Good Riddance to the Local Wheel! » Forum Post by Bruce Hake

I'm devastated by the decision to remove the planet-local wheel. It basically inflates the problem you had managing planets to your entire galaxy:

If you focus your global spending towards one of the three resources (prod, econ, research) then all the improvements, buildings, etc. built for the other two are essentially worthless, or at the very least very very inefficient.

With proper planet-local governance you were able to mitigate this: dont build econ buildings on research planets (and vice versa), don't build research/econ on production planets etc.

But now, with the wheel gone, what are you left with?

+1

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The wheel might have been useful but its presence really hurt the Sim side of the game. Are there any real world examples of cities or states that are the equivilent of a wheel set to 100% for one category?

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Well, they've now added an option to instruct a planet to focus on Manufacturing, Income, or Research. That gives most of the functionality of the local wheel with MUCH less time and trouble.

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Quoting Bruce Hake,

reply 3

That gives most of the functionality of the local wheel with MUCH less time and trouble.

Let's be honest, it doesn't. The difference in time and trouble is 1 screen per planet, and the functionality on offer is 4 possible slider settings vs about 100,000 possible choices (all but about 6 of which no-one used). Foci give the interesting possibility of setting them via the list views, but presently they're not a major micro reduction.

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I don`t mind how it is now, though I undrstand why others are upset about the lack of micromanaging ability. If it helps make a better AI, then I`m willing to live with it... Besides, a ruler does not micromanage his Empire unless he wants a nervous breakdown. He delegates.

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I play against my friends and having designated planets to do specific functions is essential to playing the game for me. Why do you think there are so many different capitol buildings? my planet b has a research capitol but its not being used right now because I need to rush manufacturing on planet A to make some ships. It completely cripples your ability to Micro manage effectively ruining the game for me and my friends....

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Quoting duke286,

reply 2

The wheel might have been useful but its presence really hurt the Sim side of the game. Are there any real world examples of cities or states that are the equivilent of a wheel set to 100% for one category?

True, but is realism the aim? Are galaxies really 2D? Does thulium or durantium really exist? Does speed really increase linearly with the addition of engines to a vessel?

The global slider still permits 100% allocation, but for the whole galaxy rather than one planet - which is even less realistic.

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I just loaded my save game and I am confronted with this change that I had NO CHOICE OVER! FUCK STEAM!

Can we PLEASE get the local wheel back as an option setting? Because my gameplay style REALLY doesn't work without it.

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I thought I would hate that change but it makes a much better gameplay. Glad it is gone.

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Sorry for missing two months worth of discussion, but isn't that how GC II worked anyway? You'd pick how to specialize a planet's output but couldn't divert 100% of it's production? I just bought the game, but I did spend hundreds of hours in GC II, and it worked fine for me then.

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Quoting Mikeysama,

reply 10

Sorry for missing two months worth of discussion, but isn't that how GC II worked anyway? You'd pick how to specialize a planet's output but couldn't divert 100% of it's production? I just bought the game, but I did spend hundreds of hours in GC II, and it worked fine for me then.

Pretty much, but the underlying economic systems are very different. GC3's economy is much more suited to specializing, so losing the wheel is a fairly major change.

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Quoting Mikeysama,

reply 10

Sorry for missing two months worth of discussion, but isn't that how GC II worked anyway? You'd pick how to specialize a planet's output but couldn't divert 100% of it's production? I just bought the game, but I did spend hundreds of hours in GC II, and it worked fine for me then.

What would be the point of GalCiv 3, if it worked like 2?

There are reasons I didn't like 2 but liked 3 and this is one of them, which is gone now.

Might aswell have made it a graphics-upgrade for GalCiv 2 instead of an entirely new game at this point.

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Quoting Dracul_JOSHI,

reply 12

Quoting Mikeysama,

reply 10

Sorry for missing two months worth of discussion, but isn't that how GC II worked anyway? You'd pick how to specialize a planet's output but couldn't divert 100% of it's production? I just bought the game, but I did spend hundreds of hours in GC II, and it worked fine for me then.

What would be the point of GalCiv 3, if it worked like 2?

There are reasons I didn't like 2 but liked 3 and this is one of them, which is gone now.

Might aswell have made it a graphics-upgrade for GalCiv 2 instead of an entirely new game at this point.

Plenty of point. The game doesn`t rest on just the wheel mechanic. And there were a lot of things I loved about GC2, stuff that`s still better in my view, even the AI arguably. Also being the number 3 doesn`t mean you throw out what worked. People wanted more of the same, just better.

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