Can you quickly send someone to clean up the large puddle of drool forming next to my keyboard?

By the way, while I'm thinking about it.
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Do you think you guys can program a way keep the appearance of ships separate from their stats? What I mean is, I would like to be able to add stats to a ship without having slap on parts like it they were pieces of lego.

One of the reasons why I ask is, I'm currently designing a custom race for when we get that new custom race modding tool you guys are making. The theme of this civ is, it is a master of military starbases and relies heavily on the mass production of cheap small or tiny hulled ships. In fact, I'm going to be giving them several techs that unlock cheaper versions of those 2 hull sizes.

The problem is, its going to be a pain if I have to replace all the jewelery because I want to swap out the hull part with its cheaper version.

Wow, that Starship component editor looks groovy......  

SHIP COMPONENT EDITOR!!!!

HOLY FRAK!!!!

Yes the caps was intended...that is an awesome inclusion and just another reaon why i pre-order games from Stardock now with no questions!!!

I thought that was a hard-coded value, not something in the .xml file. I guess I'll play with it when I get some time.

I have a few questions pertaining to the relative ease with which these systems (tech tree, component editor, etc.) can be used. Are they going to be simple for the "computer challenged" like myself? A good reference for me to compare with would be civ 3's design. I found even that hard to master and perfect. I mean I could make maps, and place pre-made units and cities, however when it came to making my own things, i was worthless. I couldn't write in my own ideas into the game, and it always ended up crashing the scenario. So are we going to have the ability to make entirely new things, or just edit the current aspects? Such as with this example. How are our newly created components going to be represented. Can we just copy a component, name it something different, give it new atrributes, and then go on with it? With the tech trees, are we going to be able to start from scratch and create new techs while importing current techs that we may wish to have? I know that I probably shouldn't bother with it, and just play the original game. It's just sometimes I want to be able to bring my own ideas into a game, and this seems the perfect way to do so. While I did enjoy making simple campaigns in civ 3, I would have loved to make my own units and add some really interesting twists to the strategy. With Galciv II TA, I'm hoping that those wishes may become reality. This game has so much more promise than civilization ever possessed already, and I can't wait to see what else Stardock decides to surprise us with next. So I thank you all for your time, and I hope that you can answer my questions. Thanks

I just checked the code and while each component is hardcoded to only use certain values (it ignores the others), it wouldn't be that hard to get it to use any values assigned to it.  So you could design a model for a hull and give it default values for weapons + defense.  Tech requirements might be a problem because currently each piece including hulls only requires one tech, but if you desgined your own tech tree too, you could make up for it.

So let me get this straight, this is an editor for components like lasers sheild ect. but not the in game jewlery correct. and if not is there a way that you can make your own or alter the apperence of the jewlery.

I'm very excited to play Galactic Civilizations II Twilight of the Arnor. I do think that it should be time to reveal the faces of the Dread Lords and the Arnor as well so we would understand that the epic battle that was fought so long ago in our galaxy wasn't fought by a bunch of giant squids or beetles. It would be awesome to stand face to face with the Dread Lords. What I mean is to show that lava red face with the mirror reflecting eyes along with the cool black Grim Reaper style robe! As for being face to face with the Arnor, make them appear -- as cool as you can, which would make the game evermore exciting. Communicating to portrait of a diamond with flames raging out discounts the precursors's real significance.

One word... just one word... AWESOME!   

This Looks So Freakin Awesome!

As you can see from the screenshot at the start of the post, one of the attributes that you can modify is "model".  So yes, you could change what model an existing component uses, or create your own component and give it any model you like.    

Thanks CrazyC0330 that explains it all. Now for a little acknowledgment, you guys(and girls) at StarDock are the bomb, you are the fore-runners in gameing experience and inovation. I for one will buy many of your products just because i know you care about your customers and there experiences with your products.Thanks and code on!!!!