The influence you acquire through trade has no effect on the map at all, so it doesn't "spread out". It also doesn't add to the influence needed for an influence victory. It just adds to your number of votes in the *next* UP issue.
[quote]But I do know that jusht like in 2004, if McCain wins, the rest of the world is going to shake their collective heads and our "superpower" status will sink another 30 degrees into oblivion.[/quote] Being part of this "rest of the world", I can confim that. I doubt that the opinion of the rest of the world would bother the people who voted McCain into office though. Regarding the original question (i.e. will the US always be a superpower) - obviously, the US won't lose it
[quote]Here's what I gathered from Derek French (Bioshock official)[/quote] [quote]oh... i thought bioshock implements an uninstall type that reverse the count so you can install it again without diminishing your install count[/quote] Sorry, I meant *Bioware* official. I was talking about Mass Effect. I keep mistyping "Bioware" as "Bioshock", sorry.
The statment from Caryl that's quoted above sounds pretty sensible, although he didn't give us any specifics about a limited number of installs. "Being able to install and play on multiple computers" could mean anything in that regard. The new statement from Bioware specifically states that the "3 installs on differing hardware and you need to call support" policy will stay in effect for Mass Effect. For me as a collector, who enjoys to play old games every couple of years (and naturall
Were the spies actually hurting the Torians before? The Torians may have decided that your spies weren't annoying enough to spend their own spies on them. Perhaps the new position of your spies hurt them more. Also, the Torians might have had their spies on away missions which they deemed more important.
Technically, yes. The AI knows where the resources are placed. Practically, it's not that much of a cheat, because the AI is also programmed not to go aggressively after those resources. The AI also "wastes" moves for scouting that it does't really need to do. So, it's a compromise. An AI that doesn't know the map would preferable (one of the reasons why I like Civilization IV so much, the AI there doesn't know any part of the map and actually does its own exploration). But it's also di
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The situation I described above is actually the *result* of having my eyes checked out regularly, and wearing glasses since 1976. ;) When I said "bad eyesight", I actually *did* really mean "bad eyesight". :) The "Having-scarlet-pressure-marks-on-your-nose-because-your-glases-are-so-heavy" kind of eyesight, or the "We-can't-give-you-contacts-because-they'd-need-to-be-so-big-they-wouldn't-fit" type of eyesight. For a while, I actually played GalCiv 1 with a mouse driver that allowed loca
[quote]still i can't find the issue of how many times you can install and uninstall the game...[/quote] Here's what I gathered from Derek French (Bioshock official) in the Mass Effect forum: You can install / uninstall it as often as you like as long as you don't change your hardware. Apparently, the game sends information about your hardware to the EA server when it authenticates, and the server remembers that. If at some time the server notices different hardware associated w
There are tons of very good software around that you don't have to pay for. Nearly all of the tools I'm using - browser, eMail client, IRC client, FTP client, office suite, image viewer, media players, system tools etc. are freeware. And all of those are very good, mature programs. And there's nothing wrong with that. However, like children who received so many gifts that they start crying and stomping their feet on a day without one, there are always people who take it for gra
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1024 x 768. I'd like to play on a larger resolution (my PC can go up to 1600 x 1200), but then the text becomes so small that it's impossible to read. I'm using 1024 x 768 on a 19'' monitor and still have to squint my eyes for texts like the building descriptions. I know that my eyesight is bad, but I can't even imagine how people manage to play on higher resolutions ... :SURPRISED:
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You could also try one of the many excellent freeware text editors, many of which come with an automatic color scheme for XML. Notepad++ is my personal choice, you can get it from here: [link="http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net"]WWW Link[/link]. But there are many equally good alternatives - PSPad, Scintilla etc. Here's a screenshot of an XML file in Notepad++: [link="http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/commun/screenshots/scrsh_lexerXML.gif"]WWW Link[/link]
[quote]I cant recall winning so easily playing DA even on Normal.[/quote] One thing you might want to check is whether you played DA with "AIs use max CPU" turned on, and left it at the default setting (off) in TotA. Not sure whether this could make such a difference, but I won my first game rather easily too, and now I wonder whether this was due to me continuously overlooking the max CPU setting in TotA, which I had always set in DA. Also, I agree with the others, playing with AI
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[quote]its in the first screen of options. There is a scroll bar on the right.[/quote] Duh. Thanks. I went two times through the option screens after starting my first game, and again two times specifically looking for the max CPU setting, and never found it. While my personal daftness definitely plays a role in this, I'd nevertheless suggest to make full use of the empty space in the left column, so that there doesn't need to be a (rather easy to overlook) scroll bar on the r
GalCiv2 Forums
[quote]There's also a global override in the options to make all AIs use the maximum amount.[/quote] Where exactly can I find and set this override?
Addendum: Also, are people *sure* that the Dark Yor use the same logo as the Yor? Don't they use RaceLogo18.png, while the Yor use RaceLogo05.png? (Check the Gfx/Race/ directory in your GalCiv 2 folder, which contains the race logos)
SmegInThePants: seeing the picture of the diplomatic relations you posted, I've noticed that there aren't any Dark Yor mentioned there. The Dark Yor also shouldn't ever appear on this screen since they are a minor race. What I see on this screen is two instances of the Yor. Since these are two instances of the same race, it's logical that they use the same logo and color. I have no idea why you have two Yor in your game. Do you use mods or custom races? Are there any events tha
[quote]Does EA really think that I'm going to play my LEGAL game one day, and then go out and get a pirated one and play that the next day?![/quote] In the Mass Effect forums, a Bioware official said that the reason for the continuous activation was that they will deactivate the game for people who make their CD keys public. See here (post no. 9): [link="http://masseffect.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=628375&forum=125&sp=0"]WWW Link[/link] This will get very inter
I don't hate EA or their games, just have a rather low opinion of the company, and I still grieve over what they've done to Origin Systems and the Ultima franchise.
Just read about this in another thread. No Spore for me, then. When I buy a game, *I* want to be in control when and how and under which conditions I play it. A company that is trying to take that control away from won't get my money, period. I won't pay money for a game that depends on anything out of my hands to work - and it's not in my hands how long EA will keep sending the reactivation signal, or even how often they would reactivate my game because I kept tinkering with my hardware. <b
Well, so much for Spore, then. I'll certainly survive without it.
[quote]He did, and never got an answer. So like learn to read.[/quote] So you stop fighting too when your first bullet fails, and run to a totally unrelated group to cry about it? Accept it, that guy isn't made for Eve. Running off crying and pointing fingers won't help you in the real world, and it will help you *much*, much less in Eve.
I'm interested in Spore, but also careful. There *is* a lot of hype around that game. It might live up to it - Wright and Johnson have definitely shown that they *can* live up to high expectations - but it also might not (nobody's perfect). The lengthened development time makes me a bit suspicious of design problems. I certainly won't buy it on release day. I need more reliable information (and previews from the gaming press has unfortunately turned out to be not very reliable; think ab
My god, what a kindergarten. If someone gets you banned somewhere, either take it as a man, or fight back accordingly. Going to a totally unrelated third party forum to cry about how bad you've been treated just makes you look like a loser. Bah.
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I don't know of any such mod, but I'd welcome one. This effects lots of texts in the game: diplomacy dialogue, tech descriptions, event texts. The current descriptions aren't bad, some of them are really funny, but for an epic game I'd often like more serious, actually believable texts. I actually thought about making such a mod myself, but I just don't have the time. :(
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[U]Building description:[/U] Traditional Factory Error: "The basic factory increases [B]this colony's[/B] the social + military production [B]on this planet[/B] by ..." Correction: "The basic factory increases the social and military production on this planet by ..." (This is actually an old bug that I already mentioned when DA came out, the bug itself is probably much older.)