What I think is, they should have customize your own home planet, but you can only customize to where the same number of yellow, orange, red, and green tiles. Also, there should be scenario of where your at war with everyone, and every race is in the map, and your only victory condition is to have a large enough military to consume everyone. I'll post more soon.

I have a few suggestions. Some of it is me reiterating some problems I've mentioned for GalCiv2.

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Defending Starbases: The current system for defending starbases is flawed. Starbase combat potential doesn't scale with starship combat potential. You can research starbase combat modules independently from starship weapons and defenses. Starbases also didn't receive much love in the DA and TA expansions. Heck, even if you outfit your station using a few dozen constructors, they are out powered by end game ship technologies.

This problem would be less severe if starbases could join fleets with ships. The combined power of ships and starbases could give the starbase the combat power it needs to survive.

Alternatively, it would be nice if the current construction method was redesigned. Maybe you could design starbases like you would a normal ship, adding ship modules instead on a starbase hull. You could then assemble the starbase with constructors, or rush buy its construction if you had the money.

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Fortify Command: One of the games I grew up playing with was Civilizations 2. In Civ 2, there is a fortify command that makes units to hold their positions and not move for any reason (unless I give them new orders). For me, a fortify command should be a standard command that all 4x turn based games should have... but GalCiv 2 doesn't have it. They have a guard and sentry command, which gives conditions when the units are to *stop* fortifying their positions, but I find both to useless. Instead of giving me a means to secure a location, they give my units conditions when they 'wake up' and be ready to accidentally receive commands I didn't intend to give them. I have placed fleets in the same parsec as a starbase, only to have the fleet 'wake up' when it detects an enemy fleet, and then receive a move order when I'm giving orders to lots of ships. Kinda defeats the purpose of trying to tell the fleet to "guard" the location.

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Design Planet Improvements: I don't like "Industrial Sectors". For me, they are are a move in the wrong direction. For all factories before it, they increased their output/maintenance by +2/+1 ( +2 points of increased output / +1 point of maintenance) for each level. This makes them more cost effective to have. Likewise, the increase in build cost for the new improvement was no more than half the cost of the previous level. An "Industrial Sector" breaks this pattern by increasing the output/maintenance by +2/+4 (greatly increasing the costs of just having one built) and increasing the build cost from 150 to 400 (which more than doubles the cost to build the previous generation factory). This makes it painful to develop new colonies or captured colonies.

This is a problem made worse because the game tends to queue the upgrade of planet improvements once the technology is made available. If I could, I would like to design top tier factories that were fast to build, and were cost effective to have (high output / low maintenance costs). I would keep a second set for bonus tiles and factory worlds (where high output is very desirable).

I want the game to be where you can kinda command the allies ships, or nuetral people ships, they will suggest if they will go to where you command them. I also want a Gal civ 3d, I know gal civ 2 has 3d, but i'm talking bout the map, not only the map goes flat, it also goes up and down, the gal civ 2 is left to right, I want them to put them together, but all over the galaxy, that way, it'll make a cube if you zoom out far enough, and they should enchance the zoom for it to go ferther, but they should gal civ 3 in the gal civ 2 form, that way for the people without a good engine for their pc, and want to play gal civ 3, it won't crash or totally slow down thier pc. They should even put easter eggs in the scenarios, even if they dont got easter eggs, in GTA san andreas, the brigde to san fierro and the little harbor in the top left corner, if you go on the tallest part of the brigde closest to san fierro, you'll see a sign saying, "Theres no easter eggs up here, go away." I cracked up when I found it. They should even put in 12 more tech trees, I know its not good for having that many races, but i'm not talking bout having that many races, I mean 2 tech trees for each civilization, I'll talk bout what i'm saying.

Terran: All around tech tree/ War tech tree. (Actually, I want 3 for this race, the other is Diplomacy)

Drath (My favorite race, i'll tell why later): Munipulator tech tree/ Defense and War tech tree.

Altarians: Research tech tree/ trade tech tree, reminds me, R.I.P. Korx, I just think the Altarians got such a high research skill, they should even trade what goods they seem to get.

Torians: Population Growth maintaning tech tree/ Munipulator tech tree, only cause they want to protect thier citizens.

Korath: Killing tech tree/ Cloning and life absorbing tech tree, absorbing the life from all they will kill, but they clone one first, then they clone it again, and suck the life out of the first one, than make another one, going on and on.

Drengin: Want a bit of a change for this tech tree. Slaving and revive tech tree (Think that all races should revive)/ Slaving less, than the ones that were gonna be ensalved gets controlled by a CPU robot suit they are in, than they get into an army, than the army fights only the korath, then when done, they fight the rest, mostly the one with the closet to Terror Star Tech (That means in the begin, what ever race in the galaxy will have the attacks the most, wants that to be disabled).

Korx comes back, but cause they used a new tech, revive, also goes for Iconian: Trade and Reviving/ Trade and War.

Iconian (Gonna be the ultimate race most likely for what I say, you'll see when you see tech): Robotic and Robotice tech tree/ Remembering "Dread Lords and Arnors Movement" tech tree (Means trying to remember what thier tech involved, since they were alive at the time, they are making stories for what happened, finally stories).

Kryyn: Spying tech tree/ Population Growth and Population Growth controlling tech tree.

Arcean: Ships and High income, low expenses (trying to get the ship that shows, trying to get a high income) tech tree, (Their ships should have an immense for a #1 flag ship for this tech tree, only one can be created, 3 times bigger than thier Huge hull ship) / Robotic and Ships tech tree.

Yor: Cyborgs tech tree / Stealing CPUs in the game, if enough is stolen in a civlization, the yor takes it over (But I want to have to spend alot before I get the race, wouldn't be fair, the access for the race will be through Spying), all civlizations should have this, but yor has the biggest advantage.

Thalan, I think last: Getting use to the now galaxy and a huge vortex (Takes over one of thier planets chosen, the better quality planet, the better, the vortex will increase influence, war efforts, trading, etc. it'll make everthing better and make a living galaxy, and when activated, it'll send enough constructors to get every resource in the galaxy, and if any is controlled already by other races, they will lose theirs and it will be taken over to the thalan) down a long tech branch that the branch contains making better quality planets and the terror star in the tech tree/ Getting thier techs back from the future and make a living galaxy for thier own, planet quality, and the planets with barren, water worlds, radio active, etc. , they can make the planet quality for them 5 times better, maybe the thalan will be the most powerful, and this tech tree will make the expenses lower 10% each week, until they get a 1000bc net income, than it stops lowering, but the income can still go up and the expenses still go down. I have alot planned for the thalan, hehe.

Also they should have 3 times more powerful tech trees, they should have 500 tech tree points than, and the abilities can have negative also, you select which, negative or positive, have 20 abilitie points, and you can have 2 or 3 times the better for abilitie for each, and (Still going on) have 2 abilities per race also, I won't say cause this too long, and each super ability is more powerful and enchanced. K. I'll make a new one.

Divine wrath, thats is a problem I hate with starbases, but thats cause, the starbases maitainence is too high, they should make a higher net income, the only race I seen with a high income is the Thalan, I'm not sure bout the Korx, cause in my games, they don't seem to trade very often, and I don't want to play the Korx, when I do, I just get my booty kicked all over the place by my allies! with the loyalty, My people hate me cause I can't get enough ability points. And customizing the bases, thats one of the many reasons I bought the game. I heard you get to cusomize them, but no, and the best part, you even get to make star bases in the ship design, just they act like ships, not starbases, and no matter what point in the game, you still need them resources in the galaxy.

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Also, I even managed to make all these ideas in less than an hour, all my ideas can make the game fun, but yalls ideas, make the game funner than mine probaly.

Add multiplayer

I think they should also let you decide what type of homeworld for the custom races you want, like, if you want a forest planet, or a lava planet (Drengin) or a planet of just rock, anything like that, thats what I wish.

Galactic Civlization 2 New Frontier is a planned community expansion pack that is unfortunately got put on hold indefinately.

Which is unfortunate since it looked promising.

In a future upgrade, I would like to see the "Guard" and "Sentry" options become more useful -- I have read a couple old forum discussions but nothing that included my proposals below.  Apparently, I am not the only one who thinks these options should actually do something.

In Dread Lords at least, the game is played at the stratigic level and not the tactical level.  As leader of your chosen civilization you make policy decisions that affect planets and your civilization, and give orders to fleets and vessels, but have no direct tactical control during combat; for example, you cannot order all of the vessels in your fleet to concentrate on the enemy's capital ships.  Even at the strategic level, however, you should be able to establish default standing orders for all of your fleets and vessels, and special orders for specific fleets say in or near enemy sectors -- as is done in the real world by presidents and admirals.

First, I propose three different types of patrols:

1.  Stationary Watch:  The vessel or fleet (that is, "the patrol") behaves as it currently does, remain stationary at a specific point until a(n enemy) vessel or fleet is detected.

2.  Orbital Patrol:  The patrol orbits a point such as a planet or starbase at its maximum sensor range.  The patrol would default to its maximum speed but with an option to set a reduced speed -- the goal isn't to orbit as fast as possible but to detect any foreign vessels that approach.  The direction, clockwise or counter-clockwise would also be set for the patrol.  Thus, for a critical planet or starbase a patrol can be sent in one direction and a second in the other to reduce the likelihood of a foreign vessel sneaking through undetected.  Also, this would be a good option for protecting your home world early in the game until you can set up a protective ring of starbases around it.

3.  Picket Line Patrol:  Two Rally Points are set and the patrol automatically moves between then at maximum speed.  You could assign more than one patrol to the same picket line or set up more than one picket line, say between one of your planets and the direction you expect enemies to approach.  This may be a good option for a cheap Star Fury or Defender when you have few vessels and starbases but large areas of empty space between your planets and enemy forces.  You want to detect an approaching enemy as early as you can so you have more time to react.

Second, I propose several levels of Standing Orders or actions for Guard/Sentry patrols when a(n enemy) vessel or fleet is detected:

1.  Status Change:  Basically, this is what happens currently and should be the default.  Patrols on Stationary Watch would lose their "Guard" or "Sentry" status, but nothing more.  Orbital or Picket Line Patrols would stop their movement and wait for further orders.

2.  Report Only:  When you click the "Turn" button, I would like an option to see something like "Fleet 12 reports a Drengin fleet in sector 3,4" or "Star Fury 123 has detected a Torian Freighter in sector 5,6" instead of trying to figure out myself why the patrol's status is no longer "Guard" or "Sentry", respectively, near the front.  Otherwise, the patrol would behave the same as with the Status Change option.  For Orbital and Picket Line Patrols, there may be an option to continue their patrols to determine if more enemy fleets or vessels are approaching from a different direction.  You probably wouldn't want to set this option for all patrols, but certain ones near the front or guarding critical areas.

3.  Shadow:  The patrol would immediately begin tracking the intruder(s) at maximum sensor range but not engage.  If your patrol has a lower speed, it would follow the intruder(s) until out of sensor range at which it would stop and await further orders.  Of course, with this option there is the added risk that the intruder(s) will turn and attack your patrol.  Also, a report should appear saying something like, "Battle Axe 1234 has discontinued its Picket Line Patrol and is shadowing an Arcean fleet in sector 5,6".  Even if your patrol has a higher fire power, you may want to track the intruder(s) for a while and hold off attacking it until it is clear of the area of effect of any of its Military starbases.

4.  Engage:  The patrol would auto attack the intruder(s).  This option has the highest risk, needless to say.  There may be an option to engage only if the patrol's fire power is greater than the enemy's; otherwise, the patrol would revert to the Shadow option.  No sense in attacking a war vessel if your patrol is a single Defender or Star Fury.  However, if your patrol is a small fleet or capital ship and you have bigger fleets nearby, you may want the patrol to attack a larger enemy fleet anyway to inflict as much damage as possible until your other fleets arrive.

Anyway, these are my ideas for giving your "Guard" and "Sentry" fleets capabilities to react to foreign vessels they detect based on the Standing Orders you set for them.  They would give you more control over your vessels and fleets and add more realism and fun to the game.

Hey Taco, look my posts up there, and I know you'll just want more and it gets simple, but, it'll make people want it also, then they start to love it, and one more thing, the other races do the powerful stuff too. We just can't colonize planets on influence, there will be noone on the planet.

Good idea.  I would like to see that extended to starbases as well.  I find it terribly frustrating when a foreign warship or fleet destroys one of my starbases without engaging my fleet stationed there first.

I've mentioned these ideas elsewhere but...

HEX MAPS, HEX MAPS, HEX MAPS, HEX MAPS!  Ok, in all seriousness, hex grids give a slightly more organic feel to a map, and generally make a 1:1 range ratio a more reasonable proposition.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors" damage/defense types.  It's simple, effective, and applied correctly prevents "godships" and fleets no matter how advanced the tech is.

More strategic variety.  What I mean by this is things like "raiding modules" for ships of militaristic races where they park in a system and all planets uncontrolled by that race within its sphere (unclaimed by others or not) are "raided" each turn...rather than having militaristic races build full infrastructures like other races.  Another economy could be races that get bonuses on its controlled planets for each uncontrolled planet in its territory, having to balance out its colonization and conquest for maximum benefit.  Of course along with more standard setups.

Also with strategic variety, three "styles" of movement would make the game more interesting and challenging.  A "gate" style where ships have movement bonuses only within a certain distance of bases or controlled worlds and is the fastest of them all.  A "jumpship" style where only one ship carries a single massive drive that leaves it largely defenseless and is expensive and sends the whole fleet along like a normal fleet module and is almost as fast as the gate.  And finally the normal drive that every ship carries but is slower than the other two.

No more establishing trade routes or building colony ships.  Worlds that meet the right conditions will start to trade with one another upon that point, simple as that.  Colonization will occur in a similar way, where unclaimed worlds that fall within the race's borders will slowly colonize until they're fully claimed and controlled by that race.  This would cost credits and each unclaimed world can be "turned off" (or turned on if they're off by default) when the economy is struggling.  I hate colony rushes, and I hate having to screw with each and every individual worthless non-combatant ship needed to do every little thing because none of them are reusable.

Cultural "neutral zones".  All territory within 2 parsecs of a border on both sides will be considered contested, and cannot be colonized or have bases built within it.  Obviously this implies that bases cannot be built in enemy territory...but they can be built in unclaimed territory, and remain if that territory is eventually claimed by another.  Perhaps particularly sneaky races can build a special unique type of stealth base in enemy territory to make up for their lack of military might.

More value in espionage so that a race can really specialize in it and be a force to be reckoned with for it.  Auto-defensive spies so as to protect worlds before they're sabotaged.  More options like smuggling of various separate types like credits, manufacturing points, research points, or trade goods.  Ship vision and ship sabotage are other things to consider too.  Of course there are the normal "visions" and tech theft as well.

A little more tactical control, but not too much.  Things like preset formations during fleet creation, maybe preset tactics too.  Maybe introduce "heros" into the game that go with a fleet and give you the opportunity to change formation or tactics of that fleet on the fly during battle.  But nothing that lets you control individual ships or specify targets or anything.

Tighter range restrictions.  None of this, "starting range that's half the map" nonsense.  Every race starts with a base range of 1 parsec, modified by their racial bonus and then further modified by the size of the map.  A tiny map with a race that has a full range bonus would have a range of 6 parsecs total to start.  The same race on an Immense map would have roughly double that range to start with.  Each range tech would increase range by 1 to 3 parsecs each, depending on how many techs there are and how specialized the race is in that way.  Players should be required to use bases to extend their range for exploration and conquest, creating strategic choke points in the galaxy instead of just hauling off to any corner they want whenever they want.

No more hardcoding unless it's unavoidably necessary.  One of the biggest complaints of GalCiv2 is that when the new AIs were made, they were buggy and generally worthless.  The only option has been extensive reworking of the values and availability of techs and improvements to the extent that there's no point in using the new AIs anyway, and also it's less fun.  This could have been resolved by simply permitting modders to directly adjust the AIs themselves.  While not ideal for all levels, there are some who are up to the challenge.  The same holds true for unique techs, parts, and improvements that should've been possible to create entirely new additional unique items.

Oh, and finally...did I mention hex maps?

In case of MP simultaneous moves would be a must.  In Civ4 for example there is option for simultaneous move, used quite a bit in mp.