We Need Heroes

As an option, maybe... But, not as a required part of the game play. I've never liked hero's much (even back in Moo2), but as an option, I wouldn't oppose it.

I don't think the machanics of GC2 will allow Heroes like the ones in MOO2 (and others).

However, I do think that perhaps some different text for some Anomalies could reflect 'heroes' joining your empire.

Something like:

'In the ruins of the space craft you find a pod in cryogenic suspension. On reviving the occupant, you are shocked to discover "[Insert Alien Name Here], the famous [Figher Pilot/Marine/Industrialist]". Due to his extensive knowledge and insight into [Weapons/Ground Combat/Waste Management], your ablities in that area have increased +1/+2/+3 empire-wide.

Like, enough with the 'Special Energy' helping TRADE of all things

If added give an option to turn it off. Only room for one hero in my games. Me.

How about experts and famous people.

The Galactic Megastar Pelvis Arsley is going on tour. For a mere $$$ he will give concerts on your planet for 3 months.This will raise your approval rating by x%.good to neutral races will not suffer any alignment penalties .As mega stars go he is a modest and well behaved star.

The weapons scientist Dr.Doom is going on a lecture tour.For $$$ he will lecture on your planet for 4 months raising your weapons research level.Dr.Doom has been arrested in the past for questionable experimentation.Minor alignment change to evil.

Since we already have the ethical situation screens these could be added easily.
Could give espionage something to do.You would have the option to hire security for the famous person or not.
other races with their espionage could try to assasinate person.

New Victory Condition: Track down the Terran hero Alan Bradley and capture/kill him.
Kind of like capture the flag, might add to a new level of gameplay.

I think the hero idea is better in mixed strategy/tactical games like Warcraft or Kohan, where they can be controlled (or fought against) individually. Otherwise it's potentially unbalancing and not fun. I wouldn't want to see one of my fleets wiped out, in a battle I would have otherwise won, because the enemy happened to have a "hero" unit and that skewed all the stats I had based my fleet action around.

My hero in the current game is my faction leader, Gora Khan (Terran), and he sits behind a desk and makes decisions.

I don't think the whole "hero" spin will be effective unless there's a risk that this "hero" will become a cult of personality and wind up creating a splinter empire off of your own. Like the Fundamentalists from the first game if you were really, really bad.

Having your Capitol on a planet does give you a bonus now. Thats similar to what you asked. You can move your Capitol now if you choose.

I also liked the suggestions of Talon and Binester.

One thing that did disappoint me about GC2 was the use of the old GC1 text you get when you colonize a new planet. Or when you some crisis on a established planet crops up. All new and fresh would of been much better IMHO

Love the game

I like talon012754's moral event ideas. They could add more diversity and humor to the game if done right. Maybe someone could throw together a mod?

Interesting Idea. Not just ship captain's/admirals but maybe a advisors/special governors too.

Please Please read my post On officers it is a bit of a jumbled mess but hey, maybe it has some ideas simular to what ya guys posted, I made the post over 24 hours ago without any replies

https://forums.galciv2.com/?ForumID=247&AID=105193&cmd=myposts

As leader of my vast empire, I would stil like to have some heroes. Take for instance Franklin Rosevelt. Sure he was the all mighty leader of the US during WW2. But he still had hero units like MacArthur, Nimitz, and Eisenhower.

I think hero units would add to the game. Take for instance of the alignment, if you hire a hero and his alignment is good while you just turned evil, he can always defect to another empire or steal a few of your ships/fleets and fight you. He can even try to take one of your colonies and a new minor race is born.

I don't want to make the heroes too powerful, just have a good bonus added by having him/her around. There would always be a disadvantage. A hero with social production bonus can always have some penalty in research or military.

Brad Wardell:

"At the end of the day, we have our own ideas on what makes a fun game and want to pursue that. And I can sympathize with Master of Orion fans who, ten years after MOO 2's release, are still looking for what they see as a "true sequel". But please stop trying to push MOO on us. We don't see being different from MOO as a flaw. "

Well I don't no about you guys but the hero thing to me personally sounds AWSOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is an immersion issue here. One that I think Stardock would be wise to consider, although its likely outside the scope of GalCiv2 now. Items like Heros, random events, space monsters, new and unique tech on each advancement ect. made MOO2 fun because it gave the players empire alot of personality. This makes the game experince memorable everytime even if you play the same strategy/race again and again, each game still becomes its own unique narrative, and you get attatched to those units. Turn based Strategy games are going far to far in the oppoisite direction, one of impersonality and numbers. MOO3 is a perfect example of this. Its was, in a very real sense, like watching mold grow. No matter how well I watered and managed my mold, no matter how vorecifly my mold spread, it was still mold. Conquering the galaxy wasn't heroic. The trick is to have the deep strategic economy and victory conditions, as GalCiv2 has, as well as having the flashy heroic elements that MOO2 had.

Many of your potential customers obviously want both, and this would add to the game.

Another quote from Brad:

"Yes, and what I'm saying is that you're going to be disappointed. GalCiv has its own take on what space strategy games should be and it has a legacy and fan base that goes as far back as the original MOO as well."

Star bases roughly fill the same role as heroes. So just give your star bases names like "Admiral Nimitz" and you're ready to go.

Another quote from Brad: "Yes, and what I'm saying is that you're going to be disappointed. GalCiv has its own take on what space strategy games should be and it has a legacy and fan base that goes as far back as the original MOO as well."

Well Einstein once said,

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."

Brad Wardell: "At the end of the day, we have our own ideas on what makes a fun game and want to pursue that. And I can sympathize with Master of Orion fans who, ten years after MOO 2's release, are still looking for what they see as a "true sequel". But please stop trying to push MOO on us. We don't see being different from MOO as a flaw. " Another quote from Brad: "Yes, and what I'm saying is that you're going to be disappointed. GalCiv has its own take on what space strategy games should be and it has a legacy and fan base that goes as far back as the original MOO as well."

I don't think anyone is asking for GalCiv to be MoO. I think you are taking those quotes out of context. I think Brad said that to answer the critics who don't like Gal Civ simply because it is not Masters of Orion.

I don't think adding heroes to this game is a bad idea at all. I agree, they should be added as a mod that can be turned off or on according to preference, but I think having NPC hero units that offer various bonuses to planet management or space combat would be a nice touch and add to the immersion factor.

I don't think that the heroes should be so powerful that the mere addition of one can make a fleet unstoppable, but perhaps allow your an edge in defeating a fleet of equal or slightly more power. I also think they should offer limited boost to a planet. Enough to make a difference, but not so much to make a Class 6 world equal to a Class 12. Maybe just a specialty bonus, something equal to a bonus tile either in industry, trade, research or morale. Perhaps very rare leaders could pop up and allow multiple bonuses.

I also like the idea of perhaps making sure your leaders are happy. Players need to keep an eye on planets where they have assigned leaders to make sure the approval rating stays at a decent level or else he may incite a revolt and defect taking his planet with him. If you use your combat leaders too often they get fatigued or war weary and turn on you perhaps defecting to another race and taking their fleet with them.

I don't think anyone here is asking for the Heroes from Masters of Orion 2. We are asking for heroes for Galactic Civilizations 2. Like everything else in Gal Civ, just make it optional as well.

back to the subject.

For sure this game is a different entity from MOO series. Personally, I like the Galciv series a little bit more. But wanting a feature or similar feature is not such a bad thing. Besides, the developer stated that they do take into account what the players/consumers wanted. So if we want a certain feature, they would try to meet it.

I wonder if we can get a response from someone at Stardock on this subject. (NOT A QUOTE THAT WAS A RESPONSE TO ANOTHER MATTER-- * looks at Legato 107 ) Maybe a little hint if this is possible through a mod alone.

How bout instead of arguing if there should be a GalCiv hero feature or not, lets discuss what the Hero units can and can not do or what type of heroes you will have.

Personally, I would like to see the Empire leader to be a hero unit. That way, I can stick him (my self persona in game) into a ship and have him run around the galaxy kicking butt and still run my empire. But i'd be careful since if he does, I would personally feel the loss. Also, my economy/production/morale would take a hit for losing such a great, wise, insanely handsome Leader.

The immersion factor would be awesome. Who would your leader be and would you want him commanding a ship or be stuck in a planet.

I vote YES for heroes as well - one of the best features of MOO2 was having a carefully selected staff of governors and fleet leaders on the right planets and right ships.

The possibilities are great; from having famous leaders/ heroes that increase influence to leaders that give very specific bonuses such as in spying or research. To balance gameplay, disadvantages can include variably high cost (depending on leader ability of course), leaders becoming too famous and breaking off and forming their own civ with some of your planets, and morale penalties if they get killed...

What say you, Stardock?

A hero could simply be a module you get to install on a ship with zero space/weight factor with varying qualities pluse to defense attack speed.

For a planet it could be like a governors house that creates its own space that gives a bonus to something.

To use existing game mechanics would make the implementation easier.

I was thinking of how to pull this off using mod. A hero unit can just be a module (as Jen Dragon stated). It has to be a one time use and an image of the hero should be show when the ship is clicked. When that ship with the hero module is parked on a planet, it can give that planet some bonus and disadvantage (balancing purpose).

Problem with modding them in (or even if Stardock coded them in) is getting the AI to recognize and use them properly.  Without that, heroes become an easy exploit for the human player.