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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.
3,097 views 114 replies
Reply #76 from Stardock Forums Top

!FROGCARE!I know my short list of "better haves" has to include:

1) Fleets using logistics as the limiating factor.

2) 3D engine (still top down but I want to be able to zoom in and out and have much MUCh nicer graphics that are hardware accelerated so that the game is peppier than GalCiv 1 was).

3) Ship design. I won't even bother with GalCiv 2 unless there's ship design. I want to see rock/paper/scissors in designs too. I like MOO's ship design but I didn't think it made enough of trying to do measures and counter-measures.

4) A totally different tech tree. Not the mess that is the GalCiv 1 tech tree where you have to hunt down third party made tech trees. I mean something very streamlined and clear. This is propulsion, these are weapons, these are economics, and so forth.

5) More unique colonies. None of this lame point numbering for the colonies and that's it. Each colony should be unique. Keep the point numbering as a general guide to know which is "better" but be able to build and improve them on a much more custom level.

6) Have factions that you can play as. It would be nice to play as say the Drengin or Arceans but that's probably not realistic with the story elements in mind. But different human factions with their own uniqueness would be nice.

There, that's 6 things it needs to have IMO to be worth it.  !FROGCARE!

Reply #77 from Stardock Forums Top
A totally different tech tree. Not the mess that is the GalCiv 1 tech tree where you have to hunt down third party made tech trees. I mean something very streamlined and clear. This is propulsion, these are weapons, these are economics, and so forth
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If you do this, I'd like the option of simultaneously researching each of these separate trees. The overall research level vs production could be set with sliders like it is now. The individual allocations could be set with a sub menu of sliders for each of these separate trees. That way one could emphasize "propulsion" for a few turns while still researching weapons, industry, etc.

:D
Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #78 from Stardock Forums Top
If you do this, I'd like the option of simultaneously researching each of these separate trees. The overall research level vs production could be set with sliders like it is now. The individual allocations could be set with a sub menu of sliders for each of these separate trees. That way one could emphasize "propulsion" for a few turns while still researching weapons, industry, etc.
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I played a 4x game that had 5 separte tech areas, and you allotted the percentages to each area. This allowed you to concentrate on one particular area. I liked that feature.
Reply #79 from Stardock Forums Top
If you do this, I'd like the option of simultaneously researching each of these separate trees. The overall research level vs production could be set with sliders like it is now. The individual allocations could be set with a sub menu of sliders for each of these separate trees. That way one could emphasize "propulsion" for a few turns while still researching weapons, industry, etc.
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If you check out the old THQ space strategy game called Pax Imperia: Eminent Domain this is what was done there.
And its done not bad at all.
Reply #80 from Stardock Forums Top
Ability to design your own ships is very important I feel as a new feature for a sequel.

I would like to see expanded diplomacy options. More UP type of events should also be added. There is a big gap between meetings. Maybe add the ability to request a meeting of the UP have a vote on player requests?

Multiplayer would be a great option. Making sure that it would be possible to team up with a human player. With better graphics and even some of the ideas in this thread would make an outstanding sequel.

If you are not happy with Galciv now, or the expansion out in beta, you will not want to buy a sequel IMO. ;)
Reply #81 from Stardock Forums Top
A small question Frogboy:
Why these "better have" features weren't in Galciv?

Could you explain a bit more
6) Have factions that you can play as. It would be nice to play as say the Drengin or Arceans but that's probably not realistic with the story elements in mind. But different human factions with their own uniqueness would be nice.
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What is the difference with the actual political party?

Reply #82 from Stardock Forums Top
A small question Frogboy:Why these "better have" features weren't in Galciv?
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If developers took the time to get a game exactly how they wanted it before releasing it, nothing would ever get finished. Frogboy's first 5 points all build upon the original game, or change the parts that have proven to be unsuccessful.

Point six I'm not clear on, it sounds like the political parties to me too!
Reply #83 from Stardock Forums Top
What is the difference with the actual political party?
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Point six I'm not clear on, it sounds like the political parties to me too!
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I think maybe he means multiple human states...like a schism in the alliance which causes a war which causes several human states. Like the Human Imperium, the Free Worlds Alliance, and Free Traders Federation and such like.
Reply #84 from Stardock Forums Top
3) Ship design. I won't even bother with GalCiv 2 unless there's ship design. I want to see rock/paper/scissors in designs too. I like MOO's ship design but I didn't think it made enough of trying to do measures and counter-measures.
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One great thing in MOO was not the rock-paper-scissors but the combined arms tactics. For instance, you could have warper ships blocking opponents for long range fighters, black hole teleporter kamikazes (teleport, hole, get killed), ion stream tanks which didn't have main weapons but just an ion stream projector and regeneration... Those special weapons were what made MOO great. That and the fact you wouldn't be able to research all these killer techs every game (sometimes no race could research black hole generators for instance).
4) A totally different tech tree. Not the mess that is the GalCiv 1 tech tree where you have to hunt down third party made tech trees. I mean something very streamlined and clear. This is propulsion, these are weapons, these are economics, and so forth.
End of quote

Again, yes. That's what I wanted to mod myself, but it was too long to do correctly, and some techs had interesting hard coded side effects which required to keep their tech numbers (messed all organisation I coul do). I'd like the tech tree to allow real options: Make it viable to not research +range/expansion techs in favour of production in the early stage so that someone who expands fast will be met with stronger weapons when they meet other races.
5) More unique colonies. None of this lame point numbering for the colonies and that's it. Each colony should be unique. Keep the point numbering as a general guide to know which is "better" but be able to build and improve them on a much more custom level.
End of quote

Something which would already help would be to be able to tag the planets based on events: A +production planet is hard to find (have to scroll through the list of plent ordering options) for instance, and it doesn't show much. Again, MOO had a nice simple design there (artefact/rich/poor/gaia/...), which could probably be improved.
Reply #85 from Stardock Forums Top
Had a thought about trade goods;
Once a trade good is built by one race no other race can build it because that would break the monopoly owned by the builder.
That is fine, except when one is at war with someone there is no incentive to honour such agreements.
So my idea is that if you are at war with another race, it should be possible to try to build (for your own use only) any trade goods your foe owns. Should peace break out before the TG is finished, tough, all the production would be wasted.
Reply #86 from Stardock Forums Top
I played a 4x game that had 5 separte tech areas, and you allotted the percentages to each area. This allowed you to concentrate on one particular area. I liked that feature.
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MOO1 allowed you to do this as well.
Reply #87 from Stardock Forums Top
I would like to see better control over the victory conditions and scoring.

Military victory should be military not culture victory. A military victory could change to culture if 50% of the habited planets in the galaxy have been taken over by flipping them.
If you are going for a Military victory and you have beaten all the non-allied AI's and you are still allied with an AI then you should be given the option for an Allied victory or the game can continue for the next victory condition be it Culture, Tech or military.

Scoring should better reflect the victory conditions. My current thinking is the victory conditions rank Allied, culture, Tech, military easiest to hardest to obtain. Tech can be the easiest victory but take extremely long time. Tech should score the lowest, then Allied, Culture and a pure military victory should have good point spread.
Reply #88 from Stardock Forums Top
How about publish how the score was calculated at the end of the game. This can be very helpful in determining where you went right or wrong in your score. Currently in Galciv the scoring is mostly a mystery and anything that describes how to get a better score is vague.

Since score is calculated at the end of the game then it should be an easy matter to format that to screen output.
Reply #89 from Stardock Forums Top
Once a trade good is built by one race no other race can build it because that would break the monopoly owned by the builder.
That is fine, except when one is at war with someone there is no incentive to honour such agreements.
So my idea is that if you are at war with another race, it should be possible to try to build (for your own use only) any trade goods your foe owns. Should peace break out before the TG is finished, tough, all the production would be wasted.
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Sounds difficult to code
If you are going for a Military victory and you have beaten all the non-allied AI's and you are still allied with an AI then you should be given the option for an Allied victory or the game can continue for the next victory condition be it Culture, Tech or military.
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Now that sounds like an interesting idea

If i understand point six correctly, you think about groups like Europeans, Americans (Marsians?) with different boni in stats and maybe even technology / buildings.
Reply #90 from Stardock Forums Top
I like that your ships can gain experience as they fight battles. This increases the stats but very slowly. How about when a ship gains an experience level you can decide where to apply the points. Also this would change the game slightly because there maybe an advantage to try and move a ship through experience levels.

Unused experience points could be applied during another level increase.

Example:
Frigate 130 gained an experience level = 30 points

+1 Attack = 15
+2 Attack = 30
+3 Attack = 60

+1 Defence = 15
+2 Defence = 30
+3 Defence = 60

+1 Speed = 30
+2 Speed = 60
+3 Speed = 90

Hit points = 3 points per hit point

Maybe at special levels such as 5,10,15, 20 etc. the ships get a special bonus such as
Level 5 = +1 sensors
Level 10 = 10 hit points
Level 15 = +3 attack, +2 defence, +1 speed
Level 20 = Hyperspace (move anywhere in 1 turn)


[Message Edited]
Reply #92 from Stardock Forums Top
How about when a ship gains an experience level you can decide where to apply the points.
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That's a very interesting idea :) That would allow for specialized ships, e.g. defenders, attackers, couriers... that would add a new strategic dimension to the game.
Reply #93 from Stardock Forums Top
the ship EXP thing would also not be too difficult for the casual player. That is a *very* good idea.

idea for starbases: use 3 constructors to make a space settlement ala Isaac Asimov's "Nemesis." like,
Settlement skeleton (framework and skin)
settlement interior (homes, offices, etc)
settlement life support (farms, power supply, air, etc)

it could have a base popcap of 1200,small research and ship construction ability, and ability to mine (if implemented) nebulae or asteroid fields and such and you could add things to it to make it higher or more productive.

improvements marked with a * should have Mk. II, Mk. III and so on

Hospital (adds major medical aid and research center, raises popcap, morale and research)
Observatory (adds research)
Subsidized Housing projects (lowers revenue, raises popcap)*
Corporate Sector (raises revenue, morale)*
Industrial Sector (raises production)*
Residential Sector (raises popcap)*
IRS Center (raises revenue, lowers morale) :P
Banking Center (like the planetary counterpart)
Gov't Monitored Education District (raises research, morale, productivity)
Military Base (raises productivity, mil. prod.)
Additional Life Support System (required for every 4 or 5 addons) *

I can go on and on
Reply #94 from Stardock Forums Top
How about having survey ships/Rangers gain experience from exploring anomalies. Either convert the experience into it's military areas (hit points, weapons etc.) or get more bang for it's buck in future anomaly explorations. One would think that exploring 10 or 20+ anomalies would make the ship's crew more experienced in the whole anomaly exploring endeavor. A veteran ship might be able to convert a "Waste of Time" anomaly into a "25% research gain".

Reply #95 from Stardock Forums Top
1 it would be funny to play against more AI civ, imagine 14 others civ fighting against you

2 it would be funny to play with several human on the same game, imagine 3 human against 3 AI, on a turn by turn system

3 a multiplayer sytem by net, would be funny too
Reply #96 from Stardock Forums Top
How about each planet having resources that are needed for certain ships/buildings and/or provide production, research, etc. bonuses. The resources could ether all go to all of your planets or you might have to set up trade routes between your own systems (that don't produce income) creating a "trade network" type of thing (I am not sure about this because it might make it to difficult to defend your trade routes and "trade network"). And perhaps you if you have a trade route you can trade resources with other civs. This would provide incentive for colonizing low planet quality planets. For example, you may colonize Saturn (with a planet quality of 3) for Hydrogen that Earth doesn't have. This would also make each planet unique because no other planet would have the same resorces. I think that there should bu empire wide bonuses but also local production, research, etc. bonuses that only affect that planet.
Reply #97 from Stardock Forums Top
2 it would be funny to play with several human on the same game, imagine 3 human against 3 AI, on a turn by turn system 3 a multiplayer sytem by net, would be funny too
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Turn based strategy games don't really lend themselves to multiplayer unfortunately. They're just so slow! Your point 2 was done by Moo2, but it wasn't all that great, I played it once against my brother I think. :notsure:
Reply #98 from Stardock Forums Top
I like "Omni 11"s idea of mining resources on uninhabitable planets. But what about planetary mining stations in stead of actual colonies? They would have non to low population, and do not generate taxes, canot build ships, and only a limitid number of improvements (defense, mining, etc.).
Reply #100 from Stardock Forums Top
No starbases are production facilites, and special resource mining facilites, not mining colonies. What I'm thinking of is a system where a player could mine say He3 on gas-giant. This would help production and the economy, by making fusion plants cheaper to operate. Or a planet could be rich on xium, which is requred to build gravity generators.

What I'd like to se is a less bc dependant economy, where resources play a more important part, must be mined, and protected.