Why is the campaign so difficult?

It needs to be tweaked asap

from GalCiv2 Forums

Seriously Stardock why is the campaign so hard? This game is supposed to be fun yet on "Normal" difficulty the Dread Lords in the Achilees Heel mission just run me over.

If they get shields at 14 and weapons at like 114 because of the random thing at the start there is no way to win. I dare you to try and play that scenario and show us how it's done.

There are like zero walkthroughs onhow to play this campaign. The one's that are, come from the forum posts but people take like 3 years game time to beat the Dread Lords.

All I'm saying is why would you make the campaign so difficult that no one in their right mind would finish it? The only reason I'm still trying to beat it is for my own satisfaction.

Please fix your campaign and make it fun and challenging, not impossible and annoying.

 

(Talking about the Dread Lords campaign)

6,467 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

They're not actually that hard, but you generally need to exploit loopholes to beat them:

 - Don't build starbases or leave ships on planets (they automatically see and attack them)

 - Make a fast ship (speed 13+), and fly it in circles around their homeworld, taking care to stay just out of the range of their attack ships.  You can often get nearly their entire fleet to follow you, endlessly.

 - Keep a defensive line of fast light ships to pick off their transports; their transports almost always move 10, but their combat ships move 6, so they don't escort their transports very well. 

- If a DL combat ship does wander through your territory, just ignore it and keep your ships out of the way; Galciv doesn't allow planetary bombardment, so they can't hurt your planets without transports.

More commentary in this thread.

Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Usually the campaigns in games are easy. I don't know why but most people play Skirmish mode not many people play the dread lords campaign.

Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

They play skirmish because some missions in Dread Lords are designed with the player in mind to fail. That's why you get alternate scenarios that are easier. I think that was a bad decision.

Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Quoting Realmjumper, reply 3
They play skirmish because some missions in Dread Lords are designed with the player in mind to fail. That's why you get alternate scenarios that are easier. I think that was a bad decision.
End of Realmjumper's quote

Um, no.

The sandbox mode has always been intended as the center of the game. The campaigns are specificially designed to give a different sort of challenge, but the sandbox mode is the main event. As such, the campaign is often quite a bit harder.

There are no missions you're "designed" to fail. The alternative missions are easier so that players can keep advancing without getting frustrated by a difficult mission (of course, many people keep trying the original mission because it's difficult). But there are no missions where you're specifically designed to fail. The hardest mission, "Apocalypse", has no alternative.