This is a great idea. As to how it could be implemented, I don't think you'd even need UI changes. What if placing a spy on a planet's initial colony - currently prohibited - caused the spy to act as a sleeper? Your opponents could see the spy there, but as you suggested, couldn't kill it.
I was using a few different designs, over the course of a few games. I know I used Thalan and Human.
I'm also tempted to try immediately starting a begging campaign for what to include in the first major DA update. I'll second beginning a begging campaign. Possibly a bribing campaign too. To whom do I write the check? Seriously, the current state of the espionage system is my biggest worry with DA. It's the only feature that, if not han
For me, the default Scout ship seems to have disappeared in this version of DA. I don't ever get the option of building them. However, other civs seem to be able to build them. (Note that I haven't done any editing to the custom ship templates.) Is this the case with everyone else, or do I have a mystery error and need to do a reinstall?
In my last game, I've found a bit of a curiosity involving the enemy neutralizing my spies: Turn 1: I place a spy on another civ's planet. Turn 2: While the spy icon still appears on the planet, the spy no longer appears on the improvement I placed him on. Also, the spy no longer appears on the list of spies available for placement. Turn 3: At the beginning of the turn, I'm informed that my spy has been killed. Is this a bug, or is this as things are supposed to be? If
Foley, you've pretty much written the post that I was intending to write. Thanks. After a few games of DA, I'm bothered by the difficulty and contradictions of getting good intel. This is especially the case when it comes to friendly civs, whom I would rather not actively hurt simply so that I can find out what they're up to. I'm also really wishing for a hybrid of the DA and DL espionage system
As to civs giving away their remaining ships when they are defeated, couldn't the same apply to stations, asteroid mines, and resources? Of course, they couldn't be given to pirates. Based on the quote from my last post, it sounds like if the AI traded with each other, then you won't be able to talk with them until 8 weeks has gone by. So they can only trade with
From the DA Beta 2 journal : + When a trade between players is enacted, AI player won't see any player for 8 more weeks (any player not just human). This should dramatically change the way trade occurs between players. Previously, the AI traded techs like crazy. If I understand
Lots of great ideas being tossed around here about what the spying system should be. Here's my amalgam of them, with a few new ideas tossed in: Spies would have two settings, active and passive. Second, passive spies should be invisible until caught. "Active" spies: - When on other civ's planets, they behave like spies currently do, disabling or (preferably) diminishing the output of a building. If put on a planetary capital, they actively sow discontent, lowering morale and increas
Also: is there a limit on how many times the player can speak with another civ during the same turn ? I often go to the Trade screen, look at what's available, check the tech tree to see what my options are, then go back to Trade and make a deal. I do this pretty frequently in late game, when I don't always know the comparative strengths of one tech over another. I think this would be best implemented if, during those turns when speaking to another civ is allowed, communication wo
Interesting journal. Thanks for posting these - how many other developers give their customers this much insight into how their games are designed? I like the idea of not being able to speak with other civs every week, with a couple of caveats: 1. Evil Muppet's commets hit the nail on the head. My primary use of the Trade screen isn't to actually communicate with other civs, it's to check what techs they have. It would be really useful if we could have a listing of other civs t
Good suggestion on #4. I've always found this bothersome too.
I don't believe it would add much to the game, but it won't create any overhead either so it would leave me somewhat indifferent. Certainly, this may not be the deepest addition to planetary invasions. But it seems the most feasible for implementation in DA - much more complexity and you've moved into GalCiv3 territory. <TABLE cellpaddin
Conscription: Basic Conscription- Converts 5% of the population to military before invasion Advanced Conscription- Converts 10% of the population to military before invasion Milita- Converts 20% of the population to military before invasion, -5% morale National Service- Converts 25% of the population to military before invasion, 10% adantage, -15% morale<br
I have some fps dropping now, even if i try to tone gfx's down. I hope DA doesn't make my game very slow, like 10 fps. I have the same graphical issues too, but the smaller texture sizes mentioned in the first post make me a bit more hopeful.
But what if a planet doesn't have a barracks, is it going to be undefended, or is the army going to be equally divided among the empire? Conceivably, if a planet didn't have barracks (or if troops had been moved off-world) a certain percentage of the civilian population could be pressed into service. Of course, these unlucky folks should be signi
ras: I agree that the Total War rebellions were rediculous. Somehow the rebels always managed to have to best tech, with stacks far larger than I had when I conquered them. When they appeared, there were a genuine threat to your home territories, not just those new territories you had conquered. Of course, rebellions don't have to be like that - they could simply cause enough trouble to bog down an invasion, not wipe out your empire as in Total War.
What? You kill off the entire population? I was under the impression that you kill the military, and the population is just assimilated- forcibly or otherwise. It doesn't make sense for, say, Torians massacring civilians or Korx getting rid of a local market. The game certainly seems to give the appearance of invaders massacring all the locals an
From the IGN preview: "In terms of ground forces, barracks can be built on worlds and will pump out up to 10 military divisions for use in planet invasions." This was the most interesting thing I saw in any of the previews. Does this mean that invasions will no longer be performed by hordes of citizens (presumably civilians) dumped onto transports, but instead by actual military? What about the defensive side - are planets still going to be defended by billions of (also presumably civil
I know that there are girls who play GC - my wife recently spent a good chunk of a weekend achieving an influence victory as the Drath. From what I've seen, 4X games are just as addictive to both genders... And for what it's worth, I was introduced to the GC series by a girl. She used to play GCI, though I don't know if she ever picked up CGII.
Thanks TOV. While I would like to have the ability to coerce opponents or demand a surrender unless x -condition is met (as Den of Earth and others have suggested), I can't complain about having new econ treaties. Any new diplomatic options are a gain, as long as the AI can do a good job making use of them.
"Improved diplomacy," eh? Any hints, Stardock?
I've heard that Dark Avatar is going to include diplomacy features. Unfortunately, I don't recall ever hearing about what these would be. Could anyone here give some details?
To see the city lights your video card must support pixel shader 2.0. Unfortunately, your video card only supports up to version 1.4. That is why the lights are not showing for you. Wow, thanks for the quick reply! Looks like I'm stuck waiting for a better video card too. In the meantime, I'll just have to assume that my planets are u
Is anyone else still missing lights on colonized planets? Unfortunately I have yet to see any, as they haven't appeared under any version so far, including 1.3A. I've adjusted the ambient light and contrast sliders with no luck, zoomed all the way in, etc. I'm running GCII on laptop using a Mobility Radeon 9000 with 64mb, and the latest Omega drivers (the normal Catalysts don't behave well). Could the power outages my cities seem experiencing be the result of my crappy old video card,
