Trying to learn GalCiv3

from Stardock Forums

So I'm trying to learn GalCiv3 and it seems to have a steeper learning curve over most 4x games. (I play many; thousands of hours into Civ4. I typically don't go too high in difficulties -- I've peaked at Monarch in Civ4, but usually play noble [sometimes with K-Mod AI fixes]. GalCiv2 I peaked at Challenging once with a good map gen, but usually stuck to normal.)

The UI leaves a lot to be desired. Examples:

  1. Simply getting a count of the opponent's planets? And other such statistics. [I later found this one in the diplomacy screen, but that's a bad place for it to be exclusively.]
  2. How about telling me WTF a tech is when a foe demands a technology?
  3. The "tree" view in technology is useless. Let me zoom out.
  4. So I have a tech that was gifted to me that I can't find in the tree at all, even when I use the search.
  5. Some sort of indicator when zoomed out to "icon map view" for which resources are and are not mined would be useful.
  6. In general, I always zoom out to the "icon map view" because any closer and I can't see anything. The graphics sure are darned pretty, but there's no functionality with them at all. Durantium in particular is hard to see
  7. "Incoming message from a major civilization"... WHO? Tell me who.
  8. Why can't I see actual costs? There's the benevolent perk, "150 free research points". I have no idea how much that actually is because there's no indicator of how much a tech costs.
  9. It'd be nice to be able to remove credit/resource offers from diplomacy without having to click, adjust the number to zero, click.
  10. Can I see the after-battle report after a quick battle instead of having to go into view battle, then click resolve?
  11. How do I stop starbases from always auto-requesting needless upgrades from my shipyards?


Mechanics questions:
(For reference, I've been focusing on playing as the Terrans, Alterians or a custom race similar to them. I turn off tech brokering (not trading) and leave galaxy options/game settings at defaults, except mega events off.)

  1. So I  have a mining star base 2 spaces away from a couple resources. An apponent has one 4 spaces away. Two resources are in my influence area. But it shows the enemy's starbase as collecting it. Why?
  2. Can someone direct me to a useful, practical tutorial? The one in the game teaches the interface but that's it. I played GalCiv1 and 2 (quite a few games on 2; usually won at my difficult, but not too high a difficulty)... GalCiv3, on "normal" is kicking my ass. I'm always way behind in colonization, even when at least half of my ship production is colony ships and I colonize as quickly as I find them/can get to them, and a decent portion of my colony expansion early on is for manufacturing. Yet the enemies always get way more planets than I do, and still have a military fleet behind it along with military techs with their highly-developed colonies (so they have high population, high research, mega-factories, many colonies, and large fleets... EVERYTHING!). What am I doing wrong? (I typically spend a few meager turns moving my initial shipyard to being between my first couple colonies so there's no distance decay from them.) I'm even rushing once in a while as budget allows me. (Like GalCiv2, I try to run low-net-income to keep research and and manufacturing up, at least early on.) Does the AI cheat that badly even on normal? Is there a "view everything" mode so I can see what they're doing and learn from it?
  3. Is the random map generator really as bad as it seems? More than half of the games I've tried to play, I've been totally screwed by the RNG in terms of colonizable planets I can reach. Fewer are nearer to me than enemies, and generally they seem to be of lower quality. The most recent game, I had plenty near me of good quality -- but they all required extreme colonization or atmospheric cleansing! So even independently of the previous question (about why I always lose at expansion...), I usually can't expand even when I try. I've tried tight clusters, loose clusters, scattered... They all have a high tendency to do this. I prefer my strategy games to have a little bit less "RNG FU" than this map generator seems to have.
  4. Does the automatic ship designer effectively utilize miniaturization/hull enlargement techs, or do they only shine with custom designs?
  5. I have a planet that spawned with two "techapod hives". Should I destroy one?


Bug:

  1. Terran appears to be in the custom race tech tree selector twice.
23,353 views 19 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Mining resources go to whoever get there first. Not proximity based.

Build Economy Starbases, 3 in and around your Home system. 4 space gap between each is required.

Population is Key to all, it boosts everything, 2x farms + Hospital in a triangle so they boost each other, near your Capitol building so atleast 2 of the 3 are adjacent to that(Unless you get a decent food bonus resource). This should be done on ALL planets. 3 maybe 4 if you can fit them in on large planets. On a Huge map (Which is what I play on 90% the time) I aim for atleast 16 pop on small, 22 on Medium and 30+ large Worlds, by turn 100-150. (I play a mix of Gifted/Genius AI's)

Research - Go straight for the Tech Capitol Building Tech. While doing this make your secondary planet a research Hub, or your capitol if your secondary planet gets a decent manufacturing Colonizing event. 4-5 research centers in a ring with a space in the center for the Tech Cap building. Again you need space for a farm(2 if poss) and a Hospital, population really is the key. Also do this for your 2nd or 3rd colonized world outside you home system. Fill the middle with an Thalium Data Archive. Or if your in an area with alot of Thalium, simple build a ring of them instead. If your feeling brave use you starting colony ship to colonise a planet out side your home system first. This can also have a big impact.

Colonizing - Do not fill your early colony ships up, set them to 1 or even 0.5, I usualy do 1 unless I meet some major early on and need to make a mad dash for planets, then its 0.5's, gives you more working space to grab planets faster as your Homeworld is not getting to nerfed by all the migration.

Making Friends - If you do not make large fleets, then the AI see's you as weak, but, there is a work around for this. Embassy Building and a few diplomacy Techs will keep most of them at bay far easier than a large fleet of ships.

Defend your Planets - Tiny Balanced ships will do. 5-10 at each planet. They are quick and easy to build, defended planets give a decent boost to the bugged "power" graph.

It a comon misconception that the AI gets boosts on Normal. They do not, they simply build 3-4 Eco starbases in pretty much every system. Boosts do not start happening untill Gifted and Above.

And yes the map generation/placements sucks. I usualy generate a few rndom maps in the map editor and place the factions as best i can for a balanced start.

Yes the automated designs take advantage ove miniturization and capaity increases. But the stock blueprints suck.Your best off  makign you own.

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

So population uber alles? Population improves production too, not just economy? More than factories?

Doesn't that density of economic starbases prevent mining ones? (I have never tried more than 1 economic per system.)

Siege of Centauri
Reply #3 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Doesn't that density of economic starbases prevent mining ones? (I have never tried more than 1 economic per system.)

 

Yes and no :), it all about placements. (but tbh, I play a modded game and have Mining rings avalable on any starbase)

Population boosts raw production which boosts everything else.

Reply #4 from GalCiv3 Forums Top


The UI leaves a lot to be desired. Examples:

Simply getting a count of the opponent's planets? And other such statistics. [I later found this one in the diplomacy screen, but that's a bad place for it to be exclusively.

A: One can estimate number of the average player in the game.  At Gifted - Godlike AI just after the colony rush the AI typically has anywhere from 50-100% of your number of planets. (Should you be decent at colonization).  Anywhere below that most likely 25-50% of your planets.  Otherwise the only other way to get the exact number is through the diplomacy screen as you suggested, plus one, their homeworld.

How about telling me WTF a tech is when a foe demands a technology?

A: This would be a nice addition to tell the player what the tech does when they demand it from you.  It assumes an experienced player that has a general idea of what the tech is.

So I have a tech that was gifted to me that I can't find in the tree at all, even when I use the search.

A: This means this tech is not in your tech tree but, you now have it and can use it.

In general, I always zoom out to the "icon map view" because any closer and I can't see anything. The graphics sure are darned pretty, but there's no functionality with them at all. Durantium in particular is hard to see

A: Attempt to adjust your display settings as I have no issue seeing everything in this view.

"Incoming message from a major civilization"... WHO? Tell me who.

A: Yes, please.  Although if you added factions to your game it shows you a picture and, assuming you don't have several factions with the same portrait one should be able to figure out who it is.

Why can't I see actual costs? There's the benevolent perk, "150 free research points". I have no idea how much that actually is because there's no indicator of how much a tech costs.

A: This varies depending on your tech/game speed, however, you can see the value by looking in the XML files, which I know is a pain, however, one can locate that there.  I do agree with you though it would be nice in the game to be able to see the value of each tech so one could make an educated choice on which techs to unlock.  One can still guess on it by the number of turns it takes to research and the number of research points you produce per turn.

It'd be nice to be able to remove credit/resource offers from diplomacy without having to click, adjust the number to zero, click.

A: I agree with this point, however, I wouldn't hold your breath these changes take time as Stardock appears to me more focused on adding/changing larger issues atm with a few little things tossed in.

How do I stop starbases from always auto-requesting needless upgrades from my shipyards?

A: Turn off auto-upgrade in the star base screen. (un-click check box)

So I  have a mining star base 2 spaces away from a couple resources. An apponent has one 4 spaces away. Two resources are in my influence area. But it shows the enemy's starbase as collecting it. Why?

They built their star base first.  The game is first come first serve.  Destroy other players star base and now you're first :) .

Can someone direct me to a useful, practical tutorial? The one in the game teaches the interface but that's it. I played GalCiv1 and 2 (quite a few games on 2; usually won at my difficult, but not too high a difficulty)... GalCiv3, on "normal" is kicking my ass. I'm always way behind in colonization, even when at least half of my ship production is colony ships and I colonize as quickly as I find them/can get to them, and a decent portion of my colony expansion early on is for manufacturing. Yet the enemies always get way more planets than I do, and still have a military fleet behind it along with military techs with their highly-developed colonies (so they have high population, high research, mega-factories, many colonies, and large fleets... EVERYTHING!). What am I doing wrong?

A: I don't have a great tutorial to point you to, however, I can provide you some suggestions.  Start searching for habitable planets right away with your survey ship (while surveying manually) with your exploration ship (auto explore) and with your colony ship.  If there are many planets, upon your first colonization ideology choice choose pragmatic and take the 3 constructors.  Now place them in orbit in either your shipyard or planet.  Upgrade them to colony ships.  Next turn launch and have them go colonize new planets that you either already know of or in search for new.  Next ideology choice choose Benevolent and take the free colony ship.  After that I normally shoot up the top row of benevolent to get the 2 extra planets.  Also build colony ships from the beginning.  Focus heavily on manufacturing and research with only limited economy as you don't get a huge economic boost at the beginning anyways. If you have the Mercenary expansion buy the survey ships to collect more anomalies quicker (this give free credits, ships, techs).

(I typically spend a few meager turns moving my initial shipyard to being between my first couple colonies so there's no distance decay from them.)

A: Don't do this the first several turns are key on getting going on colonizing quickly, one can always adjust this later.

I'm even rushing once in a while as budget allows me. (Like GalCiv2, I try to run low-net-income to keep research and and manufacturing up, at least early on.)

A: Budget can be negative (loosing credits per turn) as far into the game as you need it to be, just don't let your balance get below 0.  I normally keep about 1000 credits in the bank to help.

Does the AI cheat that badly even on normal?

A: No, the AI doesn't cheat until Gifted.

Is there a "view everything" mode so I can see what they're doing and learn from it?

A: Cheat... One is unable to do this in the standard game, need to enable cheating and reopen game, there are posts on how to do this.  Then remove FOW.

Is the random map generator really as bad as it seems? More than half of the games I've tried to play, I've been totally screwed by the RNG in terms of colonizable planets I can reach.

A: I have no problem with the random map generator, some games are great others suck, is the randomness of the generator. 

Does the automatic ship designer effectively utilize miniaturization/hull enlargement techs, or do they only shine with custom designs?

A: The automatic ship designer does great at designing the ships they are intended to design such as Missle ships with shields ect...  It doesn't make that specific ship for every need though and that's why you can design ships of your choosing.

I have a planet that spawned with two "techapod hives". Should I destroy one?

Why? These bonus's stack.  Use this to your benefit.

Reply #5 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

fowtrans is another command, reveals whats under the fow(even ships movements) without actualy making you meet everybody like the fow command does.

Reply #6 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I think in a game of this scope there will always be a need for UI improvements.  That said, things have improved consistently since launch largely based on player input.  Post in the New Ideas....

 

1.  The control of a resource is dependent on who gets their mining starbase up first.  You would have to destroy his or try to have him give it to you in a trade.  

2.  There is a ton of video and guides out there for GalCiv3.  There are some pretty decent guides on the Steam Community Hub for GalCiv3 as well.

3.  Ya RNG is RNG.  But the map generator has no inherent bias against you.  :)  If you want to ensure you get a reasonably good start you can use the map editor.  It is not necessary to edit the whole map.  Just pick a spot and setup a good system or two and then set one of the plants to random human start.  You will start on that planet.

4.  The auto ship gen will try and construct new models to use as much available space as it can, so yes, I believe it takes advantage of miniaturization and added hull space.  That said, I do all my own designs.  So the auto generated designs are fine for what they are, but you will do better if you design for specific situations.  For example, in the beginning you need ships with good beam defense because the roaming pirates and the pirates found in the ship graveyards all use beams.  So early on I focus on getting beam defense going first.  Get yourself an escort that has beam defense to run with the base survey ship so you take down graveyards without taking any damage.  To take down pirate shipyards you will want something with one defense module for all damage types.  In short, the auto designs are good in terms of maximizing space, but designing to handle the specific enemy you are facing is better.  In addition, since the start is so important, I always design cheaper colony ships and constructors for the start.  You do not need life support as everything initially is close range.

There is also a strategy of designing a non-moveable sensor barge straight away and upgrading something to it or buying it to get that first initial look at your surrounding area.  This may not be as good as it was pre V1.7 because they did change how sensors work to nerf the massive sensor barge strategy somewhat.

At the end of the day you will always do better with your own designs.  And to a large extent, i find this key to a good start.

5. A techapod hive is a trade resource.  A trade resource provides adjacency bonus and has a global effect as well.  There is still a problem with this because the tooltip on things like techapod, harmony crystals, etc... say player achievement 1 per player, however they do in fact appear to stack for global benefit.  So if you destroy one you do lose global benefit.  In addition, they do not seem to be ever worth trading because they do stack globally the AI seems unaware of this and undervalues them.  This is a confusion that Stardock has been aware of but for whatever reason has not cleared up.  

As a final suggestion ... going pragmatic at the start to get the 3 free constructors which you then upgrade to your cheap colony ships is a given strategy.  You can have 3 colony ships in turn 2 or 3.

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

Thanks for the input.

  • The "Player achievement - 1 per player" on the resource is apparently erroneous you say. Glad to know.
  • I'm glad others agree the RMG isn't very friendly and I'm not alone in wanting to restart after playing a few turns and finding nothing nearby to colonize.
  • The Pragmatic 3 constructors was often my first choice, but I'd use them as constructors. Upgrading them to colony ships feels cheap, but I'll try it. *sigh*
  • So where are all the other ships y'all are talking about coming from in when my shipyard is full-time making colony ships?
  • Glad to hear population matters more than it seemed to. I'll try with more farms my next play through.
  • Also glad to hear the auto-designer makes useful ships. I do still make useful designs by hand as I need ("enemy has missiles? Time for some point defense"), but for "rank and file defenders", I'd rather not have to spend my time on every ship design.
Reply #8 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting mqstout, reply 7

So where are all the other ships y'all are talking about coming from in when my shipyard is full-time making colony ships?

Anomalies 

Reply #9 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting mqstout, reply 7

Thanks for the input.

 

 

    • The Pragmatic 3 constructors was often my first choice, but I'd use them as constructors. Upgrading them to colony ships feels cheap, but I'll try it. *sigh*

 

I think you can rationalize it. :)  Someone gave you something that was not quite what you needed so you modified it.  And it does cost credits so its not actually cheap :)

 

    • So where are all the other ships y'all are talking about coming from in when my shipyard is full-time making colony ships?

 

Well hopefully you can get your second shipyard going.  I usually like to get a research colony going after my first two manufacturing planets.  Then I go right back to trying to get that second shipyard and supporting planets going.  When to take a break from colony ships and getting some constructors and other ship types going is one of the key decisions you will make.  And it is dependent on many factors ... map size, enemy proximity, your ship yard production capability, etc... I guess its more a feel than something you are going to empirically determine.  

I stick with colony ships as long as I am seeing good close planets, but do not underestimate the value of some constructors as soon as you feel you can slip one in.  The econ starbases do help!

But there are things you can do ... For example if I find a good resource spot with say 3 resources in close proximity, I might slip in a constructor and then look to trade those resources.  The resource trading to other factions yields the most cash and then as others have suggested, use the cash to buy Bazaar survey ships.  You may need some resources for these ships as well.  But that said, these are great early revenue generators, produce ships from anomalies that you can use or decommission for extra cash, and they can generally do some scanning as well, alleviating the need to build scouts.  Further, since you are getting some decent creds from surveying, you can keep your sliders focused on manufacturing and research and run a credit deficit in the early going.  You are definitely going to want to keep those sliders really focused on manufacturing in the early going and you should be popping colony ships in 2-3 turns real soon.  The Bazaar survey ships are one of the best early deals in the game.

 

    • Also glad to hear the auto-designer makes useful ships. I do still make useful designs by hand as I need ("enemy has missiles? Time for some point defense"), but for "rank and file defenders", I'd rather not have to spend my time on every ship design.  
Even with pirates around I don't build military ships too early.  The pirates are easily avoided.  That said, getting one design going with a good beam defense going will allow you to survey graveyards without taking damage if you run that escort with your survey ship.
 
Finally, others may have a different strategy but for me speed is everything.  I generally play a custom race with the FAST attribute.  And then I focus much of my early research on getting my speed up.  It's simple math.  The faster your ships can go early on, the faster you can do everything.  If you are lucky enough to have a fair amount of Promethium around, grab that and use the Promethium drives.
 
And , don't get frustrated with a poor start.  If after 20 turns you are not seeing a decent number of reasonably close good planets start again.  I think most people do this.  There is no shame in it.  Hoot! :)

 


Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top

I might have to try FAST with my next one. This one I've started (with your suggestions), I kept getting beat by a couple turns colonizing planets. But, finally, I had enough colony ships.

Reply #11 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

What map size do you play btw?

Reply #12 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I usually play immense tight clusters with 5-6 opponents.  This is probably an advantage for the player.  It lets you get setup and going before you immediately have to deal with a major.  The AI does not seem as fast expanding out of their initial cluster, but then again, i go pretty fast and heavy for speed.

Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top

I've tried a mix. I've had the best luck so far with large, scattered (5 AI).

Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top
Good news guys. Thanks to your tips, I played medium, tight clusters today and I am keeping a solid 2nd place overall (fast ships helped a ton in the expansion race, and the sensor ship trick helped immensely in actually finding planets to colonize). I'm way behind in actual military ships and am starting to get picked on, but I'm producing at least decent counter-ships to their fleet right now. I'm hoping to turn it around after the Krynn declared war on me (and the Snathi are close to; I'm trading tightly with the Antarians and Torians; I'm lead of the United Planets, with all the minors voting with me)
Reply #15 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Good Stuff!

Reply #16 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Awsome!

Reply #17 from Stardock Forums Top

Is it reasonable to redesign the starting colony ship to be just cargo hull, colony module, and engine(s)? I noticed they come with a lot of life support.

Reply #18 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting mqstout, reply 17

Is it reasonable to redesign the starting colony ship to be just cargo hull, colony module, and engine(s)?
That's what I do to save costs.

Reply #19 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting mqstout, reply 17

Is it reasonable to redesign the starting colony ship to be just cargo hull, colony module, and engine(s)? I noticed they come with a lot of life support.

I have two colony ship designs, one I call "Basic" and one "Stripped".  The basic model has a colony module, two range modules and two hyperdrives.  The "Stripped" version eliminates the range modules.  Use the "Basic" model to expand into an area, and the "Stripped" one to fill in everything it can reach.  There is not a huge cost savings between them (109 v 89 I think), but when your production is extremely low that amounts to a full turn of shipyard capacity.

** Note that I never build a colony ship until I research Interstellar Travel, and that's the first thing I research.  +1 movement and better components.