drrider

Reply to mission 2 dread lords in tought mode in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

One thing that Iz didn't quite say which is pertinent to his advice... Your population stops growing on any planet when the morale of that planet drops to 40% or less. No pop growth = no tax revenue growth. Also with your overall civ approval at 30%, you probably have 1-2 planets significantly lower. You start losing population for a given planet when that planet's approval is at 19% or lower. The key to this game is ALWAYS learn about / provide for ECONOMY fir

Reply to Your ideas for the next update! in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

How about combining the Asteroid Mining and the Galactic Resource mechanics in some way? Right now they are very logically inconsistent. Could be part of the promised constructor management upgrade. drrider

Reply to Your ideas for the next update! in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned before, but I was wondering if it would be possible to create an option that makes your territory a no fly zone for other civilizations. Basically model it after the way Civ IV does it, no other ships can enter your territory unless you have an "open border" treaty. If they enter your space without a treaty its considered an act of war. Nothing drives me crazy like a civ. pulling up to one of your planets and parking a starbase t

Reply to Multiplayer in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

I'd rather see a mini-expansion, for download for a few bucks, that adds multiplayer, exclusively, and nerfs the established game as necessary to do so. Response could then determine how much more effort / time / money should go into it. Even the above is probably an expensive proposition, however, unless the devs already experimented with it and have it 90%. drrider

Reply to Delete in Research GalCiv2 Forums

I don't know if that cap is still present - haven't played much recently, and especially not with large universes, where most players could build a HS. In my games quite a lot of races is exterminated rather quickly. I wonder why? BR, Iztok Holding your breath for 1.7, are you, IB? drrider

Reply to New Rig Build - Opinions? in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

Did extensive research for PC I had built recently. The 2 above replies are GREAT! Just some things I spent effort on in my own research (which was focused on purchasing components for the coolest, quietest, GAMING PC possible). Just get 2x1Mb sticks of mem. Anyone who can figure out how to turn off the PC and open the side of the case can safely drop in 2 more sticks later, if you ever find that you need them. Heck, even the editors of Maximum PC say that no one really need

Reply to Delete in Research GalCiv2 Forums

Reply #27 Back to the OT... Yes, completely worth it. I'm in a large game with the AI right now, we've both maximized our respective attack and defense trees (beam and PD for him, missle and shield for me). My small ships are better equiped than the AI's huge ships, because I have max miniturization and the Yor have none. Well, you can't ever say that the Yor have NO miniaturization, since they start with a major minaturization bonus,...but maybe tha

Reply to Delete in Research GalCiv2 Forums

#28 Weird question regarding multiple Hyperion Shrinkers: Do they have a cumulative effect? I've captured two, but I foolishly didn't know I was about to capture them do I haven't been able to compare. Do they add, or do you only get one HS bonus? Yes, HS reductions stack. There have been threads from guys who have mastered the subtle diplomacy and timing of giving away Advanced Min to minors (for a generally OK trade), then waiti

Reply to Delete in Research GalCiv2 Forums

You're kidding, right? You can't create ships that are competitive in the end game at Maso and above without full miniaturization, and the Hyperion Shrinker. And it helps a lot if you manage to capture another HS from some minor race as you start your march as well. Think Huge ships with 250 - 300 spaces instead of 150. drrider

Reply to Where can I get the latest patch? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

And, I'll tell you from both experience and from many posts... SDC downloaded updates are too often corrupt or incomplete. The only sure way of getting it done right the first time is to download the complete update to the hard drive and install it from there. Never had this happen in 20 updates, even over lowest class DSL service. Did have to d/l the last stand alone patch twice to get a copy that installed correctly, though. drrider

Reply to Do you play to the very end? in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

But..but..but..Marshal -- you're EVIL! I thought kicking them when they were down WAS the fun part?! drrider

Reply to Farm Spies in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Actually, I don't consider it a bug. I just figured that once your civilization knew how to make Xanthium Hull Plating, and it was in the databases, merely catastrophic politically induced coriolis tsunamis (or whatever) washing away the original development shop/site could not get rid of the knowledge. I would still comply with your request, but I don't have a save of that game...and it was a lot of work to get them all accumulated in one place, on Obscene. drrider

Reply to Planetary landing events in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

How about this: The evil benefits remain as now, printed out for anyone to see. For that matter the current good benefits remain, also. But behind the interface, there is a random chance of other, subtler benefits for choosing good - perhaps an increase in Luck, perhaps an increase in Influence, Diplomacy, Creativity, Defense,...perhaps the occasional unique blessing, like a 10% chance that your ship/fleet can't be hit in the next battle (a charmed life), until the chan

Reply to Interesting Loss on Suicidal in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Managed two victories at suicidal so far and am enjoying experimenting with different abilities/races. Of all the races I am finding it really hard with Yor though which is strange considering their starting abilities are quite good. Somehow the maps are such that its a struggle. Are the planet allocations race and level specific? Any tips on playing Yor? If you are asking if the home system is always the same for a given race, then yes, except that on

Reply to Farm Spies in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

I did some testing. Built ALL the trade goods on one planet. Destroyed the colony. (BTW, I didn't realize that would make the planet CLASS 0!) I still certainly had the trade goods available to trade, and I seemed to retain the other benefits as well (my research didn't go down etc.) drrider

Reply to Farm Spies in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

I did some testing. Built ALL the trade goods on one planet. Destroyed the colony. (BTW, I didn't realize that would make the planet CLASS 0!) I still certainly had the trade goods available to trade, and I seemed to retain the other benefits as well (my research didn't go down etc.) drrider

Reply to Do you play to the very end? in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

If you might post to Metaverse, you have to take a potential victory all the way. Of course if you are clearly going to lose, or it has become too tedious to possibly, maybe, could be chip away the leader, you can retire at any time (and virtuously post the loss, OF COURSE!) drrider

Reply to Mars in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Do low PQ planets ALWAYS wind up with the same ultimate PQ? or is this just throwing out numbers? I did a LOT of empirical testing which was detailed in another thread. Bottom line is this: PQ1 always get 6 new tiles per level of terraforming, finishing as PQ19. PQ2 don't seem to occur naturally (without +PQ ability), so I didn't test. PQ3 get 2,4, or 5 new tiles per level of TF, maturing to 9, 15, or 18. (I forget the exac

Reply to expansionist minor civilizations in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I had a game where Akillians had taken the other planet in their system away from a major (they had gotten that 'spied out all the tech of X' event), and they were at war with my last competitor. They had some quite potent raider ships that were periodically slipping in and blasting the defender shell off certain enemy planets. I didn't want to go to war with the remaining rival for a variety of reasons, Trade being one, so I sucked up to both of them, but I would periodically give the

Reply to What is the deal with the Peacekeepers? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

I actually did finally have the Peacekeepers event happen in a game a few days ago. I didn't happen to be at war with anyone at the time, and and my influence was stronger than any other empire, so I had no ships or starbases in enemy territory. All other empires had their ships & bases destroyed while I sat back and watched them all get whacked. I avoided being attacked by the Peacekeepers by gradually eating away at enemy planets only within my sphere of influence wi

Reply to New PC Recommendations in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

I should have said: If you really want to look at a performance system, more like the Dell "XPS gaming" line, for that extra 10-15% of performance (and are prepared to drop the $2500 - $3500 min it will cost), look at ABS, (www.abspc.com). I and a couple of my friends have been happy with their systems / prices before. They have fairly recently become a very enthusiast / gamer oriented shop, however, and you won't find the nice general-purpose deals that they used to have. drrider

Reply to New PC Recommendations in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

Actually, two things in favor of Dell: (I buy Dell laptops and monitors, and tend to mess with their configurator a lot) 1) They don't go "we've got a live one" nuts with add-on prices when you do basic component upgrades that are within the choices on their web site configurator. You can go up to a faster proc or graphics card for a reasonable premium, partly because they are every component producers biggest customer and they buy their option components in bulk. 2) They

Reply to Computer Generosity factor in Modding GalCiv2 Forums

I find that trade is worth it in DA for one thing: Make whatever deal you need to in the very early game to get EVERYONE to assign their research treaty to you. Luckily, there are a few early techs that the AI values highly: Trade, Adv Trade (its generally beneficial to player for AI to have these, anyway), Soil Enhancement (hey, you're eventually going to take his planet anyway, right?), Extreme Colonization (once you've nailed the nearby enviro planets), some others. I will a

Reply to GalCiv 2 and the blind in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Brad or Cari, I think a comment, even a 'It's just too hard' or 'we will never be able to afford it', would be a nice gesture here. drrider

Reply to What is the deal with the Peacekeepers? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

I've never seen the Peacekeeper event. I do play aggressively/warlike and prefer a conquest victory to anything else, so I am surprised this event has never happened to me in the 30+ games I've played. I'd really like to know what the triggering circumstances are for the megaevents. I've never seen the pirates either... The events that almost always happen to me are dread-lords, spies, & plague. Also the Jagged Knife, unlimited range, and open-tourism market seem to ha