Magnumaniac

Reply to Kzinti Empire - offical empire thread in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]I know there's gonna be some whining when the MCC does lose its 100% econ ability (since many players counted on that-which no offense, is just poor planning) but for the Betterment of the Game, I'm all for it.[/quote] Couldn't agree more - I've already planned around not having that econ bonus in TA, and do not expect the overall potential economy to be much less for a similar number of planets (but then there are less habitables in TA). Would be nice if the MCC was fix

Reply to steep increase in the cost of technologies in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

I'm quite sure that this is not working as intended, or designed. Yes, a tech inflation curve may well supposed to be in place - but this is no curve. Example of research cost for Nightmare Torpedo At start of game (immense galaxy, very fast tech), cost is 3,737rp Stays at that until the first jump is triggered (no idea by what) and then became 10,423rp Stayed at that for ages until another jump to 35,700rp for no apparent reason. This affects the value of all

Reply to Sudden and extreme tech cost increases in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Yes - noticed the same (also playing Altarians, but don't know if that is just coincidence). Immense galaxy, suicidal, abundant everything. Happened once early in the game, then later on when I completed the last cultural tech, research cost for Nightmare Torpedo jumped from 10,423 to over 35,000. Re-loaded, changed the tech being researched to another and the same thing happened when it was finished. Everything more than tripled in cost. With the earlier occurrence that means

Arcean Weather Control in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

As you can trade for / steal the Arcean weather control tech, if you are playing using the Drath or Altarian tech tree can you build both Weather Control & Biosphere Modulator on a planet for a net gain of +6 PQ and +4 tiles? Rather a powerful combination if you can, I think...

Reply to The Colony Rush is Finally Dead - True or False? in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]I'm finally trying to play Drengin. My long-term rut is playing Thalans[/quote] I've experimented with a few races so far, just playing out the first couple of years to get a feel for how they play - the Drengin tech tree is interesting, but goes a little too far with the industry +% buildings for me. Thalans as an opponent do colonise quickly - but they can't do much else at the beginning of the game. Definitely have the base to become a super-power later on, so I would

Reply to What to do with 24 billion robots... in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]What to do with 24 billion robots...[/quote] Go into the toaster business... As an aside, the 300% food bonus tiles come into their own in TotA - especially if using the Yor tech tree with their charging stalks. I wouldn't recommend using Thalan and building their Matrix super-project on one though :)

Reply to The Colony Rush is Finally Dead - True or False? in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

Not dead, just resting while everyone works out the optimal approach to balance economy / production / research etc. With the games I've been playing so far it just seems that the "rush" has a delayed start and I need to fix the economy first - then it's full speed ahead. The extra distances involved on an immense map are more than offset by the base ship speed increase to 2. With the exception of the Torians, none of the AIs seem to be able to rush as effectively as previously

Reply to How do I build a military starbase array? in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]The highest score is won by the fastest victory on the largest map[/quote] Would be nice, but then you would have people pumping out zero-year Suicidal Gigantic (Immense in TotA) wins at a high rate and lots of complaining that it wasn't competitive. There is no perfect answer, and whatever scoring method is employed... the best, most active players will find ways to maximise it and the casual player will not be able to compete. There is also no requirement for

Reply to Newbie question: Confused about an icon in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

No - it's the set rally point icon for the planet. Click on it and a list of rally points you have created will pop up and you can select one to be the default destination for ships built at that planet. Any ships built will then auto-launch on completion and have their destination set to that rally point. Obviously, if you haven't yet created any rally points it does nothing.

Reply to Year Zero Club in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

Go for it KP - I still haven't seen a pre-cursor library, so there is still room for improvement. Got 3 in with TotA now - scores are a bit down (35K the best), but still working out the best race / tech tree to use. Tech Capital takes a bit longer to get now, and the starting funds being reduced to 3000 has a big impact. [quote]you realize thats there no ARC in TA right?[/quote] Not sure what you mean by this Silver, seems to be working as before - you can change supe

Reply to Is ToA Metaverse workoing as designed? in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

Submitted 3 TotA games tonight without any issues, so don't think it's a general problem.

Reply to Why Do Some People Balk at Paying for Software? in Personal Computing GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Part of the additional cost from the UK site is VAT @ 17.5% But that doesn't excuse the rest.[/quote] Yeah - being ripped of by the government is OK I guess :D So, yes, I could live with £325 + 17.5% VAT which is still nearly £200 less (but still doesn't explain the £17 mark-up for the download only version over the retail box - very strange) The after-market option is a good idea, worth investigating, thanks. But I believe I have stumbled on the

Reply to Why Do Some People Balk at Paying for Software? in Personal Computing GalCiv2 Forums

Here is a slightly different take on it that will not be a factor for US residents... I use Adobe Photoshop V7 (bought years ago, fully licensed, legitimate copy). I would like to upgrade it to CS3 for the new features and RAW support for new cameras. Got to adobe website, see price at $649 (approx £325). To me, this product is worth that price and I have no issues paying for it. However, I am in the UK so Adobe re-directs me to their UK site, and these are the options I get:<

Reply to Year Zero Club in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

Seeing as people were, rightly, keen to ensure a level playing field; here is the latest mark on 1.80g (now that I have been able to fix the version on completion of the gigantic I had going - have you any idea how annoying that fleet autopilot bug is on a gigantic map)? [img]http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk131/Magnumaniac/40k_ZYW.jpg[/img]

Reply to Year Zero Club in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]if you get a chance, try building at least one attack vessel (so not a cargo hull/specialized ship); i seem to recall being able to get some kind of military score before; I musta had an attack ship of some kind.[/quote] Yes, your opponents scout ships should be upgradeable to a 1 attack tiny hull. I don't think it makes any real difference that late on, but it certainly doesn't make the score go down. Alternatively, if you are flush with cash from anomalies you can rush

Reply to Year Zero Club in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]I always hate those damn Brazilians or Europeans thinking they can march in and take my continent away any time they want.[/quote] Hey, us Europeans were always very good at taking them away, just not very good at keeping them - you live on one of those continents :HOT:

Reply to Year Zero Club in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]No more hints please...I want to figure the rest out on my own.[/quote] Of course - that's the fun part! I will just say that looks very similar to what I was doing when scoring 33-35K, and it's changed a bit since. @Silverbeacher - if I've timed things right, and my maths is good enough, I don't need the free maintenance, and when you are talking about a weekly spend of 700-800bc on leases and research output, the maintenance costs are negligible. I now only r

Reply to Year Zero Club in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Iconis.... hm. So far I've only used Oxor because of the secondary.[/quote] Oxor was of course what I meant when I inexplicably typed Orca. Doh! But yes, Iconis is the location of choice now, and I do colonise the little PQ3 on turn 1 if possible (with 1 colonist only) to get the extra early research boost. Forget about it after turn 3. I have a couple of different spore ship designs saved - one with speed 4 & no range boost, the other speed 3 and a couple of li

Reply to Year Zero Club in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

Obviously I'm not going to give away all the secrets of success, but may be able to give you a few pointers... Home star system - work out which one is best suited to the particular demands of this type of game. I tried many games with the most obvious candidates, Thalis & Orca, before settling on using another one which has powered the higher scores. Most games I do not need to build / rush buy any ships at all! If you, or the minor races you have met, have any money

Reply to Year Zero Club in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]The single ship fleet bug is present in all iterations of DL and DA. Probably in TA as well, since it was never taken seriously by the Devs. Its use had been very limited until DA 1.80e.[/quote] I stand, or sit, corrected then :) and the sarcasm earlier was obviously inappropriate, and not as obvious as I had hoped! I agree therefore that there is a potential exploit in v1.80e that could be used to provide some benefit to the score in a ZYW (if you got enough 25% tech

Reply to Year Zero Club in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

I will update to 1.80g as soon as possible, now that I know it exists - just not whilst I have ongoing games. Been there before and know not to change versions in the middle of a game intended for MV submission. Never use fleets much, anyway, and 1.80e has been pretty stable for me so far apart from the ever-present OOM following multiple invasions. I guess they'll never fix that one and it will always be a case of save / reload every 25-30 planets invaded.

Reply to Year Zero Club in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

I did not, and never have used the fleet movement bug (didn't even know it existed until reading this today). I cannot see how it could be used in any case, as it is impossible to create a fleet at the start of the game because you do not have 2 ships that will fit with your starting logistics - unless you can create a fleet with one ship (never tried that - but wouldn't surprise me if you could). Even then, from reading the details on the bug, you have to click outside the r

Reply to Year Zero Club in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Personally, I'm not going to take advantage of such bugs to up my scores...that's neither interesting, fun, or challenging (other than to your patience!).[/quote] I agree [quote]So as of today, what's the highest score people have got for ZYW without using bugs?[/quote] 40,600

Reply to Year Zero Club in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Any chance of telling us what you are doing to get those scores?[/quote] Just changing research order from previous games, ensuring that I don't actually research a tech until the latest possible time that I need it (e.g. Uni Translator not needed until 1st March at the earliest), and flying the economy very close to the wire (you still get full research output next turn even if you are at -499bc when hitting the turn button). And, of course, spending about an hour on t

Reply to Year Zero Club in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

OK, scratch that - 40K is done without a pre-cursor :HOT: