[quote]If not, what are the benefits of achieving an "advanced" espionage rating on an opponent, rather than simply leaving off at a "high" level?[/quote] You get to look into the other guy's starbases and ships (wow, big deal....). For that matter, I don't think High espionage level is that important, either. Medium is the all-important level--that's where you get to track all his ships' autopilots.
[quote]A good RTS game to try: Age of Empires 2: Age of Kings[/quote] AOE2 is very cookie-cutter. All the decent players have developed & practiced their own sub-3-minute build orders to tech up early and go from there. In that regard, AOE2 is really no better than a TBS except you have to rehearse the build order over and over again. This is a good example of how it really is more about the individual game than it is the genre. <p
[quote]You say RTS is glorified tetris? I say TBS is glorified TIC. TAC. TOE.[/quote] THIS MEANS WAR!!
RTS TBS --------------------------------------------------------------- LESS FILLING! TASTES GREAT! LESS FILLING! TASTES GREAT! LESS FILLING!
Try out Wizard IV: Return of Werdna.
Generally speaking, I prefer RTS to TBS, because RTS games tend to be over in 45 minutes. In a decent game of Civilization, that is one turn. That's all fine and good if I'm laid off, single, and have nothing better to do than job hunt and play games, but I have other things in life to do. Let's play a couple games of CNC3 every now and then and then go do other things. Another thing I have noticed about TBS is the random element. Lots of roll
I use Military SB's a lot and I haven't seen that problem. However, I do frequently get starbase defense modules mixed up with ship assist modules. Did you double-check that your modules are Assist? That would be the first place I would look.
RTS is like Tetris, only the puzzle pieces kill and maim each other. So...what was the problem again? [e digicons]:ninja:[/e]
Not sure if Galciv1 counts, but I'm sure everyone of that era can remember the 10,000+ bc trade routes. Also there was the time I would sell an AI one of my planets for a bunch of money, then turn around and invade the planet I just sold...steal a tech....then in a few turns sell the AI I invaded a peace treaty, for more money. Go to the next AI, repeat. There's the time I built early starships and blasted every colony ship, every miner, every flagship I saw.
[quote]Doesn't particularly matter where you multiply, as it's all multiplication, if memory serves. [/quote] It *DOES* matter where you multiply. Using 7th grade algebra, you have: (Base * (1+.25SM)) * (1+Civ) vs. Base * (1+.25SM+Civ) Base = Planet base income (based on pop, tax, all that) SM=# stock markets Civ = Civ-wide bonus Using associativity, you expand them out to
[quote] In addition, I believe your civilization economic bonus adds to the planets bonus, [/quote] My understanding from Mumblefratz is that your civ econ bonus multiplies with the planet's income. At least, for DL. In other words, planet income is computed first (stock markets & all), then it is all multiplied by your civ bonus. If true (and I think it is), that changes a few things.
Is it verified that a custom race's base growth is 4% regardless of whether they are Super Breeder?
[quote]The econ starbases might be the reason he saw his trade revenue drop, too-I don't recall seeing that in the original post when I posted, though.[/quote] For that dramatic a revenue drop in one turn, though, you'd have to establish all the trade routes in one turn, or have all the mini freighters leave the starbase's influence on the same turn by some wild coincidence.
[quote]Admittedly, trade is not my specialty, as it gives a truly terrible return on investment.[/quote] Building the starbases is, but building just the Trade Ships alone pays off handsomely. I built 7 Trade Ships for 85bc apiece, sent them not that far away (~5 sectors), and forgot about it. About a year later, I discovered those routes were yielding me 450bc every turn. Plus, the receiving civ was Friendly with me even though he was opposite alignment. IMH
Yep. No more PQ1's. Were they there, I would still like the name PQ1, though, because that keeps all the planets sorted together the ones that were formerly PQ1 but terraformed. They need their own governor/build order.
What I hate about that sorting button is that it's a cyclical button, instead of a drop-down slider box. There are too many options to choose from. I wish it would just drop down and you could choose it instead of having to cycle through them all.
Once you get over 2.5 billion pop, growth ceases to get any faster. So the sweet spot for a fertility world is between 2.5 billion and whatever level it is where you are no longer at 100% approval. I've made that mistake invading worlds with 1 million troops before. Actually, I've used Info Warfare before and gotten away with it, too. :D I've also made the mistake of accidentally attacking a planet with orbiters with one of my transports. 
They must be double agents. :)
I've had pretty good success with transport-filling worlds, but they are not high-pop worlds, per se. Actually they are fairly low-pop. I get them down to around 3 billion, where the approval is still 100%. Fertility Centers are easy to build--an otherwise crappy world can put out one every other turn (a REALLY crappy extreme planet, I can sometimes afford to just rush-buy FC's everywhere). Then rather than building transports on that same world, I just rally point the
I'd have a big map of the galaxy on the wall where you color in the planets one-by-one as you visit them all.
A few planets *SHOULD* be bleeding money like mad. Your tech and manufacturing capitals, for instance. That is not a problem, that is good gameplay.
We are the mighty Teabags, hailing from the planet Liptonite.
It's 999 ip or less. Over 1000ip is basically worthless, but you can bribe the AI over and over again with 999ip and get all kinds of knick-knacks. Just throw up 999ip on the trade screen first and see what you can get for it. This is ToA 2.02. People could totally beat Suicidal with this.
This is in ToA 2.02. If you spy on a Minor race-wide and then wipe them out, you don't get your spies back. In fact I got High espionage level on a Minor race two months after they ceased to exist.
This is in ToA 2.02. The AI values 999 influence points too highly, especially in large galaxies. I can beat Suicidal that way. The AI will offer me 200bc or even 300bc sometimes for 999ip, along with techs, defenders, scout ships, attacking somebody, or just gifting it to them. VERY exploitable.
