Never played GalCiv 1, but I'm an old MOO veteran.
My first couple games of GalCiv 2 were a breeze, on Beginner difficulty. That shouldn't come as a surprise. I tried a Small galaxy with two opponents, and went for an Influence victory in my 3rd or 4th game. Not a problem, I owned 91% of the galactic map before medium made an appearance.
Now I'm trying a Medium galaxy, 3 enemies, all on Normal intelligence. And they are wiping the floor with me. I was going to try exploring a Technological victory, using a custom race with good Diplomacy and good Research, try to get "get in good" with everyone and then micromanage my way to a tech victory. Here is typically what happens:
1. By the time my first colony ship is created, the Terran Alliance have sent out 2-3 colony ships, and have already begun colonizing PQ 10+ worlds my flagship is just discovering. If I restart games until my race isn't COMPLETELY surrounded by aliens, I can occasionally grab 4-6 worthwhile planets. If the Thalans are in the game, they take the same strategy. If I play with both Terrans and Thalans, the map becomes two-colored within 50 turns, as they expand like crazy with nothing to stop them. I don't even know how they produce this many colony ships, and the Terrans often STILL manage to out-tech me during this stage.
2. About 50 turns in, my relationship with the Drengin (or Yor, or Korx) begins to slip. No amount of tech or monetary gifts will appease them, and they declare war on me 100 turns into the game. In order to prevent my complete ruin at the hands of scores of 6-beam ships, I have to force my early tech into the military tree. I put up some Weak Defender ships, with 1-2 missile racks and 0-1 shields (of the appropriate type), around each of my planets. Ten turns after the Drengin declare war on me, they attack with 10 fleets of 2-3 ships each, and wipe out my entire defense squadron. It's only a matter of time at this point before the troop ships start coming. It doesn't matter if I rush to Medium Hulls, or if I defend myself with Small ships with multiple missile mounts, the Drengin usually manage to strip my defense off each of my planets.
3. During this time, the Terrans have continued their frenzied expansion, and the map turns slowly bluer as I fight off the Drengin. Occasionally, I'm able to score a peace with the Drengin, and that's when the Terrans start demanding money and tech tributes. My relationship with them starts to slip, until they eventually declare war on me, and I am too depleted to fight them off.
Now, I want to play this game without using any of the cheesy AI tactics I've found and read on the forum. I don't want to buy the Drengins' credits, I don't want to repeatedly conquer and donate a PQ4 planet to steal technology, and I don't want to play the Yor with their decidedly powerful racial features. But how do you simultaneously prepare for inevitable war against the Drengin while halting the Terrans' explosive expansion? If I go heavy Military at the start and crank out 7 colony ships, by the time I colonize all those worlds, my economy is in the crapper and I can't support the ships I need to defend myself against the Drengin. If I build for economy, the Terrans choke me by colonizing 15 planets and cranking their economy while I'm in the middle of a war.
I've read the "Beginners Guide" on the forum, but it's too basic to help me. Any other resources I can use to learn the strategy for this game?
