🚀 go-pugleaf

"Bateau" <Bateau-is-a@MAN.invalid> wrote in message 
news:1349v1t952kpi388niroqvau9961ep5upr@4ax.com...
> "Brad Wardell" <bwardell@stardock.com> wrote:
>>3 years to the day practically I posted some examples of what a game of
>>GalCiv was like.  People here seemed to like it.
>>
>>So for those of you who are interested, here is a game-play example of
>>Galactic Civilizations II:
>>
>>http://www.galciv2.com/Journals.aspx?AID=101074
>>
>>Also, for any long terms here, here's a link to the history of GalCiv that
>>talks about Usenet's and .strategic's role in the game's creation back in
>>1992:
>>http://www.galciv2.com/Databank/gamehistory.aspx
>
> Rather than having the things in "Available projects" say "Increases
> manufacturing" and "Increases population cap" I would much prefer them
> to say "Increases <whatever> by <X amount>." You've got to know this
> stuff when you are managing a planet. And while you might, because
> you're a dev, I'm sure the manual will be way too thick for the rest of
> us to find it out from. Even going into some "Summary/Details" screen is
> a bit of a pain. That was probably the main problem I had in GalCiv. I
> kept researching techs and building projects when I didn't know exactly
> what they did.

It does much of what you're saying when you click on a given improvement.

>
> I'd like labels on those Map, Research, Something, Something, Graphs,
> Fleet icons right at the bottom too. I often had to click a couple of
> times to get the one I wanted in GalCiv because the icons weren't too
> obvious.

There are mouse-overs.

>
> Will it be possible to make 3rd party programs to import 3D models and
> data for ship chassis and parts? It's not vital, but customization is
> what makes Space Empires IV such a hit (so I hear). And you know exactly
> what the first mods will be, but I won't say because you're not meant to
> condone that sort of thing ;)

Yep.  All the graphics are in either .PNG (bitmaps) or .X (model) files.


>
> Is there any motive for players to win quickly rather than confining all
> opposing races to single systems and then researching and building
> everything they can before crushing them? I know it's pointless but I
> can't help myself. In FPSs I horde ammunition too. And I save and reload
> every time I get hurt! I'm a horrible gamer. But at least some FPSs like
> Halo and Far Cry let me enjoy playing despite my compulsions by using
> automatic save points and limiting the number of guns I can carry at
> once. I always complain about 4X games being repetitive because every
> game you research and build the same way until all your colonies are
> perfect. But that's partly because I keep playing when I should have
> finished the game already.
>

The faster you win, the more points you get.  Also, you couldn't do that in 
GalCiv, the AI will surrender.

> Just out of curiosity, do you become friendlier with a race when you're
> both at war with the same enemy?

Yes.

>
> "Weapons: 4 Mark IV Railguns purchased from the Terran Alliance. (mass
> drivers)"
>
> Does that mean they bought the tech or they bought the actual guns?
>

They got the tech from the humans.

> Are the different weapon/protection types a kind of rock, paper,
> scissors game to guess what your enemies will develop? Or is it obvious
> what they are doing and it's just a way to make it harder to fight
> multiple enemies?

3 different types of weapons, 3 different types of defenses.

>
> "Those clever monkeys from Sol III are pretty darn good at killing stuff
> but they seem to almost be over compensating by trying to be nice,
> diplomatic, and polite.  The Terran Alliance had a weapon that none were
> familiar with -- pop culture.  Their influence tended to spread far from
> their borders.  There's nothing more frightening than seeing a Torian
> wearing blue jeans."
>
> That sounds a lot like the opinion people have of western cultures. It's
> also a very common depiction of the human race in science fiction. If
> that is because western sci fi writers models the entire human race on
> their own culture has anyone found that sci fi writers from other
> cultures depict the main human traits very differently in their sci fi?

Well the Terran Alliance in GalCiv II is largely a mixture of Western 
culture mixed in with Eastern culture (mostly Asian).  That has to do with 
the particular back plot.  The Americans, Europeans (including Russia), 
Japanese, and Chinese are the major powers in the Terran Alliance back 
story.


Brad
--
Brad Wardell
Project Manager: Galactic Civilizations II (www.galciv2.com)
Stardock - http://www.stardock.com