rakenan

Reply to The new ground combat screen in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Its kinda crazy that you have to eliminate the entire planetary population before retiring your soldiers into productive citizens (ie: taxpaying breeders). I'd like to see a planetary invasion that makes sense. Of all 4x games ive played, MoO3 had the most 'realistic' one. It was ugly as hell, but your soldiers would fight the world military, plus some militia, and some citizens would die from colateral damage based on the invasion method you picked, IIRC. Better than just 'kill 8 billion

Reply to Strange ship at bottom of map. in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I'm fairly sure that's just a display glitch. In my current game, it's a Yor ship model, I'm playing Yor, and I discovered it early enough to be awfully sure I haven't mislaid any of my ships.

Reply to Is a Galciv 3 planed? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]You may be wrong Martok, here is a incerpt from the written review of the twilight of the Arnor expansion. " though you probably won’t be so lucky when Galactic Civ III comes out, which is apparently next on the docket for developer Stardock." What do you think that means.[/quote] I think it means the reviewer suffered from a rectal/cranial inversion, and should be beaten about the head and shoulders with a 2x4 until he learns to check his "facts" against direct

Reply to Precursor library and mine in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

Seen 'em both. Got 'em both in my current Thalan game, in fact. Either one makes a dandy spot to drop your Hyperion Matrix - assuming you don't ever want to get out of debt, anyway. But at least you'll be researching like crazy!

Reply to Listing all the tech tree gaps/flaws in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]About the Yor midgame, MCC is the answer[/quote] In what way is the MCC the answer? As of the last report I'd heard, the MCC now does absolutely nothing - or at least nothing beneficial. It no longer gives the 100% economy boost it used to, while it still provides the "wonderful" benefit of preventing enemy planets from culture flipping to you. I imagine I can track down the thread discussing it somewhere. Edit: and here it is https://forums.galciv2.com/311072

Reply to Surrender to the Korath in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]But do you wish to surrender now and die fast, or fight and be slowly tortured for their enjoyment?[/quote] I'll fight hard and force them to spore me to death. Let's be serious everybody I care about - which is to say, my citizens - gets killed in the planetary invasions. Why should I care what the non-fighting non-productive non-citizens have to deal with after my empire falls, probably because of having to drag their dead weight around everywhere I go? The f

Reply to Listing all the tech tree gaps/flaws in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Answer is: All of these things (1,2,3,4,5,6,7) are intentional. They're part of the new game strategy . I'd be interesting in seeing official word on this...because it seems possible, especially considering the length of beta and how something this obvious would have to have been found during beta.[/quote] I'd especially like to see a reference that issue 2 is intentional, since that is a decision asinine far beyond anything that can be reasonably imputed to Stardock. T

Reply to I am enjoying the new economy, growth rates (population etc) in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]I've been finding that having empty tiles helps a LOT. If your spending slider is dropping below 80% with any regularity you might have just built too much infrastructure, something I've found is very easy to do if you're coming into TA from DA. Sometimes it's a good idea to let a few planets do nothing for a while.[/quote] Anybody who's having issues with this rule should play a few games as the Yor. That will pound the virtue of empty tiles into your head quickly enough.<b

Reply to Problem with 'hidden' starbases in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]They should be hidden as they are truly unique crystals and NOT regular resources! No road signs, neon lights or road maps... They ARE "Game Ending" elements!!![/quote] Funny thing about amazingly important and unique things in real life - you tend to note where they are. Unlike, apparently, my ship captains, who look at an Ascension Crystal, say "Golly gee, there's the amazingly powerful crystal that will let our entire species ascend to a higher plane of existence as beings o

Reply to How does trading influence points effect you? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]The influence you acquire through trade has no effect on the map at all, so it doesn't "spread out". It also doesn't add to the influence needed for an influence victory. It just adds to your number of votes in the *next* UP issue.[/quote] Wow, that's awful. Is it one influence point per vote, or is there some conversion rate? I ask because even in a fairly mediocre medium map empire, I'm pushing a hundred thousand votes, so that one influence point won't go very far if it's on

Reply to Questions from newbie. in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]As a newbie myself I find this interesting, I did think factories were just planet wide but its good to now know. I always assumed research stations were global though is this the case ? I know it may sound dumb but just trying to make sure Im not missing something fundamental regarding research[/quote] All research is global. Your empire is only researching one tech at a time, and all tech points you produce anywhere contribute to learning that tech.

Reply to Deathstar = useless ? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Yes, but there is no "Force" in game either.[/quote] Tell that to the Altarians and the Drath.

Reply to Problem with 'hidden' starbases in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]I have a problem with locating Ascension Starbases on the map. My ships scout out the locations initially but the Ascension Crystals aren't permanent fixtures within fog of war on the map, unlike the other Resource Cystals which remain on the map once they have been scouted.I'm in the middle of a game where a race has grabbed a number of them, and even though I had originally located them, I now need to build a fleet of scout ships just to re-discover them again and destroy the starbases

Reply to Play with tech trading on or off? in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

In DL and DA, I could see it either way - you can get a lot of mileage from selling your techs to prop up a weak early game economy. In TA, I just can't see tech trading as any kind of a positive. It destroys the unique nature of the different racial tech trees. That said, some racial tech trees still seem horribly broken, most notably the Thalans. I wouldn't want to play the Thalans without some reasonable way to get Battle Stations I for my starbases.

Reply to Campaign Mission 1 help in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

In spite of what the mission objective says, the only real objective in the first mission of the Dread Lords campaign is to defeat the Drengin Empire. Once you and your Altarian allies have gotten rid of them, you win, even if you haven't personally captured the three worlds mentioned in the initial briefing.

Reply to Please slam my game in GalCiv Journals GalCiv2 Forums

There's a few things I'd change for GalCiv3 which are impractical as a "fix this first" list entry, like a more reasonable production system. For things to fix now, as part of GC2/ToA, however. . . 1. Fix the instances of broken racial tech trees, most notably the Thalan lack of starbase offense techs. 2. Fix the Mind Control Center. Very long running bug that should have been fixed in or before the previous expansion, much less ToA. 3. An option to keep racial "special" te

Reply to The Colony Rush is Finally Dead - True or False? in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]With the exception of the Torians, none of the AIs seem to be able to rush as effectively as previously, even with the huge economic bonus they get at suicidal. The Torians are just a maniacal super-breeding plague on the universe at suicidal, and you have to take them out early.[/quote] Are the Torians so effective just because they can grow their population enough for taxes to support continued rushing, or is there something hidden in their tech tree (which I haven't tried to s

Reply to Easy to make an AI that can beat a typical player? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]It is even easier to make an AI that simply makes the player quit in frustration![/quote] Well, that's pretty much happens when you get a game where the AI is programmed solely to beat the player. Programming the AI to beat the player breaks diplomacy, and breaks any "peaceful" victory condition like diplomacy in GC2, or getting elected in Master of Orion. The devs have to program the AI to try to win - to work for its own selfish goals, rather than collaborating to make the pl

Reply to Game changing random events!?!?! in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Side note: You should have played the first release of GalCiv 1. It featured events like giving a random civ 40+ corvettes in the early game - as player, you could really feel like single man in a dinghy, powerlesly being at the mercy of the tide of random events, which could throw you in any direction.[/quote] Was backlash against this kind of thing part of the reason why normal events were reined *FAR* in in power, and mega events were made an option? I only came into GC2 towa

Reply to Playing previous campaigns in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

I believe that the modified tech trees broke the campaign, or perhaps only its AI, so they had to scrap it. That said, I strongly suspect that they're working on fixing the issue. At a minimum, I'd be willing to play the older campaigns with their tech trees copied wholesale from DL/DA, just to get the new ship models.

Reply to New copy protection comming for Spore and Mass Effect (EA) in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]I'm just joining the chorus that this crap promotes piracy more than it discourages it. I was planning on buying spore, but there's no way I'll bother with such invasive DRM. The real question is, are all the sales they lose because of such dickery worth the momentary thrill they'll get when it takes an hour longer for pirates to crack their game?A note: I don't pirate games, but shit like this makes me think about it.[/quote] Spore is supposed to be a long lived game. It's the

Reply to New copy protection comming for Spore and Mass Effect (EA) in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]The last time I bought a Bioware game was with KotOR II (a mistake...). [/quote] Not an important point in the grand scheme of things, but KotOR II was not a Bioware game. Bioware made KotOR, and then realized that they'd rather gouge out their eyeballs with spaghetti strainers than ever work with LucasArts again. KotOR II was shopped out to Obsidian, a company with gifted developers and a terrible knack for getting saddled with publishers who wreck their games. LucasArts bear

Reply to New copy protection comming for Spore and Mass Effect (EA) in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

Piracy is wrong, but it's not theft. It's more akin to vandalism. The producer still has the IP you pirate, you just make it less valuable to him by pirating it, just as you make my car less valuable to me if you smash in the windshield with a baseball bat. Regardless, software piracy is wrong. So, however, are these stupid and excessive anti piracy schemes that don't work and just punish legitimate customers. The assertion that the DRM will eventually be good enough to beat pirat

Reply to Creativity too strong on 'very slow tech speed' in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]He meant Creativity.I don't know why they didn't just make Creativity based on the % you have going into Research at the very least. With 100% funding and 100% research, you get your full Creativity bonus, since you're employing more scientists. *Shrug*[/quote] I'd have made it trigger on discovering a new tech. Every time you'd discover a tech, you have a chance, based on your Creativity, to spontaneously discover a second tech. Helps avoid the "oh, grand, I just saved 3 whole

Reply to Easy to make an AI that can beat a typical player? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

The big disadvantage the GC2 AI's have, and most other 4X AI's have as well, is diplomatic stupidity. No GC2 AI should *EVER* sign an alliance with you, no matter how much they like you, if all other races are allied to you. Not, at least, if they're programmed to try to beat you. This ignores the difference between playing to win (which people want to see) and playing to beat the player (which is no fun at all). People don't want to see the Drengin Empire kamikaze against them every