Zenicetus

Reply to TA: more exciting ground battles, simple implementation in Warfare GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]I agree with Firebender. it is just not realistic that it would take only 1 week to eradicate a population. [/quote] There are many things in this game that aren't realistic, but too much realism just leads to micromanagement headaches. The main question for me isn't whether a one turn invasion is realistic or not... partly because I can easily imagine rapid sterilization from space, but that's not even the main issue. It's mainly a question of whether it would add anyt

Reply to Starcraft: Is it over rated? in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

"Map-based, non-linear campaign and more than three distinct factions" would also leave out Company of Heroes, which seems to be a very successful franchise... even if I didn't like it that much (too scripted for my taste).

Reply to Need a technology overview for between races in Beta Reports GalCiv2 Forums

Just wanted to bump this, since I finally sorted out my thoughts about possible improvements. First, we really need the right mouse click to NOT SELECT a tech for current research. That's what the left button is for. Too many times, I've been in either of the two screens and right-clicked on something for more info, only to have it select that research. And now I have to remember what it was I was trying to research currently. You can get info on a future tech by right clicking if it's

Reply to Tech Trading in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

Tech trading was a bit too profligate in the early days of the game, but with the new mechanic of not being able to initiate a new diplomatic contact until after a "cooldown" period, it feels better balanced (IMO). I'm not sure, but I think the devs might have tinkered with the code over time, to make the races less likely to trade the more strategically valuable techs like military tech and extreme planet colonization. I usually play with tech trading turned on, because it's a way to

Reply to Can't place spies in Beta Reports GalCiv2 Forums

I haven't downloaded the newest beta yet, but didn't the devs say that they were changing espionage to target other races generically, instead of individual planets? Maybe that's what you're seeing?

Reply to TA: more exciting ground battles, simple implementation in Warfare GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]In reality planetary invasions would take a considerably long time to win. I mean it takes us a few years to defeat another nation, so a planet would invading a race's united planet would be hard and strenuous.[/quote] You're applying a human history model to space combat between different species. We've never seen a major species vs. species conflict before, with both using spacefaring technology. Total extinction might be the only way to take over another race's planet, and tha

Reply to Twilight of the Arnor Beta 2 Change Log in GalCiv Journals GalCiv2 Forums

Just echoing Bingjack above... going from a treasury of 5000 to 3000 in the first few turns is a huge change, and it would make no sense to have any tourism income to offset it, before we've contacted any other races or settled any other planets. Is this intentional, to slow down the colony rush?

Reply to TA: more exciting ground battles, simple implementation in Warfare GalCiv2 Forums

I agree with neilo about keeping the focus on space. Yes, invasion is a big deal at the local level, but if I'm playing the game as the leader of a huge space empire spanning multiple systems, I want to focus on the big picture and not the messy details of each invasion. That's what I have minions for. To do this right, would require practically a secondary game within the game. I'd settle for just some eye candy updates so the invasion pro

Reply to Upgrading all ships of a given type in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Click on any ship that's the class you want to upgrade, in the main galaxy map. At the left side of the detail window at the bottom of the screen, there is an upgrade button. Click that, and you'll see the upgrade screen. In the upper left corner of that next screen, there is a small 3D image of the ship. Right under that should be a check mark for "all." That's for DA... I think it worked the same way in DL and the original game, but I can't remember.

Reply to heightmap update error in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

I noticed that too, the last few updates. If I ignore it and do something else it always finishes, but it does get stuck for a minute or two on the "deleting temporary files" part. Does that update mess with the Windows registry? Sometimes that can take longer than other file operations, especially when anti-virus/anti-malware programs are running in the background. Seems like a long time otherwise, if it's a basic file operation.

Reply to Upgrading all ships of a given type in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Sounds unnecessary and overly complicated IMO. If you're going to go around checking each ship individually, why not simply upgrade them individually?[/quote] Depends on the map size and number of ships/fleets, I guess. It can be a bit tedious locating and clicking on individual ships if I only want to upgrade, say half of a certain class for either financial or strategic reasons. Especially when I have a LOT of that type, like swarm-type mini fighters. [quote]I would, h

Reply to Upgrading all ships of a given type in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Yet, I think there should be sort of a upgrade-screen, which shows and lets you select the current ships of a certain class you want to upgrade. Quite often, I only want to upgrade the ships at the front, whereas some ships in the back, e.g. near my allies, I do not want to upgrade now. Or sometimes I do not realize, that a certain ship of that type in question is near an enemy fleet and when upgrading that ship, my whole fleet comes to a halt and is in grave danger.[/quote] I've

Reply to Need a technology overview for between races in Beta Reports GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]In the maximized view of the tech tree screen, you can right-click individual techs to get all of the data that you would normally see in the smaller view. This has been in the game since at least Dreadlords, though it isn't the most publicized of features.[/quote] Um... actually, no. You don't get all the data with a right-click on the full tree. In my current DA game, I'm at the point of researching Planetary Invasion. The two views aren't synchronized. The full

Reply to Interplanetary Missiles in Warfare GalCiv2 Forums

Right, nothing special needed. Just the ability to push a rock the same speed you need to move around a solar system with a spaceship anyway. So... one basic engine per rock, or even better... a "pusher ship" that just moves it in the right direction, and goes back for another rock. Why waste an engine? There's a tremendous amount of kinetic energy at those speeds. It was enough to create the Chicxulub Crater and wipe out the dinosaurs. The Footfall novel also has an interest

Reply to Interplanetary Missiles in Warfare GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]I like the idea of land based weapons. In a world with hyperdrive, giant beam weapons, et al, it's a little silly and in my opinion an oversimplification to not have land based weapons too. After all, a starbase can boost damage to ships in a (overall speaking) very large area, so clearly it is able to project it's power a long way. Therefore I think that planet based weaponry that makes it more difficult to invade a planet would be very nice.[/quote] Not very realistic though

Reply to Some basic questions about ethics choice. in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Something I've wondered about... do the AI's get random ethics choice events during colonization, like the player does? I assume they would, so the game remains symmetrical (no special advantage for either player or AI). But there's no way to tell, since it would happen behind the scenes in the code. I wouldn't go so far as saying the ethics system is broken. Maybe the devs just intended the Good path to be a more painful one. Not everything in a game has to be symmetrical. There are so

Reply to Need a technology overview for between races in Beta Reports GalCiv2 Forums

Yes, I know about the zoom for the bottom window in the default view. On a high-res monitor, the text disappears quickly when you zoom out. And I don't play the game THAT much that I can memorize the tree. The default view has useful info on what each tech does. The alternative view shows the full tree with very little info (and inscrutable icons in TA beta). I just don't understand, from a user interface design standpoint, why th

Reply to Evil Decisions Having Greater than Normal Impact on Ethical Alignment in Beta Reports GalCiv2 Forums

Yep, if the galaxy is set up with mostly Good and Neutral races (or they're the most powerful ones), then playing Good helps delay war. It's a good turtling strategy, in that type of galaxy. Otherwise I usually go Neutral, or sometimes Evil just for the role-playing fun of it.

Reply to Need a technology overview for between races in Beta Reports GalCiv2 Forums

An overview on the race description would be helpful, but my main personal beef is with the entire UI for the tech tree. I've never understood why it's divided into two separate screens like that. The default view doesn't show enough of the tree in that small window at the bottom, and when you go to the full view, you can't get the info you get on the default view. It's crazy. Why can't we get all the info we need for the tech tree in one window? I know we're not likely to get a redesig

Reply to an idea... smarter pirates in Modding GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]In short, the pirates are falsely labeled. If we had a powerful race from another universe popping up, instead of pirates poping up, I would accept the event.[/quote] I agree about the name, at least for the mega-event. That's something that feels much more like a sudden invasion by a previously unknown super-race... not something I'd ever call a pirate. I'd like to see pirates in the game as a minor and continuing harassment, with a tech level that auto-scales along wit

Reply to Battle Command Ship in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]you don't add wepons or defensises it will not be attacked until all other ships are destroyed.[/quote] I'm not sure about that. Here's what one of the devs (CodeCritter) said in another thread: [quote]The targeting system for fleet battles has been modified slightly so that ships with the new modules are preferred over a ship that has the same stats minus the new module. The targeting system has not been finalized yet so we may change this.[/quote] We don't kno

Reply to [TA Beta] How best to use fleet modules (ship design theory) in Beta Reports GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Now, whether this changes how I design my command ships or not, I dunno. But, having to basically put only a single "engine" on a huge ship and having it move just as fast as any other ship in a fleet seems like it could be a really big deal. That's a good bit of extra space to put weapons and defenses...[/quote] I like the way this involves a choice between going for more speed with existing firepower (the "dance around the enemy fleet" approach), or the same speed with more fir

Reply to Trade Route Questions in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

I get my trade routes up pretty early... right after the main part of the colony rush and building a few constructors for the most valuable local resource mining. At that stage of the game, the other races usually don't have a colony built up with bigger population than their home planet, and that's true for me also. So the first routes almost always go from my home planet to the home planets of the other races, even if they have colonies that would be further away. I think population size trump

Reply to Twilight Beta - Auto Survey Ships and WormHoles in Beta Reports GalCiv2 Forums

I usually micromanage the flagship in the first several turns, so I can use it as an additional scout looking for habitable planets. I still steer it towards anomalies, but the path is tailored for scouting ahead of the colony ships through likely star systems. It does mean I lose a little efficiency in scooping up early bonuses that way, compared to automated survey, but not by much. After the main colony rush, I put it on auto if there are any anomalies left. At that point it doesn't matter if

Reply to Post your TA suggestions here in Beta Reports GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Most of the interface colors give me a headache. I usually stick with the soft purple-gray color that the Korx have as my interface for all races. Easy to see, not hard on the eyes.[/quote] This is probably going to get me banned from the forum... but I'm glad to see someone else saying this. I think Stardock is a great company, full of talented game programmers, and I'm happy to give them my money. But they need to hire a good graphic design guru. The UI has had weird c