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Suggestions for GalCiv II

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Suggestions for GalCiv II

from Stardock Forums
Seeing the survey asking for what gamers wanted most in GalCiv 2 I thought it might be interesting to start a post that might serve as a kind of suggestion box for changes or new features in GalCiv II.
The things that I myself would like to see most are:
1) A much more in depth management of the individual planets. Maybe being forced to deal with polution on an individual planet, much more of the ethical choices (although they should be less obvious than good, evil, and neutral (this is by no means a criticism on the current system, I like it very much)). Planet invasions could consist of some kind of mini stratagy game taking place on the planet (similar to the total war series, where the battle map is real time and you control the unit squads).
These features should also be able to be handled by the AI (for the more casual gamer).
2) A life-like economics system with actual supply and demand, demand pull and cost push inflation. Recessions. The amount of exports and imports depending on the value of your civ's currency. There should also be options to set fiscal and monetary policy (fiscal being changing taxes and gov't spending, and monetary policy is the actions of the Fed.) On importing and exporting, I think the player should be able to make actual goods that they can trade with the trade ships (but also consume). That way you get specializations in trade advantageous to both parties, making war more economically damaging than it already is.

Sorry for the long story, but I hope it will serve as an intro to a long list of replies.
3,534 views 114 replies
Reply #51 from Stardock Forums Top
13.The option to have your ship explore unknown regions [if that isnt already there]
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What do you mean exactly? An "auto-explore" setting like auto-attack or sector sweep? Or something else?
Reply #52 from Stardock Forums Top
Don't know if any of these have been suggested before or not.

I would like a bit more freedom in the choice of galaxy size. The ability to select any size galaxy from 4 x 4 to whatever the maximum size is (100 x 100 ?).
At the moment there is 4x4, 5x5, 8x8, 12x12 and so on, I would like to try 6x6, 10x10 and possibly 42x42 and see no reason why I shouldn't be able to.

Toroidal galaxies would be interesting. For the less topographically minded in a toroidal galazy there would be no edges, going off the right side would take you to the left, and the top would take you to the bottom and vice-versa, so no more corner starts!

Trade routes on the mini-map. On the larger map sizes it is really difficult to work out which sectors the mini-freighters might pass through.

Ships information screen should state the ships planet of origin. This is really important for freighters which may get sent off long before they're needed and lurk waiting for a trade route to become available. When one is needed, unless you've renamed the ship there is no way of telling where the trade route will run from. Also when you buy a freighter you have no way to know which of your systems it has been allocated to.
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Reply #53 from Stardock Forums Top
16.The knowledge of when UFP meetings take place
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You are informed in december 2181, 2185, 2189, 2193 and so one every 4 years, that a UP meeting will take place (you need to have found at least 1 major AI). I don't remember exactly if it is in GNN or in the bottom right panel.

17.The ability to invite a race to the UFP minor or not.
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Why do you want this?

With all what you say, I would have expected that you would request the ability to propose laws.

Reply #54 from Stardock Forums Top
Faster turns etc, my game sometimes freezes up when i press the turn button even though i have 256 mb ram and 1.6 ghz processor allong with no programs running during gameplay
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That would be the autosave feature - especially if you're playing un huge/gigantic, saving takes quite some time, so when you press the turn button and GalCiv autosaves your game, you get a delay.
Reply #55 from Stardock Forums Top
Regarding diplomacy: it would be cool to be able to adjust the amount of bcs or influence points with a slider, and see the effect on the current deal directly. That would make it much easier to find the exact amount that the other race wants to make the deal.

In the same sense, a technology value (can be purely symbolic) would be nice to have to help decide which techs can be best be traded for, instead of the current trial and error.
Reply #56 from Stardock Forums Top
Regarding diplomacy: it would be cool to be able to adjust the amount of bcs or influence points with a slider, and see the effect on the current deal directly. That would make it much easier to find the exact amount that the other race wants to make the deal.
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Isn't it already the case with text changing from green (deal accepted) to yellow (deal refused)?
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Reply #57 from Stardock Forums Top
In the same sense, a technology value (can be purely symbolic) would be nice to have to help decide which techs can be best be traded for, instead of the current trial and error.
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don't forget that difference in diplomacy bonus can make a huge difference in value: with very important diplomacy bonus (that could be checked on the diplomatic evaluation with "it you told them that they aren't the droids they're looking for, they will just repeat it"), you could be able to exchange medical theory for trade AND diplomacy.
If you have less diplomatic bonuses, you won't be able to make such a deal. So in your proposal, the symbolic value should reflet the diplomatic bonus you have in order to be useful.
Reply #58 from Stardock Forums Top
Isn't it already the case with text changing from green (deal accepted) to yellow (deal refused)?
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Yes, that's true - but I would like not to have to open the little window in which you type the amount of bcs or influence points, and have to close it before you can see the effect on the deal. I'd like to have a slider to adjust the amount of bcs and see directly when the deal jumps from yellow to green, that would make it a lot less tedious to find the right amount...

he symbolic value should reflet the diplomatic bonus you have in order to be useful.
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Yes, that would definitely be very helpful.
Reply #59 from Stardock Forums Top
Yes, that's true - but I would like not to have to open the little window in which you type the amount of bcs or influence points, and have to close it before you can see the effect on the deal. I'd like to have a slider to adjust the amount of bcs and see directly when the deal jumps from yellow to green, that would make it a lot less tedious to find the right amount...
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That is strange: there are already sliders, and when moving them, the color adjusts. It is when directly typing the value that the window need to be closed.
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Reply #60 from Stardock Forums Top
In order to appease those who think that system colony claiming that occurs currently in Gal Civ where the player or AI colonises one planet and locks that entire system out of colonisation is a good thing I propose that there be an addition to my individual colonisation there be a claim system function.

What I mean is if there is a 7 planet Copernicus System and the Alliance rules 5 of the 7 worlds (above 50%) and the other two are ruled by the Drengin Empire then a Claim System button would be high lighted.
So that if the Alliance declared war on the Empire, those claimed worlds would automatically revert to Terran rule. Or if that is too unbalanced perhaps making them far easier to conquer by weakening defenses on those worlds?

Also I dont think the UFP should be formed until you know 2 or more races.
Also I think Minors should be included in the UFP.
Also I think every race should be given the option to join it rather than automatically being made to join.
Also instead of non-UFP members being entirely excluded from trade with UFP members there should be high tariffs instead. So the trade route only earns half what it usually would.
Reply #61 from Stardock Forums Top
Yes, that's true - but I would like not to have to open the little window in which you type the amount of bcs or influence points, and have to close it before you can see the effect on the deal. I'd like to have a slider to adjust the amount of bcs and see directly when the deal jumps from yellow to green, that would make it a lot less tedious to find the right amount...
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Use your wheel. Just click, move the wheel a click or two and watch it change.

Reply #62 from Stardock Forums Top
Toroidal galaxies would be interesting. For the less topographically minded in a toroidal galazy there would be no edges, going off the right side would take you to the left, and the top would take you to the bottom and vice-versa, so no more corner starts!
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That would give me a headache I think. But I would like to see a feature where you can choose the formation of the galaxy, be it spiral, ring, cluster and so on.

Other games such as Birth of the federation and Moo3 (yes I'm saying a good thing about Moo3) did this quite well. It was good fun to fight a war for control over a spiral arm, especially if you had become 'land locked' at the tip and had to fight your way through another empire to gain access to the rest of the galaxy. The 'space lane' system in Moo3 added alot of strategic value to the layout of the galaxy itself, as specific systems forming the hub of multiple transit routes took on massive strategic value.

This is the kind of thing I miss in gal civ, as the galaxy can feel flat and empty to me. In case you're wondering, I voted for space terrian in the current cyber poll. Give me nebulae! :D
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Reply #63 from Stardock Forums Top
mmmmmm.....the requirements of evil

1. Morale - more tricky at higher levels, and more emphasis on morale as it equates to style of government. Would like to see a re-emphasis on 'keeping power' as a distraction to rampant expansionism, and the continual evolvement of the Terrans through necessary shifts in government style.

2. More 'organic' approach to start-up picks, perhaps using the Exclusive Trade Goods. eg Terran selects Diplomatic Translators at the start rather than +60% Diplomacy.

3. Four or so different "weapons theory" or startup Exclusive Military Trade Goods (eg TriStrontium) which define a key Military Strategy and defines the style of ship and the style of fighting eg Agressive Attack (high attack/high speed), Defensive Attack (high HP/Defence), Guerilla (high speed/high repair/cloaked), Passive (high SB modifers/planetary missile defence systems)

4. Better UP events with more fundamental ramifications

5. Diplomatic tweaks - eg peace treaties with 'breathing spaces'. Diplomatic Ramifications. - break a treaty get kicked out of the UP.

6. Minor races/pirates to not necessarily be tied to planetary systems ie representational of a way of thinking rather than a geographic location.

7. Auto Trade Button.

i can't think any more


;)
Reply #64 from Stardock Forums Top
evil part 2.......

8. Combined Domestic/Foreign Policy Screen, so that you can directly compare Terrans to other Empires.

9. Refitting ships. To take advantage of the ship levels and the notion of an experienced ship, it would be nice to refit ships with new tech, so that you can move a ship, Enterprise style, through a game.

that's it

OR IS IT?

MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Reply #65 from Stardock Forums Top
5.To be able to play as any other race, not just humans.
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What are you expecting about playing another race?
Reply #66 from Stardock Forums Top
One thing which would be cool would be to be able to define in diplomacy screen zones where you forbid race X to enter otherwise it will be war. So the ai could tell you not to put a constructor nearby and the autoship would have an option to go around these zones.
Reply #67 from Stardock Forums Top
One thing which would be cool would be to be able to define in diplomacy screen zones where you forbid race X to enter otherwise it will be war. So the ai could tell you not to put a constructor nearby and the autoship would have an option to go around these zones.
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Two ways of doing this to my mind. The first is to erect 'no-fly zones', which I think is what you are refering to. So you can forbid access to specific sectors, right?

The other way to do it would be to give empires concrete borders, and to deny access to other races. That would likely be based on area around your colonies and starbases, maybe a sector could belong to an empire once it gains dominant influence over the area. Alternatively, a more organic system could be used, to allow for multiple empires possessing colonies within the same sector.
Reply #68 from Stardock Forums Top
forbid access to specific sectors
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That would be cool. Makes me think of Civilization, with the "Get out of my territory or you'll get whacked" stuff, and footnotes saying "Our words are backed with terror stars" LOL
Reply #69 from Stardock Forums Top
The AI can demand that I remove ships or SBs. Why can't I do the same?
Reply #70 from Stardock Forums Top
One nice feature in MOO2 was the abitity to transform asteroid belt and giant gas into habitable planets
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You could do that? I am sure I never knew about that feature.
Reply #71 from Stardock Forums Top
One thing that was very annoying for me in MOO2 was when you have a battle between one hundred ships and you have to move all of them since you won't rely on the AI to conduct the battle for you.
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There was a keyboard shortcut that automated the attacks. It was not as efficient as do the moves manually. I can't remember the shortcut but I think that it was in the readme.txt file in the Moo2 directory.
Reply #72 from Stardock Forums Top
One nice feature in MOO2 was the abitity to transform asteroid belt and giant gas into habitable planets
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You could do that? I am sure I never knew about that feature.
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Yes, with the proper tech. But it was a colony improvement. So you need at least one colony in a system to be able to transform asteroids belt and giant gas.
So if the system has only asteroid and gias gas, you coudn't do anything.

Reply #73 from Stardock Forums Top
The one thing I think would be cool that if it would be possible would be to simulate a ground combat. Have a button to automate it too, for those who don't want it, but for us tactical geniuses LOL ;) , I would like to be able to outflank my opponent on the ground. Might even decide to actually go to war again.

But on the easy levels, make it easy to kill an opposing army, where the computer ignored obvious flanking maneuvers, so you could easily defeat them. On Maso, you have to be a real tactial genius to win. Have generals that you can take out too that will affect communication, ability.

Actually the communication might be really cool idea, have time delay on your actions, like the fog of war.

But since ground combat takes months, you could drag it out a few turns, and maybe have a few months where the planet is ineffective at building until your army gets underway at building.
Reply #74 from Stardock Forums Top
I also think that your morality should depend on your actions. i.e. low morale, low morality. Destroy a few systems, morality goes down the toilet. Give stuff away, morality goes up. High morale, high morality.
Reply #75 from Stardock Forums Top
Destroy a few systems, morality goes down the toilet. Give stuff away, morality goes up.
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If it was so simple. But good morality doesn't equal with always turn the other cheek: there are times when the good thing to do for good side is to crush and complety annihilate the evil. Sure it is always at the ending of times and is called Armaggeddon, but in the case of an ultimate fight between good and evil, the looser won't exist anymore.

Morale and morality aren't linked: Morale is how your people perceived you. Morality is how others civilizations perceived you. BTW, if you look at various colonization events, some will increase your morality (good choice) at the cost of the morale (penalty on morale, penalty on PQ) of your planet.