Zydor

Reply to Global Warming faithful getting desperate in The Environment JoeUser Forums

Winter 2006-07, though late in coming, was one of the worst in recent record, and thus, one of the worst for GW-drum beaters, now scrambling, pushing desperately hard for their cause; half the country was encased in ice and snow. Dozens died across America, killed by weather-related incidents; billions lost in crop revenues, due to freakishly low temperatures in California and Florida. Finally, skeptical opposition arises. Books and scientific studies become more and m

Reply to My two cents on Stardock............. in Animated Wallpapers JoeUser Forums

All this over a $10 wallpaper ? Meanwhile, over on CNN, we intently, studiously ponder topics of the moment such as ..... pandemic sweeps Africa ..... Tsunami wipes out Asia ..... Politicians disenfranchise Voters brains ..... Voters search for Politicians brains Meanwhile on JoeUser "Activation disgrace of $10 WallPaper" *Sigh* <br/

Reply to Hunger?WE Americans do not know what real HUNGER IS! in Current Events JoeUser Forums

Ahh the hand wringing pitch with poverty - usually either naivety or a shameless bid for a profound shining halo by demonstrating such worldly thoughts. Or genuinely meant by truly concerned and thoughtful people. Whatever the source of this particular poverty rant, there are many other truths lurking on this issue. EmperorofIceCream may have chosen a form of words that makes PolPot look like ambassadors for world peace, bu

Reply to Tips for Maximizing Your Game Score in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

There will always be these anomolies in GalCiv - the Core design was to put out a Fun Game, not a competitive game. You cant bolt on a competitive scenario to a design that was orientated for Fun. To retro-fit competitive aspects properly would be a huge exercise to eliminate the root cause of the obvious anomolies. For example the silly military starbase array technique solely designed to boost scores. There is no skill involved in it, and its a little obvious the player has used it

Reply to AI doing absolutely nothing in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

I have had this one every now and then, its now rare, I used to get it a lot. I have heard others also get it once in a while. For some reason the AI seems to shut down and do - literally - nothing. All you can do is shut down the game and restart another. Calkwalk and sometimes Easy has pretty much this effect anyway, but it does seem that there is an on going 'bug' as it can happen at higher difficulty levels. When it occurs, a tell tale sign that you are onto a loser is all the AI spher

Reply to Hopeless noob needs help with the basics in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

One thing I meant to mention and forgot.... There is no "Silver Bullet" in Galciv. It is a balanced game (ie advantages gained in actions are always counter balanced by difficulties or more work to achieve others) which means many strategies are just as viable as another. There is no "guaranteed" "correct" strategy, you need to develop your own style of play, what works for some does not work for others as it does not suit their play style. Therefore when reading through the

Reply to What would you pay good money for in an expansion? (The unofficial inquiry) in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I would focus on providing many more "small" activities, rather than going for broke on a couple of headline "Biggies". The structure of the game is excellent now, but there long natural "pauses" at various stages of the game - differing for each level usually - where not a lot is happening (as such), more a pause as player/AI takes a breath to regroup or build up forces etc. If many small activities were made available that had an effect on the game during these minimal activity perio

Reply to Rant about stupid AI in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

One main issue with AI programming is the computing power need to number crunch the AI options. Basicly at Turn time the AI scans 8 move slots around each ship/object/planet to assess threats / opportunities / next moves etc. That involves Huge - utterly Huge - numbers of threads and calculations, to extend that to use more than 8 slots around its objects is not a practical possibility, the computing power for number crunching is far too great. Brad recently added the option in the co

Reply to Hopeless noob needs help with the basics in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

Bring your difficulty level down to Easy or Simple, its by far the best way to learn the game. Calkwalk is pointless, the AI just dribbles at the mouth and says ga ga every now and then at that level. By reducing the level to Easy or Simple, you will learn the game much faster as you will not get run over by the AI in your first few games, and you get a chance to get a feel for it and experiment. At those levels the game is very forgiving, and you get a chance to explore it

Reply to Admin Suggestion in Modding GalCiv2 Forums

First Turn after your first warship ? Obviously someone full of sweetness and light with the best interests of your neighbours at heart ...... Regards Zy

Suggestion: Shift-(Left)(Right) Click to move an object in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I invariably play Gigantic games, I find the level of engagement and depth of thought needed far more satisfying than shorter games. One aspect that arguably affects Huge and Gigantic to a greater level than the smaller map sizes is watching ships/objects move after you point them at the target location, with upwards of hundreds of ships/fleets to manage, it is a time consuming business to sit and watch a mechanical move. Whilst various aspects in the control panel can be used to mitigate the "

Reply to How old are you? in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

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Reply to Regarding Used Copies of GalCiv II in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

A lot of this heated debate stems from many who decided to go down their normal road of purchasing games second hand to keep costs down. Many of those purchases are from dubious sources. At the end of the day, to support users properly costs money. If the majority of those users purchased games from other people, the game company is supporting those who did not contribute by purchasing the game from the game developer. At this point of course, out come the quasi lawyers quoting this th

Reply to The Human Factions Mod needs you! in Modding GalCiv2 Forums

I would keep scenarios generic and not identifiable to Real Races Past or current. Its an association Game Developers avoid like the Plague, same goes for Religion. Both those topics can ignite Huge Bush Fires, and nasty vitriol as inevitably someone takes it to heart, ignoring that it is a game. Its then downhill from then on to obscurity. Sid - aka Civilization Series - takled Religion very very carefully for Civ IV. They wanted to use the actual names to give a semblence of realit

Reply to How can we all be athiests in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

I love how many of us assume that when we die it is game over. I love how people demand evidence, facts, verified events etc to vertually everything except their Religion. In the latter case, almost uniquely the burdon of proof has to be on proving that a supreme Diety doesnt exist. Its a dual standard of the most classic - and wholely illogical - kind. People who greatly fear death tend to grasp at any explanation that mitigates the facts they

Reply to How can we all be athiests in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

Since human Beings started running around beating the living hell out of anything they didnt like - life hasnt changed much in the last million years - there has been utter certainty that various objects, icons, natural phenomina are the true Diety. There was no way at the time you could ever shift their belief, yet here we are now with yet another set of beliefs in a Supreme Being. Many so cal

Reply to lagging.......>=( in Modding GalCiv2 Forums

I agree the main cause is likely to be the card. Whilst you investigate a new one, you might want to replace the graphics drivers they are 9 months old (if there is another one for that card), the latter can sometimes make a significant difference if the programmer has used features in the latest drivers that yours does not have. In the latter case your driver would default to a slower method. It will not stop the need for a new card, but might make the current pain a little less whilst you

Reply to It's legal, right? in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

That Civ theme song, Baba Yetu, is The Lords Prayer in Swahili - I love it, it has a great catchy feel to it and the African Harmony in it is superb. The story behind its use in Civ IV is interesting. Anyone wanting to pursue further and get the lyrics and background to it can go via WWW Link . I often set it to loop and listen to it whenever I am on the PC - many a time the evil Drengin and Korath have bowed out to t

Reply to Is Civ 4 worth picking up? in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

Civ IV was a break from "the way it was done" previously in the Civ Series, and those insisting playing it like previous versions declared it a dog. It is a more complex version and the graphics 3D rendering takes a lot out of your PC, but its the old story you dont get something for nothing. Purists will say 3D makes no difference, and in many ways thats true, but many lose sight of the purpose of the game - FUN, not endless bloodletting to be seen as the Worlds highest scorer. There is littl

Reply to How can we all be athiests in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

This thread is a classic example of why Game Developers keep well away from Religion in games - few things, arguably no other, are as likely to ignite a powder keg of claim counter claim, verging on outright warfare from competing factions. Civilization IV got away with it as Sid Mier insisted that the recent expansion of Religion in the Civilization series be meticulously even handed, and the effect of all Religions in the game were to be dealt with precisely the same - even then they had a ba

Reply to AI cheating on first turn (buys more than one social improvement per planet) ? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I am - for the first time - disappointed with the principle behind Frogboys reply. The severity or otherwise of such a basic aspect of the game should be nailed without delay. I cant believe it is rocket science to prevent a "Turn" on a reload, and I am aware of the hidden time factor in bug fixing, I have managed enough code teams in the past to be acutely aware of the so called "simple fix". However, this is basic mechanics of the game. Stardock have a well deserved reputation for o

Reply to MORE Mega Events! in GalCiv II News GalCiv2 Forums

The Dread Lords hold an almost Mystic reputation in sandbox despite the prevelance within backgroun game scenarios. The United Planets on the other hand has become a talk shop with little effect (as such) on the overall game. Bring in the Dread Lords in very large numbers with comparible - but slightly more powerful fleets than is prevelant in the Galaxy. They wipe out a Race over a period of a few moves, prompting the United Planets call a special meeting. At the meeting all surving

Reply to WHERE IS THE 1.6 BETA??!!! in Beta Reports GalCiv2 Forums

I still cant see 1.6Beta. I have verified I am registered, I have reloaded SDC, I have refreshed XML data, show pre-release is ticked, still nothing. Latest versions in SDC showing are: GC2 1.50.127 Tutorials 1.0(rc).020 Movies 1.0(rc).018 Multimedia 1.0(rc).046 DA 1.59(b).097 Heightmaps 1.59(b).007 Sins of a Solar Empire 0.66(b).010 Is 1.59(b).097 Version 1.6Beta5? Regards Zy

Reply to 1.6 Beta 4 on SDC in Beta Reports GalCiv2 Forums

Cari Following on from your post at Reply #24 re SDCentral. I noticed today I was having this issue, my last game update is 1.50.127 updated 4 May 2007. I regularly pop in via SDC to get updates, at least once a week, however having seen this thread it seems 1.62 is around. So it seems I have been missing a substantial number of updates. I followed your advice on reinstall. On first look at Control Panel it claimed SDC rarely used, last in March 2007, clearly wrong as I do

Reply to Does the emperor of High Command Hegemony still play? in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

It takes time and considerable effort to track down and organise potential members, and Alex has done a good job doing so. There are only so many hours in a day. Lets not go down the slippery slope now the Empire is in the number one slot - we are here to play a few games and have a bit of fun. Thats how the Empire was started, and thats how it should remain. I joined for a bit of fun, not intercine warfare. I can find the latter anywhere in the internet should I want it. Lets keep to