If you want to see the Dread Lords face, watch the Galciv 2: DL intro. You'll see part of the Dread Lords face. It would be nice to see it in the diplomacy screen though, but maybe you'll see it in Twilight of the Arnor.

Carriers have been discussed to death, and I think it is probable that they will appear in GC3.

For my own wish list....

Make GC3 have tactical combat. I don't know why the devs don't think tactical combat will work in Galciv. Just take a look at Sword of the Stars. The tactical combat there works.

A 3D map with tons of stars. You should also be able to zoom out real far. Personally, I'd like the ships to kind of disappear when zoomed out far, and have planets tucked within stars.

More diplomacy options. You should be able to threaten other races (especially those God damn minor races!) to get out of your territory and stop taking planets in your territory.

Limit the power of minor races. They shouldn't be able to build constructors. They use them to steal all the resources and build influence starbases. Only major races should be able to do this.

I hope you like my ideas!

Etrius

For every battle? No way, that would take forever to get a game done. I would like GC 3 to 'not' play like Rome: TW.

Maybe if the tactical system was like in "Dominions 3" (I've only played the demo) where you planned your units tactics in advance (with the options of templates for quick assembly of fleets), things could work fine.



It would likely make things difficult to look at and manage. 2D maps work fine.



I like these 2. Minors stealing galactic resources is why I don't ussually play with them (I'm a nice guy, so I don't ussually smite them).



I would rather get a list of tiles, used and not, where I can modify them without having to look at the planets surface. It would auto sort the planet structures so I wouldn't have to decommision structures so I could rearrange things in a way I can figure out the stats of the planet at a glace.

I would love to have a diplomatic option to ask that specific units or colonies be disbanded. Like "Disassemble that influence starbase next to my homeworld." I really like banning minors from starbases as well.

I'd rather not see tactical combat. I remember how mind-numbing it could get in MoO2. Also, as Brad pointed out, you either allow stuff to make the tactical combat interesting, which makes exploits possible (like time warp facilitator + phasing cloak) or you do what the game already does - focus fire on one target at a time until it dies.

These are very interesting suggestions. I would also like a new weapons type that is a combination of all three weapons types and there would be the same for defenses. It is for people who can't choose. I also recommend that you should be able to combine fleets with your allies.

I want a campaign where you can be different civs in it, like axis and allies.

The weapons would save you the trouble of researching all 3 weapons and defense types.

For the fleets, who doesn't want free ships without demanding them.

1) X-Worlds could certainly use that feature as is since X-Com has a whole branch of research dedicated to many Psionic effects... weapons, abilities.

2) You bet! Just imagine an uncluttered map with a few well-placed Gates. Quick invasion processing, tactical advantages, fleet coordinations, true territorial edges or control, name it.

- Zyxpsilon.

Pretty cool stuff, djtool. I say that starbases should be able to make ships, like stardock in the star trek series.

I'm not sure if there's a mod for this already or an option to switch, but...

I'm sometimes a bit possessive about my galaxies after I've spent so bloody long playing with them. In Civ, I could keep playing after winning. I could go take over those last few holdouts; finish that last special project, colonize that last colonizable terrain.

Once the game has registered that you won, does it HAVE to end? I mean, I've been known to delay the ending longer and longer, declaring war on poor civilizations just to prevent the influence victory from happening, or refusing to attack someone who's declared war on me just so I can keep exploring the tech tree.

If there was an option for "keep playing after you've won", I'd be definitely taking it.

Does anyone else want that, or am I just sick?

A few miscellaneous ramblings...

1-The "Tactical" Combat in Sword of the stars would be a good fit for this game. It's not like playing a chess match, more like choosing a fleet formation... from there the result is done much the same as GC2 is now. There are 4 formation types, and each has strengths and weaknesses dependent upon weapons type/offense/defense etc. It would fit like a glove with the new TA fleet enhancement modules. While not necessarily a true "tactical" combat, good ship design/construction and proper formations would be rewarded with success, which is how it should be, as opposed to the current "I have better weapons/more of them therefore I win" system we have now. It also affords development in formations, which would allow battles similar to the advanced tactics in RISK. As the game progresses, your Ships become more experienced, allowing you to use more complicated formations. It also would allow tie ins to Generals/Admirals etc. to improve your fleets chances in a battle. I believe it should be switchable so you could either use the formations, or allow the current GC2 system. From a programming perspective, it fits with the concept of the game as whole, is relatively easy to program vs. full on tactical and allows both equal opportunity and personalities/variations/tendencies for the different races/AI.

2-The ability to remove planetary improvements. Could be done much the same as soil and habitat improvements... basically alot of money and alot of time to "build" a deconstruction of the improvement to a usable clear tile. Sounds strange at first, but it takes awhile to understand, disassemble and dispose of alien things. I'd suggest a line on the tech tree that would allow you to do it faster/more effectively, or an experience modifier that made it more efficient the more of the same type of improvement you remove.

3-If you are going to implement carries, they have to be limited in some way. I can't remember the game, but I can remember fleets with 20 capital ships and 500 fighters... against a fleet similar in size. Battles were similar to the current GC2 model, and they took awhile... monetary controls for purchase and maintenance would work fine, allowing the player as many as he/she could afford, but used properly would make it very difficult for fleets of hundreds of fighters.

4-Borders. Even Star Trek had borders. It also had the right idea about policing them. As long as a ship is undetected, it isn't trespassing in your space. If you build a space station out on the edge of your territory, and you catch a ship inside your borders, you "politely" ask it to leave. If you fire on it, as some alien races are want to do, you risk war. If you ask and they politely decline, you have a choice to make... do you risk the diplomatic incident? Do you start the war? Do you let them get away with it in the interest of peace? It takes the events that were random, like the so and so was visiting so and so and the first so and so got all blowed up, ( I never sent him there !!?? ) with real actual diplomatic tension the player is involved in. Now maybe I have to send a delegate to Korx to hammer out a passage treaty... Also, the possibilities for trade and tourism treaties that become available.

5-I hate espionage. Unfortunately, It is a necessary evil. I would ask that I be able to choose it's complexity. Even the current system is too much for me to be involved in. It is boring and repetitive and a pain the you know what. After awhile I can build those nice centers to eliminate spies, but now I have to dedicate a usable tile to something I don't even want in the game... The suggestion for a Civ4 type system is even worse. I have stopped playing Civ because of the constant need to screw with espionage. If I want to play a spy game, I'll go buy a spy game. If I want to play a war game, I'll go buy a war game. It's is the Explore/Expand/Build part of these games that draws me in. Civ has decided that the war/espionage part of the game is the "fun" part, and that the other "X's" are just needed to get to that point. I'd hate to see GalCiv follow suite. At the very least, continued expansion of techs that would allow counter espionage without having to waste a tile on every planet, or a REALLY good spy minister so I can just throw some money at it and get a yearly report would be OK.

I have been happy with TA as it has progressed, and I LIKE the single player game. (Please don't lose that!)

Tim

Nice ideas.

I agree with namekino. You should be allowed to auto-resolve the battles if you want. Also, battles shouldn't occur on a flat battleground, like Star Wars Empire at War. Make it more like Homeworld.

One more thing, I hear Homeworld 3 is in the works!  

Etrius

Where did you see that?(Link please  )

Speaking of scrapping core ships, perhaps what is required is a slight addition to the shipyard and ship design screens:

A new tab on all the shipyard screens (including ship design), 'current'
And a new tab 'obsolete' and button 'mark current' on the ship design screen only

(Names are just something I picked out of my hat)

The way it works:
Your custom designs show up on the user tab as normal, the core designs show up on the core tab as usual, the current tab is ONLY populated by ships that you have marked as current.

Marking a current ship as obsolete removes it from the 'current' 'user' 'core' and 'all' tabs and adds it to the obsolete tab.

The reason for the obsolete tab is for all those times you've accidentally obsoleted a ship you didn't want to. And so you can still produce an upgrade to an obsolete ship.

Right, here's what I had forgotten:

7. Make homeworlds important! - Homeworlds should be a big deal for their respective races, more than just a planet with a fancy Civ Capital building(as they are now). My suggestion is that the pre-game racial bonuses you and the AIs choose with your ability points should be stored in your Civilization Capital building. Therefore, if you lose your homeworld, it's a massive blow since you lose those racial bonuses, and have to retake your homeworld to get your bonuses back. However, when you or an AI captures somebody else's homeworld, they shouldn't act like extra homeworlds. Captured homeowlrds should act like any old colony, but when the original owner recaptures their homeworld, it should be upgraded again.

That way, you could develop military strategies around kicking your enemy off their home planet, and the AI should do the same against you. And for races whose homeworlds get blasted by Terror Stars, tough luck.