What is or means GALAXIAE?

"Galaxiae" is latin plural or genetiv, so it means "galaxies". And "Campus Galaxiae" means campus, university or accademy of the galaxies. Get more information about Galaxiae, Campus Galaxiae and Cursus Honorum Galaxiae in the appropriate sections of our website.

Stuelken's GALAXIAE started in about 2000 with a new gametype for the game engine SV4. SV4 supported scenario and brain/AI scripting to create complete new starmaps of a new dimension, and brain/AI scripting means that the game engine allowed a game designer to program the behavior of computer opponents. Thus finally each player and designer could use SV4 to create a new game type.

Multiplayer and Profiles

I want to have such a small logo / glyph for my player name. Which format do I need and how do I upload this graphic?

These glyphs, logos or avatars have to be BMP-graphics with 16 or 265 colors and a size of 32x32px. Usually you will store that graphic in the folder where you have unpacked the game files. To upload your avatar to the game server you have to connect to server and create a profile.

Do never use commercial logo types and do never use political symbols. Be creative. Create your own glyph, avatar or clan sign.

How can I change my online profile later?

If the server is online you login, then click onto your name in the lobby. You can do that with every name to see some personal data the people have entered, however you can only change your own profile. Again: The glyph/logo is BMP and must should have a size of 32x32 pixels.

How do I play the game online? The server does not respond.

The main gameserver is at the moment our largest problem: The server files do not run on our Unix / Linux servers. They require a windows operating system. So we run the server at the working hours on a workstation between about 1000 and 2200h central europe time until we find a better solution. If you connect from the USA the server might "sleep" at the moment. This is idiotic, we know, but we will solve the problem.

The server sais that it does not know my id. Did you delete my profile?

No, in most cases we did not delete your profile. Keep in mind that entering your name is case-sensitive, so if you have registrated as "MUMMY" you have login as "MUMMY" and not as "mummy" or "Mummy". If we know eachother from Facebook or in reallife we can reset your password so that you can login and change it.

How can I define an alliance to play COOP?

Each player joins the game until the prepared player slots of this game have been filled100%. Then the game starts. Within the multiplayer game when you see the map you can click on top of your screen on "CHAT" to chat and on the HANDSHAKE-symbol. This is the dialog for agreeing on alliances or better non-attack or non-attack plus intel.

I have created a multiplayer game, my friend joined, but the game did not start. What went wrong?

Most of the time the problem is that you have defined a NUMBER OF PLAYERS for the game, but you finally did not reach exactly this number. Example:You created a match for 3 players, but finally you as host started and only 1 friend joined. The game will wait to start until the 3rd player in this case has joined.

Sometimes, however, the game did not start due to another problem. To join each player has simply to click onto the GALAXY icon, but some guys click in the meantime back to the lobby or whatever. In this cases the server sometimes has problems to know who is in and who is out of the match. Solution: Return to the lobby, wait until all players are back in the lobby, and then restart the game. 

I have lost my password.

Most people did not forget their password but simply forgot that name and password has to be entered CASE-SENSITIVE, so you have to know if you typed secret, Secret, SECRET, secret sEcret or whatever.

If you have entered a valid email address in your profile we can send a new password to this address. Keep in mind: Every player that is ONLINE the SAME TIME as you in the lobby can click onto your player name to see this address. We must be somehow sure that you are the person with this playername.

So we suggest that you simply registrate your playername addtionally by sending us an email or message to galaxiae with your playername and your email-address. Sooner or later we will meet or know each other. The community is small.

 

Scenarios, Saving, Restoring

Where do I find more scenario files for single player or multiplayer games?

We have gathered about 50 scenario files, however we will only upload those files that we have tested first. Most of these files have been created by fans in the last 10 years, so even you can code your own short script to generate one or two clusters of stars or nebulae. We plan to create an online scenario creator at www.galaxiae.org where you simply define some parameters, press a button to generate the code and then download the file.

I tried to open a saved game file from a multiplayer game, but it did not work.

When saving a multiplayer game all the players are stored within the save game file. To load a saved game you have to continue with exactly the same players, and all of them. This seems idiotic if one of the guys has left, and it is idiotic, however we cannot solve this problem at the moment. We plan to develop an online tool where you can upload a file and change the player names.

Gameplay

When I play the game all enemy units are shown as ?????? icons. I want to see the real ship icons!

Sure you want to see those real icons and the values of those enemy units, but did you really have read the rules? Stay calm: You have simply to build a SPYSHIP or INKSPOT units. These are the only two unittypes that REVEAL the CHARACTERISTICS of enemy units. No spyship and no inkspots and you play blind. Scanships and scanners on starsystems show only the position of enemy units, but they do not reveal their characteristics.

What to do if the game has started? What is important?

This depends on your strategy, the size of the map, the scenario, the number of players. This is a strategy game. And it is one of the best that have been every developed in the end-90's.

First of all you have to defend your capital at all cost. If you loose it you loose the game. But if you spend too much in simple shields for the capital you will start with less ressources when building a fleet to conquer stars. So it is wise to quickly find some high value (V) stars with low shields (only a few green rings). Conquer them to generate more ressources. You can also build ships at these new star systems.

Try to find the capital of your opponent(s). If you know where it is you might launch a sneak attack by moving your attacking forces around his defense positions.

Build scan- and spy-ships and scanners. Spyships and Inkspots are the only unit that can REVEAL the CHARACTERISTICs of a unit. Without those values you just see ??????????????? all over the map, however if you have neither scan- nor spy-ships you are blind. You see nothing. Playing "blind" is the best strategy to loose the game. In most cases: No chance.

The game is too fast for me, and I didn't figure out how I can win against the computer.

It is important that you have read the rules. If you do not understand the concept of "impulses" (time units or rounds in the game, 1 per second) and engine rating (E-value) of units you have no chance. In brief: The E-value defines how many moves your unit will make in 22 impulses (seconds). If your unit moves in an adjacent square with an enemy unit it will automatically attack. How attacks are resolved is also written in the rules. Most of the time you will play with simple warships. If the enemy unit has the same or a greater weapon rating your ship is destroyed at once without having a chance to fight back.

Yes, we know that some guys thing this is an idiotic rule, however if you have understood the game you will sooner or later recognize that this is the basic of one of the most fascinating strategy game concepts. In clear words this rule means that it does not matter if your opponent will attack you with 200 E8W4 warships: If you have the same units and (!) if they do not attack themselves they can destroy all incoming units. To be honest: This is theory, because within a match you have a lot of different unit types, and you may build a ship as strong as you want, so only a beginner will build 200 ships with the same characteristics.

If you would like to slow down the game you may edit the scenario code and change the density of clusters. The game will have the same speed, however units need more time to travel from star system to star system.

How to I command 50, 100 or even 200 units? This is too much for me!

Read the rules: You can simply group several units my marking them with your mouse. How press E for and click on one unit. Now you have a formation of units, this means all units will try to keep the exact distance and orientation to that marked ship. It works on own and enemy units. If you now would like to move 20 units you simply have to move this 1 ship.

Another good option is to concentrate on the important sectors. And finally keep in mind that this is a game and your opponent does have exactly the same problems. Did anyone said that life is easy? At first you can play 10 units, then 20. And after a while you won't have a problem to command hundreds of ships.

If I mark several units of drones, warships etc. and press T to order targeting a starsystem this command does not work. What happend?

You should mark only units of the same type to stay sure that a command is executed. A good way to plan large scale attacks is to gather differt unit types like drones and warships on two differt places in spaces. You can do this my moving "M" units to a square far enough from a jumpgate or a wormwhole. This way you can simply mark a complete fleet of the same unit type with the mouse in a fraction of a second.

When one of my ships moves into a wormhole it is suddenly gone or atleast it is somewhere else and forgot the commands that I have ordered. What happened?

Wormholes are a nice thing: You can move a ship into it and your unit will be teleported to the exit of the cosmic tunnel, however who has said this exit must be on the battleboard of this scenario? So, sometimes offboard-exits are generated. You ship is thus lost. Adios. Forgetting commands when traveling to wormholes and artificial jumpgates is no fault but part of the rules. Moving in space is a risk.

My opponent has a strong startillery defense. If have thrown hundres of drones and warships into the battle to conquer a nearby starsystem, but all my ships are destroyed in a few seconds if they come into the range of the startillery. What can I do?

First of all you have to know that a game can end with a draw, this means some matches cannot be decided within 1000 or 2500 impulses. It depends on you if you keep on playing or if you aggree on a draw.

However, you have options to destroy a strong startillery defense. The best idea is to build a scan ship with an appropriate scan range. You must detect the startillery units without being in their range. Then you build startillery units on your own with a +1 or +2 range rating. If you know move your startillery just to the end of their range limit, you can hit them, but they do not hit you. If your opponent does not have a strong scanship he will be surprised and will loose his startillery units.

Another option: Keep in mind that each startillery will shoot on the first unit that comes in range. So if you build some cheap units as canon fodder the enemies units will concentrate their fire always on the first row of your attack. This way you can approach with your warships so that they can attack before they have been completely be destroyed. Additional to that you can attack with short range startillery this way a long range startillery: The opponent will again shoot at the first row. If he does not have such a defending row you can directly hit his startillery.

An expensive but clever approach is build cloaked units: You can build cloaked units by check the appropriate box in the building process. Cloaked units are hidden to enemy ships, radar and scanners. To detect a cloaked / hidden unit your ship must be directly in the next adjacent square of the map. So if you have a scanner you check first the positions of enemy units. Then you build cloaked ships that move to their target with a minimum distance of 2 fields to hostile units. And then simply attack the target.

Are there typical problems?

New players sometimes run into situations they don't understand at first.

• Connecting to a Game Server: If the GALAXIAE WARS server offline there is not other server at the moment until we find a way to offer the server files. Simply send us a message via the contact form and we may switch it on again.
• Warships are destroyed when capturing a star. This is a game rule which makes it extremly expensive to waste good warships for a V1-planet.
• You cannot destroy artifical wormholes, those jumpgates. This is crucial to know: If the enemy has created the exit of such a tunnel near your capital you have a real problem.
• When selecting several warships with a mouse with a single transport among them you will recognize that you do not have the option of checking the the check box "attack adjecent". You have to unselect all non-warship units first.
• How can I resize the CHAT window? Click on the lower right corner ... now you can tear at this corner to resize it, however better try to aline it to the left border of the screen automatically. There is a button bottom left.

 

Who is the developer of SV4?

The original developer of the game was Dion Kurczek, Chicago. When he lost interest in supporting the game version SV4 and the server we were allowed to create licence codes to create full versions for our players to keep the game and the server alive. So finally this is software is used until we will develop a clone or spin-off in the future. Other versions of this game exist, however this one has the most features, has the best performance for large maps and can be played offline. So think twice before changing a running system.

Are there any known bugs of the game?

Yes, there are a few bugs, however you can live with them.

BattleStation Bug

The Battlestation unit can build units, however if you have build a unit the player cannot see it on the screen. So do not build units with Battlestation ships.

SpyShip Multiplayer Bug

Sometimes playing in multiplayer you will notice that you Spyship is not able to reveal the characteristics of enemy units. It is somehow reduced to a scanship. However, sometimes you will see the characteristic of units that are out of scan range. This is a bug, but in gameplay this is no problem.

This bug was detected playing Galaxiae on a Server (v.42).  

Program has a problem, but the game continues

Some clients on Windows Vista have reported that galaxiae_7 reports problems within the game, however the program continues. We suggest that one of the players (the host, the one who started the game) should save the match often to be able to restart it.

The helpfile cannot be read.

We have replaced the original help file because people otherwise were not able to find this website www.galaxiae.org. We will provide the rules and answers to questitions at this website, and we will translate them in 2011.

WINDOWS7: I cannot start the program at all. I have got a lot of errors and warnings about missing files

This is not a bug: Delete the game and extract the files nexttime in c:\games\galaxiae. Then start the game by double click on galaxiae_v??.exe. Now it should work.