How hard is GalCiv?

Let me put it this way: I understand how GalCiv plays a lot more than MoO3, and I've had MoO3 for over a month. It takes some time to understand all of the controls and what the benefits of the social projects are, but you should get the gist of it in under 5 hours.

i own the game 5 days and in genios level that currently i am playing i feel that i don t stand a chance!

The game is VERY hard if you try to play it as other TBS games. You just cannot win on your own in this game, you need to work together with at least one or two other races. This is a first for me and I love it

~SDC~

in my opinion this game has the best A.I i ve ever seen in a TBS game.do u agree guys?

The AI is awesome now and it will (hopefully) get even better.

This game is made the way ALL games should be. I have played every tbs made since the dark days and this game is in the top 2%(IMHO). It took me a whole weekend to figure this one out but once I did...awesome!!! You can be Evil and win alone you just have to be..."Evil" LOL

This game is... awesome. Almost impossible to stop playing. Even at the lowest AI level it's a challenge. Soo many things happen and soo many things influence the universe based upon the way you play, the random events etc. Yes, indeed the best 4 (5) X game ever! And the fabulous support! Several updates in little more than a week after the release, quick action based upon input by the players to tweak the game. What can you want more.

the A.I. is quite challenging, even for 4X veterans. i haven't played enough to say how long it will remain challenging. but the genius level is quite difficult.

the AI is also being regularly improved/patched and as such, should hopefully remain challenging for much longer than most 4X games. the support from the devs really is outstanding.

i highly recommend it. i doubt you will find a 4X game to match it.

cheers

h

Thanks for your opinions!
I think I'm beginning to come to grips with the game... Haven't had a lot of time to play so far though.... Sadly.

~SDC~

Hmm. On fool, beginner and sub-normal I found it not really a problem to dominate -- at least on large maps, which probably give human players a bit of an edge due to better strategic grasp. On normal, I need to try if, say, I want to combine a massive military force with always having on-par tech and getting every trade good and galactic wonder before AIs do, even with a decent start.

It's far less brutal than King of Dragon Pass, though, where you're struggling for survival -- not dominance, merely survival -- for much of the early game, between famines, feuds, Chaos outbreaks, diseases...

Psychocircus -- Five days, and genius level already? That seems a bit extreme... bear in mind that at genius and incredible, the AI gets bonuses (e.g. extra points to spend while setting up its racial traits). At Intelligent, it's even; at anything below, both racial traits and behavior (ability to notice things, for instance) get penalized.

The good thing about Galciv is that the simpler difficulty levels make the game accessible for new entrants to 4x/TBS games. For veteren TBS gamers, I would recommend starting at normal.

Masochistic is v hard, especially on smaller maps. I don't think I have won yet on that level with a poor start. We still have the new Nightmare level to look forward to for those of us who need more abuse.

Not necessarily true. It depends on the difficulty level. Obviously, the harder the level, the more you may need help. Its up to the player.

On the higher difficulty levels

"It'll do you a good turn, Mate."

Yup. I noticed big jumps going from one level to another... There could be more levels in between. Sometimes it is hard to adopt to a harder one. I especially found that going from sub-normal to normal.

~SDC~

My Moo2 strategy was generally stay out of early wars and avoid military spending, expand, come back with high tech armada.

I tried that with Galciv.... the AIs were demanding large chunks of cash for my military weakness and then blowing me up. Totally takes a new way of thinking.

There are quite a few situations that I have to figure my way out of (i.e. Drengin are at war with me, can sell trade goods for attack treaties, wear them down...etc).... the figuring it out is neat, no stock stragety have to keep adapting.