Tip: Cheap Builders

from GalCiv3 Forums
After playing a ridiculous amount of time, I finally figured out a little trick that vastly increases my power in every game. There comes a time in most midgames where you want to mass-produce fully loaded starbases. That requires huge numbers of constructor ships. But by that time the default constructor ship is up to Mark 5 or even much higher, so they're very expensive to build. You need a few high-end constructors for things like seizing distant precursor relics. But for starship build-out, you need to design a Cheap Builder. That's a small hull + a constructor module + plus two of the cheapest engines. Most shipyards can crank those out in 1, 2, or 3 turns. So you can spam like crazy. This game really has an awful lot of depth. I'm sheepish it took me so long to figure that out.
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Reply #1 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

That same advice can be carried over to many other designs. For example, if you're only going to be colonizing a nearby planet, there is no need to build a colony ship that can go half-way across the map at super speed. Just design what you need to get the job done.

The same can even apply to combat ship designs. 'Planetary Monitors' are common in many SciFi settings and definitely have their place here. If you're looking to 'garrison' a planet or SB, there is no need to put engines, enviro, sensors or anything of the like into your ship. Guns and armor...that's it. ;)

For me, while this is a neat concept, it does lead to a lot of micromanagement if you want to play optimally. Personally I'd prefer a system where there was a 'fee' for creating and building designs willy-nilly. My old Starfire pen and paper board game had a 'proto-typing' fee and that encouraged people to design efficient ships in general but not to just change and upgrade at the drop of a hat (real navies don't get that luxury...).

Reply #2 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

You want fully loaded star bases? You use a Huge Hull with Support Module Mass Reduction. You can pile on 17+ modules and still get around 50 moves to get anywhere fast. This set up costs around 1.5K. On a specialized manufacturing planet, you can crank these out every turn. Yes, this can be achieve mid-game..., but I suppose that depends on what you call mid-game.

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