Moo3''''''''''''''''s v Galciv Price comparison

It's still just barely worth the price.

~SDC~

LMAO what Dolts!!!!!!!

They released the code patch. But it's incompatible with the previous data patch THAT THEY RELEASED. So now you have to go through even more hoops!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol

That's thinking real convenience for your customers isn't it? LMAO it's just one inept bungle after another. And to top it all off, one of their devs got a job as an instructory at a university on how to design and market video games. Too funny.

In that line of thought with my 3 marriages I should be a marriage counselor. LOL

~SDC~

Actually their code patch does go a long way toward curing some of the ills of that game. It's definitely better than it was before. It's a different play style than GalCiv.... and I have something to appreciate from both games

I just wanted to offer a different point a view. I own both GalCiv and MOO3 and like both. Besides both being turn based strategy games, they are completely different. Not everyone will like both. However, I think that the post-patch MOO3 is a very good game. Who cares if the MOO3 patch is not compatable with a previous "beta" patch (although it worked just fine for me)or if one of the dev's is teaching a class he may not be qualified to teach. The important thing for users is a good end product.

I could make fun Stardock, because the installer caused a few people to reformat their hard drive, but it would be a red herring. Again, the important point is that the end GalCiv product is good.

I think both games are excellent additions to any TBS gamer's collection. Some, such as jus4golf, disagree, I although I wonder he if has the game and has tried it with the patch. I personally think that MOO3 is worth way more than nothing. I would definately take advantage of Amazon's offer if I didn't already own MOO3.

Again, IMO GalCiv and MOO3 are both now very good games. I also think that the kind of bashing shown above is counterproductive. Like Rodney King once said, "Why can't we all just get along?" The more people buy both GalCiv and MOO3, the more it will help TBS gaming in the long run.

Peace

I do have the game and have not tried it with the new patch. I have patched this game until it looks like a hobo's pants and quit worrying about the wasted money long ago. If this was such a stellar product do you really believe you could get it for free?

~SDC~

Today I tested the Moo3 Patch relatively excessively and while some of the major problems are fixed one of the issues that put me off is still existant: The AI hardly invades my planets! At least not in my test game... The Evons had my defense down from turn 80 on ... they orbitted the planet with 1 armada... they sent in armada after armada of further totally unneeded battleships up to finally 108 instead of simply sending some transports to take my planets over.
It took them 64 turns to kill me with bombardement... if they sent in 1 armada of transports instead of 5 additional armadas of other ships i'd've been dead much quicker!

That makes a lost game very tedious, if you don't want to quit... They patrol your systems with their ever growing fleets and bomb you... but since bombing gets more inefficient the less is left on a planets surface it lasts an eternity until a planet is gone...

The patch made the game really hard to win but it is still hard to loose other than giving up!

Another thing that the patch could not fix was the tendency of things taking a really long time in Moo3... I simply prefere the much more fastpaced gameplay of galciv.

There's only one thing I like more in Moo3: Battles... seeing all those tiny dot's shooting at each other has something appealing for me... But the rest, even if much more complex than in Galciv is well... boring!

Actually for me MoO3 was a reason to buy GalCiv , they did all the marketing , I had my expectations high and then I got it ... it was defenatly nothing like any MoO before
After spending 5 days trying to force myself like it I sold MoO3 and being frustrated I cleaned the dust on MoO1 ,but it wan't run on XP , so I started to look for something else and saw GalCiv ...
Have to admit that being "burned" by MoO3 expirience I downloaded pirated version first just to check it out ... next day I bought it

~SDC~

You can now get MOO3 for free from amazon.com after you send in the rebate...

I got MOO3 from Amazon with the intention of sending in the rebate, but there wasn't anything in the package to mail in for the rebate, perhaps I misunderstood (I'll look into it) ... in any case I've only played it after the code patch and I find it an extremely interesting game, and I applaud that it runs rather well on the 266 MHz machine I have here at home (my "real" computer is at the dorm).

Organizing task forces and fighting with them is great fun. I still remember my sense of anticipation when I was deploying some new carrier designs that had gauss cannon and phaser fighters rather than the wimpy graviton beam fighters. There's lots of fun to be had, but I won't make this a mile-long post.

It's something of a mixed bag, though:

I've spent roughly the last 3 days playing my first game (it was pretty easy to learn, though there were some nuances that escaped me for a while), a 50-star cluster on easy with 4 other races as opponents (Senate victory turned off), and the only end in sight would be my expeditions finding the last 3 Antaran X's. Despite my significant tech lead (I'm playing modified Psilons) and several hours worth of micromanagement devoted to pumping out lots and lots of ships I am just barely able to overwhelm my main enemy and start bombarding his planets. Finishing the game would take forever, so I think I'm just going to abandon it. I think this would be different on my much faster other computer, but I don't have this kind of time to waste at college.

There's also the apparent inability of the AI to aggressively invade you, and hence the unlikeliness of being able to lose the game except by someone else getting elected to the Senate or getting the X's.

One of the worse consequences, of course, is that I could have played like 3 gigantic games of Galciv in the time that it's taken me to play 228 or so turns of MOO3 on the smallest galaxy size

All in all I'd say "don't get it" unless you have a *LOT* of time on your hands and don't want to be spending it elsewhere... but perhaps I should try it on a faster computer before making a final judgement.

Just an FYI...

You need to print out a rebate form from Amazon.com. It's not mailed to you.

- Nobody

Moo3 drove me to Galciv.

Galciv Devs were smart to wait for Moo3 to release, best marketing campaign ever.

I almost don't notice the lack of tactical combat anymore....

Is Moo3 any fun now? Comparable to Galciv?

I don't know if this is a valid criticism. (I assume you're talking about Alan Emerich.) I mean, the guy didn't get a chance to even finish the project; who's to know what it might've been had he?

Regardless, he's probably qualified to teach computer game design. Guy used to write for CGW back when it was the pinnacle of game reviews. He's been in the industry for over a decade, and some of his strategy guides are classics for the genre. His Civ I guide in particular.
[Message Edited]

Who cares if the MOO3 patch is not compatable with a previous "beta" patch.

It wasn't a beta patch. It was a ready to go "Data" patch released by the devs. It's been out for about a month or so. This new patch is a "Code" patch. Also released by the devs. For the all knowledgeable someone who claims that everyone that doesn't like it hasn't played the game or doesn't know about it, I would think you would have realized we are not talking a beta patch here.

And quite frankly I care and others do as well.
Why should I have to completely uninstall a product and a previous developer issued patch (not beta), and then reinstall the product to then get the new patch? It's yet another pain in the rump in a long series of them from QS. If you don't care that,s fine. But don't arrogantly decide for others what they should care about.

Furthermore, others found the irony in the fact that one of the devs is teaching a class too. I think it's hilarious. Moo3 is a classic example of what not to do. Again don't be so arrogant as to decide what is a humorous irony for others.

I don't know if this is a valid criticism. (I assume you're talking about Alan Emerich.) I mean, the guy didn't get a chance to even finish the project; who's to know what it might've been had he?

I didn't use it as a criticism. It's a humorous irony. Nothing more. And I am not talking about Emerich. Quit making assumptions.

maybe, but the *code* patch is a beta and the final version of that is supposed to accomodate the data patch...
http://moo3.quicksilver.com/official/patch060503.html
[Message Edited]

" And I am not talking about Emerich. Quit making assumptions."

Since he's the one who got the university job, who are you talking about?

I was a vocal complainer when MOO3 was released, I was quite upset with what was imo, a horrible decision to ship a clearly unfinished / not ready product. I was thankfully able to return it.

I've followed the patch though, and since it WAS free on Amazon I repurchased it. I received it the day the code patch was released.. woot!

Anyways, it is much improved now. Not perfect, but hopefully they will continue to fix it. It is more for those who really enjoy complex 4x games, it is not as inherently 'fun' as GalCiv, but if you are the niche gamer they are looking for, MOO3 is now not a bad game. The graphics could use improving *sigh*.. 800x600? What were they thinking. But it is still very deep.

As far as AI, it is now much improved (i.e. difficult). Does it cheat? I think so, I am pretty srue it gets bonuses. But that doesn't bother me so much as having it be challanging, which it is. I've been invaded, and I've had armadas come after me over the weekend, so I like it!

Even Space Empires IV was very rusty upon its release. The difficulty mod really helped it, as did ship mods, etc (by the way.. MODDERS PLEASE MAKE SOME SHIP SETS FOR GALCIV, GRRR! Thanks LOL ). If they continue to support the game, and the community sticks with it, I think it will be a very good game in another year or so, no need to utterly bash it. Any decent 4X game is worth looking at, since so few are released in that genre.

fleabitfox

maybe, but the *code* patch is a beta and the final version of that is supposed to accomodate the data patch...


There's no maybe about it.
This is a quote from the author.

Who cares if the MOO3 patch is not compatable with a
previous "beta" patch.

He is wrong. The previous Data patch (the only previous patch released by QS) is not a beta.


Although the original game was obviosly released pre beta, so I suppose the first code patch being a beta isn't a big deal.

Well... QSI has, unfortunately, made complete fools of themselves repeatedly. That said, they do not deserve to be bashed over this. Because you are wrong, the patches are ***NOT*** incompatible. They simply aren't. Previous *MODS* are incompatible. NOT the data patch.

The problem is most people do not know how to unzip the code patch properly to get it to work. Now this, QSI does deserve to get bashed on, because they should have released a single EXE to do the patch, and not doing so is grade A dumb.

But if you do unzip the file the right way, and manually whack any and all mods before starting, the code patch works fine on the first try, and it improves the game tremendously. It's still got a LOOONG way to go... but its still better.

@PontiusBriunPilot

I meant to use "who cares" for slang meaning "I don't care". On review I think my wording was poorly chosen. I apologize.

As far as the "beta" patch, what I meant was that it was a stop gap patch only intended for temporary use until the code patch came out (that's why a put the beta in quotes), and I truly don't care about compatibility. I can see that you do so let's agree to disagree.

As far as your humorous irony, I respectfully find it neither humorous or ironic, perhaps beacause I like MOO3 with the patch. Again, let's agree to disagree.

As far as my arrogance, that is for others such as you to decide. It's not a point I can argue, although I'd like to think I'm not

My point was and is not to insult you or anyone else. I think we are lucky to have two very good turn based strategy games, and I for one, am going to support both of them.

Cheers, and happy galactic domination!

@jus4golf

Since you have MOO3 you might as well try the patch. IMO it makes a huge difference. You should be able to tell within a short period of time whether or not it works for you. If you just don't like the game concept it won't help, but if you were underwhelmed by the poor AI and UI, the patch truly does make a difference. I'm not sure what you meant by the hobo patch reference. The only patch released was the stop gap data patch. GalCiv has tons of patches, and I think that that's a good thing. I wish MOO3 had released more intermediate patches like GalCiv!
[Message Edited]

I meant to use "who cares" for slang meaning "I don't care". On review I think my wording was poorly chosen. I apologize.



No need. You've just explained, no offense meant, therefore, none taken.




As far as your humorous irony, I respectfully find it neither humorous or ironic, perhaps beacause I like MOO3 with the patch. Again, let's agree to disagree.


Actually the irony has nothing to do with the quality of moo3 patched. It has to do with the debacles that happened on the project, of which the dev's admitted to in their own postmortom on Gamespy. I find it both Ironic, and funny that Chantz is now gonna teach a class on game development.


As far as the "beta" patch, what I meant was that it was a stop gap patch only intended for temporary use until the code patch came out (that's why a put the beta in quotes), and I truly don't care about compatibility. I can see that you do so let's agree to disagree.

Ahh ok.
And I would agree. Moo3 isn't all that bad patched.



Well... QSI has, unfortunately, made complete fools of themselves repeatedly. That said, they do not deserve to be bashed over this. Because you are wrong, the patches are ***NOT*** incompatible. They simply aren't. Previous *MODS* are incompatible. NOT the data patch.

Then how come the very directions I got from the download site say it is? I have them right here in front of me It says previous patches and mods. Although it looks like a standard disclaimer type thing, so admittedly, that might not be QS's doing.

@Pontius

FYI. To use the quote (I think, let's see if this works) I highlighted the text I wanted to quote, then pressed the 'Q' icon in the lower left hand part of your post

You have hit upon it in one try. It's a standard disclaimer almost certainly written by somebody who didn't know jack squat about what was going on.

Come to think about it, that's not all that uncommon in ANY business, now is it?