mlepinski

Reply to Influence as a mop up tool in Beta Feedback Sins Forums

[quote] I cannot find a real world example of how the culture system in sins works. Needless to say, I am not a big fan. [/quote] I think reasonable people can disagree on the importance of "soft-power" in the real-world, and whether "culture" as implemented in Sins is a reasonable abstraction of "soft-power". However, I also think that such debates are missing the point. Clearly, there are no examples of phase-missles in real-life, and yet the inclusion of a weapon

Reply to New to Beta: Question on Damage Mechanics in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

Thanks a lot for the replies. (Not all games have such friendly and helpful player communities ). I can see how if damage causes mitigation to go up and mitigation decays over time, then lots of DPS will result in a high mitigation value over the course of the battle, and low DPS will result in mitigation hovering at a lower value. (E.g. it seems that if a ship is taking 10 DPS, then mitigation decay will offset any increases and mitigation will stay at 20% and if a ship

New to Beta: Question on Damage Mechanics in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

I recently pre-ordered the game and therefore am new to the Beta. (Although the game makes an incredible first impression.) Being new, I am having trouble understanding the damage mechanics. Each of my ships has two "health" bars a "shield" bar and a "hull" bar. It's clear that when both of these bars are gone that the ship blows up, although the difference between the two bars isn't clear to me. --- It seems that out of combat, the shield bar regenerates faster than the hull

Choosing a Running Mate in Political Machine PolMach Forums

The manual doesn't say anything about running mate selection. Choosing the right vice-president seems to be an important decision in the campaign, but I have no idea what advantages one running mate has over another. Any insight into how others go about picking running mates would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, - Matt L. ;->

Reply to AI gives up too easily in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Brysos, The AI is NOT exactly the same on genius as it is on intelligent. It is true that at genius the AI gets a slight (about 5%) income bonus over the player, but there's also a difference in the way the AI behaives. (It is entirely possible that the AI plays the same on Incredible as it does on Genius ... I've never actually tried an Incredible AI, but Genius is definately smarter than Intelligent) - Matt Lepinski :-> ~SDC~

Reply to GalCiv: Bug: "You are falling behind technologically" in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I don't mind that it takes a couple turns for sector ownership to sort itself out once the game is reloaded. But the program should be able to figure out whether you're ahead or behind technologically (based on which techs you have and which techs other civilizations have). In my book, the "We're falling behind technologically" is a "bug". - Matt Lepinski :-> ~SDC~

Reply to Resources revisited. (regarding game balance) in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Akaste, I see your point about Military resources, but it has been my experience that economic resources are nice but not overly powerful. (I would always grab a Miliary, Morale or Research resource before an econ resource) - Matt Lepinski :-> ~SDC~

Reply to Dreadnoughts too good? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Two comments: 1) I think Rangers should compare more favorably with Dreadnaughts. By the time you get Rangers, there aren't many anomalies left on the map and so the "exploration" ability isn't all that useful (definately not useful enough to justify the difference in price). Also, the extra speed a Ranger gets is kind of nice but by the time you have Rangers, Hyperdrive is common and so the extra bit of speed isn't vital (doesn't justify the difference in cost). I'd like to either see Range

Reply to Patch for Starting Bonuses? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but what's the problem with the war party? (The plus 50% Ship Hit Points seems to work fine for me). - Matt Lepinski :->

Reply to Evaluating Military Strength in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

FFAristocrat, Thanks a lot, that makes a LOT of sense! (I had never considered that the graph might be Military SPENDING and not Military POWER ... Of course Maintence costs get lumped in with military construction costs so the two are related ...) In any case, I still agree with Horatio that in general the AI should more emphasis on Hit Points than it does ... Hit Points can make a high difference in a fight. - Matt Lepinski :-> ~SDC~

Evaluating Military Strength in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Does anyone know how the game evaluates military strength? (There is a Military Power graph available and I assume that those are the numbers used by the AI to assess it's military power). After my most recent game, I have recent to question the validity of the Military Power graph. We were in the early portion of mid-game ... Several races had Turbo Phasers and/or Interstellar tactics but no one yet had Battleships. The Dregnin had gotten Turbo Phasors relatively early and had built up

Reply to Repair Rate? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Yes, putting ships in planetary orbit makes a huge difference in repair rate. If your repear stat is +50%, ships in orbit will repair very quickly. I have won wars against superior numbers by cycling wounded ships back for a quick repair in orbit around a nearby system. - Matt Lepinski :->

Reply to "Bright" AIs and Cultural Victory in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I still haven't figured out the "Optimal" level for government spending but I think it's somewhere around 70-80%. I think it's always nice to have some cash in the bank so I can do deficit spending for a few turns when it's important to get some ships out quickly. If I'm spending regularly at 100% then I don't have the option of cranking up spending when speed is crucial. Therefore, if I'm in a situation where I'm spending at 100% and I'm not losing money, I try to

Reply to Trading weirdness -- a little more documentation in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Great Post, Asharak. When the AI really wants something I have, he'll come to me and initiate a deal. (And when he does he tends to offer a pretty good deal because he knows he's getting exactly what he wants). Similarly, when I go to the AI and initiate a trade, I'm the one who really wants something and it's reasonable for the AI to make me pay for. I completely agree with Asharak when he says that it's not "cheating" or "unfair" to give the AI the oppert

Reply to Influence points What are they for??? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

There are a lot of great ideas flying around on this thread and so I thought I'd add my two cents: I love the idea of being able to get a little bit of notice about the UP agenda (so I can know whether I need to sell my soul for influence points). Also, it's possible that such information could be linked to certain techs (e.g. Advanced Diplomacy gives you one month notice on UP agenda, Some other tech gives you 6 months notice). Thanks, - Matt Lepinski :-> <B

Reply to Government in Strategies Stardock Forums

The 20% Economic boost is verified. There also seems to be some kind of manufacturing boost, but I have not actually verified. Also, I have never experienced a loss of Morale after switching governments. The only disadvantage that I've seen is that the Morale level required to win an election goes up as you improve your government. (And of course the chance that a low morale planet defects increases). Lossing an election is of course a serious setb

Reply to What do you thinks the best 1pt civ bonus...... in Strategies Stardock Forums

Several people have mentioned luck ... to be honest, I don't have a good sense of what luck does for me. (So if Dearmad or RayChua could comment on why they like luck, I'd appreciate it). If I have point left over after making other picks, I tend to go for +10% Morale. It doesn't make a big difference, but it helps me to postpone building Entertainment centers for a little while. - Matt Lepinski :->

Reply to About 'Ai Cheats!' Threads in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I also think the espianage model in this game does a lot to convince the player that his/her actions are having an effect. In one game, I spent a lot of resources ensuring that the Acreans were bogged down in a prolonged war with the Torians. (That is, I gave a lot of resources to the Torians). In many games, I would find myself wondering if this was a waste of my resources, but because I had good espianage on the Acreans, I could watch as they diver

Reply to At what level does the AI cheat? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Elkku, When you mention the Torians having high stats on Intelligent, how far into the game were you? I am quite certain that the AI doesn't get any statistic advantages on Intelligent. Is it possible that the Torian's statistics in your game are do to the fact that Torians have acquired galactic resources? (Or have researched additional techs?) [Note: I also believe that the AI doesn't get stat bonuses on Genius, but I could be wrong here b

Reply to Research bonuses not updating in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

When you build a research lab, it only increases your research ability on the particular planet where the lab is built. If you click the "Details" botton for the planet where you built the lab you should be able to see that research for that planet is increased. The "Stats" page that you were looking at shows your empire-wide research ability with is affected by things like starbases on research resources or trade goods like Hyper-Computers.<b

Reply to Reading GalCiv Discussion Forum using SDC in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

PloreOSU, Thanks for the help. I unsubscribed from GalCiv Forum, went into my SDC directory and deleted the INI file for the GalCiv Discussion Forum. Then I restarted SDC and re-subscribed. SDC downloaded a fresh INI file from the server and now everything works great. - Matt Lepinski :-> ~SDC~

Reply to Trade goods bonuses - where do I find them? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I agree. It would be very nice if there was some way to find out what trade goods I am benefiting from. It could also be useful to know who has created each trade good. (After I've been playing for hours, I can sometimes forget important information like: Did I ever trade for Tri-Strontium Steel and if not which Minor Race do I need to pay off to get it) Thanks, - Matt Lepinski :->

Reply to Reading GalCiv Discussion Forum using SDC in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Weird ... I was able to post this thread using SDC, but I can only read it using the web interface from www.galciv.com - Matt Lepinski :->

Reading GalCiv Discussion Forum using SDC in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I like using StarDock Central to read the GalCiv forums. (I like the SDC interface better than the web interface). I find that this works great for the GC Strategies Forum, but I'm having trouble with the main GalCiv forum. When using StarDock central, I can only see about 6 threads (not including the "sticky" threads at the top), however, when I check the website I find that there are lots of threads going on that don't appear to me within the Stardock Central viewer. I find this to be really s

Factors affecting AI relations in Strategies Stardock Forums

Does anyone know the factors that affect how the AI feels about my empire? In any given game, some of the opposing races will be friendly towards me, some will be neutral and some will be hostile. However, I feel like I really never fully understand why they do or don't like me. Several factors I know affect relations are: - Alignment ... Whenever I'm evil the good civilizations are more likely to hate me - Trade ... I don't know how much affect this has, but when I tra