A few Crusade things that seem "off" to me - Missions and Medium Hulls

from GalCiv3 Forums

So playing Crusade and a few things seem to me to be a bit off - not so much bugs as design decisions that don't really fit to my mind.

1. The Slyne have a trait that gives them Zero Gravity Construction to start. I'm assuming this is to allow them to get Engineer citizens from the beginning, but it doesn't make logical sense - why would they be able to build medium ships before they can build small ships? Not to mention potential balance issues of building a ship two tiers higher than everyone else right at the start.

Perhaps the Slyne should get Orbital Construction to start, which still gives a boost to ship size tech but not so drastic and fits in logical progression; move the engineer back to this tech if that was the desired result.

2. As far as I know, social and ship construction are completely separate now... which means idling a shipyard is truly a waste. (Before it had the effect of putting all manufacturing in social.) This matters early game because missions are all gained through tech... not to mention usually requiring resources. Had a game recently where (due to map size and opponent quantity) I hadn't met anyone and couldn't trade for resources, hadn't discovered the tech needed for Treasure Hunt, and so my "interesting choice" was to let the shipyard idle and waste resources (something I seem to recall reading a dev say that was counter to design goals) or making a ton of scout/missile ships that drained my treasury and didn't do much for me.

Could we get a shipyard mission that doesn't have to be researched and requires no resource? Would naturally be less efficient that others (though I don't see why Treasure Hunt couldn't be this anyhow) but maybe something like "Launch Telecomm Satellite" that costs as much as TH but provides half the credits. This makes it still worthwhile to research new missions but doesn't penalize you in ways explicitly against design goals if you research something else more important.

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Reply #1 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

1. The Slyne have a trait that gives them Zero Gravity Construction to start. I'm assuming this is to allow them to get Engineer citizens from the beginning, but it doesn't make logical sense - why would they be able to build medium ships before they can build small ships? Not to mention potential balance issues of building a ship two tiers higher than everyone else right at the start.

Perhaps the Slyne should get Orbital Construction to start, which still gives a boost to ship size tech but not so drastic and fits in logical progression; move the engineer back to this tech if that was the desired result.
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I actually like how SD is being bold in this case. If 'Inventive' wierds you out, don't look at time travelers ^^... they get large hulls at the start (but no engineer citizens).

I actually think inventive is fine. Sire, you get something great at the start, but you have to choose between this and ancient for example, which gives you 'living ships' tech in the latgame.

This not to say, that there aren't some abilities which feel a little underwhelming to me.

or making a ton of scout/missile ships that drained my treasury and didn't do much for me.
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Here's another idea what you could do: don't make tiny hull explorers. Make cargo hull ones. With more sensorpower and engines, so you can slightly later use them to spot for your fleets.

Reply #2 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting zuPloed, reply 1

Here's another idea what you could do: don't make tiny hull explorers. Make cargo hull ones. With more sensorpower and engines, so you can slightly later use them to spot for your fleets.
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Exactly what I do.


2. As far as I know, social and ship construction are completely separate now... which means idling a shipyard is truly a waste.
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This is correct. I find it a challenge to balance my goals with the opportunities presented (nearby planets, resources, etc.) with my need for Administrators and other citizens as well as preventing a bottleneck at the shipyard. And I really like that this is a challenge because it means my choices actually matter.

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Reply #3 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

That's odd - I'm rarely in a position where I'd idle a shipyard and certainly not early game. What about those planets to colonize? What about those starbases to build? Then, once I'm finished doing that I build at least a basic fleet because otherwise if I get attacked I'm totally screwed. 

Reply #4 from GalCiv3 Forums Top


The Slyne have a trait that gives them Zero Gravity Construction to start. I'm assuming this is to allow them to get Engineer citizens from the beginning, but it doesn't make logical sense - why would they be able to build medium ships before they can build small ships? Not to mention potential balance issues of building a ship two tiers higher than everyone else right at the start.
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The key is how many hulls one can build.  While the Slyne build one medium, the rest are building two small.  Weird, maybe, but not particularly unbalancing.

 

Reply #5 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Speaking of the Slyne, I think their trait is broken. The tooltip says it provides an engineer at the beginning of the game. In fact it does not. You do not start with an engineer. You can hire one, but you don't start with one. Early game you need administrators, so you usually need to wait a while before you can hire an engineer with them. 

I thought about it balance wise and if you started with an engineer it would be fairly strong, it would be one of the best traits in the game, but I don't think it would be unbalanced. As it is right now, the inventiveness trait just isn't that impressive