Ultimate Beginner

Huh?

from GalCiv2 Forums
:SNIFF!: I'm lost here. I've only been playing for a week but several things are clear. One - I start researching Universal Translator. When I get it. (4 weeks) Every other Civ has at least 5 other techs. I've gotten TWO research starbases, built nothing but factories and labs. Researched nothing but labs and they STILL just leave me in the dust. I've started games where I decided to go military. By the time I get defenders the other guys have six or seven starfury's already built! Not to mention another 5 or so defenders. I really thing we need a total beginners forum. BTW I did win a game as a beginner with an influnce victory by not building any military at all but building Influnce starbases all over the galaxy until the other guys just joined me. What a shock to find most of their planets undevolped! HELP!!!
9,197 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hi there,

A couple of newbie tips:-

1) Play on a low level of difficulty to get into the game, the AI is very good, normal difficulty is like very hard on most other games.

2) Computer players don't cheat, anything they do, u can do as well apparently they just maximise there resources at 100% or near it even on lower levels of difficulty.

3) Put spending upto 100%, try to keep your planets morale at 100% for population growth for as long as possible early in the game. Don't be worried about being -150 bc's in the red every turn so long as u have a sizeable bank balance. It should balance out later. I have never in any game i have played EVER lowered my spending below 100%, so its possible to keep it there the entire game.

4) Grab as many planets as possible early in the game. Consider designing yr own colony ships, speed is a very, very important factor on any ship. It gives u a tactical advantage over computer players.

5) As soon as u colonise a planet, buy a starport, don't miss out on any ship production.

6) Defend your colonies with at least 1att basic fighter.

7) Use diplomacy to look at the techs alien races have got, then research something they have not got. If your in contact with 5 races u could trade this 1 tech for 5 other techs+. Instant catch up! If u have a large treasury consider buying techs via diplomacy screen.

8) I find having the sliders for military, social and research at 10-10-80 etc depending which areas u r concentrating on at the time is a very good idea. U continue to develop in every area. Play about with them, often if u r getting a tech in 1 turn with 80%, u will still get it at 50% thus giving u 30% to spend on ships or planet production.

Good luck, GC 2 Is a great, great game and will continue to get better.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Cool points from the above but im not so sure about planet grab. I have done best by going for good planets early on rather then rushing for every planet. low quality planets can be left till later and then taken over by force or influence.

This is my theory anyway, as i seem to overstretch myself going for planet grab and then get left behind in tech as you have.
Siege of Centauri
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yea dominico yr spot on about low quality planets, they r a drag on yr economy, i suggest 7+ quality but higher the better. One further point, as a new player, jumping straight into the dread lord campaign is a good idea. The first few small maps r like training missions, also u have 100% loyal allies who r perfect trading partners.
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
Thanks for the hints. Of course I find I don't have a choice on planets. You guys act like there is lots of time to "find and decide" on grabbing planets. I find if I BUY colony ships I MIGHT get 4 planets, including starting planet, before the AI grabs everything else. It's like it has a map and I have a flagship and a colony ship to look for targets. By the time I find more than one or two the AI has found everything in range, divided up the goodies between Civs and taken the galaxy.
NOTE: I just finished a medium galaxy game with a TECH victory. As I was looking over the finishing screens I noticed that no one had lost a single ship. However, Everyone except me had lost 50/60 million soldiers. What gives? Research Invasion, research/build a transport, load up and drop?
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Stats are not always right ... my tips : at the start opf every game u can check where the Ai's spawned and decide if u want to play or not check if you have enough space or even what tile bonuses you have on your home planet, if u dont like it press CTRL+N and a new galaxy will be created.
Keep in mind that everydoby likes to play it their own way but here are some of my ways : i always rush the sensor and engines techs so i can make a fast survey or two to pick up all the anomalies ( always set to abundant ) and scout all resources.
Dont reasearch any weapons or defenses early on u should focus on economy/research and just pump colony ships from planets that hav the largest population and constructors/freighters from all the other ones. After the colony rush has ended i reasearch xeno ethics and always choose neutral becouse of the ebility to upgrade all the planets ( class 10 becomes 18 class 18 becomes 26 ). If u feel like AI's have some kinf of advantage over you on the easy difficulties you must be doing something wrong ... every time u colonize a new planet set the focus on social production in the planet screen it speed up thing. Remember that all civs start with diffrent techs so probably thats why they have more than u. Anyway currently play at the "crippling" level and as soon as i finish this one i go level up becouse the AI are getting owned
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Once the game begins, use the Flagship aka Survey ship for your nearest star systems, and have the colony ship move in its direction, but also tending to veer towards another nearby system, just in case it doesn't have a habitable planet. Grab a decent planet if you find one. So far, very basic.
On the domestic stats screen, I usually set my military and research to 50%, and buy everything else for my humble homeworld. I purchase a factory, then a lab. First few techs will be a breeze. The sensor and engines are definately great if the number of anomolies are abundant, and I do invest on Sensor and research until Impulse Drive to get all the scouting done. Also, having a very very fast Colony ship helps grabbing distant planets that I've scouted with my Flagship.
By then the minor habitable planet that orbits the same star as your Homeworld would be occupied, either as a military planet to build ships, or has labs. Tax income is definately low with the low population at this point. Usually on the second or third turn, planets will have one or two entertainment centers to keep approval up while maintaining a high tax rate. Basically, I use up my initial 5000bc very quickly on building up my homeworld and other colonized worlds. However, don't buy stuff beyond 1000bc; considering that there will be factories, they ought to build stuff. Usually buying two factories and one entertainment center is enough.
Since I usually have some techs to trade, I shop around with the aliens I meet and trade for more tech or cash. Minor races could be useful at times to trade useless techs for some cash.
Consider checking out what military techs the AIs have, and consider developing defenses against it, along with some kind of offensive tech for yourself. I do this all the time, as I love conquest.
Usually the population increases so damn quickly by maintaining a 100% approval rating; having a planet with many many markets and some farms is great to support yourself later on. Eventually, I'd have enough that superprojects could be bought outright.
Indeed, I research techs to have an astounding economy. Entertainment techs are great too to tax people to death.
Don't forget about the "focus" button in the planet screen to cut down on production points that are being wasted. I have planets focus on military or research after everything's built.
Anyways, back to the game.
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
Continuing on...... Following the above advice I started the "Dread Lords" Campaign. Won the first two very quickly but only got between 4000-5000 points for the victory (Normal rating) so I assume I was slow . Now that the Dread Lords are here I'm starting to get killed. A simple DL frigate easily kills the defenders I have guarding my planets and the target is wayyyyyy to far away to get to before DL BATTLESHIPS start roaming around. Any suggestions on early tech research to hold these guys off? After all, I need Econ power, Research Power, Planet Defence and extended life support just to get to the target world.