Question on Peace-Mongering in GalCiv2

[ChrTh]

As many Civ3 and Civ4 players have learned, expansion through warfare is typically necessary to win the game, especially on the higher levels. Since warfare typically slows down your country's advance (you're building units instead of libraries and banks), it's a good idea to make sure others are fighting as well otherwise they beat you to Space--or beat you with Tanks.

My question for the GalCiv crew is, then: is this true in GalCiv2? Can one expand and settle (and win) without resorting to war to pursue your aims? Yes, war may come, but is it a pre-requisite for victory? And does the level of play influence the answer?

Thanks for any input.

 

[Duelingground]

War, as you say, may indeed come, but it is definitely not a prereq for victory in GC2. Absolutely, it becomes harder to avoid the higher your difficulty is, but still, with skillful play, you can play a purely peaceful game.

Besides the Influence(culture) victory condition, you can also win by Diplomacy, or Technology.

The coolest thing sabout GC2 to me is that you can maintain peaceful relations with everyone while pursuing these goals.

I'm currently playing a game with Influence victory turned off, and plan to win either militarily or technologically. At roughly midgame, I have yet to be attacked, though several wars are ongoing between other races. I've been feeding a couple of the less fortunate races tech and ships, helping them stave off the stronger aliens, all the while consolidating my own infrastructure and navy, prepping for an Alpha strike against the strongest one. I've managed to maintain decent relations with everyone, though it's been touch and go a couple of times.

For an example, there is a minor race I've been trading with, the Carinoids, who became the target of an invasion by the strongest race in the galaxy, the Torians, with whom I have neutral relations. After finding out they were at war, I built a couple of capital ships(I'm the tech leader, though the Torian navy is far bigger than mine, my ships are superior), and moved them next to the Carinoids homeworld, then gifted them both ships. A few turns later, the Torian invasion fleet showed up, only to be decimated by the Carionoids new fleet. Several turns after that, a pop-up informed me that the Carinoids and Torians had made peace. My trade partner is still alive, and it's directly due to my intervention.

Kinda cool, huh?

If what you are looking for are truly viable alternatives to war, GC2 is the game for you.

 

[Pentium]

First to say, it's possible to beat Sid without ever going to war, and even without military. I did it on Deity.

Ok, now to the topic: I like to play peacefully. So far, I only have technologicyl and influence victories, and that was on Normal or one above. I haven't tried anything harder, so I'm not sure how well can you do without war. But with good diplomacy, you can achieve Tech victory without other civs attacking you.

 

[Vizzini]

My question for the GalCiv crew is, then: is this true in GalCiv2? Can one expand and settle (and win) without resorting to war to pursue your aims? Yes, war may come, but is it a pre-requisite for victory? And does the level of play influence the answer?

You certainly do -not- need to go to war to win a game. My first "normal" level game I won without so much as a single fight between me and any other race. (They fought amongst themselves but never came after me)

The key to this, as in Civ4&4, is to make sure you never seem like an easy mark.

From what I've seen the AI becomes less tolerant of weakness as the difficulty increases - and they fight amongst themselves quite often.

 

[Pentium]

The key to this, as in Civ4&4, is to make sure you never seem like an easy mark.

Not necessarily. Good diplomatic relations, a well-decided ethical alignment and a lot of trade can make you safe as well. If you manage to get a powerful ally, you're not an easy target anymore.

 

[Vizzini]

Not necessarily. Good diplomatic relations, a well-decided ethical alignment and a lot of trade can make you safe as well. If you manage to get a powerful ally, you're not an easy target anymore.

You have to first survive long enough to get your diplomacy that high.

An evil race will declare on you at or shortly after the end of the colonization phase unless you've got the muscle to make 'em think twice about it. You don't have to go crazy with your military, but you -do- need to have enough to rank in the top 25% of civs militarily - otherwise you'll never survive long enough research your diplomacy that high. (Especially true on higher difficulty levels. The evils will come calling just as -soon- as they think they can take you)

 

[Pentium]

You have to first survive long enough to get your diplomacy that high.

Yeah, that's true ... But you can choose to not have Drengin and Yor as your opponents. It makes survival much more likely.

Just to let you know: I don't play like that. And I do build defenders, and other ships, but a good diplomacy with a small, defensive army can prevent more attack than a larger army but weak diplo skills. You can also get other civs to attack your agressor if you're lucky