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Things you would like to see in a Galactic Civilization expansion set

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Things you would like to see in a Galactic Civilization expansion set

from Stardock Forums
I know that there already is one suggestion thread up but I decided to start a second one anyhow. Post any and all ideas that are too outlandish or broad in scope to implement in a commercial patch. Let's see if we can give the developers some evil ideas and maybe, just maybe, improve the chances that there will be a GC expansion pack. I'll try to get this one started.

Things I'd like to see implemented in an expansion:

1) More good and evil technologies
2) Race specific units, technologies and events
3) More events of all types
4) Morality triggered events
5) A new (hard) victory condition only attainable by neutral civilizations
6) Larger than gigantic maps
7) More customization options for maps (more neutral races, better than abundant planets, extra star clusters, more/less anomolies, etc.)
8) A second scenario
9) Two-tiered maps
10) A simple fleet combat system
11) More permenant galactic features (astroid belts, gas giants, ancient junkyards and ruins, etc.)
12) Some additional empire building tools (cosmetic and meaningful)

More technologies and events:
Any expansion to Galactic Civilizations would have to include more of what has already made this game the true, spiritual sucsessor to the Orion series. The event library in particular could be easily expanded to make every game unpredictable and different. Granted, this is already one of the stated goals of the patching process, but what can be done in patches can be 'overdone' in a retail release. :) Adding more technologies for the good and evil civs would also be a likely addition, but would require some compensation for neutrals.

Race specific technologies, units and events:
A familiar idea to an RTS player. An ideal way to introduce race-specific items into GC would be to create 1-3 units and techs for each race, including the humans, and then allowing each player to chose one of each at the start of a campaign. Only techs and units that the player picked at the start could be eventially researched and built.

Not allowing the usage of every racial unit in every game would be a good way to ensure that one race is not automatically 'the best' at any one thing. If the Torians chose their heavy combat vessel they will be able to hold their own against the Drengins. The best part is that the human player will not know what choices the AI races made until later in the game. Did the Drengins decide to activate their Warlord-class battleships (for space superiority) or did they instead chose to use Mutagen bombs (for mutating other species into Drengin hybrids during planetary assaults)?

Neutral victory condition:
Create a United League of Planets and conquer or dominate the galaxy. The catch: The League of Planets cannot have any of the other major races in it -- only minor races (and Independant League) led by the human race. You need at least 4-6 minor races (depending on map size) on-board to win this victory condition. They all must be alive at the end of the game.

It could work like this: Once a minor race is convinced to join the League it becomes an ally of the lead race and every other member race. All member races get military access, shared exploration, trade and diplomatic bonuses with one another. All member races benefit from each others starbases. All minor races belonging to the League give a tribute to the founder but recieve a hefty scientic grant in exchange. League races cannot culture bomb one another.

This would be a very cool victory path. It would be murder build and protect a League of Planets, but it could be a very rewarding endevor. If neutral technologies were to be implemented, perhaps they could be intended to allow this style of victory? The first neutral tech could be League Alliance (allowing member states) and subsequent techs could improve economic and scientic ties between the member races. A full formed League would be an unstable but very wealthy ediface.

Under the right circuimstances, the Arcean Empire may even attempt this. Perhaps one or more of their racial units/techs could be designed with this victory path in mind?

More ahead...
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Reply #51 from Stardock Forums Top
Here are my suggestions for an expansion pack or improvements in the game in general:

- Technology tree

I think some comments before hit the nail on the head. Research is more of a chore than an adventure. I would love to see technology that instead of just adding +10 to something, adding an upgrade that we must apply/buy/install. Weapons to ships, defensive systems to planets, improvements to factories, engines to ships. This would add another dimension to the gameplay without changing the balance.

Also, some big advances that are worth working towards. Star gates have been an oft proposed example. This would involve not only a new strategy but another thing to build and deploy. There are alot of options here as well.

- The races

Add more races. Allow for random chosing of the 5 enemy races. Change how ship data is stored to allow for per race ships instead of just one set of ships for all races. The modding here could be extensive by the community adding race specific ships, tweaking race ships so they don't all seem the same, etc.

- The galaxy

Add galaxy things like asteroid belts, nebula, black holes, and other environmental things that affect combat, production, and other strategies in the game.

- Military rating

The discussion about the military rating being only a sum of the attack points of a fleet certainly needs addressing. Attack, defense, hit points, and movement all contribute to the military might of a race and should be looked at before an AI wages war. As it is now the AI is very agressive against players who play a defensive passive style building up high defense ships instead of high attack.

Reply #52 from Stardock Forums Top
It has be posted many time in this thread here but

Good tech / Neutrul tech / Evil tech

ex:you want to reseach for battle hammers? I guess you will have to pass on 10% planet bounus and save all the wild life on the plant you just got becuse battle hammers are deffencive ships and that is only Good tech and your neutrul with stats at 68 guess your going to need that extra bump of kindness to get to 70 or over. :)
SoundPackager - Customize the Windows sound scheme
Reply #53 from Stardock Forums Top
Change the top-down view to 3/4 isometric view (like Starships unlimited) for us very shallow people who like graphics.....!
I know,I know this couldn't be done in a patch but it would be nice, wouldn't it? :notsure:
Reply #54 from Stardock Forums Top
Just had to agree with sirOscar

"TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY. Simply put there is no way a sovereign “nation” allows others to pass through or use its air space without permission or risks the destruction of those units or war. To me this is the BIGGEST glaring over sight this game has. This would open up a lot more diplomatic options as to allow/use the passage of units would require diplomatic agreements. "

Not easy to implement in ANY game (escpecially space) but would IMHO be the biggest single improvemnet that could be made


~SDC~
Reply #55 from Stardock Forums Top
I would like to have a forced resupply for military ships. I.E. They would have to dock with planets every so many turns. Scouts and covertte could stay out a longer time but far less powerful. The higher end you go the less time a ship could stay out. I would also like to see a resupply ship to(IE a ship that only carried supplies) but if a ship gets resupply from the ship instead of a planet then it takes a hit in fighting ability until it docks with a planet. Also that for the dreadnaught and higher the planet has to be above a certain quality level to allow them to resupply.
Reply #56 from Stardock Forums Top
More races (GalCiv is seriously lacking in the cricual "Hot Female Alien" quotient. This could help rectify that situation.)

A rock/paper/scissors system of combat advantages/disadvantages. Have a "bomber" unit that's very effective against large ships, but is vunerable to fighters, or a medium ship that has strong anti-fighter defences, but lacks the large-scale guns necessary to destroy capital ships. Have fighters be more effective against Terror Stars (being able to find those pesky exposed exhaust ports.)
Reply #57 from Stardock Forums Top
1. super starbase that is equal to a planet .. build ships etc.

2. several more races

3. territorial intergity .. rights of passage through space u own .. great idea james post 54
Reply #59 from Stardock Forums Top
A ship that can board & take over some starships. Like the Marine Detatchment on AC.

Technologies to make boarding harder would be cool too.

~SDC~
Reply #60 from Stardock Forums Top
I'd like to see the UP enhanced. Where the races could see (and perhaps choose) the issues coming up. You could then trade for influence points, so they'd at least be of some use!

More SF references/homages

Ground combat more involved/nice

Some things specifically for the neutral players

~SDC~
Reply #61 from Stardock Forums Top
I don't know if this warrants an expansion pack to implement, but I was thinking that a great deal of strategic nuance could be added to the game on larger maps if the majors all started with TWO or maybe even THREE randomly scattered worlds. This would reduce the chance any race has of getting "cornered" and would require the player and the AI to work on multiple fronts. If you happened to have your worlds nearby each other this would strengthen your hold on that area, but weaken your ability to exploit other regions due to range/travel time. On the other hand, if your worlds were spread far apart you'd be spread thin militarily and in terms of culture at first, but would have access to more of the galaxy at large.

I love the wormhole tech idea, on the bigger maps it takes so long for ship to get where it's going I sometimes forget why I sent them there in the first place. I'd also like see a ship that was like the cost of a dreadnought with the stats of a battleship BUT was equiped with a "jump drive". Maybe if it were too powerful strategically it could not be able to attack immediately after jumping, but would still allow you to bring force to bear from a great distance, or recall expeditionary forces for defense when needed. Also stealth ships would be a lot of fun, but they should be limited in "size".
Reply #62 from Stardock Forums Top
Woah... a lot of good ideas floating around here.

I would like to see....

1. More races.

2. More events both good and bad ie boosting planet quality and dropping planet quality.

3. More development along the espionage lines.

4. The ability to play another race. Maybe after certain conditions have been met?

5. The ability to zoom in on the galactic map.

6. Ability to customize your ships. (through techs?)
Reply #63 from Stardock Forums Top
I, also would like more events. Maybe a slider to set frequency of events, since some people don't seem to like them.

I would like descriptions of the planet improvements in the governor window (via right click?). Also, same for tech descriptions in the diplomacy window.

Tactical Map upgrades:
1) Left click on a fleet symbol brings up the fleet list in the right hand panel. Same as selecting a fleet symbol in the Normal map.

2) Left clicking a fleet symbol selects the fleet, but does not delete it's current destination, if any. Right clicking on the map does change the destination of that fleet.

3) Left clicking on a star system brings up the Planet list for the star system, just as it does in the Normal map.

4) If you open a planet management screen or a starbase management screen on top of the Tactical map, closing the screen does not close the Tactical map nor does it change the right hand panel info.
Reply #64 from Stardock Forums Top
Ok, i'd like to see a few things.
- How about links in the tech tree in the game. You know, you can click on the object that this tech will allow you to build and it tells you what it does. I love the game find it totally addictive but the learning curve required extensive notes that most of which wouldn't have been needed had this been included.
- The ability to terraform worlds even more. I'll colonize almost anything, 12 + for sure as you can get a 12 up to 17 as is. However, i'd like to be able to terraform them farther. the best world i've seen started at 26!! An no there was no special when i colonized it. NOTE: save before you colonize a world, what happens when the ship lands is totally random. This applies for end turns as well.
- I agree with a simple fleet combat system and fleets in general. How about waypoints, user defined paths for trade routes in order to maximize profit. A straight line doesn't really make sense when a ship goes through a sector you don't occupy and two squares over is a sector with a completed terror star.
- Trade between your own worlds. As if all worlds are going to have the same stuff as long as its the same race.... you have no idea how annoying it is to culturally take over the world trade routes go to. The economic reprocusions are disasterous cause the route immediately gets destroyed.
- More random events, anomalies and anomaly wierdness effects. Have anomalies look at your alignment as a random and do something appropriate either good for you or bad for you.... hehe, i'd like to see some dangerous anomalies.
- More techs
- More allignment specific techs
- Must be Neutral techs
As we've all noticed, you end up with way better planets if you become totally evil.... so why be good?

- More and more starbase modules... How about research modules that improve or give extra research. Zero G Labs. Off world expiriments... Economy modules that improve finances. The Sector Bank. Stock exchange. Some stuff could affect multiple things like a bit to trade routes, a bit to influence and a bit to income... like a big flea market on the station.

- In order to even out the balance of the game, how about allowing the user the ability to build a telescope that detects resources and Yellow stars anywhere on the map. More resource modules.

- How about a terraforming ship that i can launch to a world to improve it before i land. say up to 16. So, if 12 is colonizable then maybe this ship won't do anything to planets under 12 and each ship would increase the class by 1 level with an ever increasing potential for failure as more ships are used.

- Bigger galaxies, something beyond abundant, more stars, more opponents... Make the minor races an actual threat. They do things slower, but they actually do things.
Reply #65 from Stardock Forums Top
Random list of possibles:

1) I like the territorial integrety idea. Perhaps a charge for putting non-trade ships into a controled sector? Perhaps keep it a UP thing?

2) Like scalible random events and UP meetings.

3) Neutral techs sound good. However I'd put in a different sort of suggestion for the Neutral victory, make it more Switzerland than quiet alliance. Have to avoid all war or alliance for X many number of years, while having an X ranked military.

4) Um, and this is a total side thought, offered up by my roomate here, but shouldn't there be some sort of base chance that a fighter sent up against a terror star instantly destroys it? They all have that trench, right?

~SDC~
Reply #66 from Stardock Forums Top
I don't like some of the suggestions here that could radically change the synamics of play and alter the game into, say, MoO3. Complexity isn't neccesarily a virtue . . .

I just want more techs, more events, more races, and one of those map customizer thingies that has been mentioned, so I can have a small, compact, very dense galaxy with lots of stars and events happening a lot. And I also want ice cream.
Reply #67 from Stardock Forums Top
I would like a 'hot-key' list that can be accessed by eg pressing the question mark key, or going to the menu, then to the list.

A one-click or one-key option to reach that list would be very good... and a notice at the start of the game pointing out the method(s) to reach the hotkey list.

Also: right-click lists, eg in the planets list, in order to be able to change the order of the planets by category/forward-reverse, etc. Same UI thingy everywhere there is a list that can have its listing order changed already.

Combined arms for fleets would be awesome. (Just to make sure this point gets noticed LOL )

Linked stargates/stargate network (setting up and maintaining should have an economic cost)/wormholes with a known destination if you can get an adequate (or better) pathfinding algorithm in for the AI's and for the player's auto-pilot ships.

Having better morale (or other) bonuses for good random even choices to balance things like planet quality bonuses that the evil get. Or even choices where being good provides a better long-term advantage (and it is apparent) than being evil. EG better cooperation among scientists due to good civilisation choice giving a better long-term bonus to research than the evil option which may give a high short-term bonus, but! that bonus goes away after a period of time due to loss of trust/top researchers being killed due to disagreeing with the direction of the evil empire, or something.

That gives an idea for a random event affecting evil empires: Due to unrest on xx system (one of the prime systems, not a new system), you have been required to terminate (permanently) the employment of several of your best researchers and science teams as part of a general example to the whole population. You have lost xx research points at this planet and (a smaller amount) empire-wide due to increased mistrust among scientific circles.

To give more bite to that event, you could allow a couple choices for the evil empire to take... let the morale on the planet drop and a penalty to the loyalty attribut resulting in increased vulnerability to another culture OR kill the guys and take a penalty to research. :)

Another evil event *g*
A _very_ high-ranking officer in your military is putting together a cabal of experienced officers. There are rumours that this is going to eventually lead to an attempted coup. How will you deal with this? (Pre-emptively kill them and lose a percent of military ability, or leave them alone with a slight increase to military ability, leading to the next event in the chain...)

The previously mentioned high-ranking officer has decided the time has come. How are you going to deal with this attempted coup? (Loss of military ability due to killing them off OR Loss of government (consequent loss of party bonuses), change of government back to Imperial (take an economic hit), leads to next event a few years down the track (ie more than two)...)

It has taken some years for you to put your network in place. Do you kick off a coup, or wait longer? (Lower risk of succeeding than if you wait, if you fail you're back at square one with the network thing, OR Increased risk of having your network discovered because of time factor. If not discovered, virtually guaranteed of getting control of the government back. Problem: that's another 18 months or so you don't have control of your own government and consequent loss of party bonuses...)

(Yes, I'm harsh with the evil... they need penalties to balance the bonuses they got first. Good get off easy because they take the penalties then receive the bonuses....)

Hmmm...

Better stop for now, will have more to say next time lightning strikes :D

Damian

~SDC~
Reply #68 from Stardock Forums Top
I am only half way into reading the posts but it would be nice
1.) to start the game without having 3 minor races and 3 major races in the same star strip as you are.
2.) Need better tech to be able to bypass the situation above.
3.) Tweaked AI. When I was able to jump out around by outspending on colony ships the "Pure Good" Civ declared war on me. This is was all in the 1st ten turns. If your "good" going to war should be rather hard. If your evil it should be the means to expand your empire. It's sad when the good civs are declaring war on you and the evil civs are warm to your civ and you have a good civ as well.
Good job on the rest of the postings as far as added features.


~SDC~
Reply #69 from Stardock Forums Top
I would like to be able to build fleets and starbases "from the top down", i.e. mark out where you want a starbase and what modules you want on it and the computer will automatically build the constructors and send them out to the sb. Also, if you could make fleets in the same way, I think it would cut down in the mid to late gam micromanagement.

~SDC~
Reply #70 from Stardock Forums Top
I would like to see a map overlay implemented. This would be a way to draw and notate the map with my stratagies , mark my important locations and then erase the data when I am finished with it. Even better would be the ability to tab thru the important locations I set.

And speaking of tabs, I would like to see a way to flag specific starships and tab between them. This would simplify examining the territory being explored by scouts.
Reply #71 from Stardock Forums Top
I think Frogboy has said countless times that fleet combat won't be implemented so I won't say anything about that (in case those of you who kept echoing that idea didn't realize).

But I second the notion that Stargates should be somehow introduced. These would prove particularly useful in a 24x24 or bigger universe. Smart players would create a "Stargate Network" to allow civilian and military vessels quicker travel across their controlled portion of the galaxy. Similar to the "warp corridor" thing in Star Trek which is the only plausible explanation for ships travelling from one end of the Federation to the other in any reasonable amount of time without having the best Starfleet classifed warp engine.

Also, has anyone thought of the idea of having true "controlled space". Different from the current idea of controlled space, where you just culturally dominate it, but anyone can pass through it. More along the lines of airspace in the modern world. i.e. For the USA to fly their bombers over Turkey they had to obtain permission to use Turkish airspace. Something like that, but in space. Basically... "borders". If someone you don't like sends a ship into your space, you should have the diplomatic option of telling them to leave. Another popular Trek event, sorry about that ;)

Also, having lots of more "startup options" would be fine by me. It would add some spice to my games. If you are afraid of scaring the newbies, you can simply put those in an "Advanced Options" screen and have it accesible by a button.

Someone said something about wormhole access... to other galaxies. How about something similar... but to another DIMENSION. Oh yeah, that'd be amazing. But the computer would have to maintain 2+ seperate "galaxies" at the same time, so perhaps its not feasible. Or maybe the second "galaxy" could be much smaller, and spawned by a particular random event. At the risk of ripping off Star Trek again, there could be some species that lives in another Dimension and tries to invade the Milky Way galaxy. And the human player has an option of entering that species' own galaxy and battling them there, and perhaps eventually colonizing that place as well. Haha.

NOTE: Please do not make the game any more easier by tweaking Morale "up" again. I enjoyed the difficulty level of 1.00 Retail and 1.02 is just a lot easier because of the lack of morale-balancing challenge.
Reply #72 from Stardock Forums Top
This might sound stupid.

But how about... REQUIRING that all Starbases *must* ORBIT something. Like it Star Trek! lol. sorry again

But really. Isn't there some law of physix which says that large masses in space should probably orbit something bigger, like a planet or a sun. lol. i dont know, i'm a history major. Anyways. In most sci-fi movies/TVshows I only see small "outposts" which are off in the middle of nowhere. Most large space stations or platforms are orbitting SOMETHING. Usually a star.

So in GalCiv... maybe all starbases have to be within 2 squares of a star. That'd really limit the game I'm sure... make it more challenging though! which is a good thing.

Reply #73 from Stardock Forums Top
No, there's no such law of physics, and starbases in Trek don't have to orbit planets.

This suggestion has come up *many* times, but there's rarely a good reason to implement it.

~SDC~
Reply #74 from Stardock Forums Top
Can I have flags please? These are like the little pins you put in a map on a pinboard, and should allow associating a little text with a location on the map. (These can track resources, mark waypoints, ID good trading partners, whatever the user want to use them for.)

~SDC~
Reply #75 from Stardock Forums Top

One thing we need is a starting game option to affect how fast we can progress up the tech tree. In other words, give us the option to make techs cost double or triple their current costs.

The idea is to slow down the pace of the game and create greater distinctions in 'eras' of battle.

Also, we need more morality-specific features. This could be ships, techs, diplomatic options, etc. The morality aspect of the game is what separates GalCiv from other 4X games and it should be emphasized.