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Things you would like to see in a Galactic Civilization expansion set

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Things you would like to see in a Galactic Civilization expansion set

from Stardock Forums
I know that there already is one suggestion thread up but I decided to start a second one anyhow. Post any and all ideas that are too outlandish or broad in scope to implement in a commercial patch. Let's see if we can give the developers some evil ideas and maybe, just maybe, improve the chances that there will be a GC expansion pack. I'll try to get this one started.

Things I'd like to see implemented in an expansion:

1) More good and evil technologies
2) Race specific units, technologies and events
3) More events of all types
4) Morality triggered events
5) A new (hard) victory condition only attainable by neutral civilizations
6) Larger than gigantic maps
7) More customization options for maps (more neutral races, better than abundant planets, extra star clusters, more/less anomolies, etc.)
8) A second scenario
9) Two-tiered maps
10) A simple fleet combat system
11) More permenant galactic features (astroid belts, gas giants, ancient junkyards and ruins, etc.)
12) Some additional empire building tools (cosmetic and meaningful)

More technologies and events:
Any expansion to Galactic Civilizations would have to include more of what has already made this game the true, spiritual sucsessor to the Orion series. The event library in particular could be easily expanded to make every game unpredictable and different. Granted, this is already one of the stated goals of the patching process, but what can be done in patches can be 'overdone' in a retail release. :) Adding more technologies for the good and evil civs would also be a likely addition, but would require some compensation for neutrals.

Race specific technologies, units and events:
A familiar idea to an RTS player. An ideal way to introduce race-specific items into GC would be to create 1-3 units and techs for each race, including the humans, and then allowing each player to chose one of each at the start of a campaign. Only techs and units that the player picked at the start could be eventially researched and built.

Not allowing the usage of every racial unit in every game would be a good way to ensure that one race is not automatically 'the best' at any one thing. If the Torians chose their heavy combat vessel they will be able to hold their own against the Drengins. The best part is that the human player will not know what choices the AI races made until later in the game. Did the Drengins decide to activate their Warlord-class battleships (for space superiority) or did they instead chose to use Mutagen bombs (for mutating other species into Drengin hybrids during planetary assaults)?

Neutral victory condition:
Create a United League of Planets and conquer or dominate the galaxy. The catch: The League of Planets cannot have any of the other major races in it -- only minor races (and Independant League) led by the human race. You need at least 4-6 minor races (depending on map size) on-board to win this victory condition. They all must be alive at the end of the game.

It could work like this: Once a minor race is convinced to join the League it becomes an ally of the lead race and every other member race. All member races get military access, shared exploration, trade and diplomatic bonuses with one another. All member races benefit from each others starbases. All minor races belonging to the League give a tribute to the founder but recieve a hefty scientic grant in exchange. League races cannot culture bomb one another.

This would be a very cool victory path. It would be murder build and protect a League of Planets, but it could be a very rewarding endevor. If neutral technologies were to be implemented, perhaps they could be intended to allow this style of victory? The first neutral tech could be League Alliance (allowing member states) and subsequent techs could improve economic and scientic ties between the member races. A full formed League would be an unstable but very wealthy ediface.

Under the right circuimstances, the Arcean Empire may even attempt this. Perhaps one or more of their racial units/techs could be designed with this victory path in mind?

More ahead...
23,020 views 529 replies
Reply #26 from Stardock Forums Top
my two cents:

1. instead of good or evil only tech's - add in some neutral technologies. techs that only neutral civilizations can get.
2. alignment or party specific ships - ie. if you are the pacifists, you can build a great defense ship but no attack ships. merhcantile gives an improved trade ship, evil could give an awesome attack ship, etc.

see - two ideas, one cent apeice! :-)

friendjosh

~SDC~
Reply #27 from Stardock Forums Top
Maybe it's just the mood I'm in this morning, but I don't really think the 'more is better' approach will be a good one for GalCiv. The odds of something unbalancing all the work so far is too great, so I guess what I'd really like to see most are "nasty AIs" on the top AI levels, a map editor (that lets me set AI alignments and alliances, etc.) and way to slow down or speed up tech discovery (slow down on big maps).

Besides those, a big shot in the arm to the UI (that famous thread is floating around) so that the game mechanics themselves are less demanding would be about all I could ask for.

Really, if it ain't broke... ;)
Start11 - Customize the Start Menu and Taskbar in Windows 10/11.
Reply #28 from Stardock Forums Top
An anomoly type that produces a monster (if shpattack > 1). The survey ship is supposed to be like the Enterprise right? Most anomolies encounterd in Star Trek weren't so nice.

~SDC~
Reply #29 from Stardock Forums Top
I only would like to add to all the great suggestions so far. The editor would be outstanding to agree with many who have mentioned it. Some people I talk to about picking up the game are hesitate just for this reason.

I would like to see a better diplomacy abilities added. Meaning it would be nice to be able to work with ally on how to plan an attack.
Be nice to be able to ask another race to stop the war with your friends.
More races to choose from would also be a great addition.
Maybe if an editor does end up being produced allow it to help in creating new races, events, allow scenarios where the user can setup all faucets of the game to produce some really interesting scenarios. This would give the game playability way into the future.

I want to see GC surpass the civ series in modability and community support. Adding in the editor making it very easy to create new ships, resources, races etc. would help this become a reality. Thank you very much for producing such a great addictive game and the excellent support you are providing all your fans. :CONGRAT: LOL ;p :p :D
Reply #30 from Stardock Forums Top
I second MadCow711's suggestion for more types of space stations. It would add more depth, and even more fun :D , to have a variety of them to build.

And also, I'd love to see some new modules for the stations as well. Maybe a series of modules which give a small research bonus.
Reply #31 from Stardock Forums Top
One thing I have found that has come to characterize 4X/strategy games is the importance of the initial land grab. In simple terms, if you get the most first/prevent the others from getting it you win. Obviously skill can have a significant influence, and a good player can overcome some difficulties, but a fundamental part of a good strategy is to do well in the land-grab phase.

When thinking of space-games, you're talking about a universe filled with billions of galaxies each with billions of stars. I find that even on the biggest maps the universe gets filled up pretty quickly the Xplore and Xpand parts don't last very long. Which is unfortunate for me as they're my favourite part. I also find it frustrating that in a few years (GalCiv time) the universe gets all filled up.

I also find it silly that you can just send people off willy-nilly throughout the cosmos and the minute they land on some alien world they become productive, tax-paying citizens. Colonization should be a little more perilous, and even prone to failure, like in EUII.

Obviously this is far too much to put into GalCiv, and since I like the game way too much I don't want it to be overly fiddled with. I have a simple proposal that limits the initial land grab and forces more attention to be paid to taking care of those planets you already have. Instead of a maintenance cost just for sub-15 worlds that disappears when terraformed to 15, have a maintenance cost for all new colonies that decreases over time and perhaps is adjusted by some improvements/wonders/tech/pop/etc.. Starships Unlimited does this, a set cost for new colonies for their first 50 turns, I think it works pretty well, you can't keep creating tons of colonies at will even in later stages of the game because the cost is actually relatively high. Expansion thus becomes an issue that lasts through a much longer portion of the game, and the strategy behind it a little more complicated than grab everything in sight to keep others out.

The question of how many colonies can we afford to have is I think one that historical colonial nations have had to ask. Doing something like this makes for a deeper game in my opinion, and sets up new strategies and choices. It seems simple enought that maybe it's implementation wouldn't unbalance the AI. It also doesn't add a lot of micromanagement in its implementation.

Lots of luck, love the game, looking forward to the expansion.
Reply #32 from Stardock Forums Top
To sum up what I said before very simply:
An editor for modders. Add in stuff that the ai may not be able to handle but that modders can. Like open doors for players to mod something, but the ai won't be at a disadvantage because the vanilla game doesn't use it.
Thus provide an editor, AND an example scenario where gameplay would be different. You can put some background story events in the scenario, make it a bit linear, just to show what can be done and give the story more "reality".
Reply #33 from Stardock Forums Top
I agree with most of these posts, expecialy:

1. nasty AI functions enabled

2. number of random events hight, low , no exists etc

In addition I would like a resolution to wasted spending, more alignment depenedat techs, and maby a cleaned up tech tree ex: have the tech to blow up stars be a pre request for terror stars
Reply #34 from Stardock Forums Top
1) A common enemy threatens every race, event. Something where alliances play a big part in overcoming the invasion.
2) Better combat visuals and controls. Zooming into the combat zone with tactical formations of different types of ships. For example, Fighters, Carriers, Gunships, Sensor Drones, and Scouts.



~SDC~
Reply #35 from Stardock Forums Top
I like the idea of race-specific ships - I really like the idea that you don't get all of them every game! One thing about MOO 1 was that even the same race choice didn't play the same each game because you might not get access to specific techs each game, so you need a new strategy.

I like many of of the ideas listed above (new techs, pirates, places you can't go initially), so I will try not to repeat them.


Idea 1: Like Andre 0's idea, what about some hostile anomalies? I mean, wormholes can be useful (fleeing an enemy), or more often irritating, but nothing out there is dangerous to the Survey Ship. (Besides other ships, that is...)

Idea 2: Dangerous Exploration: In the old board game Stellar Conquest, there was a chance of damage or destruction in every star system you explored, from uncharted asteroids to solar flares... Scouts were fast and cheap, but could be destroyed - corvettes were not quite as fast, but had armor against exploration threats. Civ1-3 sort of has this, with Barbarian Hordes that can stomp your little Warrior dude...

Idea 3: When ships are jury-rigged out of asteroids, why not make them non-standard ships? So instead of "whoopdee-doo, another scout", perhaps "Wow, a precursor missile" (less than an AMM), or "Nifty, check the engiens on this baby" (very fast, no sensor range ship), or whatever.

Idea 4: Outposts. I don't want to *colonize* the Class 2 gas giant, I just want to put a refueling base there...

Idea 5: Specialized Colonies: Sure, the Class 8 planet is hostile, but check out these mineral concentrations (could be research, could be production)...

Minor Idea: Distinction of Worlds: Sure, this world got a "Enslave the Stone Age-ers" event, and that one got a "Study the aquatics", but it's really inconvenient to go searching through the detail screens to find out which is which. (Of course, since there are no planetary sliders, I guess it doesn't matter.) Just something like a "Production Enhanced/Penalized" icon in the corner of the world picture or something.


Idea 6: Trade Variety: Right now, there is great incentive to have all your trade routes go from one place to another. That way the same trade-enhancing SB module boosts all your trade routes at once. There is no incentive to have some outlying world, even a Class 30, have its own separate trade route. Maybe require that trade routes can't originate from the same worlds, or perhaps have some race-specific resources? Like "Planet X has Spare Noses, something Torians will pay twice as much for"...
Reply #36 from Stardock Forums Top
my thoughts:

1. *nastier* AI. far and away the most important IMHO. everything else is just gravy.

2. "party" specific units/tech/improvements.

3. cloaking actually implemented. more technologies like cloaking that "alter the rules", provided the AI is smart enough to use them.

4. expanded trade info, so i can what all the routes, not just the ones i started, are worth.

5. UI improvements like tooltips, hyperlinks etc.

6. mo' stuff.

cheers

h
Reply #37 from Stardock Forums Top
I'd like lots of "gravy" changes. i.e. not too much that unbalances or over complicates the game.

Diplomacy, the ability to add ships into sue for peace treaties ( I sometimes fight wars for resources)

The ability to threaten or plead as well would be nice

being able to chose from some basic resolution's in united planets would be nice as well, particularly if minor races had a small or block vote, perhaps a little more intimidation and wrangling, how cool would it be if you could buy each others influence DURING a UP session (not to mention far more realistic.

Hey, even a note (if you have good espionage) that tells you the next vote might be about trade or war, so you can buy votes in advance would be great.

I want small changes that draw me into the world more, like extra movies for terror stars etc.

remember guys this is a great game, let's not spoil it with too many sliders and bars (MOO3)

~SDC~
Reply #38 from Stardock Forums Top
Lots of good stuff here. One that Yin mentioned that I have wanted is a game option to slow down research. I always used this on big maps in MOO2 (IIRC it made all techs 50% more expensive).
Reply #39 from Stardock Forums Top
Ten things I'd like to see in an expansion (some of which I know the devs have already mentioned, so consider this a thumbs up for the announced ideas):

1) Additional races with their own AI routines. Playing the same 5 races every time is a bit repetitive - the alignment randomizer adds some variation, but their core strats don't change.

2) Mutually exclusive branch points in the expanded tech tree. The good/evil thing is very nice, but it would also be good to present radically different paths (e.g. a set of non-violent techs and a set of violent techs, head down one branch and you're shut off from the other that are purely your choice outside of the somewhat unpredictable alignment system.)

3) Hyperlinked and easily navigated in-game tech tree and encyclopedia of improvements, ships, etc.

4) More flavorful cutscenes. I know I've seen people suggest the first time you use a terror star should be one, other possibilities would be the unique wonders. In spite of a certain other game dev's comments, these sort of things are what fleshes out the game universe and makes it "real" to the imagination. Some of SMAC's were truly genius.

5) More random events that alter the story and game direction.

6) Better ways of reducing the micromanagement involving constructors.

7) Rally/Beacon points along with the ability to send ships there with a right click of the ship.

8) Actually, make sure to add in the very standard interface element of being able to right click on a unit/stack and have a contextual menu of available orders pop up.

9) Develop technologies that do more than just boost stats and rather open up new choices in gameplay.

10) Ability to stack fighter craft for an aggregate attack value - the current game mechanics really are way too simple: bigger == better.
Reply #40 from Stardock Forums Top
I would like to see;
-more major alien races
-pictures to go along with minor races
-race specific ships/weapons
-larger galaxy maps
-more random events
-UP meet more often
-rally points for new ships
-slide bars for govenors ie. military/social/research
-major races call you up for more often for diplomatic exchanges
-if a random event occurs at a specific point, that point is displayed in star map
-events occur with objectives ie. a planet has come to our attention located (X) that would give (X bonus). We must grab it before the (whoevers) do!
-specific weapons able for research like a long range cannon that could only be equipped on a certain type of ship but would allow that ship to fire from say one or two 'squares' away from target.

that's it for now, if i don't stop thinking and reading about this accursed game i'm going to get fired!!!! :CONGRAT: ;)
Reply #41 from Stardock Forums Top
I would love to see these two as well. One of the things that I really miss is being able to order a mission to try and steal a tech from an opposing race.

>2) I'd like to see spy missions, like stealing >technologies, sabotaging production, stealing money, >etc.

>3) Counter intelligence slider to counter the spies
Reply #42 from Stardock Forums Top
TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY. Simply put there is no way a sovereign “nation” allows others to pass through or use its air space without permission or risks the destruction of those units or war. To me this is the BIGGEST glaring over sight this game has. This would open up a lot more diplomatic options as to allow/use the passage of units would require diplomatic agreements.
Reply #43 from Stardock Forums Top
My list:
1. HyperLinked Science Screen - like the Civpedia in Civ3.
2. Animated Ship Graphics - This would lead to more flexibility to the look of units. Once again, look at Civ3. ;)
3. Skinable/Configurable UI - I am sure you guys could figure this one out!
4. I second a lot of the previous posts but feel it would be wasting space and time to repeat them.

SD crew: If you could make a poll about what to add to the game it would be great - if there already is one: sorry, still pretty new to the boards.
Reply #44 from Stardock Forums Top
One post I have to repeat #31 by Citizen Paul Auger:
" Instead of a maintenance cost just for sub-15 worlds that disappears when terraformed to 15, have a maintenance cost for all new colonies that decreases over time and perhaps is adjusted by some improvements/wonders/tech/pop/etc.. Starships Unlimited does this, a set cost for new colonies for their first 50 turns, ...."

Very good idea, IMHO!!
Reply #45 from Stardock Forums Top
1 Being able to adjust the frequency of events and UP meetings at the start of the game :)

2 A History summary text file at the end of the game about your empire like Civilization 1 had.

ALSO- Maybe more races to select from

select 5 from 10..etc
Reply #46 from Stardock Forums Top
A quick follow up on one of my earlier ideas.

Tiered Map:

X X X X X
X O O O X
X O O O X
X O O O X
X X X X X

O = regular space (starting points for major races)
X = outside space (accessable only later in the game)

This was one of my favorite ideas and unfortunately not one I explained very well. The idea is to have sectors of space that are not directly accessible until the later stages of the game. The exploration of the outer areas could be regarded as a third race for control following the early game land grab and the mid game constructor race.

The outer areas could be populated partly by some fairly formidable pirate races (minors) or even other things. Quite a few things can be accomplished with a setup like this, including making a corner starting position somewhat less crap-tacular.

Interesting Scenarios on a Tiered Map:

Elder Race Paragons -- Otherwise known as the Babylon 5 scenario. During the mid game two percursor races spawn in the outer sections. Both are quite powerful, but cannot cross over into the core sectors. Instead they chose one race each (one good, one evil) and offer them power in exchange for service. These two races get very strong bonuses but must confront races of the opposing alignment, including each other. It is up to the other major races how they wish to react to this -- join in or stay neutral?

Like most major events, this one would have to be quite race. It would be rather predictable if it happened every other game.

Horrors from Beyond -- Otherwise known as the Masters of Orion scenario. Sometime in the mid game a powerful elder race spawns in the outer sectors of space. Unlike the previous event, these guys can travel into the core sectors and they are not interested in cooperating. All of the major races must fight for survival against a race that they cannot even reach until they get the appropriate technology.

This is a pretty familiar scenario for anyone who has followed the 4x space genre for awhile. As such, it should not happen very often either -- certainly less than the paragon event.

Bandit Nation -- A late game scenario designed to challenge an uber powerful player (or AI) race. If the technology to penetrate into the outer sectors has been researched and there is one overwhelmingly powerful race in the core sectors, there is a chance that the pirate nations will unite. If this event triggers, all of the minor races in the outer sectors merge into one quasi-major race in order to oppose the dominant power. At the developer's discretion, this pirate nation could act in all ways (excepting UP) like a major race.

Pirate Dynasty -- A less severe version of the bandit nation event. If several races have penetrated into the outer sectors and there is an obvious (and severe) dispairity in power between them, one of the pirate minors petitions to join one of the major empires. This could even happen to the Terran player on occasion, making Rocky comebacks more likely.

Lost Colony -- Very similar to the restart civilization option in Civ 2. If one of the major races gets eradicated early in the game, they can get restarted on a planet in the outer sectors. Lacking the technology to enter the core worlds, they will likely not be seen again for awhile, but they may make a comeback.

Cumulatively, none of these scenarios should happen more than half the time. In other words, 50% of all games should be business as usual once the outer sectors are discovered (colonization, conquest, culture, exploration).

Cheers.
Reply #48 from Stardock Forums Top
1 Being able to adjust the frequency of events and UP meetings at the start of the game :)

2 A History summary text file at the end of the game about your empire like Civilization 1 had.

ALSO- Maybe more races to select from

select 5 from 10..etc
Reply #49 from Stardock Forums Top
Stealth: Cloaked ships being detectable at half the current scan range of ships and planets (to help reduce the overwhelming advantage of eyes of the universe), not every ship in game has cloaking, only those designed with it (perhaps ship types like fighter, cloaked fighter, probe, cloaked probe, avatar (always cloaked)) etc. Slightly to significantly more expensive to produced the cloaked version of something.

ECM and ECCM (and of course ECCCM and ECCCCM) technologies that don't change the attack/defense ratings, but have a) that each point of damage received has a chance of 'missing' and thus causing no damage (due to ECM), and b) each point of attack that missed because of ECM has in reality has a chance of hitting (due to ECCM).

Targetting aid technologies that increase the chance of causing high damage. Eg a ship has an attack rating of 8, and without aid would have an even chance of causing damage on a 0-8 scale. Targetting aids would change the weighting of damage so it would be more likely than an even chance to cause higher damage.

These could have the possibility of making smaller ships more useful later against less technologically advanced races that have bigger guns err ships :) .

Damian

~SDC~
Reply #50 from Stardock Forums Top
I also like Medicine Man's tiered map idea, or the idea of wormholes leading to a new galaxy. Anything to add exploration and expansion phases to the mid-late game is highly desirable and makes them a lot more interesting and gives a possibility for late game surprises or changes in the balance of power.

Ideally, I'd love a scaled game, kind of like Age of Napoleon (I think that was the title) where your options grow as you expand. What I'd like, for example, is first you have to develop your home planet, and then develop your home system. Then you would start on the galaxy, but with resources that are still rather limited. Perhaps your first one or two new systems would be managed to a similar detail, but as you progress the smaller detail levels become abstracted. So that you start with your home planet and system (i.e. other planets, moons, asteroids to be explored and exploited) but as you grow you start dealing with things on a bigger level, i.e. you start micromanaging all of the places in a system individually, then as a group, and eventually at a system level, etc. So that the level of micromanagement evolves with you, you take care of all of the small stuff at the start when that's all there is, but as your empire grows, you address things on an increasingly large scale while the smaller stuff goes behind the scenes (i.e. you make mine a bunch of asteroids individually at the start, then later on you develop such that your option changes to mine all asteroids in the system).

Again, this latter is not for GalCiv I guess, but if someone wanted to pick it up for a sequal or something, I wouldn't mind him taking credit... ;)