Start of Game Strats???

from GalCiv2 Forums
Ok, ok, I'm at a loss! I can kick serious ass on Challenging, but every game I start at Tough I get my ass handed to me!

Although I win the Challenging ones, I can only do so if I'm left alone long enough to build up - my start of game strat must suck !#@$.

So I'm looking for any whiz-band starting strategies from you geniuses out there!

To be clear, I've tried these two basic strats, generally to no avail (again, I can make them work solidly under challenging, but not for tough):

1) Use my initial monies to build 3 colonizers and head out in various strategic directions trying to set up a decent outer ownership wall, and then backfill from my home planet while these planets are set to focus on social production.

2) Use my initial monies only to build the first factory on each planet I settle. My colonization goes much slower with this technique.

3) Totally focus on technology for a few turns while buying production facilities on my home world. Then switch to an upgraded colony ship that can move quickly. (Impulse engines)

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In general, I notice that the computer out colonizes me by a factor of about 2:1. And its able to produce a ton of both scouts and constructors at the same time, while I'm struggling with just creating enough colony ships!

Also, I generally have trouble with influence early in the game. Later, I can't keep it down and end up conquoring everything via influence when I just want to have a decent AI to fight space battles with...

So, what I'm looking for are good early game strats!!! Anyone???

;-}
4,825 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hmmm.... I play on Tough, and I can usually almost keep up with the AI at first, and then overtake their colonization efforts at some point, but I'm playing on gigantic maps with abundant habitable planets, so there's about 800 target planets out there and the colonization phase takes a VERY long time.

I find that taking econ and morale bonuses are important in keeping up with the AI. The Econ so you can afford the expansion, and the Morale so you can have a reasonable tax rate and still grow your population (at least in the 1.1 Beta, in 1.0X population grows without any help).

I don't buy colonization ships, and I usually don't buy factories. I usually buy Starports (they're cheap) and queue two factories as the first thing to build on any planet.

Initial Techs/Research order also matters, I usually focus on the Econ/Factory/Research techs first, and then after I've reached Factories or Enhanced Factories, Trade Centers, and Research Centers (?) then I worry about enough military techs for basic defense. Then again, I'm not a warmonger and don't care to try to rush anyone, so this path may not be the best for you.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I also play on tough.

My typical start is rush build a factory on the homeworld and 1 colony ship on the first turn. Then i generally just rush build the first factory on new planets, and slowly bleed the other income I have left over until I have a large enough pop/eco to make a surplus.

One thing that I noticed you didn't mention, which imo makes a big difference, is manipulating the slider bars. With what I just described on the first turn I crank up the tax slider to 40+, the spending slider to 100, and the military/research sliders respectively to 35/35.

Also on the new planets I colonize and rush build a factory I click the social production maximizer button so that it builds everything else I queue quickly. Once I make a starport (only on planets where I have 2 factories) I turn off the social maximizer to normal.

Honestly tho it comes down to how you want to play the game/race.

I hope some of this helps
Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yeah i agree, Econ and Morale seem to be Key in this game, With the Econ set high you can also set your Spending high and still make money, with Morale, you can keep cranking up the Taxes till you hit 80%....but just cuz you can't go higher then 80% without dipping into single digit morale, doesn't mean it's not useful, don't forget about upgrading your government too. Nothing quite as pleasing as looking at your purse bulge up with your morale at 100% and Star Federation going ...I must admit tho, i'm having so hard times on Challenging....Normal is too easy but Challenging is a pain in the ass, specially with those damn Torians.....god i hate them.

Sorry, went of on my own thing there...In conclusion, Morale and Econ is a pair that belongs to the greats.....Beavis and Butt-Head, Garth and Wayne, Bill and Ted......
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
: D

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, there are so many different factors to consider, so its hard to even talk about strats unless I include the game setup...

I like games on the big maps, either Huge or Gigantic, and I tend to play with uncommon stars and uncommon planets but abundant habitable ones (so fewer stars, with only a few planets, but with the majority of those being habitable). I like the opportunities for "key systems" that way...

When I'm sucessful (as I was after posting this last evening - but back down to Challenging for me), I

Social Builds:
* rush build my first factory, queue 1 more, plus a lab and a market and a few more factories
* when I settle a world, I'll buy its first factory (if i can afford it), set it to focus on social production, and set it to build:
* 2 factories, then a shipyard, then a lab, a market, and more factories...
Military Builds:
* rush build a scout
* the following turn, I rush build a colony ship
Economy:
* crank my tax rate up until I have only about 55% approval (while I've only got my one homeworld, to pump cash initially) - and set spending to 100% (or close, using up some of my cash reserves to help jump-start my economy)
* crank my research to 70% and social to 30% (I just buy ships initially, since only my homeworld even has anything to apply military spending to - feels like a waste to set my global sliders to include military spending)
* reverse those roles (30/70) as time goes forward, and I've aquired all of the +10 social / military / economy basic techs
Research:
* focus research on production-economy items (whatever the one that gives +10 to all three is my first target)
* next I focus on the yellow ones - communications & basic govt, xeno business, trade...
* next I focus on engines (gotta love impulse drive)
Fleet Orders:
* Send my flagship scouting a few nearby worlds then switch to "A" - auto find anomalies - and try to snarf up those sometime game-changing morsels... mmm, 2500 cash!
* Once I start settling worlds, I make sure I keep their morale at a minimum of 75% (but I allow my homeworld to suffer a bit, as it tends to due to larger pop pressures).
* keep my scout exploring stars to find the best planets between me and my nearest / most likely competitor

The thing is, I expand a bit, buying a colony ship here and there, and eventually changing my economy to have about equal military spending (once I have another world or two that has a shipyard), but I'm left in the dust on tough (even challenging, I'm doing a bit of a scramble to try to keep up with the AI's rate of colonization!)

I look at the various graphs, and I can see that my econ sucks, my pop sucks, my production sucks, everything but my research is heavily outclassed!

In games where I intentionally alter my strat so that I focus more on military spending, I still lag horribly behend.

One thing that is obvious, is that the computer has these production graphs where they'll climb in a good 45% angle in production for a while (easily doubling or tripling my output), and then drop to zero for a turn, then climb back up to an insane height again, and they continue this saw-tooth pattern going forward. Does anyone know what they're doing that makes a pattern like that? Whatever it is, it gives them way better production output (more colony ships & the ability to sustain military production) than any of my strats do. If I could figgure out how to keep up with the colony ship production in the initial phase (or even just keep within throwing distance), then I think I would win every game!

Thanks for all those who respond - I appreciate the feedback : D