If you think you know the game, try playing gigantic/abundant,suicidal, ONE opponent

from Stardock Forums
Based on forum conversations both here and in the High Command's, forum I thought I'ld step out of my little stardock default settings at suicidal shell where I was winning roughly 80% of the time and try some of the games the other folks play.

My first game went to a huge universe. It played exactly the same way as the large universe, Until I owned half the universe. The battle I posted came from this game. The INSTANT, I wiped out the Terrans, The rest of the univers declared war on me.
That 163 ship is good, but I couldn't defeat 4 races simultaneously. I also couldn't build anything, because I lost 3-4K bc in trade revenue over night.

But I knew what I did wrong there, hubris, and decided to play gigantic and make everything abundant. I over clicked number of races, and the computer decided ! was a good number. Try it sometime on suicidal, it was a trip. The Aceans never attacked me, They just swalloed my entire empire with influence!

My next ry was to face the full complement, but this time I turned off tech trading. Man, I am back to little ships, and Mumblefratz planets. I never realized how much of a crutch it was to be able to trade for competitive war techs the moment someone declares war. The Drengins haven't handed me my head yet, but if the Drath ever decide to use their ships against me rather than give them to me, EVERY TURN, I think I am in some serious trouble. And I thought I was just going to rack up some gigantic scores to push us past the Diplomats, silly me.
22,108 views 34 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I haven't worked my way up to suicidal yet, am trying my first obscene. And doing it on gigantic as well, but not abundant. Too much micro management. But I am sure I will attempt one again sooner or later. Your one-on-one gigantic seems intriguing though. Was it a bit dull in the beginning?

Playing with tech trading off really changes the game, doesn't it? Did you make sure to pick some research bonuses at the start? The AI really likes to start researching weapons at first, and I always felt behind, but always caught up by the end(maso).
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'm still too timid to step up from Tough, but I can second the suggestion of getting out of whatever your strategic rut might be and I suspect that tweaking startup settings is a good way to do that. Now if I can just make myself play on a less than max-size map...
Multiplicity - Control multiple PCs using one keyboard and mouse
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I haven't tried one opponent, but you need to make sure that you're far enough away from that opponent that you aren't able to "rush" him by getting planetary invasion at all costs early. If you can't do that then I think one opponent could be a good game. But I do think that the difficulty at that level and settings is inversely proportional to the number of opponents, if only because of how many planets you get to colonize before the colony rush is over and you need to prepare for battle.

One comment to those that are leery of going to suicidal. I certainly recommend that you work your way up to it, but at some point you need to just jump in the deep end and see if you can swim. I don't think I've yet started a game that I didn't think I was going to lose. But you hang on and struggle and get a bit lucky now and then and sooner or later you begin to get stronger. Once you win your first war, you're equal to most of the AI's. Once there it's the beginning of the end for the AI's.

Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I think my main problem is that I do not have time to really get involved in the game. If you notice, the games I have posted have all been on the small galaxy. I wanted to secure my multiracial medal before going to a harder level.

I completely destroyed the enemy on normal with very little effort. I just posted my first victory on challenging. I again blasted the opposition. I do believe my next game will be tough.

I can never sit down and play through one game, even when set to a small galaxy. Work, life, children and other factors routinely interrupt my play. I also find it very hard to come back and pick up where I left off. I do fine obviously, but for the first few turns I forget things that I wanted to do originally, and it takes me 3 or 4 turns before I am completely aware of everything going on in the game.

This makes me a bit hesitant to increase galaxy size or difficulty. There will be so much more going on and it will probably take me that much longer to get back into it. At a higher level and a larger galaxy, I am sure that would prove to be a devastating blow to my war efforts.

Has anyone else encountered this problem? If so, how do you work around it. I honestly believe that if I could sit down and stay completely focused on a game, I could win at the higher levels.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hi!
try playing gigantic/abundant,suicidal, ONE opponent

Now please tell me how much more fun is repeating the planetary invasion 250 times over 50 times? Colecting 500 troop transports and moving them 200 parsecs far instead 20 troops and 50 parsecs? Managing production of 400 planets instead of 40?

Not for me, thankyouverymuch! I have a life outside the computer.

BR, Iztok

Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
There will be so much more going on and it will probably take me that much longer to get back into it.

Has anyone else encountered this problem? If so, how do you work around it


I have encountered that problem, nowadays I only have time during the weekends to play galcivII. What I do is create my personal game example story. During the game (large maps so far) on critical points I take screenshots of the main map or battles and make a note of the event in a txt file. Then you get something like this:

Terran Alliance 'Industrial revolution'
Large Map
9 opponents

1-jan-2225
The Terran Alliance starts their colonization from the center of the galaxy.
My goal is to conquer the map by investing as much as I can in social and military production
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
There will be so much more going on and it will probably take me that much longer to get back into it.

Has anyone else encountered this problem? If so, how do you work around it


I have encountered that problem, nowadays I only have time during the weekends to play galcivII. What I do is create my personal game example story. During the game (large maps so far) on critical points I take screenshots of the main map or battles and make a note of the event in a txt file. Then you get something like this:

Terran Alliance 'Industrial revolution'
Large Map
9 opponents

1-jan-2225
The Terran Alliance starts their colonization from the center of the galaxy.
My goal is to conquer the map by investing as much as I can in social and military production
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
you need to make sure that you're far enough away from that opponent that you aren't able to "rush" him by getting planetary invasion at all costs early


Its Gigantic so there is little probability that you are close. But even if you are, the AI will have 10 planets by the time you research PI, and 12 before you build your first transport. and... Basically, you wont have enough population to rucsh ALL of his planets.

Now please tell me how much more fun is repeating the planetary invasion 250 times over 50 times? Colecting 500 troop transports and moving them 200 parsecs far instead 20 troops and 50 parsecs? Managing production of 400 planets instead of 40?


Not per se. But think of like the difference between invading France and Invading Russia. More things change than just the scale. I agree, that is not the case with all 4X games, but it is with this one. Specifically, at the defaults, I could take on the entire Universe and win. At Huge I couldn't, not so much because I didn't have the ships, but because I didn't have the PEOPLE to fill them. And that was still with Occasional.

Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
Has anyone else encountered this problem? If so, how do you work around it. I honestly believe that if I could sit down and stay completely focused on a game, I could win at the higher levels.

I know exactly how you feel. When I'm in a mid game war in a 500 planet galaxy and I have 100 planets and my opponent has 100 planets as well, a single turn can take a couple of hours. I once played 4 hours and never hit the turn button.

There's always time lost getting back into the game and picking up where you left off. The only thing I try to do is to leave the game at obvious stopping points. It's not always possible but it helps if you press turn then save and exit with nothing done in the next turn. That way at least you haven't moved half your ships and have the other half still to move. In this case you spend a whole lot of time figuring out which have moved and which haven't.
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
I handle it exactly the other way. I save before the Hit turn. That way the first thing that happens when you come back is that the AI draws attention to what you need to focus on.

I also pre-plan all my planet build outs and always route ships to final destinations, so I only have to react to the turn summarries.
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I once played 4 hours and never hit the turn button.


Holy micromanagement batman!
Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top
Its Gigantic so there is little probability that you are close. But even if you are, the AI will have 10 planets by the time you research PI, and 12 before you build your first transport. and... Basically, you wont have enough population to rucsh ALL of his planets.

Actually, you do. As long as you've been able to keep pace with his colonization it's not hard to have enough people to take at least 3/4 of his planets. Usually, I'm able to colonize a bit faster than the AI so it's not a big problem. As far as taking 10 to 12 planets that's easily done in a single turn giving him no time to respond.

Another potential cheese tactic against a single AI is if you can trap him in a corner and stifle his growth. A single AI has the potential of being easily abused.

It is a valid game to give the AI room to grow before wars begin, but I think you're better off with 4-5 opponents at least in a gigantic abundant all with loose clusters or scattered planets that results in 500 planets in the galaxy. Allowing the AI to colonize and develop 100 planets makes for a pretty strong AI.

Of course if you play against a single opponent and don't do anything cheesy and wait until you both have you 250 planets before attacking then that's a pretty good game as well.

But with even only 4 opponents, everyone essentially starts with 100 planets. To win you need to conquer 400 planets. Believe me that's definitley harder than conquering "only" 250 planets.

To me the hardest is 9 opponents, everybody gets 50 planets and you need to conquer another 450 to win.
Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top
I handle it exactly the other way. I save before the Hit turn. That way the first thing that happens when you come back is that the AI draws attention to what you need to focus on.

That's good as well. Anytime that you're not half done with something. Sometimes I've done all my movement but no production, that's not a bad place either.
Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top
I suggest you try going Manu au Manu againts the ACAENS. You don;'t have to play it out, but just see if you really can keep pace with their developemnt. I don't think you will be anywhere close to their number of planets by the time you hit Planetary Invasion.

If you are, I am going to want to know secrets.
Reply #15 from Stardock Forums Top
I suggest you try going Manu au Manu againts the ACAENS. You don;'t have to play it out, but just see if you really can keep pace with their developemnt. I don't think you will be anywhere close to their number of planets by the time you hit Planetary Invasion.

Been there, done that.

Actually I think the Torians are the fastest colonizers. The short answer (of course DA probably changes everything) is to take the 70% pop growth bonus, keep your early approval at 100%, and on your home planet you buy a factory and build your manufacturing capital and 3 or 4 more factories. If you do this (it does take a lot of balancing to get it right) you can easily build a colony ship every other turn with 500 colonists on each ship. Every 6 or 8 turns you can squeeze out an extra colony ship to get 4 ships every 6 turns or 5 every 8 turns. Do this and you will out colonize the Arceans every time.
Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top
Actually, I know a few folks that can colonize even faster than I can. I'm not sure how they do it.
Reply #17 from Stardock Forums Top
You raise another pint about what changes when you monkey with universe composition. When you have the occassional colonizable planet, colony ships are about quality. I was used to paying cash for each ship. This places premium on research to get speed techs as quickly as possible. As a result I was buying research Centers.

When you are vying for 50 planets, the speed of your first 5 colony ships is really not important, so you should start with factory purchases. Much more like GalCIv I. (max on military to build one ship every other turn) than GalCiv II (max on research to acquire speed and THEN buy ships)
Reply #18 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I know exactly how you feel. When I'm in a mid game war in a 500 planet galaxy and I have 100 planets and my opponent has 100 planets as well, a single turn can take a couple of hours. I once played 4 hours and never hit the turn button.

I know your pain! I mostly play on weekends and when I come back after a week, it takes me 1/2 an hour studying everything to see what needs to be done next!
I have played two Metaverse games with ~300 planets. In these games I selected "tight clusters" and this time I'm trying your suggestion of "scattered clusters"; it is still early in the game so I don't know how many planets there are but once loaded up the game is using lots more memory! I think I need to upgrade my computer from 512MB to 1GB or more. Mumblefratz, how much memory does your system have?
Reply #19 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
To me the hardest is 9 opponents, everybody gets 50 planets and you need to conquer another 450 to win.

I always play against 9 AI opponents; I colonize ~10% and have to invade or flip the remaining 90%. I grow my population much faster than the AIs so I get the influence advantage even at the 3 hardest levels! The key to growing your population fast is keeping morale at 100%, getting all the trade goods that boost population growth, and choosing the 70% bonus at game setup (I failed to do this in previous two games).
Reply #20 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Mumblefratz, how much memory does your system have?

I have a pretty poor system, 512MB ram but I up my virtual memory to 4095MB and it's on a 900Mhz celeron. Seems to do OK. The biggest complaint I have is that on reload some of my ships forget their autopilot so I need to go around and give them a goose.

When you have the occassional colonizable planet ...
get speed techs as quickly as possible. When you are vying for 50 planets, the speed of your ... colony ships is really not important

Absolutely correct. Small galaxies are about ship speed, large galaxies are about ship quantity. It's not how fast the ships go it's about the rate at which you can produce them, and of course, the pop growth required to supply the necessary pop.

BTW I acutally do raise the occasional pint while playing the game.   
Reply #21 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Actually, I know a few folks that can colonize even faster than I can. I'm not sure how they do it.

In my last game I was lucky and got 700% factory bonus square on my home world! This game I have a 300% factory bonus square on my home world. I must confess I did Cntl-N a few times until I got a starting planet with a factory bonus title on which I place a purchased factory to get things going; otherwise, at the top 3 levels the AI with its large bonuses will out colonize me.
Reply #22 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The 700% is nice. If you get that you don't need the manufacturing capital. But if you don't get the 700% tile (this will be most of the time) just use the manu cap, it works great.

Magnumaniac is the best at colonization, he was a bit bummed about the v1.4 changes. I think he just took a rest and will be back for DA. At least that's what I hope.
Reply #24 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
(of course DA probably changes everything)


A painfully pithy aside that points towards the core virtue of GCII--it can satisfy an amazingly wide range of tastes on the tactics-strategy scal. DA seems to be built to shake us all up, whether we like a very quick game or expect that we'll need *many* hours to finish (which can mean many weeks for folks who are good to the people sharing their home ).

But seriously, even though I haven't fully committed to a DA game for the long haul, Mumble is oh so right that DA changes everything. I'm probably hopelessly hung up on the big map, micro-fiddler thing, but I'm really looking forward to reading about how the new environment stuff works out for you folks who play on very different sorts of maps.
Reply #25 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Been playing gigantic with everything on abundant. In 1.2, I was winning at Sucicidal with all 9 races at max intelligence. However, since changes to the game, I've dropped down to Masochistic and I dont' run all the races at the highest intelligence.

Maxed-out games take a long time to play and require lots of micro-management. If you don't mind playing a game over the course of time, it's great, otherwise, I wouldn't recommend it. I have managed to find some tricks to make handling hundreds of planets and fleets at a time easier, but it is tedious at best. Took me a lot of games to work up to it. But, it's what I like and reducing the universe size or quantity of planets would be less challenging and enjoyable for me. One thing that makes it more time consuming is the fact that ships and fleets move so slowly. I wish there was a setting to make ship movement instantaneous. I just dont' seen any reason (other than aesthetics) for ships to crawl across the screen the way they do.