Comments about the game

[Ironheart]

Ok so I have played the game quite extensively since it was released and have the following comments (and not all of them are bad)

1. Nano ripper ... OMFG is this weapon powerful. It doesn't matter if the enemy has armor, because packing a bunch of these on a huge hull design will slaughter anything.

2. The Battle Freighter ... I hate when my freighters get killed so I tested something. Huge hull with nano rippers and a trade module. Fleets now attack the freighters and generally die. "Our first catch of the die .... OMFG this isn't your everyday freighter!"

3. The computer cheats like a MOFO!!! I have played and won versus easy to challenging and each level they cheat. I always wondered how the hell they can have giant industry/research levels or pump out ships like nothing, especially when I take their planets and see their set-up is pretty crappy. I then decided to cheat myself and made a custom solar system for a custom race with all 5 planets very nicely endowed. I then played a small map with maxed enemies and found that even with planets with 30+ quality I was being out produced and out researched. I realize they get a bonus at higher levels but geez ... I am glad Civ 4 doesn't have AI like this.

4. What is up with the computer always surrendering to one another ... like they have a bunch of solar systems left and they arent in another races' territory, but they simply surrender and sometimes to a race way on the other side of the map. It makes it frustrating when you like to play with maxed players (even on Civ 4 ... 18 civs on a tiny map, fun!!)

5. Influence needs to be changed .. alot more like it is in Civ 4 I think.

6. Weapons need to be smaller. I want capital ships to have a crap load of weapons. I figure the tiny hull is a figher, while huge is like a damn star destroyer.

7. Where are the small one-man fighters for ships? I want a carrier, something like Battlestar Galactica.

8. No terraforming for level 0 planets? I understand the gas giants, but they do have moons. Also why are 5 planets the max? Can there be asteroids that could be mined? Or is that what resources are? I think floating shiny things out in space in kind of cheesy ... maybe make them into asteroids or smaller planets/gas planets/gas cloud.

9. Why are trade routes only between two civs? I would think that planets within an empire that are in different solar systems should be able to trade. Should be less money, but it gives an option to evil civs or it you get sick of the United Planets and some of their bogus laws they sign.

10. When I take an alien races' planet why arnt there anymore of their kind. I would think that your empire would eventually become quite diverse. Planets should show the percantage of that race as well.

11. Planetary defense is ridiculous! I can't build troops to defend my lands??!! I would like the option of making my defense force of planets .. even if it is generic like infantry, tanks, mechs, fighters.

12. Diplomacy seems pretty cheesy. There also needs to be the option to turn tech trading off, because the AI trades everything to each other, but seem to be anal when it comes to me trading with them. I have also had races that were friendly with me and have always traded with me just attack me out of the blue.

13. Good v Evil decisions .. why is it that the evil ones are always way better? The only reason I go the good route is because I am a good guy.

14. Option to change name of a star. If it is my star and I want to call out Dirty Pillow then I should have that option.

15. The patch messed up the upgrade for me. I used to have the same few classes of hull sizes and would upgrade periodically. Now everything gets stripped and I have to start from scratch even if I just wanted to replace the engine I have to go through it all. SOme of you might like this option, but can there please be an option to turn that off.

16. Territory should mean something ... should go with the way Civ 4 has it and make it where a treaty is needed to enter my space. I have a problem when they plop a military starbase near my homeworld as I am sure anyone would be like "WTH"

17. Upgrade costs should be toned way down. Although I noticed a bug here ... for gits n shiggles I upgraded every ship I had and was int he hole for hundreds of thousands. They all upgraded and the next turn I was in the hole for 2000. Unless my economy went into overdrive or the government did a massive tax collection I would think this would be a bug.

18. Move the turn button to somewhere else. I hit it accidentally quite often when I try to click the lower right portion of the map. Would also allow us to scoll diagonally.

19. Designing ships is fun and I like the flexibility it provides the gamer.

20. More control with space combat would be nice ... like what I want them to shoot at or if one is getting tore up have it retreat. I don't think we should know every detail about a ship, unless you have good sensors or something, which would give more use to sensors on capital ships and it should also help targeting.

Well it is a decent game, but can be much better. I find that too many games are being rushed into the market before they are honed. Seems the first month or so after release they consider it open beta or something. Now I am pretty sure that many will disagree with my comments and may even say that the AI is just fine and that I don't know how to play, which is fine, you all that God given right to do that.

 

[Kozmos]

You dont know how to play and ask the game to be like 10 different game genres at once.Moving along people.

 

[Masquerouge]

4. What is up with the computer always surrendering to one another ... like they have a bunch of solar systems left and they arent in another races' territory, but they simply surrender and sometimes to a race way on the other side of the map. It makes it frustrating when you like to play with maxed players (even on Civ 4 ... 18 civs on a tiny map, fun!!)

That's pretty funny, I think. Especially when they surrender right before you are about to invade them.

9. Why are trade routes only between two civs? I would think that planets within an empire that are in different solar systems should be able to trade. Should be less money, but it gives an option to evil civs or it you get sick of the United Planets and some of their bogus laws they sign.

Good idea.

11. Planetary defense is ridiculous! I can't build troops to defend my lands??!! I would like the option of making my defense force of planets .. even if it is generic like infantry, tanks, mechs, fighters.

In a sense, you can. Your troops are directly related to how many people you have on the planet. So if you want troops to defend, build farms. Of course, this will take the spots for manufacturing plants and research centers, not to mention the happiness problems

12. Diplomacy seems pretty cheesy. There also needs to be the option to turn tech trading off, because the AI trades everything to each other, but seem to be anal when it comes to me trading with them. I have also had races that were friendly with me and have always traded with me just attack me out of the blue.

That is definitely NOT my experience. The AI did not trade vitals techs to ANYBODY, not just me. And for the sneak attack by a friendly AI, I have raped the AI too many times to complain about them raping me in turn.

13. Good v Evil decisions .. why is it that the evil ones are always way better? The only reason I go the good route is because I am a good guy.

Evil is short term. Being labeled as evil makes diplomacy win harder if not downright impossible. The only reason I go the neutral way is because of the bonuses you get when you research Xeno Ethics and turn neutral

15. The patch messed up the upgrade for me. I used to have the same few classes of hull sizes and would upgrade periodically. Now everything gets stripped and I have to start from scratch even if I just wanted to replace the engine I have to go through it all. SOme of you might like this option, but can there please be an option to turn that off.

They acknowledged that, and in the future upgrades will not scratch your designs.

16. Territory should mean something ... should go with the way Civ 4 has it and make it where a treaty is needed to enter my space. I have a problem when they plop a military starbase near my homeworld as I am sure anyone would be like "WTH"

How do you prevent people for entering your space ? I mean, it is already almost impossible to stop people from crossing borders, so deep space ? You can build a wall on Earth, but what would you do if you wanted people not to enter the Solar System ?

17. Upgrade costs should be toned way down. Although I noticed a bug here ... for gits n shiggles I upgraded every ship I had and was int he hole for hundreds of thousands. They all upgraded and the next turn I was in the hole for 2000. Unless my economy went into overdrive or the government did a massive tax collection I would think this would be a bug.

True, upgrades are a bit expensive...

 

[Stormbringer]

Everyone says the AI cheats while the developers insist it does not. I trust the people who wrote the code.

 

[Gunner]

Yeah, the AI doesn't cheat. It just happens to know how to play the game, something which appears that you do not.

 

[GeorgeOP]

I bought the box game. I quote from Page 13 of the Manual under Choosing Opponents, paragraph 3.

At the Intelligent setting, the AI will function with a fully enabled AI. For everything below Intelligent, certain aspects of the AI will be turned off or toned down. For instance, at lower levels, the AI will earn less tax revenue. For everything above Intelligent, the AI will get bonuses that the human player doesn't have, mainly in terms of a tax revenue bonus. You can also set your beginning relations with each race.

It seems to me that the AI does get bonuses or penalties based on the intelligence setting you choose. That's probably why there is a seperate difficulty toggle. The AI probably doesn't cheat in that it has a fog of war like you do. In too many games the AI knows things it should not know.

And yes, it's easier to be evil than good. That's the way it seems to be in real life also.

 

[Esckey]

So in your opinion is this game better or on the same level as Master of Orion 2?

Just looking at it makes it hard for me to say, alot of good things from both games

 

[Ironheart]

Yeah, the AI doesn't cheat. It just happens to know how to play the game, something which appears that you do not.

My favorite answer .. thanks ...

As for being better than Master of Orion 2 .... well I played that almost a year ago while I was in Iraq in between convoy missions. There were some aspects of that game I liked, but I remember it was kind of slow. I think I preferred Civ 3 over it. I did like how different races used planets differently. I think that was that game. If I remember right the game went pretty slow, but then again I didn't have all the time in the world to devote to it.

Oh and by the way, instead of flaming or simply saying something ignorant about someone you don't know try to contribute something to the conversation. It is pretty easy to talk crap to someone through a computer ... let me know if you want to look me up in Ft Lewis sometime to tell me to my face.

Masquerouge thanks for the answers/comments.

 

[Fragment]

3. The computer cheats like a MOFO!!! I have played and won versus easy to challenging and each level they cheat. I always wondered how the hell they can have giant industry/research levels or pump out ships like nothing, especially when I take their planets and see their set-up is pretty crappy. I then decided to cheat myself and made a custom solar system for a custom race with all 5 planets very nicely endowed. I then played a small map with maxed enemies and found that even with planets with 30+ quality I was being out produced and out researched. I realize they get a bonus at higher levels but geez ... I am glad Civ 4 doesn't have AI like this.

You may be missing

- Space stations. Build all of the three available space stations around every solar system, possibly trying to catch multiple planets with one station, if possible. Build more constructors to make them useful. I don't know if multiple space stations of the same type around a planet help, gotta check that.

- Resources, and anomalies. Build constructors like mad, claim the special resources, and use them (more constructors). Check out each and every anomaly on the way.

I mean, do build constructors. Many of them.

HTH, regards.

 

[Harlanite]

How many opposing civs should you play with on a medium sized galaxy? I'm playing with 5 others, feels a bit cramped and confusing (I'm not too far into the game).

Cheers

 

[Ironheart]

No I am not missing space stations .. and yes if you build the same stations they do stack, but when I enter their space and check out their stations they arn't all that special.

Oh another thing I just checked out .... I viewed their ships wondering how they got their numbers:

Frigate M7-2

Medium Hull
1 x Impulse Drive
3 x Titanium Armor III
1 x Harpoon
3 x Plasma III
Sensor range = 3

Range = 1.5

I can do it with a large hull .. barely. And I have a higher miniturization then they do ... And this design is used by a few civs in the game I am using so it isn't some special racial thing or one of those nice ships that are found.

 

[warpstorm]

If that design is used by a few civs, someone has likely been selling their ships. The Yor, for example, can pack stuff in their ships.

 

[woodelf]

Yeah, different civs get different bonuses. I need to play the Yor!

 

[Supreme Shogun]

Will at least try and put up a reasonable response and not dismiss it as another hater.

1) Yes it is nice. But you don't get it for free. You gotta be evil and also you have to research the 3 alignment techs after choosing evil.

2) There is a United Planets (UP) proposal that can ban attacks on freighters.
If that is passed - no one can attack 'em. I mean no one. It's not a law you can ignore. Also there's a super project called galactic privateer which is pretty much takes care of it for you if you build it.

3) The computer is gimped like a mofo on levels easy thru challenging. Intelligent is full-on non gimped. Anything above, it will get extra cash.
It's hard to believe it cheats on those levels. You said you were taking their planets but they had lots of ships... could it be that since they weren't as advanced their ships cost less ? AI also makes good use of fighters(small or tiny hulls ) a good bit and those aren't hard at all to pump out.

4) Well first let me say that in the game the AI's don't make distinction between human player and other AI. You're all fair game to declare war on.
Next, the losing AI will surrender once it is beaten. It throws in the towel after putting up a valiant effort but doesn't require you to beat a dead horse into the ground... now having said that.. if you play on easy level like you said above.. its not so much a 'valiant effort' on harder levels more like a weak try.. but hey it is EASY level.

5) Influence and Culture are similar concepts. I don't see what you mean by more live Civ 4...

6) I agree with the latter statements but the first sentence I didn't. It's all about researching the super-weapons. I classify my own ships as follows: Tiny= Fighter Small= Heavy Fighter Med=Frigate Large=Battleship Huge= Dreadnought/Star Destroyer. While it may 'sound' boring going from say plasma I to plasma II etc.. look for the damage and the units it takes up. Look at the ratio of damage to space it takes up over time. Defences same way if you look at defense value / space it takes up.

7) Well there is no carrier per se, but you can bring over some fighters to a larger ship and make a fleet.

8) Zero planets are totally unusable to you or anyone. There are random events that can change one. Example comes from UP issue where this newly discovered planet is found to be habitable and the vote is for who gets it.
As of yet, asteroids aren't mineable but it has been hinted this might come later on. Resources are mineable. Get there first with a constructor module and build a starbase. send over more modules and develop it. gain bonuses for your empire. also build some defences on it.

9) not sure I agree, but in Civ 4 trading was between two civs. 1 route was. You can have other routes with other races. . . I'd have to say the other thing you mention UP issue is a long-term balancing effect for evil.

10) Don't really have an answer for that other than its not something the Devs wanted to figure in.

11) Population generally is your first and last line of defense. There are some techs that will help.. Planetary Defense. My own personable opinion is that if you are counting on farmers to save your butt... we need to re-think that strategy. Transports can't land if you have at least a fighter orbiting the world.

12) Well there's some methods to its madness. Like it knows when you're trying to pull fast ones. Don't expect to get a red war tech if you are the military leader and all the other races fear you.

13) Heh. I said that in the beta test phase. Evil decisions are easy to make for the short-term here and now bonuses. Good is equally viable. There's a few where you lose some money or say don't risk my peoples lives but the ones where theres a penalty hurt. However I still feel its balanced for the game. There are bonuses for being good and staying good. Like 5 colony center maintenence removed? 5 x 25bc = 125 bc a turn you don't have to shell out. Trade bonuses with other good races. However, I still every once in a while sell my soul for a few more tiles ( the + planet quality event )

14) I hope its an oversight thats on a list to get fixed also. You can rename planets and starbases, ships..

15) Yeah like the above post said the patch had to, but the plus side was that future patches won't have to do that again.

16) Space is more fluid ? How can you stop people from passing through your borders ? I'd either buy the starbase or goto war over it. I don't allow influence bases near my worlds.

17) Its not advisable to upgrade all your ships at once. I only upgrade veteran ships and the ones earmarked for 'putting out to pasture' as obsolete get gifted off to ally while I make better top of the line ones.

18) Careful

19) Building ships is fun. My only negative I have to say is that I can't build ships that are as eye candy as the default sometimes but you should be able to upgrade and save just so you can get that look.

20) Its hard to please everybody. I can say it had a loong beta and a closed gamma before it was released. The gamma testers said release it a week before it was decided..

I am thoroughly impressed with the AI's ability to kick my ass hard on the upper difficulty levels and consider it a challenge to play those. I won't fault you for your comments, at least tell me you've played Intelligent or better before bashing the AI.

 

[BlizzardGR]

3. The computer cheats like a MOFO!!! I have played and won versus easy to challenging and each level they cheat. I always wondered how the hell they can have giant industry/research levels or pump out ships like nothing, especially when I take their planets and see their set-up is pretty crappy. I then decided to cheat myself and made a custom solar system for a custom race with all 5 planets very nicely endowed. I then played a small map with maxed enemies and found that even with planets with 30+ quality I was being out produced and out researched. I realize they get a bonus at higher levels but geez ... I am glad Civ 4 doesn't have AI like this.

I WISH the AI in Civ4 was like GalCiv2 (which doesn't Cheat btw).

Some of your ideas are nice but IMHO you have a few things confused and some of your comments are just plain wrong or ignorant (no offence ).