The influence starbase...

I think yes and yes. Because I put one next to an enemy planet and it rebelled to my civ. I believe it also reinforces your systems.

My question, not to change the subject, is how do you tell the range of the station before you construct it? I want to have the best area of coverage for it.

I hope I'm right...

you can questamate, or do what I do. Quicksave, construct it, and then load if I don't like it

The radius is about like a half dollar when you build it and it will increase up to about the size of a small orange with all the modules (this is on a 19 in screen). Modules increase power and range.

Left click on the sb and you will see the aura, then you can estmate for future bases.

This kind of stuff REALLY needs to be documented. I ruined a whole game building influence starbases, and only after putting several modules on each, discovering they weren't doing anything.

3 games later, I still do not really know where to position influence starbases relative to my own colonies, the other race's colonies, and the various borders, etc. I sort of understand how influence works, but I do not understand how starbases affect influence.

I really hate being forced to GUESS what things do in a strategy game. In order to plan a strategy, you need to understand how all the basic game mechanics and technologies work. The fun is in APPLYING them and adapting them to your needs, not trying to figure out what they do. Without understanding how things work and what they do, it's as much a guessing game as it is a strategy game - and I find that frustrating.

Just be careful if you build one in “enemy territory”. One the minor races got pretty unhappy about it and declared war against me. If they start to complain about it, be ready for a fight..

It can be goodIt can be good practice to do both, build in enemy territory, and or build in your own.

If another race is culturally imposing on yours, you can counter there culture with Influencer starbases that effect your worlds.

If you are trying to culture flip enemy worlds, or just spread your culture though out the galaxy you can build them alien territories. Do be careful though because if you do this to obviously the AI will pick up on it and get ticked off.

Either way, the amount of influence generated depends on the modules you install. By researching up the Culture Brach of the tech tree you can turn this into a very formidable strategy for taking over the galaxy.

uhm, I can't figure out how to build starbase modules. Would somebody point this out to me? Thanks.

Just send the constructor to that base - it will ask you if you want upgrade the base, when the constructor arrives.

The influence techs start with Xeno communication and lead to cultural conquest.. The modules become buildable as you complete the techs.

Build influence starbases where you want to flip the major civs to your side. Minor civs don't seem to flip in GC2. I think it was the Alexians in GC1 that would flip easily but alas no more. All the majors will flip if you bomb them with culture (assuming they don't build the no flip project). The base needs to be fairly close to the planet you want but not neccessarily in the same sector.

You can also build a culture base near your own planet if it is near a high influence major civ planet it will boost your influence and keep your planet loyal. Debatable whether it is worth it to build culture bases just to boost overall influence. I do not build them unless I am protecting a specific planet or culture bombing a specific planet.

As someone else said, be aware the AI will come after you if you start building influence bases in their sectors. The higher the difficulty is set the harder and faster they will come. Best to build them one at a time and near border planets. Once the planet flips they seem to forget the incursion and you can go on to the next planet.

All the majors will flip if you bomb them with culture (assuming they don't build the no flip project).

Does that include the Yor? They have 100% loyalty in GC2.

Does that include the Yor? They have 100% loyalty in GC2.

Maybe not the Yor. I forgot that stat, not sure full power would overcome that loyalty.

I managed to flip a Yor planet tonight..... it took a LONG time though with a nearby planet specialising in Embassies and an Influence Starbase smack bang on their doorstep with 250ish rating. They are very difficult to flip though!

The Yor to not have 100% Loyalty, they have +100% loyalty. Meaning double the normal amount of loyalty. They still are flippable.

How do you upgrade the starbase? I research the mods and the "upgrade" button never lights up on the starbase

You upgrade a starbase with another constructor. Every upgrade costs one constructor plus bc in some cases.

Send the constructor to the SB. When it comes in contact with an existing SB you will ge a pop up asking if you want to upgrade.

I think I figured out infulence SB's by accident, I built one by clicking the wrong option when I meant to click on Military. I left it there just to see what it would do (I had no intention of doing things the way it turned out). The AI planet near it flipped to me about 10 turns later and I went out and built seven more and added influence modules to each. 30 or 35 turns later a cinematic starts and I'd won a cultural victory. Oops, I think? heh

Anyone pay attention to what the rating is when they flip. I mean the influence ratio. On normal settings I flipped some planets at around 5-6, but that planet had the skull and crossbones symbol for a long time. Another planet I have at ratio of 14, but they still have not flipped. Very isolated planet too.

The minimum ration required to flip is 4:1. If planet is in a parsec where another civ has more than 4 times as much cultural influence then they will get teh red skull by their planet. Then they will start a "roll" to flip each turn or so. They are more likely to flip the greater the ratio but 4:1 is the minimum.

Are minors not flippable ?? My last game, I took out the Arceans with influence. 3/4th of the Yor, 90% of the Thalan. Altaria was busy fighting Yor / Torians. I had several minor races deep in my influence zones. Major planets would flip and minors never did. . SOoo made me want to bring it up?

I'm not sure if minors are flippable or not, but I do know that just because a planet is in your zone does not mean it's flippable yet. You have to have a 4:1 ratio of culture to flip them, otherwise the approval rating is lowered that's it. I just completed the hearts and minds mission and it took forever to out influence the torians. Jez, I had planets in my zone with influence bases right beside them with maxed out culture improvements. Nothing....

is it capped? Cause when I look at the timeline my culture won't go up anymore
Doesn't matter how many upgrades I build in my starbases.

Ok, on the subject of flipping planets, we could REALLY use a hard number on forced flipping.

They say that any planet in which the ratio of your influence to theirs is 4.0 or greater will be in danger of flipping to your side. I just played a game in which I waited somewhere around 20 - 30 turns of watching a planet sit at 25.4 before finally growing frustrated and declaring war.

Twenty frickin five of the citizens favored me for every one citizen that favored the original culture. How could you *not* have rebellion?

How can I find out what is the influence ratio for a particular planet I'm trying to convert to my civilization. I know that a red skull indicates a ratio of at least 4:1 but how to get exact numbers?

Ok, on the subject of flipping planets, we could REALLY use a hard number on forced flipping. They say that any planet in which the ratio of your influence to theirs is 4.0 or greater will be in danger of flipping to your side. I just played a game in which I waited somewhere around 20 - 30 turns of watching a planet sit at 25.4 before finally growing frustrated and declaring war. Twenty frickin five of the citizens favored me for every one citizen that favored the original culture. How could you *not* have rebellion?

I'd agree that the probability of rebellion needs to increase faster (or perhaps at all, since I'm not sure if it does currently) as the influence ratio increases beyond 4.0. It seems kind of rediculous when you have double digit influence ratios and it still takes dozens of turns to get the planet. It's a really annoying gameplay mechanic, especially on the lower difficulty leves where the AI doesn't even respond to cultural dominance. The end game for cultural victory at Normal and below basically consists of repeatedly clicking "End Turn" until the random number generator works in your favor.