DARCA's Honest Opinion for v.51
No jokes. Just a serious feedback report before everyone goes combat crazy (,including myself).
GalCiv3 Forums
After playing for hours I have complied a (long) list of bugs and suggestions, despite the game freezing every five turns due to a screen freeze bug. Hopefully I will play more in the coming days and examine things like the tech tree more.
So here is the good and the bad;
1. The sound track is a A++. In all screens and environments it sounds great and sets the mood. No problems there.
2. I am having trouble seeing the little icons on the techs. Its hard to tell what it unlocks or if the improvement is a 1pp. This is a major issue because I can see people getting frustrated and losing interest in playing soon after a start due a difficulty in finding relevant information.
3. Techs ages are holding back my research, even more so now that there is tech trading, more techs, and more ways to increase research. Tech prices increasing is annoying too, and makes catching up or getting ahead in techs harder.
I personally like the look of ages in the technology window and would like to have them, but greatly dislike the hard cap on research. MAY I SUGGEST that it becomes a soft cap, and in turn effects other game elements in a strategic way.
4. It is faster half the time to just build the improvement I want instead of having to go through all its perquisites. It would save turns, time, and I imagine it adds to RAM usage.
5. Life support isn't worth it to research. I can always build a starbase highway to get to a distant cluster but most of the time I don't have to because a habitable planet is close enough. Most maps are small in size and a bit of range is all I need. If there was a more substantial strategic reason to use life support, like more life support would increase the repair rate? That would be a improvement.
6. Tourism is weak. There is not a viable strategy in researching or building anything tourism related when compared to wealth improvements. I believe it's because tourism is a isolated game element. If it effected diplomacy that would make it more attractive to players. If trade routes increased tourism that might help.
7. Ideology is being reworked I know. But remember bonuses NEED to be distinct, unique, interesting, and ultimately have the potential to change the game. Giving a race a free colony ship is pretty useless, but the idea that it changes the game beyond mere bonuses, that strategy and exploitation is possible is the right direction. Cool things like enemy ships losing 10% of hp in ZoC (Pragmatic, Malevolent). Or each planet improves in quality (Malevolent). And all planets improve in influence by 50% (Benevolent). Those are good creative ideas and if there will ever be more ideologies then this must be so.
8. There have been many UI and managing suggestions and I support most of them, as they all sound good. But someone recently suggested that if the player could group star systems into regions and give orders that way it would make large Empire management easier. I think that idea is as good or better than starbases was. I say this because currently management its hard and un-fun on to do on anything medium in scale.
A wise goal would be to have rewards match the scale of the Empire. I shouldn't be bothered with personally upgrading ships, moving sliders on planets, placing improvements in the optimal tiles, or moving a single ship and repeating this every turn. Instead it would be ideal to have regions, and more automation instead of having to go to every planet like Santa clause. I don't want to be bothered with everything all the time and anything I don't manage personally should get automated for that turn.
9. UP exploitation prevention doesn't have enough room for its text.
10. UP diversity in trade has a typo, "with each all" makes no sense to me.
11. I was fortunate to be the chair of the UP in my last game. As it is now known to me first hand, the EPA sucks. Please remove proposal or modify it so only a certain class of planets are effected.
12. UP Interstellar patent board sounds like it would be a unwise decision to propose, and I think it needs rebalancing.
13. When having a UP meeting with a lot of races or in the diplomacy hub, it would be ideal to have a number bar for race relations and a icon for mood etc. That way I could see relevant information about a race without having to scroll over them.
14. The UP is good in its implementation as a whole. It is fun and significantly effects the game, more so then other games I've played. It can only get better. I can't help but add that a galactic event where the UP is unavailable for a time, or would be interesting. Only by researching a special tech would it come back. That would be fun.
15. The Krynn are not a new race, but they feel new...fun. Maybe it's the original ship parts, tech tree and all around newness of race that gives that feel. I did not feel that way with the Terran, Drengin, and Altarian due to the popularity and familiarity of the three. But I will expect to be "wow'd" by the Iconian, Thalan, and even the Yor in the coming days since my hopes are high and I have every reason to feel that way.
I look forward to seeing the Krynn have there own ideology in the future, I will patiently await there DLC and converting people to "The Way."
16. "What will you give me for this." And, "What do you want for this." are needed dialogue options in diplomacy. It makes trading easier, faster, and better. Like they say in business, " my time is valuable."
17. There should be Ideological references in the casual diplomatic dialogue and when declaring war. Its more immersive that way, and it would feel rewarding to call the Drengin out for there atrocities.
18. All Leaders breathing animation is way to fast, slow it down to a more realistic level. Please, it looks like someone is knocking on Lord Kona's chest from the inside trying to get out.
19. If not planned, I believe allowing custom designs made for one race, to be usable for another. e.g. making a custom Iridium ship should be playable for when I am the Terran or a custom race.
20. There might be a need to have incentives for multiplayer. I don't like seeing empty lobbies.
21. There is a tiny Stardock logo in the lower left corner of the title screen that is a button for something. I JUST noticed it so that tells you something about the effectiveness of its placement. I would recommend moving whatever it is to the list of menu options so it's adequately visible.
22. I like using missiles in combat but was mostly a personal choice. However that is not the case anymore, more people are going to pick missiles because of the superiority or the bomber design. With just first tire weapons and defense we get three premade ships, one for each category. The sniper cost the most at nearly 100 manufacturing points and 4 laser attack. The gunboat cost about 75 MP's and has 6 gun attack. The obviously superior bomber is about 30 MP's has 7 missile attack and 4 PD! Who in their right mind would build anything else?!?
I will say that the overall balancing seems good, some defenses and weapons cost more, some do more damage, and some are smaller In the end it seems very strategic and balanced.
23. The Kyrnn are a fun race as I've said, but they do need a bit more parts to design with. They have way to many cube looking parts. The same might be for the Iridium too and there triangles. When comparing both races total parts to the Terran, they still would not have as many in number. They need more wing, engine, bridge, and bow parts so ships can look more varied in design.
24. Lets face it, out of all the things us humans would be in the future, it would be horny. What ever the galactic standard of reproduction is we can blow it out of the water. Humans are literally fucking fertile. To that end, Earth should have more people than 10 billion in the 2200's. Even though I know this is just a game, this is not another uniform alien world, this is Earth, we can't help but think about it in a different way.
It is entirely possible I am over thinking this, but it would at least be more immersive to have starting population vary from race to race. It was strategic and immersive to know the Krynn had three starting planets, it does not sound like a big deal but when you add up all the tiny stuff like that and what I was suggesting along with everything else, that is what makes a good game into great one.
25. There is a typo in the victory screen. Influence victory says it requires 69% of the map to win but the description mentions 76%.
26. Changing victory condition mid-game is really cool. I like it.
27. Time victory is not listed in the victory screen. It is a nice feature and if there is plans to get rid of it for some reason, one reason to keep it would be that myself and others like it.
28. Oddly. During a game start near a corner, I could have sworn I saw a red star generated OUTSIDE the map. For the first turn of the game there was a red star and in about one second it faded away. It was odd to see. Was it a game effect, like a supernova explosion or a fluke?
29. The tech victory is more interesting than before. I am going around the whole tech tree and building which makes it dynamic, interesting, and fun. Good work, I don't usually play with tech victory on (because I couldn't play after victory before) but I might try it now. It certainty sounds more interesting than other games free for all race up the one tech tree. Again, having to research three techs across the whole game is like taking a tour through the whole game like unlike most do in a single session, and I believe it will be showcased beautifully because of this.
30. Why do some (/most) components have a decimal? Stellar folders give 7.5 movement points? I don't get it?
31. Techs in the diplomacy window would be better off color coded. I cant tell what all 280 something techs do, even if the name gives me a hint as to what it does. Having them be color coded would help players process what they have and what the other race has more efficiently.
32. When exiting the diplomacy screen I should be brought back to the "diplomacy hub" after clicking "That is all" so I may view more races. Instead I go back to the map.
33. A confirmation is needed before declaring war, accidents can happen and its just smart.
34. A confirmation is still needed before clicking the "reset all planets to global spending" button in the govern menu. It is a very powerful button and needs to be safe guarded.
35. I would like the slave labor treaty altered to be slightly different from others it has similarities with. I think a soldiering bonus is needed over a economic one, and a race like the Altarian's should never agree to trading with one as it is not in their Ideology. There are other treaties that I feel should be influenced by ideology as well, like the trade, and cultural treaties.
36. Lastly. I believe that besides more automation in various areas the turn button should be accessible from the Govern menu. It is not the same as other menu's in the way that it allows you to view everything you have and give mass orders relatively easily. It would not be hard to imagine finishing turns from that menu so it should be possible.
IMO
DARCA ;- )
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it doesn't matter because high tech prices are what really keeps people from researching to fast and ruining the game pace. The old saying, "Bob can build it, but can you afford it?" comes to mind, even in the insane instance you slog through the tech tree for it in 50 turns, will it be worth it?
Great Holy Detailed Analysis, DARCA! That's a LOT of work! Thanks so much for sharing -- I am learning much about the game details as you bring items up for question/discussion. Interestingly for me, it is such details observed that make me more anxious to buy the game. (I've done tons of XML modding in GC2, so my mind reels with possibilities for GC3. However, gotta play first before I tweak! LOL) 
Each sort of bled into the other as a result.