Zenicetus

Reply to Post your TA suggestions here in Beta Reports GalCiv2 Forums

Ditto the Arcean color. Also, the default dark blue color for text on the galaxy map for Terrans is kinda dark and hard to read against the black space background. I'm not sure if this changed from DA or not... maybe not, it's been a long time since I've played Terrans. For reference, I'm making these comments based on a color-calibrated NEC LCD2190UXi, so I don't think it's just my eyes and monitor. I usually don't have problems reading other game UI's. Like Drengin, I couldn't figure

Reply to How to loose friends and alienate races in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

[quote] I'm simply trying to avoid ALL war - meaning, I'm NOT at war w/anyone, so ^^^ doesn't pertain to my situation in the slightest. So basically, I like playing Evil w/out trying to go to war w/anyone if at all possible.[/quote] You mentioned earlier that you're playing with all victory conditions turned off except military conquest, yes? That's forcing all the other races into territorial expansion as their only goal, so naturally it's going to be a warlike galaxy. If

Reply to Questions About Possible Changes to the Game in Further Expansions (For the Designers) in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Find a quote that says "We intended for the economic system to force you to quarter your production in all fields". Saying that it is the way it is because the designers intended it to function in that manner is not a valid point.[/quote] Actions speak louder than words. The fact that this economic system has been in place for a long time now, seems like pretty good evidence to me that the design is intentional. AFAIK, there hasn't been any mention of it being changed in the upco

Reply to Humorous Game Inconsistancies in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]How about the fact that the Yor, who are supposedly tireless robots, are in fact NOT the most industrious when compared to the Thalans. I mean, seriously, robots or insects?? I would think robots would build factories faster.[/quote] Maybe, but I can think of two counter-arguments. First, organic life can be a very efficient "machine," when it has millions of years to evolve towards one adaptation like rapid breeding or high production. A beehive or ant colony is a lot more prod

Reply to is being evil better? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]It's true that in a single player game, you don't cheat anyone but yourself, but it's conceptually sloppy, and should be fixed for no other reason than "roleplaying" considerations. Conceptually, it would be nice to feel like you can engage in any playstyle you wish, and not be penalized for doing so. That's a perfectly good reason to go back and balance your game concepts.[/quote] I disagree a little, about this being conceptually sloppy. When you play a computer game, you're

Reply to How do I tell my Ally to attack another race??? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Also, why does each spy cost more than the last? And why does your spy die when he neutralizes, does the enemy spy explode? Get real, your spy shouldn't die every time he attacks an enemy spy. Couldn't your attack fail and the enemy spy remain on the planet? It just feels like kamikaze wars with spies right now.[/quote] Well, one way to think of this (i.e. rationalize the game design) is that it's not really a single spy, but a network of spies, contacts, and snitches. Neutraliz

Reply to Ship upgrades in empty space ?? in Ideas GalCiv2 Forums

Currently you can upgrade any ship just about anywhere and there is no clue as to where the resources are coming from and who actually refits the ship. To rationalize the way upgrades work, I just assume each ship has an auto-repair function (nanotech, probably), and they can receive a message including the instructions for assembling new gear as it's researched. The repair bots would disassemble the current engines (or whatever) to make the new des

Reply to If you could make a civ... in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

The Galactic Confederation, led by Xenu. Pure evil of course, and the starships would have to look like Douglas DC-8 jetliners. That might actually be a fun ship design project... I might have to try that.

Reply to No Multiplayer in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Perhaps not, but balacing everything so that you don't have people screaming OMG, WTF unbalanced, NERF IT!!!! would take a third, hell maybe a lot more. What you don't realize is that while things play well in the single player game, it will almost never go well in multiplayer. Another nail hit on th

Reply to Good Sci-Fi novels/series in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

Wow, someone else read Samuel R. Delany! Cool... his early novels like Ballad of Beta 2, Babel-17, and Nova are great progressive 1960's space opera.

Reply to Star Names in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I'm an amateur astronomer geek, but I still like the (mostly) fantasy star names in the game. If I want the real thing, I can just look up on a clear night and try to remember the names. Once you get beyond the bright stars, it's all catalog numbers anyway.

Reply to How many just say NO? in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Sure, I read it. What does the word "minority" mean to you?

Reply to Adding depth to Space in Ideas GalCiv2 Forums

I like the general idea of adding "terrain" effects, but I don't think it will work with the current game design. There just isn't enough room on the map to squeeze these things in, and stil allow room to maneuver around the effect if you want to avoid it. As it is, maps of almost any size get very crowded towards the endgame with freighter lanes, starbases, fleet movements, etc. It's ironic that a game set in the vastness of space gets so crowded, but

Reply to How many just say NO? in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Ergo, if you disagree to the EULA, then you're out of luck. The user is basically forced to agree to the EULA under duress and this is upheld in courts! No, it isn't upheld in courts, that's pure urban myth. This is highly dependent on your local state's consumer laws (in the USA, don't know about ot

Reply to How many just say NO? in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Why pay attention to the EULA at all? There haven't been any clear court decisions (in the USA anyway) that have established their legality. From the Wiki article on this: "The forceability of an EULA depends on several factors, one of them being the court that the case is heard in. Most courts that have addressed the validity of the shrinkwrap license have found them to be invalid, characterizing them as contracts of adhesion, unconscionable, and/or unacceptable pursuant to the U.C.C

Reply to Another Option we need added to the game: AI Surrendering OFF in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Im not asking for it to be switched off. Im asking for an option to be able to choose to switch it off. Why in the world anyone would argue against having more options making a game more varied, fun, and different blows my mind.... I like options in games too, but there's a limit to what's practical.

Reply to Another Option we need added to the game: AI Surrendering OFF in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Count me in the "would like to see it improved, not switched off" camp. Random surrenders may act as a brake on the game ending too early, or getting too boring, when one faction gets an upper hand. I know that happens with me in Rome:Total War, because the enemy always fights to the death, and it's easy to predict how the game will end by the time you reach the mid to late game phase. It may not be working perfectly, but to the extent it k

Reply to Some diplomacy questions (regarding alliances) in Diplomacy GalCiv2 Forums

Work through the relationship levels until you reach "Close" status, to form an alliance. It helps to be the same alignment, have lots of trade routes, occasional gifts of cash or ships, etc. Once you reach "close" relationship status, you should be able to form an alliance. I think destabilization was an intended feature, but it didn't make the final build. So the manual is outdated.

Reply to Orbitals in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

To avoid unbalancing the game, it would have to cost as much, and takes as much time to build, as an equivalent defensive force based on normal ships. And at that point... why not just build the ships? At least a defensive fleet can be repositioned as needed. If it cost less and was faster to build than an equivalent fleet, then it just pushes back the first planetary invasions in the game, because everyone would automatically build one as

Reply to Realistic Star Colors in Modding GalCiv2 Forums

Prima Giedi , yes, exactly. Why shouldn't the game show the same star colors I see through binoculars or a telescope? The Oh Be A Fine Girl Kiss Me system was a first stab at classifying star types, back in the days before instrumentation, when everything was visually based. Now we can "see" into the ultraviolet, or infrared, or radio band, X-rays and gamma rays. But we have to use arbitrary, false colors to visualize the data. I want stars to look like they do up in the sky, through

Reply to Good Sci-Fi novels/series in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

Larry Niven -- Ringworld, and the two sequels. Most of what Niven (and Niven/Pournelle) wrote is great, but Ringworld is the classic. For a newer hard sci-fi author, check out Alastair Reynolds, starting with the Revelation Space series. Best sci-fi "space opera" I've read in a long, long time.

Reply to that way of ground combat must be changed in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Regarding the lost transport ships I consider this to be due most of the transport ship being used in the actual invasion, in the form of planetary drop-ships and other landing crafts. Maybe troop transports are designed to be split up into a large number of drop-ships when they invade, and you cant just re-assemble those after t

Reply to that way of ground combat must be changed in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

But taxpayer is almost all of the citizenship, is it not? is that means in GCII that all who pay tax have to go war duty? The wost fanatic people in history won't be like this --all fight to death way, I belive. and the GCII have a group of civilizations, militarism some of them maybe, but not animal. Does a fight to the death t

Reply to Stardock: The Deli in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

FWIW, I experienced only one critical bug -- the disappearing mouse. After a little forum research, I learned to bypass it by selecting Hardware mouse. Everything else is minor, or a game design that I may not agree with 100%. And that's not a bug. Compared to the last game I spent money on (X3), this is rock solid. That thing was a bugfarm on release. Compared to the last mainstream strategy game I bought (Rome:Total

Reply to The Game Starts with Fun, and Ends With Work in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I think it would be fun to have some random event like a Dreadlord invasion, or some other alien even more uber-powerful that was basically like a force of nature, moving across the map and causing destruction for everyone, then it disappears. Something like the V'Ger ship from the first ST movie. No chance to communicate or fight it, just get out of the way until it's all over. That would definitely shake things up. My endgames stay pretty