral creatures being polar bears, who drink Coca-Cola from time-to-time. ...and then I bring my Orcs in, and kill them. [e digicons]:D[/e] And then all the sports games, I think the binary athletes should totally plug Nike, Adidas, Sprite.... Because that's what they do.

I think the ability to change the research rate, or any of the rules mid-game...well...doesn't make sense. I wouldn't use it. But then again, I don't do Metaverse, either. What I would really like to see is ships' auto-explore and auto-survey not be so stupid. Just a little work on the AI would go a long way there, and it would affect the computer opponents more than it would the human (just because there's more of them). If you've g

I just got through the ToA campaign (I've been waiting on 2.0 to come out before getting back into Galciv again, but I got tired of waiting), and that's when I noticed the MCC change. But the reason I like Neutral is because it's an early bloomer. You get the morale bonus now, the terraforming now, the purchase bonus now, the soldiering bonus now.... I tend to play small maps on sandbox mode (I'm an RTS gamer, the big maps go way too slow for me). No

[quote]If your evil, put a Mind Control Center on it as well. First of all it gives you a 100% economic bonus[/quote] Is that still true, though? I tried evil on ToA 1.96, and I got no econ bonus from MCC anymore. I've been playing Neutral ever since.

[quote]Rise of Legends (Would not even work on my computer)[/quote] That's a bummer. I love RoL--it's the reason I'm putting off buying GCII:ToA. I wonder if the computer issues are the reason it got shafted by the gaming magazines' ratings.

Question for all you sentient beings out there: why do Galciv and Galciv2 seem to be so obsessed with the word "sentient"?? What the sentient is up with that? Sentients?

I spent many, many hours on Starcraft, but that is over now. There have been many advances in RTS since then. I would write more, but I hear CnC3 calling me....

I don't like less bonuses at all, I like more bonuses, and more types of them. It helps uniquify every planet. I also really like the idea of more planet-wide bonuses, and for the same reason.

I see no reason to give terror stars weaponry. So you have to escort them with ships. No big deal.

Korath. But we'll see what happens in Twilight.

I played one game of Civ IV and I was done. It simply moves TOO SLOWLY. Galciv2 is not as bad in that way.

I don't know if you have seen windmill arrays, but when I have seen them in California (particularly in the Palm Springs area), they have been an eyesore. I would hate to see those things dotting places like Lake Tahoe, the Adirondacks, the Appalachians & the Smokies, etc.. Another good place I would like to see windmills are on all those off-shore oil rigs in the Gulf--I mean hello, like it gets hurricanes? I could see a windmill helping power the oil rig itself, increasing the life of the o