Galactic Civilizations II

[irishScott]

All I want to do is trade with the Altarians so I can boost my economy and finally build something that'll kick some ass, but nope. I've clicked on almost every dman item in the tech tree with no mention of these things. Do they just not exist in the early campaign?

Digression:
I would just like to add that the research portion of this game blows chunks by comparison to Space Empires V. You can only research one thing at a time (as opposed to SE V where you can distribute your research funding across multiple areas at once), the inter-links between research branches are not graphically displayed with the rest of th tech tree, and said links are often ridiculously difficult to trace to the noobie.

And I'm not talking anything exotic either, just upgraded ship hulls apparently require inter-relations that, while sensible, I had to draw out by hand to get the full picture. 😛

Now in Space Empires V, there are WAY more areas of technology to pursue. In the military category alone, GCII has 3 primary lines. SEV has about 20 IIRC. Likewise There are also very few interrelations. This is compensated for by researching "theoretical sciences" that unlock completely new lines of "applied research", with applied research unlocking more specific components like tachyon sensors or null-energy weapons. And you have no idea when these discoveries will occur. Much more realistic.

In addition, in GCII you have to research weapons and military hulls from scratch. Bull. Shit. Takes all the fun out of the early game IMO. In SEV you may not be able to make anything powerful, but you can have a full fledged warship out by turn 1, flying around the galaxy kicking other players' primitive ships' asses. Much more fun.

So there. I hate GCII's research management/functionality. 😛 Although I will admit that it's planet/colony management system is far more intuitive than SE V, it's AI appears to be more competent, and the AI's writing has a little bit of character to it as opposed to a series of blatantly canned responses. So the game isn't without it's redeeming qualities. 🙂

/rant

 

[IEC]

I would fire it up to see if I could remember, but last time I did that I stayed up until 4AM playing. Yeah, not gonna happen (maybe Friday?) 😀

 

[Martimus]

research Trade.

Then build a ship with a trade module on it, send it to a planet owned by someone else, and you will have a trade route.

EDIT: There is a PDF with the entire tech tree somewhere (I have it), but I couldn't find it with a quick search. I did find this link that could help you, however: http://metaverse.galciv2.com/index.aspx?g=techtree

 

[Chriscross3234]

IIRC, don't you just need the second or third research tier in diplomacy? I think it's called Trading. You need that tech and the first ship engine technology, I can't remember what it's called. Freighters do exist early in the game and they are essential to establishing 2 or 3 vital trade routes to help out your economy.

I haven't played this much as I should have (especially compared to the amount of time I've put into CivIV), but I love the fact that you can continually update your ships with new parts that you have researched. I think the game is extremely balanced in that there are three different types of weapons and respective armor. There are "core" design ships that require certain technologies, but you can always create your own ship with current technology that you already have.

Oh boy, there is not enough time in the world and now I want to play this game 🙂

EDIT: Cool little tip, not sure if you know this or not, but when looking at the research tree, you can zoom in and out by rolling the middle mouse button. I got all excited when I discovered that, lol.

 

[blckgrffn]

Loved this game, and I also will be up to 4am if I fire it up. Must resist...

*I still need a walk through to the campaign - I got to the Dreadnoughts and the continuously wiped me off the map. Even fully fortified starbases only last a couple waves.

Nat

 

[Izzo]

Originally posted by: blckgrffn
Loved this game, and I also will be up to 4am if I fire it up. Must resist...

*I still need a walk through to the campaign - I got to the Dreadnoughts and the continuously wiped me off the map. Even fully fortified starbases only last a couple waves.

Nat

You can't really build starbases (even on resources) against the dreads. They get wiped out too easily. You need a couple of fast ships with no weapons early on. Use these ships to lure dread ships away from your planets. As you tech up, make faster ships with one or two weapons to pick off the transports. Don't bother building fighters or anything until you tech up significantly. They are useless and just waste time and resources during the early push.

There was something else quirky about fighting dreads, but I don't remember exactly. Something about only attacking them with one ship at a time to ensure that your ship fires on them. I think there was something about how stacking your ships was bad because once the dread fired, he could wipe out many ships and yours wouldn't get to strike. But that is a little fuzzy....

 

[Martimus]

Originally posted by: Izzo

Originally posted by: blckgrffn
Loved this game, and I also will be up to 4am if I fire it up. Must resist...

*I still need a walk through to the campaign - I got to the Dreadnoughts and the continuously wiped me off the map. Even fully fortified starbases only last a couple waves.

Nat

You can't really build starbases (even on resources) against the dreads. They get wiped out too easily. You need a couple of fast ships with no weapons early on. Use these ships to lure dread ships away from your planets. As you tech up, make faster ships with one or two weapons to pick off the transports. Don't bother building fighters or anything until you tech up significantly. They are useless and just waste time and resources during the early push.

There was something else quirky about fighting dreads, but I don't remember exactly. Something about only attacking them with one ship at a time to ensure that your ship fires on them. I think there was something about how stacking your ships was bad because once the dread fired, he could wipe out many ships and yours wouldn't get to strike. But that is a little fuzzy....

My method of taking them out was to build a colony near them, let them take it over and then retake the colony, since they won't have had time to reinforce it. You will get one of their technologies that way (They have all technologies, which is why they are so powerful), and you can start building powerful ships as well, that can take on the Dread Lords in fleet combat. (My strategy in GC2 is almost always to build up a powerful manuafacturing infrastructure first, so by the time I can build war ships, I can crank them out at a high rate).

 

[imported_Lothar]

Ahh...The days of mass colony ships and mass colonization.