Why 'Speed' is so important

...a suggestion I'd love to see in a future version of the game

from GalCiv2 Forums
Bottom line: Having fast ships is so important because the 'speed' of ship not only determins the number of spaces you can go, but also the number of attacks you can make.

This kind of system works pretty well for GC2, but it does tend to over-emphesize the importance of having the biggest & best engines.

Personally, I'd like to see a seperation between how fast a ship can go and how many times it can attack in a round.

To this end, I'd like to suggest to the Developers this:

Just as researching 'Propulsion' provides the ability to give ships Movement Points, make it so that researching 'Combat Computers/Advanced Tactics' (perhaps an offshoot on the Tech Tree of 'Advanced Computing) provides the ability to give ships Tactical Points.

This way, engine tech would play a lesser role in combat as Tactic Points would determine the number of times a ship/fleet could attack.

Additionally, you could set it up so that Tactics Points have a role in the actual combat itself.

For example:

(*As you move your fleet to engage another, you receive a pop up message*)

'Fleet XXXX is about to engage the Yor Fleet ZZZZ'

Fleet XXXX Tactical Rating: X
Yor Fleet ZZZZ Tactical Rating: Y

What Battle Plan would you like to employ?

o Agressive
o Defensive
o Balanced


---------

The computer would then analyize the 'Tactics' choosen by the human player & AI, offset the choices where applicable, and adjust the 'dice' rolls during combat.

....just a 'thought'.



(I realize that somethng like this *won't* be in any patches or even an expansion, but perhaps something like it could be in GC3?)
8,167 views 11 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Well, I think the system works pretty well. A big slow ship is not going to be able to fly to one area, fight, then fly to many others to fight in a short amount of time. A fast ship could.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
And you can already get the tactical info on the fleet you are about to attack, just click on it. You will see the offensive and defensive capabilities and should be able to judge whether your attacking fleet or ship can handle the job.
Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
plus... what happens when you run out of movement points? say you have 10 movement but 25 tactical, you fight a battle, use up 20 of those points and have 5 left but there arent ships close enough to use the last 5 on, so each time you only get one battle move, the replenish, you attack, move, same cycle. having a bunch of tactical points is pointless if you dont have enough movement to reach more then one battle per turn, so the movement/attack is a good compromise
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
It does seem to work well much of the time. However, I was playing last night and zoomed a big fleet right up next to another big fleet -- and was out of moves. I couldn't attack. I'm not sure if it's true, but what I've read in the forums is that the attacker has a first-shot advantage, and the AI beat me up pretty badly by going on the attack.

This basically means these big, powerful starships have to come to a complete stop before they can attack something... it does seem a bit odd now that Binnster brings it up...
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
...Attacking multiple times isn't much of an advantage. The advantage is being able to choose when and where to fight.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yuppers, first come first shoot... But usually if you have a fast fleet you can either distance yourself far enough from the AI that he won't be able to get to your ships, just don't move right up to him in one turn unless you know you can reach him...

This is also a good argument for defense, the little known cousin to offense....I've run into that same situation where I was next to an enemy fleet with no movement left, when he attacked I wiped the floor with him because he couldn't penetrate my defenses...sure my ships don't have an attack rating of 100, but they can stop his pittily 40pt attacks... and then return fire, sure only about 12 points but enough to kill most undefended ships...
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I don't know, there's a certain amount of sick pleasure in building Huge ships that move 25 parsecs/week and clearing out the defenses of 4 different worlds in the same turn. Not to mention Troop Transports that move 41 parsecs/week. Whee!

There is some merit to your idea, but the current system is ok too.
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yeah, whoever initiates the attack gets the first firing pass and the other side can't shoot back until they're done. Even with lesser warships, you can usually beat an enemy by always attacking first. Just look at their movement points and position yourself just outside that range. If they move towards you, they'll just deliver themselves into an ambush.

Just make sure you're not firing missiles into a bunch of ships with Aeron point defense. I got completely owned last night by doing just that. First time I've ever seen Dread Lords use defenses on their ships.........
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Heh heh, i had one game where my "Super Battleships" had 97 movement. About 6 hyperwarp3's, the rest came from the 50% more speed event and wonders/super projects. That's 6 and a half parsecs a turn! I only had 3 of them, but needless to say, they beat the !@#$ out of everything.
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Not a bad idea, I can see where and when it might be useful. I think you right in that this is somthing more in line for GalCiv3 as opposed to an update. But good on ya
Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top
I don't know, there's a certain amount of sick pleasure in building Huge ships that move 25 parsecs/week and clearing out the defenses of 4 different worlds in the same turn. Not to mention Troop Transports that move 41 parsecs/week. Whee!


What he suggests wouldn't change that. You'd still have your moves. In fact, if they implemented his suggestion you'd have more moves because you wouldn't burn move points when you attacked those four worlds, unless they balanced the change by reducing the move gains of all the techs (which would cause other problems).