Things I Think GC Could Improve Upon

from Stardock Forums
I know there are a million and one of these threads, but ideas never hurt.

Presentation
1. Tutorials! Or possibly some kind explanation on how to play the game. Granted I caught on and so did everybody else in these forums, but still, having a tutorial Warcraft or Homeworld-style would be nice.

2. Interface - I do have to say, this is one of the better interfaces I've played on. Master of Orion 3 was horrid, I don't care what anybody says. I played for three straight weeks and still wasn't sure where some things were. This is natural. I think it could be a little sleeker, though. Maybe that's just me.

Graphics
1. 3D (or 2.5D) star map. 'Nuff said.

2. Better-looking stars. Blue, green, and yellow blobs just don't do it for me. For the love of god, Imperium Galactica 2 is ancient and has better-looking stars! That's just sad...

Gameplay
1. More diplomatic options. MoO3 was alirght, I'm looking for peace treaties, non-agression pacts, trade treaties, research treaties, intelligence treaties, etc. MoO3 had the closest thing to a non-erratic A.I. I also would like an A.I. to offer things to you as well! The only thing I've had offered to me were demands and, in some cases, my ass handed to me on a platter. ;)

2. A battle engine. Yeah, I know, a little much to ask. But like Total War has so brilliantly done, I'd like turn-based strategy with real-time warfare. Maybe make the battles look liked Homeworld. It's so much different when you actually see the ships you've watched your people put their blood and work into in action.

3. More options to manage your colonies. Personally, I feel MoO3 did this extremely well. It was a bad game, but it did have some great ideas that could be expanded upon a little and this was one of them.

4. More policies. Kind of like MoO3 but more in-depth and more precise, but at the same time that deals with things in a wide area. Yeah, I'm feeling a little "the square is so circular" at that last descrption, but hopefull you know what I mean.

5. How about a civilization that obeys BORDERS! That would be nice. Civilization 3 is the only strategy game I've seen so far to do this and do it well. I'm really sick of those damn Altarians building starbases in my space!

6. More of a United Planetary Council. Why not be able to propose bills? Why not be able to kick people out, let them in, etc.

7. I know this is just a little nitpick - but I'd really like a movie when I make a terror star blow up an entire solar system. I mean, come on! With the amount of resources, money and research that goes into those puppies, I'd like a little gratification instead of a little white explosion. Sure, I just killed 50 billion people! La de da! I still want my damn movie!

8. Customizable ships. MoO3 really didn't do this that well at all. MoO2 did this the best as far as I'm concerned - or maybe Alpha Centuri. All I know is that customizable ships are starting to be a must for me. I don't customize a whole lot but it's good to know it's a feature. It's kind of like having a Hummer. You know you're never going to crawl up mountains or wade through rapids with the thing, but it's nice to know that you can.

9. Handle developement by systems and not by planet. It makes things much easier. I know you have more options to build different things by planet, but once you get up there in the 30+ star system range, it gets to be a real pain in the ass.

10. More evens would never hurt and maybe make them more likely to happen.

11. Tweak the ground combat system. Maybe some flashy graphics or even a real-time battle system. I'm not sure if it is the attackers who should have the advantage, either. That ones debatable - I could see both valid points of the argument.

12. Don't make starbases so damn hard to set up. Maybe instead of having to make a whole new constructor to make another module, make it so you can buy one. For maybe 200 BC or something. Also, make them so their not sitting ducks. A group of fighers being able to take a starbase down is ridiculous.

That is all, I suppose. Any comments or add-ons?
148 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
Beginning Stuff
1. Tutorial are necessary but look around the forum for a helpful fellow player.

2. Nice concise organization, I like it. The "good" interface looks really nice.

Graphics
I just have to say that the current demand for better graphics, better visuals is plain stupidity.

If any one remembers all the old games, old classics. They are still good, not because of graphics or visuals, but rather the concept and their originality. You can take the same old game slap better graphics on it and sell it for a ridiculously high price, but that's just a cheap ass imitation. Any developer can do that.

Half the time, I just want to skip through the stupid annoying things, and make my game play faster (remembers Civ3 models and "animation")


Gameplay
1. Nice, but AI sucks at diplomacy.

2. takes way to long! I liked Total War, but games took forever unless you kept hitting that autoresolve button.

3. What micromanagement?!? (runs away)

4. Again this was the game concept. Simplistic. It's
nice of them to stick to it. You wouldn't want a game developer to change their upcoming release from a turn based to real time strategy. Although much less drastic it's the same here.

5. I've had a hard time believe there are borders in space. But back to comment #3, space is 3D, hard to work 3D maps.

6. Interesting idea. I like it.

8. Would be nice against the hardest AIs setting.

9. I like doing by planet. A star system is way too far apart. How are go doing to bridge 80 million miles!? If you don't like that play on smaller maps.

10. More types of events would be cool. More often would inject more luck into winning.

11. more graphics! yay!

12. I like it when starbases are hard, more strategy = more fun and more frustration too, but more exciting. You can't establish a base and expect it just to stay there if you leave it undefended. (they are really EXPENSIVE though but also very powerful and easily abused)

I know I wasn't too helpful here, and I'm sorry.

I have never been too big a fan of micromanaging bases, it sucks so much time out of over all strategy. The more details you add the more micromanaging there is. Besides, it's a cheap way to outwit the AI.

More realistic this way. You can only have so much control. You can't do everything.
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
New graphics and movies would be in the "nice" category, but I don't really care about them. Also, they're not gonna add things like ground/space tactics, custom ships, and a 3-D map. Some of them MIGHT be in GalCiv 2. Actually, I'm hoping 3-D maps don't make it. Sure, it's cool to say "wow it's 3d!", but I haven't seen a 3-D map system in a game that wasn't a nightmare to get around (unless you memorize the whole map, but that defeats the purpose).

This is the order of things I think they should concentrate on for patches:

Bug fixes
Play balance
Control issues (like making starbases easier to build and fixing the spending and propoganda sliders)
New features (like extra diplo options)
Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
What I would like to see is an ability to capture enemy starbases. Like you invade a planet, you send troops to capture a starbase, it would make a big, yet good change to the game I think.

G-Force
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
ON 3d maps: It's nice for eye candy, but for gameplay, it kind of stinks. And the reality is that in most galaxies, the x and y dimensions are huge relative to the Z. And mostly, it's near their center where there is much of any Z dimension to them at all. Exceptions without known collisions between Galaxies are extremely rare.

On Graphics: Why does a tbs game need better graphics? Civ3 is the notorious example of what not to do here. The game totally bogs down near the end. Why? You cannot shut off those snazzy animations. They eat up Ram. And once you've seen a unit digging 10 or 15 times, big friggin deal. It's like that with any unit animation. 15 minutes of "cool" followed by "Ok how do I shut these annoying things off so the game actually runs"


Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
I have ZERO desire for realtime battles. I would probably quit playing if the game had them.
Doc
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
5. How about a civilization that obeys BORDERS! That would be nice. Civilization 3 is the only strategy game I've seen so far to do this and do it well. I'm really sick of those damn Altarians building starbases in my space!
End of quote


If you don't like those starbases (especially when they begin to become a bit powerful), demand that they hand it over. If they refuse, attack.

Of course, if they have built a resource starbase, that is a special case. Resources are free for grabs, and the starbases are considered accpetable as long as they do not become to culturally subversive or start receiving military upgrades.

12. Don't make starbases so damn hard to set up. Maybe instead of having to make a whole new constructor to make another module, make it so you can buy one. For maybe 200 BC or something. Also, make them so their not sitting ducks. A group of fighers being able to take a starbase down is ridiculous.
End of quote


It's not *that* hard... but purchasing additional modules beyond the current system would be a bit too rapid for deployment.

If you want to build a starbase with a few inital modules, just band two or more constructors in a fleet and order construction. In such a case, you can build starbase defence modules to prevent those starfighters from wiping out your hard-earned stations.