onomastikon

Reply to Don't chintz on the opening videos and trailers in War of Magic Elemental Forums

Making high-end cinematics is very, very costly. In addition, high-end cinematics do not enhance gameplay enjoyment, at least for the vast majority of users. For a great cost, there appears to be little in the way of return; yet they can, as the OP indicates, be used as a form of advertisement -- but for which target group? I think Stardock would be right on track by investing their budget in things in which they are specialists (e.g.: programming) and not things about whi

Favorite Games: Why? in PC Gaming Elemental Forums

We all have favorite games, and why most of these are our favorites is often subjective. Let's see if we can try to list something like quantifiable criteria for our favorite games, if possible to induce something like "Excellent Game Essence Elements (EGEE)", which might be useful in trying to make sure that these elements go into Elemental. I will try to start. Please help! Some of the EGEE I attempted to glean include: - visual and/or audio presentation; good UI; En

Reply to Hello! I'm new here. Introduction and a Question. in Everything Else Elemental Forums

Thank you for the nice replies so far, or rather reply. I have preordered and hope to see you in the beta too, time allowing!

Hello! I'm new here. Introduction and a Question. in Everything Else Elemental Forums

Hello all! I'm very very new to this forum and thought I would introduce myself and say hello, hoping this is the correct place for that, and ask one small question. First of all: Hello! These forums here look friendly and pleasant and full of people who are both polite and constructive. Yey! I hope I can fit in ... ;-) 2 sentences about me: I'm a philosopher who lives in Germany. Due to my work and writing books (five published so far, sadly all in German, boo hoo) and

Reply to Welcome to agony: AKA a Stardock BETA! in Elemental Dev Journals Elemental Forums

But what you are saying is NOT "The Beta will be horrible agony!" but RATHER "The Beta will be (relatively) ugly". ;-) With your emphasis on " fun with Xs and Os", you really are indicating that the only agony will be cosmetic.

Reply to Questions for August 2009 in War of Magic Elemental Forums

Some more, if I may? - What details of the combat system will you implement to insure that the various units we can create will not differ in a primarily cosmetic fashion? (I.e.: Att 5, Def 4, HP 6 "Imperial Footman" vs. Att 5 Def 4 HP 6 "Dark Legion Crossbowman") - Will channellers / heroes have slots for rings, bracelets, earrings, necklaces, and belts for magical goodies? - Will individual units we can make have slots for rings, bracelets, earrings, necklaces, and b

Reply to Questions for August 2009 in War of Magic Elemental Forums

Hello again, and thank you for taking the time to listen to all of us. Here are some more questions: - Biggest dissapointment in CivIV building was that after a time, all cities seemed similar: you can only build one temple, one forge, one X, etc. per city. Will Elemental let us have lots of pubs in one town, but only one forge, and 10 forges in another town, but perhaps only one pub? - Biggest dissapointment in GC2 building was that each planet only had a limited building capac

Reply to Could the beta program be an experience unto itself? in Elemental Dev Journals Elemental Forums

I realize I am definately in the minority, but I am simply much too impatient, I would not like to wait until Q3 for a release. All of the additional goodness that would be added in by the increased beta length is of course something we would miss, but also something for which I would gladly pay an additional $20 for, assuming that the first expansion might be something which would include such content. I feel that as a consumer (and not primarily a beta tester), I owe it to you to pr

Reply to Diplomacy in War of Magic Elemental Forums

This has been a very nice and very long debate. I don't have experience in designing AI, so I hope to be able to say my couple of measly points without total blamage.... While I agree that an AI should not give away information gratis, and I agree that that part of this information also includes its own plans and evaluations of its opponents' situations (it's "feelings" towards others), I believe it might do more harm than hurt to obfuscate too much -- also considering the fact that c

Reply to Questions for August 2009 in War of Magic Elemental Forums

Questions! - How discrete will the victory conditions be? (I.e.: will working towards one hamper, help, or have no effect towards achieving another?) - Will other players be able to know how close their opponents (AI or otherwise) are to achieving a victory? - How exponential are events or decisions made in the very early game? (E.g.: Will finding or not finding an excellent resource during the very early game still have an impact 50 turns later?) What counters wi

Reply to Elemental: July FAQ in Elemental Dev Journals Elemental Forums

This all sounds vastly wonderful! This is my first post on the Elemental forums. I hope this is the correct thread to pose a direct question? I was enthralled with GalCivII, up to a point. In my thread here, https://forums.galciv2.com/127960 to which Brad made some excellent replies, I listed what I thought was the biggest dissapointments in GC2 and what I would want to see in the future. I would like to know how and if

Reply to Still want Multiplayer? OK...! in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I've found I am actually starting to win by using free cards (so-called "common" cards for which you do NOT have to pay). Rare cards are fun too, but seem to be for special purposes; you don't need those. Uncommon cards are not free, but tend to have a value of about 10 cents ($0.10). The "best decks" in most situations are FREE, because most situations will be "Common Ground" matches.

Reply to Still want Multiplayer? OK...! in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Hi Yskonyn, it was great to see you over at SC, glad you took the time to have a little look. As you can see, you never heard of it because it's a real niche game: Not too many people are interested in spending time learning a game that complex and varied. Glad to see you are. There really is soooo much to learn. Good thing is, the learning part of it is pretty fun itself. (Also, as you can see, you can't PBEM, but the games go so quickly that there is no need. A normal game will probably not

Reply to Still want Multiplayer? OK...! in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Exactly! Thank you random name. I'm definately not trying to hype SC over GalCiv2, since GC2 is single-only, and SC is basically MP only. I just can't believe that SC is THAT good and no-one has ever heard of it! Look forward to seeing you in the SC community.

Still want Multiplayer? OK...! in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Of course I take my hat off to Stardock for being such a great company, and for giving us GC2 and its expansions. It is certainly one of the very best TBS in SP out there, possibly the best in its genre/setting ever, and its AI cannot be beat. I think they may have done the right thing in keeping it to its SP niche. Of course I would like MP -- but I think GC is best in its specialty. And now I have found something to satisfy the MP blues. I will never ask Brad for MP again. <

Reply to Long Time No Hear: Question on Dark Avatar and its Competition in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Well, the AI is totally crappy, but Dominions3 has a lot of good challenge while being an aesthetic zero. It was designed for MP play, and it is good at that, if you can stand the 20-year-old graphics and sound. I thought that JaggedAlliance2 was a pretty good combination. Civilization (e.g. III or IV) seems to have all the things that GC2 lacks, but has other problems, such as monotony of city building. I really liked the aesthetics of WarcraftIII, but just dislike

Reply to Long Time No Hear: Question on Dark Avatar and its Competition in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Thank you. I wholeheartedly agree that games should be played to have fun (and not, say, primarily to beat). The question is: What is "fun"? Is it a direct correlation with "challenge"? Aesthetic enjoyment? Hope? This is probably different for different people. Personally, I was having problems because I wasnt having as much fun as I had had elsewhere, or wanted to have; I tried to outline why. Basically, in just a few words, it was because (1) I kept on doing the same thing, turn

Reply to Long Time No Hear: Question on Dark Avatar and its Competition in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I see, thanks for the help.

Long Time No Hear: Question on Dark Avatar and its Competition in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Hello there, all. It's been somewhat over a year since I was last here. I was a great fan of GC2 and continue to be a staunch supporter of Stardock and all of its excellent, highly motivated, and friendly team members. What a company! I quit GC2 some time ago after liking it quite a lot for a number of reasons, a one-sentence-summary of which I believe I posted here: https://forums.galciv2.com/?forumid=162&aid=135081 If you check out some of my longer posts, e.g. ht

Reply to Space Rangers 2 is now on TotalGaming.net in GalCiv II News GalCiv2 Forums

2 year game time in the demo? That can't be. I wasnt even able to finish the tutorial. My demo expired after about 25 "days" of time, during which I traded some medical equipment for cash. Not nice!

Reply to Space Rangers 2 is now on TotalGaming.net in GalCiv II News GalCiv2 Forums

I dont get it. Can anyone help? I DLed the demo. It is HUGE at 1 gig. And I couldnt even finish the TUTORIAL, the game said my demo expired, it must have been after only 5 or 6 turns. I am furious. What the hell? What is this demo supposed to demonstrate? To those who have DLed the demo -- how did you manage to see anything? A 5 turn demo? I won't be supporting that company, that's for sure...

So long and thanks for all the fish in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Just wanted to say goodbye to this fine community and to the wonderful developers of GC2. I was so enthusiastic about GC2 when it first came out, I wrote a number of extremely positive reviews (that themselves were hailed highly), yet I am afraid I just cannot remained interested in the game any longer. Despite the good AI, I find the games simply too similar, the setting too stark, and too little options as to what to do. Additionally, I find the game too easy: Even with Alliance, Tec

Reply to This aspect of Diplomacy / Relations broken in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I think it would be wonderful to have some feedback from Stardock staff on this issue, and whether or not this may or may not be addressed -- and if how, in what form (a patch?).

This aspect of Diplomacy / Relations broken in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

While I have whined about the status of "ally" elsewhere, I would like to draw attention to one aspect of the current diplomacy and relations algorithmic processes which seems to me to be broken. I would like to illustrate it by means of an example. In a recent game, Arcea (genius AI) is far ahead, since its lucky starting position gave it a dozen planets and the most resources (and, as I found out later, a Precursor bonus to research). For whichever reasons, Arcea is friendly to me, as

Confused about Purchasing - help appreciated in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I thought I understood this, but a recent game made me wary: 1. I used to pay great attention to when a social project only had one week left to go, and then purchase it. It seemed otherwise I was "wasting" social energy on a project which, say, only needed few credits to complete; my entire turn's social capacity would be spent on that project, with the overflow being wasted. Now not so sure: Is the overflow then kept in the form of extra cash? That is, if my social project X needs