THE BORE
General => Video Game Bored => Topic started by: TVC15 on October 19, 2007, 02:58:22 PM
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I've decided to stop shitting up the Hellgate thread with GalCiv 2 discussion, mainly because Hellgate does a good enough job of shitting up threads by itself.
So, Frag, before bed last night, I played a couple of turns of GC2, implementing some of the strategies you dispensed, and my early game was turning out pretty well. I quit the game when I started hitting economic snags again. Keep in mind that at the time I snagged, I had colonized 3 additional planets, both 7+ (I think one was 16), and I still had more colony ships going.
First blatant, simple question: I know this will vary by map size (I was playing on small in order to get things done more quickly), but approximately how many planets should I colonize before shifting from a blatantly expansionistic at any monetary cost policy? At which point should I rejigger things to start making money. Early game expansionism means bleeding money, and this was of course the primary cause of my financial difficulties. Juggling 3 planets' development, along with making very pricey colony ships, drained me.
Now, let's look at my financial policy pane. This screenshot isn't mine, and does not reflect my policy, but I figure I will post it just so non GalCivvers know what the fuck I am talking about.
(http://www.galciv2.com/screenshots/10x/index.21.jpg)
My military rate was at 0% (early game, no real reason to have anything going into military just yet), and social and research were both at 50%. I had Industrial Capacity cranked to 100%. My tax rate was at, well, I don't recall. I had my tax rate as high as it would go without my approval rating dropping below 60%. Every turn I would adjust my tax rate. It was bringing in shit revenue, but at the rate I was spending, every bit of cash helped.
More questions: Military and research are both self-explanatory, but what exactly does social do? I figured that would be all about keeping my people happy, and thus keep my approval rating high while I partook of extreme spending, but I am not positive. I mean, something was keeping my approval rating high as I rapidly spent all of the empire's money.
Also, I guess I need to ask some blunt questions about production and industrial capacity. I am assuming cranking IC makes production work at full grind, right? Well, dumb question, but what does production really do? I mean, as far as I could tell, it wasn't generating revenue at all. You stressed the importance of getting some factories down quickly, so I am guessing it is something Very Important.
Moving on with more early game questions, how much should I develop my actual planets during the Early Exploration phase? With money at a premium, and colony ships being expensive, I am not sure how much I should be building on the surface of planets. I am assuming that my home world should be developed pretty well. Last night, my strategy was this:
I directly bought and placed a Factory. I forgot whether this was your advice or the advice of one of the guides I was reading. Direct buy, no building, none of that interest rate shit (I assume that unless I am playing a very long game, and am past the beginning Money Is Tight portion of the game, I should avoid the buy offers with interest, right?). After that, I plopped down another 2 factors, building them over several turns. I also planted a research building or two, slow build. On subsequent turns, on my home world, I would plant one Direct Buy building (you can only do one a turn, i think), for turns 2 and 3, I planted an Entertainment facility and a Marketplace. After that I would focus on production and research buildings for a few turns, and within a little bit, my research was letting me build new building types, and I started fiddling with them.
Colony planets were getting significantly less development. Any development they were getting were for entertainment, farmland, or marketplaces. If I made contact with another race in their neck of the woods, I'd build a spaceport, in preparation of any potential future military action.
So after a few planets, things were just about ready to run into the red, and I figured that I did something wrong. Some other details of my brief game yesterday.
1) Made contact with two different races (out of 5 on the map). I traded with them, again using your technique of "negotiating" by offering them a bunch of shit and taking things away one by one to see what they really wanted. I got nearly everything I wanted. I was playing with a policy of never giving away overt military technology, wanting to prolong the early game before I had to dabble in things completely alien to me. I can see why some people play with technology sharing turned off, honestly. Like you said, sometimes the other races appear to have irrational priorities, willing to give away a desirable technology for something really basic, and I can see why some people might not dig that.
2) Research wise, I researched the translator and then focused a bit on engines, getting up to (I believe) Ion Engines or Propulsion. At that point, I was making contact, and I began researching diplomatic and political stuff. This got me some serious bonuses when negotiating. My future plan was to go a bit further in diplomatic and political stuff, at least until I met all the races on the map, but thinking back, I probably should have been turning my research into more profitable avenues.
3) I had my flagship auto-surveying anomalies. This started out well at first, but after the first 20 turns or so, and maybe 5 anomalies, it stopped finding anything. I was about ready to start using it for general exploration. If an anomaly is buried by the fog of war, is its location "hidden" to the flagship? Basically, if the flagship does not know the location of an anomaly, does it effectively go into auto-explore mode until it finds one?
I think that is everything important for now. So my basic inqueries right now, in addition to the ones above:
1) When should I abandon the early game exploration strategy? Once the map is basically fully explored? Once I have contacted all races? At some point determined by either research, financial situation, or the number of planets I control?
2) Tied into 1, when should I worry about militarization? I assume that there is a period between Exploration and Militarization where I should worry about filling up my coffers, since I'm sure militarization is, if anything, even pricier than colonization.
3) Planetary development. I have given a fairly accurate description of my first "informed" game's planetary work above. What am I doing right and wrong, and how should my strategy shift when I am done exploring and colonizing?
4) Pre-game, what should I keep in mind when selecting my political party, and how much does that really have an effect on the game. If I am a mercantilist and I play more like an imperialist or military dictator, will I see the people getting pissed in my approval rating? Should I be picking my political affiliation based on what my desirable victory condition is, general playstyle, or does it really not even matter that much aside from starting bonuses and what not?
5) Related, but in the ability selection portion of the game creation, are there any especially must have skills? Things that are so desirable that you can't play without them?
6) Should I be playing the expansion? What are the real bonuses of doing that? I am assuming the expansion is everything plus MOAR, so I am wagering I wouldn't lose anything, but if it adds too much, I may be better off sticking with the first game until I learn the ropes. I think I remember someone saying that the first game has more espionage options or something, which is something I am interested in.
7) I installed the game through StarDock. What is this height maps thing I DLed?
8) Are there any worthwhile mods, in your opinion?
9) Should I bother with the campaign? Will it get me knowing the ropes more quickly? I have seen people say that the campaign isn't really for beginners, but I figured I should ask. Is it worthwhile to play? How story-based is it?
I think that is all for now, thanks!
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I hope you bitches all die. I just printed out 120 pages of shit for this game.
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I would help you, dude, if I played the game.
Sorry.