along the lines of carriers, but not exactly the same... mobile ship builders? the ability to build a ship which can go to an area and build small or tiny ships at a relatively fast pace

or instead of a constantly mobile ship, build a starbase which could then build ships, possibly of any size hull

Lots of great ideas. Thanks for the input. I agree with these the most.

Enhanced plantary combat.

Good idea Gothsheep

*Genetic Engineering Techs: Let you improve your species *Boarding parties: Capture enemy ships instead of destroying them *Station-worlds (Keep adding to a station until it becomes a mechanical world unto itself) *Planet-destroying weapons

lil Joshu, nice ideas

Terraforming non-habitable planets to barren ones and so on.

I think that would also be good Ragovic

Not yet mentioned...How about privateers? Remove my flag from some warships and go trash other peoples fleets and raid their planets. "They weren't my ships, they were Pirates!"

Purge, that would be a nice new tactic.

I can't list all of them here, but those were some of the good ones and many talked about things that are good and other agreed with these.

Thank you all.

One thing I've been thinking about is having ethics and morale linked to the kinds of decisions you make. For example, if you're a good civ and you declare war on another good civ that's friendly with you (for example) that could give you a morale penalty. If the penalty were big enough, it might even keep the senate from approving the war when they vote on it. And maybe you could also spend espionage money as propaganda to convince your people that a given civ is really the enemy.
Another interesting idea (but perhaps impossible to get the AI to use well) is to have a chance to influence diplomatic decisions before their made - first of all with the UP proposals, but also with the ally/declare war/make peace/surrender stuff. For example, if you had high enough espionage on the Torians and they were about to declare war on the Drengin you could get a pop-up and a chance to offer the Torians money, threats, etc. to break or make the deal. This would definitely add depth to the "surrender" aspect of the game that so many people complain about. Imagine if you got an espionage pop-up (or if friendly races just straight up told you about what they were planning to do) saying that the Terrans were about to surrender to the Korx. If you were at war with the the Terrans you could tell the Korx - don't accept that surrender or you're next, or you could try to convince the Terrans to surrender to you instead by giving their leader tons of money or something.
Stardock should be good at his kind of stuff since they made the "Political Machine" game.

I guess I'll write my list (in order of preference):

Cloaking techs. This to me is a big, gapping hole in an otherwise fine tech tree.

More ship modules that do very effects, like... increase repair rate of it, give an automatic, free level of experience, give bonuses to nearby ships (like a military starbase does), lets it have a slight chance to avoid any attack completely, a boarding module that lets you take over damaged ships instead of destroy them, etc. Even a few new modules would vastly increase the otherwise slightly boring number of functions a ship can have currently... I noticed that there are some Ship Abilities left over from Gal Civ I that could be recycled and brought back

A better Civics/Government system. Something like Civ 4 would be nice, but really, practically anything would be better at this point...

A slider to control how often the UP meets (or how many issues they cover each meeting), as well as ways to find out what the issue will be and try to convince other factions to vote your way...

More UP Council Issues, maybe even including an option to discuss more issues each meeting...

More Invasion Tactics, with wider variety of effects (like a non-genocide options, such as one that has a chance that the planet will surrender without loss).

Orbital Bombardment from ships with special new Orbital Bombardment weapons (and only these weapons) -

Can do one of two things: damage buildings (making them imoperable until repaired, but not completely destroyed. Repairing costs nothing, but takes a few weeks and can be done along side normal construction.) or just decreases the population of the planet slightly (or both of these options at once) each turn. Or maybe Orbital Bombardment just lowers the planets defense by an amount each turn it happens (but costs money each time you preform it...)

Heck, I'll take Orbital Bombardment that just decreases the populous's morale and the planets influence by a little each turn. Just let me do something else with those big capital ships...

Defense Tactics - Give the defense something to choose to try to counter a Invasion Tactics. Having espionage links would let you know what tactic they plan to use (Defender or Attacker, who ever has the higher espionage level) before you choose your tactic, etc. Just something to spice up plantery Invasion and defense.

Allow ships to orbit/dock Space Stations much like planets.

More Starbase modules with new effects including one that provides living quarters for more population (kinda like creating a whole new planet or such).

Sliders to control how often ethical events, random events, and the new mega events happen. I would love to be able to have a random event each year and ethical events once every 4 months or so. (BTW: Do the AI's get Ethical events? How are their decisions chosen, if so?)

More ethical events, including some that actually benefit the Good side (or at least, good's choice is the best option overall!).

Ethical Events continue to happen even after choosing an alignment (and your alignment can change based on your choices here)

And last, but not least, some modding stuff:

The ability to restrict tech trees based on race/faction without fear the tech will be stolen or traded and used by other races. The one preview of the super abilities seems to suggest this is possible, but I fear that it will only be possible for that super ability... if we can mod them at all.

Heck, it be nice if the tech tree could better support multiple tech requirements too, but it's not really needed. I like the linear tech tree, it's so much easier to understand and navigate.

Be able to create new random, non-ethical events. Maybe even Mega Events.

Be able to create new Super Abilities, or at least mod the current ones.

Remove Hardcoded restrictions on a number of things... such as what makes a Starport a Starport or what makes a Orbital Fleet Manager an Orbital Fleet Manager. *shrugs

and try to convince other factions to vote your way

That's what trading for influence points effectively means--buying their votes.

That's what trading for influence points effectively means--buying their votes.

Yes, I know that's what those influence points do. It's just a pain to try to buy them enmasse (especially when the slider goes up far too fast, and the arrows only go up 1 or 10, and you have to keep entering values over and over again till the trade text is green..... absolute pain to do.

Basically, I want a more convient way to convience them...

That and to know what the Issue to be voted on is ahead of time, to decide if it is worth trying to get the other factions' votes or not...

here is a little one name suns ya your all like wtf this is minor but i still would like it and i will add more ideas later.

oh ya but this may of been asked already, more political parties, more points to customising a civilization not just 10 pts may be 15-20, more pictures to pick, more planetary defense ie like if you guys read the halo novels mac gun stations orbiting Reach and Earth that would attack incoming ships(or anything etc...), if you reach one or all the 3 weapon trees get a superweapon to destroy planets, planetary bombardments if you can i thought i would try to ask, more diplomatic options ie easier break alliance, ask other civ to surrender, etc..., more special civilization bonuses, also more options for the special civilization bonuses you already have expample diplomacy bonus are 1-4pts right but why dont you add greater bonuses for like 5-8 pts too ie 50-80% bonus and do it for all the other like research, logistics etc..., ahh thinking, 1 or two more weapon trees if not i dont care..., starbases that build ships, ahh i will think more on this lol...

here is a little one name suns ya your all like wtf this is minor but i still would like it and i will add more ideas later.

For custom races, the name of your Homeworld is the name of your sun, not sure if that's the case for customizing a main race, however. So... indirectly you can name a single sun. Still, you can rename planets, ships, and (I believe) Starbases, might as well be able to rename stars.

oh ya but this may of been asked already, more political parties

Would be nice.

more points to customising a civilization not just 10 pts may be 15-20

Not likely, and not really needed.

more pictures to pick

You can already use whatever picture you want. Not sure how large the have to be or even where to put them. I'm sure the information is somewhere. However, rest assured, there will be at least 2 more pictures to choose in the expansion.

more planetary defense ie like if you guys read the halo novels mac gun stations orbiting Reach and Earth that would attack incoming ships(or anything etc...)

Agreed, I suggested something like "Defensive Tactics", chosen when you are invaded, much like the attacker chooses his Invasion Tactic. Still, I wouldn't mind some buildings that gave a planet base weapondry, much like the starbase modules. But, you'd have to some form of planetary bombardment to knock them out...

if you reach one or all the 3 weapon trees get a superweapon to destroy planets

GalGiv I had Terror Stars, which destroyed entire star systems so, it's not really a jump in imagination that they may bring something similar back. There are still left over UP Council Issues about Terror Stars in the data files.

planetary bombardments if you can i thought i would try to ask

It's been asked a lot, believe me, I had a suggestion about this too. Even something as simple as lowering the morale, influence, and population of a planet each turn it is "under siege"/under orbital bombardment by ships would be nice. Heck, they could be a new, seperate ship module rather than any ship. Just let us do something to planets other than invade them (militarily, that is)...

more diplomatic options ie easier break alliance, ask other civ to surrender, etc...,

There already going to be more diplomatic options in the expansions, but I wouldn't some more dynamic'isity to Alliances. They can be hard to form, sure, but once you do, nothing short of breaking it yourself or refusing to go to war when the Ally is attacked will break the Alliance. Heck, why do I have to have a complete alliance? Why not Research or Defense Agreements or something?

Still, I'd definetly would like to see an option to try to force a Civ to surrender, much like a peace treaty, although... there really isn't much you can offer a Civ that's going to go away anyway... *shrugs

more special civilization bonuses, also more options for the special civilization bonuses you already have expample diplomacy bonus are 1-4pts right but why dont you add greater bonuses for like 5-8 pts too ie 50-80% bonus and do it for all the other like research, logistics etc...

This may or may not happen. There are some leftover abilities that can be modified, like Interest, Miniaturization, and such, but I dunno if they would add them as customizable abilities. Some aren't really that useful (Interest and Miniaturization with the cap at 125%), others might be too powerful (Miniaturization, but with the cap... it wouldn't be too bad).

Having more options would be nice, but could result in imbalance. Plus, at the moment, there is a hardcoded restriction of 4 choices per ability. At least, that's how I understand it.

ahh thinking, 1 or two more weapon trees if not i dont care...

I really dunno how much a new weapon type(s) would really add to the game, but, from a modding standpoint, I would like ship components to be more like Starbase modules, as in... you can have any effect on them that you want.

Example, currently a starbase module can have multiple damage and defense types, even add +1 to everything that a starbase module can do. Ship components are divided into types and cannot have properties outside their type. Weapons can't deal multiple damage types, and you couldn't create, say, a "laser point defense system" that not only provided missile defense but also could deal a little beam damage.

Sure, having weapons block damage might not make much sense, but it could be nice to be able to have a single weapon deal multiple damage types (like, say 1 mass, 4 beam or such) or a defense block multiple damage types (4 shield, 1 armor).

starbases that build ships

Could be expanded to an entirely new class of Starbases: Planet-like. Modules to house and support people, factories to contruct things, etc. Essentially like building a low-class planet (max 5 or 6), if you will. It would have to be expensive though, but for realism and for balance, I suppose.

1. OH ya in the ingame menus and tast bar too when say example if i want to find a planet or ship add more find keys to i can locate them more easily ie on biggest galaxy map and when i control most of the galaxy it could really help if u add more find ship/planet buttons to make micromanagement way more easy. this would really be great.
2. I know u can upgrade starbases with better sensors, but say ahh if u could build ahh well say satelites or new kind of starbase that could have huge or be upgradable them with just big sensor range so the fog of war in your territories. Or just make better upgrades on the starbases already for sensors. Or upgrade planets with sensor. or have a research to link up planets and starbases line of site to make your territory be monitored so you can see everything in your space territory that you control. or etc...
3. More super projects/special structures. I know be ask about this and i just will restate it for the hell of it.
4. Well this could go with #3 but make ur own/add superprojects. Build ur own special structures but of course dont let this get out of hand and still keeping it fun and balanced.
if someone else has said this sorry but just tell me what you think.

I've thought about some special bonuses granted to the major races regarding their relations with the Minor Races.

- Minor Avatar: This is for Good civs. They must ally with AND protect all the minor races from the other major ones to achieve this bonus. The bonus is lost for good if any of the minors are destroyed, or if you break the alliance with any of them.

- Minor Terror: This is for Evil civs. They must simply wipe out all the minor races AND hold their home planets to achieve this bonus. They lose it forever if any other race invades succesfully one of the Minors' home worlds belonging to them, or one of the minors were been destroyed by the other civs before you do.

Neutral civs don't regard about the Minor Races, so they don't have special bonuses. Somebody have suggestions for the bonuses awarded???   

I dont think that starbases should have a base type anymore, the modules should define the bases role, so we could have one starbase that has for example military and economic modules on it. Also, I would like the ability to build constructors with more then one construction module on them, I find it annoying to have to build a constructor for each module, we should be able to slap multiple modules on a starbase with one constructor.

I dont think that starbases should have a base type anymore, the modules should define the bases role, so we could have one starbase that has for example military and economic modules on it.

That's the way it was in GC1. It was changed to the way it is now so the AI can more easily identify the type of threat posed (if any) by your starbses, and otherwise better handle them.

Here are a few interesting ideas that should've been put here in Dark Avatar forum, but ended up in Gametalk instead:

1. Also would like spies to be able to slander your party.
You would get a message pre election saying that your party is rocked with scandal.
You would get stats on how it will effect your popularity in next months elections.

2. Random events changing the political structure of your race

3. Along with enemy spies being able to harm your election chances, the player would be able to harm enemy election chances too. Successfully harming an enemy race's election chances would trigger the 'New Party has been elected' event.

I'd like all of the above. Minus Carriers.

I'd like all of the above. Minus Carriers.

Don't start fuels chief

what I would like is... Bring back the sensor drones! I loved those things. You would have a gigantic galaxy in the beta and have tons of them around your border on sentry or guard. Then, when your enemies or allies passed by into your territory, you would know.

Being able to see your allies and being able to use their influence to boost your range.

I would also like super techs like Dyson Spheres and there could be something so that you get "Super tech points" which count towards an alignment special. Each Super tech is like a Super Project. But for the alignment specials, you could have stuff like interrogation facilities if you're evil or a divine garden if you're good that increases approval by fifty or forty percent but only one may be built on each planet, etc. But each Alignment Special costs Super Tech Points and some time.

If you would have a planet-doom-ray I think you should end up entirely evil if you use it. I also think you should have a warp option on the military starbases but it takes about fifty turns to recharge or is severely limited in some other way.

And as for mobile ship builders, I think you should be allowed to build ships of a certain cost in your ship builders which increases with your manufacturing tech but you will need so much logistics tech and so much manufacturing tech to start mobile shipyards.

It'll be not for the lack of ideas that the expansion will be a failure...  

A 'no enemies' option: Really toughen up the micro-management, no enemy players. Basically turn Gal Civ into a galactic sim-city as a result.

Sandbox mode!!!! Yippee!!!

1. Carriers and "Death Star" class military starbases that have carrier hangar bays/modules.

2. Techs and/or modules that increase the area of effect of starbases.

A 'no enemies' option: Really toughen up the micro-management, no enemy players. Basically turn Gal Civ into a galactic sim-city as a result.

You can just about simulate that by minimizing the number of enemies and also minimizing their AI intelligence. That's how I started to learn the game, actually.

what I would like is... Bring back the sensor drones! I loved those things.

Or you could just build your own. Just take a hull, give it a couple of life support modules, and fill the rest of the space with sensors.

A 'no enemies' option: Really toughen up the micro-management, no enemy players. Basically turn Gal Civ into a galactic sim-city as a result. You can just about simulate that by minimizing the number of enemies and also minimizing their AI intelligence. That's how I started to learn the game, actually.

Or just start a game with all AIs set to 'Team' status, and alliance victory disabled.

The thing about sensor drones was that they were extraordinarily cheap in terms of maintanance and one wouldn't even cost 1 bc per turn, it was more like 5 sensor drones = 1 bc per turn. They coulds be used to explore though as their range would end just outside your influence but they had great sensor range. They were easy to produce as well and you can't build anything which is that cheap and has the same sensor range.

M
u
l
t
i

P
l
a
y
e
r