Odd request, GalCiv2 as a simulation

Gosh, i certainly could use such an option also. Just designing both X-Worlds & CoSH mods has me going on multiple "try-outs" gaming session(s).

A sort of fake temporary (and, limited in scope) interface where small bits of features would use some processing check-marks to activate and/or keep away.

Examples;

- I'm creating a whole bunch of planets for each races' systems. And at times, i'd like to preview some the Rings parameters ONLY. Mind you, after awhile one gets the process and figures the exact proportions and how the engine handles everything... but, with numbers in the hundreds it can get tedious.
(PS; although the upcoming map editor of TA will most probably fill this contract!)

- Coloring ships (and texturing them too, btw) while maintaining coherence and preventing too much similarities between fleets is another process which requires testing stages. Even for the Races' different colors on the mini-map.
(PS; this is probably why i suggested a new "more complete or complex" color-picker in an earlier thread.)

- I agree also with your premise that AI "reactions" should be analyzed. The UFOD races in X-Worlds were planned and matched along with 10 new political parties and plenty of personality parameters fiddling. Add the many variations in abilities, sprinkle a few balancing choices, observe the resulting activities... this takes time and a whole bunch of gameplay theories. Thus, an "outside" quicky simulator would become quite useful in such cases.
(PS; At Civ Evolution, there is a Tournament/Mode side-function "external" asset which provides an extensive testing tool for AI developpers. This IS exactly the kind of utility GC could make use of to answer your need. Although i'm quite sure, SD staff of coders already have such things for design purposes and they must be using those extensively.

...And, so on.

- Zyxpsilon.

Enable Cheats and use the Quazi Hot Seat Cheat -

"Z - Enables autoplay/Quasi-Hot Seat Game (the AI takes turns without waiting for the user) " \


*****Wiki Post**** (If i'm breaking a rule here please just delete whats below)


Use Windows Explorer to find GalCiv2.exe, or right-click the game in Stardock Central and select Open Folder
Right click on GalCiv2.exe (not GC2Launch.exe) and choose create shortcut
Right click on the shortcut and choose properties
Click in the target field and hit end, then hit space followed by the word CHEAT (no switch marks necessary)
For example:

"C:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\galciv2.exe" cheat
For Dark Avatar, the shortcut should be:

"C:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\DarkAvatar\GC2DarkAvatar.exe" cheat
The cheats can then be enabled in game by pressing control and one of the key listed below. For example, pressing control and m at the same time will add 10,000 bc to the treasury. Some of these combinations, such as Ctrl+N, are not technically cheats and so do not require the procedure above to enable them.


"Z - Enables autoplay/Quasi-Hot Seat Game (the AI takes turns without waiting for the user) "

Its a modders best friend to see how the AI uses things.

Contents [hide]
1 Cheats
1.1 Ctrl +
1.2 Ctrl + Shift +
2 Keyboard Shortcuts
2.1 Ctrl +
3 See also


[edit] Cheats
[edit] Ctrl +
A - Upgrades selected ship's quality, hp, and movement
B - Adds battleship
C - Clones selected ship (does not work on starbases, and may result in crash to desktop as of 1.1)
H - Heals selected ship
I - Shows selected ship info
J - Completes the next planetary improvement or military project in the build queue of every world in your civilization
L - Assigns remaining planets to major races
M - Adds 10,000bc
P - Adds 1 to planet class — does not add terraformed squares to colonized planets; instead, destroy the colony, run cheat, re-colonize.
R - Research current tech (Hold Shift for ALL techs)
T - Teleports selected ship to cursor
U - Reveals the entire map
V - United Planets meeting
W - Selected race loses next turn (If none is selected you lose)
Y - Create a Mega Event
[edit] Ctrl + Shift +
B - Spawns different starbases, including mining starbases
D - Adds a minor race to the galaxy
E - Triggers all planetary events
H - Damages selected ship
J - Completes other races' projects
M - Triggers the Alignment Selection Screen - Still costs money [ Also gives you all techs except Miniaturization and Technology Victory ]
P - Increases the Planet quality of all uninhabitable planets to PQ 10.
R - Research ALL technologies
T - Hail yourself
V - Force vote for political party
X - Quarterly Reports
Z - Enables autoplay/Quasi-Hot Seat Game (the AI takes turns without waiting for the user)
W - Selected ENEMY SHIP or PLANET will turn into your unit or base.

Note: Metaverse games played with cheat codes will not be counted.

[edit] Keyboard Shortcuts
[edit] Ctrl +
0-9(NOT on Num Pad)- Hails major races
F - Shows framerate
G - Enables/Disables Grid
N - Restart on a new map with new race
S - Saves (Quick Save)

I'm not exactly sure what a Quasi-Hot Seat game actually means, but the AI not wating for a user to take their turns might be it, assuming the player doesn't actually have to play to watch what the AI is doing...

I'm thinking more along the lines of a debug mode, where there is no actual player, just the different opposing AIs doing their own thing in a non-interactive way... Actually, the ability to pause the "autoplay" in order to inspect the AI items, such as planets, resources, economy, planet development, etc...

As a learning tool, would be invaluable. As a debug tool (for custom scenarios and races) would be invaluable, and would interest me, again more as a simulation than an actual game...

This topic has come up before. Such a setup exists, but is used exclusively in-house by Stardock. It has not been released for public use, and probably never will be.

Well perhaps, and hopefully, since TA is the last official GC2 expansion, StarDock would release such a setup to the masses?