Newb Questions

from Stardock Forums

1.  I remember from the first Gal Civ that the interface, the screen for example, would change to take on a more ominous look once you became evil.  I haven't noticed this happening in TA.  Even though I have xeno ethics and have chosen evil as my alignment.  Has this graphic feature been removed since Gal Civ I or am I missing something?

2.  Weapons, It's not entirely clear to me the advantage, from a combat standpoint that something like Lasers V has over Laser 1.  They both do 1 point of damage.  Aside from space and cost, is there something I am not aware of?

3.  I have played to 2 games so far, one as Drengin and one as Yor and I cant seem to build a mining module on an economic starbase in spite of the fact I have the requisite technology, Industrial Starbase Construction for the Drengin, (I dont remember the Yor Equivalent). 

I have made the effort to find answers to these questions on the forums but the search feature is somewhat limited and I appologize if these have already been previously addressed.

Thanks,

Christian

7,422 views 15 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

 

0.  If you're a noob, you can't be an evil genius.  Not yet.  You'll have to wait your time, and your turn.


1.  I remember from the first Gal Civ that the interface, the screen for example, would change to take on a more ominous look once you became evil.  I haven't noticed this happening in TA.  Even though I have xeno ethics and have chosen evil as my alignment.  Has this graphic feature been removed since Gal Civ I or am I missing something?
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I don't know, not having played TA yet... but it sure seems to happen in other versions of GCII.

2.  Weapons, It's not entirely clear to me the advantage, from a combat standpoint that something like Lasers V has over Laser 1.  They both do 1 point of damage.  Aside from space and cost, is there something I am not aware of?
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Seems to me that space and cost are pretty big advantages.  

"Aside from the fatal shot to the head and the sea water filling his lungs, what do you think might have killed him?"

But the steps give you a way to tackle research in smaller chunks... from the standpoint of keeping busy and feeling like you're accomplishing things, this is a good thing.  And trade, too.

3.  I have played to 2 games so far, one as Drengin and one as Yor and I cant seem to build a mining module on an economic starbase in spite of the fact I have the requisite technology, Industrial Starbase Construction for the Drengin, (I dont remember the Yor Equivalent). 
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You're sending constructors?  You need to build a starbase, then add mining modules to it by sending more constructors.  I wonder if perhaps you're sending asteroid miners instead.

I have made the effort to find answers to these questions on the forums but the search feature is somewhat limited and I appologize if these have already been previously addressed.

Thanks,

Christian
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Questions happen.  You need to look for the Question Authority (available on a bumper sticker near you... or Berkeley, California).

Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

If you are trying to build a production-boosting module on the economic starbase, I believe you need Advanced Computing to enable the particular module that enables subsequent modules. When I'm through with my current Krynn game, I'll check into it further if someone else does not beat me to it. I seem to recall that Smart Drones is the key module, but I may be wrong.

CursorFX - Customize your Windows cursor
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

1.  I remember from the first Gal Civ that the interface, the screen for example, would change to take on a more ominous look once you became evil.  I haven't noticed this happening in TA.  Even though I have xeno ethics and have chosen evil as my alignment.  Has this graphic feature been removed since Gal Civ I or am I missing something?
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I never played GalCiv1.  I have never seen this feature ever playing GalCiv2.  Sounds like an awesome idea.


2.  Weapons, It's not entirely clear to me the advantage, from a combat standpoint that something like Lasers V has over Laser 1.  They both do 1 point of damage.  Aside from space and cost, is there something I am not aware of?
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It's not all about damage.  That extra space can make all the difference in being able to add one more defense module or a better engine.  It adds up.

3.  I have played to 2 games so far, one as Drengin and one as Yor and I cant seem to build a mining module on an economic starbase in spite of the fact I have the requisite technology, Industrial Starbase Construction for the Drengin, (I dont remember the Yor Equivalent). 
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Send in more Construction ships.  I also assumed when I first started playing that modules were researched and starbases "upgraded" them, but it's not the case.  They are built.

 

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

2.  Weapons, It's not entirely clear to me the advantage, from a combat standpoint that something like Lasers V has over Laser 1.  They both do 1 point of damage.  Aside from space and cost, is there something I am not aware of?
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Size does matter.  You can put more Laser Vs on a hull than you can Laser Is: that in of itself will boost damage.

3.  I have played to 2 games so far, one as Drengin and one as Yor and I cant seem to build a mining module on an economic starbase in spite of the fact I have the requisite technology, Industrial Starbase Construction for the Drengin, (I dont remember the Yor Equivalent). 

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Starbases consume many Constructors.  The first builds the base, the rest add modules as you get the right techs. Currently I'm playing my third game of GCII as the Drengin, and as I steal techs from the neighbors I am slowly able to upgrade both Economic bases and the Influence bases.  (I flipped a Class 29 Water world!  Woohoo!  And I have the Orbital Terraformer, so it is now a Class 32!)

Anyway, I have a few questions as well.

1.  Trade routes are marked with tiny freighters, which your enemies can attack in wartime.  If I build an armed and armored freighter to start the route, will the mini-freighters defend themselves?  Or is this just wasting money?

2.  I read in the Gal Civ wiki about a Galactic Achievement called Galactic Privateer that protects trade routes and that it is under Master Trade.  As the Drengin, I extorted this from the Korx, but I don't have the option to build it.  As I am playing GCII: Ultimate Edition, and the wiki is mostly DL/DA, I was wondering if the required tech has changed?  If so, what is the tech?  (I did try looking for it during play, but could not find it.)

 

Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

3) The thing to remember there is that the only place you can use mining modules is starbases on a resource node. Each starbase type has its own non-combat modules. Some of the industrial techs enable modules for both resource mines and econ bases, but you can't, for example, put a Mining Barracks on an econ starbase.

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

3) The thing to remember there is that the only place you can use mining modules is starbases on a resource node. Each starbase type has its own non-combat modules. Some of the industrial techs enable modules for both resource mines and econ bases, but you can't, for example, put a Mining Barracks on an econ starbase.

 

Ahh thanks!  Thats my problem then, I was trying to use additional constructors to build a mining module on an ecconomic starbase.  The starbase wasn't a resource starbase. 

 

If you're a noob, you can't be an evil genius.  Not yet.  You'll have to wait your time, and your turn.

I like to see myself as an evil genius in training.

 

Thanks to everyone for the responses!

 

Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

1. Trade routes are marked with tiny freighters, which your enemies can attack in wartime. If I build an armed and armored freighter to start the route, will the mini-freighters defend themselves? Or is this just wasting money?
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Both. The freighter can and will defend itself, but it is nearly impossible to make it so it could defend itself against any real attack. Losing them is usualy more cost efficient than defending them.

2.  I read in the Gal Civ wiki about a Galactic Achievement called Galactic Privateer that protects trade routes and that it is under Master Trade.  As the Drengin, I extorted this from the Korx, but I don't have the option to build it.  As I am playing GCII: Ultimate Edition, and the wiki is mostly DL/DA, I was wondering if the required tech has changed?  If so, what is the tech?  (I did try looking for it during play, but could not find it.)
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That was removed in the Twilight of the Arnor expansion. It is no longer available under any tech.

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

WIllythemailboy: Thanks.  I also thought of another consideration regarding armed merchantmen: maintenance costs.  I'll have to check on that when I get back to my machine since I did design the armed freighter last night and launched two of them.  If I'm still paying for them now that the routes are set up, I'll want to kill those routes and launch new freighters.

Still, I'd like to see some cheap fighter looking for an easy kill attack one of my armed mini-freighters and get blown away.  (I have some cheap, fast commerce raiders on Tiny hulls which exist solely to kill asteroid miners and mini-freighters.  If they ran into an armed freighter, they might lose.)

Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Yeah, couple the maintenance cost (pretty sure you still have to pay for it), the initial cost, and the chances of an attack on your freighter (fairly low unless you get surprized by an enemy) and balance that against the relatively marginal income you get from trade and arming the freighters really isn't worthwhile.

Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I'm pretty sure you can design a low-maintainence freighter and 'upgrade' the armed ones to that design to cut the extra costs if they're there.

Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top

It's okay.  It turns out that once the trade route is set up, you no longer pay maintenance.  So one can make armed merchants if one likes.  However, I probably won't bother again.

 

Edit: Also, once the trade route is established, you can't upgrade the freighter.  So it is set in stone once the initial freighter arrives at the target world.  So I now have three different types of merchantmen plying the starways: the generic one, a fast long-ranged one, and the armed merchants.  It certainly gives a lot of  ship variety on the map!

Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I think I would only make them if they were constantly being attaked and you need the income.  That way you force the AI to put considerable resources into destroying your freighters not just some little fighter.  Plus assuming you are not charged for replacement freighters that are auto generated when you loose one you would be getting alot of bang for your buck since if your freighter could take out 1 ship in a fleet of 2 the next freighter generated would take out the other one.

How many freighters can you loose before the trade route is disbanded?  Does it matter how long between freighters loses?

Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I have never understood Trade, and rarely play Korx for that reason.  For example, does a Trade Route revenue vary with freighter design?  More modules = more BCs?  How many freighters to build?  Auto replacement?  How?

Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

The value of a trade route is based on its length, any econ bases with trade modules along the way, and (at least in later versions) the age of the route. Plus ability bonuses. Adding a second trade module only slows down production of the freighter.

I've seen a lot of strong players more or less dismiss trade routes, at least in terms of their income value, except in econ-focused (often Korx-based) strategies. I mostly use trade routes for the diplo benefits they give, but sometimes the money is a real help.

Reply #15 from Stardock Forums Top

Actually, the shipyard prevents you from putting a second Trade module on a hull.

As for route value varying with freighter design, I doubt it.  The only reason I have so many designs is due to needing longer range to get across the map, and then my experiment with armed merchants. 

Forgot to mention before, my armed freighters were built after I got to level 4 in Miniaturization tech, so I built them on Medium hulls.  Thus they are more durable than a basic freighter.  They mount twin Laser IVs and two Shield modules so they can give the typical cheap commerce raider a fight.