Beta 2 - Fatal crash when attacking a ship and other problems

from GalCiv2 Forums
I apologize if this is a double post. I posted this last night, but after editing it, it disappeared.

Beta version: 0.20[b].002 (most recent as of 9pm EDT June 14 2005) Multimedia pack NOT installed
System: Athlon64 3400+, Asus K8V SE Deluxe MB, 1GB RAM, GF FX 5950, SB Live 5.1

I attempted to attack another ship, which sounds like I got further than most everyone else... The game locked my entire system up. Had to push the reset button...

Things that work so far (no crashes):
building ships, designing ships, colonizing, building structures, researching, moving ships (with exception noted below), invading planets (conquered 2 terran worlds), race selection screen (selected one of the new races), customizing racial traits (customized my new race with different traits), exploration

Things that are quirky:
Research screen not logical - difficult to tell which techs are researched compared to not due to very subtle image differences, and tech tree is way whacked. I understand that this is not fully implemented, but techs should be listed in order of availability. Several of the tech trees are very randomly scattered, others are great.

Designing ships can be tedious - Engines are listed as size 5+10%? End result is something about size 7 or more. Very unclear especially since all other items are size 1 or 2, with no other additions. Removal of unwanted items from a ship is annoying. Needs to be a hotkey assigned to remove items. Recommend DEL. When you remove an "extra" from a ship, the extra's hard points are still visible till you click on a different item to place. When you remove any other object, the hard point disappears till you click on a different item. Needs to be a visual representation for sensors range, troop capacity and colonist capacity on any given ship. Very easy to forget sensors, since there is nothing to even refer to. Also, can we paint our ships another color? Even if we still have to have a stripe of our empire color, painted ships would be nice.

Initial ship did not work - Game started with a ship named "[race] flag ship" in my possession. This ship would not move, and it's image was ghosted near the spot I could select it, instead of properly on top of the selection point. Destroyed the ship, since it was not useful. Image remained for the rest of the game (till the fatal crash above). Have not yet loaded my autosave to see if it is still there even after that.

Starport build queue does not accept "nothing" as a valid entry while using the "keep building same type of ship" option. If I click on "nothing", I continue to build the current ship. This even applies to conquered worlds with starports. I conquered a terran world, and a few turns later built a colony ship because I hadn't even realized there was a starport there. Perhaps it might also be wise to include a small graphic on the main map for any of your worlds that have starports. Also, might be wise to include information about build queues on the main map. That way you can see at a glance what your empire is doing.

While writing this I have installed the multimedia pack... we'll see if that changes anything, heh...
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Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I conquered a terran world, and a few turns later built a colony ship because I hadn't even realized there was a starport there. Perhaps it might also be wise to include a small graphic on the main map for any of your worlds that have starports. Also, might be wise to include information about build queues on the main map. That way you can see at a glance what your empire is doing.


I agree, with the current display it can be awkward to remember which worlds are doing what, and where your starports are. Once we get the larger map sizes this will be a serious headache. Some sort of icon on the colony symbol would do it simply. I'd love to see a little space station 'shipyard' orbiting the planet though, it's fancy but would a nice touch like the way moons enter into eclipse as they orbit. We just need some visual indicator to help us get our bearings on the map quickly.

As for the captured shipyards, it might be helpful if a dialog box popped up after the planet is conquered asking you to assign ship production orders there. I don't think that happens at present. For those who don't want it maybe add an option to turn it off?
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Lockup when Attack Ships: We'll look into this.  Ship combat is still VERY early at this point, so I wouldn't be suprised if other problems arise from it    luckilly its one of the next game mechanics on our list to tackle, so hopefully it's a problem that's fixed soon 

Research Screen Not Logical: This is a screen that still has a few major changes to make.  Expect an overhaul in an upcoming build.

Designing Ships: This is another area that needs some tweaking.  I agree that final values should be shown, not the equation to get them (as a player, 5+10% is too cryptic, we just need to say 8, or whatever the final number is). 

Initial Ship did not Work: Was this for a custom race, or a race other than humans?

Starpot Queue not accepting 'Nothing': A bug that will be fixed! 

Map Icon for Starports: Agreed.

Queues on the Main Map: I suggest using the new "Planet List" to get some details on what's being built on your different planets.

All great suggestions, and as for the bugs they've been noted and will get fixed ASAP. Thanks for the feedback! 

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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Initial ship was for the Iconians. I have played it again with the Yor, and my initial ship worked. I'll keep attempting to duplicate the bug though, and if successful, I'll send a save game and/or screenshots.

Oh, and I realized additional information that might be important in regards to the fatal crash I mentioned above. I was playing on a lower AI setting than 'average'. I always do that my first couple games, just in case the AI is astounding (which GC1's was!). I am progressing it up to average. Second game also had the same problem (played on beginner). I guess I'll have to try average next, heh...