justabloke

Join Date 11/2007

Starbases plus other stuff

Guessing that some of this is in-train. But my big bug-bear from the GalCiv2 was the amount of time wasted trying to upgrade Starbases and the time wasted in constructors going from one SB to another cause I got confused and had too many going to one and not the other (the problem really shows up when you have 10 plus bases).

An auto update on a planet that produces constructors, so that they go to the nearest starbase and upgrade it, or something to remove the tedium of upgrading starbases. Or an "order" like "explore, etc." "Upgrade Nearest Starbase". These systems would need to be intelligent, so that the game knows that if Starbase 3 has 5 upgrade slots (or 2 slots and 3 that will be opened by the first 2) that it won't send the 6th constructor to the Starbase 3 (assuming equidistance). The obvious limit here is tech improves will open more starbase slots. So there needs to be some kind of indicator that a Starbase can be upgraded.

Show global profit/loss per turn on the main screen (i.e. not only on mouse-over)

Replace “Eject Ship” with “Launch Ship” on a planet’s fleet window

Is it possible to intelligently map usable hexes over a world’s surface, so that hexes in the middle of oceans aren’t used before hexes over land?

There currently is no update when a planet finishes building a starship

Survey ships discovering credits in space, those credits aren’t always being added to the total pool of credits (or I may have missed the addition, can others confirm?)

I think that the + before an amount for “Manufacturing Cost” is confusing. It infers that building this item will add to the overall cost of something, not that the particular build, a Colonial Farm for example, cost 20 credits.

Ship Building:

An orientation access display for each object and the entire field of view would be useful, just like in 3D cad programs. So you can know which access you are rotating in relation to other pieces.

The ability to lock parts

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Quoting ,

quoting post

I know currently that you will be able to put multiple constructor modules on the same base, so late game you could add 5 upgrades to a starbase at once.

However, that said, the new Starport mechanic opens up some new possibilities. For example, allow a planet to connect to a starbase, and provide an option for "Starbase Upgrades". Your minerals are sent to the starbase, and once enough has been collected the starbase gains an upgrade.

Options like this can take out some of the tedious micromanagement, but leave in the core "fun" piece for the player (which to my mind is selecting that new upgrade and getting the nice bonus!)

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androshalforc

Join Date 03/2007

+62

Quoting Stalker0,

reply 1

However, that said, the new Starport mechanic opens up some new possibilities. For example, allow a planet to connect to a starbase, and provide an option for "Starbase Upgrades"

while people have talked about this or a similar system i havent heard yes/no from SD can you confirm?

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androshalforc

Join Date 03/2007

+62

Is it possible to intelligently map usable hexes over a world’s surface, so that hexes in the middle of oceans aren’t used before hexes over land?

An orientation access display for each object and the entire field of view would be useful, just like in 3D cad programs. So you can know which access you are rotating in relation to other pieces.

check out the latest dev stream

tl:dr done and done

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Ok, so I've played a lot more now.

Starbases have not improved from GC2.

If anything, they have gone backwards. "Specialisation" is going to continue to lead multiple starbases in the same area to provide different benefits. And I still can't see the be benefit at all of building a military base given their effective range is 1 hex.

Get rid of specilisation, it really doesn't add anything to the game. Starbases should be like DS9 or Bab5, all purpose things. Also, the design is very, well, last century (sorry).
Being able to mouse over to see modules still available is nice but there needs to be an easy mechanism for a play to route constructors to complete a starbase until it is complete (or the number of ships on the way would complete it). This needs to include all modules that will be opened by the addition of intermediate modules.
The management options for starbases and shipyards are on the bottom left but the list is on the right! Lots of lost time dragging a mouse around. Incorporate management functions into the list.
Both Bab5 and DS9 could project their influence into the areas around them. This is precisely why Diego Garcia is maintained. Starbases need to be able to protect more than the hex they are in or the hex next door.

Shipyards

Good idea but they are too vulnerable, incorporate them as a Starbase module. Make it cheaper to build ships in space than on ground, encouraging players to have starbases with a shipyard module. Make it cheaper still if that starbase is mining either normal ore or precious ore from an asteroid field.

Tech Tree

Honestly, I prefer the old one, at least bring back the capability to see all techs at once.

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Not sure that I agree about getting rid of specialization, but I do wish they'd give you a construction point when you initially build the starbase. Needing 2 constructors to get a starbase that does anything useful is kind of a bummer.

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I'm sure other people have said it, but add Starbase Design to the ship designer

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Quoting perigrine23,

reply 5

The one nice thing now is the give Starbases some initial weaponry and defense...so you are getting a bit more free than you did in GalCiv 2. That said I would be fine to get a specialization off the bat and make the initial defense system require another constructor.

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androshalforc

Join Date 03/2007

+62

Personally i would get rid of the rings and simply allow you to put any kind of module on with a size limit similar to ships

if i want a ti put 20 sensor modules and no weapons let me some modules will obviosly need limits to avoud becoming OP however i think in general it should be more open then what we have now

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Yes, starbases need a lot more.

We are still seing mostly GC2 starbases.

I believe that upgrade through constructor is a bad design choice. It forces not fun micromanagement of constructors, and when you do have 15+ starbases around (in some GC2 games, I'd have much more!) lots of game time would be to:

* select the starbase for that new constructor

* check that en route constructors are safe

* wonder what for I initialy sent that constuctor, once it arrives

Furthermore, constructors would clutter the map and confuse the really important info (where are my fleets ?)

Better to attach starbases to shipyards (as shipyards are attached to planets), and directly send the output to the starbase. This could even appear as mini ships (that could be attacked) trade lines. You could select several sponsors if necessary (with an ability to detach sponsors too, which I've not found for shipyards!) and decide on building an upgrade directly from the starbase screen.

The one twitch that requires some thoughts is that now, there is a delay required between having the consturctor built and it reaching the starbase: immediate upgrades to frontline starbase don't seem a good idea! I'm pretty sure some clever ideas can be found to circumvent that.

Also, as someone pointed out, a shipyard should be an early stage of Starbase, that should be upgradable in something defensible. In my last game, I stopped playing after I could wipe out the opponents fleet and position ships near his planets to destroy any new shipyard... Somehow too easy.

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Starbase request and criticism:

If only military starbases could move, then they'd be awesome command/repair centers. They become obsolete just after the military objective is obtained for that region.

Also, if only their effective range scales with map size. Too much coverage on tiny maps, and practically useless (except tricking AI about our military power in GC2) in massive galaxy maps.

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