Things that need to be changed, fixed, or added.

from GalCiv2 Forums
After playing God knows how many hours of this game, I can honestly say that I do love the game. However, there are things in this game that really need fixing, or improving.

1. Stardock did a fantastic job on keeping micro-management of planets down to a minimum. They then completely blew it on starbases. Perhaps I'm the only one, but I'm sick of building literally hundreds of constructors, picking a starbase that needs improvement, then sliding over to that starbase and right-clicking on it. I did learn a trick to make it easier, if only a little bit. I build rally points named "Starbase" then have the planets send constructors there. But my point is, this is still micro-management. I'd like to see starbases that automatically upgrade themselves when you research a new tech. I'd even make them take a certain amount of time to build improvements based on your manufacturing level.

2. In-game, detailed explanations of each tech you're researching. Including the details of all the techs that you will receive. For instance, the damage, size, and cost of a certain weapon. Basically, I shouldn't have to go to another website to look up what something is, and what it does.

3. The combat veiwer is weak. I can deal with not having tactical control, it helps prevent exploits, but I've actually sat through one battle in all of the hours a play that I have. Perhaps add formations. Better graphics with detailed explosions would be nice, but I won't push it.

4. Give me a reason to build pyramid style fleets ie.(6 fighters, 4 frigates, 2 cruisers, 1 battleship). As it is, I build medium ships all the time and I win battles easily. Give fighters bonuses against large and huge class ships, give medium ships bonuses against fighters, and give large and huge class ships bonuses against medium and small ships. I know, that is asking a lot.

5. Speed up side scrolling, some of us like that.

6. Give me the option to turn off the game's pre-made ships. I just "obsolete" them as soon as I see them anyway.

7. Let me know when two other races go to war with some kind of pop-up.

8. How about random events that trigger wars with friendly races?

9. The "Secret Police Headquarters" seems useless to me.

10. How about lines drawn from planets to the rally point they are sending ships to. It would give a quick visual feel of what's going where.

11. I would like an option to drastically slow down the initial colony rush. Maybe slow it down to about Moo2 speed. It just seems to frantic to me. I'd like to slowly expand my empire. Perhaps cut the range of ships down about 90% and make researching life support mandatory. Like I said though, make it optional. The more people can customize the game to their prefered playing style the better.

12. Large and Huge ships don't seem to feel very large and huge. Their hitpoints are higher, but they aren't that much better than medium ships. When I build a huge ship, I'd like to see a lot of hitpoints and weapons. I"m talking Super Star Destroyer size compared to a Nebulon B. Why do weapons and defenses suddenly take up more space in bigger ships? That doesn't make sense.

13. Now for my most controversial idea. Take the idea of adding formations to the combat viewer, now add fleet commanders. Nothing fancy. They would start out as captains and work their way up to, say, grand admiral. This would take advantage of the "experience" idea that Stardock was saying about GC2. As they survive battles they would rise in rank. They would get a small percentage chance to pull some kind of surprise manuever on the enemy. For instance, I attack a fleet with a fleet that is commanded by a captain. The random dice roll and is compared to my captains ability. He wins. He then pulls a flanking manuever that gives all of my ships a bonus, and it is played out on the combat viewer. It would show my ships coming at the enemy from the side or from behind. There could also be defensive manuevers added. To keep it simple, any time a ship is made, they would get a captain. If you combine these ships to make a fleet, the highest ranking officer becomes fleet commander. All rolls would be based off of his abilitiy score. If they really wanted to run with this idea, they could even add a racial ability modifier that would increase their leadership ability slightly, reflecting that particular races ability with tactics.

Ok, I'm done for now. Flame away
22,789 views 53 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Well, I can help you with one of those:

6> Just add the tag to all ships in the GC2Ships.xml (the same as it is for the "Starbase" in the same file). Voila, no more Core ships!
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
First things first. The word "Need" is a no. "would be great if" "please can this be done" is good. "need" is bad. This game didn't need to go past 1.0, and reap the rewards of it's success.

1. Oh hell no, sorry but to auto-upgrade starbases would be really cheesy. 1 turn from a tech, you go build 3 military starbases near an enemy, and WHAM you have 3 fully upgraded flying death dealers of doom.

2. An in-game galactopedia would be very good, but what more stuff do you mean? It says what you unlock, and it's self explanatory what it does from which branch it's in.

3. Better graphics would be nice, no argument there But formations, if used for strategical battles, are bad. For eye candy yes, but allow them to have an advantage and you've used up AI time which could be spent getting the AI to actually be harder.

4. I smell tactics. The bigger the ship, the more defences. Which is going to be the shiz in 1.2. I fully expect to see all the "Defence is useless, you suck" whiners get their arse handed to them. By expect I mean hope. By see I mean gloat

5. Think there's an option. If not, that would be good.

6. Please please please?

7. Yeah, another good one. It already happens with peace, I'm sick of finding out my allies were at war when I hear them beg for funding, and have to give them some tech to even out the losses, and buy of the enemy. If I could catch it at the start, I could keep the galaxy stable longer.

8. Already done, the assasination once set off a friendly race in a war against me. It's just very rare.

9. Doesn't it stop a planet ever revolting?

10. Nice idea, target lines already in place, so that would be good.

11. I don't want this, but it's your game, so fiddle with some .xml files and save it before the next patch, so you can auto-reload it. Best way would be to give all races a negative range bonus at the start.

12. I dunno why, but it's kind of good this way. Again, just chop out the sizemod in the .xml files.

13. Tactical combat. Must I say any more? I fear I may lose my advanced diplomacy bonus.
Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Ironfist. I like all of your suggestions. But honestly, CG2 is what it is at this point. I would expect any significant changes moving forward.

Instead, I'm looking forward to GC 3. I honestly believe these guys are recording all of the forum feedback and will make a far superior version of the game in years to come.

Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hi!
Oh hell no, sorry but to auto-upgrade starbases would be really cheesy. 1 turn from a tech, you go build 3 military starbases near an enemy, and WHAM you have 3 fully upgraded flying death dealers of doom.

Yeah, I too would like to see autoupgrade of starbases. But autoupgrading only one component per turn. The game would also need some upgrading costs, that would be drawn from treasury. Probably also anoher slider, to determine amount of spending for upgrades. And a priority list of starbases waiting for upgrading. Already too much?

BR, Iztok
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
1) I posted an Idea about how it could work without breaking the concept of constructors a few days ago: Link

2) That would be nice, but maybe just too much (and boring) work. Edit the XML files and send your patched version to Stardock, maybe they will include it upstream.

3) Everybody loves eyecandy and I would like a rework of the combat viewer as well. I would be willing to pay for such an artwork extension.

I agree with most of the other things you write and I don't think it was a "demand" like "you have to do it, Stardock". You write you like the game, I also love it. You write Stardock did a fantastic job, for me it is one of the best games ever. Nevertheless, there is always something that could be improved ...


Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'd like to add a slider to change the frequency of random events. I so rarely see them; I've certainly never seen one of those "Galaxy on Fire" random events where two lifelong friends go to war.

They then completely blew it on starbases.


The purpose for doing it that way was to make starbases be a drain on military production. This means that they aren't just something you can whip out; they take a long period of time to make. Considering the power of high-grade Econ starbases (+25 and +33 production bonuses), this makes sense.

Now, maybe they could have found a better way to do it without forcing a player to move constructors manually. But the need for making starbases difficult to construct is there.

Give me a reason to build pyramid style fleets


Why? What makes this particular style of fleet so much better than another? The gameplay certainly doesn't.

In any case, combat's receiving an unfortunate overhaul in 1.2.

Why do weapons and defenses suddenly take up more space in bigger ships? That doesn't make sense.


Because it provides some small advantage to smaller ships, and it makes the intrinsic bonus of large ships not nearly so big. You still get an improvement,; it's just not as big of one.

First things first. The word "Need" is a no. "would be great if" "please can this be done" is good. "need" is bad. This game didn't need to go past 1.0, and reap the rewards of it's success.


Um, 1.0 burned out my CPU. Sorry, but there was a significant need for 1.0x. And there was a significant need for 1.1.
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
6. It happened to me too. Already ALLIES and some nut took a shot at the Arcean Emperor while a visit to Drath.. we were at full out war the next turn.
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
First things first. The word "Need" is a no. "would be great if" "please can this be done" is good. "need" is bad. This game didn't need to go past 1.0, and reap the rewards of it's success.


I have to jump on my soapbox now. I am sick of those here that keep saying it was great at 1.0 and didn't need to go further. There have been too many important changes made so far to take that kind of fanboy attitude. And eventhough I will get flamed for this, I stick by my guns, it is a fanboy attitude. I agree it was good out of the box but it still NEEDED work. Need is a very appropriate word in this case. Must have might, just might fit what you are talking about but need is the right word.

Now on to the needed changes as suggested:

1. Starbases are a hassle. I would just like to add a little automation to the way it works. Allowing you to specify constuctors to automatically go to a specified Starbase when built would be nice.

2. A little help here would be nice as well.

3. I don't have a major complaint with the current combat.

4. Some bonuses for certain ships against others might also be a good idea. I also tend to make the medium class ships for everything and it seems to work most of the time. There needs to be something to force me out of that strategy.

5. Don't care about side scrolling

6. This would be very nice. Just give me the ability in game to edit my library of ships and delete any that I do not want as well as not save automatically anything I build.

7. Also a nice feature but not extremely important to me to know when they go to war.

8. I am not a big fan of random events but as long as I can turn them off....

9. Not sure about this as I have not used the Secret Police HQ much.

10. Would also be nice. I would like to add that I would like to be able to have some sayso on the line of travel. I might want to force my trade ships to pass by my trade enhanced starbase on the way.

11. I have mixed emotions with slowing down the initial rush as I don't find it overwhelming and changing it means a shift in the fundamental way the AI works with guaranteed unexpected results.

12. Differential in sizes is not as great as I would like either. This is not a major issue, but some change would be good I think.

13. I kind of like the idea since experience is an important part of winning in battle.

A couple of my own:

1. A research queue
2. A building queue
3. A starship queue
4. Setting to allow expense slider to automatically adjust to balance budget
5. Better Auto Explore algorithm
6. Highlight for contructor effect area to be like the starbase effect area, I can see the starbase one but not the constructor one in many cases. Also, the circle for the contructor is slightly smaller than the resulting one for the starbase.
7. Starbase attack mode for its area of influence. It should not rely upon ships.

Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
have to jump on my soapbox now. I am sick of those here that keep saying it was great at 1.0 and didn't need to go further. There have been too many important changes made so far to take that kind of fanboy attitude. And eventhough I will get flamed for this, I stick by my guns, it is a fanboy attitude. I agree it was good out of the box but it still NEEDED work. Need is a very appropriate word in this case. Must have might, just might fit what you are talking about but need is the right word.


I didn't say it didn't need to go further in the sense of "It's brilliant". I said it in the sense of "It's won awards, and Stardock improve out of choice".
Yes, 1.0x was really needed. But Stardock could have said "Sod off, and come back in six months, and we'll think about it". I didn't say it was perfect in 1.0. I said they didn't have to touch it, but they chose to. So when I read the phrase "you need to do this" it kind of makes me think "umm... no, they could have chosen to say sod it, let's go to hawaii, but they didn't"
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I disagree with Alfonse on the reason why components take more space on larger ships. It seems completely illogical for stardock to make bigger ships and then mitigate that by making components bigger, they probably would have just made the bigger ships not quite so spacious. Instead, it has to do with realism. A bigger ship has more area to armor, or cover with shields, it requires bigger defenses. Life support is bigger, because theres more people to support. Same with sensors and everything else, the only modules that don't increase are colony and troop and constructor and trade, which makes sense.
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I have to agree with Marcathonas on this... we all want changes to the game... some minor, some major. But we can't exactly go and demand stardock include our favorite change!
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Better Auto Explore algorithm


I've never really understood what people see in auto-explore. Even if it worked perfectly, what's the point? In the early game, where exploration is important, you need to react to what is discovered. If you see a class 15 or so world, you need to jump on it, so you buy a colony ship. Seeing it a turn later makes no sense to me.

It seems completely illogical for stardock to make bigger ships and then mitigate that by making components bigger, they probably would have just made the bigger ships not quite so spacious.


The point is that different components get bigger at different rates. The higher-end weapons have smaller sizemods than the lower-end ones. Missiles have lower sizemods than either lasers or guns.
Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I explore with colony ships. The problem with autoexplore as is, is the fact it doesn't do a check to see if it's about to jump onto another ship, and if it's armed, launch a recurring declaration of war sequence. You need either lightning reflexes or a declaration of war to stop it.
Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I guess I should've explained some of my points a little better. Especially the starbase one.

1. My basic point was that we have to micro-manage starbases, and I'm sure Stardock was trying to avoid that by looking at the way they handled planets. When I mentioned starbases automatically getting upgrades, I should've said "over a certain amount of time". I kinda mentioned it upgrading at a certain speed based on your manufacturing level, but I wasn't that clear. As far as instant-mega-starbases being built in one turn, well, you can do that now by building 20 constructors and grouping them all together.

2. In-game galactopedia. I would like to be able to look down a tech line and determine what items I will get and what those items will do. Granted, most of us have already memorized most of that, but should we have to?

3. The combat viewer makes the ships look like a bunch of fish swimming randomly in a very small aquarium. I meant "formation" strictly as eye candy. Make it look like someone is in charge.

4. I like pyramid style fleets because that is what the real navies in the real world use. You never send out carriers or battleships without some kind of support craft. Naval battle-groups never consist of one ship type.

5. There is a side-scrolling option that allows you to speed it up from "insanely slow" to "absurdly slow". Even at its highest setting, it's useless.

8. I've never had a random event that triggered a war, or even lowered other races opion of me. And that's after a hundred plus hours of play.

9. The Secret police headquarters raises morale on the planet it's built on by 20%. Which is lower than the normal morale boosting improvements. There doesn't appear to be any other advantage to it, at least according to what it says in its definition.

11. Like I said, just make this optional, that way everybody is happy.

13. I didn't intend this to be interpreted as adding "tactical combat". You would still have no control of the outcome, and neither would your opponent. I just think it would add a lot to the game.

Ok, I think I explained everything better. Also, I should point out, that I appreciate all the advice about tinkering with xml files, but I'm not confidant enough to dabble with those things.
Reply #15 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Just so you know, xml files are wordpad. Change a value, and it simply is changed. It's really simple, and the Metaverse files contain identical replacements of the original, if you botch it.
Reply #16 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I like your suggestion #13, it isnt adding tactical combat, just putting more emphisis on the ship experiance aspect. Imagine your huge fleet commanded by your Grand Admiral fighting hordes of enemy fleets with his superior "tactics"
Reply #17 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I will add my please for some starbase management tools. Building constructor after constructor does become a drag on the game and keeping track of what upgrades are available and needed is also a pain.

I would use starbases more if it was a little easier to manage them. I find myself wondering, do I really want to build this base and have to build 30+ constructers to get it up to speed? Okay, it's not that hard but it is monotonous.
Reply #18 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Just an idea that's come to me as I've been reading the stuff concerning starbase micromanagement - I've no idea how this would work, it's just a spur-of-the-moment idea. Personally, I don't play on big enough maps to have problems micromanaging starbases.

How about having a building option that allows you to funnel military production from a planet directly into upgrading starbases? This could either involve setting a planet to upgrade a particular starbase, or just adding to a civ-wide 'starbase upgrade' rate. Constructors would still be necessary for placing new starbases, but you wouldn't need to micromanage them nearly so much. Then you could select which new module to build on a starbase as the previous one is completed.
Reply #19 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I love your ideas.

As for autoupgrading starbases? A better idea might just be to allow a constructor to have multiple modules for more price and then you can upgrade more than one thing per constructor. I agree, late game it gets to just be a game of micromanaging constructors and trying to build a defensive wall or overwhelm your enemy with influence, I have dozens of constructros being completed and sent per turn and it does get to be a bit annoying.
Reply #20 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Starbases:
I'd like to be able to put multiple construction modules on one ship, be it a huge with extra engines or a large with no extra room. I've taken over entire civilations with influence starbases and DANG is it tedious. I think multiple modules per big ship would be a good compromise here, since it'd cost time and effort but less of it. I'd also like it if there were some high-end weapons for Starbases that would shoot a short distance, say two squares max after a *lot* of research. Finally, I'd like a towing module for large ships that allows you to move them into "fleet" with a starbase and tow them around, even if only one square per turn (faster would be unbalancing).

Battle Viewer:
I don't like the battle viewer, so it would be nice if I could get status reports for battles without having to see the viewer.

Core Ships:
Just set your tabs to "User" in-game.

Races going to war:
Yeah, I'd like notification too. Why do I notice when they make treaties but not when they start nuking planets?!?

Secret Police Headquarters:
Yep, it's totally, totally useless. 20% Morale for that planet VS the 60% you'd get from another VR center? Uh, how about no. If you didn't have ANY basic morale building it might be okay, but I've never failed to get some sort of basic morale building by the time the Secret Police HQ becomes available.

Usefulness of ships against different sizes:
That could be a good idea.
Reply #21 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
How about having a building option that allows you to funnel military production from a planet directly into upgrading starbases? This could either involve setting a planet to upgrade a particular starbase, or just adding to a civ-wide 'starbase upgrade' rate (...)

Sorry, I don't want to spam this thread, but as it seems noone read it, so here again a link to my idea how a Starbase Gouvernor could help:

Link

Reply #22 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Just as an addition to my earlier comments, I just realized a few extra suggestiosn I might as well add even though I doubt anyone will read them.

Well, first an introduction: I always find myself standardizing all my ships and starbases. No matter how big they are, or how expensive, I build until I have nothing left to the max level of my technology, and when at war with an alien race, anything less would be, frankly, stupid. (As it is, against an equal force it only takes a few ships to slowly wear down a starbase, if you haven't upgraded it fully it's dead in one shot.)

Well, if everything I build is super-huge and super-loaded with weapons, then where are the Death Stars? Where are the Super Star-Destroyers, where is that huge flagship bad-boy that takes so many resources to make that it's just not worth the expense to make more than one or two? As it is, I have the production capability to just churn out massive ammounts of the biggest, burliest things imaginable and not really feel a hit to my pocket.

Well, what if we could channel large ammounts of production and money into a 'super ship' or 'super station' the super station might have range on it's weapons, and can be used to defend key planets but at an outrageous expense that makes it silly to make more than one, the super-ship would be the same, draining not only to build, but to maintain with upkeep costs. As it is, my empire feels sortof bland and standardized. Much like the suggestion for pyramid fleets, I don't feel as if I have different sized things for different purposes, I feel as if I just have tons of identical stuff, when I get a new technology, my ships just get bigger and my economy scales so I never fret about upgrading the weapons on my ships.

I would like to see, eventually (Because stuff takes time.) Some incentive to having different kinds and sizes of ships, yes, but I'd like to build my own superweapons and powerhouses and see the AI do the same. YOu'd be scrambling alll your defenses to one region if that super-slow super-giant starship starts moving towards your homeworld. And if the AI was smart enough, it'd use the oppurtunity to attack the outer rim of your less defended empire while you are throwing everything you got at it to save your capitols.

Okay, now I'm done, feel free to flame me.
Reply #23 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Don't forget, AI players should be able to win tech and political victories.

And I think the micromanagement of planets is pretty bad right now, but would be fixed if (1) waste is eliminated and (2) players can see/set focus from the Colonies management tab.

Also, there are reasons right now for building "pyramid" fleets, but they're pretty subtle...

Marcathonas (#2) wrote:
This game didn't need to go past 1.0, and reap the rewards of it's success.

Well... there are suggestions in the OP that aren't in the "need" category, to be sure, but there changes that needed (and still need) to be done. It's reasonable to expect Stardock to live up to the promises they made about updating GC2. They haven't fulfilled their commitment quite yet, in my opinion.
Reply #24 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
DamnedChoir: OMGWTFBBQ U n00b!!!!!!!1!!1!!kitten!!!!1!!1111!

Seriously though, I like the "Death Star" idea. Making it that expensive is a bad idea, but you could simply make some sort of hard cap on the number that you're allowed to build--specifically, one. Make it a Super Project or something.
Reply #25 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hi.

I'd like to offer my wish list for this excellent game.

The two biggest issues I have that I find dramatically decreases the enjoyablility of the game for me are:

1) Planetary Defense. I find it quite frustrating and unrealistic (even for a game) that there is no way to defend a planet without keeping ships in orbit. I would really like a way to create somesort of planatary defense (defense satalites, missles, planatary sheilds, starbases that can fight back, etc...). Having to manage "defense fleets" for every planet greatly increases the need for micromangment.

2) I find the micromangment during war time a real pain. The biggest issue is trying to keep track of enemy ships and where they are and heading. Ideas that would improve this are:
A. On the main display (as well as tactical maps) enemy ships would have a highlight of some sort (maybe red).
B. Ones that are headhing for one of my planets could have its highlight pulsating or something with a line/text of where they are heading.
C. this could be done when they are withing sensor range of other ships and/or starbases.
D. I should be able to desinate fleets for area defense. I.e., automaticaly patroll defined areas and engage enemy ships when found.
E. Another possiblity would be an empire defense fund that increases the danger to enemy ships the closer they get to your habited planets. for example, if you've invested in enough of this defense fund, weak ships may be intercepted and blown up by your defense force before they would get withing several parces of your planet. This would happen behind the scean. Kind of like random events but specific to defense. Also, the tech levels of the invading ships would make a difference.
F. The end of turn action report is too vague. It says "Fleet xxx destroyed Fleet yyy" but I may not even remember which fleet that was (setting to quick battles to speed up the gameplay).
G. See #1 above.
H. Ships should remember their orders (i.e., "autokill" between turns).

Other ideas that would be nice (but not as game-breaking for me as the ones above are):

3) If I have a massivley military producing planet, why can't I produce more then one ship at a time. If I am producing 100 per turn and the ship I was builing only required 10, then 10 ships should be built. Here, it only produces 1 ship at a time even if the ship cost is only a fraction of what the shipyard can do.

4) I understand some may like it, but I'm personally not a fan of having the "rock-paper-sissor" approach to attack and defense. Especialy defense. I perfer to have different armor that alters the HP of the ship regardless of what hits it (minus special weapons that bypass armor). Also, shields should be effective against beams and maybe 1/2 for missles, 1/3 for mass driver. Bottom line, I tend to put as many weapons as possible on my ship and that doesn't leave much room for defense. It would be nice to have defense more generalized and unified.

4) I like the idea of having a defense net capability on starbases and combining this with stealth techs. "Stealth and Detection" techs.

5) More map customization.
A. Be able to change the frequency of special tiles.
B. Be able to change the overall quality of planets.

6) I would like the option of filtering out obsolete techs in the ship designer.

7) I would think sensors (not necessarily espionage) should show ship destinations.

8) I'd like to see lines from ships that are heading towards a system of mine.