 |
|
 |
 |
 |
Getting Spanked On Normal
|
 |
|
 |
 |
I don't know what I am doing wrong, I've recently wanted to try a harder level because I was winning on Beginner but not getting the scores I want. So I started with all aliens, and set one to Normal and the rest to subnormal, hoping that I could increase the aliens one by one to normal and ease myself into it. I'm up to three now and with in 100 turns whoever is left is on my back slowly destroying me. I do the 80-100% military land grap, then I slowly turn to about 60-70% technology, to get the military techs so I can stay alive long enough to get rooted. But someone obviously doens't like me so they all come after me.
Maybe it's just me and my style of play, but I really want to stop getting myself raped and not raping the aliens.
What do you think?
-Dark
        
| |
|
What are your starting picks for party and abilities? What are the morality settings of the AI and what morality are you playing? Are getting any of the trade goods/wonders? Are you researching the social improvement techs? What are you building on your planets? A little more info would help.
   
| |
|
Okay, fair enough.
I usually go with the Techies, but lately I've been going with the War because I was getting spanked.
I usually go with normal abilities, ie military, production, pop. growth, things that will help me out in my military conquest.
The aliens that are on Normal are all neutral, the others that are sub-normal are chaotic either way.
I usually research social first but I've had to adjust my style with the improved AI, now I research social improvements if I need them, like Improved Enviroment, I especially go for Manufacturing Centers and Fusion Power Plants, just because they give me a boost in manufacturing.
I research anything that will increase morale if I feel the need to. I like to hold off on morale unless it is really needed, ie a planet is below 60. Otherwise I stay with social improvements that will help me get ahead of the curve.
Anything else you need to know?
-Dark
[Message Edited]
| |
|
Hmmm...when you say "getting spanked", do you mean militarily? Did they all go to war with you? Are you still in the early stages of the game?
Usually, the AIs will stay off your back if you can get your military high enough to not be "easy pickings" for them. Try building as many Star Fighters and Corvettes as you can for the next 10-20 turns. When you get your military high enough, you'll notice the AIs begin treating you a little different!
I usually try to work on building up my military as soon as the initial colony rush is over. The AIs don't distinguish the quality of ships, so you can build a "paper-tiger" military made up of weak ships pretty easily. This will keep you out of wars, as the AIs don't mess with you.
      
| |
|
Hmmm. Well, let me preface by saying that I am far from an expert, but I would like to help you out by offering some quick pointers.
First, in my experience your tech research order, your build order, what you build, and initial colonizing rush are the most important building blocks for a good game. I'll just try and give a list of some of what I do.
Morality: I see you play as evil. One somewhat cheesy, but useful for learning, thing to do is save/load upon colonization until you get +X% PQ. Makes you much more powerful and rich. 2nd biggest thing with morality is establishing trade with a like minded at AI (evil in your case). Having several routes with the evil Drengin will make them love you in no time and come to your aid in times of war. This can make a huge difference in war. Once they like you, you can also easily bribe them to take one or more of the "goody goody" races. This is really easy to do. Just select "attack" and then choose a race for them to attack. Then keep offering more techs and such until the text turns green. Walla, youve thrown everybody into war but you. They get weak, you grow strong. Nough said
From the start
Spending to a 100%, taxes at 50%, 75%mil and 25% tech.
tech order:
comm th, univ trans, diplo, trade, ind th, med th, basic env, prop th, cold fusion, warp, interstellar refining, nano metal comp, artif grav, controlled grav, improved env
now go military
wep th, phaser, instant comm, zero grav res, def th, deflectors, etc
Once you get phasers and deflectors, push out some fighters and defenders to keep the AI honest.
Try to alternate several socail techs, then several military techs to balance development and defense. Trade techs aggressively. Trade for a rare one (or build it yourself) and then market it to everyone. You can get like 5 or so for 1 this way.
Build colony ships from SOl and put about 100mil on each one. From the planets you colonize, build colony ships with 25mil and the occasional scout to help you find other planets. Basically colonize every PQ 15 and above you can get your hands on. Be very aggressive about it and it will pay off in the long run. Dont colonize additional planets in your system until later. If you run out of range, temporarily colonize a bad system to extend your range. You can destroy it later.
Use scouts to contact other races and start tech trading. Picking +40% or more diplomacy at the start will help tremendously in this regard. Get more bang for the buck basically. As soon as you feel that you have enough colony ships built to grab what yellows you can, switch to constructors and 40/30/30 mil/soc/tech. You want to still put more into mil in order to churn out constructors to grab resources. I dont see many people talk about doing this after colony rush but I think its huge. They are immensely useful. I prioritize them in this order
Military, economy, morale, research, influence.
It can very depending on your starting picks. Ie, if you pick a bunch of morale, then you'll need research more. Influence becomes more important at harder levels.
trade: as soon as you research trade, have earth put out 2 freighters and send them to either the closest race or the one you want to like you the most.
Now that you have 30% to social I recommend building in this order
Soil
Habitat (if you have it)
banking center
entertainment
fusion
manfucturing
embassy
medical center
antimatter
stock market
research center (or lab, cant remember)
harmony generator (sometimes needs to be moved up)
economic exchange
neural net
teleporters
stadium (if you need it)
Trade center (if your a good guy)
terraforming
etc
For extra influence: news, cultural exchange
Influence resist: redu center, propa, spin, secret police
for extra research: Galactic research center
defense: You know what they are. I personally never use them though
worthless: info net, virtual reality, orbital hospital, multimedia
Pick 2 or 3 planets to be "starship makers" and only build shipyards etc on those planets. Not on all the planets.
goods/wonders
As soon as you have grabbed what resources you can go to 20,40,40 and develop your empire.
As soon as you get a manufacting center built on earth, build a manufacturing capital and start build goods and wonders. Most important are Diplo trans, tristronium steel, Grav accel, and Galactic Stock Exchange. The Gal Stock Exchange is HUGE IMHO. Buy it if you have to. Trade for the goods that the Ai might have beat you too. Hopefully you will be able to build a production starbase in Sol's system during this time to facilitate this process.
Unless you are #1 in everything sooner or later somone will decide they dont like you and make demands or declare war. Simply go to all the other races and bribe them to go to war with the bully. Having friends at this point really helps. Your trade partner will most likely send you ships or join the war on your side. If your having trouble making friends despite your trade, gift them some techs. Get the bully fighting for his life and then swoop in during the chaos.
Combat: most people like frigates. Unless its a big map I prefer battle hammers. They get bigger boosts from military resources. I tend to use them until dreadnaughts are available. Before bh's, battle cruisers are nice.
defense: i tend to build a battle axe at every system thats remotely close to the front line.
Well, Im out of breath. I dont know if I helped you or not but this is basically what I do. Its gotten me through painful so far and Ive never lost. I also move really slowly though.
good luck!
[Message Edited]
| |
|
WileyCoyote gets the "helpful forum member of the day award" 
Here are a couple of links that may help:
The Orion Strategy Guide (good explanations; well written)  Link
The Gal Civ Cranking Guide (hand-holding walk-through tutorial for beginner level) Link
Good luck.
Rick
[Message Edited]
    
| |
|
oooops . . . it appears that the EBZeroMatrix Gal Civ Cranking Guide is no longer available.  I had only checked the home page, which is still there and not the actual guide which is not. Sorry for any inconvenience. The Orion guide is still there.
In addition to a fast colonization start, I think that researching and selling techs to the AI is the key to winning on sub-maso levels. If you always have lots of money, you can run the economy on full speed, pump up production, snag the trade goods & wonders, and build whatever you like. You can also either use diplomacy to keep the AI off your back or build up a paper tiger military with star fighters/corvettes early and AMM mid to late to keep your military rating high. Only fight wars at your convenience and make them fast. If you war, remember to take planets but don't waste resources fighting the AI ships. Please continue to ask questions if you struggle and remember to have fun.
Rick
[Message Edited]
| |
|
Good tips, all.
One thing to note is that building constructors and starbases too early may over-stretch your economy. 10 bcs/mth is huge in the early game.
 
| |
|
Actually, I never build a significant military (unless I'm going for a serious military win)... nor trade tech... nor ask other AI to spank them for me... and as a goody-goody (most games), on Normal, I don't have much trouble with the AI wanting to spank my behind...
The main trick I use is to start TRADE ASAP with races I know will want to spank me. By starting trade as soon as possible, the baddies will leave you alone. Most games, I find just dropping a defender on each of my worlds keep them off me until I get around to upgrading them with battle axes.
Now, it is worth it to keep an eye on the "Military" chart... just in case one of the AI goes extreme gun ship or something. You want to keep your Military line between middle of the group and better. If it falls to low, build a few extra ships to keep your line up, and they'll let you live in peace unless the "random war" event comes up. That's my experience with the game.
 
| |
|
Wiley,
I'm gonna add your post to the Strategy Section of the Fellowship website. I think it's very well written and is a great general guide to be successful at the game!
Here it is:
Link
[Message Edited]
| |
|
|
|
| Hmmm...when you say "getting spanked", do you mean militarily? Did they all go to war with you? Are you still in the early stages of the game? |
|
Yea, it's within a the 50 turns or so, I usually take my time because I've always held the lead in the easier games, obviously thats not the way to go. I'll have to pay closer attention to what I research and when, especially trade. That may help a lot.
| Well, Im out of breath. I dont know if I helped you or not but this is basically what I do. Its gotten me through painful so far and Ive never lost. I also move really slowly though |
|
Thanks for the effort Wiley, it's appreciated and duly noted.
Thanks for the help, I'll try out your tips.
| On larger maps, you might need to resist the urge to build everything to keep smaller planets from becoming economic sinkholes. I usually draw the line after building soil and habitat improvement. If the PQ is 19 or higher, I build econ, and ship enhancing improvements. On 18 or lower, I go for econ, and morale if needed. This makes your larger planets (especially the one with the Mfg Capital) ship building machines. |
|
kasualkid, what do you mean but drawing the line? do you stop building social projects on the planet period? what do u do if morale is low?
-Dark
| |
|
| Wiley,I'm gonna add your post to the Strategy Section of the Fellowship website. I think it's very well written and is a great general guide to be successful at the game! |
|
DUDE!! Hey thanks Theoden! Never expected this. It was just that Dark Assasins distress call sounded so similar to mine a few weeks ago. People have given me so much help its only right that I contribute to. Anyway, Im glad you liked it. Someday when I get the inclination I thought about writing a real guide. You know, one that I actually error proof  .
Assassin,
I do wish you all the best. I know it can be super frustrating when you get pounded on several times in a row. Ive certainly experienced that in many different games. Shoot, I can remember wanting to kick my old original Nintendo way way way way back when 
| |
|
|
|
Now that you explained it, it does. Just one problem, I have to learn how to use my governers. I haven't used them thus far strickly because if I'm watching every planet than what I want when I need it gets build rather than relying on someone else to manage my projects. But I think after careful deliberation (actually very little) I've decided to give it a try. Not that I will guarantee that I'll use it but hey, got to try it at least once, right?
Anyways, I'll probably start one later tonight and deploy some of your helpful suggestions.
Thanks,
-Dark
| |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
 |
Copyright 1995-2024 Stardock Corporation. All rights reservered.
Site created by Pixtudio and Stardock, designed by Pixtudio.
|
 |
