For those of you who are waiting for Civ 5 to be fixed/patched.....

[hardcore_gamer]

Decent for 50-100 hours, then you'll realise it's quite a shallow game as well.

How is it shallow? It can't be because of victory conditions since you can win the game without having to wage any wars.

Also, are you calling the core vanilla game shallow or the game with all of the add-ons?

 

[Lanstro]

The whole package.

You'll see that it compares most easily to Civ IV BTS - similar victory conditions, similar diplomacy, wide tech tree, stacks of doom, etc. Except every facet is just done a little bit worse than BTS.

The military and culture tech tree is littered with bland techs which are basically laser 1-5, bigger lasers 1-5, biggest lasers 1-5, laser defence 1-3, bigger laser defence 1-3, replicated again for the other 2 weapon types. When you combine it with the ship-design aspect of the game it just becomes a micromanagement pain: every 5 turns or so you'll get a (very slightly) better version of your lasers/missiles/defences/hull and you should theoretically upgrade your designs. If you're like me and can't be bothered doing it that often, once every 15 or 20 turns is still a pain. Using the pre-set designs is not an option if you're playing at a high difficulty because they're sub-optimal.

Then when you actually get to the combat, it's much shallower than civ IV's. There's no terrain bonuses, no collateral damage and no concept of ground/navy/air. Levelling your ships just gets them slightly improved stats rather than specific promotions like BTS. The tactical depth is almost non-existent.

Cultural victories are done much worse than BTS. A typical cultural victory is done by pumping out cultural space stations and upgrading them. It's not about racing to build the key wonders and acquiring religions while keeping everyone happy so you don't get dogpiled - in GalCivII it's about pumping out dozens if not hundreds of little constructor ships which you have to micromanage to all corners of the universe to build cultural centers.

I won't go on with how overrated the AIs are or how bland the other victory conditions are. You'll see.

 

[Adam7Eight]

Agree with the OP. I've been playing GC2 non-stop since I got it a week ago. Between this and EU3 I will busy for a while.

 

[charon2112]

If you really believe all that, then there's no convincing you otherwise, and you lost me with that comment on tactics. GC2 is a 4X game, ideally tactics aren't a part of the game at all. I will say this: GC2 is one of the best 4X games out there.

The whole package.

You'll see that it compares most easily to Civ IV BTS - similar victory conditions, similar diplomacy, wide tech tree, stacks of doom, etc. Except every facet is just done a little bit worse than BTS.

The military and culture tech tree is littered with bland techs which are basically laser 1-5, bigger lasers 1-5, biggest lasers 1-5, laser defence 1-3, bigger laser defence 1-3, replicated again for the other 2 weapon types. When you combine it with the ship-design aspect of the game it just becomes a micromanagement pain: every 5 turns or so you'll get a (very slightly) better version of your lasers/missiles/defences/hull and you should theoretically upgrade your designs. If you're like me and can't be bothered doing it that often, once every 15 or 20 turns is still a pain. Using the pre-set designs is not an option if you're playing at a high difficulty because they're sub-optimal.

Then when you actually get to the combat, it's much shallower than civ IV's. There's no terrain bonuses, no collateral damage and no concept of ground/navy/air. Levelling your ships just gets them slightly improved stats rather than specific promotions like BTS. The tactical depth is almost non-existent.

Cultural victories are done much worse than BTS. A typical cultural victory is done by pumping out cultural space stations and upgrading them. It's not about racing to build the key wonders and acquiring religions while keeping everyone happy so you don't get dogpiled - in GalCivII it's about pumping out dozens if not hundreds of little constructor ships which you have to micromanage to all corners of the universe to build cultural centers.

I won't go on with how overrated the AIs are or how bland the other victory conditions are. You'll see.

 

[Buccaneer]

Those screen shots of Galactic Civilization is the biggest turn off I have ever seen here. While it may be a good game to play, the context is so unappealing to me. There are many who like that sci-fi stuff??? I would rather play a bad historical-based game than a good sci-fi one. Ugh.
So there.

 

[Biz_]

it's actually more like civ3 in space

 

[MadRat]

Im playing FO3:NV Mostly .. as of today I'm am shelving CiV until a SERIOUS AI patch is made. Hell I'd roll back the last patch if I could.

Rat

 

[hardcore_gamer]

There are many who like that sci-fi stuff???

Yes, there are in fact a considerable amount of people who like those silly things such as spaceships and aliens

Are you telling me you weren't aware of this?

 

[Sahkuhnder]

GalCiv2 is a great game and being able to choose to design your own ships it can actually be more in-depth than Civ4 is.

Lots of fun.

 

[Sonereal]

I liked Gal Civ II for a little bit but then it grew....stale. Pretty fast. If people think the early game of Civ5 on marathon is slow and tedious, the slowest speed on Gal Civ is even worst. I mean, its impossible to even wage war without a tech that takes usually 60 turns to research. Meanwhile, researcher new weapons don't feel so awesome. Going from Lasers I to Lasers II is like going from Spearmen to men with slightly longer spears.

And there are no real tactics. It's literally about smashing someone to pieces. Planetary invasions aren't really fun.

To be fair, the difference between Lasers and the next weapon above lasers is nice but the difference is negible when you're doing the _____ I, _______ II, ______ III thing. And customizing ships is fun.

 

[charon2112]

Those screen shots of Galactic Civilization is the biggest turn off I have ever seen here. While it may be a good game to play, the context is so unappealing to me. There are many who like that sci-fi stuff??? I would rather play a bad historical-based game than a good sci-fi one. Ugh.
So there.

That's totally a personal preference. If you really hate sci-fi, then I'd steer clear.

And again, @Sonereal...there aren't supposed to be any tactics, it's a 4X game.

 

[hardcore_gamer]

If people think the early game of Civ5 on marathon is slow and tedious, the slowest speed on Gal Civ is even worst.

But then again, you can set the research and game speed at the beginning I believe. It should also be noted that one possible reason for why research speed is slow on some settings is that when playing on the immense galaxy size a game can take well over a month of more to finish so it would not really be fun if you researched all of the techs very quickly.

I mean, its impossible to even wage war without a tech that takes usually 60 turns to research.

This is actually a good thing in my opinion since it means every Civ has some time to set up their civ for a short while before anyone can attack planets. It prevents cheap Zurge/rushed tactics in the early game.

there aren't supposed to be any tactics, it's a 4X game.

Saying that "there aren't any tactics" would probably not be very fair. The game is about forging and managing a intergalactic empire, its not a war game and thus warfare doesn't have large amounts of depth. Though it should be pointed out that the player is given more detailed options about what to do in regards to warfare once new warfare techs are researched.

 

[Sonereal]

But then again, you can set the research and game speed at the beginning I believe. It should also be noted that one possible reason for why research speed is slow on some settings is that when playing on the immense galaxy size a game can take well over a month of more to finish so it would not really be fun if you researched all of the techs very quickly.

Fair. I really wouldn't mind if there weren't so many redundant techs.

This is actually a good thing in my opinion since it means every Civ has some time to set up their civ for a short while before anyone can attack planets. It prevents cheap Zurge/rushed tactics in the early game.

The problem is that the distances we're talking about are huge.

Saying that "there aren't any tactics" would probably not be very fair. The game is about forging and managing a intergalactic empire, its not a war game and thus warfare doesn't have large amounts of depth. Though it should be pointed out that the player is given more detailed options about how to do in regards to warfare once new warfare techs are researched.

I like the ship customization. Given the scope of the game, I guess not having tactics isn't a big thing anyway.

Maybe I should load up the game and its expansion. If I remember correctly, vanilla GCII on the largest map was a micromanagement hell and Twilight fixed a lot of those problems.

The random events in the expansion were awesome too.

I would probably get GCIII if one ever gets made since GCII did have a lot of things I like that I wouldn't mind seeing in Civilization (customized units).

 

[hardcore_gamer]

The problem is that the distances we're talking about are huge.

You are you talking about the distance between techs or the distance between planets?

 

[charon2112]

Saying that "there aren't any tactics" would probably not be very fair. The game is about forging and managing a intergalactic empire, its not a war game and thus warfare doesn't have large amounts of depth. Though it should be pointed out that the player is given more detailed options about what to do in regards to warfare once new warfare techs are researched.

I agree with you, that's what I was trying to get across.

 

[charon2112]

The problem is that the distances we're talking about are huge.

I would probably get GCIII if one ever gets made...

They can be, but that's totally up to the player. You can create a tiny galaxy with nine races if you want, all crowded in. The set up options are awesome.

My fear for GCIII is that it will just be Elemental in space (since they're using the Elemental engine).

 

[hardcore_gamer]

They can be, but that's totally up to the player. You can create a tiny galaxy with nine races if you want, all crowded in. The set up options are awesome.

My fear for GCIII is that it will just be Elemental in space (since they're using the Elemental engine).

Galactic Civ 3 is being made?

This is news to me!

 

[charon2112]

Galactic Civ 3 is being made?

This is news to me!

No! not yet. But Brad said it would use the Elemental engine.

 

[hardcore_gamer]

No! not yet. But Brad said it would use the Elemental engine.

After googling "elemental engine" into google image all I got mostly images of first person shooters. How can such a engine be used for a game like Gal Civ 3?

Also, I read that Gal Civ 3 will feature tactical battles instead of forcing the player to auto-resolve every battle. I hope the franchise won't try to copy the Total War franchise and thus risk losing what is great about Gal Civ 2.

 

[Psyringe]

After googling "elemental engine" into google image all I got mostly images of first person shooters. How can such a engine be used for a game like Gal Civ 3?

Elemental is a game that Stardock recently released. See here. They developed the game's engine in-house (similar to how Firaxis developed the engine for Civ5). Elemental is not yet recommendable though; in a move that left many fans rather shocked, Stardock released the game in an utterly broken condition. They are committed to fix it, but it will take a while.

Also, I read that Gal Civ 3 will feature tactical battles instead of forcing the player to auto-resolve every battle. I hope the franchise won't try to copy the Total War franchise and thus risk losing what is great about Gal Civ 2.

Imho, if anything, they are copying the tactical battles from Master of Orion and Master of Magic, the games that heavily influenced the design of GalCiv and Elemental. I never played Total War though so I can't comment on similarities or differences to their system.