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GALACTIC CIVILIZATIONS II DREAD LORDS FAQ
Game publisher Stardock
Website www.galciv2.com

================================Version History==============================
1.00 - 18Mar06
The beginning...

1.01 - 24Mar06
Fixed some wording mistakes.
Updated the Technology Tree section in include starbase unlocks.
Turned tech unlocks into a list rather then in the notes of the tech.
Corrected a few naming mistakes where I listed the internal name rather then the diplay name for a required tech.
Added the Espionage section to Game Concepts

1.1 - 27Apr06
Updated tech tree to reflect changes made in release 1.1 of the game.
Added AIValue tag to tech listing.
Updated planetary buildings to reflect changes made in release 1.1 of the game.
Fixed my usage of *affect* for *effect*.  Thx to those that pointed this out :).
Updated strategies section to take into account game changes from 1.1.
Added brief section on the campaign.  May expand in the future.
Added section 6.6 predefined races and bumped all subsequent sections
Adjusted economic section based on new 1.1 rules
Added section 6.9 influence

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===============================Table of Contents=============================

Section 1.0 - Getting Started
1.1 - Sandbox Mode Game
1.2 - Your First Turn
1.3 - Expanding Your Empire
1.4 - Winning The Game
1.5 - Campaign
Section 2.0 - Technology Tree
2.1 - Communications Branch (Yellow)
2.2 - Propulsion Branch (Light Blue)
2.3 - Engineering Branch (Orange, Pink, Green, Blue)
2.4 - Galactic Warfare Branch (Red, Purple)
Section 3.0 - Planetary Buildings
3.1 - Colony Buildings
3.2 - Production Buildings
3.3 - Research Buildings
3.4 - Economic Buildings
3.5 - Morale Buildings
3.6 - Influence Buildings
3.7 - Farming Buildings
3.8 - Terraform
3.9 - Defensive Buildings
3.10 - Trade Goods
3.11 - Super Projects
3.12 - Galactic Achievements
Section 4.0 - Starship Components
4.1 - Defenses (Armor)
4.2 - Defenses (Point Defense)
4.3 - Defenses (Shields)
4.4 - Weapons (Gun)
4.5 - Weapons (Missile)
4.6 - Weapons (Beam)
4.7 - Engines
4.8 - Modules
4.9 - Hulls
Section 5.0 - Starbases
5.1 - Military Starbase
5.2 - Economic Starbase
5.3 - Influence Starbase
5.4 - Mining Starbase
5.5 - Starbase Components
5.5.1 - All
5.5.2 - Military
5.5.3 - Economy
5.5.4 - Influence
5.5.5 - Mining
Section 6.0 - Game Concepts
6.1 - Planet Building
6.2 - Planetary Invasion
6.3 - Ship to Ship Combat
6.4 - Economy
6.5 - Custom Race
6.6 - Predefined Races
6.7 - Relationships
6.8 - Espionage
6.9 - Influence
Section 7.0 - Basic Strategies
Section 8.0 - Legal Stuff

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Section 1.0 - Getting Started

Let me start off by saying that Galactic Civilizations II is one of the best if not the best 4x strategy game to be released in a very long time.  If you are a fan of Sci-Fi or of turn based strategy games this is certainly one to try out.  This guide will provide you with the basic understanding needed to start your empire building today.  As the guide evolves I will add more and more strategies along with the insights of other players.

So you've unwrapped the game disc and loaded the game and asked yourself
"Now what?".  First off make sure you are running the latest version of the game which at this point is version 1.1.  Stardock is not like any other developer out there right now.  They are actually committed to improving the game even after it's release.  For the record there have been four updates so far without counting all the betas for v1.1 and plenty more in the works to come.  Check their website often for any word on new versions.

At the main menu you have three basic choices though two are similar.  You can start a New Game sometimes referred to as Sandbox Mode.  You can start a new Campaign which takes you through the story of the Dread Lords.  You can also start a Metaverse game which is the same as Sandbox Mode except the game doesn't allow the use of mods and your final score can be uploaded to Stardock's website for comparison to all the other Metaverse players.  For the purpose of this section we'll choose a new game in Sandbox Mode.

Section 1.1 - Sandbox Mode Game

Ok after clicking the New Game button you are presented with the universe setup information.  There are several things you can adjust on this screen.
Depending on how long you want a game to take adjust the galaxy size.  This ranges from Tiny which is only 3x3 sectors up to Gigantic which is 16x16.
If you want a game to last only a few hours go with anything under Medium.
Anything above Medium can take several play sessions to complete.  As a matter of personal preference I tend to play on Huge maps.  That gives a fair amount of breathing room in the early go but doesn't take more then a couple of days to wrap up.

Choosing a Scenario will alter the victory conditions and the rules for the game.  For this example just leave it set to Normal which turns on all victory conditions.

The boxes at the bottom of the screen affect the make up of your game universe.  These settings allow you to alter the difficulty of the game apart from the AI intelligence that we'll get to later.  The easiest setting to play on is for everything to be set to Abundant.  Lower any of the options to reduce their overall number generated by the game.

Star density controls how far apart stars are from one another.  This can cause the universe to be made up of tight clusters of stars or can scatter all the stars across the entire game map.

Technology rate alters the overall cost of all the techs in the game.  This controls the pace of how rapidly you gain new techs in the game.  If you want to race through the vast tech tree quickly set the rate to Very Fast.

**New in version 1.1**
The game now includes options to turn off tech trading, to turn off minor races, and to turn on blind exploration which only reveals an empire's influence coverage on the mini map if you've explored that region of space.
Also the game now allows you to set the above galaxy options to random so you won't know what you are playing on until the game actually starts.
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The next screen allows you to choose one of the predefined races or create your own.  When you are first starting out I suggest using one of the predefined races.  As you become proficient at the game a custom race will allow you to tailor the game more to your preferred style of play.

The next screen shows you an overview of your selected race's abilities, political party, color scheme and core ship design, and starting techs.  For now click Next.  I'll describe this in a later section.

This last screen allows you to set the number of opponents and the overall difficulty of the game.  There are twelve different difficulty settings ranging from Cakewalk - Suicidal.  For your first game I would suggest 2-4 opponents and Easy difficulty.  As you get proficient with the game concepts start to move up the difficulty scale and or increase the number of opponents you play against.  This game does a very good job of allowing the player to tailor the experience to his/her own skill levels.  I break down the difficulty settings later in the FAQ.

**New in version 1.1**
The game now gives you the option to randomly select your opponents and to randomize their intelligence setting.  So for instance you can tell the game to give you 5 opponents from the list that are all set to a base of Normal but are randomized internally.  This affects the AI by slightly altering what internal algorithms it has access to.  This is one of those *under the hood* sorts of things but it does add a bit of mystery to the AI personalities.
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Section 1.2 - Your First Turn

After dismissing the opening dialog box the game takes you to the technology screen.  This screen is divided into three sections in the default mode.  In the upper left area you see a list of all the available techs you can currently research along with the time in turns it will take in parenthesis.
To the right of that selection list is a description of your currently selected tech along with the abilities, improvements, and future unlocks the tech gives you.  The lower section of the screen is a fully expanded list of all the techs in the game.

Depending on the starting techs of your race the first couple of selections will change.  However for the most part your best first tech is going to be either New Propulsion Techniques or Universal Translator.  As with a lot of things in this type of game make your choice based on what will benefit your empire the most.  If you are in a remote area of the map you may want to get better engines for your colony ships.  If there are AIs nearby you may want to get Universal Translator so you can speak with them sooner.

After choosing your starting tech to research the next screen takes you to the Planetary Management screen of your home world.  Here you can see all the buildings on the planet along with any special tiles.  Unless your home world starts out with some bonus tiles that would lend it well to either manufacturing or research I'd suggest that you start out with a balanced set of buildings.  I typically build the following on my home world: 2 x Basic Factory 2 x Xeno Lab 1 x Basic Farm 1 x Marketplace 1 x Entertainment Center 1 x Embassy (once unlocked)

Also with 5000bc in the bank your first turn you may want to purchase your first factory just to give your home world a good start at producing more buildings and colony ships.

After clicking Done on the planetary screen you finally see the main game screen.  Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the controls for moving the map around as well as zooming in and out.  Of note is once you zoom out past a certain point the game switches from the 3D world to a 2D Strategic
View.  In the Strategic View you see icons to represent your ships and planets.  This can give you quick information about the items shown without having to hover the mouse over them.  Get used to switching into and out of strategic view.  You won't regret it.

Ok so now you see two ships.  One is your flag ship and the other is your first colony ship.  If you are playing as any race other then the Terrans you start out with a tech called Stellar Cartography.  This allows you to see all the stars and planets on the minimap right from the start.  If you don't see any anomalies right away then send your flag ship off towards any cluster of stars nearby.  Along the way monitor the space that is uncovered looking for said anomalies and also floating space resources.

Send your colony ship off in the general direction of the star clusters also.
Do not waste your first ship on the Planet Quality (PQ) 4 planet in your starting system.  There is plenty of time for that one later.  Right now you are looking for at least a PQ8 or above so that you can get another planet similar to your home world up and running.  To colonize a planet you find simply select the colony ship and then right click on the planet.

Before you click the Turn button select your home world and purchase a new colony ship.  That's all for your first turn.  Your empire building days have begun.

Section 1.3 - Expanding Your Empire

Time for turn two through oh I don't know several hundred maybe.  There are