Wish list

If you want to see the Dread Lords face, watch the Galciv 2: DL intro. You'll see part of the Dread Lords face. It would be nice to see it in the diplomacy screen though, but maybe you'll see it in Twilight of the Arnor.

Carriers have been discussed to death, and I think it is probable that they will appear in GC3.

For my own wish list....

Make GC3 have tactical combat. I don't know why the devs don't think tactical combat will work in Galciv. Just take a look at Sword of the Stars. The tactical combat there works.

A 3D map with tons of stars. You should also be able to zoom out real far. Personally, I'd like the ships to kind of disappear when zoomed out far, and have planets tucked within stars.

More diplomacy options. You should be able to threaten other races (especially those God damn minor races!) to get out of your territory and stop taking planets in your territory.

Limit the power of minor races. They shouldn't be able to build constructors. They use them to steal all the resources and build influence starbases. Only major races should be able to do this.

I hope you like my ideas!

Etrius

Wow, i can think of many things i'd wish for... but what immediately comes to mind is the following "list";

- Systems with variable NUMBERS of planets; breaking down the limit of five would mean tighter territories and tougher networks to invade. We may be one of the lucky few in the Universe with our biggy Nines (plus their Satellites and Asteroids in the thousands!) and its precious 4 tiny Rockies near the sun... but i doubt the MilkyWay doesn't have multiple examples of 10+ quality (say, fifteens-PQs and up) grouped planets to colonize.

- Layers of planetary map tiles (Orbital, Underground, Atmospheric & the current Surface) which turns the grid into small triangular (indirect Hexagons) based locations instead of plain squares. Refer to a previous thread where i suggested that "new feature".

- Better or more accurate color-picker. Suggested earlier too.

- Full 3D galaxy but somehow limited to 1)Above 2)Mid 3)Below planes. X'Y'Z representation, directional, True space.

- More control over numerous options (even within gameplay). Ex; turning off some Mega-Events individually.

- Real support for Total-Conversion-Mods straight INTO the game-setup screens.

- Option to turn off the Research-News-Robots! Once we've played the games, we know exactly the whats and the whys. Besides, it gets repetitive & slows down activity (indirectly).

- I also agree with the above suggestion for a sort of tactical combat "simulator" during planet invasions.

- And finally, the most fascinating asset i would really enjoy is this...
** Ship-To-Ship weapons and defenses control during combat stages. Rather than a "somehow" randomize self-calibrating showoff screen! Ala- X-Wings cockpit pilots, ready to hit the beam cannon button instead of missiles and to transfer levels of main-energy at shields. Let the fun begin.

- Zyxpsilon.

For every battle? No way, that would take forever to get a game done. I would like GC 3 to 'not' play like Rome: TW.

Maybe if the tactical system was like in "Dominions 3" (I've only played the demo) where you planned your units tactics in advance (with the options of templates for quick assembly of fleets), things could work fine.



It would likely make things difficult to look at and manage. 2D maps work fine.



I like these 2. Minors stealing galactic resources is why I don't ussually play with them (I'm a nice guy, so I don't ussually smite them).



I would rather get a list of tiles, used and not, where I can modify them without having to look at the planets surface. It would auto sort the planet structures so I wouldn't have to decommision structures so I could rearrange things in a way I can figure out the stats of the planet at a glace.

For every battle? No way, that would take forever to get a game done. I would like GC 3 to 'not' play like Rome: TW.

Maybe if the tactical system was like in "Dominions 3" (I've only played the demo) where you planned your units tactics in advance (with the options of templates for quick assembly of fleets), things could work fine.



It would likely make things difficult to look at and manage. 2D maps work fine.



I like these 2. Minors stealing galactic resources is why I don't ussually play with them (I'm a nice guy, so I don't ussually smite them).



I would rather get a list of tiles, used and not, where I can modify them without having to look at the planets surface. It would auto sort the planet structures so I wouldn't have to decommision structures so I could rearrange things in a way I can figure out the stats of the planet at a glace.

I would love to have a diplomatic option to ask that specific units or colonies be disbanded. Like "Disassemble that influence starbase next to my homeworld." I really like banning minors from starbases as well.

I'd rather not see tactical combat. I remember how mind-numbing it could get in MoO2. Also, as Brad pointed out, you either allow stuff to make the tactical combat interesting, which makes exploits possible (like time warp facilitator + phasing cloak) or you do what the game already does - focus fire on one target at a time until it dies.

Yep, but THAT can also be achieved along with a new "planetary layouts framework" as i suggested. Macro-managing may become an issue, long term... but i know of a few other games which do these kind of things quite right while maintaining gameplay at reasonably tight activity levels without interfering too much with more important features.

- Zyxpsilon.

These are very interesting suggestions. I would also like a new weapons type that is a combination of all three weapons types and there would be the same for defenses. It is for people who can't choose. I also recommend that you should be able to combine fleets with your allies.

You couldn't have this type of weapon/defense until you researched all three types anyway, so why not just put all three on a ship and avoid the extra overhead of researching a special combo weapon/defense?


Who gets to control the fleet? If it's you, then I guess this is just a way to grab free ships from your ally.

I want a campaign where you can be different civs in it, like axis and allies.

The weapons would save you the trouble of researching all 3 weapons and defense types.

For the fleets, who doesn't want free ships without demanding them.

I see absolutely no point in multi-layering planet improvements beyond sticking things underground to protect them from planetary bombardment, which may or may not be something to include in a future version.

I don't see the point in tactical battles unless there are defensive totals for all sides of a ship, the ability to target specific systems, etc. Once you go there playing on a larger galaxy would be beyond painful. Lastly you run the risk of having a game trying to do two things and being mediocre at both of them, rather then being excellent at one.

A 3d map sounds neat for the added strategy, but i think that's outweighed by the increase in micro-management. Try to come up with a UI that has a simple method of selecting your intended cube across a big 'ole galaxy. Yikes.

carriers would be cool but as a module, not a hull.



I havn't thought about the game much beyond "how the heck do I manage this economy". So these are things i'd like to have considered, rather then suggesting them:

hurtling asteroids at colonies

planetary bombardment - large module

AI improvement that stops civs that i'm not at war with crumb-snatching planets from nations I am at war with, when i did all the work of eliminating their orbital fleet and beating their pop to something miniscule. This could apply to resources as well.

New race that has psionic powers laid out using the new ToA format.

"civ4-ish" espionage missions.

espionage treaties a-la economic and research.

rare "hero" units such as: heroic goveners, captains, fleet managers, merchants. These have no "levels" and simply provide a bonus to one or more stats (e.g. heroic leader = loyalty, entertainer=moral, etc.)

make loyalty a cool stat

"marine" module for hijacking ships.

tractor beams - the intended element is to make it risky to escort non-combat vessals by stacking them on top of a fleet comprised of combat vessals. the tractor beam pulls it off the stack.

large meteorites as an event.

Find bonus's for all ethos. Mix it up so some events its beneficial to choose good, some its beneficial to choose neutral, and so on. A civilization is old by the time they are spacefaring so have an alignment chosen at race creation. Penalize people for choosing outside their alignment. Perhaps if the slider moves out use a penalty similar to losing an election.

Labor strike as a planetary event.

'port gates. This is a type of starbase that allows a fleet to teleport from entrance to exit. Entrances and exits are set up like rally points. This speeds up gameplay on larger maps and adds a little more strategy.

terrorist attack as a random event. Spacefaring unit (including starbases) suffers 'X' amount of damage.

Ships that got blowed up real good leave space-debris on tile. This slows movement through it and can be collected for BC's (not sure about this one but worth mentioning). The 'collector' is a module a-la survey (or just use survey module i guess).

Commando ship - A cloaked ship that lands a handful of special ops to take out a random (higher % chance) or specific (lower % chance) planet improvement. Level of victims sensor research could provide a % chance to detect cloaked vessel.

well...i guess Cloaking technology. Additional sensor techs added if you did that.

Emmigration/Immigration ships - colony-type ships that emigrate 1.000 of your pop to another races planet to increase your influence over it (while simultaneously 'helping' them by increasing the pop. This means there has to be room on the planet). It might need a relations hit against you for balancing.

If you've played civ4 you've noticed when you do tech trading there is a value that is easily viewable from the diplomatic screen, to help you recognize a fair trade. I'd love something similar in *my* favorite 4X game

super-secret adult code to go from playing a 4X game to a 3X game...only when the wife's asleep.

ship parts broken down into categories such as: "wings", "bridges", etc. If you get torn on where to file one at just cross categorize it.

that's all I can think of at this time.

1) X-Worlds could certainly use that feature as is since X-Com has a whole branch of research dedicated to many Psionic effects... weapons, abilities.

2) You bet! Just imagine an uncluttered map with a few well-placed Gates. Quick invasion processing, tactical advantages, fleet coordinations, true territorial edges or control, name it.

- Zyxpsilon.

the psionic tech tree would be laid out something like:

Telekinesis: Branching into the mass driver line, missle line, propulsion line, and anything similar. The names and descriptions would all be changed to degrees of talent of the minds controlling the projectiles and ship travel.

Empathy: Diplomacy line. Maybe morale line.

Clairvoyance: Sensor line.

Telepathy: Maybe fleet manager (or whatever the big sheeps helping leetle sheeps line is called) bonus's down the 'telepathy' branch. Economics


you get the gist.

Pretty cool stuff, djtool. I say that starbases should be able to make ships, like stardock in the star trek series.

I always thought that's what the Spaceport is. Even though it is technically a tile "building" on the planet, I assumed that was just an in-game representation of a stardock as in trek movies.

Starbases could maybe produce tiny or small defensive fighters, but a larger hulled ship just requires the resources that only a planet can give. A starbase would require support and suck up resources rather than provide them.

I'm not sure if there's a mod for this already or an option to switch, but...

I'm sometimes a bit possessive about my galaxies after I've spent so bloody long playing with them. In Civ, I could keep playing after winning. I could go take over those last few holdouts; finish that last special project, colonize that last colonizable terrain.

Once the game has registered that you won, does it HAVE to end? I mean, I've been known to delay the ending longer and longer, declaring war on poor civilizations just to prevent the influence victory from happening, or refusing to attack someone who's declared war on me just so I can keep exploring the tech tree.

If there was an option for "keep playing after you've won", I'd be definitely taking it.

Does anyone else want that, or am I just sick?

Didn't SMAC have a "keep playing" option after you won? I think this would be a cool feature, even if I never used it.

A few miscellaneous ramblings...

1-The "Tactical" Combat in Sword of the stars would be a good fit for this game. It's not like playing a chess match, more like choosing a fleet formation... from there the result is done much the same as GC2 is now. There are 4 formation types, and each has strengths and weaknesses dependent upon weapons type/offense/defense etc. It would fit like a glove with the new TA fleet enhancement modules. While not necessarily a true "tactical" combat, good ship design/construction and proper formations would be rewarded with success, which is how it should be, as opposed to the current "I have better weapons/more of them therefore I win" system we have now. It also affords development in formations, which would allow battles similar to the advanced tactics in RISK. As the game progresses, your Ships become more experienced, allowing you to use more complicated formations. It also would allow tie ins to Generals/Admirals etc. to improve your fleets chances in a battle. I believe it should be switchable so you could either use the formations, or allow the current GC2 system. From a programming perspective, it fits with the concept of the game as whole, is relatively easy to program vs. full on tactical and allows both equal opportunity and personalities/variations/tendencies for the different races/AI.

2-The ability to remove planetary improvements. Could be done much the same as soil and habitat improvements... basically alot of money and alot of time to "build" a deconstruction of the improvement to a usable clear tile. Sounds strange at first, but it takes awhile to understand, disassemble and dispose of alien things. I'd suggest a line on the tech tree that would allow you to do it faster/more effectively, or an experience modifier that made it more efficient the more of the same type of improvement you remove.

3-If you are going to implement carries, they have to be limited in some way. I can't remember the game, but I can remember fleets with 20 capital ships and 500 fighters... against a fleet similar in size. Battles were similar to the current GC2 model, and they took awhile... monetary controls for purchase and maintenance would work fine, allowing the player as many as he/she could afford, but used properly would make it very difficult for fleets of hundreds of fighters.

4-Borders. Even Star Trek had borders. It also had the right idea about policing them. As long as a ship is undetected, it isn't trespassing in your space. If you build a space station out on the edge of your territory, and you catch a ship inside your borders, you "politely" ask it to leave. If you fire on it, as some alien races are want to do, you risk war. If you ask and they politely decline, you have a choice to make... do you risk the diplomatic incident? Do you start the war? Do you let them get away with it in the interest of peace? It takes the events that were random, like the so and so was visiting so and so and the first so and so got all blowed up, ( I never sent him there !!?? ) with real actual diplomatic tension the player is involved in. Now maybe I have to send a delegate to Korx to hammer out a passage treaty... Also, the possibilities for trade and tourism treaties that become available.

5-I hate espionage. Unfortunately, It is a necessary evil. I would ask that I be able to choose it's complexity. Even the current system is too much for me to be involved in. It is boring and repetitive and a pain the you know what. After awhile I can build those nice centers to eliminate spies, but now I have to dedicate a usable tile to something I don't even want in the game... The suggestion for a Civ4 type system is even worse. I have stopped playing Civ because of the constant need to screw with espionage. If I want to play a spy game, I'll go buy a spy game. If I want to play a war game, I'll go buy a war game. It's is the Explore/Expand/Build part of these games that draws me in. Civ has decided that the war/espionage part of the game is the "fun" part, and that the other "X's" are just needed to get to that point. I'd hate to see GalCiv follow suite. At the very least, continued expansion of techs that would allow counter espionage without having to waste a tile on every planet, or a REALLY good spy minister so I can just throw some money at it and get a yearly report would be OK.

I have been happy with TA as it has progressed, and I LIKE the single player game. (Please don't lose that!)

Tim

For the telepathy tech tree, You are forgetting mind control. It could be a new invasion tactic.

To solve the tactical combat I recommend this, You can either control your ships or let the computer fight it out.

Nice ideas.

I agree with namekino. You should be allowed to auto-resolve the battles if you want. Also, battles shouldn't occur on a flat battleground, like Star Wars Empire at War. Make it more like Homeworld.

One more thing, I hear Homeworld 3 is in the works!  

Etrius

Haha, that's funny how you snuck that in there towards the end of a long post.

Although I'm positive that that part of your post was in jest, I wouldn't count on Stardock putting out anything "XXX" rated. That's not our style.    

Where did you see that?(Link please  )

Here's my list:

1. Shipyards - These would be special starbases built in a similar manner to Terror Stars. They would take resources from asteroid mines and use them to build ships. Extra modules unlocked from the Space Mining tech line would give percentage bonuses to the shipyards, similar to PowerPlants or Aul Incinerators on planets. However, shipyards would be completely unarmed and limited to 1 per sector. Obviously, the closer you build them to asteroid mines, the better output you'll get, so this makes Terror Star attacks more useful by giving you ideal shipyard locations. Special modules derived from certain hull/navigation techs like Master Hull Building or Subspace Drive(for slowpoke races) would give hitpoints and speed bonuses to ships built there.

So invading a star system with 15 Constructors and 5 Space Miners might prove to be quite fruitful. Build a Terror Star, defend it for 10 turns, take out the star, send in the Miners, build a Shipyard, wait another 10 turns, and you have a new source of warships.

2. Scrap the core ships. Just include the designs that are required for the campaign in the game, but don't waste half the Ship Designer screen with those ridiculous, inferior designs. Give an option to hide them all for those who don't want to go around hitting 'Obsolete' all the time.

3. Invasions take time. - Make invasions take 1-5 turns depending on invasion tactic. This means that the attacker must defend the orbit of that planet to stop enemy reinforcements, or has the option to send in reinforcements himself. Or even retreat from the planet using another Transport. Macromanagers aren't hassled, since they can just leave warships in orbit or a fleet on auto-attack, and get a message in the GNN news report when the invasion is complete(successful or failed).

4. Some Asteroid Mine tweaks. - Make the Construction Time for an Asteroid Mine upgrade divisible by the number of Space Miners working on it. If you send in 2 Miners for a Level 1 -> Level 2 upgrade, it should take 5 weeks instead of 10. 3 would complete it in 3 weeks, and 4 Miners would do the job in 2 weeks, and so on.

5. A new ship module: Fleet Defense Projectors. In fleet combat, all ships carrying this module would be able to project their defenses onto the ship currently under attack. It'd allow for fleets to pool together shield energy, combine point defense systems, or transfer armor. However, ships which are not carrying this module would act normally, keeping their defenses individually to themselves. The drawback would be that this is an extremely inefficient system taking up 60 spaces AND a 4% sizemod on top of that. Small and tiny ships simply would not be able to carry it, and larger ships would have to sacrifice a significant weaponry load to fit this thing.

The AI wouldn't have to be tweaked to handle FDPs. The combat system would simply have to recalculate the target-priority value after each round of battle, and the FDPs would be made to not respond until the next round after that. So using a bunch of tank ships to shield an all-attacker wouldn't be perfect since the tanks would be pounded themselves as soon as the enemy realizes what's happening.

6. Cloaking & Stealth - This has been well discussed and hammered out elsewhere in this forum. There would be cloaking techs that unlock sensor-defying cloak modules, and these could only be countered by better sensors or special anti-cloaks. They wouldn't work in battle, since they need comparatively large distances(>light years) to be effective. Stardock cannot use a 'How will the AI handle it' excuse on this because, at present(DA 1.80G Crippling in my case), the AI doesn't know how to handle the simple Survey Module. Not once have I seen an AI build a surveyor apart from it's Flagship.
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There are more things, but I can't remember at the moment.

Speaking of scrapping core ships, perhaps what is required is a slight addition to the shipyard and ship design screens:

A new tab on all the shipyard screens (including ship design), 'current'
And a new tab 'obsolete' and button 'mark current' on the ship design screen only

(Names are just something I picked out of my hat)

The way it works:
Your custom designs show up on the user tab as normal, the core designs show up on the core tab as usual, the current tab is ONLY populated by ships that you have marked as current.

Marking a current ship as obsolete removes it from the 'current' 'user' 'core' and 'all' tabs and adds it to the obsolete tab.

The reason for the obsolete tab is for all those times you've accidentally obsoleted a ship you didn't want to. And so you can still produce an upgrade to an obsolete ship.

I would like a 3-D battlefield but I have 1 addition. Depending on where you battle, there should be space junk or stuff like that. It would add more strategy.

I agree with the fleet defense system

Right, here's what I had forgotten:

7. Make homeworlds important! - Homeworlds should be a big deal for their respective races, more than just a planet with a fancy Civ Capital building(as they are now). My suggestion is that the pre-game racial bonuses you and the AIs choose with your ability points should be stored in your Civilization Capital building. Therefore, if you lose your homeworld, it's a massive blow since you lose those racial bonuses, and have to retake your homeworld to get your bonuses back. However, when you or an AI captures somebody else's homeworld, they shouldn't act like extra homeworlds. Captured homeowlrds should act like any old colony, but when the original owner recaptures their homeworld, it should be upgraded again.

That way, you could develop military strategies around kicking your enemy off their home planet, and the AI should do the same against you. And for races whose homeworlds get blasted by Terror Stars, tough luck.