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Post by Gilvan Blight on Jan 24, 2007 2:03:18 GMT -5
Quickly: rather good turn based strategy. Lots of depth and play options. To many 'skipped turns'
Summary: a turn based 'civilization' or Masters of Orion style game set in a Space Opera Setting. Players chose from one of 10 races and start off from a home system and spread into the Galaxy. There are 4 ways to 'rule the universe' The traditional kill everyone else and just as traditional The Technlological Victory. Two interseting ones are victory by Influence and victory by Alliance. The game is a mix of resource management on the plantary scale and galactic warfare and exploration on the galaxy scale. A balance has to be maintained between Military, Research and Production and the people need to be kept happy. The graphics are fully 3D. Online play is supported. Single player bosts a campaign as well as sandbox play.
The Good: the sheer amount of customization in this blows away any previous space civ games I have played. There are so many different set ups to chose from when playing sandbox that you should be able to find one perfect for the kind of game you want to play. Even the victory conditions can be tweaked. Following this great level of customization is the amount of control you have over ship produciton. The game comes with a set of standard ships, but at any time you can jump in and design your own added whatever new technologies you have developed immediately. The sheer volume of technologies is staggering and a bit overwhealming. The graphics are rather impressive for this style of game (though they won't be winning any awards). The AI in this is rather impressive, even at low levels. Overall better then it's predecessors. I am enjoying it about as much as I did MOO, and it looks a ton better and has many more options.
The Bad: diplomacy just doesn't feel interseting. It just boils down to a menu where you click what to trade for what. You don't really get a feel that you are interacting with another race. It often boils down to just selecting stuff until the screen goes green meaning the computer has accepted your offer. The amount of options and customization means you need to invest a heafty dose of time into this one in order to do any good. This isn't a jump right in and play type of game. While you could (and I did try) you won't be winning any games soon. This isn't a problem if you plan on spending the time, just not great if you want a quick game.
The Ugly: the odd soundtrack. I guess it's trying to get the space opera feel, but it just doesn't seem to fit the game. It also removes any feeling of tension as it's all rather 'relaxing'. Perhaps it's only because I am playing on small maps with not too many oponents at this point, but it seems I am spending a ton of time not doing anything but hitting the 'next turn' button. More then half of my gametime has been spent waiting for this or that to finish being built. This can get quite boring.
Overall: if you like turn based civ type games, especially in space, you will love this. It's one of those games where the more you put into it, the more you get out. Due to this it's not great for casual play, but if you want something to keep you busy for a night (or week), check this one out.
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Post by ghostwes on Jan 24, 2007 22:27:24 GMT -5
Sounds almost exactly like Galactic Civilizations II. Wondering if maybe you got the name wrong heh.
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Post by MontyCircus on Jan 24, 2007 23:11:17 GMT -5
I loaded this up, with the intention of making sure that it worked alright......the next thing I knew 6 or 8 hours had gone by...
I played basically by trial and error for the most part. One part that frustrated me was when I built a space dock, lab (or whatever they're called) within the range of a power orb thingy. But later on I found out (I think) that you have to build them directly on top of the power orb thingies to get the bonus.
Yeah, as Mo said...trading is kinda crappy. Also, I have absolutely no idea which technologies are "expensive" or "cheap"...and I'm paranoid that whatever I trade will end up getting be destroyed later on.
I've tried customizing ships to tweak them to my liking but it's difficult. I wish there was a button you could hit to make it the fastest possible...or have the farthest range etc. To adjust sliders would probably be easier than adding and subtracting modules over and over.
I haven't made it to any combat but I'm already confused. It sounds like rock paper scissors so each shield type defends well against one attack, okay against another, and is crap against the third. I think that's how it works anyway. I'd like to know exactly how it works for sure before my civ is in ruins.
I'm also not too sure how trading (sending freighters) works...can you send multiple freighters to the same planet? Or just one?
If you have a resource like crystals...how do you trade it? If you trade it from the trade screen...are you giving it away?
Heck if I know. I wish the manual was a bit beefier. I feel like the computer is making up house rules as I play ;D
I still haven't played Civ IV yet...I wonder which is better. Not to mention Space Rangers 2...which sounds like some wacky fun (part TBS, part RTS, part text adventure, part old school arcade shooter...maybe some others too)
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Post by Gilvan Blight on Jan 25, 2007 1:16:59 GMT -5
Sounds almost exactly like Galactic Civilizations II. Wondering if maybe you got the name wrong heh. Oops. See what 12 hours a day on Midnights does to you. Fixed. Actually asked for this one for Xmas due to your recomendation quite some time ago, I think when you first joined the board. @montey - trading, you just send one freighter per plant to a different 'enemy' plant. You can't stack them. Trade goods, I couldn't really figure out either. I found the included Tutorial Videos better then the manual, but there is still a lot they leave unexplained. Your suggestion of a Fastest etc is great, that would be way useful. I found the ship building confusing. I would take a set ship, upgrade it to what I thought was a faster ship with longer range and when I built the ship, it could go half as far as I expected, or it wouldn't actually be that fast. I'm obviously missing something, espectially in the distance scope variables (life support, etc). Combat is a bit odd. It's sorta rock/paper/scisors and sorta not. Each type of defence counters a specific offence, but lets the other two through. So a ship with Missile defence is great against missiles but nothing else (lazers and projectiles ignore the defenses exactly). I found in practice no actual way to figure out what I should be pumping my defences into. I would make a new ship, decimate the oponents for a few turns, they would adapt, I would start getting blown out of sky, and I could never figure out what to do to change that so I could get that uper hand again. I think with time I could figure it out, but after my first couple games, it was more trial and error. I would build what I thought was a great ship, if it won fights, I built a bunch more, if it lost I tried again. Not the best way for a military victory (which I have not achieved). The biggest hint I can give is USE FLEETS. You won't last long any other way. The other hint I can give, don't go to war. The only game I won was by influence, every time I ended up at War, I had to give half my tech away just so they would leave me alone.
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Post by ghostwes on Jan 25, 2007 1:44:38 GMT -5
The game has a very steep learning curve. And, when you know the basics, you still have to learn the strategies, which I am still struggling with. It is a very deep game.
Trading isn't terribly interesting but it does provide a good cash-flow and has the additional benefit of making your trading partners not want to attack you. I don't remember if you can send freighters to the same planet... I think maybe not. It's best not to, though... too many eggs in one basket.
The combat, on paper, might sound like a paper-rock-scissors thing, but there is much more to it than that. There is initiative, different levels (does my level 10 rock still beat your level 11 scisssors?), and building to scale (ten level 2 rocks beats 1 level 7 scissor... well, you get the picture). A good basic strategy is to see what your opponents are building for weapons and then focus on the defense to that. And, follow the reverse: whatever they build defenses for, avoid that line of weapons. Try not to focus on all weapons/defenses, even if they're cheap tech. Trade for it, if you need it.
The crystals are not tradable but they do give you advantages, but only if you are mining them (not near them). You can refer to the manual for exactly what each does, I think.
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Post by ghostwes on Jan 25, 2007 1:49:01 GMT -5
Whoops, Gilvan beat me to my response. Having a different defense does give you a little bit of defense against other types of weapons, but I don't recall exactly how that works. Check out the forums at www.galciv2.com. A lot of useful advice from veterans there. Also, the wiki at galciv.wikia.com/wiki/Galactic_Civilizations_Wiki is pretty good for filling in the gaps of your knowledge. Don't be discouraged... it is a very complicated game. That is only a flaw at the beginning. Later, when you know what you are doing, it becomes one of the game's strengths.
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Post by ghostwes on Jan 25, 2007 1:52:28 GMT -5
Ah, trade goods... forgot to address that one.
So, what happens is that one planet (and, hence, one race) has control of that particular trade good once it is built. The trade good grants certain advantages (increased fertility or whatever) to that race and anyone that they have chosen to trade it to. You can use it to bribe or entice other races, if you like or, you can do what I do, which is keep it to myself. Mine! Mine! Mine! Why would I want the other races to have an advantage? Okay, maybe if I'm going for an allied victory I might be willing to do that, but only to a race that I know for damn sure isn't going to stab me in the back.
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Post by MontyCircus on Jan 26, 2007 16:40:16 GMT -5
Alright cool, so I guess I'm not missing much that anyone else isn't too Another thing is when a race trades with you. On the trade screen there's that yellow trade line between you. So does that mean I can't/don't have to send freighters to them to increase it? A bit foggy. But I guess forums and such will probably clear things up like you said. Thanks
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Post by Gilvan Blight on Jan 26, 2007 21:58:45 GMT -5
Each race has it's own trade lines. You generate income for goods sent to you and for goods you send to others. This means you can set up a trade route with a planet that has established on with you. At least I think so. Only one game I played went long enough for me to get into multiple trade routes.
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Post by MontyCircus on Jan 29, 2007 2:07:50 GMT -5
Neat thanks
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Post by Gilvan Blight on Feb 3, 2007 15:38:53 GMT -5
I found something out about this game this morning.
Play the Campaign! I figured with a new game I would try it out in sandbox mode on the easiest difficulty. That wasn't the right chioce.
When you play the Campaign they slowly introduce you to aspects of the game. For example you start with only Laser Technology and not ballistic or Missiles. So you don't have to worry about that rock paper scisors thing at all. You also start with stong allies, that make things very easy. You learn how to conquer your first planet during the first mission, and it's one where the openent barely puts up a resistance, so it gives you a chance to try out various ships, figure out what putting 20 engines on one ship does, try out the trading with an ally who pretty much always says yes.
It then ups the difficulty and adds more things. It add shields to counter the lazers first, then better lazers. It adds aliances. It adds technology all at a rate much more comfortable then jumping right in head first.
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Post by MontyCircus on Feb 4, 2007 0:26:56 GMT -5
Interesting. I did the same thing as you did. I figured campaign meant "very long and complicated", and wouldn't be something you want to jump into right away.
I'll definitely check it out. Thanks very much =O)
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Post by ghostwes on Feb 5, 2007 1:40:14 GMT -5
Actually, regarding the campaign, it becomes *significantly* more difficult at about the fourth or fifth mission; I still haven't finished it. One problem is that they changed the way initiative works such that the Dread Lords have a huge advantage. You used to be able to build disposable scout ships who would get their one shot off, killing the Dread Lord ship before taking ~100,000 points of damage and dying. Now, the Dread Lords fire first, making that strategy useless. Their are ways around this, though, apparently, so I might take another crack at that mission when I have some time.
It's just a shame we can't all play this against each other... that would be fun! Was it MOO2 that had play-by-email? That would take years to finish heh.
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Post by ghostwes on Feb 5, 2007 1:41:05 GMT -5
"Their are ways around this" should be "There are ways around this"
Man, I hate when I do that.
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Post by Gilvan Blight on Feb 5, 2007 10:58:20 GMT -5
It's just a shame we can't all play this against each other... that would be fun! Was it MOO2 that had play-by-email? That would take years to finish heh. The game does come with online play. I assume it's simultaneous though, not by email. I haven't tried online play at all yet.
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