just bought this...please help me enjoy it

ive got another 6 days before i can return it..hopefully i can enjoy it and keep it

from GalCiv2 Forums
hi i basically joined this forum for the single purpose of making this thread. I bought this game yesterday, and ive played other strategy games like master of orion 2 and 3 (returned MOO3 - dont get me started). The best space strategy i have EVER played is Star trek;birth of the federation...played it for years...both online and single player

second best i have ever played is imperium galactica II;alliances


anyway i bought this album yesterday and the store owner said i have 7 days to return it if i dont like it

i played a game yesterday on the easiest dificulty setting, and won pretty easily.
There were a few bugs and major crashes i had...but apart from that i thought it was ok. I DIDNT play the campaign though.

anyway....im playing the campaign, and im not sure what it is about the game. Like it lacks life....there are barely any voices on the game (a simple "your ship has been built" or "sir, the councel assembles next week" would have been really nice...just to liven the game up abit)

so im wondering, with the campaign...are there scenarios like there were with IG2? is there any scenes with talking or anything like that?

also...i dont understand the campaign...the first stage is actually pretty hard my technology level startsoff pathetic..what should i research to get anyway? if memory serves me correct i have to knock out an outpost of the drengin

should i keep going with the campaign or stick to a single player game?

please help me enjoy this game. Any advice anybody can give me? do any predicaments come up (apart from the evil,medium and good thing)


thanks
7,383 views 17 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
oh yes, thought i would mention

i read another post about somebody funding a war between two empires and giving them weapons etc....that sounds really cool but i cant see myself doing anything like that so far with this game....i like the idea of it though

are there many functions like that, that occur in the game?
Siege of Centauri
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hi Nick,

The game is actually a lot like Birth of the Federation once you get into it (also someone is workign on a Star Trek mod!) Personally I prefer the normal game mode (new game etc from the main menu) because I find the campaign too limiting. I would suggest you stick with the single player game personally.

You can fund wars against other people by going to the diplomacy screen and bribing one side to attack another. Then you can gift ships to the other side to ensure the war goes on for a looooong time
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hi Nick,

To be honest, I can't really comment on the campaign in the game, since I haven't actually played it yet. I've been more focused on playing games within larger galaxies.

Now here's the thing, playing on Easy, I'd expect anyone who'd played a strategy game, particularly a 4X one, would win quite easily. If you want to ease into the game, I'd try Beginner. You'll see better strategy from the AI, and enjoy the experience more I think.

As for the presentation, it's a bit sparse in the AV department, with no voiceovers, etc. I think that was partly to avoid the game becoming bloated, and of course, it's at least somewhat easier to regionalize for non-English speakers.

The post about someone funding a war (basically) between two empires is completely plausible, and I've often done it. I've also had games with such high diplomacy, and a big stick to back it up, that everyone was friendly with me, and I could attack them, and then negotiate peace, with healthy cash payment from who I'd attacked.

The point is, the non-campaign games are the meat of this title, and it really is possible to play almost any style of play you want, without feeling penalized. There are 'alignment' choices, random occurances (good and bad), and of course the much celebrated ship creator/editor.

If I were you, I would play some non-campaign games at Beginner or Normal, and ensure you try out diplomacy, creating your own ships, and so on. You may also enjoy, and find helpful, reading some of the gameplay examples that were posted on the web in advance of the game being released.

Hope this is at least somewhat helpful to you.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
i think it is good you are giving the game a chance.. but maybe one game on easy is too soon to doubt? i know you are playing campaign but most people aren't here for the campaigns so much... the AI on Easy in this game is easy enough for a mediocre child to win... so someone like you with gaming experience in this genre should try a game or two on normal and see if it is worth playing still, and then work up the difficulty from there...

i personally never start a new game on normal.. i usually crank it up to the hardest level possible and take my chances since you dont lose money playing harder levels... maybe just a little pride...

but for GC2 i noticed on suicidal i tended to get very agitated when things suddenly went wrong after quite a bit of time setting things up so for teh metaverse i'm more then content sticking with normal... so if you are willing throw your balls to the wall and see if you sweat a bit on suicidal, and if you then like this game after that and are proficient, join us on the metaverse

and as far as those small gaming features you would like added... i'm sure they have read it... and those are very good and easily added features.. but knowing the guys at Stardock.. rather then add a few bits of spoken dialogue.. they may just take it to another level.. so be careful what you ask for.. they are great at delivering..
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
As mentioned....avoid the Campaign and stick with sandbox (new game) mode.

The campaign is just a set of challenging scenerios linked together, personally I didn't find it very fun and have been playing sandbox non stop.

As for the lack of voice overs, did you listen to the horrible voice over from the lady in the opening movie clip?

Be glad there isn't similar voice work during the game.

Sorry stardock! lol

-Chris-
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I bought this game about three weeks ago and I must confess the game lost a lot of its appeal.
It becomes repetitive quite fast IMO.
The Tech tree which looks impressive at first is actually quite boring once you've figured it out.

I feel rather disappointed by this game as I had expected a lot more out of it.
Maybe I'll give it a few more tries but it looks like this game is not going to come close to favorites of mine like Dominions or Heroes of Might and Magic.
Sorry, just had to mention that.

So, if you don't like the game that much from the start I wonder if it's going to get much better
and maybe you should take the opportunity to return it.
Just my 2 cents.
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
thanks guys im reading your responses now...i appreciate the time you took and im going to check em out and try the game

by the way, i havent downloaded ANYTHING for the game..its fresh out the box, installed on my pc

reading your responses now
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
ok cool. Now that i know, campaign is similar to the age of empires campaigns...i tend to avoid those also (apart from the ones on imperium galactica)...but yea im going to give the game another shot now, and ill definetly put it on a harder level

one thing i wasnt able to figure out is goveners (ignore all my bad spelling) i dont want to get too bogged down in micromanegment (at the start i do- but as the game progresses ide like to assign alot of the work to my AI).

thanks again fellas, im going to give it another go. There were deffinetly some nice features to the game

by the way, does anybody recommend any updates/patches i should get for this?
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
You need the patches, because there are some major crashes out of the box that got fixed in the first update, plus the AI improves and makes the game better and more fun.
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
have you got a link to these patches?

i looked in the downloads section, it only has the stardock beta 1.1 but it wants me to register
or is that the one i need?
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
You mean people like Nick are the reason everyone has to turn of irritation voice notifications? I'm quite happy the game shuts up and lets me play: I'm well aware of what's going on without some shoddy, repeditive voice acting reminding me. He equates 'life' (a hilariously subjective quality) with worthless fluff like cutscenes or other AV content. Dominions doesn't need such nonsense to be a rich and detailed game, so I'm not sure what it would bring to GC2 aside from placating teenagers.
Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Will the Multimedia Content from Stardock Central allow me to play my own MP3s as background music? If so where is it on Stardock Central? If not, how can I change the background tunes? I've been itching to conquer the galaxy while listening to Mozart...
Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Actually, I must say that until Nick mentioned it, I didn't notice the lack of voice art at all...

I think this means that Pnakotus is correct - not having repetitive voices all the time may well be a good thing, something which seems to add to the ambience.
Reply #15 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
(Cross-posted, so sorry for the double-post).

All the music files should be in the game's directory, as MP3s I believe. So just copy them to new names, then put your Mozart in the directory renamed to whichever piece of music you want it to play over. Haven't tried it, but that should work, I think...
Reply #16 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Nick: careful, 1.1 is a beta. It might crash on you, and be buggy, it's not yet finalised. You might be better off with 1.0x, available from the "download" section in these forums.
Spinee: what zild said. Yup, this works.
Reply #17 from Stardock Forums Top
Use Stardock Central to get updates, Nick. There is an option at the bottom of Stardock Central that excludes Beta builds. You may wish to update to a stable version first before trying a Beta build.