Suggestions for GalCiv II

I don't think the management of the planets should be more difficult. It could be good in a tiny galaxy, but what about a huge one? With hundreds of planets?
I've got a suggestion: inflation, and currency.
E.g. at the start the one drengin dregi is equal with one human credit. After a Drengin economic crash 10 drengin drengis are equal with 1 human credit. It's a huge boost for import but destroyes export.

Why not just play MOO3?

Oh no, not another moo3 vs galciv debate, we've seen enough of that already

~SDC~

Can we please keep focused on GalCiv II. Let's just pretend MOO3 does not exist. Suggestion may be similar to ideas in MOO3, there's nothing wrong with that.

PS
I've never played MOO3 so if there are similarities between that game and my suggestion that is entirely coincidental.

Adressing the issue of space terrain: it might be interesting to include asteroid belts impassable to some ships and accesible to other but they might move slower/ take damage/ or they might become completely invisible. The trouble with implementing that might be a problem: If each square still represents a light year, you'd have to have a VERY big asteroid belt to have any significant impact on gameplay. Adding black holes that such stuff in (and destroy it) might also be interesting. During war you could use it to your advantage when considering fleet placement.

Please keep suggestions comming.

Something that bugged me with gal civ was scale. Planets just looked a little large to me, as it gives the impression that ships are hue or stars are really close together.

Just to clarify, I AM aware that gal civ is NOT to scale. I just think its visually a little unbalanced.

I'd also like to see a little more 'colour' in the game. I always liked the way that Moo2 would show your researchers presenting the latest technology breakthrough, rather than just being presented with a bit of text informing you of the advance. This is also true of the aliens decaring war on you. The little text box you get in gal civ lacks punch.

I have played galciv for days, and I have already decided I would purchase Galciv II. But there are a couple things that could use enhacement, imho:

- space combat: fleet formations that would add different bonuses (this would make more interesting strategies) and that would use more than one square (I would love to actually see them)

- macro management: possibility to ctrl-select different planets on a tactical view screen and group manage them. So far we can only manage one planet at a time, and that's difficult on a gigantic scale

- design: I would *love* to see ships having smooth moves and trajectories. Plus, battles could use better graphics and sounds

You galciv guys are close to make the game of my dreams!

Should there be more variation in the alien races? The human units are identical to the alien ones (which simply look a little different). I'd like to see aliens that are actually different from the humans. If this be the case could humans (I mean the player) control the alien races instead of the humans?

I would also like to add a note here saying that I fully agree with neimangu about this being the game of my dreams.

My MOO3 comment was intended as sarcastic. If you try to put too many features in, you wind up with a game that is bloated and not fun.

What I would like to see is that the amount of stuff you learn by spying on an alien race somehow affects the options that become available on the diplomacy screen.

Some things i'd like to see would be:
1. I'd suggest gas clouds/nebula that could span many parsecs and have influence on movement, perhaps even have different types that take or give attributes to ships/fleets, cause damage.
2. An option to zoom in on battles i.e. micro-manage fleet battles if desired. This could be expanded with formations, experience etc. This could also be done for Invasions too. I'm thinking along the lines of MOO1 battles. LOL

More keyboard shortcuts! It buggers me the whole time that I can't close any 'Done' or 'Apply' popups with "enter", for ex. Ideally I should be able to dispatch all windows via the keyboard.

Automate constructors a little further - being a builder, it gets very tiresome to tell the 10-20 constructors built per turn where to go, even with the rally point feature... I realize that's not an easy task, but I often think of constructors as workers (Civilization III) - automating them would be total bliss.

The upgrade starbase screen: the buttons to go to an upgrade section (like Military | Cultural) should have markings showing whether there are available updates left - that way you could see what's left to upgrade instantly instead of clicking on each section. Also, opening the last opened section as a default would be nice...

A go to colony feature - be able to send a ship to any planet via a list of planets (only explored ones, of course...).

An optimized CTRL+N: it would be cool if after beginning your new game and having clicked the welcome screen away, set which tech to research and told what to build on Sol, each time you press CTRL+N again you would not have to do that again each time. That way you could CTRL+N comfortably until you see a starting position that you like.

Alternative designs for human colonies / ships to choose from would be nice

More exclusive stuff to discover - maybe even real artefacts that you can find on planets or in asteroids, and which give you bonuses and that can act as trade goods.

More pirates! (the guys from the G.R.O.S.S. empire should like that ) Maybe even something like being able to set a pirate activity flag on game startup like the barbarians in Civilization

Global threats: events that require all races to work together.

Just my two cents...

~SDC~

Raging G.R.O.S.S. hordes baby!!!! Raging G.R.O.S.S. hordes!!!!!

My thoughts exactly LOL

I would love to see the major civs have the same name for their homestars every time.
I know, this is small a dumb, but it just occured to me. Terrans always start on Earth around Sol, shouldn't the other races have self-named homeworlds?
I would also like to see some more random events. Now there are events that raise PQ, add Hyper or Ultra techs, and so on. What about sudden disasters? One of your planets suffers a devistating hit from space junk, a ship has an engine malfunction and the core explodes, etc.

Love this idea! Of course, they would also effect sensors, giving you the ability to execute the "Star Trek" Gambit. (You know; you're broken and beaten so you hide in that convenient near-by Nebula only to pop up behind your enemy in the perfect position to off them)

My Suggestions that I think are a must

1 = Better UI.
The User Interface, the in-game graphics, and battle graphics are just fine as they are. Fine. But we dont want "just fine" - we want GREAT. I was thinking changing to something along the lines of Imperium Galactica 2 or Pax Imperia.
2 = Seperate planet colonisation.
Tis a must this for in real life the fact that Terra had established a single colony on a Class 15 world in the Eta Cassiopea system (say the 3rd planet in the 6 planet system) wouldnt stop the Drengins from colonising another world in the same system (say the 1st planet) yet in Gal Civ it does. Its unrealistic and thus should be changed to allow for seperate planetary colonisation. Pax Imperia is a good example of this.
3 = Seperate Planetary Conquest.
In concert with the above suggestion it is my opinion that it is stupid that in order to conquer a planet one must attack every single planet in system and fight EACH planets ENTIRE populations. This is unrealistic. We should be able to select singular planets to attack and conquer and you shouldnt need to fight and kill 90% of the planets population to take it. Pax Imperia has a good system for this kind of thing.
4 = Fleet Combat.
Fleet should be represented on the map not singular ships. And when fighting a new window should open to conduct the battle. A system like in Imperium Galactica 2 or ST: Birth of the Federation.
5 = Orbital Combat.
There should be allowed to construct orbital defenses. IE Star Bases. Ground Based Ion Cannons. Etc. So in order to take a planet one must fight a battle similar to a “Fleet Battle” to destroy the defenses before Ground invasion can begin. Again see Imperium Galactica 2 for a good system on this.
6 = Ground Combat.
Ground combat should be conducted in a similar popup window to the Fleet combat between invading Ground Units carried on the starships and defending ground units.
Units of Infantry, Tanks, and Mobile SSMs attacking, as well as the same for defense AND combat Forts. See Imperium Galactica 2 again – ground combat in this game was brilliant.
7 = Turn Progression.
In order to facilitate the changes above, the progression of time in the game may need to be slowed slightly. Maybe a “turn” progression system like in Europa Universalis 2 (and other Paradox Entertainment games) where time progresses by day (or in the case of Hearts of Iron by hour) and speed is the determining factor (speeds of very slow, to extremely fast –don’t know the exact progression for this) and a Pause function.

Just thought of something - you often have star systems with a bunch of unused class 1 to 13 planets (I usually colonize from class 14 upward) - why not be able to put them to good use by being able to mine their resources?

In the game, it could create a star system-wide production bonus, and the mining installations could be upgraded with constructors just like starbases.

In the same line of thought, mining stations on asteroids with freighters that ship the mined goods to a given star system would be very cool too (and add a little more strategy to the game, as you have to protect those routes like trade routes).

Well, I want just to add an important thing to me: I want a game that is fun to play, even after having played 20 games or when the game is very advanced in the number of turns. One thing that was very annoying for me in MOO2 was when you have a battle between one hundred ships and you have to move all of them since you won't rely on the AI to conduct the battle for you. It was tedious, long, not fun but you have to do it.

I feel that the game should be fun when you discover it and after having played lots of games. I don't bother if the game is realistic or not as long as I enjoy to play it.

One nice feature in MOO2 was the abitity to transform asteroid belt and giant gas into habitable planets.

That was nice.

I would not like having the idea having a system one planet one major and the next planet another major.

It would through influeance calculation out the window, how would you handle invasions etc...

GalCiv II will be a sequel of GalCiv, and in that sense I think we should not drift off too much from what makes this game enjoyable. Especially point 7 would change the game too much, and GalCiv is not Imperia Galactica or any of the other games you referred to exactly because of the things you mentioned.

IMHO a good sequel should be a continuation of a good game, with new plot and levels, new places to explore, items to find, things to see. Optimally it should be one which patches any irritations from the previous game while adding new and interesting features. Therefore, a sequel by definition should be "like the previous game" because that's what it's there for. If it doesn't resemble its predecessor, it's not really a sequel.

My Suggestions that id like to see but aren’t absolutely needed

1 = Ship/Orbital/Ground Unit Design.
This seems to be a popular request, and its one of mine too. The Option to “Create” your own ships, Orbitals, and ground combat units is a good thing. Again see Pax Imperia and Imperium Galactica 2 on how this could be done – and see MOO3 on how NOT to do it.
2 = Planetary Classes.
Change the classification of planets to the Star Trek (or the official way) of classing planets and stars. Classes A through Z. Class A being very hot and having a thick toxic to humans atmosphere, Class Z being very cold and having a very thin(or non existent) but toxic atmosphere, and Class M being an Earth Like world. See all Star Trek games.
3 = Race Habitability.
Each race should have a different set of planet classes that they are best suited for. For example, the Terrans live best in K through O class worlds and don’t need much help from atmospheric filters, bio-domes etc, and out of these classes they need assistance so maintenance costs would be increased. See Pax Imperia and MOO on examples of this.
4 = Increased Races.
There should be more Races, playing with just 6 (and with Altarian Prophecy 8) races gets boring. Increase them to 18 or something like in Civilization.
5 = Race Traits.
I know races are already defined by traits – but I was thinking that they should be expanded and a little more defined. Something like in Civ 3.
6 = Technology Tree.
I think the Tech tree should be expanded to include more Good and Evil alignment techs AND a lot of “neutral” specific techs too.
7 = Race specific Techs.
Each race should have one or two technologies that are unique to their race outside of the alignment tech uniqueness. Technologies that are a result of that races unique mindset. Or perhaps having a thing like in Civ 3 where each Civ has a starting tech which corresponds to their Cultural Trait.
8 = Unique Units.
Unique units should be introduced. Ships/Orbitals/Ground Units which are unique to a single race. See Civ 3 , or even better Rise of Nations for example of this.
9 = The Rebellion.
Rebels should be given an increased role in the game. They should be allowed to form their own splinter Empires rather than defect to another race. It seems to me that independence declarations would be far more likely than defections to other Empires especially from Empires on opposing alignments.
10 = Vassals.
There should be the ability to force, or diplomatically, vassalise another race (Maybe restrict this to just minors) where you as their Lord and Master gain perhaps half of their tax or trade income and you agree to defend them and they you. Naturally players would refuse to become vassals if defeated in war so their should be incentives for the Player to agree like dropping the “Lord gains half the tax income” rule for players or something. Note that vassals shouldn’t be allowed to declare off their own bat without clearing it with their Lord and Master. Check out EU2 and Victoria an Empire Under the Sun for examples of this.
11 = Membership.
Minors and Rebels should have the option to petition for Membership in one of the major Empires. This would happen if the Minor really really loved said major race and felt that Unity would be a better option. Also majors would have the option to offer membership but it shouldn’t have a very high chance of being accepted.
12 = Splinter states.
In addition to rebels gaining independence for their worlds and systems through war there should be an option for the “mother civilization” to give independence to individual worlds/systems and groups of worlds and systems to serve as their Vassals.
This would be mostly a player only function for situations where the player shares a border with a particularily hostile Empire and grants independence to the border systems so they act as a “Buffer” state.

That sounds more like an expansion pack than a sequel.
And these are only my suggestions on how I think the game would be improved.
Thats what this thread is for is it not?

Quite frankly if GalCiv 2 was released and it was the same as GalCiv except with better graphics and "new" levels in it I wouldnt buy it because it would just be more of the same.
The whole point of a sequel is to bring in new concepts to a game - to improve it - make it better. Not simply revamp it and make it look nicer.

I hate companies that do that - that simply "revamp" their old games and call it a sequel. And there is nothing new in them.

I think I would buy it, but I am almost certain when GC II does come out there will be clear value to game.

There are lots of games such as any sports game, civilzation, flight simulator which are just updated graphics and a few new features. I find them worth the upgrade.

I would like the possibility of using the Terraforming techniques on planets thar are unusable, PQ-14 and transform them in usable planets. Like jumping from 0-12 into 15 or more. Also the possibility of creating space stations that could build things, space-ships, constructors, colony ships, etc.

Actually Civilization, Civilization 2, and Civilization 3 are entirely different games.
That is why all three games are still playable today - because tho the games are part of a "Series" and share the same idea and were made by the same guy - they are different enough to be so that they arent simply updated versions of the older ones.