the games has started to be fun but...

from GalCiv3 Forums

First let me start by saying I'm a big fan of galciv2 and think that galciv3 is shaping up nicely,  but if I'm honest it doesn't look to me like its going to be ready for full comercial release by may 15 which I've heard is the target.

 

In its current form there are lots of bugs, glitches and performance issues which as a long time fan of the series I'm happy to overlook particularly as it in beta and this is to be expected. 

 

There are also I think a couple of major issues and design decisions that will be off putting to new players, in particular; 

 

1) planetary events often make no sense for synthetics and can also give mechanical penalties and bonuses that mean nothing to synthetics either. 

 

Fixing that I think is currently seen as something that can be patched post release. That means it will be mentioned in most if not all reviews as a fault with the game, not really wise.

 

2) when I research a new version of a building it doesn't appear in my colony build list, I have to build the base building it replaces then it gets auto updated. The issue with this design decision is that to first time players it looks like a bug where new buildings you research arent appearing in your build list.

 

Most of us beta testers and of course the fokes at stardock might not see the potential for confusion here as we have played the game so much already. 

 

In short I'm worried this game will be released before it's ready because we beta testers give stardock to much confidence its ready to go because we are having so much fun with It. For a beta it is fun but will it really be ready in a month? I sort of doubt it.

27,387 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I think this is a good place to put in a list of features we feel need to be in place before the game is ready for release version.

 

1.  Better auto command features.  Auto Attack, Auto Defend, and a way to set up a patrol between two or more points if you so desire.
2.  Planetary Events that actually work for all races. (synthetic races for example)
3 Mega Events like the PeaceKeepers, etc
4.  Remove Ideology from Colonization and replace it with some other random event mechanic.

 

Reply #2 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

obviously I very much agree with (2), I avoid playing synthetics because of that at the moment. 

 

Ideolgy at the moment I feel is too powerful and progresses too quickly hopefully they will rebalance that before release. I'm in two minds about removing it from colonisation,  the only real issue with it being there is that it makes colonising as many new worlds as possible even more important as it takes the power of those who do grow even faster.

 

As for ship commands I view those more of a nice to have in terms of more. Being able to setup patrols would be nice. But this isn't a have to have thing to me.

 

The main reason I started this thread though was not as a wishlist or to put down the work of the guys at stardock. It was just to give them a perspective check. Sometimes you can get too close to a project, particularly when you're beta testers are loving it as most of us are. I'm just sounding a note of caution as I know there will be budgetary preassure to hit the release date, and it's great for a beta, but there will be higher expectations when it's released Especially from those not involved in the beta and who may be new to the game.

Multiplicity - Control multiple PCs using one keyboard and mouse
Reply #3 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

They're patching things in quickly so I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, though May does seem really soon I admit.

Here's what I think has to be in at release:

1) Tech Tree: All of it. Pretty obvious many of the lines are closed, and many of the techs don't actually do what they say. Patch 5.3 will be a great step forward, however. The Prototype system needs to be fully implemented, and shown on the tech tree.  Having a reason to fight for resources will be a HUGE improvement in gameplay.

2) Buildings: For starters all buildings must be double-checked to make sure they are actually doing whats in the description, and that it's clearly presented.  Most of the work is on the modifiers being clearly presented, but some buildings(Iridium influence buildings for ex. have broken adjacency bonuses).  Military buildings need much clearer description and presentation. A lot of buildings also need a good balancing pass. Some are real strong, and others are worthless.

3) Modifiers: All modifiers need to be clearly presented and working correctly. Planetary bonuses:(Manufacturing bonus bugged, and not presented), Influence is working but poorly presented, Tourism bonus not shown(working-maybe), Trade bonus(have to know where to look), Science, Approval, and Growth(Good job on these 3).  Ideology modifiers may need better presentation as well.

4) The AI: On release players won't have the option to sit and watch the AI like we can now.  But suffice it to say, it's a ways from there yet. Every patch is certainly making great strides though.  You could also lump-in, squashing cheesy strats from being viable.

5) Win Conditions: Have to be fully implemented, and bug free. Diplomacy, UN, and Influence related victories have a lot of fleshing out and/or balancing left to do.

These 5 things are absolutely core.

 

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Less important, but still pretty damn important:

1) Ship Designer/Ship List: All of it is a bit unwieldy, even for an experienced person. The ship design is buggy. Bug1: Parts auto-symmetry themselves, and the symmetry buttons are grayed out, so you can't change it. Ex. You attach 2 beam weapons, but the ship shows 4. The buttons to turn this off is grayed out, and doesn't work. Bug2: In edit ship mode, sometime it selects the first attached part at the bottom of the screen, and you can't select the other attachments at all. Have to start from scratch.

The list of ships to build needs better filtering.

2) Ideology: Fix all bugs and descriptions. Then have a good balance pass.

3) Racial Balance: Once the AI is mostly implemented(not there yet), these guys need to be tested A LOT.  Nothing worse than knowing from the start, that it's really just those 1 or 2 races you have to worry about.

4) UI Presentation: I think they have most of this stuff ready, but we haven't seen it yet. The proper notifications and the like all need to be in there.

 

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Much less important, but what makes a good game great:

1) Anything that affects a players sense of immersion. If you don't get lost for hours, thinking you're the true ruler of "Insert Faction Here", then I say hold off on official release. Some of the above comments may fit into this category. A few of them may even be petty, but if it breaks immersion then it kills the true experience for the player.

 

 

 

 

Reply #4 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting Spark026, reply 3

3) Modifiers: All modifiers need to be clearly presented and working correctly. Planetary bonuses:(Manufacturing bonus bugged, and not presented), Influence is working but poorly presented, Tourism bonus not shown(working-maybe), Trade bonus(have to know where to look), Science, Approval, and Growth(Good job on these 3).  Ideology modifiers may need better presentation as well.
End of Spark026's quote

production modifier needs to be shown somewhere not to be confused with manufacturing

Reply #5 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting Spark026, reply 3
Much less important, but what makes a good game great:

1) Anything that affects a players sense of immersion. If you don't get lost for hours, thinking you're the true ruler of "Insert Faction Here", then I say hold off on official release. Some of the above comments may fit into this category. A few of them may even be petty, but if it breaks immersion then it kills the true experience for the player.
End of Spark026's quote

About that: I feel that a way to improve immersion is to allow the player to "see more" of his faction. With that I mean to be able to look at the cities, architecture and people of your civilization. So far there is nothing like that. No events show those things, and in the planetary management screen, all you see are icons which are all the same for every faction. I feel like this could be vastly improved.

Reply #6 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Starus, I agree with you but they are unlikely to add that at this late stage, I made some suggestions along these lines during the alpha. We may see some of these things appear in later expansions. What I would like to see is the robots replaced with researchers for all races not just human even if that's a later patch to me it makes a difference.