ScrivenerOfLight

Reply to Galactic Civilizations III: Retribution Journal #3 in GalCiv III Dev Journals GalCiv3 Forums

Thanks for the journal! [quote]Now was the time to use the Arnorian Embers artifact. [/quote] But what do they do? EDIT: Never mind. I found the answer in the previous journal entry (bonus to fleet).

Reply to Galactic Civilizations III: Retribution Journal #1 in GalCiv III Dev Journals GalCiv3 Forums

[quote who="cbholmes" reply="72" id="3740103"] It's a zero-sum game. [/quote] I tend to agree to some extent that right now, the game is largely decided by early colonization. This isn't always true. I've come back from the bottom by convincing everyone else to go to war, engaging heavily in diplomacy, and slowly building up a superior (if smaller) force. What makes me excited about Retribution is it sounds like the game is moving away from what you call "zero sum."

Reply to Galactic Civilizations III: Retribution Journal #1 in GalCiv III Dev Journals GalCiv3 Forums

[quote who="cbholmes" reply="72" id="3740103"] the only thing I can hope for is that a modder fixes the homeworld with some kind of edit [/quote] That should be an easy fix--off the top of my head, could boost growth in civ capital improvement... [quote who="Frogboy" reply="73" id="3740104"] There are artifacts with infinite charge abilities. So yea, there are ones much more valuable. For example, there is an artifact that increases the planet quality of a

Reply to Galactic Civilizations III: Retribution Journal #1 in GalCiv III Dev Journals GalCiv3 Forums

Ah, so I did miss something [e digicons];P[/e]

Reply to Galactic Civilizations III: Retribution Journal #1 in GalCiv III Dev Journals GalCiv3 Forums

[quote who="cbholmes" reply="59" id="3740010"] Retribution is in Beta testing. [/quote] Oh, okay. When you said "we're seeing" in the beta, it made me wonder whether you had actually seen/played a beta version of the game.

Reply to Projects or Expeditions for the Shipyard? Where do I find them on the Tech Tree? in Galactic Civilizations III GalCiv3 Forums

What erischild said, plus you do have to research various techs to unlock different missions. These are spread throughout the tech tree--the blue symbol on the tech tree is used for these (look at Colonial Settlements, for example, third blue icon out of five: "Research Mission"). Hope that helps.

Reply to Galactic Civilizations III: Retribution Journal #1 in GalCiv III Dev Journals GalCiv3 Forums

[quote who="Zyxpsilon" reply="55" id="3739969"] Yet, the whole point in a good-enough-4x-challenge basicly stands on very personal perceptions of gameplay rules within a relatively deterministic model. We are encouraged to discover complex (or simplistic) tricks to master various Winning ways or, to manipulate certain conditions towards our own satisfactory formula which also relies on special/optimal parameters. Choosing between immediate success or some "grinder" processing

Reply to Galactic Civilizations III: Retribution Journal #1 in GalCiv III Dev Journals GalCiv3 Forums

[quote who="cbholmes" reply="54" id="3739962"] the Retribution Beta [/quote] Did I miss something? I haven't been on Discord too much recently--getting ready for baby #3 to show up and have had to build a room instead of spaceships and galactic empires...

Reply to Galactic Civilizations III: Retribution Journal #1 in GalCiv III Dev Journals GalCiv3 Forums

[quote who="cbholmes" reply="54" id="3739962"] I think most of us have played this game long enough to know... that's not even remotely true. Especially once you start increasing the AI difficulty level. So forgive me, the smallest bit, if I don't buy that argument. But let's set that aside. Let's imagine, for a moment, that everyone really is on some kind of equal footing. [/quote] I didn't say equal footing. I said "same footing fighting t

[BUG] AI Players Ignore Anomaly Encounters in GalCiv III Support GalCiv3 Forums

This is easy to test by modding out the standard anomalies and including only precursor anomalies (since these are always defended). The AI ships are unaffected by the encounters. I am guessing this may be intentional (but not necessarily preferred) since there is no mechanic in the XML to instruct the AI how well-defended the anomaly is. Precursor anomalies require a decent fleet (for human players), and even the pirate encounters on ship graveyard anomalies should destroy an unarmed

Reply to Galactic Civilizations III: Retribution Journal #1 in GalCiv III Dev Journals GalCiv3 Forums

[quote who="leiavoia" reply="34" id="3739783"] There are three ways to solve the "mindless colony rush": 1) Make most planets uninhabitable without improved colonization technology. This makes the initial colony rush short and sweet, then empires pivot to researching colonization techs to get otherwise uninhabitable worlds. This can spread the colonization phase well into the late game. It also makes the mid gam

Reply to [MOD] Gauntlet's Race Mod (UPDATED R-1.7 for Retribution 4.21!) in GalCiv III Custom Races GalCiv3 Forums

I like the updates in light of the impending expansion, Gauntlet. As always, nice work. But particularly nice in the case of the new starbase and hypergate.

Reply to Galactic Civilizations III: Retribution Journal #1 in GalCiv III Dev Journals GalCiv3 Forums

[quote who="Horemvore" reply="32" id="3739772"] So simple. Yes I hate the idea of the way the game seems to be going for the next expansion in regards to ecplore and expand. I am a simple guy, simple solutions usually work the best. [/quote] I don't see your solution as totally wrong-minded, Horemvore, but I am not sure I agree that exploration and expansion will be less fun as a result of the proposed change--just different. Now, that depends on play style and whatnot, so I

Reply to Galactic Civilizations III: Retribution Journal #1 in GalCiv III Dev Journals GalCiv3 Forums

cbholmes, reading that last post ... the volume level seems high. Maybe that's based on assumptions, but I don't think this has to be a yelling match about ideas--we can all talk about what we like and don't like, what we want and don't want, etc., in a civil way. [quote who="cbholmes" reply="30" id="3739762"] To not do that flies in the face of reason. [/quote] This sounds like, "If you don't agree with me, you're stupid." Kind of a non-starter for a dialogue.

Reply to Updated Combat System in Galactic Civilizations III GalCiv3 Forums

[quote who="Gauntlet03" reply="16" id="3739700"] a system of ship design "styles" could be built, and then you could assign a style to each race [/quote] Such a system wouldn't be without precedent in science fiction--in Star Trek, for example, Klingons use disruptors and the Federation uses phasers... and there are a lot of other differences, too. Same could be said of every major franchise. In B5 there is the Shadow weaponry, conventional weaponry, mass drivers (used to de

Reply to Updated Combat System in Galactic Civilizations III GalCiv3 Forums

[quote who="Horemvore" reply="13" id="3739687"] Its not just about Blueprints though, AI also equires some weight changes in the Tech tree to encourage it to take mass techs and mass reduction techs, as well as range techs, etc etc. [/quote] Good points, also.

Reply to Updated Combat System in Galactic Civilizations III GalCiv3 Forums

[quote who="fosnock" reply="11" id="3739671"] if they can program the AI to run a empire, they can program one to use basic strategies [/quote] True--to a point. I was in the process of writing a lengthy post (longer than what follows) about how hard it would be to program "basic strategies" that are anything more than arbitrary. Whenever I see a dev journal or some indication from Stardock about a new feature in the game, one of my first thoughts is, will the AI be

Reply to Updated Combat System in Galactic Civilizations III GalCiv3 Forums

[quote who="Gauntlet03" reply="8" id="3739590"] Etc. etc. Lots could be done... but even a modicum of attention would make the current system more enjoyable. [/quote] I agree with the general thrust and details of your post. Even though the expansion is not focused on this, some TLC here--even a little--could make a big difference. My only concern with changes that give more strategic design combinations is whether the AI could easily be modified to use such changes

Reply to Galactic Civilizations III: Retribution Journal #1 in GalCiv III Dev Journals GalCiv3 Forums

I like the slow down to colony rush because, as Frogboy said well, the rush is generally mindless and about getting the most planets--who cares if they are good or not. I like to play wide empires sometimes--but I would love for it to be possible to play tall. And this seems to be a step in that direction, as does the introduction of artifacts. Are there other changes that will help with creating a tall empire? For example, are there tech tree changes you can elaborate on that will in

Reply to The Easy Way to Find the One-per-Race Building Bug in GalCiv III Support GalCiv3 Forums

Shamelessly bumping in hopes dev team takes notice (if they haven't already) ;)

Reply to Updated Combat System in Galactic Civilizations III GalCiv3 Forums

I generally agree with both the OP and Gauntlet's post above. [quote who="Gauntlet03" reply="1" id="3739066"] 1) The ship roles need to be removed or completely overhauled. [/quote] Especially this. [quote who="Gauntlet03" reply="1" id="3739066"] 3) Retreats/draws needs to be a thing. Something tactical speed could impact. [/quote] And especially this. One nuance to consider: Perhaps in order to retreat, the defending fleet would need

Reply to NEW EXPANSION for Galactic Civilizations III ANNOUNCED: Galactic Civilizations III: Retribution in GalCiv III News GalCiv3 Forums

[quote who="GalCivius" reply="20" id="3738827"] Good visuals are a selling point as well, not only a cost factor, so they could easily add to the budget (if "only" for future content). In the end it comes all down to what devs and players value having in their games. I'm one of those guys who think games who do well gameplay-wise _and_ visually are possible and worth striving for. I certainly do not think bad about the game's visuals in general, but when it comes to

Reply to NEW EXPANSION for Galactic Civilizations III ANNOUNCED: Galactic Civilizations III: Retribution in GalCiv III News GalCiv3 Forums

[quote who="Sir_On_The_Edge" reply="18" id="3738805"] The artist does not work on the other parts of the game, hiring is difficult as quality of work is important. For these reasons, it's a fallacy to assume that by working on visuals, other areas are not being worked on. [/quote] I understand that, and I wasn't suggesting that the artist(s) would work on programming or writing or anything else. I did not say or assume "that by working on visuals, other areas are not being w

Reply to wierd visual bug when you play at Ludicrous map in Galactic Civilizations III GalCiv3 Forums

Without knowing 100% how the fog of war works, I'm guessing the fog is rendered hex by hex, and it looks like the corners of each hex of the fog have transparency caused by the AA, creating the dots and lines. I don't mind having AA turned down, personally, but it would be nice if the dev team could fix the AA or just remove 4x since it seems to be the problem.

Reply to NEW EXPANSION for Galactic Civilizations III ANNOUNCED: Galactic Civilizations III: Retribution in GalCiv III News GalCiv3 Forums

[quote who="GalCivius" reply="16" id="3738730"] Sure the game has much more to offer that just good visuals, which why I love playing it, but improving things can't hurt, as long it doesn't take away from the other content or leads to absurd spec requirements. Let's see what the new XP does in this regard. [/quote] To be perfectly honest, I'm content with the visuals generally. I would rather the dev team focus on content-related issues, bugs, imbalances, exploits