A suggestion to Stardock for DA if there is time before the final build.

from GalCiv2 Forums
OK - well, this has been said before - is there any chance of the land battle graphics getting an overhaul before the final build is released?

This has always been a weak part in Gal Civ 2 and is a place that could use a little work, it's been said by another forum member that the space fleet battles were really good but the land battles were poor and since large planet battles are part of the game they are just as important.

as a suggestion only, why not just improve the graphics that are already in place?
you could (time permiting);
1. Overall graphics improvement. (like soliders, tanks and the like.)
2. Different planet backgrounds to match the planet type, like Mars having a red dusty background and so on.
3. If you use mini soliders before a land invasion, have them on the battle screen. a Gas attack - show clouds of gas before the attack, Core Detonation - shake the screen - you get the idea.

I realise that time is always a factor, but since Stardock seem to listen to the community far, far more than any other developer this is one suggestion I hope you'll listen to.

Congrats for a awesome game.
7,308 views 15 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yeah I second these ideas.

There are several things bad in current land combat gfx. First of all its pretty damn ugly Secondly when the tanks etc explode its like the whole animation is fast forwarder!

I wrote long time ago that there should be different graphics for different invasion tactics. As chazzie wrote, show me gas on the screen when I gas the planet
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I have a question for both of you. How often do you look at the ground combat screen? Do you think you would look at the screen more often when you get more advanced graphics?

I myself rarely look at ground combat, mostly because the animation caries no useful information. I do look at shipcombat but that's mostly to see how my ships affect the enemy ships. I myself would rather have some snazzy 2d pictures of the end result of ground combat than more different 3d ground combat effects.

The Political Machine 2024
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I do actually watch land combat since they dont take too much time.

My point is that all the other graphics in GC2 are really nice but the land combat looks terrible. We have eye watering ship graphics and explosion but the land combats look like something a 10y old kid could draw. They jump up in a bad way, in my mind.

I would like to turn the question around. How much of the time do people play with zoomed in graphics? They arent so relevant to the game either since most of the people play zoomed out with icons. So whats the point in advertising and developing fancy graphics at all for a strategy game?

I do not mean to offend or anything and I quess this is one of those eternal questions all the strategy games seem to be facing. SD clearly took the time to add gorgeous graphics to their game. I just wish they would make the game more balanced when it comes to eye candy.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
You see the border background change straight away so there is little tension of the result.The devs said each race would have there own soldiers,tanks,etc it never happened.I also thought there would be a change of land war with divisions,etc after the early interview at IGN,that hasn't happened either.Land combat like minor races in GC remain very underdeveloped and poor.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Ummm, @anotherrandombastard - good point, but as sam0t said - I also watch the planet combat screen, it is supposed to represent your forces in battle and it does so a little badly - try to remember that some of the techs that you research are applied to land battles and are not represented graphically at all, such as shock troops and all pre-invasion tactics. The reason for the original post was just to ask for a slight improvement, the graphics in DA are much improved and this area has been negleted a bit.

The only reason I care at all is that the game is so damn good.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I would like to see better graphics and special effects in invasions as well. I actually watch them butthey look so damn ugly. They should be on par with the rest of the game's fine graphics. Some people, like myself, want to watch every space and land battle. I like watching! I'm a Metal Gear Solid fan, what did you expect!
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hey - it could be worse! We could have had MOO3's representation of land battles - Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Dano
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yeah, or even worse still, you could have a pop up with some six sided dice being tossed to show your attack/defense outcome ala Axis and Allies style... yeah that would be awesome dude, like totally stoked bitchin!
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
dice being tossed to show your attack/defense outcome ala Axis and Allies

Once I finally went from Win95 to WinXP around 2002 which caused Civ I and Spaceward Ho! to stop working, Axis & Allies (Iron Blitz version) was about the only game I played until I got GC2. I still like a good game of Axis & Allies. It's kind of mindless and doesn't take too long.
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Once I finally went from Win95 to WinXP around 2002 which caused Civ I and Spaceward Ho! to stop workin


You might want to give DOSBox a try if you want to run those games under XP.
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
You might want to give DOSBox a try if you want to run those games under XP.


Went to the site Kryo but couldn't really discern what I was looking for/doing (I know, duh!). I guess the main thing would be do you know if this would work for playing Sid Miers Gettysburg. It won't run on XP even though I tried using the compatibility wizard.
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
You might want to give DOSBox a try if you want to run those games under XP.

Actually I don't have the source discs for these anymore although I do have a Civ II CD but I didn't like the perspective view they had.

But I still have a PC floppy (actually both 5.25" and 3.5" floppies) for Reach for the Stars! that I'd love to play, but I'd need a CGA or Hercules video card to play it. Anyone that remembers either CGA or Hercules is by definition both a geek and a geezer.   
Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Anyone that remembers either CGA or Hercules is by definition both a geek and a geezer.


Heck, I remember having to *emulate* them to run the games with nice graphics
Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Went to the site Kryo but couldn't really discern what I was looking for/doing (I know, duh!).


Get the Win32 installer on the downloads page. It can take some manual tweaking in the config file to get things just right, but most of the settings there should be fairly familiar to any veterans of DOS gaming