Still want Multiplayer? OK...!

You may never ask for MP again...

http://forums.station.sony.com/strategygames/forums/list.m?category_id=1
from GalCiv2 Forums

Of course I take my hat off to Stardock for being such a great company, and for giving us GC2 and its expansions. It is certainly one of the very best TBS in SP out there, possibly the best in its genre/setting ever, and its AI cannot be beat. I think they may have done the right thing in keeping it to its SP niche. Of course I would like MP -- but I think GC is best in its specialty. And now I have found something to satisfy the MP blues.  I will never ask Brad for MP again.

It used to be a niche game, very niche (it was bought out by Sony not too long ago, but they haven't ruined it!). It's a TBS with a twist, the forums are here: http://forums.station.sony.com/strategygames/forums/list.m?category_id=1

The twist is that there is cardplay, and it makes MP really, really, really good and variable. It's called Star Chamber, a TBS in a space setting, but matched with TCG variability. Bruce Geryk wrote a very good revue of it on GameSpot, you may want to have his input, although that review is years out of date now. Good stuff has been done since. It totally satisfies my MP needs, even if it cannot touch GC2 for SP play (it cannot even come close).

Check it out if you still hunger for MP. The people are nice, the game is easy to learn AND VERY HARD TO do well in, let alone master. It is the best surprise I ever stumbled across. It's cheap to try out (of course it's all digital download and yes there's a SP demo).

I still love GC2 for my TBS SP needs, but I'd love to see some of you there for MP tete-a-tete.

6,267 views 10 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I'm an ex-gal civ player who currently plays a lot of StarChamber, and have for over a year.

Gal Civ is an awesome single player game, and I enjoyed it very much. I still fire it up when I feel like a bit of single payer challenge. But in the end, however good the gal civ AI is (and its one of the best i've ever seen), it cant beat playng a human :)

From what I remember, many peoples gripes against MP online games were:

1. Impolite, immature idiots who will call you a newb and insult you. The Starchamber community, though small (perhaps because its small) is the politest i've ever seen - I have NEVER been insulted by any player on there, and recieved only helpful advice (and 100's of free common cards to play with!) when I was new.

2. Long games, and people randomly dropping. A SC game takes, on average, about 30 minutes, varying between 15 mins and 1 hour i'd say. Its very rare someone drops in this time.

It is a very strategic, and very deep game. I would love to see some gal civ players join the community!

Edit: i'm not trying to remove players from gal civ, SC more compliments gal civ than replaces it. The single player SC game is rubbish compared to gal civ, as the AI is hopeless. When you feel like a stategy game against a person though, check it out!

Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Exactly! Thank you random name. I'm definately not trying to hype SC over GalCiv2, since GC2 is single-only, and SC is basically MP only. I just can't believe that SC is THAT good and no-one has ever heard of it!

Look forward to seeing you in the SC community.

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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Strange... it sounds like MY game and yet I've never even heard of it! :S

You can download it via Matrix Games, which supposedly would give you 'matrix games only' benefits like extra cards and such, or you can download it from sony.

Is the matrix version indeed more feature packed?

Sure sounds like a game I should try! Can you play this PBEM as well?

Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Hi Yskonyn, it was great to see you over at SC, glad you took the time to have a little look. As you can see, you never heard of it because it's a real niche game: Not too many people are interested in spending time learning a game that complex and varied. Glad to see you are. There really is soooo much to learn. Good thing is, the learning part of it is pretty fun itself. (Also, as you can see, you can't PBEM, but the games go so quickly that there is no need. A normal game will probably not take much longer than 30 minutes.)

And, as you could see, the community is really helpful and friendly. See you there again tomorrow, if all goes well.

 

EDIT: I don't know why I didnt include the link to Bruce Geryk's review in my original post, here it is:

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/starchamber/review.html

Geryk is someone with a brain.

Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Well garion, what do you define as 'the best decks'? ;)

But to cut to the chase. Yes. You will have to pay to get your cards.

Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

To Clarify:

If you want to build the very best decks possible you will have to spend a decent amount of money yes. But those that have such decks generally play them only in tournaments (and only in those that let you use all the cards in the game at that - there are plenty of tourney formats that impose a level playing field in terms of cards). however, rare-less decks can compete with all but the very best decks in the game, so the divide is not as big as in many card-based games.

If you want to have a good range of cards, with which you can build a good variety of decks and play fun casual games with, you have to spend only a little (maybe $30). You can specify casual games which only allow 'common' cards if you want to ensure a level playing field in terms of decks. There are MANY very good common cards. Mostly though, in casual play, you do not see the most powerful decks and rarer cards are more often used to give greater variety, not greater power. The community has a kindof self-imposed code of conduct in terms of what decks appear in casual play :)

 

 

 

Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I've found I am actually starting to win by using free cards (so-called "common" cards for which you do NOT have to pay). Rare cards are fun too, but seem to be for special purposes; you don't need those. Uncommon cards are not free, but tend to have a value of about 10 cents ($0.10). The "best decks" in most situations are FREE, because most situations will be "Common Ground" matches.

Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

After having spent a few weeks now with the game and its community I urge ;) all players to come and take a look!

This gem of a game is not really well known, but provides so much fun! Not only that, but the super-friendly community helps a lot as well.
There's a Newbie Tournament setup right now where new players can accept a challenge in a friendly environment to let them learn the game and even win extra cards for their collection. I'll elaborate a bit more:

The Newb Open is an ongoing event hosted by the SC playes community (not the company) to encourage new player advancement in knowledge and card collection. It consists of handicapped matches for players who are still learning the game with donated prizes (valued cards) for new player wins in an "open challenge" format. Example: A new player beat a veteran player who had posted a Newb Open challenge. The match took maybe 30 minutes, the vet played a pre-built 'starter' deck, the new player ran a deck of his own creation. The new player won the match and two cards!

It sounds like an advert, which I do not mean to. Just call it enthousiasm. :D But seriously, anyone who enjoys GalCiv 2 is bound to enjoy SC as well and it would be nice to have more people come and peek in over there!

Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I've been playing SC for a couple of years now and just came across this post (hey onomastikon!). While it is a trading card game (of sorts) you don't need to spend lots of money to get a good game. Most players will give away all their spare commons for free. In a week or so you will have 600 cards +. Then challenge anyone to a "common ground" game. This takes away the "power rare" effect typical of card collecting and makes the strategic board play (and good deck building) the focus.

I still havn't found a 2 player strategy game to beat it!

Hopefully see you in the Mezz

Sox