I'd steer away from the rock-paper-scissors balance and go for more unique factions. A TEC player shouldn't be able to win the game with the Advent by using similar (or in cases, the exact same) strategies.

You know you get it right when players who do well with one race find the other races horribly confusing. Makes for much better balance arguments too

make it like beta 4

Had so many good times back then, and the final release is not really me. Not to say the game is bad, i just dont like the way the game have ended up being after gold.

Thats my opinion

Allow different solar systems to be played out on different servers. When a fleet moves from one solar system to another, they seemlessly log onto that server. This would allow greater numbers of ships and larger solar systems, without any loss in framerate.

The best bit is that huge galaxies of stars could be created. Literally thousands of stars would be available for exploration.

This is because the capitals started at level 3 back then, instead of level 1. A level 1 cap stands out much less early game than a level 3. Alas, most of us older beta testers fought to the brink of death to keep the starting game the way it is, but IC felt that "losing the cap early was too hard to recover from" in agreement with a fairly loud outcry from other testers.

On the other hand, though, they added more militia around planets, so now it's possible to get a level 3-4 capital after clearing just 3 or 4 planets, so it doesn't take too long to get that feel back.



Psst, you know you can autopin planets so that everything your scouts visit gets pinned? Or did they make it so that only the ones you own get auto-pinned? And besides, you can just pin the star and expand it. So there's several ways to get what you want on it. The new tree is more flexible than the old one, and allows players to customize it more to their tastes, instead of forcing either an "everything visible" or "only selection visible" tree as it was in beta 4.



You haven't played around with fleets enough Fleets are a very nice organizational structure, and not meant to be more than it is really. It's a means of keeping your ships together, so that you don't have to constantly watch them so they don't do anything stupid. Before, you had your control groups and your light frigates would always charge forward into enemy defenses and get shredded. Now with fleets you can keep them together with your other ships without the need for a constant eye. You can set them to "local area" attack, and they'll serve as a line of defense for your fleet (which can be set to "gravity well"), so they'll never wander off to attack random targets, but always hang around and attack whatever comes close to your fleet. So just like with the empire tree, the fleet system provides a lot of extra flexibility. And the best thing about it is, you can still make your control groups and give them whatever orders you want, and after they're done they'll just fall back into fleet formation rather than be spread out everywhere in the grav well. Fleets = organization, something that pure control groups don't have.



This is really one of the major reasons I don't play much MP. In beta we were quite content keeping it on the lower settings and having fun. But so many MP games are on everything fast now that it's just not as fun for people like us who enjoy slower paced games. Alas, the option is there still but most people prefer to play fast, so what can we do

Of course there are some directions the game went in that I don't agree with completely - like us arguing for keeping siege frigates the way they were, but IC has their own vision too, and I respect it.

It's 90%, leaving 10% behind Changed because it was discovered that the majority of the jumping delays were caused by a few ships still trying to get into position. So now when 90% of your selection is ready, they jump and the other 10% follow shortly.

But yeah, for a heavy micromanager, fleets don't offer very much that the player can't do. But for those who don't want to do that, fleets provide a pretty intelligent and flexible organization structure that lets them do other things without worrying about their ships running every which way.

i would rather wait the extra time then to leave 10% behind.
To avoid this i have to do some really awkward and unwanted micro.


Yeah, the fleet supply system was great.

I agree it could use some changes but the idea that you got fleet points per planet was actually a good idea.

But the hole problematic with beta 4 to final is the "in touch" with things.
The cap ships as we talked about.
The planets are not as important anymore.
The super weapons makes in no degree the gaming experience better.
Gaming speed as well.

If i had the choice between:
$60 for beta 4
$40 for final

i would pay the $60, thats how good i see beta 4

But thats my opinion,
For those who dont know how the old empire tree looked like, heres an image.

Control groups with numbers on top
all planets explored within each star

all of it could be tabbed to see more if needed (final game have all things untabbed by default = clutter)

Thats a matter of opinion
I had such a passion for this game since the very beginning and i enjoyed every single beta until we reached final.

I would called beta 4 the classic part of Sins, since it had me in touch with so much of everything, and would have made me play it for years to come.

Ive tried so many times playing both the single and multi player, and i just cant get into it anymore. When watching the gameplay videos i see the fun aspect right away.


LOL secret alliances? there were no real alliances i would backstab any of you in a sec if i knew i could win

But you might be right about the different kind of play ( I see alot of competition and the need to win so bad. Its really a shame, games should be there to have a fun time with different people.

As it is said, all good things come to an end

1.) I would completely disable micromanagement.
- Fleets can only be sent from planet to planet.
- Inside a gravity well ships and fleet move on their own.
- You get fleet commanders with different attributes (e.g. good at defense) and you can assign them to a fleet.
- Your fleet commanders (AI) mange the battle. They decide which ships to target first. Where to move which types of ships. When to retreat.
- Fleet commanders get experience and get better through battles. (But not to the extend that they get super powers. Just that they can win a battle through better tactics even if they have fewer ships than the enemy. If really outnumbered they should still loose.)

Basically you manage the empire and give general orders to your fleet commanders.

The AI has to be pretty good. But the battlefield would be pretty leveled, since no one can micromanage. And I would have fun watching the battles.

2.) More diplomatic options... and aggressors should be punished.
- If one computer controlled opponent or a player breaks treaties, attacks and eliminates one opponent after the other then the others should form am alliance against him.

What I really want is that there are also times of peace where you can build up after tough fights and prepare for your next actions.

3.) Other...
- Slow the game down some more...
- Maybe stronger defense structures, slower income.
- Fleet upkeep not % of income but determined on a per ship basis. (Lower income = less ships.)
- Make capitals really expensive. An empire should not have more than 2 or 3 at the same time.
- Orbital structures should be tougher, more expensive, in most cases limited to one per gravity well (e.g. tradeports).

...okay, maybe I should go back to GalCiv2

Please stick around.

I have been a fan of yours since June 2007. I have read 90% of your posts.

(But I have "lurked" in the shadows much more than I have posted during the Beta.)

I agree with you to a piont i hate rushing and love to tech all the way up but, hate 7 hour games.

Back to the betas; I don't really know what happened, but I enjoyed the betas alot more. Most likely due to planets giving the logistical points rather than research.

I wouldn't be surprised if the code was removed, but any chance of a mod bringing back the planet logistical system?

After a few winning streaks, I have to say I would have re-made it exactly the same. The game's awesome, and it has everything I ever wanted already.

Anything else added in patches or in the expansion will be just more icing on the cake for me.

And regarding the cap ships being too wimpy, I disagree. Coupled with strong defenses and/or a few heavy cruisers to take the brunt of the enemy's assault, and the cap ships reign supreme. True, I rarely use the utility cap ships anymore and opt for battleships most of time, with the exception of the occasional colony cap, but I still belive my point is valid.