Thoughts from GalCiv. 2 going forward

from GalCiv3 Forums

Okay, so even though I've had access to the Alpha for a while I haven't actually tried it yet but I have played a lot of Galactic Civilications 2 and here are a few thoughts. I didn't play any later expansions then Dreadlords so if any of this was implemented or has been discussed for GalCiv 3 I haven't seen it.

  • Research overflow was applied to the next project except when researching the last technology of a branch, then you had to adjust the tech rate to avoid waste. Would be nice to get rid of this unneccessary micromanagment if possible. (On the same note ship production should overflow to the next ship, don't remember if it did or not.)
  • When exploring an anomaly you had to switch research projects in case you got a +%research result so not to waste it on some cheap tech. Then you sometimes forgot to switch back... perhaps a flat +beakers that carries over to the next research project would be better eliminating the need to switch at all.
  • Some races never got anywhere (Drath, Thalan, I'm looking at you) always being dead last due to a lack of planets. This difference was very large on lower difficulty levels but much less so at Masochistic level and higher. I assume they prioritized other things than colonization early (which no race should ever do) and this was somehow overcome with the massive bonuses at that difficulty level?
  • I never used the NON-custom ships. And yet they could not be deleted so they kept cluttering up my ship yard. If you can't delete them (which I do understand I guess) at least there should be an auto-obselete non-custom ships option.
  • If you build small, cheap ships why can't you build 2 or more at a time if you have the production for it? I don't see the logic behind the limit of 1 ship per turn.
  • I never got the logic behind your spies telling you: "We're actually done, we don't want any more money thank you very much." The spying system should be designed so that you get some benefit from spending more. This also turned the +spying anomalies from "cool, thanks" to "I wish I had found 1 BC instead". Also, +spying racial trait was rather weak as a consequence.
  • The option to send all your ships on route to a new destination was good in theory. In pracice I did not once need all my military ships, transports and constructors to go to the same spot. So if you used it you then had to manually change the destination for about half the ships anyway. An option to select only military ships for example would be helpful.
  • When relocating ships transports would fill up before going. If they could not be fully loaded they would be part full. I would like an option to not have transports pick up population while relocating.
  • Some buildings were useless. The one that allows any ship to explore anomalies comes to mind. Even the AI was smart enough not to build that one. I always did though because if I did not it would be in my building list cluttering it up. I built it just so it would not be in the list on every planet. An option to not show buildings of your choice in the planetary view would help. Alternatively having common buildings like factories, labs, markets etc. on one tab and wonders/projects on another tab might help.
  • The "Minor race has stolen race X's every single tech and might want to sell it to you" seemed a little... wrong? Maybe a few techs rather than every single one would be more reasonable if that event is still in.
  • Trade routes were hard capped which ment that it was pointless to chose + trade routes on a custom race. You should not be allowed to chose a race trait that in practice doesn't do anything. On the same note sight range was capped making the sensors racial trait rahter pointless.
  • I don't know if it was a feature or bug but when loading the game you always got a turn with no production or research. Was there a point to this? Annoying when the game crashed while playing on a high level where every small detail could tip the game.

 That's what I can think of at the moment. I Loved Galactic Civilizations 2 and am looking forward to this game.

 

 

655 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

"If you build small, cheap ships why can't you build 2 or more at a time if you have the production for it? I don't see the logic behind the limit of 1 ship per turn."

Building a bunch of junk ships each turn prevented the AI from invading since each ship must be attacked separately without the orbital command improvement is why this rule is in effect.

 

 

Reply #2 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I guess that makes some sense. Then at least the overflow should be used somehow, converted to BC maybe? Or you still have to micromanage it by making sure you are not wasting production which is annoying.

Siege of Centauri
Reply #3 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

IF you only played Dread Lords your missing out on alot! read Tom Francis "Plan B" it'll tell you whats in Twilight of the Arnor - Bigger maps,more buildings,more ship parts and hulls etc

Reply #4 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Some of the gripes above were fixed in "Twilight of the Arnour" and the modding editors allowed a lot of customization and tweaking without having to resort to editing the HTML files [i.e. cheating! which I did anyway, not being able to share other races techs or improvements didn't go down well with me].  I just hope that the new game comes with equivalent modding editors at some stage, the sooner the better though for me.

The gripe that I really agree with is having the carry-over of research points being made available at the end of a branch of the tech tree.

Because the new generation GC3 isn't available for a year, I'd really recommend you to buy the "twilight" expansion edition to GC2 and have some fun in the meantime with it, pretty sure you won't regret it.  I don't know whether Stardock ever approved any later expansion packs that were produced by other independent studios post "twilight", needless to say I never experimented with them to avoid disappointment.

 

Reply #5 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Some buildings were useless. The one that allows any ship to explore anomalies comes to mind. Even the AI was smart enough not to build that one

It was implemented badly but I did like the idea. You can of course add survey modules to any ship - and it really helps to have a few out there to get the anomalies before the others do - but it costs money and space. The building reduced the cost to zero, but i think it should have reduced the space to 0 (or 1). That way you really could have added survey modules to all your ships without compromising their weapons etc because of lack of space.