uruguru

Reply to 2 Ideas from MoO 3 that Should be Incorporated in Ideas GalCiv2 Forums

The MOO1 model was, by far, the best. Each tech had a specific research cost that, once reached, allowed you to 'learn' the tech. From then, you had to keep pumping in RP to get an increasing chance of learning the tech each turn. This meant that there was a minimum number of RP you needed, but you did not know how much RP it would cost in the end. The GalCiv model encouraged micromanagement. If you were producing 100 RP per turn and needed only 10

Reply to Trading weirdness -- a little more documentation in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Malleus, Weapons Tech and all of the other beginning techs can be researched in 2 turns at the beginning of the game. It seems to cost 34 BC in research like all of the other beginning techs. Universal Translator is only 17 BC and can be picked up in one turn after you get Comm Theory. All you need to do is raise your tax rate and spending at the beginning of the game. Your morale (and pop growth) will drop as a result, but it's an easy way to get techs if you need them right aw

Reply to Trading weirdness -- a little more documentation in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

DblDamage, thx for the comment. At least I've made some progress. Yesterday the problem was a non-existent figment of my imagination caused by my lack of playing time. ;) Today it's just not big enough to worry about. I think the issue is tied to who approaches whom. If the AI approaches you, the deals are a lot more balanced than if you approach the AI. Even in the late game when you are dominating, there's a difference. I recall a game where I was trashing one of the

Reply to Trading weirdness -- a little more documentation in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

"Whilst i repect your right to report this, i would prefer the Dev's spent their time on game enhancing features. " But see, it's not just Defense Theory. At any point in every game I've played, I can see an imbalance. The only problem is that later in the game there are so many variables in play that it's easy to dismiss as being caused by something else. But at turn 15 it's pretty clear that the AI is being given an edge. Frogboy suggested going back and trying this

Reply to About 'Ai Cheats!' Threads in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

"Indeed I think it's rather because Brad repeatedly stated the AI didn't cheat that many are seeking to prove the contrary " I don't know if that's always the case. If someone notices that the AI *seems* to have an advantage, it could simply be a bug. Surely no one expected the game to be bug-free. ;)

Reply to Tech Tree Update: April 9th in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Did you just recently add the Excel download, or have I simply missed it previously? Awesome! Thanks for all your work to make our gaming lives a little easier :)

Reply to How to suggest changes and get the developers to think about it in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

oops, one more thing. I would like to add that in 1.02 the AI was definitely valuing techs lower, as Horatio mentioned (and thus my original complaint about trading for Defense Theory!) However, this really didn't solve the problem. It simply compelled me to do the tech spam in order to keep up. This is not a solution to the problem, IMO. When all races are evaluating a new tech equally, there is a real incentive to sell it to everyone right away if you know you're goi

Reply to How to suggest changes and get the developers to think about it in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Horatio, thanks for the comment. I will experiment some more with this when I download 1.03. I was in about "round 3" the tech spam in 1.02 until the game crashed on the diplomacy screen. All I know is they were all out of cash and I was drowning in it -- thus the desire to see if the exploit can be addressed.

Reply to "Our incredible ability in diplomacy gives us a great advantage" = B.S. in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

"As to my "ignorant logic," it comes from my experience of playing used-car dealer to the AI's old-granny approach to diplomacy when I'm at the table across from it. As I said, play the game more." Yes, I see that you like cheese. Perhaps you should read more closely. My "ignorant logic" statement addressed your comment that the diplomacy imbalance shouldn't be fixed because it is already too easy. Perhaps the imbalance is the result of a different problem that you haven't cons

kudos to the developers in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

one of my early complaints had to do with the tedium in balancing trades on the diplomatic UI. I was hoping for an 'auto-balance' option for the cash portion and was skeptical of Frogboy's "auto-updating slider" solution. However, I have to admit that his solution did an excellent job in eliminating that particular tedium. Great work! Other than the crash bug (which I know they are addressing), the only other quirk I noticed is that removing influence points from a proposed tra

Reply to How to suggest changes and get the developers to think about it in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Frien, that's a great idea! When you first trade the tech, you essentially have a monopoly and should get top dollar for it. But as soon as you trade it to someone else, the perceived value of the tech goes down because it is no longer a monopoly. By the time 4 of the 6 races have the good, it's practically a commodity. They would *expect* a bargain basement deal for it because there is a line of other players ready to deal it if you won't. LOL This is a much more elegan

Reply to How to suggest changes and get the developers to think about it in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

p.s. I think that GalCiv is a great game. Please do not take my criticisms as reflecting anything but a desire to improve a great game. :)

Reply to How to suggest changes and get the developers to think about it in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

the 'tech spam' exploit... Problem: when a player discovers a new tech, he is able to immediately trade it to all AI players for cash and other goodies. This windfall then allows faster research for the player so that the cycle can be repeated. Not only does this provide a disproportionate return for a tech investment, it keeps the AI from catching up to the player. As far as I'm aware, this problem has existed in 4X games since Civ1. Why this is bad: it is not strategy, it is

Reply to "Our incredible ability in diplomacy gives us a great advantage" = B.S. in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

"To take Defense theory - it's easier to trade for deflectors or shields than defense theory, and the opportunity to research that is the only benefit defense theory gives. you even get a ship type from them!" I agree wholeheartedly. I am guessing that the game internally values Defense Theory so highly to force the AI will research it FIRST instead of getting slowed by the other initial techs. This would open up the path to other techs with defensive units that prevent the AI from bein

Reply to IGN reviews Galciv: 8.2 / 10 in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I've noticed that all of the pre-release reviews of MOO3 are glowing, and most of the post-release reviews are bad. It is possible that the pre-release MOO3 reviewers did a "rush job" in order to get out an early review, thus missing some of the big problems. A more cynical person might suggest that the pre-release reviewers were selected because they were drooling fanboys ;) I don't see how anyone who plays GalCiv for any length of time can insist on comparing it to MOO when i

Reply to "Our incredible ability in diplomacy gives us a great advantage" = B.S. in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

btw, uruguru = thongor thongor was my Stardock name after I bought the game

Reply to "Our incredible ability in diplomacy gives us a great advantage" = B.S. in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Frogboy, OK, I will try that. :) But I have to admit that it is a little perplexing that the AI would have such a disparate evaluation for two techs with identical prereqs (none) and identical research costs. I could understand this for techs that had significantly different prereqs (thus requiring a lot of add'l research) or provided access to a key unit or improvement. Apparently the diplomatic cheese starts on turn 1 by choosing "Defense Theory" as the first t

Reply to things in GalCiv that are wasting my time! in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Yog Sloth, I agree that #1 is a bigger deal on larger maps. However, it's also a problem if you make habitable planets 'abundant'. This is a feature that was in MOO1, fer chrissakes!

Reply to things in GalCiv that are wasting my time! in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

aweill, I agree about the non-monetary aspects of the trade. Those should be determined by hand. It's the final effort of "how much cash can I get thrown in before the deal turns yellow?" This is a big time-waster and there's no strategy or fun involved in the process. It's just tedious.

Reply to Suggestions in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

another suggestion -- tone down the space monsters! I was playing a game where the Torians had the Space Zoo and the monsters escaped. Then, they made a beeline straight for my empire! Maybe it was just a coincidence. After they destroyed all of my starbases, they started following one of my two corvettes (this was very early in the game). Once I had lured them about two sectors away, I rebuilt my starbases. Then the monsters turned around and destroyed my starbases again!

Reply to Suggestions in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

more ideas: -- need to be able to zoom out somewhat on the main map. A view that could show a 3x3 sector view would be plenty. -- also, it would be nice if anomalies were displayed on the mini-map somehow. I spend way too much time trying to target my survey ship on anomalies that my scout discovered 15 turns earlier!

Reply to Suggestions in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Here are a few things needed to get rid of some unnecessary tedium: --- a list of uncolonized planets, sorted by quality. Now where was I going to send this colony ship? Right now, I have to hunt through every star system one by one, unless there's a better way I don't know about --- capitalism. You know, that old Civ2 enhancement that converted unused production into cash? Or how about a MOO1 'reserve', where unused production goes into an imperial slush fund? Maybe I don't wa

Reply to No final frontier for the AI? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Well, if we are really going to be "gung ho" about the AI playing by the same rules, then we should take the bad with the good. I vote for allowing the AI a straightforward tech victory. You snooze, you lose. ;) However, a startup option to disable this victory condition would be nice as well.

Reply to Brad - Please come clean in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Brad, Ignore that loser! He somehow thinks that if the lead developer doesn't respond to his post within 20 MINUTES, there must something to hide. Gimme a break! You're doing an awesome job for everyone here. Don't let a few bad apples ruin it for everyone else.

Reply to More detailed planets ? Planet habitability below 12 ? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

I think being able to colonize every planet is a bad idea. However, is it possible to somehow mine uninhabitable planets for resources?