My Ideas for Galciv III

Well, awhile back I posted this, and I thought I would bring it back up.

 

    I have been playaing Galactic Civilizations II for awhile now and I thought I would post what I would like to see in a future release. (Warning long post.)

 

   The things I would Improve apon in this future release:

-Espionage (Probably have seen that one before.)

-Counter-Espionage

-Tech Tree

-Council System

-Colonization System

-Starbases

-Planets

 

   Things I would add:

-Probes

-Outposts

-Bases

-Communication Lines

 

   -Planets

Planets would have the same amount of squares that could have social projects built on them, but the type of squares and how many there are would determine population:

4,000,000,000 X #prarie squares X (one fourthX#arctic squares) X (one halfX#coastal squares) X (2 X Jungle Squares) =pop cap

There would also be a resouces system that would allow one planets food production/industrial prodution to be sent to another planet.

 

   -Colonization System

To me it is completely un-realistic, even in the future, that you could possibly get a stable government and sufficient utilities set up to sustain a large population center, along with the capacity to produce major structures, in a week. Unless you are the Yor, or possibly the Altarians (super-organizers). That is why there would be stages of development, like as follows: Colony, Frontier, Indutrialized, Civilized (ready). I will, however, not forget that this is in the future sooo, each of these stages takes two weeks to complete, except for Civilized which takes three. You would still receive BC from them, you just would not be able to build projects and would receive less credits in these early stages.

 

   -Tech Tree

In life, no-one discovers anything at the same time, or in the same order. Some technologies are not even proven! Ergo, I would implement a dynamic Tech Tree. The basic concept is that your race will start off with several "Theories", and "Ideas" that you can look into. The difference is as follows: Theories have some scientific data backing them up meaning more chance of being proven plus three attempts to prove, where as Ideas have little scientific backing, but tend to be alot more rewarding if proven and have five tries to prove. Sometimes, however, you can research something that worked in the past and, It isn't proven! Or you can research it and it doenst bring up a theory that was there before! Sometime it will skip a Tier or two putting you way ahead! This would make you have to trade with others to get to certain technologies, or give you a bargaining chip for anything you may want or need.

 

   -Counter-Espionage

Well my idea of how Espionage should work makes it extremely powerful and so the world needs balance. Counter-Espionage would be represented in three forms. Civ-Wide funding slider (F.B.I type organization), planet wide operations, and Moles. For me, the Korath Bureau of Anti-Espionage, would be an organization that works around the clock trying to moniter shady activity and spot anything unusual. The KBAE can stop the establishment of spy networks, and can warn you if you have a major one on your planet, and produce moles. Planet-Wide ops would be exspensive, and would, depending on the op, shut down the entire planet. The ops are as follows: Establish Planetary FBI (equivilent), tap communication lines, crack down, Planetary lock-down. Each of these is generally more effective than leaving it to the KBAE. Then lastly, there is moles. Moles are agents of your anti-espionage organization that can get into the enemy spy-network and see how far it reaches into your planet, see whos it is, and destroy large chunks of it.

 

   -Council System

To me the current council system is currently very limiting so this is how I would improve it. On council meeting day, there would be stages, four exactly. Stage 1: There is a list of ten randomly selected issues, you will select the three that concern you most, and set details (time of effect etc.). Stage 2: You may second other issues that you approve of, any issue that was selected twice is seconded already. Stage 3: If you approve of another issue but dont like the specifics you can compromise. You are also forced to compromise on any of the same issues that were seconded but have different details. Stage Four: Vote! You may also leave that council and start a new one as long as someone will join your new council! You may also get an invitation to go to a new council. Minor races would be allowed to join the council as long as that issue was voted on by the council. People can also be kicked out of the council.

 

   -Probes

Probes are scouts that are sent to a location and that give you continuous updates of the situation + you can use them to spy on enemy communication pipelines. Probes are invisible, but can be discovered by counter espionage, and are free to fire on wheather they are an allies or not.

 

   -Outposts (20 bc)

To me it was kind of defective to have your main flagship explore anomoalies, so I would give that ability to scouts, and in place of that previous ability flagships could set up outposts. Outposts serve two main purposes: Speeding up colonization, and claiming planets. If you place an outpost on a planet, it gathers information about the planet that would otherwise be gathered during the colonization process, this would take away the first stage and shorten the rest by one week. Outposts can also be used to claim planets; anyone in your same council can't colonize a planet with your outpost on it. Bases also have three additional bonuses; they increase the sensor range of the planet (drastically), speed up building progress, and can be put on class 0 planets.

 

   -Bases (200 bc)

Bases are an advanced costly form of outpost. They are an outpost with advanced capabilities, the fore-most being they can be placed on class 0 worlds. Along with that little wonder, they are also immidiately self sufficient, and are invisible to enemies. They can be given upgrades like as follows: Advanced sensor arrays, they pick up on enemy communications and can tell the location of some local ships + they can see further around the planet (3 upgrade levels). Mining operations, The 1000 personnel on the base arent just scientists. They can mine deep into the planet and help industry in asteroid free sectors (3 upgrade levels). Supply base, they can extend your supply range further than starbases(3 upgrade levels)!

 

   -Communication Lines

Communications lines exist between all of a single races planets and their home planet (race colored), and between the home planet and all ships (white with race colored stripe in the middle). There is also diplomatic lines which are found as white lines between the home planets of races. You can place probes on these lines to intercept any data between the two. These are only seen when you have selected a probe to place on one. If you spy on planet to planet lines you will find out build orders & such. On the main planetary line you will discover the locations of ships and where they are headed. On diplomatic lines, you will be able to view negotiations between the two nations your spying on.



- Starbases

Starbases would be a little bit different. Instead of having to get a constructor for every upgrade, you would have basically a freighter going between the starbase and the closest planet, bringing supplies and such, and about every 7-10 weeks you would have enough surplus resources that you could put a module on.

 

   -Espionage (YEAH!)

My favorite subject! Espionage is represented in three ways, The slider (CIA type thing), probes, and spy networks. Each of these serves a different purpose, but forwards the same basic agenda. The CIA equivilent gathers basic information about the races in general. Probes detect enemy movements and orders. Spy networks are set up by agents on specific planets to gather specific information about them and interfere with planetary actions. Most of these are self-explanitory except for the last, which I will now go into detail on. Spy networks effectiveness are represented by the infiltration level on enemy planets. Here are the bonuses of the infiltration levels. 10% Most basic information about the planet is known, building projects, current buildings. 20% You know how much the planet makes, and other fiscal info. 50% You have paid off some important people and have a good stable network of informants allowing you to know what is being produced in shipyards. 75% You have agents in their counter espionage dept. that allows you to work more freely with less  worry. 80% You can cancel ship production orders here and there, shut down a couple pools for fecal contamination. 95%+ Your network is practically intangible by the enemy and you basically control the planet! Stealing technology is much more straight forward now. You select a tech of anyones, tell how much you wanna put into it, but be careful, do a little too much and the enemy may notice your infiltration and dispose of you.

 

16,818 views 19 replies
Reply #1 Top

-Outposts (20 bc)

To me it was kind of defective to have your main flagship explore anomoalies, so I would give that ability to scouts, and in place of that previous ability flagships could set up outposts. Outposts serve two main purposes: Speeding up colonization, and claiming planets. If you place an outpost on a planet, it gathers information about the planet that would otherwise be gathered during the colonization process, this would take away the first stage and shorten the rest by one week. Outposts can also be used to claim planets; anyone in your same council can't colonize a planet with your outpost on it. Bases also have three additional bonuses; they increase the sensor range of the planet (drastically), speed up building progress, and can be put on class 0 planets.

I thought of a similar idea- a "flag." A flag would simply represent ownership, and any ship could leave one. Another civilization could take the planet, albeit at a severe diplomatic penalty. So, maybe there could be a four level system: flag, outpost, base, colony. Maybe we could also install a new class for well-developed, high population colonies- provinces!

BTW, there are other threads discussing GC3. Sorta pointless to make a new one, but whatever.

Nikolai

Reply #2 Top

Hmm, interesting idea.  And I thought another idea, however redundant, is always good to add to the pile.

Reply #3 Top

Spore sucks so I've came up with a similar idea. Spore sucks because its not a rts, or way to simple of a stradegy game with the space stage turned into an rpg. My idea is to turn spore into an rts game by keeping the spore stage but adding fish, and keeping the creature stage but being able to easily really make aliens by the time you enter the trible stage. Changing the trible stage by borrowing the prehistoric stage from Empire Earth with virtual village on cricket, and replacing the civilization stage with Empire Earth 3 and rise of nations. And replacing the space stage with Sins of a Solar Empire and shattered suns. I just want to point out that you would have to kind of combining concepts from different games. I would use a rule very different from spore. Instead of if a game don't have it and another game does get rid of it. I would do the opposite I would include it. This way the game is challenging.

 

Because I like turn based stratedgy, I would use Civilization 4 Beyond the Sword instead Empire Earth 3. I would use Galactic Civilization 2 ultimate after fixing the bugs, and using the best of the modules. If I seen games with up to seven cds or disks why not have multiple dvds in a era of 1 terabyte hard drives.

Reply #6 Top

LETS NOT FORGET ABOUT OPTIONAL PATHS TO DIFFERENT TECHS AND ALSO GREAT PEOPLE LIKE  IN CIVILIZATION 4 OR EVEN LEADER NOT RACE BASED

Reply #7 Top

research victory should be by techs or tech points ahead of everyone else not by following a certain tech tree also don't give me tecjs that don't do aything

Reply #8 Top

its not fair the good guys alwways lose in random events hsve benefits for being good nuetral or evil not just most for being evil or rotate the benifits most to least for being good nuetral and evil  

Reply #9 Top

I think it would be interesting to have more 'intermediate' improvements that help an area in the same way as a starbase, but can only have a few across the empire, and overlapping doesn't help/stack.

I think of thinks like system capitals/universities/et al, Provincial capitals, et al.

Jonnan

Reply #10 Top

What I would want to see:

- Removal of priority building on planets

- Removal of planetary grids

- Space exploration in three dimensions (Height)

- Planetary orbiting

- A much broader tech tree system

 

Reply #11 Top

I would like to see not just a module, but the best from all the modules in a upgrade. I like the thalans, torians, and iconians, but the other AIs suck especially the drengin, arcean, and dominion of korx. I would like to see the drath revert back to the dread lord game. Only talking about the abilities not the AI. Let the iconians have the new draft abilities instead of splitting up the old draft abilities between the draft and the iconians. If you have to have a 100 in military, economics, qnd research to be competitive, then the AI should be keeping to this standard on normal difficulty, instead of just a few AIs. Except in the cases of abilities bonuses add them to the 100 limit a good example is the altarians they have a bonus of 25% research. So they would keep a 125 not a 100 on research, also the same thing for penalties would apply, another example is the terrans would keep 90 in military instead of a 100 because of penalties. On harder levels instead of giving an arbitrary bonus to AIs, instead they will be good enough to reach that higher standard. I've been reading about the AIS getting an 70% economic bonus, thats not fair. I don't want the AI to cheat, I just want it to play better. At the galactic council I would like to pick what to vote on agendas at the council meetings. Heres my idea whoever has the most influence points pick what to vote on. Maybe depending on what the race your trying to play is like. Pick from all your options. I would like to see it more fair when I'm colonizing a planet on random findings. Don't penalize me for being nuetral or good. Give the krynn and the iconians back their espionage capability. Bring back rebellions. Why don't you have pirates? Also balance out the AIS, don't have any more super weak AIS. Star bases need to be way better. The AIs need to stop trading away their planets, you can make this an option to turn on or off. About terraforming, or the AI planet improvements in general I would like to see the AIS to build one tile at a time. Instead all of them at once, this is a huge waste of time. And then build an improvement starting with building the oldest and upgrading to the newest. I would like to see a 31 major race player game. I would like to have more options to pick from not  just 12 races more like 50. Customizing could be better, I would like to see me to be able to get bonuses like the other races. A good example is if the krynn has a 50% morale ability with the option to add 20%. Then I would like to be able to do the same when I'm customizing. picking a different tech tree and a different super ability. I would like to see you pull from sins of a solar empire ideas like limiting how many artifacts you can find on a planet. Capping the population on extreme planets. The way pirates were done is nice. Anti matter abilities, planetary graphics, and research astroids. Requiring resources to research techs. tradable resources Different kind of ships for different races. Other kind of solar system objects. black market The only thing I would change for realism. Is only to have you have someone buy the product with the ability to undercut you by selling cheaper, but also let you to buy this way. Instead of space and a planetary screen to do stuff, how about also adding a orbital structures too. Probably as an option I would allow races to start on randomly classed planets. Another option is to have a equal number of extream planets, with races being randomised on which ones they would start on. If you start on a extreem planet, you would have to research terran world colonization to be able to colonize terran worlds. You would be able to have both extreem planet techs if you were chosen to have this as your starting planet.  I would also take examples from civilization 4 such as multiple leaders. Each with a different abilities. What I would change is devide up the abilities between race and leader. Making it better. Multiple ways to different techs. Penalizing for having to many planets. Major civics including religions. Great people Requiring resources to build things. corporations On the editor, make it where you can build a full mod. I would like to use windows capabilities like paint. I would have maybe 9 or more example mods. I would make it where the game can load mods. mine cant. Inspite of all these ideas keep the game turn based rts. not continualus play or rpg. Make the game more challenging not easier like dark avatar I would think if you are going to have multiple leaders for a race. Use something like medieval total war changing it of course for galactic civilization. Also having the ability to customize the appearance of your leader. Instead of immense how about an infinate universe

Reply #12 Top

-liberate concuered civ's

 

-bigger playing map; i am a huge startrekfan, kirk and picard didnt explore al the civs in their lives. it took several hundred years. maybe, the playingmap should be bigger AND there should be something like a different galaxy(like voyager)

- startrek's federation exist of several hundred races... add more minor races, make the map larger

- a startrek mod

Reply #14 Top

Better space graphics and multiplayer.

Reply #15 Top

I would like to see the ability to rotate the galactic map in 3D. and have larger galaxy's. Diffrent tech trees. More customizations and other Ideas that I have not thought about that would be fun.

Reply #16 Top

My biggest wish would be to unlink the global Research slider from the global Military/Social sliders, so that you can run your factories and labs and full output simultaneously if your economy can handle it.

Reply #17 Top

I would like to see you Design your own building's and Starbases as well. I would also like Stargate's to be avalible to see what it was like before hyperdrive. I would also like to see the galaxy in diffrent ages with diffrent racessuch as

Ancient age- Time of the Dread Lords and the Arnor

Stargate Age- before hyperdrive

Hyperdrive age- Now in the game

Galactic age- To travel to other galaxy's

That is what I would like to see in the game.

Reply #18 Top

I have been playaing Galactic Civilizations II for awhile now and I thought I would post what I would like to see in a future release. (Warning long post.):

Things to improve: -Espionage; -Counter-Espionage; -Tech Tree(s); -Council System; -Colonization System; -Starbases; -Planets.

Things I would add: -Probes; -Outposts; -Bases; -Communication Lines.

I'm glad you posted this on it's own.  I like and agree with a lot of your suggestions and comments.  It's unfortunate that not all the responses deal directly with other's thoughts on your thoughts; but here are mine:

- Espionage.  Why can't my spies disrupt the initial colonization of a planet?  Sabotaging my enemies (or my encroaching friends) is my number one priority.  Just allow me to assign them to the planet (rather than a specific improvement) and let them reek havoc as best they can, and if possible make it look like the work of another race.

in addition, if I'm spying on a race who has relations with another race, then I should be able to gather tidbits on that other race as well.  (which brings me to...)

-Council System.  If my race has encountered race X and race x has encountered race y (and/or z), then when the council meets wouldn't I meet race y (and/or z)?  The idea that if I haven't been met then there is no council and if race y (and/or z) hasn't met me...   Well, I hope you see where I'm going with this.

If a council is established the first time I meet another race, then why wasn't it estblished the first time any two races met?  Granted, that could mean the creation of more than one council at any given time and a major diplomatic solution when two or more councils combine...  But it would certainly set the game apart and ahead of all others in this genre.

-Colonization System (Star Ports and Space Docks).  Granted, some of these concepts/ideas aren't entirely my own (but if I'm not mistaken you can't copyright a concept).  So, my idea--> That extremely expensive and time consuming colony ship should be comprised of three components(/modules): 1, the initial colony module; 2, the Bio-Pod; and 3, the Space Dock (or Star Dock).

Needless to say, the Bio-Pod houses the flora, fauna and people to be moved.  (Giving credit where credit is due; the idea comes in part from a game called "Outpost").  The inital Colony module is dropped to the planet and sets up base camp.  What is left over is the beginnings of the planet's Star Dock.

Building ships on planet makes no sense; especially the bigger ones.  Yes, you need to build a space port (or star port) to move things from the planet to the Space Dock...

-Probes.  Again, when I think of probes I think of "Outpost". (Earth is doomed and you have to send out probes to help pick the best system to fly to and start over.)  Unmanned probes could be launched and reach their destinations far faster than manned scout ships.

-Tech Tree(s or Research in general).  it's simply not logical to only research one thing at a time.  This becomes especially true when you have multiple planets and/or multiple research facilities.  Even then, each facility would probably have a primary, secondary and perhaps even a tirtuary research focus.

-Planets (and other resource sources).  Moving out into the galaxy certainly isn't simply about conquest, it's about acquiring resources and new understanding.  I gurantee that as soon as we find gold (and or other precious metals/gems) on the moon, or one of the planets, there will be a rush to grab them (and our governments won't be able to stop it).

Space is the final frontier and odds are that once mankind starts to explore it there will be gold rushes and such.  When that happens space will become congested in those areas with all kinds of activity.

Anyway, I digress; I'd like to see planetary resources and such become a major component of the game.  Mining them, shipping them to the proper facilites, and protecting those shipments from pirates and the competition.

Well, that's enough said for now.

SK