Mercenaries Thoughts and Issues

Summary: Good but want more

from GalCiv3 Forums

I wanted to give my thoughts so far in a summarised form in one place, instead of posting them everywhere. Makes things easier :)

In general I like the expansion. I was expecting to be a bit beefier:

- More particle effects (e.g. more/different missile effects as research progresses. Could also have different effects depending on whether you chose cheaper lasers or longer ranging). I remember reading that this (unless I dreamed it?) would happen but I haven't noticed it at all.

- More diplomatic options/flavour text/ AI requests/colonisation options

- Perhaps a few more minor factions.

- A little bit more music for the main map gameplay?

It's little things, but they add immensely to polish.

 

I like the mercenaries. They add an extra twist and a few surprises. I particularly like that there are mercs that add influence, research, production and not only fight for you.

Issues so far (some of them may have been carried over from before expansion):

- Some missing artwork and buildings not behaving as expected (Mercenaries; reported)

- Faction influence/engine colour changing depending on game (e.g. Iridium sometimes have red (usually Drengin) colour instead of orange. (base game)

- Surrendered assets colours don't change to new faction colour (Mercenaries; reported)

- Music in diplomacy screen when talking to the Arceans has an introduction that takes too long. So you barely get to hear it. In fact most races diplomacy screen music takes too long to really hear. Most diplomacy actions take only a few seconds (at least for me?) so I don't get to enjoy the music's full impact.

I like the Torians, you might already know they are one of my favourites. They are well done in the game, the ships and the buildings are well designed. Perhaps there aren't as many unique buildings (for all races) as in GalCiv2 but even there it took until ToA for races to be completely unique.

Finally, even though I like the Arcean shipset and the colour looks nice on the ships, some of the small/tiny ships are not well visible in the background of the yellow/orange nebula (the galaxy background not the in-game nebulae). I especially don't like the colour on the UI and the influence borders/minimaps. It's not yellow enough!!

I will add any more in case I find anything later, but those are my initial thoughts.

  

EDIT:

One more thing that I forgot to add:

Upon attacking the Arcean starbases (I tried when I was playing with the Torians) all the Beam weapons concentrated on the centre of the starbase, which made it look a bit fake, both in terms of graphics layering on each other and also tactic! On other starbases the beams all go to different places. I will try attacking the Torians with the Arceans and report back.

1,816 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

OK I bought my first Merc. It was the rather weak ship that costs 2700 + 3 Antimatter +1 Elerium! I wanted to see whether the +5 Malevolent points attribute when you win a battle works and it does. It is stacked with a big fleet and hopefully will survive more battles to come. 

At the start of the game, I debated whether to spend 750 for the ship that adds +5 raw production to the planet it is at, but decided against it as I am using the Thalan tech tree and wanted to buy several factories around a hive. 

I remain of the opinion that Mercs cost too much in general Perhaps they should cost 75% of what they do now and also cost fewer resources. Actually, 2/3 cost seems even better to me. I'd probably would've spent 500 to get that +5 RP ship early, and the +5 Mal pt ship would be better priced at 1800 + fewer resources.

Just my opinion!

Oh and I am having fun playing, of course!! 

Reply #2 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

The cost is probably high as a balance issue. You also wouldn't want to spam the map with mercenaries, they should be somewhat special.

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Reply #3 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Of course it is a balance issue, which is why I am mentioning it now, prior to release! Considering that one can typically sell a resource for almost 500, I effectively paid almost 4700 for my Merc! This ship is weaker offensive and defensively than the medium ships I am making with 5 harp missiles and 3 pd and some slight enhancements. For this price and for the prices of almost every Merc, I strongly believe that a somewhat better ship should be had.

I'm concerned with losing this rather weak ship in battle even though it is stacked with 7 fine medium ships. For me, as it stands now, I am not keen on buying any Mercs except for the novelty issue.

Balance is so difficult in this game due in part to the hugely different map sizes people play on and also due to vast differences in difficulty levels. Make Mercs too cheap, and the map will be spanned with them, and also likely the AI's will spam them.

Still I feel that Mercs would be better balanced if they cost 2/3 to 3/4 of the total resources that they now cost. Yes, I did look at every Merc ship in detail.

.. neilkaz ..

Reply #4 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting neilkaz, reply 3

Of course it is a balance issue, which is why I am mentioning it now, prior to release! Considering that one can typically sell a resource for almost 500, I effectively paid almost 4700 for my Merc! This ship is weaker offensive and defensively than the medium ships I am making with 5 harp missiles and 3 pd and some slight enhancements. For this price and for the prices of almost every Merc, I strongly believe that a somewhat better ship should be had.

I'm concerned with losing this rather weak ship in battle even though it is stacked with 7 fine medium ships. For me, as it stands now, I am not keen on buying any Mercs except for the novelty issue.

Balance is so difficult in this game due in part to the hugely different map sizes people play on and also due to vast differences in difficulty levels. Make Mercs too cheap, and the map will be spanned with them, and also likely the AI's will spam them.

Still I feel that Mercs would be better balanced if they cost 2/3 to 3/4 of the total resources that they now cost. Yes, I did look at every Merc ship in detail.

.. neilkaz ..
End of neilkaz's quote

I just wanted to pop in and say that we are reading your concerns about cost and balance of the ships.  We'll collect some more data and look into adjust the prices a bit.  

 

Reply #5 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I happen to agree actually, slightly lower price would be fine. I just don't want to them to be cheaper than just buying my own ships in the shipyards, they should be special.

 

EDIT: I think your prayers have been answered. My game was just updated and it seems Mercenary cost has now become progressive. No money to begin with, only resources and then things start going up the more you hire. So the more resources you have the more you will be able to hire. Now it pays to research mining techs! (and be neutral as you double resources!!)

Reply #6 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting Achronous, reply 5

I happen to agree actually, slightly lower price would be fine. I just don't want to them to be cheaper than just buying my own ships in the shipyards, they should be special.

 

EDIT: I think your prayers have been answered. My game was just updated and it seems Mercenary cost has now become progressive. No money to begin with, only resources and then things start going up the more you hire. So the more resources you have the more you will be able to hire. Now it pays to research mining techs! (and be neutral as you double resources!!)
End of Achronous's quote

The credit costs do increase over time.  However the resource costs are flat.  Its possible the values were tweaked or you got a different (and cheaper) set of ships on the second time.  

Reply #7 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

It sounds like I have to start a new game when I get home in a couple hours. This ongoing game is a great fight for my life vs Terrans so I will save it for later as it is important for us Founders to check out new features prior to release.

Reply #8 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting pshaw, reply 6


Quoting Achronous,
reply 5

I happen to agree actually, slightly lower price would be fine. I just don't want to them to be cheaper than just buying my own ships in the shipyards, they should be special.

 

EDIT: I think your prayers have been answered. My game was just updated and it seems Mercenary cost has now become progressive. No money to begin with, only resources and then things start going up the more you hire. So the more resources you have the more you will be able to hire. Now it pays to research mining techs! (and be neutral as you double resources!!)



The credit costs do increase over time.  However the resource costs are flat.  Its possible the values were tweaked or you got a different (and cheaper) set of ships on the second time.  

End of pshaw's quote

 

I didn't have much time to test it. I did notice the credits go up so I assumed the resources would go up as well. I will start another game and take a closer look.

Reply #9 from GalCiv3 Forums Top


EDIT:

One more thing that I forgot to add:

Upon attacking the Arcean starbases (I tried when I was playing with the Torians) all the Beam weapons concentrated on the centre of the starbase, which made it look a bit fake, both in terms of graphics layering on each other and also tactic! On other starbases the beams all go to different places. I will try attacking the Torians with the Arceans and report back.
End of quote

 

I tested this by attacking Torian starbases with beam weapons and the effects are ok. It looks like it only occurs when attacking Arcean starbases