Ah ha, figured out what the start-up planet is!

Yeah I noticed that too... thought it was a fun touch.

~SDC~

Hey, why does the earth in the planet screen doesn't look like Earth??? Just curious...

~SDC~

Mesopotamia *was* the cradle of civilization....

some dumbass takes time to noticie these thing.

Aerain??? What the?

~SDC~

aerain if he noticed it THAT means they are inteligent. show some respect will ya.

exactly what I wanted to say!

~SDC~

Those of us with an unhealthy obsession for geography noticed it straight off the first time we opened the game and didn't think anything of it...

Glad that some people from the US still recognise Europe when they see it...

~SDC~

Oh thats what that landmass was! I was thinking it was just random art...

~SDC~

LOL

~SDC~

See, the real test of an American's geographical savvy is not asking one to identify *Europe*. It's asking that American to identify *Luxembourg*.

(speaking as an American)

~SDC~

Sometimes it is the little details that mean the most, but those details take the most time to appreciate. The trick is to make something useful enough so those who don't want to "waste time" with the small stuff can dig right on in, while those who want to delve into the smallest details can "waste" as many hours as they so choose.

I believe Galciv does this pretty well. People can jump right in and simply play the game, but can also carefully plot trends and disect the game's mechanics (or even just admire the scenery). It is the difference between "my planet makes money, good" and "but just how many billion people do I need to make THIS much money?" Catering to both types of people is highly desirable, but getting both sides to agree will be impossible. There will always be those who believe time is wasted, and those who believe time is made.

"Hey, why does the earth in the planet screen doesn't look like Earth??? Just curious..." = dumbass

E=MC2 = A genius

What's that? I can't understand you, you're speaking troll...

Aerain, with your half-witted English and pointless threads, I think you qualify as not only the most annoying but also the 'dumbassest' poster on this forum. As far as I've mistakenly wandered into your mindless posts, no one has called you a dumbass; they instead answered your questions patiently, including me on one occasion. So please, respect other people and what they write.

I bent my wookie.

~SDC~

Aerain, nothing about this thread was ever designed to be intelligent or otherwise witty. I just felt like posting a tidbit that finally dawned on me and wanted to share it. Now, go back under your bridge and wait for some other newb, I'm not playing your game.

Cheers!

Exactly!

Now... WHY does the Earth in galCiv look like it does? Did I miss something in the backstory? I am a tidbit fanatic so if you are an unpatient person like Aerain don't mind me...

Ah... and Aerain: Being a genius as you have proven to as by repeating the most widely known formula on this planet.... Do you speak a second language? As a genius you surely speak dozens, so here ya go: Weisheit liegt im Auge des Betrachters, du bist einfach nur ein Trottel!

~SDC~

C'mon guys, now let's not pick on Aerain. It is akin to every village needing their idiot. Every forum needs its...

fleabitfox

OK... you're right! As long as they don't start to multiply and take over the forum as happened with the MOO3 boards...

~SDC~

I thought about this for quite a while, and I think I've worked it out:
It's not that the game is played in a "Mirror" universe, as I first suspected.
The image of the Earth is mirror-imaged because the camera is, in fact, *inside* the space station we can see! The camera, with a telescopic lens, is mounted in one of the windows of the station, pointing outwards toward a highly reflective surface - the result being a mirrored image of the very place the camera is located!
Also, the ship which flies toward the station in the scene is clearly returning from placing the reflective panel!

Okay, Raumkraut, you are thinking waaaaay too hard.

Working off of Occams (sp?) razor, I bet they just wanted to get someone like me to say something about how smart I am on their message board for figuring out the big surrounding the image.

Reflective lenses? Telescopic cameras? Inside the space station? You, my friend, need to stop watching so much X-files.

Hey Murdoch, I for one thought your post was cool. I hadn't looked at the picture that closely and appreciated your observation. Thanks for sharing, and keep those posts coming. Most of the people here are cool-headed, rational people. I'm not sure what happened to Aerain - a bad hair day, perhaps?

~SDC~