Why I hate the Minors

Well, if you think about it, these new minors have a couple of huge disadvantages: 100 million people, no improvements, no colonizable planets, no wonders or trade goods. Plus, the other majors have their own research plans, so in some cases, they would have very little tech if they got tech everyone else has.

As for their purpose, I really don't have any idea why they show up. If they are supposed to "shake things up", then they're not going to be able to do that until they're well established. And they'll probably be taken over by then.

The purpose could be : "Here is a nice planet with defensless people and lots ot tech. Be the first to have it"

hah, yeah, I like free planets.. The more the merrier.

Strange, I feel the exact oposite. They are nothing more than a free planet for whoever reaches them first with a transport.

The creaters of galciv showed a dissapoiting lack of imagination in making them only "free planets". Sometimes they do survive though. Mostly beacause there good and the good majors civs (and established minor civs) form alliances with them quickly and protect them from attack.

New minors are just a nice, free planet. I've never seen a normal minor "shake things up". Just be invasion targets for that nice pretty PQ world.

After the start, there's no point to generating new minors, other then kick off an invasion race. And those don't *start* wars.

The other problem with new minors is that they get tech level equal to the human player, NOT tech level equal to the most powerful major. If you're behind on tech, a new minor should be a trading opportunity to catch up on tech. This was the behavior a few versions ago; I don't know if it changed.

So this is an example of "the AI cheats!". A new minor should get every tech that's already been discovered, if they're going to be given such a boost.

I always thought that a new minor should be given huge +racial abilities so they can survive.

Well, that might help them survive, but once they got going it would unbalance the game.

So they are created to give someone a nice new planet, in big galaxies with lots of planets this hardly matters, but on smaller galaxies or ones where useful planets are uncommon getting just one more planet could tip the balance of power.

If they are there to "shake things up" a better starting position for them would be for them to be at an intermediate tech level, have a stack-o-cash (tm) and also either
1) own a few defensive ships, perhaps a new class of ship with loads of defence but with the offensive and movement capacity of a dead ant.
2) have some defensive infrastructure.

If they also started with a few freighters that may help to give them a slightly better life expectancy.

I always keep a spare combat transport docked in case one of these minor pop up. In Rare galaxies a new planet is a godsend

I was thinking of giving the minors defensive bonuses, or bonuses that only apply in their home sector. Their power would still be limited, but they should be able to defend themselves.

Options to, basically, remove minors seem to be in the works. In the long run, minors just don't work, and there's no way to make them work without a heck of a lot of work, programming wise, and there's lots of other cool stuff to do for AP.

Ah well... I just want the map/scenario/campaign editors to have enough flexibility to drive a good story, muhahahah!

~SDC~

I don't know about that. I was playing a game where the Carinoids got super powerful and started killing the Altarians. All I had to do was keep bribing them to stay at war with the Altarians, then move in with transports and take their empire that was now undefended because the Carinoids destroyed their military.

I've found the minors quite useful in several circumstances, although only those who are on the map from the start.

I had the Drengin to my southeast and the Arceans to my northeast, with the Scottlingas (sp?) in between them. All three were along my very long border, and the Arceans didn't like me much. The Scottlingas were relatively powerful but didn't have a strong military (well, they had a lot of colony ships :)), so were a nice juicy target. I was a pretty juicy target too as my military wasn't great, although I had quite a lot of starbases (I was concentrating on research).

I kept them shored up with my obsolete ships (which were still more powerful than the other majors' ships) and tech as the Drengin and Arceans both alternately went to war with them. The Scotts kept them both occupied for years and were making a pretty good show of it too. Right up until my Avatars arrived on the Arcean borders and took the problem off their hands I had to let them survive after that (under my benevolent protection) as I'd developed a soft spot for them LOL

If a new minor appear in a game... leave it a couple of years after you have researched some decent tech and maybe traded some as well.. Then go to the minor and you will be surprised how much cash you can get from them over a decent length of time.. quite often they help fund my end games

The minors can and do add to the game beacause they provide variety to the game without taking up too much space. Taking them out the game would be a shame. At the moment the minors are pretty much perfect in the AI sense except that they make stacks of darned colony ships when there are no planets left to colonise in their sector. I don't think the in-game minors should be given massive abilities but I do think they should have the best tech in the galaxy at the point of their creation and should recieve a good planet and free ships and improvements as mentioned on my thread. I'd also like it if they'd make more minor civ logos to give the new minors some more character when they appear.
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Read my "randomly genenerated minor races start off too weak" thread it suggests how in-game minors could be given a fair chance.

I totally agree!! Maybe this will happen in 1.2.....

Will there are some minors that can grow really quick in tech and millitary power and i just want to attack the planet but my forces are weak and they want me to pay them for the techonlgy they steal from other races.

Why can't you spy on or destabalize minors?

Destabalizing minors is kind of overkill in my opinion, since they have always had the disadvantages of fewer systems. Of course, in the newer versions, this is not the case. I've always thought we should be able to spy on minors, since it's possible to steal techs through spying. If they continue to allow minors to be more active in the newer versions, it might be time to add this to the game.

So maybe you shouldn't be able to destabalize minors but you should be able to spy on them. I thought the other day that perhaps the U.P should sometimes pass resulutions banning civs from declaring war on minors except if required by alliance comitments.

I have tried a great thing in my late 1.13 maso: when late minor appears, I offer them all my trade goods in exchange of all of their money during the max possible time.
Nice thing to do since they are doomed
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Minors late in a maso game are a licence to print BCs. LOL

I hate minors sometimes... you think there your friends one turn and the next...

I helped the damn carnoids against the.. well everyone except the Yor.. suddenly the Yor choose to fight them and start winning.. a few tech gifts here and some ranger gifts here... but no they forget and destroy my inner defense ring later on.. only one way to deal with such insolence.. terror star.