Everything I want in the new expansion pack has been said.. apart from these:

- Mini Campaign detailing the arrival of the Krynn.
- Mini Campaign detailing the arrival of the Thalans.
- Mini Campaign (not sure if this one is possible) to detail the events in the war between the Arnor/Dreadlords (whilst you play either Arnor or Dreadlords).
- Planets in more depth! Entertainment networks shouldn't just be the only building to improve morale! Make citizens demand armed spaceships for protection, more industrial buildings, etcetera. If you don't, then after x-turns, that planet will have increased chances of rebelling against your civilization.
- Habitable planets become unhabitable! From time to time, you get a UP event saying that |Name of planet| has become habitable. Why not make some habitable planets become uninhabitable from some sort of natural disaster? Like volcano eruptions. Maybe you can have x-turns to evacuate that population (good), let them stay and increase research (evil), or a bit of both (save x-percentage of colonists, whilst gin an x-percentage boost in research whilst it leads up the the event).
- Everyone is mentioning have the "get out of my area or die" choice. Why not add depth to that? when creating alliances, you can suggest "allow unarmed ships only", "trade ships only", "no star bases in territory", etcetera? The AI can also demand this. Even after alliances?

a way to customise ground troops and vehicles.

more anomalies.

satelites that float frough space.

weather on planets, like hurricanes and freak floods

moer complex and more simple ship jewlery.

lose asteroids floating frough space that can hit planets.

ice ages that freeze most of the planet.

more weapon types like crystal,bio, virul weapons

Having been an avid Stars! player as well as Alpha Centauri, I have to agree, somewhat. I was looking around for an alternative to ACII and Stars!, esp. when the Stars! upgrade never happened. I found a review of GC in an issue of SciFi magazine last year - which was the first time I'd ever heard of GC. So, I bought it and was pleasantly surprised at how rich and diverse the game is. As a Father's Day/birthday present to myself, I bought the DA expansion pack. I love it, but I actually could wish for a multiplayer version.

I've read the analysis of why there is no multi-player and I respect those views, but given the depth and breadth of games like Civilization and AC, I think a separate multi-player pack might be in order. Given that, I probably would buy a new expansion, even if it didn't have the multi-player component. This game is truly addictive and I'm afraid to start playing unless I can set aside five or six hours straight. I've been known to "lose time" when I start a game and only get pulled out when my family starts yelling at me .

I've been playing GC since the first version on OS/2. I loved GC2 for OS/2. The first Windows version was OK. I am not shelling out a 4th time when there's no multiplayer. I've mentioned this every time a game is released.

If it comes out as a pack for $, I'd probably spring for both the game and the multiplayer pack.

=-VK-30

I never thought that I would by an expansion for this game, as it was so good already. But then I did (it was half price at a local store) and I havent regretted it.

Ideas for another expansion?

As a comprimise to the arguement about implimenting borders, what about this:

A new kind of starbase, or at least a new modual. This would allow you to link with another starbase within a certain distance, and create a wall between them. The only way to get through the wall would be to destroy one of the starbases.
This would add a whole new realm to strategy- putting up barriers between you and a particually hostile race; forming them where they wont get in the way of trade, and defending them from being destroyed.

I feel that space could use a little more varity, espicially where planets and suns are involved. Those class 0 planets just sit there, and suns arnt any better.

What about the posibility of destroying planets, given the right technology and some time, leaving nothing but asteroids remaining.

As another idea, how about Black holes? Suns that (either randomly or as a result of some player action) explode, destroying the system and creating a region of space that destroys any ship that stays there too long.

I'd like to see something between "war" and "peace" ... such as convoy raiding and starbase attacks that don't actually start a hot war. Perhaps ships and bases outside of a race's territorial boundaries could be attacked without the prereq of being at war. Of course your enemy may declare war on you, a risk you'd have to be willing to take.

Gravity effects to travel. If I order a ship from point A to point B, it should take the fastest route it knows (straight line if unexplored). But the fastest route should take advantage of sling-shoting off stars, planets, and starbases. That could be visually pleasing.

Starbases should have some effect on the speed of travel to/from and near it.

When you conquer a world, you should always get a moral choice (new management versus old management).

More moral choices, including some tied to where you are on the tech tree (multivariate - having this + that = this unusual situation).

Boarding modules for ship-to-ship combat. I don't just want to destroy your capital ship; I want to steal it.

What i would like in GC is a more detailed game map, with more astronmical features, because at the moment the map is a bit bland, though the game rocks. And though you have the major features, Asteroids, planets, stars ect. Perhaps inclussion of
Moons- perhaps an additional habitation space
Novas, and supernova clouds- clouds left over from a nova or supernova as these things take millions of year(?) to disperse(could effect the working of ships or something).
Nebulas- really just the same a a nova cloud
Radiantion zones, or other space hazard zones
Space weather cylces
Perminate Black holes and wormholes- instant transport

Oh yeah i would like it if using spore ships had a diplomatic penatly for using 'biological weapons'. Because at the moment if their is a diplomatic penatly i can't notice it.

And or anything else you could thing of.

Though i know nothing of programing and have no idea if, and how much work would be requred to get this working. But old MOO2 had some of the features so it shouldn't be to hard for the GC team.

Ooh lots of great ideas mentioned so far. I'd have to say :
1) Tactical space/gound combat.
2) Heroes
3) A true 3d game map.
4) Unique artifacts/ items/ technologies that can be placed on a specicfic ship(or station) or planet tile, discovered by a)finding an anomaly or building a research lab on an artifact tile on a planet.
5) Ultra techs, Dyson spheres, wormholes, transcending sentience, Assimilation etc etc.

I would focus on providing many more "small" activities, rather than going for broke on a couple of headline "Biggies". The structure of the game is excellent now, but there long natural "pauses" at various stages of the game - differing for each level usually - where not a lot is happening (as such), more a pause as player/AI takes a breath to regroup or build up forces etc.

If many small activities were made available that had an effect on the game during these minimal activity periods - aiming for far too many for all to be used in one game (forcing genuine choice), enhancing the strategy side of the game - overall it would have the effect of making the game busier, more immersive.

They would not have to be complex, in fact if they were easy to achieve - but still had a substantial effect on the overall game - they could be slotted in minimising the game balancing problems.

Regards
Zy

Some tactical space/ground combats : real time with pauses. Or action pints.

More content (jewelery, terraformation...)

Some specific part of tech tree for each races, with specific weapons or abilities.

An IA advisor we can switch off. It will manage some domains of the empire : territories, economy, technology...

I would love to have more diplomatic options. Alliances can be more than just a way to win the game or for help if you get attacked, or what happens most they get you into a war.

Maybe in the trade screen you can have a list of future techs" where you agree to research something next and you ask the AI to do the same and when you both have researched your assigned tech you automatically trade with eachother. For instance i'll pick phasors II and then on the AI (who is my ally) side of the screen i pick from a list of all techs he hasnt done yet, say terraforming. If it is acceptable it will be green just with all trading. When i hit send its done and when i finish my next tech, phasors II will automatically be my next project, same with my ally. in a few weeks we'll both be done and we trade. While you wait for the AI to finish, you can research as you normally do.

It would make having alliances more enticing since you can have a say in what they research and you can work towards a common goal. It would be even better if the AI could do the suggesting of what you should do.

Also, you may be able to click a box that will forbid one or both parties from retrading a tech. it would mean that it will cost more but then you can feel ok with giving an ally, or a minor, or anyone, a tech and the wont give it to an enemy.

The UP should elect a leader, the leader will get to choose from a list of topics for the next vote. Also, as part of the all new diplomacy model, after you decide on a topic you can see how yor ALLIES will vote on it and you can use the trade screen to help chance their minds. This would only work for allies.



Another place where additions to diplomacy could be initiated is that since this is a turn based game, it really assumes that everyone's actions happen at the same time, so if a battle is about to take place maybe it can wait until everyone as taken their turn. This could mean that an icon will show where a battle is about to take place (a lightning bolt?) and you can join as a third party to a fight to help an ally. or you can have a 3-way brawl. As long as your ships were close enough during their turn. this will also mean that you'll see all of the action at one time when everyone has taken their turn.

So i see so sort of icon and i know that a fight between and enemy and an ally is pending. So i send my feelt there too and a screen showing who is present comes up and i can click who im attacking. If one is an ally then its automatic that im helping them. my shipd will thejn be added to theirs for that battle. Maybe other Ai's will join too but i doubt there would be that many in the vicinity.

I have no idea if this is even possible but i guess the mechanics would be like a temporary increase in logistics and a temporary change of ownership (as if you traded ships with the AI) of the ships. when the fight is over ownership goes back. So the program will have to do some behind the scenes work.




This next idea kinda deals with diplomacy:
A new protection treaty i guess you could call it. Where someone pays you every turn (amount is negotiated in the trade screen) to protect them. That is you will fight who ever starts a war with them. Or you can pay an AI money to fight for you if you are attcaked. It would mostly work as a way to avoid getting attacked. You protector's military rating will be added to yours, that the AI will have to consider before starting a war.

WHY? First this can keep some of the weaker races in the game. Especially the minors. If the Krynn are getting paid to protect one, they won't be so easy to just wipe away when you or an AI feels like having their planet.

second it can be a good way to make more tribute income. or enabling you to concentrate on research and pay some one to fight for you. this is more than just trading cash for a declaration of war. This would be a good use of the Korx who are otherswise no so useful.

Yes, it does look very similar to an alliance, but a weak civ can never form an alliance. Some other differences are:
-With an alliance you can still choose to back out if your ally is attacked.
-This treaty is a one-way street.
-When paying a civ to go to war, its immediate and definite. This is a just-in-case thing.
-In order to even get an alliance you have to be on close terms with the civ. In this case you can even have a civ that practically hates you accept an offer to protect you if the money is right. the stronger your military or the greater the difference in militaries the more you can charge. And its paid weekly until one side decides to end to business relationship. I think some players might like to get rich off their strong military.

I was really thinking of this because of what happens to the minors all the time. This way they can last, and if you are getting money from them you may be able to tolerate their existance longer. But i still think it can work for the majors too.

The rules can be something like:

- you can not start a war with someone you are protecting. you must first cancel the treaty, and then wait a turn. You will not be able to start the war, a screen will tell you that you have to wait a week.

- you have no choice but to fight. a question will not even be asked, but a screen will tell you that due to someone attacking them you are now at war with the other race, and that race is at war with you.

- you can have multiple protectors.

- some other rules will have to be developed for when a loop gets created. can't have you going to war against yourself now.

A little suggestion : ability to customize the apparence of the race leader at the begining (and eventually the report robot).
Could be a nice touch for custom races.