Hi there!

I'm a fan of scifi in films, books and games. I played GalCiv and GalCiv2 and I always wanted something like GalCiv in a real time multiplayer fashion. Or to phrase it differently: to act like an admiral of the Federation in the Star Trek universe or to command forces in Babylon5 or similar fictional universes. HOWEVER: Not only to move ships around and wage battles, but also to have diplomacy, trade and exploration to such an extent that you don't even have to wage battles at all!


Diplomacy, Trade and Alliances
Ok, please be honest about skirmish and multiplayer! What is diplomacy composed of? What goes into this (what can you actually do besides trade?) and what does it create (is there more to an alliance than just disabling autofire on each other?)?

Which of the following fits more:
"we only stick together to blast the others away faster" + "we only stick together till we kill each other anyway" + "we are allied, but it does nothing for gameplay, we still play and build as if we were playing alone"
or
"Sticking together and using all the bonuses an alliances gives us is way more enjoyable and *efficient* than betraying" + "breaking up and betraying is not the norm" + "we are allied and it changes the way each of us plays the game"

- How many ways are there to win besides war?
- Can you give credits, ressources and tech to an ally who is in need?
- If you only form an alliance to break up later, shouldn't there be some kind of penalty?
If you really don't help out, don't use any of the game mechanics that make an alliance worth the name, shouldn't the game notice and punish that player in some way right in the game or at least in regards to his score?
- If you form an alliance and stick together, shouldn't there be major rewards?
E.g. increased trade income with ally, ability to share repair facilities and more stuff like this?
- How does the 'scoreboard' work? Can you win as an alliance or does a single player win, even though he is in an alliance?
- I hope this game features some kind of permanent score record. Other games already give medals and stuff like that for progressing in certain areas. I don't really care about medals, but wouldn't it be neat to see how many times someone broke an alliance and betrayed his ally? You could see at a glance who is worth trusting and who isn't!


Game Customizations (Skirmish and Multiplayer)?
Ok, first of all, I dig all the options and choices for setting up the game in GalCiv2 and for playing the way you like once inside the game. I hope I don't have to accept any less in Sins! That would be a huge disappointment and I probably wouldn't buy the game. You see, I always play Skirmish in a customized game setting that I put together in RTS, so I don't care about campaign mode or story. So I really NEED to have something like a Galaxy Customizer for Skirmish and Multiplayer! With at least the options available in GalCiv2. You guys set the bar in this regard, so you can't expect me to expect any less!

Will you add the feature to customize / build your own ships in a patch? In an expansion pack? Or do we have to wait for the sequel?

What kind of multiplayer modes are there anyway?


AI?
I also need to have unit AI that works perfectly. Seriously: tanks in RTS that can't drive around a hill, NPCs in FPS that get stuck on things - it's really sad to still see this today - but spaceships in SPACE that get stuck on each other or on asteroids is...just out of the question. Enemy AI should not only work without glitches, but also utilize all of the features of the game in a sophisticated way. Something that's also becoming standard is the choice to set up the AI to play in a certain way, e.g. turtle, rush, hesitant, nervous, etc.




Ok, one last question for now: How different are the three factions from each other - Is this game a rock-paper-scissors design?