questions

from Stardock Forums
Considering different campaign/stratagy games. Looking down a very long list of reviews of different games I found this one. It didn't have the highest overal ratings compared to other games but the descriptions given intreged me. AI really is at the heart of games like this and its good to see a game that gives it fair attention.

Also someone in a review said
This game has a hugh fan base, a very strong community and above all a developer team that continously further develops the game and really cares about player's suggestions and remarks (visiting the forum at www.galciv.com will be a real eye opener!). Already several updates have been released within the two weeks the game is available, mainly with tweaks and new goodies and a minor bug repaired here and there. There will be a free expansion pack available in June.
End of quote


Is this true that expansions will be free? Just for june or will all expansions be free? Ive been burned a number of times with games that come out with needed expansions right after you buy em. And/or expansions that can cost almost as much as the game did or at least half of that. Like buying civ 2 and having gold come out a month latter. So the idea of free expansions is .. LOL.

Is it true?

Plus its great to have a game with a active message board where feedback is accepted and welcomed.

Personally am a hard core civ 2 alpha centare fan. The descriptions do not seem to embody some of the qualities that i love about those games but the rest could make up for that.

I might just decide to bite the bullet and buy unplayed. But still..A demo could help alot for to decide whether i want to buy.

Hehe more comments then questions..
Heres one. When changing difficulty level is the AI's intelligence tied with resource the ai starts with and such?

I mean I think it would be fun if to be able to have a super smart AI at a real disadvantage resource wise and such and/or a dumber AI with a ton of advantages.
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Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
howdy,
- the only 'official free expansion' I know of is the June expansion with totally new stuff including art; lots of stuff gets taken care of in the frequent updates which are free of course including AI tweaks;
the game was playable and enterntaining right out-of-the box for me, they are going the extra mile
- they are working on the Demo, AFAIK. should be out soon, (this month?)
- search for SMAC on this board, you'll some pretty good in-depth comparisons
- re: the AI; at medium it's at its smartest and no resource advantages/disadvantages, at the highest levels the AI economy gets boosted, at the lowest the AI is at disatvantage and is dumber. there are actually 6 independent AIs, one per alien race. you can adjust each individually. but, all AI levels start with the Star Cartography tech researched (can see potentially best planets) which is explained by the story
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
"Is it true?"

Yes. Stardock has promised/is planning a year of free support for the game. Frequent small updates, with a major expansion pack slated for June.

"When changing difficulty level is the AI's intelligence tied with resource the ai starts with and such?"

No. Well, only slightly. Changing the difficulty level does two things: it affects the income the AI gets from its colonies, and it affects which algorithms the AI has available to it for gameplay. At levels below Intelligent (the 6th highest of 8 settings), the AI gets no financial bonuses, and access (AFAIK) to all it's various decision-making algorithms. Below Intelligent, the AI receives incrementally less cash and cannot use some it's smarter/tougher algorithms. Above Intelligent, the AI gets more cash from colonies than the player, and has an increased chance of using its toughest algorithms.

Resource placement, good planet availability, etc... those things are all randomly distributed around the map at the start of the game, with no regard to AI difficulty or race starting locations.

- Ash

~SDC~
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