BETA 3Z NOW AVAILABLE

from Stardock Forums
Well we felt bad that the previous build is pretty crummy in terms of the bug with the enemy ships stacking up so we put up an interim build: Beta 3Z.

There are a ton of new features that would take a long while to get into but here are the highlights:

+ Terror Stars

+ Multiple Load/Saved Games

+ New Details Screen (still in progress)

+ Fleets (not working very well yet -- but good for taking a group of units and moving them around but not so good for attacking other units yet)

+ Yearly Progress dialog with intelligent news items

+ Random events of various degrees of rarity

+ New technologies and technology balancing

+ Ship balancing

+ Several new ships

+ Immense improvements in game speed (Thanks to those of you who emailed me saved games)

+ Lots of crash bugs fixed.

+ Some new star base modules.

+ All main players are based on Bradian AI now which has been improved somewhat (still not near final quality though).

+ Multithreaded path finding & Galaxy updating

+ Diplomacy screen somewhat better

+ AI will ask for tribute

+ You can demand tribute from AI players

+ You can give gifts to AI (doesn't affect relations yet -- now we'll see how reads this stuff since you know someone is going to post about how they gave stuff to an alien player and it didn't improve their relations).

+ AI can threaten each other (you don't see this but you'll find there are more wars as tougher guys make wimpier guys pay up or die).

+ Espionage will steal techs.

+ Some spell checking put in thanks to you guys for checking the spelling errors.

+ Technology tree modified (thanks to Java Scout whose tech tree print out we actually used here to show us where our problems were).

Known bugs:

- The fleets are only partially implemented. To make a fleet, put a bunch of ships on a spot and press the make fleet button on the right side (where it shows all the ships in a square). The performance of fleet movement is problematic and there are attack problems and hanging problems and other problems.

- Details screen is a bit buggy, still being worked on.

- Propaganda on details screen not fully implemented yet. (Propaganda has been implemented so that you can counter destabilization). Destabilizing not fully working yet.

469 views 21 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
I see some interesting status icons on my planets, seem to do with economy and morale, but their relationship to those is not totally clear--is there a key?

Am I flirting with danger loading a previously saved game?

-Robert
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Crash if you quit from main screen--probably just the same bug from before:

Stardock SmartException Logging Information
-------------------------------------------

OS Version : Windows XP
Video Card : NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400
Application Exception code: C0000005 ACCESS_VIOLATION
Crash Addr: 004020B1 01:000010B1 C:\PROGRA~1\Drengin.net\galciv\galciv.exe

Processor Registers (x86):
EAX:00000000
EBX:00000000
ECX:00000000
EDX:00627D48
ESI:0053F1B0
EDI:00C2FD1C
CS:EIP:001B:004020B1
SS:ESP:0023:00C2F984 EBP:00C2F9D0
DS:0023 ES:0023 FS:0038 GS:0000
Flags:00010246


Current Application Call Stack:

Addr Frame Logical addr Module Name
---------------------------------------------
004020B1 00C2F9D0 0001:000010B1 C:\PROGRA~1\Drengin.net\galciv\galciv.exe
00402294 00C2FA34 0001:00001294 C:\PROGRA~1\Drengin.net\galciv\galciv.exe
00404D7B 00C2FA88 0001:00003D7B C:\PROGRA~1\Drengin.net\galciv\galciv.exe
004DD81A 00C2FC38 0001:000DC81A C:\PROGRA~1\Drengin.net\galciv\galciv.exe
0053F2BA 00C2FCA8 0001:0013E2BA C:\PROGRA~1\Drengin.net\galciv\galciv.exe
77D67AD7 00C2FCD4 0001:00026AD7 C:\WINDOWS\system32\USER32.dll
77D6CCD4 00C2FD3C 0001:0002BCD4 C:\WINDOWS\system32\USER32.dll
77D45CD6 00C2FD6C 0001:00004CD6 C:\WINDOWS\system32\USER32.dll
77D45CF5 00C2FD8C 0001:00004CF5 C:\WINDOWS\system32\USER32.dll
7377DF68 00C2FDB8 0001:0001CF68 C:\WINDOWS\System32\DDRAW.dll
77D67AD7 00C2FDE4 0001:00026AD7 C:\WINDOWS\system32\USER32.dll
77D6CCD4 00C2FE4C 0001:0002BCD4 C:\WINDOWS\system32\USER32.dll
77D44455 00C2FEAC 0001:00003455 C:\WINDOWS\system32\USER32.dll
77D44D58 00C2FF30 0001:00003D58 C:\WINDOWS\system32\USER32.dll
0057C716 00C2FFC0 0001:0017B716 C:\PROGRA~1\Drengin.net\galciv\galciv.exe
77E814C7 00C2FFF0 0001:000204C7 C:\WINDOWS\system32\kernel32.dll


Debug information for each stardock app follows ....
Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
This was before loading or starting any games. An earlier quit after loading a game was uneventful.

-Robert
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
Yea, we aren't clearin gthe resources out yet properly when we exit the game. It's no biggie.

Also, previously saved games won't work for reasons that hopefully are obvious. ;)
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
Well, my old one loaded but I didn't try playing, I just started a new one. Sailing along with no problems. Get to get back to work eventually, though. :p

A request for B4--I can't seem to be able to give a saved game a name--it's always "New Saved Game". Obviously, it would be nice to be able to type something in. Also, a "quick" saved game that saves over itself and pops you back to the game would also be nice--I've gotten paranoid about crashes and save every couple of moves now. I'll probably get over that eventually...

-Robert
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
Sorry, I'm an idiot--you certainly can type a name in for a game you are about to save.

-Robert
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
There's a CTD with 3Z. Start a new game. Click on Sol, click on Earth and click on Details. You're back to the desktop.
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
Heh, I started a new game and by 2183 the torians had battlecruisers and a full starbase. That is with one star system. This is on average difficulty. Is it supposed to be this hard?
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
Kwim is right, this is harder. The Dregins and Yor have lots of battle cruisers and big star bases with constructors improving them. I have more planets but haven't built my first BC as I was buzy building colony ships. the Dregin's have nearly 5,000 gold in their treasury. Dregins and Yor have 1 or 2 techs more.
At game start-up, I put 1 point to each of the 10 attributes and all AI set to Smart.
Game speed is improved. A hot-key fast save would be nice as auto-save doesn't appear to save at the beginning of each turn. (Civ 3 auto-saves the last 5 turns)
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
For everybody that complained before about how hard the game is this latest BETA is harder.

I personally think it is to difficult.

In addition to the other observations on difficulty.

Minor races will not trade and I will not trade a Wonder for 300BC which is about all they will offer.

You can not keep up moral even early in the game.

Please Stardock tone it down to level simular to previous BETA.

:sniff!:
Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top
I started one map right next to a major AI, saw him construct a constructor on the 2nd or 3rd turn of the game and build a starbase on a resource right next to us.
Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top
smooth as silk so far - thats continuing a late stage huge galaxy game from the last beta, moves are calculated much quicker. I am starting a new game this a.m. to look at the early game ai etc.
p.s. the damned button for guard still calls up ship re-naming
Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top
What are the grimacing red smiley and the deaths-head icons? I would have guessed low morale indicators, but I've seen them on planets with fine morale.

-Robert
Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top
My first reaction was that this was a joke build that somehow ended up being released as the beta. I always start in a tiny galaxy because you get a good feel for the opposing AI's in a 9-sector galaxy where you are cheek by jowl with them, so to speak.

Even with the AI's set to dumb, they are learning tech faster than I can possibly do, even with twice as much population and planet as any of them. They are building constructors right off the bat and I KNOW that one is all *I* can find the money for without putting my whole civilization in an economic tailspin from which it cannot ever recover.

And turning them ALL into extortionists is just silly. Real civilizations do not do that. Especially when they don't even HAVE a navy to do it WITH.

Tone this down and make tha AI's REALLY play by the same rules as the human player or it's not going to fly, Brad.

Actually, the game play in beta 3 was quite good. It was the incessant crashing and the ship pile bug that marred it more than anything else.

Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top
I loaded an old saved game from the previous beta just to see what it did. It was a gigantic galaxy and all aliens set to dumb. Other than a few oddities, it seemed to work just fine. I think I'll finish it up before I start a new one. As for them being too productive, whatever they do I wish I knew so I could get a constructor in 2 or 3 turns from the start!
Reply #17 from Stardock Forums Top
I posted this on the main comments screen for Beta 3Z, but figured it would get read more here. Can we get the ability to spend money on anti-espionage? With stealing techs being enabled now, I think it is fairly important.

Thanks.
Reply #18 from Stardock Forums Top
I don't know that the game is harder. I'm playing with all races set to Smart with two Evil. They do have cruisers right away, but I have traded tech for ships and so I have a sizable armada without having to build them myself. So far, the game is progressing well.
Reply #19 from Stardock Forums Top
Sigh. The stuff you're talking about are litterly just 5 minute tweaks to gameplay. Don't sweat that stuff so much.

I'm not sure why they're getting battle cruisers so fast. Will have to look into that. I suggest turning the AI difficulty down if you're that worried.
Reply #20 from Stardock Forums Top
They are playing by the rules, its just they know the rules far better than we do. I have noticed that they are not sending out 3 times too many colony ships. Those resources are probably going to boosting the research instead of just cranking out ships.
Reply #21 from Stardock Forums Top
A human player can, with $1000 buy a colony ship and a consructor in the first two turns and still have money left. You just have to take them on a lease.

But the problem is that this has long term consequences for the AI since it increases the odds of it going broke later on from its leases.