drrider

Reply to After playing for a while, I just don't like the new spy system anymore in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Though I feel I have adapeted to the new style and typically can get all the intell I need on critical civs, and clear the spy threats from home space, I also agree with G.W. and drakonfire. There should be a functional separation between info gathering and active (and highly provocative) sabotage. Maybe even a third distinction, for industrial espionage (tech stealing) efforts. drrider

Reply to Dark Avatar in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

This web site. Go to their Purchase page. Though you will have to go through whatever hoops are involved to pay them in US $. drrider

Reply to What would you pay good money for in an expansion? (The unofficial inquiry) in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

3D. drrider

Reply to The One event that truely sucks in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I have only about 1/8th of the galaxy so far. Do you realise how long it will take me to finish the game? Sam W. Not much time at all. As others have been saying, this event changes the whole paradigm of the galaxy, reasserts that this is a BIG place, with long distances, that make parochial conventional conquest impractical; kinda like, good as he was, Ghengis Khan was never going to conquer the WHOLE world - the very nature of the world woul

Reply to how do you spy? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

In DL, you fund espionage at the bottom of each races picture in the foreign relations screen; the portion where you can scroll sideways to see all your contacted races. Eventually that money builds up to Low, Medium, High, and Advanced levels of knowledge of that civ. You can't get more knowledge of planets, attitudes with spending beyond Advanced, but sometimes you may get stolen techs. In DA, it is totally different. You fund espionage at the bottom of the economics screen, for th

Reply to Power plants and their utilities in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Did either of your test planets have a moon? It would change the final mps, and anything derived from those mps. Also, if the concern is a difference in tp under a research focus, does one of the planets have rings? drrider

Reply to A Fond Farewell in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I've learned much from your postings. I look forward to your return. If we get a fix to the Off-type Defense Bug in 1.6x, it will be largely due to your investigations. drrider PS - Hope your clients are all wealthy sweet little old ladies, who like to bring cookies and brownies to court. If you are forced by ethics (Choose Neutral! Choose Neutral!) to save the bacon for some sleazeballs, charge them for saving the whole pig (and its offspring) (grin)

Reply to Defense Solutions in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

slabster - Although Wyndstar's original post was one of the first to document the effect, it is extremely well established/proven by essentially all the early adopters / heavy players on these forums, at least since the retail version of DA came out. It has been tacitly acknowledged by the devs, but apparently it is non-trivial to fix, so a fix has not shown up in the 1.6 betas yet, though it is expected. Not so noticeable with small, early ships / weapons. drrider<b

Reply to Race selection factors: Home system features in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

By the way, do you think you can custom races to that list? Devine - Custome races, whether player or opponent, all seem to use the "Custom Homeworld" system, which IS covered as the last entry on the chart. Basically a standard PQ10 w/moon homeworld, with a standard PQ4 (+3+3+3 or +4+4+4, variable) secondary, with 3 asteroid fields. drrider

Reply to Race selection factors: Home system features in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

You're not forgetting that the *receiving station* is in that category, are you? Not to mention that there can be other planets or objects in the transfer path... Transfer PATH!? Were you asleep in "N Dimensional Physics 301"?? (grin)

Reply to Help on PC parts in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

If you plan on using this rig for current generation gaming, and having it make you happy for 2 years +, invest in another gig of RAM. drrider

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

1) make the variable number of asteroid squares per racial homeworld indicated in the .xml file work. Right now (1.5x, 1.6b1,2), all home systems get exactly 3 squares of asteroids. this is a wonderful tool to get a little more differentiation, fine tuning of racial characteristics, but it sisn't working. 2) consider movement advantages for tiny (and small??) craft when moving through asteroid fields. Basically I'd say just let tiny ships move normally through them, and smalls maybe

Reply to Race selection factors: Home system features in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

There's also the smallish detail that you can beam resources from asteroids to planets, but not from one planet to another... rather curious. I think we must assume that...bad...things happen when one tries to use the "pure element" transmat technology in/near a significant gravity well (and/or atmosphere). On the other hand, if the location of your transmitting station is ALREADY disintegrated to a bunch of oversized gravel...(grin). drrider<b

Reply to DA 1.6 Beta 2 Here in Beta Reports GalCiv2 Forums

I just finished a game with 1.6 beta 2. Here are my findings: - Ships become invisible if multiple on the same spot - The gold slider in the trade window behaves strange if you have debt - If zooming the minimap in, the trapezoid indicating the visible mainscreen doesn't display properly. It gets smaller instead of larger. I have not seen the first one. Does this happen consistently for you? Is it only if they are different models, or something l

Reply to Race selection factors: Home system features in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Thax, Iztok. Fixed the Arcean total tiles. Also fixed the percentage occurance of the Yor 2nd planet, which was apparently showing up 110% of the time in my mind (and was apparently briefly named "Kona", by some Drengin expatritates no doubt.) It is probably worth note that, even if you focus on the effort, it takes significant time to get the final terraforming tech, compared to being able to force the first 2 levels pretty quickly. So the size of the second planet after Habita

Reply to Error? -PQ+ ability and marginal planets in Beta Reports GalCiv2 Forums

Er...no...that's not what I was saying, though I suppose it may have some merit in its own right. It ought to be very expensive, or require a layer of T-form beyond the current final level. drrider

Race selection factors: Home system features in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I've recently spent a deal of time testing some of the subtler aspects of each race's home system. Here are my conclusions. With the the great increase in the impact of the terraforming techs in Dark Avatar, and the addition of asteroid mining to the game, the other features of each races home system have become more important in choosing your player race (especially when playing on lower abundance settings). Some notes & caveats. 1) Data were derived empirically, (mo

Error? -PQ+ ability and marginal planets in Beta Reports GalCiv2 Forums

I'm not sure if the circumstance I have observed is a bug or not. It may be intended design, though what I considered the logic of the special ability would seem to argue against it. PQ+ Ability. First let me say that I have always considered the logic of the PQ+ ability to be that the simulated race was being portrayed as singluarly "in tune" with environmental issues and earth sciences, and thus was able to get "a bit more" out of each planet. Think Switzerland. I have not

Reply to Happy as hell? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I am happy as hell that the drive in is playing Spidey 3 with Ghost Rider (old Marvel nut here, but I DON'T like Nicolas Cage as the Ghost Rider... ). You should add "happy we have a local drive-in" to your list. I read a couple of years ago that there are only something like 20 working drive-in theaters in the US these days, down from something like 800 at the peak of their popularity. I always enjoyed the drive in experience; it sorta seemed like th

Reply to Minor Races? in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Dread Lords in DA ARE a MegaEvent. And I am not sure they are turned off when you disable or 0 the number of minor races; to be sure they won't show up you need to turn off Megas. Now, handling them. Well, they never neutralize spies, so there was one game where I had every space on their first 2 planets covered by spies; slowed them way down. Unfortunately, you apparently can't steal any tech from them. When they first appear on the map they are as weak as any n

Reply to I'm losing patients with this game, yeah I suck too. in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

On your threats from other civs, try this. Every time you meet a civ, either try to make a deal for their Research treaty (if you have cash, its easiest to just buy it); or if that is too exorpitant, at the least trade them 100 bc for however much influence points (or anything else) they are willing to give up. This gives you a working relationship with them. Every once in awhile, when you can afford it, reinforce the relationship by doing another minor deal. You can also send trade

Reply to Happy as hell? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I get happy happy when my 9-yr son says things like "Daddy is winning his game.", or when he blows bubbles with his face in the pool while swimming a half-width on his own. Robin has autism at a high-functional level, with particular difficulties in verbal communication and motor skills. You would think that would depress us, and it does a bit. But every increment of progress on the things he has difficulty with is an enhanced delight, and he is getting to the point now that we can se

Reply to Altarian Rebillion AAR in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

Ya'know, it just occurred to me this morning that one could think of the Iconians as being a race that sorta started with a PQ13 HW, a 2-planet system, and sorta a built-in 1-level PQ ability. (3-points.) Of course, that viewpoint is only really fair when planets are rare or uncommon, because the PQ+ ability has additional leverage on game outcome when there are lots of planets that it pumps up. Interestingly, the PQ+ ability does not seem to me to be a great help to home system 2nds a

Reply to Altarian Rebillion AAR in AARs GalCiv2 Forums

I don't claim to have near the experience (or apparently the playing time available) that Wyndstar or Iszok, et al, do, and I don't play in the Metaverse. However, I HAVE always used the all research / no factories strategy (with considerably less sophistication) since I started playing DL in December, and carried it over to DA (when it went boxed, what, 2 months ago. I almost always play with rare everything on gigantic maps (my way of cutting down the grind time, in lieu of smaller m

Reply to Repairing ships and star-bases in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

If it is essential to repair a ship or a class VERY fast, and you are willing to spend on it, save their current configuration to to a new ship class name, then upgrade to that. Its about the cheapest upgrade cost, but it WON'T be free, and it will take 1-3 turns, depending on ship size, actual/average distance from base, etc. Remember while ships are upgrading, they have 1 hitpoint. I don't know of any way to fast repair starbases, but I admit I am not sure what happens to