Minor tweaks for GalCiv II
- Thread starter Draginol
- Start date
ArmOrAttAk
Warlord
Yes, the precursor ship random event is too powerful that's one.
The random map seems to clump stars together and leaves vast empty spaces. For instance the last random map I counted 30 sectors with 2 stars or more many had 3 and even 4. There was another 30 sectors completely empty. Could you space them evenly?
Also on the map having some impassible terrain(?) would give gameplay more tactical and strategic depth. Black holes, pulsars, nebula, anything. Ideally an option of how much of this to generate.
The random map seems to clump stars together and leaves vast empty spaces. For instance the last random map I counted 30 sectors with 2 stars or more many had 3 and even 4. There was another 30 sectors completely empty. Could you space them evenly?
Also on the map having some impassible terrain(?) would give gameplay more tactical and strategic depth. Black holes, pulsars, nebula, anything. Ideally an option of how much of this to generate.
TC01
Deity
You know that there are options to change whether the map clumps stars into clusters or distributes them randomly? Do you mean that if you set the map to randomly distribute stars, they are still not evenly spaced out?
I agree with making some impassable features on the map. That was one of the things better done in Civ IV Beyond the Sword's Final Frontier scenario- that there is more space terrain than simply space (black holes, supernovas, radiation clouds, and nebula exist as features around the map).
But I don't think that would be a "minor tweak"- something like that we'd probably have to wait for in GC 3.
Sarcasticon
Warlord
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2007
- Messages
- 104
Wow, thanks for asking, this is quite unexpected but great to see that you're still gathering feedback for GalCiv II while you're so busy on Elemental. 
From the top of my head, these are the major tweaks I would be thinking of:
1. Reduce the tech inflation rate - there is so much complaining about this + it severely impairs the AI in plenty of games
2. Not sure whether this falls under "tweaks" but there have been some AI races that are acting too passive during expansion since ToA; it would be great if changing some parameters could improve that a bit (e.g. make them value expansion or uninhabited planets more)
3. Change the rate at which major events occur (dread lords seem to appear very rarely while the jagged knife is all over the place - in my impression the occurences were more balanced in DL and DA)
For me, that would be it... Any other ideas that would extend replayability would probably be too much work at this stage (i.e. different minors, more powerful minors to the extent that they can put up a decent fight against the weakest major AIs, different major events)
From the top of my head, these are the major tweaks I would be thinking of:
1. Reduce the tech inflation rate - there is so much complaining about this + it severely impairs the AI in plenty of games
2. Not sure whether this falls under "tweaks" but there have been some AI races that are acting too passive during expansion since ToA; it would be great if changing some parameters could improve that a bit (e.g. make them value expansion or uninhabited planets more)
3. Change the rate at which major events occur (dread lords seem to appear very rarely while the jagged knife is all over the place - in my impression the occurences were more balanced in DL and DA)
For me, that would be it... Any other ideas that would extend replayability would probably be too much work at this stage (i.e. different minors, more powerful minors to the extent that they can put up a decent fight against the weakest major AIs, different major events)
Atrebates
Prince
Not sure if this is a minor tweak, but I am very sure that GalCiv needs to streamline its interface.
- Finding out what keyboard shortcuts are is a tad difficult
- Menus are too vertical** (ie. long series of clicks to get where I want to be)
- Incorporate what is effectively the galactopedia mod directly into the game
- Give all the figures on the planet interface screen a breakdown when hovering pointer over them (not just influence)
- More explanation to help noobs in a quantitative fashion. Eg. if galactopedia was implemented, have pages that state a concept (eg. influence, income) and explain what it is, its benefits and factors that affect it.
I like the underlying brains and the tactics, but the user interface is a continual irritation.
**Examples: If I have assigned all my spies, and wish to look at the buildings on an alien planet (ie. the assign spy screen) I need to pull up my domestic menu, click to espionage, pull out an agent, use the fact that I have a spare agent to look at the planet of interest and then reassign the agent where he originally came from. That is a long process to achieve a single action.
Similarly with selecting ships. If I have multiple ships in the same parsec and wish to select all/several of them, I have to individually click every single one of them (no use of the obvious shortcuts like alt-click means 'select all', shift-click = 'select all between first and second click').
Equally strange: if I have several ships in the same parsec, when I click on that parsec, the game chooses a ship I'd like to move (fine). If I then want to move a different ship in that parsec I have to click on that ship and then click on the original ship to deselect it. That is making the action of selecting an alternate ship twice as long as it should be, the niggle is small but it is an interface issue that should not exist. Use the genre standard of Ctrl-click for multiple selections and raw click to change selection.
This post feels more negative than it should be, such is the side effect of looking for things to improve - I'm sorry for being negative about a very good game. It is bizarre that a game that has got excellent AI (the horribly hard programming challenge) has allowed itself a relatively cumbersome interface (an easy programming challenge, even if selecting good design is hard). It is doubly strange given that stardock produces well-received apps that fix up windows OS, which must be examples of very good interface.
Please feel free to PM or otherwise reply to me if explanation of anything I have said is needed. Or also if you want to call me a stupid tosser for missing out on a series of keyboard shortcuts that sort out the issues I outline in the prior paragraphs.
PS. Stardock's interaction with its consumers and running program of patches is exceptional and frankly, an example to the industry. Thank you for this.
- Finding out what keyboard shortcuts are is a tad difficult
- Menus are too vertical** (ie. long series of clicks to get where I want to be)
- Incorporate what is effectively the galactopedia mod directly into the game
- Give all the figures on the planet interface screen a breakdown when hovering pointer over them (not just influence)
- More explanation to help noobs in a quantitative fashion. Eg. if galactopedia was implemented, have pages that state a concept (eg. influence, income) and explain what it is, its benefits and factors that affect it.
I like the underlying brains and the tactics, but the user interface is a continual irritation.
**Examples: If I have assigned all my spies, and wish to look at the buildings on an alien planet (ie. the assign spy screen) I need to pull up my domestic menu, click to espionage, pull out an agent, use the fact that I have a spare agent to look at the planet of interest and then reassign the agent where he originally came from. That is a long process to achieve a single action.
Similarly with selecting ships. If I have multiple ships in the same parsec and wish to select all/several of them, I have to individually click every single one of them (no use of the obvious shortcuts like alt-click means 'select all', shift-click = 'select all between first and second click').
Equally strange: if I have several ships in the same parsec, when I click on that parsec, the game chooses a ship I'd like to move (fine). If I then want to move a different ship in that parsec I have to click on that ship and then click on the original ship to deselect it. That is making the action of selecting an alternate ship twice as long as it should be, the niggle is small but it is an interface issue that should not exist. Use the genre standard of Ctrl-click for multiple selections and raw click to change selection.
This post feels more negative than it should be, such is the side effect of looking for things to improve - I'm sorry for being negative about a very good game. It is bizarre that a game that has got excellent AI (the horribly hard programming challenge) has allowed itself a relatively cumbersome interface (an easy programming challenge, even if selecting good design is hard). It is doubly strange given that stardock produces well-received apps that fix up windows OS, which must be examples of very good interface.
Please feel free to PM or otherwise reply to me if explanation of anything I have said is needed. Or also if you want to call me a stupid tosser for missing out on a series of keyboard shortcuts that sort out the issues I outline in the prior paragraphs.
PS. Stardock's interaction with its consumers and running program of patches is exceptional and frankly, an example to the industry. Thank you for this.
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