Philocthetes

Aesthetics aside, I hope that the fog of war will not hide any stuctures that are revealed when they come into a unit's view. In GalCiv2, starbases (non-colony, immobile structures) are treated like ships in this regard, so they disappear if you don't keep them in sensor range. If something is big and obviously immobile, it ought to stay on the FoW part of your map until a unit comes by to refresh the data.

[quote]... Then, ideally, a human player can become the vassal of an AI faction, at least until it is convenient to rebel ...[/quote] This seems like a very interesting strategic option, especially if it is possible without the player's (first) sovereign dying. Kind of a natural complement to a general dynastic strategy.

[quote who="ckessel" reply="35" id="2384304"]Not so much lazy as needing motivation [/quote] But isn't a certain laziness part of a good dev's motivation, at least when it comes to automating un-fun repetitive tasks?

I haven't been caught in this round of nickname stuff, but I did get the periods stripped from my name a long while ago. So long ago, it was either before the forum karma or before I noticed it. Formally, I want the karma stuff to go away, but because it is here, I try to give 'in the spirit' of the feature design. This business of a nick change destroying a karma record is not just a frustration for the user with the new nick, it means that anyone who gave such a user some karma was

I whinged for a patch on IRC a bit ago, and it seems like 'if the gods are willing and the creeks don't rise,' there will be a patch update tomorrow, possibly in the morning US East Coast time. Beta 1 is aimed directly at these crashy-type problems, so they have a definite self-interest in seeing their fix idea(s) get a workout over the weekend.

This has been a longstanding problem and has affected folks from multiple Stardock sites. I post from GalCiv2 and Elemental and I've had a broken PM total for longer than I can remember. A code fix would be much appreciated at some point.

[quote who="Raven X" reply="18" id="2383712"]... I agree with your idea, but, there is one downfall to that. If certain characters always have the same goals because they are following a set story the game will get very predictable. ...A backstory will be there of course, and your idea for following stories is a great idea IMO, I still think they'd have to find a way to randomize the story elements so the game wouldn't be the same every time.[/quote] I don't mean that I want the AI fo

[quote who="Burress" reply="13" id="2384311"]... Maybe male sovereigns have patriarchies and female sovereigns have matriarchies? That would allow for a game system as well as just make sense to me. [/quote] I don't think it should be that simple. For example, the English have had a few queens, but their 'normal' succession is to first-born males. I'd be most entertained by a game that could have some realms fall into civil wars based on the lack of a legitimate heir w

I'm just hoping we aren't locked into a boring old patriarchal/primogeniture model for the dynastic stuff. I'd like, but don't expect, to see a canon faction that is fully matriarchal, where sons are bred to look good jousting and married off for fat doweries, alongside a faction or two where title-holders can choose their heirs, and perhaps even one where the sovereign isn't even obliged to choose among his or her offspring for an heir. If we do indeed lack that variety in the AI fac

[quote who="BoogieBac" reply="25" id="2382961"]... The more things blue is used for, the slower that information can be mentally digested, and the less useful the feature becomes. I'm actually thinking we should remove the green forests, but I'm hoping they won't result in too much visual clutter when green-tinted races are present.[/quote] Hm. Now you have me maybe half-convinced that the only things in color on the cloth map should be faction-related. I'm also startin

[quote who="lambdaman" reply="14" id="2382797"]I think it would be more in keeping with the feel of the map to keep the brown background and just turn the waves blue. All the other colored features (that I've seen) are drawn as colored line art, after all.[/quote] That was my first thought also, and it doesn't seem like it would be using "color everywhere" any more than green forests do that. I'm no opponent of the uber-moddability thing, but I do sometimes worry that the devs t

[quote]... Now, I understand that having hundreds of monster tribe/troupe/group mini-opponents can cause any computer to huff and puff, but their behavior and growth algorithms can be very simple, and they don't need to behave intelligently like a human or AI opponent does. ... [/quote] The devs are talking about vassals splitting into more vassals. An organic approach to 'dungeons' seems like a reasonable variation, and maybe a few types might be on that borderline between simple pri

[quote who="kryo" reply="1" id="2381996"] 6. [resolved] Title Screen Crash (fixed by deleting familytreesubwnd.dxpack). That "fix" causes the first three issues.[/quote] You can get partway back to 'real' functionality by deleting the FamilyTree stuff, starting the game in windowed mode, waiting for the main menu to appear, and then restoring the files from your recycle bin. But a kludge is still a kludge, so I'm not calling anything else weird I see a 'bug' until I can get

[quote who="Bingjack" reply="17" id="2379235"]I like the pic in the op better than what we have right now. At least the UI there had some of the character we traditionally associate with fantasy game UIs, and not just the flat, beige, bland vector lines we have now. It would be nice if they could find a nicer compromise between scalability and character. Only my opinion.[/quote] Bingjack, the 0.22 beta is 'cloth map only,' and even the bits of the 3D level we've

[quote who="Denryu" reply="5" id="2381054"]... I think you can also tab to go to the next unit.[/quote] Sort of. Towns are currently 'units' for the TAB key. Re zooming, the game appears to have the same keys as GC2, PLUS and MINUS on the num pad are what I was used to using. But either the 0.22 beta or my kludgy installation of it is balky--keyboard zoom changes are much more sluggish than scroll-wheel zooming. Re double-clicking, I think it should be reserved for ope

[quote]...well what better wait to get dead bodies than burn a city with the residents locked inside their own walls[/quote] Poison, or a flat-out magical command to Just Die Already. A hot enough fire will ruin even skeletons, and zombie-makers would be left out period.

Question 2 kept me from taking the survey because there is no good answer for someone in my situation (I'm one of the folks caught by the FamilyTree version of the splash->CTD problems). If you're doing an update or new one, please consider asking about whether the player can get past the title and into the game, and whether it required a workaround to get the game going.

I don't think it makes much difference whether factions look different based on clothing styles or body designs. What I'm hoping to see most is AIs (with agendas based in the back story) that make as much or more of a difference in game play as any blunt instruments like a faction bonus for agility or mana production.

/still missing the old watch-this-post functionality...

[quote who="k10w3" reply="60" id="2379842"]... Also, using the terms "Sir" and "Ma'am" these days can be sometimes be interpreted as insults. (I don't like being called Ma'am). Maybe it's safest not to use those terms. They're kind of between a rock and a hard place.[/quote] Well, I'm an LBGT/O person, but I'm also from deep matrilineal and patrilineal roots in the US South. I'm all for ditching the assumptions about gender identity, but the basic notions of respect inhere

[quote who="Nights Edge" reply="6" id="2379811"]George III was the Kwisatz Haderach, and the British Empire was his golden path [/quote] Maybe, maybe not. The whole turns:time ratio question is just not well-answered outside of TBS/4-5X games that are mainly about a canned campaign, e.g. King of Dragon Pass. If you keep to just Frank Herbert's published texts, 'the Golden Path' begins ages before the short life of Paul Muad'Dib and it might not really have 'ended' many milleni

I'm playing with the FamilyTree workaround for the CTD after the title screen, so I'm not at all sure what else is broken in my installation. But I had the same problem as the OP for a while . Something either fairly random or wholly unobserved by me happened, and ESC now opens the Options page, which has a button leading to the main menu & the Exit button. My best guess is that I just pressed ESC enough times that some digital gear settled into place...

[quote]Where have you seen a dragon?!?! I've been testing for two days and have yet to run into a dragon!!!!!!!!! [/quote] There's definite dragon spoor in the form of those plus-HP Muckety-muck Pre-Cataclsym Dragon fountain thingies.

[quote who="DoomBringer90" reply="68" id="2378618"]If you restore the files when you get to the menu it restores access to the screens and the few features available.[/quote] The frakkety-frak, you say! Research! I've got research going! (I think someone else, or maybe even you, tried to get this across earlier in some thread or on IRC, but Reply 68 was the first time that I properly grokked Step 2 of the FamilyTree workaround thing.)

The hard-locked, 'smart' borders seem wrong to me also, but I'm hoping that landi is right about how play will change when the diplomacy features are in the build. I'm especially fond of the idea that if you can't keep your border out of the FoW, it isn't a serious border; you should need units and or spells to cover it if you want to try enforcing it. Re essence, it seems way to early to take a firm position there. I had one game going for a while where I got on a very lucky level-ga