Shane Maness

Shane Maness

Joined Member # 2567420
8 Posts 41 Replies 152 Reputation
Reply to Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar - Character Contest in GalCiv II News GalCiv2 Forums

I have to agree. I'll always be happy to wait for a stronger, more robust game than one which simply hits its shipping date. Additionally, a public beta tends to catch any bugs that manage to hide through playtesting (we players can do some seriously wacky stuff ), while allowing the testers to feel they've contributed to the project. I'm all for it. <img src="http://images.stardock.com

35 Replies 25,060 Views
Reply to Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar - Character Contest in GalCiv II News GalCiv2 Forums

Tom Petty was right... the waiting really is the hardest part. But it's easy to forget that Stardock is not EA Games. The GalCiv team is (IIRC) six or seven developers in the middle of a massive expansion, and probably already burning the midnight oil. And now reworking a storyline and deciding if new features can/should be implemented. A challenging task if ever there was one, especially wit

35 Replies 25,060 Views
Reply to minor races and trading techs for cash (warning possible noncheat game-exploit) in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

It disturbs me to hear everyone crying 'bug!' every time they see something they don't like. No wonder so few developers participate in their own game's forums. What you have described is not a bug; it is a mechanic of play, and one which has existed in every 4x game which features a tech tree. Knowledge is power, and power can be traded. I see no problem at all with selling tech. It is a viable strategy which occurs in the real world. Many times I've had an AI opponent l

11 Replies 6,741 Views
Reply to Bugs bugs bugs.. in GalCiv Journals GalCiv2 Forums

I think it's looking great. You guys are implementing features I've wanted for 20 years. Which means that you'll have 20% of people on the forums screaming that the Dread Lords are "broken" because they wipe everyone out, 20% of people saying the Dread Lords are a joke, and the rest thinking they work fine. That's how it always is. I do

19 Replies 30,182 Views
Reply to General Graphics in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

What if, in this expansion or a patch or something, you included an optional setting where you REALLY lower the graphics. Like, change the ships from moddels to sprites. The planets. Changed the starry background to a flat picture. Disclaimer: I'm not a Stardock developer, but do develop part-time as an indie/hobbyist. It is an int

5 Replies 6,217 Views
Reply to AI so clever but so THICK! in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

If the AI took 20 of your worlds, and you had 10 (or 5) left, would you surrender? I wouldn't. I'd fight to the bitter end, scrap all my buildings just before my planets are invaded, and give money and tech to everyone who might help. During one game, the Arceans (who'd become the superpower while I trailed second) were slowly grinding me down. I was losing ships and worlds, and my best

15 Replies 15,472 Views
Reply to Minor glitches... in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

Hmmm... I remember seeing the 'unfinished image' bug in 1.2, but after updating to 1.31, I can no longer reproduce it. I like the flash on the Yor communication screen. Adds some personality to the race. In fact, I'd enjoy seeing this sort of thing carried further; such as the Drengin sitting very close to the camera so they loom in the screen (an 'invasion of privacy' tactic used to intimidat

3 Replies 1,981 Views
Reply to Question about DL Campaing ending (SPOILER ALERT) in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I'd gone ahead and finished it. It's a brief little three-page story to introduce a prospective Dark Avatar character. Have a read if you like, it's on page three at: WWW Link . Under the user name of Shane Maness. Again, thanks for the assistance. Now to get back to annoying Dread Lords and their overpowered ships. <img src="http://images.stardock.com/gc2/T_DL/smiles/Wink.gif" border=0 ALIGN="absmi

5 Replies 4,528 Views
Question about DL Campaing ending (SPOILER ALERT) in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

(SPOILER ALERT! DO NOT CONTINUE IF YOU'VE NOT COMPLETED THE CAMPAIGN.) I've not yet had the time to finish the DL campaign, but a side project (writing) requires that I know if Lord Kona (the Drengin leader) survives the campaign. I've searched through the files hoping the data was moddable (and thus accessible to me), but it seems to be hardcoded into the individual scenarios. I began playing the campaign but currently have only reached Achilles' Heel mission. It is probabl

5 Replies 4,528 Views
Reply to 1.3 changes to DL campaign? in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Okay... false alarm. Things began to even out when I started getting my infrastructure. Finally, the Altarians couldn't sustain their growth and flatlined for a bit, while I raced ahead. The Drengin were never a worry. So chalk it up to a case of the heebie-jeebies. I'd never seen an AI come out of the gate like that; 6 colony ships, 3 scouts, and researching Laser V before I get three plan

6 Replies 5,628 Views
1.3 changes to DL campaign? in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

I'd started the DL campaign after upgrading to 1.3 and was horrified at how badly I'm being owned by the AI. It looks as if the Altarians will rule the day and trash the Drengin long before I'm able to grab planetary invasion. After five(!) restarts, I was finally able to grab three planets, but only by devoting all my racial points to speed and outright purchasing of colony ships. Even so it was a very close thing. (And yes, the Altarians are on my side, but on my first post-

6 Replies 5,628 Views
Reply to Some GalCiv2 artwork in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Here we go: WWW Link Starting to look a bit worn at these resolutions. Given that I expected an avatar-sized image, I didn't even texture anything other than the GalCiv box, disc, and viewscreens behind. What I would call 'down-and-dirty'. If time permits I'll increase the detail, build some maps, a

8 Replies 8,766 Views
Editing Metaverse Scores? in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

Woot! I just won my first sucidal victory. With everything but research randomized (research was set to slow). Unfortunately, it was the second metaverse game I'd played. My first one was on normal. And only now do I realize the metaverse difficulty levels are averaged. So my pretty sucidal-level victory is now downgraded to a crippling level-o-play. Can I somehow delete

7 Replies 6,147 Views
Some GalCiv2 artwork in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Was having some fun building a custom avatar and went a bit overboard. Most details were lost when it was cranked down to avatar size, so I thought I'd post the larger image in case anyone wants a wallpaper... or something. Heck... I don't know. Perhaps a modder can convert it to a race portrait. Anyway, enjoy! <img src="http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/7421/puzzledrobotkp7.jpg"

8 Replies 8,766 Views
Reply to Do I suck... in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Another thing which eases the mandatory cash-crunch is to sell off minor techs to other races. It can be quite lucrative. Not only does it assist your treasury until your initial expansion is up and running, you can also sucker the other races into a specific line of weaponary/defenses (while slowly focusing in another area), and keep the less-evolved races from being swallowed too early in the game. It also seems to improve your relations with everyone.

19 Replies 10,105 Views
Reply to Meet Cari Begle and Paul Boyer at DragonCon 2006! in GalCiv II News GalCiv2 Forums

I very much enjoyed the panels... they were the highlight of my stay at the convention. Both Cari and Paul are friendly, have a wonderful sense of humor, and simply good company. A big thanks to all the Stardock personnel who attended. It was great fun! Cheers!

17 Replies 14,936 Views