2 big bugs I REALLY wish they'd get around to fixing

The majority of bugs in this game I consider cosmetic. There's a way to mod around the problem and "fix" the game to my enjoyment. Except for these two, and they've been around for a long time. Like a splinter, I'd like to see them removed, so again I'm bringing them to the attention of the folks at Stardock.

Bug #1: The Save Game bug where no production happens after the first turn when saving. This sucker has been around since I started playing, and numerous patches later seems to be largely ignored. Maybe stardock doesn't think it's worth the time to figure this one out, but it's very noticeable, and annoying. It's gotten so that if I HAVE to save a game in the middle of a war I don't particularly feel like going back to that game again because now it's "screwed up". Kinda like playing a game of pool in the bar and your opponent keeps "accidentally" knocking the balls around the table with his hand while taking a shot. For those who play long games that take a while to complete each turn, I feel for you, though I don't have that kind of patience myself. My workaround for this has always been to save the game when ship movement doesn't matter that much, and I'm not involved in any wars.

Bug #2: The Lost Production bug that occurs if you gain a technology for an improvement upgrade the turn before the more basic improvement is built. When this happens, the new improvement will automatically finish and NO production or research boosts occur. If you destroy that building, you will lose the industry points it gave, making you now have LESS industry than what you started with. This is not cosmetic, and I understand the economy system completely. It is repeatable. Take a new planet, build a basic factory. The turn before it finishes, research or trade for Xeno Industry. You had 12 industry points before, and guess what, you now have a new factory and still have 12 industry points. Now, upgrade that building into something else, or just decommision it. You now have 2 count em, 2 industry points to work with. Even if you don't destroy the building you still have only the basic 12 points you started with and now 1 less tile to use after all that building time, AND you still pay the maintenance for the factory, what a slap in the face.
In practice, once I became aware of this bug I'm now pretty careful to check what buildings I have that are going to be finished soon before I finish research on the upgrade, and I'll switch research momentarily if I think this bug might hit me. I'm guessing though, that the ai doesn't do this, and it might affect them as well, which means I'm getting an advantage by NOT letting new research nerf my planets. Sigh, whatever. I'd just like to see it gone, and there's no way for me to mod this one out except by removing the auto-upgrade tags from the improvements, and that's a nice feature I'd rather keep.

These aren't game breaking, they won't crash my computer, but that doesn't mean it's ok to leave these in. They've been around way too long to still be here when the new expansion comes out, and it'd be nice to see them addressed within the next patch or two. Thanks.
20,008 views 15 replies
Reply #2 Top
That second bug must explain why I will sometimes acquire a planet from the AI which appears to have a negative food production -- it will have an Advanced Farm which is only producing a Basic Farm amount of food, or some such, and if I decommission the tile to start over, all of a sudden, I have a planet with -3 units of food production. That is annoying.

On the other hand, the "Save Game" bug is perhaps the single most annoying bug I have ever come across in an otherwise playable game. The idea that a game can actually ship with "Load Game" not restoring state correctly is, quite literally, insane. It causes me to hesitate a long time before I ever start playing a new game, because I know that once I start, I've got to keep the game running (and sucking up resources on my computer) until I finish the game in question (since I prefer to play on really huge galaxies, this can be quite a while).

I can't think of any bug or feature request which should be even close to the Save Game bug in terms of priority for 1.3.
Reply #3 Top
I also dont like the way the sound keeps getting reset every time a start up a saved game. I keep having to reset the sound volume every time I start a game which gets rather annoying.

I agree that these bugs are frustrating and should be fixed as they sound quite simple to fix.

Nats
Reply #4 Top
yeah I really wish that bug 1 would be fixed
see this thread for more information : [link="https://forums.galciv2.com/index.aspx?ForumID=274&AID=111617"]https://forums.galciv2.com/index.aspx?ForumID=274&AID=111617">Link

wasn't aware of bug number 2 though
Reply #5 Top
indeed the save game bug is annoying, if only because that dead turn is stupid, and because it's impossible to miss... i mean, as soon as you load up a game....

as for the 2nd bug, i hadnt noticed. I'm not one to give shitloads of attention to the minute details of my planets, but i see this would certainly be worth correcting.
Reply #6 Top
bug 1 isnt actally a bug but an anti-cheaters feature. Brad said so a while ago in a journal i think. As for bug 2 I agree, fix it.
Reply #7 Top
As said "bug 1" is an intended feature of the game, NOT a bug.

However one should not be reluctant to save a game and quit the program. This feature applies to all races, not just your own, so the AI works under the same constraints of no production/research on the first turn after a restored save game. Everyone is on a level playing field here.

I typically do not complete a game in one session, but save it for later. I find no problem with the first turn after restoring the save game.
Reply #8 Top
While the concept for bug 1 was intended it seems like for the most part people are annoyed by it. Maybe it is time for stardock to throw in the towel on a novel way of preventing cheating. Yes cheating is bad but really the people who do that are only ruining it for themselves, this "fix" is a pain for your average player.
Reply #9 Top
The latest stance by stardock is that #1 is a BUG not an anti-cheating mechanic. Please read the linked thread in post #4 for confirmation of said statement. Thanks!

Actually, the post is here:

https://forums.galciv2.com/?ForumID=274&AID=115670
Reply #10 Top
Maybe cheaters are only ruining their own fun... but they also ruin it for somebody who is competing in the metaverse. They could always save and reload to play the "perfect game" (invade a planet till they win or fight a space battle etc.)

So, why not make it a feature/"bug" for metaverse games only?
Reply #11 Top
Well as for bug #1 as a metaverse anti-cheating feature... I don't see how that is a valid reason to have Bug #1. I mean, people constantly restart their games to get a good starting position, and 95% of people only submit games they win. Very few of the Metaverse scores actually reflect the skill of the player.

So, my vote is to do away with the bug/feature/ whatever we want to call it.
Reply #12 Top
OnlyAnEgg said:
> Bug #1: The Save Game bug where no production happens after the
> first turn when saving. This sucker has been around since I
> started playing, and numerous patches later seems to be largely
> ignored. Maybe stardock doesn't think it's worth the time to figure
> this one out, but it's very noticeable, and annoying...


I'm horrified! As a 100% avid single player, I feel for your frustrations...

I'm actually one of those who were sitting on the fence on buy/not-to-buy GalCiv2 and finally did not buy it.

I hope they fix this problem, otherwise I would not buy the expansion pack (they finally have ship component that needs strategic thought).
Hope they fix this bug by then.

(And hope they fix this bug for those poor players now...)
Reply #13 Top
Well as for bug #1 as a metaverse anti-cheating feature... I don't see how that is a valid reason to have Bug #1. I mean, people constantly restart their games to get a good starting position, and 95% of people only submit games they win. Very few of the Metaverse scores actually reflect the skill of the player.
End of quote


Besides, as I (and others) have pointed out, this bug can just as easily be used as a player exploit: If you have an invasion fleet en route to an alien world, constantly saving and reloading each turn will prevent that world from building any new defenses (either ships or improvements like the Orbital Fleet Thingie). Likewise, if you have more active ships over all, you can keep an opponent from ever building up their fleets in response, as you rampage through their lightly-defended territories.
Reply #14 Top
1) Yeah, this sucks. A lot. If they can't remove the holiday for whatever reason, they should disable ship movement during that time to make it equitable! When I'm losing to the AI and I need to quit for whatever reason, that one turn will often get me killed. "Hey, no rush-buying defenses for YOU!"

2) This one sucks too. I actually watch out for it in my games (rush buy the building if the completions will coincide), so I'm not sure why I never thought to post about it...
Reply #15 Top
I find you can minimize the annoyance of #1 by always saving at the end of the turn. When you reload you can imeadiately hit turn, and things are almost normal.