Just bought GalCiv...What do I need to know?

[PLATO]

Just got GalCiv at my local Wal-mart. What are the top 5 things I would need to know to get competitive?

[bonscott]

1) Download the latest patches.
2) Get Stardock Central to get the latest mini-patches as they come out.
3) Read through some threads here
4) Go through all the FAQ's, walkthoughs and the massive message board at the GalCiv web site at www.galciv.com
5) Most importantly, start playing the game. Set all the AI to fools, maybe a Medium size map and start from there.

Have fun!

[Harry Seldon]

There's several good threads here if you look around and if you have specific questions just post them; there are a bunch of us willing to answer questions.

[PLATO]

Thanks bonscott and Harry! I'm sure I'll have lots of questions.

[Harry Seldon]

Well, I'm not so sure I'll have lots of answers, at least correct answers, but I'll give it a shot.

[Trifna]

Here's a few:
- Better moral brings more babies in your population
- Exchange your technologies the more you can to get lot of money PER TURN (best way to get rich)
- Learn to use starbases
- Know that having a too low military strength will bring the strong ones to attack you, so keep at least a minimum (more if it's your play style)

[Trifna]

Originally posted by Trifna
Here's a few:
- Better moral brings more babies in your population
- Exchange your technologies the more you can to get lot of money PER TURN (best way to get rich)
- Learn to use starbases
- Learn when to buy colonization ships and starbases
- Know that having a too low military strength will bring the strong ones to attack you, so keep at least a minimum (more if it's your play style)

Oh... and go on Apolyton and GalCiv forums

[PLATO]

Okay, I'm pretty far into my first game. I've got the alien races set to "beginner" and I have 56% of the Senate as Technologist. My approval rating is 53%. I have a huge tech lead, a defender guarding most every planet, 6 starbases (3 of which were set up to extend by colony ship range and 3 on resources). All the aliens are set to pure good. I have established trade routes (why do I only get 3? I guess I shouldn't have built so many freighters). My question is: All the other races are eithier hostile or wary. How do I make them friendly?

[Harry Seldon]

You can give them gifts like tech, money, or planets. You can find out who they're fighting and attack either side to impress the other.

[Vanguard]

High Quality planets are much better than medium quality planets.

Ships attack one at a time, fleets don't matter to the combat system (although that does not make them useless).

It is probably worthwhile to hurry build (via Mitrosoft) any Trade Good or Wonder that you have the opportunity to.

When the text in the diplomacy screen turns green, it means the other guy is willing to accept your terms (for some reason I spaced this the first couple of games I played so I thought I'd mention it)

Military resources (red cones) are incredibly important. And it is probably worth hurry building enough constructors to put a basic starbase on every resource you find (of any type), just to claim it for your side.

[Pyrkaige]

Originally posted by PLATO1003
Okay, I'm pretty far into my first game. I've got the alien races set to "beginner" and I have 56% of the Senate as Technologist. My approval rating is 53%. I have a huge tech lead, a defender guarding most every planet, 6 starbases (3 of which were set up to extend by colony ship range and 3 on resources). All the aliens are set to pure good. I have established trade routes (why do I only get 3? I guess I shouldn't have built so many freighters). My question is: All the other races are eithier hostile or wary. How do I make them friendly?

1) You said that the alien races are all good. What is your alignment like? Alignment only changes based on events where you can pick between the three options (good, neutral or bad alignment options), mainly when you colonize planets. If you press F4 and go to the Social tab, you'll see you alignment. You want to go towards a good alignment if you're playing with all good aliens, otherwise they'll dislike or at least distrust you.

2) On the left side of the screen you can choose between different graphs that show your ranking in various areas. How are you ranked, militarily? You want to be at or near as powerful as the other militaries around, or they will generally try to push you around. If they come and try to force you to give them money or techs, and you refuse, they will dislike you more.

3) You will be able to build more trade routes once you develop technologies that give you that ability. If you are a good alignment, you should come across more of those fairly soon.

4) Giving gifts, of money or tech or trade goods, will slowly help other AI races tend to like you. Also, whoever you have trade routes with will tend to like you more; trading with another race indirectly gives them money just like it gives you money.

5) For future games, you probably don't want to set all the races to good alignment. Keep in mind that Good does not mean nice. Good aligned races hate evil races, and tend to fight less with other good guys. It's extra hard to win a good-only race game, because it's hard to get the AI races to fight each other when they're all good. As a rule you want a mix of alignments, so it will be easier to pit them against each other.

[LDiCesare]

Keep your morale up. 53% is terrible. 100% is good. This is the way to increase population, and thereby taxes: Lower taxes, get better morale. Within a few turns, you'll have higher population and higher taxes.

If all the ai's are pure good, doNOT make any evil choice because they'll all gang up against you then.

To keep the ai happy, trade with them. You can also give them goodies. Also, keeping ahead on the military side helps a bit (when you are low on the military, the ai tends to consider you as prey and not like you for very long).

[BKWM]

Originally posted by LDiCesare
Keep your morale up. 53% is terrible. 100% is good. This is the way to increase population, and thereby taxes: Lower taxes, get better morale. Within a few turns, you'll have higher population and higher taxes.

If all the ai's are pure good, doNOT make any evil choice because they'll all gang up against you then.

To keep the ai happy, trade with them. You can also give them goodies. Also, keeping ahead on the military side helps a bit (when you are low on the military, the ai tends to consider you as prey and not like you for very long).

I learned that the hard way!!!

[PLATO]

Okay, This advice is proving to be really useful. Thanks guys!

I have a new question...How does the editor work in GalCiv?

[PLATO]

Hello? Is there anybody out there? Just nod if you can hear me. Is there anyone at all?