AI need Universal Translator?

i'm not really sure but i remember that i had traded with another race that hadn't the universal translator.Probably this tech enable only the player to trade with other races.

Well, that means it isn't balanced, which makes it unfair.....there is something that needs tweaking.

If the AI don't need it, we shouldn't need it.

Only one side needs it. So if you have it you can talk to someone who doesn't. I believe it works the same way for the AI.

hmmmm, so they should need it too, so if they don't get it so they should be able to talk to one another....until they research it.

Well, that means it isn't balanced, which makes it unfair.....there is something that needs tweaking. If the AI don't need it, we shouldn't need it.

ARGH!

It is so incredibly unfair that it will totally imbalance the game and the devs should change the way thing works to ensure that every single scrap of content in this game fits to the high moral ideas of supreme balance and order!

Damnit, it's a game.... a story..... a fantasy. Humans already have a lot of things that make it unbalanced for the AI.... (well some of them do anyway) like the ability to create strategies, to tailor the experience to exactly what they want..... hell, to turn the game on when they want to and off when they want.

One single low level tech does not need balancing.

You might as well claim its unbalanced because the Thalans have more legs than humans, the Torians are greener, the Yor have 40% more iron in their diet, the Iconians are older. Damnit.... it's a game!

Use imagination - maybe we want to talk to them, but they already share a common galactic language that they've been using for countless eons while we were still learning how to pick up a stick to scratch our butts.

Ok Spearchucker, that is completely unnecessary. One of the really nice features of this game is that the AI doesn't cheat; that it is bound by the same rules as the player. That makes a win or a loss a lot more meaningful, because you earned it either way.

All this "damnit, it's a game" garbage doesn't hold water. Of course it's a game, but that in and of itself is no reason not to make it more fun. In fact, because "it's a game" things to make it more fun are very important to its success, as a game. As for one low level tech not needing balancing, if the AI opponents are able to trade techs among themselves before the player is able to, the player's ability to take advantage of their own technologies in trading is severely limited. Who are you going to trade your techs to if everyone else already has all of them because the AI gets a headstart? That has a whole lot more impact on the game than the Thalan having extra legs, so your analogy is pretty weak.

If only one side needs the universal translator, that's fine. If the AI gets a headstart because it is playing by a different set of rules, that ought to be fixed.

I believe the AI can't trade without universal translator- then again, I can't exactly prove it. Cheat mode might, if someone sets up a scenario with pre-placed ships, and no universal translator techs, but all the other low-level techs researched.

Maybe someone should experiment? I don't think the AI is cheating on this though.

The AI must need th UT. I have traded UT and even xeno Communication with several of the AI characters.

This is a change from GC1 in which you could not make a trade with UT

Ok Spearchucker, that is completely unnecessary. One of the really nice features of this game is that the AI doesn't cheat; that it is bound by the same rules as the player. That makes a win or a loss a lot more meaningful, because you earned it either way. All this "damnit, it's a game" garbage doesn't hold water. Of course it's a game, but that in and of itself is no reason not to make it more fun. In fact, because "it's a game" things to make it more fun are very important to its success, as a game. As for one low level tech not needing balancing, if the AI opponents are able to trade techs among themselves before the player is able to, the player's ability to take advantage of their own technologies in trading is severely limited. Who are you going to trade your techs to if everyone else already has all of them because the AI gets a headstart? That has a whole lot more impact on the game than the Thalan having extra legs, so your analogy is pretty weak. If only one side needs the universal translator, that's fine. If the AI gets a headstart because it is playing by a different set of rules, that ought to be fixed.

LOL! I wondered when someone would start calling me that.... someone always does!

Yes it was completely unnecessary - equally unnecessary as the "it's got to be balanced" post above. I really dont see how this adds any element of fun to the game. As for imbalance, it's simple not true. I can and do become to the tech-pimp in my games if that's the strat I choose..... the first few techs mean nothing in the greater scheme of things.

Sorry, but to me, people on this forum seem to take a tiny minute little thing and blow it way out of proportion till it suddenly becomes this mind-bogglingly bug ridden, imbalanced, broken game.

Terrans also start without Stellar Cartography - does this make it imbalanced?

You could trade the UT with the other races in GC1. I have done it many times when I have rushed into the galaxy and met the other races before they reaserched it. It dosn't get muth, though.
But I think that they can trade with each other without UT. I spoke to two races who were close togeter, same moral yadda yadda yadda, neither of them had UT but they both had the same techs to trade to me and both needed the same techs from me. This is in GC1, though. GC2 isn't even avaliable in Australia yet. Soon!

No, "it's got to be balanced" is not unnecessary. It adds to the gameplay, maintaining a standard of fairness that sets GalCiv2 apart from every other game I can think of. If you don't care for a level playing field, that's fine. A lot of people who bought this game do, especially considering that a non-cheating challenging AI is so unique. Different races start with different techs, so the Terrans not starting with SC isn't a balance issue any more than any of the other races' tech lineups are a balance issue. Yet another bad comparison on your part.

As for the rest of your post, it's pure drivel. You talk about people blowing things out of proportion, when you yourself responded to a simple, innocuous comment by saying "damnit, it's a game" and disparaging a previous poster who just said that "something needs tweaking" and left it at that. He didn't say the game was broken, and he didn't say the game was "mind-bogglingly bug ridden" either. But hey, flip out all you want, it's obvious you were waiting for a chance to do it and just jumped the gun.

I didn't test AI trading without it. I did run a test where I edited the Terrans to have Universal Translator researched, but was not able to speak with them since I did not have the Tech myself. I can talk to them if I have it, but we can't talk if they have it. That leads me to believe that the AI can communicate without need of a translator, and that the translator is only used by the player.

No, "it's got to be balanced" is not unnecessary. It adds to the gameplay, maintaining a standard of fairness that sets GalCiv2 apart from every other game I can think of. If you don't care for a level playing field, that's fine. A lot of people who bought this game do, especially considering that a non-cheating challenging AI is so unique. Different races start with different techs, so the Terrans not starting with SC isn't a balance issue any more than any of the other races' tech lineups are a balance issue. Yet another bad comparison on your part.

Balance is not a requirement. Balance means equality and the whole idea of there being 9 distinct races is that they are distinct i.e not the same. You can't balance apples and oranges. Balancing does not add gameplay unless you are talking about RTS's which require balance for MP gaming. Fairness is a totally different ballpark which has nothing to do with balance - the Dreadlords aren't balanced - is that fair? It's what makes for a fun game in my book.

As for the rest of your post, it's pure drivel. You talk about people blowing things out of proportion, when you yourself responded to a simple, innocuous comment by saying "damnit, it's a game" and disparaging a previous poster who just said that "something needs tweaking" and left it at that. He didn't say the game was broken, and he didn't say the game was "mind-bogglingly bug ridden" either. But hey, flip out all you want, it's obvious you were waiting for a chance to do it and just jumped the gun.

Hey.... let's start with insults shall we? Erm, no, let's not as it's totally pointless. Your post didn't make much sense to me either but I bet it did to you..... at least I didn't call yours "drivel" .

I talk about people blowing things out of proportion because I read these forums a lot and there are endless posts where people start screaming bug and blue murder because something doesnt equate to how they feel it should equate. My original post was what is called a parody. You will also note that I did not say the the previous poster had said the game was broken but that I used the words "people on this forum".... now, I believe that to be an accurate statement from empirical observation..... nice selective quoting though! "People on this forum" is a general term, not meaning everyone but meaning some... a large enough proportion to reflect on it. Having just read 20 posts with people jumping to the same conclusion (that this minor detail that they decided was overpowered/bugged/broken) was such a huge encompassing thing that needed to be dealt with just because they thought so.

I jumped no guns..... this frustration is on a slow boil as more and more people post their pet peeves that just have to be fixed when the game seems to work so well for others.

actuallly the theory should be simple. a race that has it can talk to all races. A race that doesn't have it can only talk to those that do. Easy

Terrans also start without Stellar Cartography - does this make it imbalanced?

The Terran aren't supposed to have Stellar Cartography.

The issue is can alien races initiate trading BEFORE they have a Universal Translator, if they can, then they have the one up on a human player who needs to research it first.

Last time i played the game with the 1.1 patch one of the AI's started trading with me and wanted to have the stranslator from me. So this tells us that it didn't have the translator at that moment but could start trading. that seems a bit unfair to me

Let's just make all races EXACTLY the same, except for portraits and colors.

I feel the need to write that at least once a week.

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BWAHAHAHAHAHA!