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Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor

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Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor

Beta Schedule

from GalCiv2 Forums

BETA SCHEDULE

The second expansion pack to Galactic Civilizations II is about to go into beta. For Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor, we're going to try something different. Something that we think will be particularly fun.

The biggest single feature of the expansion pack isn't the Terror Stars, which are admittedly pretty cool. And it's not the map editor, campaign editor or scenario editor which do add a lot of new possibilities. And it's not even the Metaverse tournaments, which will probably be pretty popular. Nor is it the updated graphics which do bring Galactic Civilizations II up to a whole new level. No, it's the unique technology trees per player.

Let me emphasize this: The fact that each of the 12 major races will have their own technology trees we think is a major milestone for this type of game. The implications of it are far-reaching since technology trees are from whence ship components, planetary improvements, etc. come from.

Let me further add that these technology trees are not just cosmetic changes. Let me give you a couple of examples: The Arceans don't get Warp Drive or any other higher level propulsion techs. Instead, they have special factories unique to them that allow them to make their own ships faster. The Yor don't have factories but instead have collectives that produce based on their population. And, did we mention...these techs are tradeable back and forth. But thanks to a new AI enhancement (a willingness to trade a particular tech variable) tech trading will become vastly more intelligent.

So for the beta, to reward the users who are pre-ordering the beta (and hence funding this project) we are doing something special: The betas will introduce the unique technology trees in small groups so that players can really see the impact of them and have a chance at being introduced to them and be able to make suggestions on how they can be tweaked.

Below is the tentative schedule: UPDATED

  • Beta 1: October 25th - Terran Alliance, Drengin, Arcean technology trees

  • Beta 2: November 8 - Yor, Torian, Korath technology trees added

  • Beta 3: November 20 - Korx, Drath, Iconians trees added

  • Beta 4: November 29 - Thalan, Altarian, Krynn technology trees added

  • Release Date: December 12.

As much as we've enjoyed Dark Avatar as an expansion pack, I am certain that Twilight of the Arnor will be liked even more by players.

To pre-order Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor visit here.

66,068 views 78 replies
Reply #51 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
What kind of info do you guys have about the scenarion editor? This is probably the second best thing I like about this game (Individual tech trees first). For such a much needed feature, there's little info about it.
Reply #52 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

becouse i gave my disks to a friend of myne to play

Have you activated/registred your game first? If not, you friend may have done it and linked your serial id with his e-mail.

BTW, if you have registred your game on Stardock servers, you can download it through SDC (if you have a broadband access).

And TotA isn't a standalone expansion, so it requires having GC2 and DA installed (and surely patched to the latest version) in order to play it.

Fences - Organize your desktop icons today!
Reply #53 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The different tech trees all sound awesome, but you just know there till be balancing issues. One race will end up being the best choice.

Oh well, as we are imperfect humans, the constant patches after release will help balance the game more. The point is to just have fun afterall.

I can't wait for the scenario editer. With all of the other editing tools at your disposal now from ship designing to opponent design, it will be very easy to create whatever kind of universe you want. God, this awesome game is just going to get better.

Can anyone tell me what exact improvements are being made to ground combat? No more Atari soldiers and happy meal Jawa sandcrawler tanks and crane tanks?? Can we actually see asteroid strikes if we choose the asteroid attack option? Will Thalins look insectoid and not human? Ground combat and the economy are my 2 major beefs with the game, but other than that, the game rocks.
Reply #54 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
You are setting too tight a schedule for beta releases.


I totally agree. I am also very suspicious that you could be handing us the cheese platter here. Therefore this Beta s not only about finding the usual small bugs, but also about tweaking the game balance a lot. Tis cannot be done in a week - especially for larger maps!
Example:
So I have normal propulsion and can trade for special propulsion tech (or better yet: steal it when I conquer a planet). Well then I'll take a hyperwarp civ and add the special tech on top of that to get Uber-Warp drives.

Sounds a bit harmless for warp drives (also it might upset engine nerfing). Well, if I can do the same with my economy or other factors, I can unbalance the game in ways no AI in the world has a chance against (or are you telling me that your AI can handle something so complex as well?)

Sorry for being so pessi/realistic about this.




We could have an entire thread on which is better.... going like Blizzard in that you take forever and a decade to release a game (God knows when Starcraft 2 is actually going to be released... probably after I have been dead for 50 years!!), but the game released is as close to perfection as possible, or just release the game quickly without any major bugs of any kind but balance it with many later patches that come out (which inevitably have to come out to balance the game anyways). I mean which is better????

Because we can all wait until April next year for T of the A to come out, giving us all heart attacks and strokes from the sheer stress of being denied our crack, I mean awesome update to galciv2. If the game is released in April next year, it might be excellently balanced, but again, we won't be getting our crack cocaine and will proceed into a seizure state.

Therefore, I am all for releasing the game without major bugs soon so we can start having fun. If it is discovered that the game is horribly unbalanced, Stardock will fix it in a timely matter with more game updates and patches.

I say hand us the cheese platter; I want my crack NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reply #55 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I think the SD approach is better, provided the level of support is of high quality.

For the average game company which gives shitty support, the Blizzard approach is better (though Ironically Blizzard could do SD support well for non-MMO games)

Reply #56 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Do i need original instalation disks thean i buy the expansion, (i have Galactic civilizations 2 Gold), to install the TW, becouse i gave my disks to a friend of myne to play, and hes in Boston and im in NY?


No, but you will need to have registered the game to your SDC account to download or update TA.

Go Stardock! I love you're games!


If that's so, I'd hope you'd see fit to get your friend to buy his own copy, or buy one for him. Keeping the game installed yourself and giving it to him to do the same is, in fact, piracy and a violation of the license.
Reply #57 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Moon Bases I don`t know if any one has though of them this way but here goes !!!

have moons with different resources to mine,.....water to help with barren worlds

and maybe populations levels,..energy,other resources to help filter out toxic rdioative

and material to help with building ships faster and or better (ship quality) other things then wat or star bases do!!!!
if it is going to the same planet that the moon rotates then the collector can be on the planet!!! each rotation the extractor can beam so much to the collector for X amount of ratations till set amount has been beam to it!!!

If it is going to other worlds the extractor beams to a collector which in turns beam it to a relay station or collector which in turn beams it to the planet side collector or more relays till it gets to the planet!!! the farther the planet the longer it takes to collect the resources

depending on how rich the moon is,.. how many moon bases you get 1 or 2 maybe 3 if it is real rich in resources the moon miner lands on moon and you improve the square the square tells you which resource is available

of course this ideal may need to be tweake

Nasty



I wouldn't mind seeing this - doesn't sound like that bad of an idea.

One thing I wish there was more variety of would be Starbases and now that the races are going to get individual techs available to them, why not do something similar w/the Starbases?

Maybe more military oriented Races could get greater bonuses on Military Starbases for example, more economic oriented Races could get greater bonuses on Economic Starbases and so on...

Maybe even proprietary weaponry for the individual races - something the other races don't all share as a common weapon..?....


dunno... just talkin out loud
Reply #58 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
got TA pre -order

is it going to be TA or TOTA ???????
Reply #59 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
is it going to be TA or TOTA ???????
End of quote


I think TA since that goes nicely with DA. Not to be confused with T & A LOL!   
Reply #60 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Hay what ever you do dont order both dark avitar and Twilight of the arnor at the same time.Ijustpaid for both and got neither untill twilight of the arnor is reliesed.OrI could cancel bothe orders and reorder each seperatley.in order to get dark avitar know Any way they have my money know !!I f I cancel Im not sureillgetmy money or either expantion pack IllProbabley justwait.
End of quote


This is strange. I ordered the DA and TA bundle and I got the serial keys for both. I then went into Stardock Central and downloaded DA. I am expecting that TA will be available in SC once it is released and then I will download it also.

I'd contact sales like GinnyWeasley suggested.
Reply #61 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
counting down... 9 days to go
Reply #62 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Just placed my order....

now sat waiting for the postie to delivery it
Reply #63 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Any word on if there will be a spare slot to play with the Custom Race in the files?

IE - will there be a RaceTech.xml file, so you can mod each race's/custom race's tech trees individually, or will we have to mod one of the core race's tech trees to get a specific change on our custom civ? 0_o
Reply #64 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Iceciro - This is an excellent question. I heard you can set Custom Races to play with the new tech trees, but I gather what you are asking is whether we can break up all of these trees into the individual techs and then mix and max. That would be great - imagine how different all of the custom races would be then!

Hopefully this wouldn't break the AI, and since the decision making part of the AI isn't scripted I would guess that it would be fine.

Here is hoping

Dano
Reply #65 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Design your own tech tree mixing and matching techs from each tree? Impossible. We can throw balance out the window. People will cheese their way in metaverse.... There would be one perfect solution.

Still the thought is interesting.
Reply #66 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The thought works well for modders like myself, at least.
Reply #67 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Or you could allow it and invalidate games that do it to the metaverse. Frankly I never post my games to the metaverse.


Dano
Reply #68 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Icecrio: Custom tech trees can be placed in the 'mods' folder and used when creating your civ (you don't have to overwrite anything).
Reply #69 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
But ... But that would mean I could design MILLIONS of custom races that have a distinct look and feel! And then of course there is the fascination with seeing how all these races will interact with one another ...

Ye Gods ... this game is just going to keep getting more and more addicting!
Reply #70 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Stardock reps, can anyone tell me what exact changes are being planned for planetary combat and planetary combat visuals? I want funner taking over of planets, which would help ease the often tedious end game if you choose conquest victory.
Reply #72 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
WOOT!!     
Reply #73 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Stardock reps, can anyone tell me what exact changes are being planned for planetary combat and planetary combat visuals? I want funner taking over of planets, which would help ease the often tedious end game if you choose conquest victory.
End of quote


I'd have to agree - With all the great updates, and bug fixes...The planetary conquest has been lacking from day one... It shouldn't be too hard to make a big push on this! Though its cutting it a little to close, might just have to add in our own mods to take care.
Reply #74 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Does the pushing back of Beta 1 mean the others will be as well?
Reply #75 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Stardock, would you guys consider also having a "generic" tech tree for custom races that approximates the original game's TT as close as possible? I mention this because creating a custom race that has the exact same tech tree as, say the Yor, means basically that you are creating the Yor so your custom race doesn't feel so custom . Just a thought, maybe not a great one!