PC Gamer's First Preview of Galactic Civilizations III

Island Dog

Join Date 06/2003

+1046

PC Gamer's First Preview of Galactic Civilizations III

PC Gamer has put up the first preview of Galactic Civilizations III and talks with Lead Designer Paul Boyer about the game.

"Many of the familiar races from the game, such as the Krynn Consulate and the Iconian Refuge, will return alongside new races. The Iridium Corporation, for instance, was always part of the series’ lore but never a playable race. Boyer notes that “they are essentially ultra-capitalists, like if Apple was a race that was going to take over the universe”.

Other tweaks include revamping the UI, building a better tutorial system (including a tutorial campaign), and finetuning the AI, all within the confines of a brand-new game engine, referred to internally as Kumquat 2. Also new is the fact that Galactic Civilizations III will only run on 64-bit systems."

Read the full preview at PC Gamer here.

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Quoting jecy99,

reply 50

Universal translator hardly work 100% of the time..

Ya, that's right, i would never make a typo so blatant .

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Lucky_Jack

Join Date 01/2002

+62

All of a sudden I remembered why the aliens speaking English never bothered me. It was how self explanatory it was the first time I played the game (but I can't remember if it was GC1 or GalCiv 1 for OS2). The first time I tried to talk to an alien was before I had researched the "Universal Translator" and the alien's speech came out as unintelligible gobbledegook (typed), with a side comment that we need to research the Universal Translator.

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A lot is going on already in that screen shot. And the main map in top right looks intriguing; the hexagons are bigger there. I hope at least that map will be 3d.

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Quoting invertedrook,

reply 53

A lot is going on already in that screen shot. And the main map in top right looks intriguing; the hexagons are bigger there. I hope at least that map will be 3d.

Yes, everything is 3D, you will be able to do all the crazy zooming in and out you want, much like GC2, but better.

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Oh, nice, I didn't play GC2 and don't have time before graduating next Summer (right about when GC3 will be nearing final release I'd guess!) I've pre-ordered and will hit the ground (i.e. space) running.

I had wondered if any features on the map might be dynamic and/or oscillating? Real space is not static. Did any features on GC2 maps evolve or devolve or be affected by anything?

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We are adding allot of new stuff to the maps, some of it is dynamic, not in the case of system, no planets rotating stars, etc, but we do have some fun stuff for you.

More to come.

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Lucky_Jack

Join Date 01/2002

+62

Quoting invertedrook,

reply 55

Oh, nice, I didn't play GC2 and don't have time before graduating next Summer (right about when GC3 will be nearing final release I'd guess!)

I think I saw somewhere that the full (not final) release was expected to be early 2015.

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tid242

Join Date 04/2008

+63

Quoting mormegil,

reply 51

Ya, that's right, i would never make a typo so blatant .

Quoting mormegil,

reply 56

We are adding allot of new stuff...

Hah, the irony here is so funny. (this is meant in jest, I'm really not being a jerk)

But yea. The 'glitchy' universal translator... reminds me of way back when, if you chose a low enough INT in Boulder's Gate your character would talk like an idiot, so I'd intentionally have to give my meathead cutter at least a normal amount of intelligence otherwise I'd go insane trying to play the game because otherwise everywhere you went, he'd be talking like a 4-year old...

Maybe we should have a universal engrish translator for GC3... that would kind of rock, actually.

-tid242

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Gaunathor

Join Date 04/2006

+170

Quoting tid242,

reply 58

Boulder's Gate

It's called "Baldur's Gate".

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tid242

Join Date 04/2008

+63

Quoting Gaunathor,

reply 59

It's called "Baldur's Gate".

Impossible! I would never make a mistake like that...

-tid242

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wuphonsreach

Join Date 10/2013

I'd like to see the map spread out a bit more then in that screenshot.

But then, I play GC2 on Immense maps with sparse stars in order to get a feel of "vast distance".

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Frogboy

Join Date 03/2001

+2394

We'll have to come up with some new galaxy size names since the top end galaxy sizes will be much bigger.

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Why not name them by their radius? So 9, 21, 47, 83, etc.

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Larsenex

Join Date 04/2009

+212

For galaxy sizes how about 'Mind boggling Big'...hehe...

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Quoting Frogboy,

reply 62

We'll have to come up with some new galaxy size names since the top end galaxy sizes will be much bigger.

Dropping these innocuous one-liner bombshells makes me so angry. You know so much more about the game and it drives me insaaaaaannnnneeeee D:<

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Seilore

Join Date 10/2006

+154

How about labeling based on names of galaxies...

Triangulum 50k LY across NGC 1365 200k LY across

Sombrero 50k LY across Andromeda 220k LY across

NGC 908 75k LY across Fomax A 220K LY across

Centaurus A 97k LY across NGC 4921 230K LY across

The Milky Way 100k LY across ESO 507-070 240K LY across

Hoagg's Object 120k LY across The Tadpole 390K LY across

NGC 6670 120k LY across Cygnus A 500K LY across

Cartwheel 150k LY across Malin 1 650K LY across

NGC 7049 150k LY across Hercules A 1,500K LY across

M100 160k LY across

Arp 81 200k LY across

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satoru1

Join Date 07/2008

+75

@Seilore

While an astronomy nerd like myself might love that, it's a tad too abstract for most people.

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I like it. Edutainment!

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qrtxian

Join Date 03/2010

+30

Quoting ParagonRenegade,

reply 65

Quoting Frogboy, reply 62
We'll have to come up with some new galaxy size names since the top end galaxy sizes will be much bigger.

Dropping these innocuous one-liner bombshells makes me so angry. You know so much more about the game and it drives me insaaaaaannnnneeeee D:<

Now you know how I feel each time people reference something from the Founder's Vault.

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Quoting qrtxian,

reply 69

Now you know how I feel each time people reference something from the Founder's Vault.

While some of it is pretty neat (the soundtracks are very good) most of it is just fluff; we don't really have much more available to us than you do; it's basically eye/ear candy.

Still, I feel your pain

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Gaunathor

Join Date 04/2006

+170

Quoting ParagonRenegade,

reply 70

we don't really have much more available to us than you do

Actually we do. A screenshot of an alpha version of the research screen, and a screenshot of the Govern screen (graphs, taxes, spending sliders, etc.)

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Quoting Seilore,

reply 66

How about labeling based on names of galaxies...

Triangulum           50k LY across            NGC 1365            200k LY across

Sombrero             50k LY across            Andromeda         220k LY across

NGC 908              75k LY across            Fomax A           220K LY across

Centaurus A          97k LY across          NGC 4921            230K LY across

The Milky Way       100k LY across            ESO 507-070         240K LY across

Hoagg's Object      120k LY across          The Tadpole         390K LY across

NGC 6670          120k LY across            Cygnus A            500K LY across

Cartwheel           150k LY across            Malin 1             650K LY across

NGC 7049            150k LY across            Hercules A        1,500K LY across

M100              160k LY across

Arp 81              200k LY across

You know, this would make a hoot of a check box... Have a check box on the galaxy size window.. one it shows, tiny, small, large, huge.. ect...

click the box and you get the real names.. Nothing wrong with learning as you play

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Quoting mormegil,

reply 54

Quoting invertedrook, reply 53A lot is going on already in that screen shot. And the main map in top right looks intriguing; the hexagons are bigger there. I hope at least that map will be 3d.

Yes, everything is 3D, you will be able to do all the crazy zooming in and out you want, much like GC2, but better.

As long as you stick with the whole.. "like GC2, but better" I think you will not have an unhappy fan anywhere on earth..

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Quoting Gaunathor,

reply 71

Quoting ParagonRenegade, reply 70we don't really have much more available to us than you do

Actually we do. A screenshot of an alpha version of the research screen, and a screenshot of the Govern screen (graphs, taxes, spending sliders, etc.)

...

Is that really all that much? All it told us was [REDACTED]

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Quoting Gaunathor,

reply 8

“they are essentially ultra-capitalists, like if Apple was a race that was going to take over the universe”.

So you're saying Apple isn't a race bent on universal domination? Lies, they obviously ARE a evil race bent on enslavement and domination. Just ask all their Chinese slave laborers.

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