Vinraith

Reply to Starcraft: Is it over rated? in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

It was a good game in its time, but its time is long past. Any RTS worth playing these days, IMO, has a map-based, non-linear campaign and more than three distinct factions.

Reply to Flat Space vs. Multi-level sectors. in Game Ideas GalCiv2 Forums

While space is certainly 3d, the layout of spiral galaxies like ours is essentially planar. Yes, there's a thickness to the disc, but when we're talking about travelling interstellar distances in a week they don't particularly matter. Don't get me wrong, I'd love a 3d star map, but it's not strictly necessary IMO and certainly not implementable in GC2. Maybe in 3...

Reply to The amazingly strong "don't rush" sentiments re TA in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

Fear not, it's all driven by enlightened self interest (isn't everything). It's just that the average GC2 player is brighter than your average consumer, and realizes it's ultimately better for them if the designer takes their time and releases a stronger product. Though Stardock has created a massive amount of customer affection simply by supporting their game well. Smart people, they are.

Reply to NEW POLL: December or January release? in GalCiv II News GalCiv2 Forums

Speaking as someone that pre-ordered the day TA became available, I say take your time.

Reply to sins of the solar empire in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Different developer, different storyline, different engine, different game. Gal Civ 2 has a lot of life left in it (and at least one, probably more expansion packs coming) after which we're likely to see a Gal Civ 3 (still turn based) sometime in the next decade. Thank goodness, too, because you're right that it's getting harder and harder to find a good turn based game, or a game that's genuinely good for single player play.

Reply to GalCiv2: DL+DA+TotA retail in UK? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Good luck, then, Stardock, I hope your products sell well enough over the internet that you don't need us oldfashioned or technologically handicapped retail buyers! Direct internet sales are in many cases the only way an independent developer can afford to distribute. If you're only willing to buy at brick and mortar stores, you're only going to be able to buy products that are big enough to be able to afford shelf space in your particular neck of the wo

Reply to The secret to Twilight of the Arnor in GalCiv Journals GalCiv2 Forums

Looks awesome, thanks for the info and for the upcoming beta.

Reply to Twilight of the Arnor: Technology Tree Concepts in GalCiv Journals GalCiv2 Forums

If GalCiv were a multiplayer game, this kind of feature simply wouldn't be possible precisely because they won't be perfectly balanced. This is why I worry a bit about GC3 having multiplayer, or the fantasy TBS for that matter...

Reply to Galactic Civilizations II, Copy Protection, and Piracy in GalCiv II News GalCiv2 Forums

All I know is I paid for a broken product without realising that's what it was. And the store isn't going to take it back (I got what I paid for). And it seems stardock have there boilerplate "sorry your an idiot and thought you could just simply buy our game at low cost. Now pay us $$ for a serial number" reply to ignore me with. A lesson learned, and a fair trade lawsuit waiting to happen. Until then, I'll buy games I can keep. Forget this DRM... <

Reply to GalCiv II v1.7 Beta 1 Changelog in GalCiv Journals GalCiv2 Forums

Wow, some of that I was really expecting to turn up in TA, but here it is in 1.7 (and free to boot, of course). Have I mentioned recently that Stardock kicks ass?

Reply to Why Stardock and the GalCiv series have earned my trust and patronage in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

So, for whatever it's worth, what all of this boils down to is this. Stardock is one of only a small handful of developers (I can count them on one hand) that I routinely tell friends and acquaintances that they can trust. i'd be very interested to hear what other developers you'd recommend, and what notable games they've got going presently. Me too, actually. There was a

Reply to Why Stardock and the GalCiv series have earned my trust and patronage in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I couldn't agree more, point by point, with the OP. There's a reason I preordered TA the day I found out about it.

Reply to Affirmative Action in GC2 in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I pretty much completely disagree, but let's take this one at a time: 1) restrict ship speed to 5 If you don't want the dynamics of the game radically changed, turn off mega events. For my part, I love that one. It totally changes the dynamics of the game and forces a radical adjustment of strategy. It also gives the whole thing a more "hard sci fi" feel, with a massive tech gap between your front lines and your ship yards. But yeah, if yo

Reply to Selling tech is like striptease in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

Stardock needs to evaluate changes they make in terms of whether it makes the game better or just harder. In this case it makes the game less exploitable, which is definitely a good thing IMO.

Reply to New Race for 1.7? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Very cool idea, I'd love to see this implemented in a future patch or expansion.

Reply to How radical should expansion packs get? in GalCiv Journals GalCiv2 Forums

A lot of people seem to have some sort of desire to turn this into MoO 2, or maybe what they wish MoO 3 would have been. I must confess to having never played the series, but the requests for "tactical" combat (whatever that means, I'm not really sure) and such seem rather unnecessary to me. I suggest that people who want to turn this game into MoO 2 go play that game instead. Sorry, I just had to get that off of my chest. I'd tend to agree that the MOO2

Reply to How to Declare War? in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

In Dark Avatar, declaring war is a diplomatic option. However, why you'd ever want to use it is beyond me. I always declare war rather than sneak attack when I'm playing a good race, or a neutral with a sense of honor (like the Arceans). It's strictly a role playing thing, of course, but it's nice to have the option.

Reply to Complaint: Silliness in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

My two favorite Farnsworth quotes: "No fair, you changed the outcome by measuring it!" "Choke on that causality!"

Reply to Complaint: Silliness in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

Besides, being a science fiction game, is it not already "silly" from a scientific perspective? And in any case, mods are optional. To your first question, yes and it's nice to have the game realize that. There is such a thing as hard sci-fi of course, based on current knowledge and our best guesses at real world science for the future, but I've never seen a hard sci-fi game and one could never convert GC2 to that kind of format at this late sta

Reply to Complaint: Silliness in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

Better a well constructed sci-fi universe that doesn't take itself seriously than a poorly constructed one that does. Fundamentally, after all, the genre's pretty silly. Not as silly as fantasy, but still. It seems to me the main alternative to those flippant tech descriptions is a bunch of weighty technobabble. To anyone that knows something about science, that's a far worse brand of "silly." It's the kind of silly that isn't aware of how silly it really is.

Reply to How radical should expansion packs get? in GalCiv Journals GalCiv2 Forums

it seems to me that's what'd be needed for a true diplomatic victory. Yup, it's always bothered me that you don't need to actually get everyone to get along to get the "galactic peace" victory.

Reply to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in Adventure GalCiv2 Forums

I love Morrowind, but it's combat system is far less developed than Obliv and it's difficulty curve is ridiculously shallow. Oblivion tried to fix this with loot scaling, and while I'm not a fan of that solution either at least it's not trivial to beat the game with a level 10 character. Now, Morrowind can be fixed very nicely with mods too, and again that's the strength of a TES game in general, but Oblivion DOES have some things on Morrowind. What Morrowind has, however, that makes me like it

Reply to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in Adventure GalCiv2 Forums

The Oblivion mod community has finally reached a state of sufficient maturity to make the game really, really good. I highly recommend Francesco's mod, or for the more daring the FCOM beta, to anyone who feels the game is too easy, lacks realism, or who just doesn't like the level and loot scaling as it currently exists. The principle strength of Elder Scroll games is their modability, which is why one should never buy one on a console. You're paying full price for 1/10th of a game that way.

Reply to Is there any way to enable "lingering racial grudge" for custom races? in Modding GalCiv2 Forums

yeah, I was just thinking it would be nice if it were possible. It would be an easy way to get antagonistic races in total conversions to behave more like they're supposed to. Yup. One of the things I like about playing premade races is the existing relationships between them. It'd add a lot of depth to custom races to be able to set up similar pre-existing relationships. And yes, it'd also aid total conversions

Reply to Is there any way to enable "lingering racial grudge" for custom races? in Modding GalCiv2 Forums

That'd be a really cool feature to add, though.