Am I in the minority?

from GalCiv2 Forums
I know the ship designer and the 3d graphics were touted as a major feature of GC2. I tinkered with the ship designer for half hour when I first got the game. Tried to recreate the enterprise or star wars fighters and what not. But as soon as I get into the game. The only thing I care about are the numbers, how many parsecs/turn, firepower, armor... looks be damn.

3d graphics were nice but as soon as I discover the strategic icon view, there is no going back. I'm zoom all the way out and I don't see any 3d graphics nor do I miss it.

So anyone else like me? Or am I just weird?

BTW, it is truly amazing some of the ships folks have come up with. Are you guys even playing the game? lol
13,719 views 12 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
My ships all end up as basic hulls with random parts slapped on it. Partly because I just want to get back into the game, but mostly because I am no good at coming up with good designs...

Except that in my last game I got a medium hull size researched and went crazy on design. Probably spent about 3/4 hour working on it. It is a great way to have a break from a long war when you want to stop to think for a while before pressing "turn" (and need a new ship). Of course the ship I ended up with was kinda odd and looked really wierd, but it was the most complex one I had done in a while so I was proud of it.

From then on, of course, I mostly only saw it as an icon. Except in the battle views, then you cam see it properly in fight, which I think is the best for it.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yep, I don't put any extra stuff on my ships, just what they need to function. They could look like jelly donuts for all I care. It's the numbers that count. I also play zoomed out and only use close-in for selecting. Zoomed out makes it easy to spot things that you could miss up close. I spent my young adulthood playing P&P games from SPI and Avalon Hill, also played early computer games like Empire Deluxe, Perfect General and the like so I'm used to tile and hex based systems.

But you know what they say, "different strokes for different folks". No matter what you like the game is still fun and a pleasure to play.
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I generally do the same. Brad has said in the past, that he rarely plays the game in 3D mode, and he is the developer.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
i keep it at the highest zoom before they turn to icons. but i'm playing at 1920 x 1200, so that still fits quite a bit of space (almost an entire tiny map, actually). the amount of time i put into ships it totally an ego thing. if i just need them to convince the drengin i'm strong enough to fend them off, it's all about basic. before a massive invasion, i'll put a lot of work into a few designs. sometimes. i usually plan humans, so i've started a started using 'naked' base designs for models i really like. my 'Emperor' is just a hull and extras until I outfit it the tech i have/need for it's purposes, and add a couple letters to the new model name as if it were a sports car. started that after the changes in the last patch (thank you StarDock!)
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Early on I was making crazy ship designs, but I quickly discovered due to my VERY low system power, these were killing my computer every time I went into 3d view. Now I pretty much go with a pretty standardized system that is simple, but lets me know what type of ship it is in 3d view easily.

For example, all my construction vehicles have two arms that stretch out in front of them a ways, all trading ships have two huge wide wings, etc.

Not that awesome, but effective at least. Plus it doesn't grind my system to a halt
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Well i like the pretty graphics and spend much of my time designing ships if i feel like it. But i can totally understand you. The icon view is really useful!
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I tried for about 30 mins to make the USS Enterprise, then gave up and focused on the important stuff. But I am wondering..will there be a mod/patch in the future which allows one to have a pre-made Enterprise? (Or death star, or X-win, etc)?

It would be nice, once one has research a certain hull type (huge, for example) to have a pre-made ship like that, ready to have the weapons/defenses attached.
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I check the icon view regularly, probably once a turn or every other turn, and I do catch things I would miss otherwise. It's much easier to see your enemies ships when you're zoomed out. I still spend a lot of time on my ship designs, though, and I love checking them out up close.
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I like pretty pictures .

I usually start my game with coming up with a sorta theme for my ships. And then make all of them have the same style, so it generally only takes me about 5 to 10 minutes to pump out a new ship design when I get a new hull.

Whats nice is that GalCIV2 makes it so that if you enjoy the ship design and graphics then you can play with them all day. If you don't, or just don't really care. You can zoom the screen way out and just play with the icons.
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I know the ship designer and the 3d graphics were touted as a major feature of GC2. I tinkered with the ship designer for half hour when I first got the game. Tried to recreate the enterprise or star wars fighters and what not. But as soon as I get into the game. The only thing I care about are the numbers, how many parsecs/turn, firepower, armor... looks be damn.

3d graphics were nice but as soon as I discover the strategic icon view, there is no going back. I'm zoom all the way out and I don't see any 3d graphics nor do I miss it.

So anyone else like me? Or am I just weird?

BTW, it is truly amazing some of the ships folks have come up with. Are you guys even playing the game? lol


I vastly prefer to play from close up. I like seeing the ships moving and attacking. I tend to check the strategy view every turn, but I wouldn't want to play like that.

I also love the ship builder. It's a big part of the game for me. Sometimes I don't actually want to start a new game, but I want to just sit and design a ship Catering for different folks is a sign of success in my opinion and Stardock did well here!

I would guess I have around 40 ship designs for the Terrans by now. Thalans have a whole bug armada. I am just starting on the Yor and having some trouble coming up with a theme I like. The Altarians are all fishy type designs (crabs, rays, dolphins etc)

So yes, you're wierd!! But wierd is good! Play it however you enjoy it!
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I spend time making nice looking ships... but i reuse those designs every game. i save them as xShipName and slap on my current techs.

Then before I start a new game I go to my docs folder and delete all the ship designs that dont start with x
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I tried for about 30 mins to make the USS Enterprise, then gave up and focused on the important stuff. But I am wondering..will there be a mod/patch in the future which allows one to have a pre-made Enterprise? (Or death star, or X-win, etc)?


The ship part files are just .X files which are a standard form of 3D modelling files that most 3D editing programs can do. So it won't be long before someone makes all the hulls that people want to play around with.