fleet battles..

from GalCiv2 Forums
Ok getting along fine with the game at the moment.. getting a few crashes here and there.. probally because im running XP64..

anyway I just had a question really.. how come they never made the fleet battles tactical.. more like in master of orion 2... I know this aint MOR2 hehe but that was such an awsome part fo the game.. its a shame not to see it in this really.. Ok maybe the fleets dont get quite as big as they do on MOR2 but it still would have been great..
7,380 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
I would reckon it's because GalCiv is a strategy game and not a tactical combat game.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Argh that question is back!

Its been gone over a few times but CeZeus has hit the answer in a nut shell. Stardock want Galciv to be about ruling a civilisation as 'emperor', it's not about being the admiral. That's the design decision and the ultrimate answer.

There are some other supporting reasons, perhaps the main one being about AI. Moo2 is the big comparison ofc. In Moo2 you could design your own ships and fight tactical battles with them. Or if you chose to you could just hit auto and the computer fights for you. Good in theory, but in practice the computer never used your ships as well as you knew you would have done, so the nagging temptation was always there to fight every battle to get the result you know your fleet should have gotten.

But now you're fighting every battle no matter how minor. Not great. The fundamental problem is that the AI is never quite as good as the player, so you're always going to be fighting the battles yourself (I realise that someone won't agree, but this is true for most players). Once you get to that point the focus has shifted from strategy to tactics.

Also, bear in mind the the Moo series was primarily war focused. Yeah you could take other routes but the game was biased to military solutions. GalCiv is about choosing you civ's path, be it diplomatic, warfare, technology or whatever, so it's less important to focus the game in on the combat. Putting in a tactical mode shits the games focus to a military end game as you are commiting alot of resources to making tactical combat.

So for the purity of the design, Galciv has no tactical combat.
Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
Yeah i see your point.. but they went through the trouble of making 3d battles that are basically pointless. If you had soem knid of tactical control it would be good.. but the 3d battles r just eye candy that most people are going to skip once they get into the game.. just seems a bit of a wase but i understand the way they r going..
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
but the 3d battles r just eye candy that most people are going to skip once they get into the game


There were build to BE eye-candy. Stardock also said that there will always be an option to skip the rendered space battles and get an immediate outcome, should you wish to do so. Personally, I like the eye-candy, but that's just my preference.