Is GalCiv what Stars! Supernova Genesis might have been?

from Stardock Forums
Years ago I was anxiously awaiting the final development of Stars! Supernova Genesis and then finally resigned myself to waiting for Moo3 instead as distribution deals for Stars! SNG seemed to fall through (which i am sorry for)

GalCiv hit me out of the blue and now i begin to wonder if this game isn't the very one that i was waiting for 2 years ago.

(pardon the convoluted logic)
730 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
No, Stars! Supernova Genesis is a differnt game then GalCiv, a similar galaxy layout, but thats the only thing the same. S!SG is like Stars! but with new features and way better graphics. (i'm hoping a publishur is found soon.. I would like to beable to put it on my resume, as i did a couple months of contract work on it a few years back) All i think i can say without violating my NDA. Besides the fact its a true sequel, alot like GalCIv is a true sequal to the OS/2 version.

Me.. I wait for all the 4X games.. i'm a "fanboi" of the whole 4X Space genre.
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
The most fun I had with Stars! was with multiplayer. Playing Stars! with the computer was extremely boring. GalCiv improves here a lot, but no multiplayer. So in the end they are completely different kinds of games after all.
Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
Very different games in my opinion. Stars! involved a LOT of micromanagement (which I can enjoy BTW) and most turns lasted a long time. GalCiv is nicely streamlined and flows quickly. The emphasis is on having a storyline pull together within each game from the player's actions and random events, whereas Stars! had no storyline. Stars! had a plethora of ship types and modular ship player designs, GalCiv limited ship types and no player designs. I enjoy both games but the strongest similarity is the appearance of the main map screen.
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
One HUGE difference is that Stars! AI was REALLY BAD. To get a decent game, you HAD to play multi-player. One major drawback to that is that my experience with human players has not been the best: they tend to quit when they are not winning. The problem with this is that when a player quits in a game with lots of other players, it leaves a huge power-vaccuum that unbalances the game. Basicly, the human players near the quitter have a much easier time expanding into the unmanaged territory giving them a large advantage over all the other players. I really loved Stars!, and will still run out to buy the sequel if they ever finish it, but I have NEVER had a game that was not significantly corrupted by "quitters". :(

--Soulfire
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
precisely why I do not bother with multiplay. I have no need for the
Kewl Doods, Lord Suxxoor, EeevilFrodo1's of the on line world.
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
Since this is a topic on STARS! i wont start another, i will just dig this one up, and breathe life back into it.

Any of you guys here ever play Spaceward HO! ?
It was a STARS! rip for sure, but played a whole hell of alot faster. It was orig a MAC only game, but they ported it to PC after dismal sales. Go Figure.

But i think GalCiv is very very similar to STARS!. Alot of the things in the 2 games are even labeled the same. (Or at least in the sequel) But there are certain things in GalCiv that i miss from having played stars. Such as Radar Ranges for planets and ships. Minefields. Cloaking Devices for ships. And the fact that you could create your own race entirely from the ground up to use different planets than the norm.
Whereas everyone in GalCiv fights over the same planets, in STARS! you could setup a race to use planets that no other race would want.
Also active terraforming, and remote mining of planets were always nice. And that each planet in STARS! had a certain amount of exhaustable resources.

Okay after awhile the micromanaging of each planet could become a thorn in one's side. And the fact that the AI was missing the I part of the equation made the game drag on once one was playing huge maps for days on end.

But i think GalCiv hits close to what the Stars!2 should.. Er.. COULD have been. I just wish it had a few more variables to play with. Kudos to the AI tho :)

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