I absolutely love the idea of upgradable cities. There was a mod a while back that tried this, but haven't used it in a while (not sure it even still works with the new updates to the game).
Due to the AI not building farms, and unable to stay away from starting a new game, I decided to make a carbon-race, and only play against silicons (who do build cities, no farms needed) and synthetic (who do build pop). Only about 20 turns in, and I'm excited to see if this works out to be more challenging.
I am not usually one to make complaints, but I do want to chime in on the AI not building farms. This is the biggest disappointment I have found yet. I'm very patient with all changes to the game, and don't mind relearning mechanics, but the farm/city thing is just annoying. For the first time since I got the game (not a founder but got it upon release) I actually do not wish to start a new game.
do they require more resources than you have?
Do you have the requisite resource to upgrade it? If not, it won't show the upgrade arrow.
percentages to farming really help. Make a farm planet, and a couple of farmer citizens. Suddenly, you are in the city-building business. Just make sure to have a couple tiles for happiness.
also, do not forget to trade for resources. Even with tech trading off, trading with other civs can be valuable.
Resources are tied to galaxy settings. Use more asteroids, and you will get more Durantium.
Whatever you do, don't press the red button.
I would love to see a diminishing returns on population, perhaps logarithmic. This would allow a farm or two to jump production, but the rest, while being allowed, be a waste of tiles. So in later game, the improvements would become more important.
I'd love some attention given to minor civs, as well as another vote for a fixed Jagged Knife using the minor civ rules
ah, thank you
[quote who="DMF" reply="12" id="3690609"] You think the negative count isn't real? Hmm. I didn't test that. I offset the deficit (by destroying SBs) and am back to (displayed) zero. If you're right, I should still be able to build a starbase. I'll give it a try. Thanks. [/quote] If that does not work, I won
I think the pop bonus was taken out from the Work Camp in 2.6 - I haven't tried a slaver yet though so not sure.
I haven't played base game since Crusade came out, but I do seem to remember a bug with counting the Admins. It might show -3, but you are not really negative. Still, you cannot build more starbases until you get more admins. I fully agree with you on the need for an up-to-date manual. For new players it is absolutely crucial. For old players that think they know how everything works, it may hold a few extra points that we hadn't thought of before. A manu
Alternatively, if you really hate the approval system, go synthetic. Now you'll need Durantium to build pop, so that's an extra challenge (maybe), but you'll never have to worry about Approval.
I've made a few 20-population planets, and manage to keep them happy with just two happiness buildings. Of course I do have some good empire-wide boni as well. It is a challenge, but certainly not impossible. Leaders can be put into the Entertainer slot for a 6% increase, instead of 3%. I don't use Entertainers (or the slots) very often though. I believe nothing has changed in the Approval system for 2.6
at the most basic level, without upgrades, each defense type halves the damage of the weapon. It rounds up. basically, double-hit-points against a single type of attack. Tech will make hitpoints more valuable.
I need to buy SMAC again, Windows 10 will not read the old CD due to copy protection no longer being supported. At least I still have GalCiv :-)
Cities and food are far more important in 2.5, so I try to use a larger planet for food production. Cities go wherever they can gain an adjacency bonus, or where they can give the best adjacency boni. I almost never used to put more than 1 city on a planet, now I have planets with 4 cities. I tend to use smaller planets for production, and non-farm planets for either research or wealth, depending on my focus. Sometimes I just put a Market Center somewh
yeah, in crusade, it is the Entertainment Capital that is crucial for percentages.
I have ignored this project until I hear that it works. I want it to work.
this is a symbolic representation for strategic purpose. I'd hate to have to pay attention to wrap-around. There is plenty else to pay attention to.
Notepad++ gets another vote. XML is native.
Agreed, I rarely offer more than 1 of a resource, as the value drops rather drastically.