CraigHB

Check the "save ship designs to hard drive" option in the main options menu. Previous ship designs for a particular race will show up in new games once you've researched the prerequisite techs. I never save ships as templates since it only saves cosmetic components. I don't use those much so it doesn't help me. Some shps you may not see again because of unique game conditions as mentioned above. However, ships designed early in

You didn't mention whether this was DA or TA, but I used to have that problem with older versions of Twilight. If you are talking about TA, have you updated to 2.03? BTW, the game loads the ship files only when you start a new one. Once the game has been created, it no longer reads them. So, any ships you want in the game need to be in the ships directory beforehand. I actually save the ships files off then restore them p

I like TA a lot because it has some nice features over DA, but DA is probably more consistent as far as how the game plays. TA has some trouble with the AI doing strange things sometimes. And yea, things move slower in TA. I did a mod for myself that changes all the tech trees and a lot of other things to make TA play more like DA. I've been playing it a lot. The changes are pretty radical, but it makes the game move really fast an

Those text games were actually a lot of fun. It's sort of like the difference between reading a book and watching a movie. A lot was left up to the imagination. Another nice thing about those old text games was the more social online aspect. Sometimes, you'd go into a game and end up mostly talking with your online buddies. Since BBS systems were fairly local, there'd often be meets you could go to. I remember the first time I saw Doom. T

Yea, CRT displays are pretty obsolete technology. I don't think any products use them anymore. I think we're stuck with some of the legacy for no reason. Thanks back at you and happy new year!

[quote]15 years ago...that was 1994.... I was playing MUD. That was the first MMORPG. Text-based, open source, ridiculously fun.[/quote] I was there, I still remember getting excited about my 2400 baud modem upgrade. I was playing a game called Trade Wars. MUD was there too, but I got into the space theme of Trade Wars. That was when getting online meant connecting to a BBS service over dial-up. Pretty amazing, I was once

You have really good vision then. My vision isn't that great so I can't tell the difference once the framerate gets to 30 or so. Vsync throttles the frame rate down to the monitor's refresh rate. Graphically demanding games almost never see frame rates close to the refresh rate so they aren't really affected by that setting. You're less likely to see tearing since the image is refreshing much fas

I have 512MB, seems to be enough for all the games I've played. I think some games can use most of that for the resolutions we're running if they have heavy texture usage in the graphics. I think what happens when a video card runs out of local memory is it taps into system memory. That results in slower rendering performance because local video memory is much faster. I'm not positive about that, but I believe it's the case. S

For the Impulse games I've already mentioned, you can simply copy the game's program files to another machine and the game will run (without ever starting Impulse) . The game will ask for authentication using it's own panel and once completed, the game runs fine. I know because I have done this in copying games off my desktop computer to my laptop computer. Also, in doing reloads on my desktop. My Impulse games are

Morale only affects population growth and population only affects planetary economy and influence, so, yea, screw morale, it's better to have more people paying brutal taxes. That's pretty much the objective, work your morale ability and popoulation growth ability so you can have more people paying brutal taxes. I do drop taxes for population growth, but that's the only time I do it except to pass elections. Once population is where I want, taxes are maxed, bu

On heavily graphic games like the FPSers you mentioned, I found I rarely need to go over 4x AA. I've played around with AA a lot because it is by far the most demanding setting. Some games I've found can run without any noticable difference between 4x and 2x and I'll run 2x on those. It also depends on how much you even notice ragged edges. It's not something I notice much and only games with a lot of sharp angles and straight sides need much of it

If you installed Sins through Impulse, you *will* have a sig file somwhere. The sig files live in hidden directories so you have to take the necessary steps to see them in your file listings. On Windows XP, for example, the Sins sig.bin lives in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\License I believe store-bought copies of that game did not carry any kind of DRM. Like GalCiv 2, authenticati

No source, just my own experience, so yea, I guess I would need to narrow my statements to the games I've actually bought through Impulse. So let me modify that statement to "some games" use a signature file. I would assume that Stardock uses the same authentication scheme for all of its titles, but I don't know that and I have no sources to site. If you don't believe what I'm saying about signature files, then do a file search on sig.bin. If that's s

That's a huge jump going from a 7300 to the 250. You non-upgraded right up through the 8000 and 9000 series. That would be a world of difference. My wife only plays a couple basic board games on the computer and I put a GeForce 9600 on hers. I updgraded my monitor a year or so ago to 1680x1050. I'm pretty happy with that. I was thinking of going with a HD monitor (1920x1080), but I think I like the 8/5 aspect b

Oh man a 7300GT, that's pretty rough. I'm sure you're much happier with your new machine. I have a 3GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and a GeForce GTX 250 video card. Not the fastest in the world, but it handles every game I've thrown at it.

I have a couple games I donwloaded no CD cracks for. That's for a couple old store bought games I have. I'd rather not use cracks if I don't have to. It's real easy to end up with a virus or trojan when browsing and downloading that kind of thing. Also, you have no assurance that the cracked .exe will perform properly and is free of mailcious code. I'd rather not go there if I don't have to. I agree that you should own the software whe

Here, here. Keep the Galactic Civilizations franchise going. I'll be there for it. GC2 has been a super game for me. Right up there with the best of them, years of enjoyment. I'm really into the strategy of the game as opposed to the story and role playing. I'd like to see GC3 center on strategy just as GC2 did. So, take the story where it suits you. Just keep the strategy deep and immersive like you did in GC2.

Impulse games create a signature file that ties authentication to your account and machine specific codes such as your hard drive volume serial number. If you reformat your drive or buy a new computer, then restore your Impulse games from a physical backup, you have to connect to a Stardock server to re-authenticate. This creates the new sig files required for the games to actually run. Physical b

[quote]Unfortunately, I am a bit short on game time right now...[/quote] I understand that. I have times where I play computer games a lot and times where I don't play at all. Right now, I have a lot of free time, but that can always change, just depends on what's going on.

I think's its pretty unbelievable how these software publishers think they can make up their own laws simply by forcing you to agree to an EULA. It's just ridiculous and they are only making fools of themselves. EULAs are completely meaningless and they should spare us the trouble of making us agree to them during sofwtare installation. If they want' to make a point they should simply provide a link to the *actual* copyright laws that apply in whatever country. There

In TA, neutral has to research the terraforming techs to get instant terraforming. In DA, you only have to select the alignment and all your planets instantly terraform, unless something has changed since I last played DA. It's been a while. Anyway, that can make a big difference early game when you don't have the research horsepower to make light work of getting through the terraforming techs. Also, I think the morale bonus is a bit higher in DA, but I'm not

Merry Xmas to all you gamers. Hope you get lots of goodies.

There is some difference in neutral between DA and TA. Neutral is better in DA and I like playing neutral more in that game. Good and neutral are better for diplomatic purposes, but I'm pretty much a warmonger and almost exclusively play military victory. I'm usually in a state of war with the races for a large part of the game. Evil is really well suited for that kind of play style. Trade doesn't make all that much income so it's re

Yea, the AI runs best in smaller games. It does more with less. It's much harder to beat them in smaller galaxies with smaller numbers of planets. It also depends on how many races you're playing with, mainly because it determines how many planets you'll be able to obtain. The AI wins fights by attrition. If they understood the concept of blitzkrieg, there would be no way to beat them without totally dominant firepower.&nbsp

It's simply a matter of advantages for me. Evil has the best and that's why I pretty much always play evil. Neutral has fairly effective advantages, but good is lacking. I play neutral once in a while, but can't remember that last time I played good. Evil really stands out though. In a nutshell, it's the weapons, the Mind Control Center, and the Artificial Slave Center. They're all really powerful. I'm afraid the game just favors evil.&