Noob questions

[Ari]

I'm jumping into this straight out of civ 4, and it's been a rough jump. The last non-civ game I played was MOO2, which from a basic gameplay point of view seems much more closely related to civ than this is. I have a few niggling issues/questions that are probably the result of my stupidity and ignorance.

-When starting a game, is there a way to reset things to default if I've messed with the options?

-When it comes time for me to pick a race, if any race can have any ability, what distinguishes my race other than its image? That is, since I can pick any racial picks I want, what distinguishes humans from a Drengin if I give the human their picks? Or are some picks hardwired? I noted that humans had logistics even when I hadn't given it to them and that Drengins had a +30 military even though that's not available on the pick screen.
For that matter, if different races have different numbers of techs, aren't they unbalanced if they all have the same number of racial picks? If as I've heard humans are the only race that doesn't have a complete view of the galaxy, do they have some advantage to compensate that?

-Can I not scroll the map diagnonally?!?!

-On the same note, compared with civ, the scrolling speed is insanely sluggish. Is there an option that I'm missing that allows me to adjust this?

-When I'm negotiating with other races, how do I judge the worth of a deal aside from the yes/no response of the race I'm negotiating with? Can I find out a tech's cost in the negotiation screen (as in civ)?

-[after crashing twice in the process of making this post]I take it alt-tabbing out of this is a major no-no?

-Am I understanding that unlike civ, I can buy something and order something built on the same turn on a given planet?

If anyone could take a stab at these, I'd be really grateful.

[Gufnork]

-When it comes time for me to pick a race...

Some racial bonuses disappear immediatly as you use any free picks. None of the races can be made by chosing custom race and most of them get more points than a custom race would (I know Altarians get less, unsure if anyone else is so unlucky). All races have some amount of logistics, it's not a bonuses but a variable starting value. The races are far from balanced.

-Can I not scroll the map diagnonally?!?!

I recommend using the click & drag feature, it can be used vertically, horizontally, diagonally, heck you can drag it in circles. It also cures the sluggishness problem. If that doesn't suit you someone else will have to help you with those questions since I never scroll.

-When I'm negotiating with other races, how do I judge the worth of a deal...

You can't, I'm afraid.

[Solver]

Apparently patch 1.1 would introduce something to help judge the worth of a deal during negotiations.

Unlike Civ, your planet can build, simultaneously, a ship and an improvement. For example, a Missile Fighter and a Research Lab.

Alt-tabbing, I dunno, that would then be incidental, I guess. I didn't play GalCiv2 for too long exactly, but I was alt-tabbing constantly, and it never crashed on me.

[Lord of the Isles]

Re: Noob questions

I'll try the ones that haven't yet been answered.

Originally posted by Ari
-When starting a game, is there a way to reset things to default if I've messed with the options?

Assuming you're talking about racial picks settings, you can remove the file in your My Documents area:

My Games\GalCiv2\CurrentCustomRace0-9.raceconfig

I found that in another thread but have to admit I've been removing ALL the .raceconfig files in that folder just to be on the safe side. The thread had a rumour that the next version may have a reset button somewhere in-game.

-[after crashing twice in the process of making this post]I take it alt-tabbing out of this is a major no-no?

I've had mixed results: a little more than half the time I can alt-tab and back in ok, rest of the time it hangs or crashes when I attempt to go back to the game. I always save before attempting it now.

-Am I understanding that unlike civ, I can buy something and order something built on the same turn on a given planet?

Depends. When you buy a Social improvement, it appears immediately and you can select a new one at once. When you buy a Military improvement (Ship) it goes to 0 turns to completion but you have to wait till the next turn before it appears and you can start on a new project (and sometimes I've noticed Colony Ships taking an extra turn to appear - they stay on 0 turns to completion for an extra turn).