Vinraith

Reply to What map sizes are best for the AI? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Yeah, I tend to prefer larger maps. Usually i Play large though I've been contemplating going up from there.

Reply to What map sizes are best for the AI? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Hmm, I see. Maybe the better question, then, is what map settings the AI does best with? Do we know what's usually used for testing in that respect?

Reply to A few questions about opponent customization in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

While I'm asking questions... 4) How exactly does "aggression" work? Is it simply a matter of providing more "militant" minuses in the diplo screen or is there more to it?

Reply to Hows the new AI? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Not sure what you mean with highest level. But I usually play on painful or tough Since there are difficulty levels above painful, painful is not the highest level. btw: Do you have to create custom AIs to adjust the aggression or can you tweak the exisitng AIs? You can customize the existing ones.

What map sizes are best for the AI? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

I get the sense the AI has a rought time on very small maps, but is it a simple matter of the bigger the better? Is there an ideal map size at which the AI particularly excels?

A few questions about opponent customization in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

I'm really enjoying all the customization options for opponents in DA, but I have some questions about how they interact with the randomization options presented: 1) If I change the personality, aggression, and difficulty settings for an AI player and then have the AI select random opponents, are those changes retained in the race if it's selected randomly for the game? 2) Does the AI spend attribute points for a given opponent if I don't? 3) If I select "randomize in

Reply to Standalone or expansion? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

You can freely switch back and forth between playing DL and playing DA if you have both.

Reply to Disable Agents in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Drengin's suggestion is a good one IMO.

Reply to Enhanced Economic Activity event in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

It's not a mega event, it was in DL as well, and it's not at all overpowered since it affects all civs equally.

Reply to Disable Agents in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Personally I much prefer the new system. In the old one it was much, much too easy to max out intel on everyone in the game with a minimum of spending and absolutely no interaction. Not much of an espionage system. What would be nice is the ability to place an agent without disabling a planetary improvement. That, to me, would resolve the whole issue without reverting back to the trivial, silly "intelligence crawl" of DL.

Reply to AI dies of plague in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Sounds like you've pretty well nailed down what's happening denyasis. Here's hoping someone from SD takes a look at this thread.

Reply to the Dread Lords spawned, for about 5 seconds in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Sure they do. Over and over again. But there are only a few of them, and we are multitude. What seems to work well playing a few dozen games may not when playing a few thousand dozen. To their credit, they listen to us, and when they deem a certain aspect of gameplay truly out of balance, they correct it. I have little doubt, that in the near future I will be reading posts painting the Dread Lords in a much different light. I didn't say that to

Reply to DA: some observations from the peanut gallery in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Actually, it does. Even the potential of doing so will make the civ in question give you the 'stink eye'. Actually, while the potential for doing so results in a negative diplo modifier (in the form of the "we know what you're doing" - in the diplo screen) once the world has flipped that modifier goes away. I've never seen any sign that relations suffer as a result of culture flipping worlds. If this is happening that's very good, but I'm confu

Reply to Alliance Questions in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

BastianEX: Actually it's the other way around, you want a military at least as powerful as theirs and preferably more powerful, so that they're both afraid to piss you off and pleased at the idea of having you as a military ally and protector. Teancum: Alliances are just another layer of the game. Right now they're a layer of the game that it's incredibly easy to abuse, rather like tech trading. The relations system honestl

Reply to IGN Gives Dark Avatar a 9/10 and an Editor's Choice Award! in GalCiv II News GalCiv2 Forums

Well deserved, no question. Free publicity is good, too. The better DA sells the more likely another expansion or the like becomes. Regardless of what the future holds, though, congrats SD!

Reply to Alliance Questions in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

In my experience it's preposterously easy to achieve close relations, to the point where I've disabled Alliance Victories in my games because they're just cheap IMO. I'm not sure what you're not doing exactly, but here's how I usually end up with close relations: 1) Stay at peace with the power, over time this'll produce ++ for "historic friendship" 2) Try to maintain military power at least at parity with them, so as not to accrue any negatives. 3) Send them multiple trade rou

Reply to the Dread Lords spawned, for about 5 seconds in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

I've really only seen the "mega events are supposed to be mega" statement in respect to complaints that they're "unbalancing," which of course they're supposed to be. They're not particularly supposed to be unbalancing in the players favor , though, in fact more often than not it's supposed to go the other way I believe.

Reply to AI dies of plague in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Denyasis: Actually IIRC XenoBiology is a prereq for plague cure, I'm not sure how disease cure works.

Reply to the Dread Lords spawned, for about 5 seconds in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

The worst part is that the only answer Ive seen from the devs is that mega events are supposed to be "mega". Which gives me the impression that they think the events are working as intended. The devs play the game. I really doubt that this is how they want the Dread Lords event working in their own games, so I find it hard to believe they aren't working on a fix. True to form, I'd expect a patch from SD here in a little while that addresses several

Reply to AI could be more responsive to non-military "attacks" in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

I agree. I have some ideas on this area but it's a tricky thing because we want to have an AI that will let you get away with it (otherwise, the game always boils down to military power). That's great to hear, thanks for popping in. I can see how it would turn into a nasty balancing act, certainly. Ideally, of course, i

Reply to AI could be more responsive to non-military "attacks" in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Reading back over that I also feel like I should note that in general I'm very impressed with the AI and the game, I don't want it to sound like I'm just bitching for the sake of bitching. On the contrary, it's such a generally impressive piece of work that I'd like to see the remaining flaws ironed out.

AI could be more responsive to non-military "attacks" in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Specifically I'm thinking about culture flipping planets, here. As it stands you get the "alarming influence" modifier while in the process of flipping a planet, but once it's flipped that goes away and, as often as not, relations increase . Subverting aplanet culturally is an act of aggression and really ought to be treated as such. Maybe not as an attack, but it certainly ought to have a lasting negative impact on relations. Generally the AI seems all too willing to stand by an

Reply to DA: some observations from the peanut gallery in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Your espionage/culture flip "target" can really be manipulated by you. I like to start out by giving a civ my research treaty in exchange for all their cash (you are trying to crash the economy, after all). Then start taking planets by culture flipping, and with their increased research from your treaty, you will steal almost any tech they research (with 30+ spies on their worlds). And THEN, after you culture flip the last planet, you get your research treaty

Reply to Hows the new AI? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

It definitely seems to be better about that than it used to be, to be clear. It still happens, though. In short, since it's so easy to get "close" relations, you can prevent the AI from reacting strongly enough to your attempt at a victory simply by allying with it. It will then sit there passively while you research a tech victory no matter how vast the economic and military disparity becomes. An alliance should slow the reaction, sure, but when you're ally's trying to screw you and win

Reply to AI dies of plague in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

If the AI doesn't research the cure at all it's a free win for the player. That's not "turning the galaxy on end" it's just a cheap win for no effort. I like the event, but the AI needs to react in the way a player would. While a player might have other immediate priorities, he would definitely attempt to deal with something that will inevitably destroy his civilization.