Brad: Techtree comment you made in strat group thread - Galciv: Don't Like It

from Stardock Forums
(Can't post messages there at the moment due to server hassles so asking here).
You mentioned that there would be a hyperlinked tech tree in an upcoming expansion pack. Any details on this? Or when it will be available.
I think the game interface is very good - but tech tree info is one area it falls behind in compared to SMAC, Civ3 and even MOO2. Be nice to know if this is confirmed as an upcoming feature.
thanks.
654 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
Open up this link: http://galciv.bsd.st/zai_h/ in a browser and alt-tab between it and the game as needed.
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
What I'm wondering is HOW Frogbiy & band managed the game tech tree without such a viewable/printable format... :CONGRAT:
Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
One of Brad's goals (it's printed on the CD case, in fact) is: "Never the Same Galaxy Twice"

Part of that variety, I think, he hoped would come in people choosing techs based on their situations at the moment rather than always beelining to their favorite tech. So without a tech tree, you'd always be discovering neat layers in unexplored areas of research, etc.

Of course, many strat. players simply want to pick and choose their path. Frankly, I rather like not always remembering (or knowing) what certain tech paths will yield me. It helps to keep the game fresh for me, even if it means my play is more "inefficient" -- after all, since when are 'fun' and 'efficient' necessarily joined at the hip?

But perhaps I'm in the majority.
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
They didn't. That's why Planetary Destruction never leads to Terror Stars, even though the description makes that claim. I think there are a couple more examples as such, but they're not a problem as long as you stick to the tech tree and don't take the descriptions too seriously.

You should save the tech tree images locally for repeated viewing by the way. It conserves some bandwidth and loads much faster. Just open the picture in Internet Explorer, bookmark it, then hit F11 for full screen view. If you have a 3 button mouse, holding down the 3rd/scroll/middle button will allow you to scroll in all directions too.
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citizen -=Yin=- - 4/16/2003 10:45:26 AM

One of Brad's goals (it's printed on the CD case, in fact) is: "Never the Same Galaxy Twice"

Part of that variety, I think, he hoped would come in people choosing techs based on their situations at the moment rather than always beelining to their favorite tech. So without a tech tree, you'd always be discovering neat layers in unexplored areas of research, etc.

Of course, many strat. players simply want to pick and choose their path. Frankly, I rather like not always remembering (or knowing) what certain tech paths will yield me. It helps to keep the game fresh for me, even if it means my play is more "inefficient" -- after all, since when are 'fun' and 'efficient' necessarily joined at the hip?

But perhaps I'm in the majority.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

maybe to solve that the techs can have a variance in their improvements. for example, instead of 10% diplomacy/trade/military improvement have it vary from 5 to 15%. or the tech to add a trade route gets diverted to the next trade route tech so that one gets 2 routes and the other gets 0 instead of it being 1 and 1.
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
Brad did have a viewable format that was never released.
(I was lucky enough to get a glimpse of it during beta).
He also said that my site was useful during beta
:D

http://webpages.charter.net/trevorpowdrell/
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
I actually agree with you in part Yin, and like that "mystery" aspect of not knowing excatly what's ahead on the tech tree. Now that I think of it more - I am not after a tech-tree as such as I don't want to bee-line for certain techs. I have actually avoided fully-reading javascouts (excellent) site as I don't want to find out any spoilers for future techs.
My main gripe is when it comes to selecting a new tech to research - it will list what projects/modules are available with that tech - but I have no idea what they are. If we don't get a full techt-tree in-game that's cool - but at least let me right-click on the projects to see what they do.
I shouldn't have to access an external website to get this info. There is "mystery" and there is "guessing" - and the way the research screen is at the moment produces too much of the latter. Same with trading tech on the diplomacy screen.
I feel bad complaining about a game that I think is virtually perfect (at least in terms of what I look for in a game)... but this is one aspect I think lets it down.