Galactic Civilization II - where to start

silvine

I recently got Galactic Civilizations II with all the add-ons. It seems like a massive game(s).

What's the best place to start? Should I dive into the single player campaign of the original. Or is the sandbox mode better and if it is, which expansion has the best mode?

Also any tips for a newbie?

Sand

Get as many economic bonus points as you can - if I recall correctly, the "bonus" points you get in military/research etc etc just raise the limit you can spend on them and still require economic points to actually use to their full potential. Economics is definitly far and away the most important attribute.

Its been a very long time since I played it though. Oh yeah, in a huge galaxy - the speed bonus is massive. Gives you greater colonial range and you can sweep around your enemies easily, beating them to targets. The smaller the galaxy, the less important it is.

Sandbox might be better if you start off with a small galaxy, a single opponent whose passive. Gives you time to learn the mechanics before moving onto the big stuff when you get bored of the learning game.

silvine

Thanks for that. Is the single player campaign worth a go too. Haven't really sat down to play it yet!

Branoic

Fantastic games - my favourite turn-based strategy games, and the practices of the developers, Stardock, just rock too.

Anyway, I've owned Gal Civ I, II and all the expansions and i've never once played the single player mode - I always play the sandbox.

If you're not too familiar with these types of games then the single player mode may be good way to learn the mechanics - they're just pretty much long tutorials anyway with each mission getting more complex.

But if you've played these types of games before, such as Civilisation, I'd just jump right into the sandbox mode of the latest expansion, Twilight of the Arnor and use the manuals and in game help to learn the mechanics. A game like Civilisation doesn't even have a single player mode anyway!

Regarding playing tips, as the other poster mentioned, the Economic attribute is really important. I normally play as the human faction - they've got Super Diplomat as their special ability and I normally pick the Federalist political party and then boost Economics in the attributes section a little as well.

It's all very well pumping all your attribute points into warfare or ship health or soldering ability, but all that's useless if your economy is crap and you can't afford to build or maintain fleets.

If you've got a sweet smile and appear friendly to other races (Super Diplomat!), they'll never notice you pumping your wealth into vast fleets of death (Economy boost through Federalist political party). Also, if you can get a really good economy going, you can pump resources into speedy technology research, so your ships and weapons will have an edge over other races who may start off with warfare related bonuses.

_CreeD_

I usually go with Economics and Research bonuses, with Super Organiser as the special. I turtle with very little military for as long as I can pumping everything into planet development and research then pop out a few simple fighters at key positions. If/When the other races start to see my wealth vs. low mil as a tempting target and declare war half of the universe usually sides with me and buys some time while I focus on military research, when the first enemy ship appears on my scanner I upgrade my existing fighters to the best tech (Which by then is the best in the universe) and summarily annihilate anything that comes near me (it's a very nice feeling to wipe frigates out of the sky with a lone fighter). That usually hurts your economy for a few turns but it means you don't have to invest heavily in military until you absolutely need it and are just one turn away from majorly improving your strength. From that point on I use my higher tech to expand mercilessly

silvine

Is there anyway to see what techs I need to research to get a certain ship, improvement?

The game keeps telling me I need a survey module to look at a particularly anomoly but I can't figure out which techs to research.

I guess I am looking for something like the Civolopedia in Civilization. Also which races are worth using/playing against or does it make a difference who your opponents are?

Sephiroth_dude

Whats the AI like in this?I heard its meant to be really good and intelligent?