What point is there to designing ships if there are no separate instanced space battles?

from GalCiv4 Forums

I noticed while reading the forums that an actual developer suggested that instanced ship battles might no longer be desirable or necessary. 

That it should all be done on the strategic galactic or sector map and the player can just ZOOM in to see those tiny ships duke it out.  

I disagree with that opinion.   

Instanced animated ship battles have been an integral part of the Gal Civ franchise going back all the way to Gal Civ 1. 

It's why there is a ship designer in the first place, the ship designer compliments the animated real time instanced ship battles, that's what it's for primarily, so the player can basically see the ships that are designed in that ship designer in action at it were. 

To leave it out would be similar to Stardock shooting itself in the metaphorical foot. 

Don't leave out instanced ship battles.  Not unless you want the game to fail or be a success.  Why wouldn't anyone that did anything worthy of doing want to be successful in the attempt?

It's a rhetorical question, we all know the answer.   

There's a game called Interstellar Space Genesis, it's on STEAM.

That game's particular alternative solution from a smaller independent studio  PRAXIS GAMES,  are TURN BASED animated instances on a hexagonal 'space combat' map. 

The interesting thing is, although graphically and mechanically simplistic in comparison to what Stardock is probably capable of doing in 2021, it does work on a basic level and it would be a viable option if Stardock chose a compromise rather than the lazy misguided option of just letting it all happen on one map.

galciv iv early access feedback
9,156 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

GalCiv 1 didn’t have them.

 

But we are listening. Just keep in mind that work on one thing means less work elsewhere.

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Reply #2 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

Go turn based on the battles, instead of an instance with real time, take a hex on the sector map and turn it into a new map with a bunch of hexes to accommodate the fleet battle when the player 'zooms' in to a particular fleet battle with the option to actually proceed to that zoomed in fleet or ship to ship battle or quick resolve it on the map, with the option in the settings to turn off instanced zoomed in battles all together or limit it to battles where more than a certain number of ships are involved.   

The way it is now isn't too bad for the Alpha, but those ships are tiny, you have to zoom right in there and the battle is over pretty quick, I don't know, I think you guys could come up with something cool,  whip it up and throw it at us in a patch, or update, lets see what you got and let people give you feedback.   Innovation is always a good thing in gaming, something familiar but at the same time fresh and therefore new. 


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Reply #3 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

It's been many, many years since I've played GalCiv1, but I believe the ships on the map were much bigger then.  Still, I miss the instanced ship battles already.  One of a couple of things I forgot in my post.  It is one of those unique things in GalCiv that set the game apart from so many others.  Though my favorite tactical battle system was the one in Birth of the Federation (as long as you didn't need to activate special weapons like in MOO).  Anything to give you more immersion into the game and into what ships you build.

Reply #4 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

Just keep in mind that work on one thing means less work elsewhere.

I guess my question is what do we gain by losing the battle viewer?  How much work does this aspect occupy?

GalCiv IV has a lot to offer.  I think a lot of great work has been done on the explore, expand, and exploit parts of the new game.

My favorite part of GalCiv is the conflicts between empires and I think GalCiv IV easily has the potential to surpass it.  For me the battle viewer added to this part of the game tremendously because I could view how ship design decisions changed their combat effectiveness. Removing the battle viewer makes it much more difficult to determine how ship roles affect the battle.  

I would appreciate a dedicated Dev Journal or a discussion board on how the developers intend to implement combat.  I want to see fleet design and operation become more variable.  The missiles across sectors wasn't a bad idea, but it does drastically change combat gameplay from a micro to a macro level.