Saturday Status Report (4/5/2003)

from Stardock Forums
We put up 1.02 tonight. We wanted to do this as a beta but we were running late and didn't get it up until after the IT people left and we're not totallys ure how to define something as a beta on the new system.

Anyway, it should be very solid, they only "beta" stuff would be some AI tweaks that were done to make the game easier at lower levels. And the other beta thing would be the United Planets issue on welfare that we're still tweaking.

But this version has some worthwhile new features including:

+ Option to have ships leave orbit when they're completed
+ You can use the zoom thingy at the top right to toggle between the sector map and the planet list when looking at a star system. Very VERY handy.

Plus some playability tweaks. Morale is a bit easier to keep higher. Some economics tweaks were made so that planetary improvements now get 40% of their bonus as "free" (efficiency) whereas before it was only 33% of it was free. Net result, building improvements will increase your production with more of it being bonus.

~SDC~
4,377 views 94 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
"zoom thingy"

I love the technical terms you developers use. ;)

"Morale is a bit easier to keep higher."

Ooh, that should make some people really happy. I hadn't had a problem with it, but maybe it will stop the flood of posts about downward-spiralling morale.

- Ash

~SDC~
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Maybe it's just me, but with this patch, I can't trade properly anymore. I was trying to trade tech with one of the minor races, and first, it wasn't moving the items I chose down when I just clicked on the name of the tech (like "trade"), I had to click the name of the tech and then hit the little down arrow button. And then, once I had selected a tech on my side and a tech on the minor races side, it wouldn't work. It acted as though I wasn't offering anything to them ("You're in no position to demand this from us...or something"). And it wasn't changing colors to indicate the likelyhood that the trade would be accepted.

And then I tried to do a trade and it crashed. DOH.

I then tried to run the windowed version, which wasn't updated through stardock, and it crashes whenever I try to load the last game, which is now maybe corrupted or something. Too bad too, cause it was a great layout :(

Anyway, there's my report on 1.02 for what its worth.
Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
I'll take a look. I just finished a game in which I traded a lot with everyone. But I will try to repeat your steps.
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
Oh one other thing. I had a colony ship just disappear. I had the ship selected and was trying to determine how many colonists to load up. I tried to abort this action (which I'm not sure how to do), and clicked somewhere (maybe the "done" button? sheesh, sorry I'm not more specific). Anyway, the colony ship just up and went away. Wasn't in the ship list, wasn't anywhere.
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
For that I suspect you recolonized your home planet by selecting that planet. That's not a new behavior.
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
Sorry, I'm not trying to hog this thread or anything. I just loaded my game in the non-windows version, tried a trade again, and everything worked fine. I can trade tech like the madman that I am, and the colors changed and everything.

I'll try to pay more attention next time and see if I did something weird. It did seem that overall the controls were just not working right. Maybe my computer is just tired, and I should let it get some rest.

BTW, just wanted to say too that you and the rest of your team rock. Who else would be checking a message board at 1:00am, reading my silly non-specific post and then saying "hey, I'll check that out". Unbelievably awesome. The game is tons of fun, and given what you've been able to enhance in the last week or so, I can't wait to see what you'll come up with in the next 6 months.
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
"I had the ship selected and was trying to determine how many colonists to load up. I tried to abort this action"

Set the number of colonists to 0, then click Launch. The ship will just stay in orbit. :)

- Ash

~SDC~
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
A feature in the Trade window that I would like to see would be a percentage for the trade. Where 50% would be an even trade and + or - would be a better deal for one side. I'm tired of having to try money 50 times to find where it just goes from yellow to green.

Thanks

TFM :d

~SDC~
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
Thanks for the kind words. BTW, we didn't update the windowed version, only the main module.

~SDC~
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
"Thanks for the kind words."

You've used that line three times tonight... you really need to come up with a new response to praise. Either that, or I need to stop reading every thread on these boards... ;)

- Ash

~SDC~
Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top
How about "Groovy!" ?

Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top
I think Brad is secretly a Yor or some other cybernetic being. It's obvious that he doesn't sleep, and can multitask very well... fixing bugs, adding new features, respond to some *cough* inaccurate reviews, and still have time to say "Groovy" on the forums =)
Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top
Nah, we know he's human, cuz his picture is in the game directory (I wonder if he Photoshopped a different head onto himself for that... ;)).

- Ash

~SDC~
Reply #15 from Stardock Forums Top
What about some sort of SuperHuman? I swear the man never sleeps.

Heh, is insomnia common among game developers? ;)
Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top
Well I'm heading home now. How's that? ;)

Gotta get WindowBlinds 4 out the door for this next week. Believe it or not, Stardock's main product is Object Desktop. GalCiv's about 10% to 15% of our projected revenue for the year. ;)

~SDC~
Reply #17 from Stardock Forums Top
"Believe it or not, Stardock's main product is Object Desktop. GalCiv's about 10% to 15% of our projected revenue for the year."

I know... just out of curiousity, is that 10-15% before or after the unexpected spike in interest you got at release time?

And WindowsBlinds is a very cool program. :)

- Ash

~SDC~
Reply #18 from Stardock Forums Top
Oh jeeze. I had forgotten that you're working on a bunch of other products at the same time as galciv.

Absolutely amazing that you can be so involved in the forums and still have time for everything else. I hope you take nice long vacations or something.

Err.. wait what am I saying? Vacation time means less galciv time. Quick, somebody chain him to his desk j/k LOL
Reply #19 from Stardock Forums Top
"I hope you take nice long vacations or something."

With this kind of service, I'm inclined to pay for one for him...

- Ash

PS> I'm a poor university student, so what I'm "inclined" to do, and what I actually do are quite different. Sorry Brad. ;)

~SDC~
Reply #20 from Stardock Forums Top
Just thought I'd mention... I just had 2 minor AI races build the same trade good. One a few turns before the other. Latest build (1.02). Er... I'm kinda surprised this is still in that game, considering how often it's been reported. I'm not *picking* on anyone, you understand. I think you and your team have done a fantastic job and I'm very happy with GalCiv. Its just that bug is so easy to repeat for me. Every game so far. ;)

Thanks tons! That auto-launch sure is nice. Now, I just got to learn to turn it off when building colony ships. I know, it's rough being a user, isn't it? LOL
Reply #21 from Stardock Forums Top
Could these two fixes be explained? Im not sure what they mean, and what the original fault with them was?

-moved calc abilities for humans to make sure that ships will get bonuses calculated in
-fleet invasion casualties bug fixed

~SDC~
Reply #22 from Stardock Forums Top
There is a bug with the new update. If you click on the system you want, then click on the planet you want. Now check the Auto launch check box for the ships to leave orbit. Now click another planet on the right side. The X isn't switching to the new planet's preferences. Extremly confusing.

Hope that helps

TFM :notsure:

~SDC~
Reply #23 from Stardock Forums Top
Hey Frogboy! Thanks for working this long for us. We appreciate that! The effort you put into this game IS stunning. Keep up the good work mate!!! ;)

~SDC~
Reply #24 from Stardock Forums Top
Maybe obvious but thought I would plug this in.

New Auto Launch toggle:
Suggest a little more obvious, larger button, had my magnifying glass out. Thought i was reading the printed manual again. (Nice surprise, the sellectable planet launch.)

Minimap toggel in planet screen:
I imagine this is just temporary, those little suckers are hard for old men like me to focus on let alone click. And NO!, thats ROOT beer in my mug. ;)

Great work guys and gals. Hope this thing turns into a monster seller.

~SDC~
Reply #25 from Stardock Forums Top
"Plus some playability tweaks. Morale is a bit easier to keep higher."

I downloaded the new version and have been playing a new game for the last 2 hours or so, and this seems to be apparent. It used to be a struggle for me to keep my morale 40%+, but for a quite a bit now doing the same things I used to, planet morale is hovering right around 50-55%. There is no continual downward spiral like there used to be when I would take the same steps to stop it from plumetting.

Thanks for the tweak...making me (and my planets) much happier!