If GalCiv3 Happens (ever), then this is what I'd like to see

from GalCiv2 Forums

Well, GalCiv2UE is great, but for GC3, I'd like to see the following:

 

1. A change in file types: .X, .XML and .PNG are all great, but there are better file types out there, I suggest the use of .TGA(compressed), .INI and some other model type that can be re-opened in blender (.x files can be exported but not imported.).

2. Don't forget the little guy: Even if it is a newer game, please don't forget most people cannot shell out $800 on a new PC to run the game, so I suggest the use of DX 9.1 minimum(compatible with old GPUs.), dynamic loading*, and a new compact game engine(or a compacted upgrade of the current one...).

3. Modifiability: GC2 was a game changer in the mods department, as it allowed almost every aspect of the game to be re-done by the user (a highly rare and valued trait), I think that 99.9999% of the game should be able to be modified, leaving only the game engine and a few hard coded values locked away (leave as much as possible changeable, even the GUI and AI, perhaps even the game mechanics).

4. Remove the .BIKs and add in their place use Quicktime RLE to play back things.

5. Options:

    I. Bloom lighting(on/off, 1-4 detail quality)

    II. Bump, normal and UV Mapping(on/off, 1-4 detail quality)

    III. Planetary Atmospheric Quality(On/Off/Legacy** 1-5 detail quality)

    IV. DX Version (drop-down menu with installed and supported DX redists)

    V.  Map Rotate Snap (On/Off, toggles the right click rotation snapping back to default)

6. Evolutionary gameplay (AI learns from mistakes, attempts to correct issues, tries to solve problems, asks for help etc...)

7. Colonizing minors (Moderate colony cap, star bases less prioritized.)

8. Ingame tech tree viewer(assists with modders breaking techs and not knowing until they load a game.)

9. Smart AI (AI knows what to place when there is a tile bonus, utilizes planets to the fullest, and will attempt to balance their budget.)

10. Adaptive Galaxy (Random events can change the game in the favor of no one, everyone, one or two player, etc..)

(Ex: Star in #,# goes super-nova, star systems within 1 sector are gone, star systems within two have all planet classes dropped 5 points.  Star in #,# sector cools off, worlds closer to it become habitable, those further out freeze or loose planet class and # random improvements.)

11. Dust. No really, I'd like to see large clouds of dust, gigantic nebulae, molten worlds trailing dust and debris

12. Planet orbital mechanics (planets orbit their star a set amount per turn, orbital period, circularity and inclination randomized within real world physics)

13. Stars with realistic colors, temperatures and planets (Stars that are White -> Blue are too hot to be colonized closer to the star, Red -> Yellow are uninhabitable at large distances from the star, asteroid belts form randomly on galaxy gen, no green or purple stars, realistic light values to the stars(red produces red tinted light, blue produces faintly blue light, star brightness and temp randomized, temp determines color, temp can change randomly.)

14. Local gravity determines speed (ships near a high-mass object slow down as the escape velocity of that object climbs, stars can die and form with either a neutron star, pulsar, magnetar, or black hole, black hole slows ships to 1 Pc/wk, black hole destroys ships within a 1/4 of a sector from it, black holes have halo of bent light around them to show it is there.)

15. Galactic shape and mechanics (galaxy rotates at an insanely low speed, always a black hole of varying gravity in the center(to compensate for smaller maps))

16. Ingame map editor.

17. repaired custom ship style creator

18. more diverse mega, minor and super events.

19. custom super-ability editor

20. Disaster can strike planets or even whole systems, mega even style options for good, neutral and evil.

 

Sorry for the minor text walling here, just some ideas for SD to consider if they even read this.

 

*-Dynamic loading would unload anything not used, and allow for more objects on screen at once.

**-Legacy support for the clouds.png from GC2.

ideas
15,279 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

The big thing I'm worried about, and is likely to come to pass, is that GalCiv 3 will require Steam. I don't like Steam and I don't trust them. What can even be worse is if they intergrate some of these fancy Steam features so it can't ever be run without Steam.

Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Quoting DivineWrath, reply 1

The big thing I'm worried about, and is likely to come to pass, is that GalCiv 3 will require Steam. I don't like Steam and I don't trust them. What can even be worse is if they intergrate some of these fancy Steam features so it can't ever be run without Steam.

That's what I'm afraid of, too. While I tried Steam for a while, I haven't touched it in about two years now, and don't have the intention of ever doing so again. Their EULA is just way too restrictive for my tastes.

As for the OP, it's a nice list, but I'm not sure how possible, or necessary, some of those points are.

For example, I don't see the reason for points 12, 13, and 15. What exactly do they add in terms of gameplay?

Point 14 is already in, after a fashion. Each tile is a adjusted parsec. The adjustment is based on the gravity in the area. This means, the closer to a high gravity source your ship is, the shorter the actual distance it can travel. This is the reason why a planet is two to three tiles aways from it's star, while two star may be 7 tiles away from each other.

Point 11 is interesting, and I can already see several gameplay applications: a research bonus, ships within the nebula are hard to detect and maybe have a speed penalty of their own, the nebula could serve as fuel for your ships, etc.

Point 7 is already possible via modding. However, it isn't possible to adjust this. Minors are either capable of colonising planets, or their not.

Regarding Point 2, Frogboy said a while ago, that a future GalCiv 3 will use the same engine as the Elemental games. He also mentioned, that they want to move away from 32bit, so all future games are very likely to require a 64bit capable OS.

Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Quoting Gaunathor, reply 2


Quoting DivineWrath, reply 1
The big thing I'm worried about, and is likely to come to pass, is that GalCiv 3 will require Steam. I don't like Steam and I don't trust them. What can even be worse is if they intergrate some of these fancy Steam features so it can't ever be run without Steam.

That's what I'm afraid of, too. While I tried Steam for a while, I haven't touched it in about two years now, and don't have the intention of ever doing so again. Their EULA is just way too restrictive for my tastes.

As for the OP, it's a nice list, but I'm not sure how possible, or necessary, some of those points are.

For example, I don't see the reason for points 12, 13, and 15. What exactly do they add in terms of gameplay?

Point 14 is already in, after a fashion. Each tile is a adjusted parsec. The adjustment is based on the gravity in the area. This means, the closer to a high gravity source your ship is, the shorter the actual distance it can travel. This is the reason why a planet is two to three tiles aways from it's star, while two star may be 7 tiles away from each other.

Point 11 is interesting, and I can already see several gameplay applications: a research bonus, ships within the nebula are hard to detect and maybe have a speed penalty of their own, the nebula could serve as fuel for your ships, etc.

Point 7 is already possible via modding. However, it isn't possible to adjust this. Minors are either capable of colonising planets, or their not.

Regarding Point 2, Frogboy said a while ago, that a future GalCiv 3 will use the same engine as the Elemental games. He also mentioned, that they want to move away from 32bit, so all future games are very likely to require a 64bit capable OS.

Alright then, points noted.

I hope it does not require 64x OSs, because I doubt I'll have my new machine with the GCIII release date.(whenever it is)

12, 13, and 15 would all be eye-candy basically, but it would also add the difficulty that your enemies/allies might not always be in the place you expect them to be.

14 I have yet to see that in any form, from what I understand, planets and stars are hard-coded with min/max distances(max excluded in stars)

11 I agree completely, perhaps shields are less effective in nebulae, and the molten planet dust trails might form asteroid belts over time.

7 is something I find to be a rather large annoyance, considering the minors colonized in DA (or tried to anyway) to a small extent, however in ToTA they simply stagnate on one world and spam starbases...

Most of these features are there to keep the gameplay at higher difficulty levels interesting, because GCII gets boring fast on suicidal waiting for the AI to make a move, or trying to get at least half way down a weapons branch...

 

back to 11, perhaps have stars form there after a long duration, so that planets are in constant supply, especially with stars going supernova....

Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I believe that mostly the combat needed an upgrade(not to damn macroable realtime though)

Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I think that you need to remember that because a supernova is a normal-space phenomenon, it wouldn't take very long for the planets in the same system to feel the effects, but it would take years for planets in other sectors to be affected.

Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Quoting MarvinKosh, reply 5

I think that you need to remember that because a supernova is a normal-space phenomenon, it wouldn't take very long for the planets in the same system to feel the effects, but it would take years for planets in other sectors to be affected.

Good point there.

but what I was thinking recently is that stars above a set size always produce black-holes and a gama-ray burst that moves 1 sector every 2 turns for a small amount of time.

Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Quoting infora, reply 4
I believe that mostly the combat needed an upgrade(not to damn macroable realtime though)

infora:

I agree with the first part of your statement [and have felt this way for well over 5 years].

But I wouldn't have any problem with real-time combat [maybe something along the lines of the original SOTS].

Any improvement would be welcome though; formations, battle tactics, specific targeting, etc.

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

It will require 64bit windows and probably have steam as requirement.

what is bad with steam I wonder?

Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Steam's offline mode is still a little bit buggy.  It also isn't particularly context sensitive - for example, if you have no friends on your friend list, it will still pop up a message about recommending a game to your friends when you visit its community hub.

So yeah, while it basically works there is a bit of polish needed.