Comparison on turn time GC3 to GC4 (.45 but save loaded successfully in .5)
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I always play on the map just below max and "marathon" settings for a slow game.
GC3 Single Turn:
- 0658 Click to load game
- 0700 Start turn 406 with 369 colonies (about 45-50% of map)
- 0725 Start of next turn
GC4 .45 Single Turn:
- 0730 Click to load game
- 0730 Start turn 521: 5 Core worlds, 41 colonies, 3 sectors inhabited, 6 sectors explored
- 0733 Start of next turn
Comment: Okay, I'm sold on the idea of core worlds and colonies. That GC3 game is "late-middle" game and I already knew I was going to win so the turn length had become tedious. That's why I stopped playing it about 8 months ago.
GC4 turns are so much faster and that makes a HUGE difference in that "one more turn" feel. I would call this game "early-middle" game and I'm the second most powerful empire not the first, though I do have the most colonies by 15 and the best warships. A lot more fun.
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I know everyone wants to know this: you can run GC4 and participate in a Zoom meeting at the same time without any noticeable performance impact to either! (2 monitors, NVIDIA 2080 Super)
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Ship Design: I know it's early to talk about this but the slot system is not satisfying in its current form. Tiny and small ships are too limited in capability. I would prefer early components take 1 slot, mid-tier components 2 slots, late game components 4 slots, etc. That would give small ships weapon and shield capability.
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Research: There are still problems here. I had large hulls by around turn 480 but the Drengin were still using tiny hulls, and the most powerful civ only had small. Lots of them, but still small. Would have been no match for my large hull ships because of the slot issue mentioned above.
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Leaders: Still love them. This was a great change. Will have to test commanders in .5
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Ideology: WAAY TOO CONFUSING. All the different types are hard to track in my head, especially when I get pop-ups asking me to choose points, and I can't close the pop up or minimize it and come back to after checking the ideology screen. It was easy to track ideology in GC3.
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To the point above, can't close and come back to or minimize pop ups. Would really help to be able to do this.
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At turn 521, I still had not found any promethium resources (6 sectors).
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So far at least, too many control points and not enough things to spend them on.
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Still enjoying the game!
