Originally posted by: Fox5
Originally posted by: wanderer27
Originally posted by: Fox5
Gal Civ 2 is pretty much in the civilization style, and I believe civilization DOES have good tutorials, so it's likely people who came from civ 4 had no problem picking up gal civ 2.
I've played the Civ series since inception. GC II may be similar, it's just too hard to tell:
- Already mentioned Starbase and extra Constructor for each upgrade.
- I had -64% approval from Population alone with no explanation I can find as to why - and that's after all the "Happy" buildings are built
- If you don't claim the one other inhabitable planet in your starting System within a couple of turns you're stuck with just one planet. Either way you're boxed in within a handful of turns. Boxed in at the beginning of a SPACE game? How absurd!
- Tech descriptions could sure be better. I only get a vague idea of what a lot of them will do.
- I had all these "Trade" bonuses, and yet I couldn't build a Cargo ship to trade, and I had researched a couple Techs relating to Trade. Unless it's pretty deep into the Tech tree (which is crazy), I can't figure this one out.
- Of the four games I've played, two ended by the Altarians (Allies) winning, and the other two I quit out of boredom (one being a few hundred clicks into the game).
In short, I was spending more time fighting the game mechanics than the enemy I was playing.
I wish it had been otherwise I wanted to like the game. For now it's going have to sit on the side a few days until I finish my current MOO3 campaign, and even then I'm not sure if I'll pick it back up yet.
Maybe I'm just getting too old, I've been gaming for nearly 30 years now . . . . senility must be setting in
-Approval has to do with population and taxes. High taxes kill approval, as well as high population. You can build multiple morale buildings. Also, a weak civ also hurts approval, as does an enemy civ with high influence.
Also, 64% approval is not bad. The game is tiered so that population growth occurs differently depending on approval. 100% gives you the highest boost, then there's a range that's like 75% to 99%, then the next range is something like 50% to 74%, then the next range is like 24% to 49%, and anything below 24 goes negative in growth. (could be wrong on the ranges here)
-The hapitable planet thing depends on the map. On the absolute smallest sized map, yes, you really only have the choice on the first planet you find and then it's war time. On the next map size above that, you can usually make a grab for a few planets outside your system, though you may have to outright purchase colony ships rather than let production finish. Each map size increase makes it easier and easier to grab planets, but the computer will make a beeline for the best ones, so it's up to you to do the same, which means purchasing colony ships. On a huge galaxy, you probably won't find yourself boxed in at all. It's often a good idea to ignore the other planet in your starting system and to go find a better one.
The latest expansion alleviates this somewhat by giving each race a planetary environment its best in, which other civs may not be able to settle at all or only with a penalty.
-Tech descriptions suck, insofar as they require an understanding of how the game actually works. There's also too many incremental upgrades.
The latest expansion also fixes this by cleaning up the tech tree, fixing descriptions, and giving each race a unique tech tree.
-Trade ships are easy to build. I think you just need to research instellar trade to get the module. The actual trade ship may require some research into life support and engines as well, but the game boasts an elaborate ship editor which you MUST play with. Even if you don't care for insanely customized ships, the game plays its prebuilt ships with weird tech requirements that makes them useless (takes too long to get) and the built in ships are quickly outdated in engine speed. You're forced into designing your own ships, even if it just consists of double clicking on a hull size, your best engine, and a few weapons.
It's also useful to exploit a cpu's weakness if they research into a certain offensive or defensive tech.
-Well, the altarians winning one was a campaign game, and campaign sucks.
Also, you can't play this game on such an easy difficulty otherwise the computer just rolls over and dies for you. Play on normal or the difficulty 1 above normal and the computer is very beatable, but will wipe you out until you learn how to play. (honestly, they really needed a tutorial on how to do a good start)
And this game is heavy on colonization and trade. You have to colonize aggressively at the start, and trade on most map sizes will contribute a sizable portion of your income, if not most of it. (though you can pick race picks to try to make yourself more self-sufficient, or go combat focused and just survive through conquering)
Also, if you do pick up gal civ 2 again, don't bother with the original game, jump right into the dark avatar expansion, it includes a ton of improvements.