7 games, tiny to medium...I am worthless

I'm sure we'd be happy to help you out if you want to post some details of your game and what went wrong...

- Ash

start out by setting the ais to subnormal and fools while you learn. even at easy they do pretty well. also, set up a higher proportion of good civs so you get a little less warfare. also hit ctrl-N if you first see the map and know you are screwed vbecause of a bad starting position.

in almost all my non-easy games i am a weak minor edging out an existence.

Somehow I have the same problem as Russell. The point is, that my economic sucks in every game. All my money get paid for maintenance, couldn't raise taxes because people are unhappy, no money left for building things, researching. Yes I build improvements for morale, econimic, doesnt help in the end. I won one game via "cheating": Giving techs away for 1 to 7 bc for 1111111111111111111 turns. That means unlimited turns and thererfore stabile tribute for a complete game (cumulates to over 200 bc per turn after continuing trading off techs).
Maybe the AI is not cheating, but it must be starting with more money. One game on level normal I stumbled over the Arcean after 5-10 turns. They had already 4 colonies (!!!). If they somehow managed to pay the ships, they should have gone bankrupt afterwards. Very early I startet a war against them (about turn 50 maybe, as early as i got Starfighters). They started to kick out transport and defenders every turn. I shoot down one defender per turn with my anomaly-upgraded survey ship (a7/d6/h76) and the transports with my starfighters. Where should all the money come from to buy the ships? This is annoying and no fun!

Somehow I have the same problem as Russell. The point is, that my economic sucks in every game. All my money get paid for maintenance, couldn't raise taxes because people are unhappy, no money left for building things, researching. Yes I build improvements for morale, econimic, doesnt help in the end. I won one game via "cheating": Giving techs away for 1 to 7 bc for 1111111111111111111 turns. That means unlimited turns and thererfore stabile tribute for a complete game (cumulates to over 200 bc per turn after continuing trading off techs).
Maybe the AI is not cheating, but it must be starting with more money. One game on level normal I stumbled over the Arcean after 5-10 turns. They had already 4 colonies (!!!). If they somehow managed to pay the ships, they should have gone bankrupt afterwards. Very early I startet a war against them (about turn 50 maybe, as early as i got Starfighters). They started to kick out transport and defenders every turn. I shoot down one defender per turn with my anomaly-upgraded survey ship (a7/d6/h76) and the transports with my starfighters. Where should all the money come from to buy the ships? This is annoying and no fun!

I finally had a game last longer than an hour...about two hours. Medium, default AI setup, Sub-normal AI.

I was surrounded by the Arcaens and kept them happy so I was able to grow a bit but eventually I kept trading with the Drengins who were at war with my surrounders and the Arcaens came after me and wiped me out pretty easily.

When the AI asks for money does that always mean they are a stronger civ or do they demand money at times when they are weaker?

I need to spend a bit more time between turns as I tend to hit 'end turn' very quickly. LOL

bimbo:
Your expansion is very important. All starts by an expansion rush. For this, you should be ready to buy colonizers to companies so that you get them the turn that comes. You'll pay them for a long time, but the planets you'll get will be more valuable.

Harald:
The AI doesn't cheat, it buys colonyships and you should do that too. I usually buy at Mitrosoft.
Besides that you should up your spending slider to 100%. No problem to lose money every month since you should have some spare cash.

Your military slider should be upped also in the very beginning of the game so that colonyships get produced way more quickly.

I usually have the military slider on around 60%, 30% research and only 10% social projects. When I have enough colonyships I start focussing more on research and social projects.

Make sure your morale is high so that your population grows quickly.

I get most of my money from trading tech. If it wasn't for that, I'd probably lose at the very easiest levels, all the time.

I believe that needs to be toned down...


~SDC~

Yeah techtrading should haven been toned down already in the latest patch. Just try to find different ways to get your economy running besides using exploits.

It's really not THAT hard. Get some economy upgrades and get your trade going.

Get fast to Battle-xx ships that will defend your planets, add some StarBases with defense modules in your sectors, aliens will be more careful to attack you !
Expand fast, buy some Col ships but don't fall into too much debt (avoid crappy 12-13 planets as much as possible at start).
Make trades with a "good" guy to improve relations, at subnormal they won't easily become enemies.

I too found it a difficult to keep my economy growing in the early stages of the game. Eventually I got the hang of it though. Here's some tips I've found useful:
1. Look close to home. Often times there will be a class 12 or better planet in the Sol system (starting system). Colonize that with your first ship and immediately start building improvements so that the population will increase (and be happy). This means more tax-payers which means more revenue.
2. Buy on Credit... but not TOO much. 2 or 3 colony ships from Mitrosoft will help you get a good start, but make sure you have a place to send them. Check the mini-map for the nearest star clusters and send your ships out that direction.
3. Establish Trade quickly. I almost always tech up to Trade as quickly as possible and build freighters. Trade really makes a difference, even at later stages of the game.

Good luck!

I cant emphasize how important maxing out your trade is straight away, once i have colonise my planets, i get the largest one set on building freighters until i max out my trade routes, and i concentrate on trade techs for a while, you can quite easily be getting 2 or 3 times your Tax revenue from trading alone, plus the Civs your trade with become dependant on your economy, and tend to defend you, off you tribute etc.

As for losing, dont worry, i play on Normal level and occasionaly bright, i hvae only won 2 games out of about 12, and one of those wins was on sub normal hehe

~SDC~

I have the same problem but I may have a solution. I think I'm spending too much money for social improvements. I generally spend time in the hole but come out of it after a few dozen turns without too much of a disadvantage. What kills me is not having a decent fleet and having to purchase ships for defense or running into cultural influence and having to drop everything to build resistance. I have yet to beat a game on subnormal but I can usually survive the expansion phase only to be crushed later by lack of money and military.

I'm in the same boat, Harry. Won quite easily at beginner AI setting, but sub-normal is turning out to be a bit more of a challenge. I'm really enjoying it though, I think my first win against sub-normal AIs will be quite rewarding.

~SDC~

My current game has already been quite rewarding, I just hope that whatever it is those people are looking for in the crystals holds off until I either win or get a little farther in tech. I'm in my second all-out war for survival (on my part, I'll take peace if offered), and this time I've got an edge. Unfortunately, of the three that I'm at war with (Arcean, Torian, Antarian), the first one is the farthest from me, and he's the one that keeps declaring war, the other two, who are my neighbors, get dragged into it by Alliance treaties, so the only way I'm going to be able to break this cycle is by smashing the Arceans. I may have to take out the Torians to do it, which will make it a very long game. And to think this is my first game that I wasn't able to stay at peace with everyone for the entire duration of the game!

I'm getting whipped a lot too, but I chalk it up more to inexperience than a problem with the game.

In my latest game, I've got it set to all good, all sub-normal, and I'm currently winning on a large galaxy without selling any tech. I feel like I'm really starting to get the hang of it...

Of course, as soon as I bump it up a difficulty notch, I'm sure I'll go right back to getting creamed. Such is the life of a TBS junkie!