Very Basic military strategies?

[serenya]

Could someone please explain to me the basics of Gal Civ military, and suggest basic ship builds (and maybe what techs I need?). I’m a terrible war player in general, and I’m totally lost in GalCiv. In Civ3/4 I just made a point of building the most current defensive and offensive units as I got there in the tree, and it was pretty straightforward. In Gal Civ I can’t figure out what those are, or what paths I should take. I’ve been relying rather heavily on the ‘new’ ships as I research a tech. Since currently I have Phoenix against the opposing civ’s Battlecruisers I think I’m in trouble

[dac]

Not sure how much help I'll be, as I design my own ships. So, I don't even know what kinds of pre-builts are out there.

First off, once you start contacting other races, you can usually look at the ships guarding their planets. See what weapons and armor they have. Also, when you trade with the aliens, see what weapons and defensive techs they are researching.

This always guides my research. If all the AIs are researching mass drivers, I'm researching armor. And I'm researching one of the other two weapons technologies.

Engines: As of 1.0X, the AI doesn't emphasize engines much, so you can get a lead here if you want. Won't help you in battle, but you can select when and where to fight if you're faster. (or, worse case, run away).

I love the miniaturization techs, allows you to put more stuff on a hull. Experiment a little though, I think the research tree that gives you bigger hulls is faster. But bigger hulls cost more. But, putting lots of stuff on a small hull costs more, too.

Don't put sensors on all your ships, one in a fleet is sufficient, or, I stack my sensor ship with my fleet, then when contact is near, I keep it back a little bit. You sometimes lose one that way, best to have a backup around somewhere.

The AI is pretty good about researching Logistics, although if you concentrate you can get ahead of it, just don't fall too far behind, as even a horde of crappy ships can beat just a couple of decent ships. You never want to be too outnumbered.

YMMV.

[bonscott]

Yea, you'll need to design some of your own ships. There aren't many "core" ships and the ones that are there are underpowered for what you can build yourself. You don't need to make anything pretty. Just slap some engines and guns on a hull, give it a name and call it good.

[tetley]

If we can get really basic, it's like this: get ahead in research first, then build your ships. Your high-tech ships beat their low-tech ships. But that's probably a bit too basic. To kick it up a notch:

Your weapons techs are red, your defense techs are purple, your miniaturization techs are blue, your hull techs are orange-brown, your engine techs are off-blue, and logistics....(I forget the color). Those are the things you need to research. Weapons techs tend to rank high on the list, defense techs tend to rank low (but that may change in the next beta, since defense techs are getting cheaper).

Definitely build your own ships. In general, for fighting ships I like one engine, one point of defense, and all the weapons I can pile on. But this can change depending on the situation. e.g. if you know you won't have a military starbase, you may not bother with defense. If you're fighting Dread Lords, you want more engines than weapons. If you've got Warp drive, Grav Accelerators, a small galaxy, and time, you may not bother with an engine at all.

For major ship battles, a military starbase is worth its weight in gold. Even if you're on offense. Send in 3 constructors with the rest of your fleet, and when it's time, build it.

Use fleets.

Attack first. Attacker gets first strike. That's a big deal.

[dac]

Are defense techs getting cheaper, or are the actual defensive items that you place on the ships getting cheaper?

The reason for putting a point of defense on your ships is twofold.

1) It doesn't matter what tech the defense is, since you apply the appropriate defense to the weapon, then you apply the sqrt of the other types of defense to the weapon. So, 1 point of missile defense works just as well against beams as does 1 point of beam defense.

2) You don't get any starbase defense mods to your ships if you don't have any defense at all on them.

Query. If you only send in 3 constructors, what do you build? One builds the starbase, then what two improvements do you put on? In my experiece, 2 modules doesn't buy you a whole heck of a lot.

[Gufnork]

If you want a very easy guideline for building ships, then here's what you do. Take the biggest hull. Slap on the best engine you have (just one). Then fill it up with the best weapon you have. When you research military techs, just research the cheapest tech out of Logistics (it's pink btw, how could you possibly forget that?), Miniturization, Hull, Engine and Laser/Missile/Mass Driver. It's not the best way, but it's a very easy to remember guideline that will serve you until you get the hang of things.

[serenya]

Thank you all, I shall try a few new things this game. And Gufnork, thanks for an explicit starter path, it helps me a great deal

[bovine cannibal]

Defensive techs are getting cheaper AND most of the defense modules are getting smaller.

Actually, 2 modules can buy you a lot, especially early in the game. Assuming some technical parity, even just a +1 can have significant benefits. It can turn a single fleet of Star Furies into something deadly to 8/1/1 starbases. Since we're discussing war, don't go the route of speed or sensor modules. If you have larger ships, the defense path may be more to your advantage. If you have the option, install modules from the same tech path. The Starbase Defense path modules are cumulative, and a 'mark two' gives a greater benefit than a mark one. Combined, its something like a +3. If you have the constructors to spare (and I almost always do) you can puch that assist even higher.

Gufnork accidentally overlooked one necessary component if you are going to take the war to the enemy. Support modules. I play on small maps, and hence: Any regular warship has one support module. Raiding ships have two support modules. You have the option of going the cargo hull route for raiders, but I perfer fleets of small hulled ships with nice engines because they're a little more flexible in their targets, though can't fit sensors. I may have them accompanied my whale class cargo-hulled deep reconaissance ship.

[bovine cannibal]

If you have the option of starting the war, flood the area with scouts. Also, get at least a low espionage level.

The new patch will tweak logistics, among other things, so I don't feel comfortable offering you advice on fleet organization. If you need help guessing the outcome of a battle, check the fleet battle simulator someone designed.

For experience, I'd suggest tiny maps with one opponent or small with three. Put them on a lower difficultly level than usual, so you have room to experiment and take risks. Take warmonger party, and humans. They're not the best military race, but they'll help you control who you will be at war with.

[bovine cannibal]

Unless there's an orbital defense manager or whatever its called, it is nearly always better to fight a defensive battle in space rather than orbit.

Offensive battles, however, are nearly always better fought near enemy planets. If they don't have the proper improvements, you can engage the defenders one at a time, even if there are 10 in orbit. And you will still be fighting as a fleet. Sometimes, the AI will do something stupid, like build and send constructors off a seiged planet to build military starbases outside your sensor range. However, if you aren't watching, this can mess up your battle plan, and then it isn't stupid anymore. If your battle fleets are slow, keep at least one fast raider vessel and one sensor ship nearby.

My small raider fleets are often perfect for seiging minor planets. THey prevent unwelcome reinforcements, can attack multiple times a turn, and can run away if they face heavy opposition. Blockades should rarely be composed of slow ships. You may need to attack multiple times in one turn to prevent enemy ships leaving orbit to attack you or build a military starbase. If you can only attack once on that first turn you approach, it can cost you.

[tetley]

> Query. If you only send in 3 constructors, what do you build? One builds the starbase, then what two improvements do you put on? In my experiece, 2 modules doesn't buy you a whole heck of a lot.

One module: +1 attack
Second: +1/all defense

That doesn't get obsoleted for a long time. When the AI gets medium hulls you probably need one or two more constructors. When either of you gets Nano Rippers, LOL, forget it. 120bc buys you so much more than a constructor ever will.


> If you have the option of starting the war, flood the area with scouts

Or just get the Eyes. Much nicer. And it doesn't piss off the AI. LOL one thing I learned the hard way: don't scout with military transports before a war.

[serenya]

> Or just get the Eyes. Much nicer. And it doesn't piss off the AI. LOL one thing I learned the hard way: don't scout with military transports before a war.


What are the Eyes? This game the Torians declared war early, but I ramped up military so they didn't do me any damage, and they were at war with everyone so quickly asked me for peace (giving me all their techs and cash to get it). Now they love me and keep asking me for help against the biggest of the civs.

I'm working on getting my starbases in place and my military ramped up, then I'll go after them. I'm slow, because this goes against my nature, I get caught up in building things and love going after the 'wonders' and tend to neglect military, so I have to really work at it. But this thread is helping! Thanks again!

[Gufnork]

Eyes of the Universe, a galactic achievement that gives your ship a sensor range of 8 or 12 or something. Really nice, you need a fairly advanced sensor tech to build it though.

[Badtz Maru]

Don't focus on one form of attack too much in your research or designs. If you beeline to a high level of beam attack you can be sure that other civilizations will soon know only to field shield-heavy ships against yours. I usually pick two form of attack to focus on, usually mass drivers and missiles, because the AI seems more likely to focus on shield research. I usually build ships that focus on one attack only, and others that combine the two. If I see that my missile ships aren't having any effect because the AI is pumping up their ECM defenses, I switch to my mass driver ships.

[tetley]

I focus on one and wait for the AI to respond. They haven't yet. If you focus long enough you can get Nano Ripper and Psyonic, and at that point, who cares about armor? Those can take down Dread Lord ships.