Some questions about Galactic Civilizations 3: Crusade

and a bit of a ramble

from GalCiv3 Forums

 

Hello,

 

I'm interested in buying Crusade but would like to know if there's any difference between the GoG and Steam versions of the game. I don't want to miss out on any features if I choose one over the other. Are they both identical? 

Also, I'd prefer to buy directly from Stardock and choose which key, GoG or Steam I get. Is this possible? 

 

With regards to the actual game itself, I've been seeing reports that it has been buggy since release. Is this still the case? Is it stable enough now to purchase or are there still some game breaking bugs present that need squashing? 

 

I'd also like to know a little bit about the state of diplomacy in Crusade. My experience with diplomacy in GalCiv 3 as well as other Stardock games such as GalCiv 2 and Elemental: Legendary Heroes has been a bit of a strange experience, for want of a better word. Sometimes it's hilarious and at others it's just not funny. Here are some screenshots of times where I have literally lol'd:

 

 

Research Centers and Harpoons are worth way more that what the AI is offering! This happened a lot in my GalCiv 3 games; how am I supposed to take these offers seriously lol. Also, the AI behaves like a schizophrenic, in one moment saying it's pleased with my chosen ideology, the next saying something about my planets being ripe for the feeding. Lol ok then. 

And just for fun, here's another screenshot from one of Stardocks older games, Elemental: Legendary Heroes:

I bet you're laughing now :P  

So it looks like diplomacy that can't really be taken seriously has been a feature of Stardocks games for a while now! :P  

 

If I invest in the diplomacy tech then, from what I can tell, all I'm really doing is buying myself some time to fleet up before most if not all the AI's would inevitably declare war on me.

Up until the point I have a reasonable military most AI's spend their time telling me how weak, pathetic and puny my civilisation is, that we would better under their protection, or that they wished we did not to exist at all! Blaa blaa blaa etc etc. This is all independent of their ideology (may be the same as me), distance to me (may be on the other side of the galaxy) or military power (they may be weaker than me). Once my military rating is high enough however, now all the civs are 'close' to me? At this point why would I use diplomacy when I can use force to take what I want? The AI has built up zero diplomatic capital with me and the overall diplomatic system in GalCiv 3 didn't come across as compelling to me to use unless I wanted to farm the AI for credits, and later technology.   

As far as I can tell, in GalCiv 3 there's no AI that will truly want to behave benevolently towards you and genuinely want to assist you in any way from the very beginning when you are at your weakest, in order to build up diplomatic capital with you.

What's diplomacy like now in Crusade? Do you guys find it a more engaging and fun experience than base GalCiv 3? 

 

While I'm writing this I may as well mention that it appears to me that GalCiv 3 seemed to place more emphasis on the last of the 4X's i.e. Exterminate. OK, it's fun, but so are the other 3 X's when done well. Exploration, expansion and exploitation can be really fun too, are they fun in Crusade?

Also, the intro cinematic of GalCiv3 was cool and set the scene for a game with a serious and mature tone. However, once actually playing the game the tone totally changes to cheesy juvenile humor, which was kind of weird as it takes you out of the experience by making light of what you thought was supposed to be serious based on the tone of intro. Is it the same in Crusade or has it ditched the serious tone completely for a more consistent commitment to alien 'pull my finger/tentacle' jokes?

This sort of humor seems to be a feature of most of Stardocks games, almost as if they're an expression of the sense of humor of someone at Stardock ;P  lol  

 

Thanks for reading and thanks to Stardock for staying independent, making this game and pushing the boundaries of technology, not only with GalCiv but Ashes of the Singularity as well. Looking forward to what you bring next both in gaming such as with Vulkan; as well as your desktop software.

 

 

31,783 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

question for you.  What is the attraction for GoG.  Never used it.  Steam seems to work well.

If I invest in the diplomacy tech then, from what I can tell, all I'm really doing is buying myself some time to fleet up before most if not all the AI's would inevitably declare war on me.
End of quote

That is basically true but it also opens other doors like alliances

As far as I can tell, in GalCiv 3 there's no AI that will truly want to behave benevolently towards you and genuinely want to assist you in any way from the very beginning when you are at your weakest, in order to build up diplomatic capital with you.

What's diplomacy like now in Crusade? Do you guys find it a more engaging and fun experience than base GalCiv 3?
End of quote

Much in proved but still has a way to go.  In crusade if you are benevolently, other benevolently civs will like you more, resulting in better gifts and trades. 

Crusade is still buggy but fun and SD already has 2 or 3 patches out... more to come

Reply #2 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting a0152570, reply 1

question for you.  What is the attraction for GoG.  Never used it.  Steam seems to work well.
End of a0152570's quote

GoG's EULA is much more consumer friendly than Steam's, which is one of the reasons why the games sold there are DRM free. For example, I can install a GoG copy of GalCiv 3 on any PC I want without needing to use a client, which is a great choice to have :)  

Also, it's important that Steam has strong competition, it is basically a monopoly now which never ends up being good for the consumer in the long run, so supporting GoG and its DRM free policy should help GoG become a viable competitor to Steam, which is good for consumers as it provides a viable choice to Steam.  It should also help keep Steam in check and innovative, which is also good for consumers who only use Steam :)  

 

Thanks for your reply :beer:  

 
Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Also looks like the pictures in my original post aren't displaying correctly. I can't figure out how to fix this, can someone help me please? 

Reply #4 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Have I posted in the wrong section?

Reply #5 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I've been able to get the answers to my 2 main questions, so I'll post them here as this information may also be useful to others.

 

1st question was:

'I'm interested in buying Crusade but would like to know if there's any difference between the GoG and Steam versions of the game. I don't want to miss out on any features if I choose one over the other. Are they both identical?'

According to Stardock both versions are identical. However, the Steam build receives updates earlier, as well as opt-in's to beta test updates, which means that while the GoG version is not always on the same build, it will be eventually. I think it maybe takes a few days for both versions to match up, but I don't know exactly how long.

 

2nd question was:

'I'd prefer to buy directly from Stardock and choose which key, GoG or Steam I get. Is this possible?'

According to Stardock, when you purchase directly from them you get a Steam activation key only. There is no option to choose whether you get a Steam or GoG activation key. Obviously this means that if you want a GoG key you need to buy Crusade directly from GoG.

 

GoG's summer sale ends later today and they're selling Crusade at 20% off, so if you want a GoG version now's a good time to get it.

Steam's summer sale starts soon I think, so it'll be interesting to see if they also knock 20% off Crusade's price. I wonder if Stardock would match Steam's price? Seeing as you get a Steam key anyway when you buy directly from Stardock it would be great to have the option to support the devs directly for the same price than via steam. 

 

Also, I'd really appreciate it if someone could explain to me how to make the images in my OP display correctly. I can't seem to figure out why they won't. 

Reply #6 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Gog`s version of the appear appear identical to Steam (I have both), but I play the GOg version because...

1. It`s a lot easier to add custom files, I don`t have to go through Steam/Steam apps/common/ blah, before I get to the files.

2. I don`t have a 3rd party client taking up resources and controlling when I can or cannot play the game. My games always start slower with Steam.

3. If I need to transfer to a new pc I don`t get the 3rd degree from Steam.

4. FREEEDOM! Braveheart style.