All right, so I'm playing my first game, I decided to start on Beginner, and the AI's aren't even making a game of it. Lesson #1: don't begin on Beginner. Galciv2 is looking to be really fun & poised to sink many hours of my life, but it's not the "entirely new look & feel" from Galciv1 that it was made out to be. Some key differences that immediately jumped out at me:
Maybe it's because I picked maximum population growth, but I can't get my colonies NOT to grow the maximum 0.2 per turn now. I colonized my first planet with 0.1 people, and it grew 0.2 to 0.3 the first turn, with a sub-100% approval rating! I can't figure out where to set my tax rate in the beginning now. Morale doesn't seem like that big a deal.
Gone are the massive deficit spending days in the beginning, where you went for 100% and quick pop growth. However, you still probably want to buy colony ships outright to get that land grab. Also, I can't see why you'd want to play Terrans (except to handicap yourself), when the other races can see where the star systems are. Maybe on Maso when you need the diplo bonus?
All planets with any PQ at all are worth taking. With the right tiles, it's even a good idea to build the Galactic Achievements on them. If you've got a PQ-6 planet with a +300% Manufacturing tile, what else are you going to do with your Social spending? I just wonder--can you get bonuses building Achievements on bonus tiles? e.g. Manufacturing Capital on a +100% tile or Restaurant of Eternity on a +Influence tile?
The "time to completion" times are all screwed up. My Diplomatic Translators said it would take 5 turns to completion, and it took at least 10. This reminds me of Galciv1 when the science research times were all screwed up. Need a sheet that lists out the shield costs for all the Improvements.
Focus production = godsend.
You gotta get that initial Hyperdrive research. It's cheap, and it speeds up your colony ships and your survey ship. Xeno Farming is a fairly big one, too--if you get that one on time, you can skip Basic Farming on your bigger planets. And you do need to watch out for food limits, or it'll sneak up on you. The game gives you no message, "you have stopped growing, you have reached your food limit".
The game sure moves a lot quicker when you focus on research. You don't have to micro your colonies nearly as much. I just wish the "Turn" button would turn red when you have unmoved ships, like in Civ4.
Combat has gotten a lot more complicated, and a lot more offensive! It's hard to counter every weapon system out there.
Maybe it's because I picked maximum population growth, but I can't get my colonies NOT to grow the maximum 0.2 per turn now. I colonized my first planet with 0.1 people, and it grew 0.2 to 0.3 the first turn, with a sub-100% approval rating! I can't figure out where to set my tax rate in the beginning now. Morale doesn't seem like that big a deal.
Gone are the massive deficit spending days in the beginning, where you went for 100% and quick pop growth. However, you still probably want to buy colony ships outright to get that land grab. Also, I can't see why you'd want to play Terrans (except to handicap yourself), when the other races can see where the star systems are. Maybe on Maso when you need the diplo bonus?
All planets with any PQ at all are worth taking. With the right tiles, it's even a good idea to build the Galactic Achievements on them. If you've got a PQ-6 planet with a +300% Manufacturing tile, what else are you going to do with your Social spending? I just wonder--can you get bonuses building Achievements on bonus tiles? e.g. Manufacturing Capital on a +100% tile or Restaurant of Eternity on a +Influence tile?
The "time to completion" times are all screwed up. My Diplomatic Translators said it would take 5 turns to completion, and it took at least 10. This reminds me of Galciv1 when the science research times were all screwed up. Need a sheet that lists out the shield costs for all the Improvements.
Focus production = godsend.
You gotta get that initial Hyperdrive research. It's cheap, and it speeds up your colony ships and your survey ship. Xeno Farming is a fairly big one, too--if you get that one on time, you can skip Basic Farming on your bigger planets. And you do need to watch out for food limits, or it'll sneak up on you. The game gives you no message, "you have stopped growing, you have reached your food limit".
The game sure moves a lot quicker when you focus on research. You don't have to micro your colonies nearly as much. I just wish the "Turn" button would turn red when you have unmoved ships, like in Civ4.
Combat has gotten a lot more complicated, and a lot more offensive! It's hard to counter every weapon system out there.
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