OT: Galatcic Civilizations (GalCiv)

[SlapBone]

Originally posted by Atrocities:

Too bad more hard core 4x fans have not yet discovered this game. Believe me when I say that I have been spreading the word.

My copy of SEIV Gold came in the day after I received GalCiv so I have really not had time to distinguish between the 2. My take so far:

SEIV- all of the features and flexibility I was hoping for in this game. I like the race editor a lot.

Galciv- Has a lot of things that I have enjoyed about games in the past (SMAC). The game is not easy however.

[raynor]

The game manual recommends playing your first Gal Civ game in a small galaxy. But I'm playing in a large galaxy, and my first game is taking quite a long time. Since I haven't even finished my first game, I don't want to give a lot of specifics. But at this point, I rate the game a little lower than MOO3.

[Atrocities]

What I have found is that I run out of money fast producing Colony ships and only have about 3 or 4 colonies. I then spend the next 200 turns getting out of debt and not researching squat as I have no funds.

Around turn 200 +/- 20 or so, The enemy AI starts to take over my planets. This has been this way for all the games I have played. I have read a lot about the strategy of the game, but still find that I am lacking in ability to adiquitely get my empire off and running.

Then there are the people who cheat and post their empires to the Metauniverse. Come on guys, altering the game via a Hex editor (How you do this is beyond me) or by the use of a trainer, go cheat o matic, is cheating, and eventually the folks at GalCiv will root you out.

But I am tempted to use something just to make it past the first 200 or so turns without getting wiped out.

Great game, not as indepth or detailed as SE IV, but it has a lot of really nice aspects and some nice cut scenes. Excellent, thus far, AI, Diplomacy, Research, and such.

I agree, we really need to be able to zoom the sector map in and out, as well as having the game NOT display all of the star systems locations. They should be hidden from view until discovered much the way that BOTF did it.

Excellent game though, complete dipartcher from SE IV in a good way.

[raynor]

I am mainly unhappy with the game because the planetary model is difficult to understand. In Master of Orion I & II, you could easily determine the production of a planet. In Master of Orion I, you had a factory level that determined the number of factories per colonist. Planets with a larger max number of colonists could have more factories and thus produce faster. In Gal Civ, you just have this nebulous "Planetary Quality" which somehow will affect both the max number of colonists and the max production. But it isn't really explained anywhere, and it isn't really all that intuitive.

As I am playing and reading on the Gal Civ forums, I have found a number of bugs in the game--some of which are game-stopping crash type bugs.

If you are interested in trying out this game, I would advise waiting a few months until a patch or two has come out.

BTW, it appears you can do some modding of the Gal Civ data files. It looks like both MOO3 and Gal Civ saw the success of SEIV and followed suit.

[solops]

I have really enjoyed this game. No crashes and the beginner AI has beaten me three games in a row. However, in game 4 I have solved the money problem and have spread like the plague. Victory #1 perhaps? The interface has a few rough spots and there are a lot of things that are unexplained, but it is very intuitive and I have had little problem coping. There are also a few information and management features that should be added. Researching for cash is the key, along with not building things you really cannot afford yet.

I do regret the lack of tactical combat or custom ship design, but things seem to work out. R&D makes sure that stock BBs, CA, etc are not all created equal.

[ March 31, 2003, 14:55: Message edited by: solops ]

[Atrocities]

There is a current patch out. It comes with the Bonus pack. Addresses a few of the crash issues.

The one thing that changes that I have not been able to figure out is the UI. It changes, and I for one have no clue as to why. Overall, the game is rather fun. I am in my fourth game now and for the most part was winning it. Now I am at war with the Yor and they are taking my worlds over covertly. Most frustrating.

[Askan Nightbringer]

There are different UIs for evil ,neutral and good empires. If the UI has gone red its means you've been a bit nasty

Askan