Getting my ass handed to me

Meh. I've found that the only thing they look at is your military strength. They don't care that your research or economy is horrible. If you you have the #1 military (just build bunch of tiny hulled ships with 1 point of offense) then you're golden.

Your strategy seems good, just outproduce military ships and you can attack when you choose. Use military starbases to your advantage, and you'll wonder why it's so easy.

Actually, diplomacy also helps keep them at bay. Influence is another. There are many different strategies to play the game. I often don't build any military ships at all and win a tech or cultural or political victory on gigantic galaxcie with all 9 aliens. Never have had war declared on me

Daemon Jax: Describe how you use Military Star bases.

I put them up and add some basic offense so they're not sitting ducks and then add "assisting" weapons that help ships in their area fight. However; it seems difficult to get the AI to actually engage in battles at this location more than a few times, so I need to build more (than one on one good spot).

What is your strategy?

Weyrleader: How do you keep the Drengin from realizing you are a threat to eventual victory and declaring war on you?

I play "Throw my friends under the French Boot" from Civilization 4 -- Napoleon loves war, so you convince others to go to war with him, or you seed your cities to other nations so Napoleon hits them first instead -- that's a little costly in Galactic Civilizations 2 but the idea is to keep the Drengin busy.

I find it beneficial to give more powerful races something to do. If they start being menacing and demanding money, I pay them to go to war with someone. Or I pay a bigger neighbor to go to war with them. Keeping the enemy busy can really help, even if they do decide to still declare war on you, at least you'll have an ally. Keep some paper handy too, when you see someone build a wonder or trade good write down what planet it was on and target that. Getting a trade good can really be beneficial in that you can then trade it to other civs to help you in your war, or to help you catch up in technology. Keeping up in technology should be easy though, if tech trading is on. See what everyone has vs. needs and go through aquiring one from this guy one from that guy and trading it to the other people. Keeping your military up should be easy as well. Always ensure you have a couple worlds that can crank out a ship per turn, use starbases to boost industrial potential and always turn your spending slider all the way up from the get go. Do not take the advice of most people about buying a half dozen colony ships in a row. That is a huge waste of money. Buy the factories and you will be able to out colonize everyone else (at least I always am). I always get at least half again as my next competitor (but I use bonuses and always restart my game until my main world has some bonus, even if it is just 100%, that is such a huge factor in the begining of the game. I don't understand how people lose this game at all, the key is in the diplomacy. Once I had a game where the altarians had cut everyone off from about 50 worlds after we were all about the same size. Basically they got this as free growth and I ended up being about 10 worlds above them, now that was huge because they also had two econ starbases and were max intelligence. I had payed them to declare war on practically everyone and suplied ships to the weakest ones. After some time it is just me, my allies the drengin, the arcean empire and the torians. Each of us had someone flip to us and the altarians still had more power. I had also aquired, through various means, every bonus starbase in the game was just coming equal to the altarians when they declared war on the drengin forcing me into the conflict. I simply built better ships to win the day. I also cranked out crap ships on par with what the altarians were using to give my allies. I aquired all the trade goods in the game by negotiating a peace treaty and inside the peace treaty buying altaria (with trade goods) which is a strategy to remember. Nearly any peace agreement can give you worlds if you pay enough, this will come in handy if you wrote down which worlds had what. The computer seems to pay attention to population size in it's value and perhaps some other factors but for 25k altaria was a bargin. It made 200 b.c per turn (Net) 121 I.p, had xinathium hull plating (Which I turned around and sold to my allies and the remaining minors for 14k) two super projects (+6 logistics points hyperion logistics center, and econ capital), and was cranking out a constructor every two turns. Also it gave me a base of operations to create new transports since the altarians were on the other side of the map from me. Now I had a decent amount of troops positioned inside thier territory. You could use espionage too, (And I did, but I had no clue where altaria was).

I have a fleet of constructs follow around my attack ships.
Then when I find their fleet (normally near their home planet) I drop down the military star base do full upgrades to both attack and defense of your ships. Don't bother upgrading the stations weapons it's self as they'll never get close to it if you do it right.
Then move in to wipe out their fleet.
They don't stand a chance when your fleet of small ships has like 80 offense and 80 defense.

Basically the way to beat them is just pull all your ships together in go straight down the middle of their empire, engage them in one decisive battle and destroy their fleets. The computer isn't good enough to try to get behind your forces to attack your undefended planets so it's really easy to concentrate all your forces in one place.

As an alternative you might want to focus more on research than economy buildings, selling technologies for good money (works fine if paired with a decent diplomacy ability). Also trade is a very "cheap" way of generating money (although it will not support your entire Empire/Federation/Hegemony/Quig-Quag)

I find focusing on one Weapon tech and One armour tech works well. saves you alot. For example, I always go missles and shields (Because shields and missles look cool). gets you better weapons quicker. (One AI i faced had about 33% reasearch on each of the weapon techs, But it didn't matter, because my large hull packed with photon torpedoes wiped all there ships out pretty quick ^-^)

I have a fleet of constructs follow around my attack ships. Then when I find their fleet (normally near their home planet) I drop down the military star base do full upgrades to both attack and defense of your ships. Don't bother upgrading the stations weapons it's self as they'll never get close to it if you do it right. Then move in to wipe out their fleet. They don't stand a chance when your fleet of small ships has like 80 offense and 80 defense. Basically the way to beat them is just pull all your ships together in go straight down the middle of their empire, engage them in one decisive battle and destroy their fleets. The computer isn't good enough to try to get behind your forces to attack your undefended planets so it's really easy to concentrate all your forces in one place.

Actually, the AI does that all the time to me. Just sends in about 3 or 4 transports to capture all my border worlds.

Eyes of the universe. Having every ship with 15 scanners, including trade ships, and matching it to ships designed to be fast with well placed starbases is my strategy to keep a nominal defense force with teeth and the flexibility to counter any incursion but an all out attack. It frees up my main forces to actually attack.

I usually start off researching planetary improvement, xeno research, xeno industry and xeno economy. Then I go on with weaponry.

I'd lose the planetary improvement tech, if I were you. You're gonna have a while before you fill up your existing planets and will need the PI to expand further... no sense wasting time researching it too early. Besides, if you wait you might be able to get it for a decent price from one of the AIs later on. Which leads me to: Universal Translators! Absolutely indispensible. I assume you've taken them for granted and just didn't bother to mention them in your list there, but just to be on the safe side, I wanted to bring 'em up. You need them.

Personally, I like to crank my spending and tax sliders way up at the beginning (keep in mind you start out as a dictator, so Approval doesn't really matter so much... go ahead and slide taxes on up to 49%-ish with spending as close to 100% as possible without going into negative income.), and put my research slider up to around 50%, Social around 30%, and military at 20% (sometimes I'll do 25%/25%, but it really shouldn't matter). This way I can start churning along on the Diplomatic tech path. No matter what sort of victory I'm gunning for, Diplomacy is vital. It gets you money (tech trading), it gets you friends, it buys you time (bribing AIs to beat on each other). I try to run up the Diplomacy a few levels, so I can dominate the AI in all our dealings... Then I usually focus on propulsion techniques, but really where you go after Diplomacy is up to you.

Meanwhile, you should be flat-out buying any Colony Ships or Constructors you need for the beginning rush. None of this interest-bearing nonsense, either. Just buy 'em right out... you'll be much happier in the long run. You may need to drop back on your spending slider somewhere in there as maintenance costs for your buildings/ships will chip away at your income, probably having driven you into the negatives by now. Also, don't forget to play with the focus of each planet. If you're trying to get some buildings up quickly, make sure to focus on Social for that planet. If you're trying to get some ships built, focus on Military. Don't forget about this part, as it can be a life saver... just make sure to switch it around for whatever you need at any given moment.

Anyway, without going on step-by-step through one of my games, I think you'll get the point. Shortly after the part where I stopped, you'll probably be wanting to move the research slider back down some so you can get buildings/ships cranked out quicker (unless you're going for a tech victory, of course).

Actually, the AI does that all the time to me. Just sends in about 3 or 4 transports to capture all my border worlds.

Yes... but they try to send them straight there, which happens to be straight through your attacking fleet. It's not smart enough to try to move around your ships.
And even if it does, which normally results when they had a transport far out of position when the war started and is now making a bee line for your planet or they have some remote world not in line with the rest, it normally comes unprotected. I personally have a specialized ship made just for shooting them down (and their freighters which also seem to think they can just wonder through my territory) which is simply one gun, one hull, and a hell of a lot of engines

Eyes of the universe. Having every ship with 15 scanners, including trade ships, and matching it to ships designed to be fast with well placed starbases is my strategy to keep a nominal defense force with teeth and the flexibility to counter any incursion but an all out attack. It frees up my main forces to actually attack.

That's far to much. Just take a cargo hull, fill it with sensors and place them at strategic points, cheap and effective.

That's far to much. Just take a cargo hull, fill it with sensors and place them at strategic points, cheap and effective.

I love that idea.

Try making an active trade network with as many civs as possible. If you do that, you rarely get any other civs to attack you on Normal. On higher levels they will attack you, but far less frequently if you have have enough trade routes.

Also, just becuse you're at war doesn't mean you need to go "total war" on them. If beatinghtem now means trashing your military and economy, then just take one or two places (if any), beat down thier ships and force a peace treaty. That way, you stay at full production the whole time, and when the inevitable 2nd war starts you can make sure it's on your terms.

My strategy is really dependant on the situation, but I tend to try to research the republic and xeno ethics as soon as possible. Having these far ahead of the AI will give you a great long term advantage. If I am enclosed in a small area, I research Planetary Invasion quickly, so I can take over minor races or close-by civs to gain more planets. You need to do that early, if you didn't get enough planets in the early land grab, because they will build up stronger than you if you wait. (My current game, I just managed to colonize the two home planets, and was unable to find any other habitible planets until they were all taken. So I took out two minor races and the Altarians, and now I am the second most powerful civ. - playing either tough or painful on 1.1, cant remember which difficulty level.)

Some suggestions:

Until you change your government type to Republic, a morale of 41% is the same as a 99%. If you can't keep it at 100% then 41% is just as good. Being at 100% will double your population growth. Feel free to crank up your taxes or delay building entertainment centers and spend that money on things that will give you an immediate benefit.

Stagger your building techs with your benefit techs. By researching planetary improvement, xeno research, xeno industry and xeno economy all in row, you must have some killer long build queues. Any new building tech that can't be used immediately is mistimed. If you get Xeno banking but can't build a bank on any planet for 30 turns due to prior build queues, that's 30 turns you could have had something else.

Try mixing it up a bit with weapon/engine/diplomacy techs in between. I usually go with engines first until ion drive so I can build faster colony ships and constructors. Then I flip so I can get the first level of sensors for my exploration ships (all engines and sensors). My military spending is 0% as I usually buy my first 3-4 colony ships. Getting the Diplomatic Translators trade good can be a god-send early game as it will keep races from attacking you or making it cheaper to pay them off.

Someoene else mentioned sensor "picket" ships as well as HK ships (all engines and 1 gun). Great for picking off unarmed traders, troop transports and starbases.

Until you change your government type to Republic, a morale of 41% is the same as a 99%. If you can't keep it at 100% then 41% is just as good. Being at 100% will double your population growth. Feel free to crank up your taxes or delay building entertainment centers and spend that money on things that will give you an immediate benefit.

Not necessarily true. Low approval rates cause planets to be more likely to defect or leave your empire to become a minor race. It also makes invasions against you easier through Information Warfare. I have a feeling there might be a few other under-the-hood issues it can cause as well, but I don't have any proof.

-Dewar

Some tips for preventing an early attack on your planets:

1 - Always build up your military early on, even if you're going for a diplomatic/influence victory. Alliances and influence techs necessary to fend off military threat don't become available or practical until later. Building up a military may eventually annoy the other civs ("We know what you're doing...") but the trade off for relative peace in the early game is worth it.

2 - Try to initate trade early with any civ that is a perceived threat. Establishing trade with a 'wary' or 'hostile' civ can improve your standing with them, even prevent them from turning on you before you're ready for them.

3 - Pay tribute. It's not something a lot of 'military' players want to do, but it get's the job done. If you're going for a military victory, but your military strength is lagging due to research and economic setbacks, paying tribute can often give you the time you need to 'get back in the game' militarily. A lot of the early game is based on what planets are available to you for colonization. If the enemy civs have a host of class 20+ planets, and you're stuck with the occasional, crummy class 6 - 10 planet here and there, you might want to buy some time early on by giving tributes to various militaristic civs while you let them fight amongst themselves.

4 - Watch your ethical choices and measure them against your nearest neighbors. If your nearest neighbors are powerful and leaning 'good', you might want to adopt a similar ethical approach if you don't have the means to fend off an early attack. Conflicts of ethical alignment between civs tend to incite war and hostility early on.

Wow O-o a lot of replies! I like it!

just read through all of them, some really cool ideas! ( sensor ships, all-engine-one-gun-ships ).

So researching all the xeno stuff first is a bad idea...ok I can see why. Does the following plan sound any better?

Research:
1. universal translator
2. diplomatic relations (to get to trade)
3. trade
4. The diplomacy stuff, maybe 2 levels
5. weaponry?
6. Xeno research
7. whtvr

and basically I should bribe my neighbours into attacking others...but where do I get the funding for that? All those trading things don't come until a bit later I believe?

and basically I should bribe my neighbours into attacking others...but where do I get the funding for that? All those trading things don't come until a bit later I believe?

That's where the tech trading comes into play. You buy a tech (or trade for one of yours) from the AI, then sell it off to every other AI. Rinse, repeat. You'll be surprised how quickly the BCs pile up

Also, your approval rating effects your population growth. 100% is the best, then 70% is the next level. I am not sure the breakdown. I should characterize that. The more population, then more tax revenue, the more invasion forces.

There is no need to build farming so soon, as all it does (iirc) is it raises the population cap.

On normal difficulty you could try delaying building combat ships for as long as possible, churn out constructors & freighters instead, reinforce & expand your borders with influence starbases...THEN when you can see you have out-researched the oppo start producing assault ships.

Does the following plan sound any better? Research: 1. universal translator 2. diplomatic relations (to get to trade) 3. trade 4. The diplomacy stuff, maybe 2 levels 5. weaponry? 6. Xeno research 7. whtvr and basically I should bribe my neighbours into attacking others...but where do I get the funding for that? All those trading things don't come until a bit later I believe?

I was going to post something along these lines, as I prefer to play an influence or diplomatic style. The two best methods to keep the other races at bay early on are trade and diplomacy, IMO. If you research trade first, build some fast trade ships and then open trade routes to all the neighbor civs asap you'll put them all in your favor before anyone has a military. this can take the heat off you and let you get a good jump on research.

also, consider toning down your colony rush. i've started ignoring the intial level 4 in my own system and now send the first colony ship out to find a 10 before the nearest civ does. each colony puts a significant drain on your economy early so cherry picking planets and making sure they get into positive cash flow quickly can give you an economic boost also.

once you get ahead of the curve on economy and research you're golden. watch the military graphs and if more than two civs jump ahead start building defenders to boost your rating. if you've got good diplomacy and money or techs to trade with you can usually get those two military front runners to go to war. once you've got the upper hand diplomatically and have a strong economy you can usually maintain it the rest of the game and be the "puppet master".

this is all assumign you're still playing normal difficulty also, i would guess it's not so easy on higher AI levels but I haven't ventured there yet.

I won a game by alliance victory just now. I basically spammed freighters all over the place and got my diplomacy to majesty. Then I sold all my techs to everyone..got like 20,000 total for it. I then used that money to bride the most powerful civilization into an alliance with me. I also payed all his enemies to make peace. Then all I had to do is pay my ally to take down weaker civs one by one.

I enjoyed winning for once...but man I feel like a scumbag. What happened to the good oll armada fighting? My style is more violent...

is it just me, or is tech trading broken as hell? No way I would have won this without tech trading. Pretty much all my colonies were in the influence sphere of enemies (before I started bribing everyone, it didnt matter nymore after) and my approval rating was like 40%. How do I beef up my influence?

One tactic I have yet to try is sending them a sacrificial planet to keep them appeased. Its really the only good use I can think of for the class 4 planet you start with, and if you do it right you might be able to "re-gift" the planet several times if you can get it to culture flip back to you quickly. I'm thinking that setting up a couple influencer bases next to the starting class 4 planet, gifting the planet to someone to keep them off your back, then waiting for it to flip back might work, but I'm unsure how it'll affect other diplomacy options (close borders? alarming influence? something else?).

And yes, tech trading is a bit too powerful at the moment, but at higher difficulty levels you won't get nearly the same amount of cash for techs so it does balance somewhat. Even so, I've been able to sustain my economy with tech trading so far on the suicidal game I started yesterday, and I haven't even met all 9 races yet. Since the AI doesn't get any cheats other than a 200% economy, if you can suck the money away from him and use it in your own economy you'll be just as dangerous as the AI. But since the game is still in the early phases, I might still run into issues.