making moo2 more difficult

[xoham]

Don't rush through the game for my sake. I have a pretty busy weekend so I don't know when I will get to look at it.

Also, the version patch has some other differences. Apparently the AI does things differently. It would be nice if you could verify you have version 1.31 so that there are no questions about that.

Later maybe we should put the saved games in the "Saved Games" thread...

[bazi643]

i think i help to solve some of your problems:

make trade and resaerch treatys and later non aggresion pacts but nno alliances.with other races. they sometimes will declare because of spying but this takes normales place later in the game.
i will write more tomorrow because just in this moment i received a call which told that i have to go out.
TATA

[vmxa1]

bazi643, I will take any help anyone wants to give.


"make trade and resaerch treatys and later non aggresion pacts but nno alliances.with other races. they sometimes will declare because of spying but this takes normales place later in the game."

One thing is I will play all types of games and all types of races. How else can I learn. So I will at times be playing with a less than optimal race and may in fact have repulsive trait and not be able to have diplomatic relation at all.
But I will admit I have lost with the very race you tout. That is why I do not agree that creative is a sure win, it is if you get out of the gate. Understand I am not using any editor, any cheat codes or reloads or any of the tricks with frigate builds to get more production. Also know that I am not saying anyone is evil if they do, only that when one is talking about playing with another, if you are using those means, you should say so up front so the comparison can be valid. So with that in mind, and if you are not doing those things then give us a log so we can understand. If you are using any of the short hand stuff, fine just say so and I will shut up.

[vmxa1]

Oh I forgot one other thing and that was menion by xoham and that is if this is done with 1.2, then also forget anything I said. I think you are using 1.31 based on your picks.

[xoham]

I can reload and still not win.

[vmxa1]

Yes, it is not like civ were the rng is making an impact. I was think in terms know about an event and being able to go back to prevent it. Not so much in terms of say a battle. Say you sent a ship to orion early or a revolt by a conquered race. Those could be fixed with a reload.

[moomin]

Oh, badz, you wanna do moo really difficult and still use a kick-ass race? There's nothing to it really - just uncheck the tactical combat option and enjoy!

[bazi643]

xoham: i`ve made it, now you can look at the saves. I had very bad start and it took long to build my empire. But after a whilei had the best technologies in galaxy. It was easy to defeat my opponents which low tech ships. After 2 short wars with other races i attacked orion and 7 turns later i took out antares. With this race pics it was easy to win eventhough i had a bad start.

vmxa 1: i dont use cheats or something else. If i would i could play without them and would have a challenge. I started the thread, because i wanted to know how to make moo2 more difficult why should i use cheats then?

And now some words to your problem with not attacking early and research toomuch:
I think its the easier way to attack late and research much, but its not most exiting way to play moo2 (i think its more interresting to start wars early). Because if attack later with better technology you can took out a whole fleet with single ship. I dont know wheres the problem. Do you get attacked and have no defenses or what? If yes you should invest more in diplomacys (of courseif youre not repulsive which is a discusting, boring race pic) and fearing other races

[bazi643]

the second from 3 savegames

[bazi643]

again the second of 3 savegames, this time with attachment

[bazi643]

now the last savegame

moomin: maybe unchecking tactical combat makes moo2 more difficult. But enjoy? this would make it boring. tactical combat is one of the most interesting aspects of moo2.

[vmxa1]

bazi643, I do not understand what you are looking for. Several means of making the game more difficult have been posed, but you reject them as not being fun. Having a tough game is fun, beating an easy setup is not fun. Play as repulsive, play with uncreate, not non creative, but uncreative. Turn of tactical combat. Use feudal as a pick. These will make the game harder. You could start the game and scrap all or some of your starting items to increase the challenge. You could do what we use to do in Ascendancy, take no action for the first 300 days. Well in Moo2 you would have to use a much smaller number.

[vmxa1]

Two more ways: 1- use only the provided races 2- make custom race and not use all picks. I have won with only max negative picks.
BTW I looked at those games, but they were so far after the fact. The earliest was around 270 or so. I was surprised to see no spies in that one though.
No question that any creative race that gets to turn 290 or so is going to win the game. My point is that it may not alway get to turn 150. Your point is that you alway win. As I said maybe that is true, maybe you are the best player in the world, I do not know. So show me.
I never said you used cheats, I have no idea if you do or not. Like I said I have posted a few games with detail logs so anyone can see what happened and how. They will be able to duplicate my steps and know it was all on the up and up. Garth Vader did the same, with some what less detail, but still very easy to duplicate. All I am saying and the reason I am so cautious, is that lots of people have posted their exploits and when ask to show us, could not. Hope you can, I for one would love to see it. Anyway if you find it too easy, use any of the ideas listed above to get more of a challenge, good luck.

[thora]

Hi, this topic and bazi643 forced me to my first post here. First of all I've played Moo2 in 98-01 with friends as often in MP that at the end every turn to take was known. Only starting point, home system and leader decided who won the game. Off cause we played imp / huge / 8Player (3-4Human) / ant.... I agree with most of the things vmxa1 had posted here and under other topics. (except: i play moo2 with a more scientific focus). I found this site by looking for Highscores and i saw some scores about 27000 (one 30000). I thought impossible, no way. But than i figured out the -24pick trick. So i played using this and reached about 27600pt, but it's a really hard job.

But, at the end what i want to say is: bazi643 try -24.

Ok ok, very bad english.

[bakalov]

Some speculations on fastest winning race on a small galaxy :-)

+20 Ground Combat; Heavy gravity - send them a few scouts with NO weapons to capture their starting star bases - 2-3 usually do; you have to catch them without ships, though

Omniscent or Trans Dimensional to find them quickly :-)
Telepathic to conquer them without fight or transports;
just an empty cruiser with no weapons will do :-) Note: you can capture them with transports either cause your race is terrific ground fighter :-)