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Things you would like to see in a Galactic Civilization expansion set

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Things you would like to see in a Galactic Civilization expansion set

from Stardock Forums
I know that there already is one suggestion thread up but I decided to start a second one anyhow. Post any and all ideas that are too outlandish or broad in scope to implement in a commercial patch. Let's see if we can give the developers some evil ideas and maybe, just maybe, improve the chances that there will be a GC expansion pack. I'll try to get this one started.

Things I'd like to see implemented in an expansion:

1) More good and evil technologies
2) Race specific units, technologies and events
3) More events of all types
4) Morality triggered events
5) A new (hard) victory condition only attainable by neutral civilizations
6) Larger than gigantic maps
7) More customization options for maps (more neutral races, better than abundant planets, extra star clusters, more/less anomolies, etc.)
8) A second scenario
9) Two-tiered maps
10) A simple fleet combat system
11) More permenant galactic features (astroid belts, gas giants, ancient junkyards and ruins, etc.)
12) Some additional empire building tools (cosmetic and meaningful)

More technologies and events:
Any expansion to Galactic Civilizations would have to include more of what has already made this game the true, spiritual sucsessor to the Orion series. The event library in particular could be easily expanded to make every game unpredictable and different. Granted, this is already one of the stated goals of the patching process, but what can be done in patches can be 'overdone' in a retail release. :) Adding more technologies for the good and evil civs would also be a likely addition, but would require some compensation for neutrals.

Race specific technologies, units and events:
A familiar idea to an RTS player. An ideal way to introduce race-specific items into GC would be to create 1-3 units and techs for each race, including the humans, and then allowing each player to chose one of each at the start of a campaign. Only techs and units that the player picked at the start could be eventially researched and built.

Not allowing the usage of every racial unit in every game would be a good way to ensure that one race is not automatically 'the best' at any one thing. If the Torians chose their heavy combat vessel they will be able to hold their own against the Drengins. The best part is that the human player will not know what choices the AI races made until later in the game. Did the Drengins decide to activate their Warlord-class battleships (for space superiority) or did they instead chose to use Mutagen bombs (for mutating other species into Drengin hybrids during planetary assaults)?

Neutral victory condition:
Create a United League of Planets and conquer or dominate the galaxy. The catch: The League of Planets cannot have any of the other major races in it -- only minor races (and Independant League) led by the human race. You need at least 4-6 minor races (depending on map size) on-board to win this victory condition. They all must be alive at the end of the game.

It could work like this: Once a minor race is convinced to join the League it becomes an ally of the lead race and every other member race. All member races get military access, shared exploration, trade and diplomatic bonuses with one another. All member races benefit from each others starbases. All minor races belonging to the League give a tribute to the founder but recieve a hefty scientic grant in exchange. League races cannot culture bomb one another.

This would be a very cool victory path. It would be murder build and protect a League of Planets, but it could be a very rewarding endevor. If neutral technologies were to be implemented, perhaps they could be intended to allow this style of victory? The first neutral tech could be League Alliance (allowing member states) and subsequent techs could improve economic and scientic ties between the member races. A full formed League would be an unstable but very wealthy ediface.

Under the right circuimstances, the Arcean Empire may even attempt this. Perhaps one or more of their racial units/techs could be designed with this victory path in mind?

More ahead...
25,078 views 529 replies
Reply #126 from Stardock Forums Top
More missiles.

Why is only Dreadnaught tech give us cheap, disposable anti-ship missiles?

Including AMMs points out how lesser missiles are missing. How about 100 cost missiles that have an attack of 15 or 20? Or 200 cost missiles that have an attack of 40 to 50? New units available at the lesser techs. Heck, if you stacked a Attack 10 missile with Corvette Technology, and had the other missiles require that, you change a dead end tech path to a useful one, and enable a way for peaceful strategies to take a path other then Dreadnaught/AMM and maintain viability.

Stealth tech could chain off to include stealth missile carriers (Equivalent of 'Subs' in wet navy). And prior to that in tech, you could branch off to include a carrier that would have Attack 0 Defense 8+ and that could 'carry' missiles about. When the missiles were 'fleeted' with the carrier, they would never defend (well, you could add in a defensive missile that would be the primary 'defence' when the stack was attacked, off a Defensive technology) and if their carrier was destroyed, they'd be destroyed.

With a little tweaking, these carriers could be also carry 'star fighters' or 'planetary assault craft' or whatever else other people are asking for.

Something to consider, I hope.
Reply #127 from Stardock Forums Top
Just got an idea: What about expanding the mp3player to two different sets or three? One that plays if good things happen, and one which plays when e.g warrelated events happen. and one list for "in general". just an idea.

no big deal of course :)
Object Desktop - Get all of our enhancement utilities in one suite
Reply #128 from Stardock Forums Top
The exploration/expansion phase of the game could be lengthened just by not letting the AI know where all the yellow stars are to begin with. If they had to go exploring for yellow stars like the human player, it would force the AI scan the Universe sooner, build scouts, and hence have a better ranged vision. This would also lead to the AI having a better knowledge of where the resources are, as it has been pushing to find all the yellow/purple stars just as hard as the human, and therefore it has a better chance of getting resources initially.

Perhaps this could be implemented as a setup option where: A) Everyone has Stellar Cartography (speeds up colonization/expansion phase), B) AI has Stellar Cartography, and C) Noone has Stellar Cartography.
Reply #129 from Stardock Forums Top
I'd like an option to not interrupt the MP3 music for tech advances and such.

Also I'd like a keypress for "Done" so I didn't have to click so much.

Minor refinements mostly.

Thanks,
Redshift
Reply #131 from Stardock Forums Top
the best new feture would be make it cost money and i get 25% profits but seriously...

*Make it so you dont need to have lates version to use.
*dont make it update to the lates vertion.
*don't change anything with matainence or difficulty level.
*Make it so you can choose how offen UP meets and way more evens that are a bit more complex and relivent.
*New magior race you pay me to design.(not the ai engine but what they are like.
*better diplomacy settings like they will barder with you and understand that if they have 2 systems and i want one and have them surround and out gun them a billion to 1 to just give up the system i ask for.





Reply #132 from Stardock Forums Top
Some more thoughts...nagging little stuff, mostly...

Whoever suggested a keypress for research...yes! Simpler = better. By the end stages of the game, especially after you've played a few times through, you don't need to be reading the tech description every time...so just hit return and go on.

The mouse tends to hover during cinematics. Any way to make it vanish into the background?

I'd like to see some more storyline development. GalCiv is supposed to be an epic story about humanity, so why not chronicle the random events and maybe significant events like UP resolutions coming in/going out of effect, gain/loss of star systems...in a new tab on the domestic policy screen...i.e., in Jan 2197, the Terran Dominion declared war on the Drengin Empire. In Feb 2197, (leader name) decided to destroy all research related to a controversial serum for improving soldiery...and so on. Add some serious flavor and you get a more epic feeling.

Also, I think it's a little unrealistic that all the non-terran worlds are economic black holes...isn't it possible that a barren world could be so valuable minerally that even a small population could profit? Why not add some planetary 'specials' (I know, stealing from MOO) to remedy this. Alternately, you could split the habitability score in two...but seeing as how GalCiv doesn't have a food supply, that might be going too far. So maybe just a rich mineral world now and then.

Nebulae that prevent certain technologies from functioning or obscure ships would be cool. You've already got invisibility with the Rangers... That's outta left field...

Scenario editor? Hmm? Maybe? Someday? You could call it Galacto-matic. Or not.

Some stuff I mentioned before:
- Alarm clock. Come on. We need it.
- Ability to propose generalized laws in UP
- Better fleet management/fleet combat

Keep up the excellent work...

Mike

~SDC~
Reply #133 from Stardock Forums Top
Territorial integrity, like mentioned earlier, would certainly boost this (allready) great game a lot. No one could pass your border (without some kind of spy/cloaking tech and of course in war) without permission from the sectors owner. This would open up a hole new range of diplomatic possibilities.

A lot of people have mentioned the need for more races. I would rather like to see an improvement to the races allready implemented. Instead of using time and money on making new races, use the resources on improving the old ones, making them better and better.

The thought of an comp player recovering from an nearly death, by backstabbing/putting other players up against each other/exploiting/etc, and hence winning the game would certainly impress me.
Reply #136 from Stardock Forums Top
Since there are pages and pages of suggestions now... I'd be interested in having someone from Stardock compile these proposals, and comment on which ones are feasible or not... which ones they think are the most interesting/possible, etc... which ones they don't think they can implement due to game imbalance.

Same goes for the other thread about 1.03 enhancements...
Reply #137 from Stardock Forums Top
When sending tradeships(freighters) it would be helpful to know what planet it came from, since sometimes you have to run away from hostiles with your freihter. suddenly you forget where the freighter was to go and came from!
Reply #138 from Stardock Forums Top
Given all the nods & refs to various things in the game (eg system name Sauron), how about some homage to the greatest Sci Fi series of all time :

Red Dwarf

New Weapon for Soldiers : Bazookoid

New Recreational Trade Good : Suicidal Vindaloo

Random Event : Simulant Attacks

LOL
Reply #139 from Stardock Forums Top
1.Design our own ships!!!
2.A tactical battle screen(but ships still controlled by the computer)
3.More planetary defenses
4. A screen resolution between strategic and tactical for the main screen.
5. More ship types. like light cruisers, heavy cruisers, destroyers, and carriers, mine layers, and mine sweepers.
6. Counter espionage
7. Mines!!!!


~SDC~
Reply #140 from Stardock Forums Top
After reading all 139 messages so far, here is my wishlist...

1. How about adding an Attack Range to some ships eg. All ships currently need to be on adjacent sqaure currently. Add ability for some ships to have 2, 3 or 4 squares for attack. Gives the option for hit and run tactics for smaller fast ships.

2. I agree with the points made about slowing planet expansion somehow and keeping the expansion going in mid to late game. This can be done in many ways. a) Require a certain number of people eg. 1000 on a planet before you can send a colony ship and colony ships can only hold up to 50m (but you can send more colony ships to increase population). New Planets with small colonies late game. (just like they do from nebulae).
e) Populations should be capped based on a planets resources, size and current evolution/technology (see below).

3) trade needs to be expanded.
-How about supply demand for different goods which change over time, (under/over supply)
- Import taxes effecting how much you gain for a trade root and making you easier/harder to trade with for different planets and in general.
- Trade within our own systems to assist colonies.
-Mines/ or outposts for low quality planets are a great idea to boost income.
- Trade route necessary between your Mine and a planet to recieve benifit. Use a starbase to act as the mine then add mining modules to increase the possible benifit.

4) I totally agree that espionage needs more work. Its too basic and needs several levels of achievement. We need to be able to sabotage various things - get money and steel tech and destroy an improvement on a planet eg. stock exchange, Stadium etc, damage environment

5) I would like to be able to have a cloaked ship that can attack a planet directly before the defending ships counter attack. Result: Killing some population (based on defences) or destroying improvemets.

6) Tourism is a major industry which is not used. Could be added like trade, but you need to build various tourst attractions. :)

7) Population capping based on resourcers is ignored. There is no real account for Consumption. A planet should have a basic GDP unit as well as a quality unit. This number repesents the population it can support aswell as export ability for trade. Populations over this number have much lower moral, unless you can get it it higher through efficiency gains or environment improvements etc.

8. Various emperor/Senate Decrees or acts. Eg.
- Celebration day party. Briefly gives( for say 10 turns) an increase to moral accross all planets for a one off fee based on size of celebration. For a fee of 200 = 5% moral increase, 500=10%, 2000=20%.
- War effort decree. Adds 3 defence points too all ships, increases resiliance on planets. COST = 10 PER planet per turn plus population expansion reduces 50% (due to rations) etc etc

What a long Post...Just glad it is worth the effort and that the developers are listening. Great game and even better development support!
Dave.
Reply #141 from Stardock Forums Top
oops,My point number 2 above did not post correctly for some reason...

2. Slowing planet expansion somehow and keeping the expansion going in mid to late game can be done in many ways.
- Require a certain number of people eg. 1000 on a planet before you can send a colony ship and colony ships can only hold up to 50m (but you can send more colony ships to increase population).
- New Planets with small colonies less than 400m people need to spend money getting population and production up. b) More terraforming options for planets less than 12 quality later in game based on your research choices.
- Have new suns form at random locations in the mid to late game, just like they do from nebulae.
- Populations should be capped based on a planets resources, size and current evolution/technology.

Dave.
Reply #143 from Stardock Forums Top
I just had a quick thought, how about a new resource? One that comes to mind is a resource that gives a bonus to trade, seems quite intuitive to me, i.e. this resource provides us with sumptuous packing materials that make our products even more attractive or somesuch. Don't think it would be too unbalancing, and I think that it wouldn't require changes to the AI.

Paul
Reply #144 from Stardock Forums Top
All good suggestions, I've got one I didn't see, and if I missed it I apologize.

Automated constructors-starbase upgrading: Having to send out a pair of constructors late in the game to add Avatar shields is getting a bit annoying, so I suggest a check-box on the starbase info screen for automatic updates. If this box is selected, and a new starbase update becomes available, then the game would automatically send the appropriate number of unassigned, read as not already doing something, constructors to that base. I think Terror star updates would be exempt from this. (I've yet to meet anyone who updates every starbase to terror stars). By making it a check-box you can also uncheck it when you agree to the "that base is making me nervous" requests. This should happen during the autopilot phase of turn resolution. Just an idea.

~SDC~
Reply #145 from Stardock Forums Top
If what I'm hearing about re-calculation of influence is true, I'd like to see that eliminated. Increase the size of the save game file if you must, but maintain the integrity of the data.

~SDC~
Reply #147 from Stardock Forums Top
A simple interface improvement suggestion:
Add a way to see all of the plantes and sort them by categories, like there was in MOO2 (MOO3 had it too, but...). It is currently a real pain trying to figure out exactly where I want to send my next colony ship and which planets/systems are still open (& what the competition has, based upon my last view of their sector) and sorting them by size & then finding them. The planets sidebar currently implemented only covers your colonized planets.

We live for the one, we die for the one. (the one and only space 4X - GalCiv!)
Reply #150 from Stardock Forums Top
The ships are already 3d.

It's just that we always see them from the top down which creates the illusion of 2d.

Most games try for the opposit effect. ;)

Elrikk


~SDC~