A Europa Universalis fan's review, praise & critique/queries about Galciv.

from Stardock Forums
Well listening to the reviews when GalCiv came out and following afterwards... I was undecided on whether to get Galciv or not; I ultimately decided not to get MOO3 after all the reviews on the Europa Universalis forums and elsewhere.

In any case.. I really really wanted a new Sci-fi strategy game, and I had tried SEIV demo and it didn't really do it for me...

So I got Gal Civ this week.

And I LOVE it!

I have to go away for the weekend, so I am planning to leave work early and play it for a few hours!

Very interesting game play... I have pursued a diplomatic and research tactic, and I have not been attacked once, while wars rage around me... placating and establishing trade routes with my most powerful neigbors, and playing a carefully mostly neutral moral position.. has kept me at peace in a galaxy filled with war. Culturally my civilization is becoming dominant and I have absorbed the minor race that was co-habiting in my part of the galaxy... and slowly neighboring worlds are flocking towards my government's opportunities. My next game will be a war game. The game is challenging... and yet I am playing on AI levels so low I won't even tell you out of embarasment. Also, I havn't even begun to understand some details of the game like destabalizing other civs, and warcrafting.

Such fun... but I had a few first off critiques:

~The interface is a bit akward in one or two places... sometimes when you want to upgrade a starbase or going through the planet que, I wish there was a map that let you know where you were without exiting out to check. (anyone else have this problem?)

~I wish the viewable map size was changeable (is it?)

~It goes a little fast at first... it seems to be a rush to colonize and then a long game of infrastructure. I think they should lower ship ranges, and make colony ships more expensive; so there was more of a slow discovery of the galaxy feel. I think the soulution for this, for me, would to play in a huge galaxy with "loose" star clusters.. as I have been playing in medium/tight galaxies. (what do you think?)

~I think this is EU talking through me...but I want to be able vassalize weaker empires somehow, take them under my wing & protect them "offically" (maybe you canand I havn't got that far yet?) and have some other kinds of connections, perhaps some cultural trade agreement that would work like the "royal marriage" does in the EU diplo model.

I'd love to hear if anyone else has any of these same thoughts. :)

~Blade!
2,804 views 22 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
~It goes a little fast at first... it seems to be a rush to colonize and then a long game of infrastructure. I think they should lower ship ranges, and make colony ships more expensive; so there was more of a slow discovery of the galaxy feel. I think the soulution for this, for me, would to play in a huge galaxy with "loose" star clusters.. as I have been playing in medium/tight galaxies. (what do you think?)
End of quote

I agree about the initial rush. I tried modding ships to get colonisation phase last longer but the ai wouldn't cooperate (they'd either rush or stay there forever).
I think a big galaxy with rare stars and tight clusters would fit you better.
You can't have vassals but you can have alliances, including with minors. The problem is other majors attack minors regardless of whether or not they are allied to a powerhouse.
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Welcome Blade! I too agree regarding the colony 'rush', but I find it a feature of all these type of games, Civ3, etc. EU played on a fixed map is a completely different focus, of course. Map size wont actually make much difference - the economic health of your empire is always going to depend on how many planets you can get (and thus how many people you have working and paying taxes) and there will always be a relative rush to get planets.

The alliance mechanism is interesting - you need no formal casus belli in this game, but work hard (with trade routes, gifts, etc) to establish diplomatic relations which will allow you to form alliances - but they will also drag you into war, too. You can do trade agreements and trade embargos so this becomes a useful weapon.

It'll be interesting to hear your reflections as you progress into the game - keep posting!

Cheers :)
Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
Hey Blade!
I've had the game for a while and it's definetly worth the money, but I agree with you on the vassel point because I always like pofitting from other players' sucess. But that's not the point they coming out with a new expanion and there open to suggestions, so why don't you go to galciv.com there be a link at the bottom of the page I have already made a suggestion, but I won't go into detail because if they accept it it ruin the suprise.
Your fellow player,
Jaxel

~SDC~
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
Welcome Blade!

The game is also very moddable, You can increase the cost of the colony ship and reduce its range to see the impact on play by editing the Data/CoreShips.SHIP file, all you need to do is load it into a text editor and save it off as the same name.

In the file you'll find the Colony ship is the first ship you read. Change the Cost and Range fields to what ever you like and it'll affect everyone. However don't put the range down too far as the AI can't cope, -1 might be enough to get what you want.

Have Fun!

~SDC~
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
its range to see the impact on play by editing the Data/CoreShips.SHIP file
End of quote


I did that. Don't change the range of colony ships. The ai has no idea what to do with colony ships of range 0 or less (0 actually becomes 1 on incredible or with race picks). They have no idea that they need a tech or starbase to extend their range, so they don't adapt their game to reach for +range tech or building starbases only in order to reach stars. The net result is the human player controls all the galaxy. Sad, it would have been fun otherwise.
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
Thanks LDiCesare, saves me testing the idea... shame though!

Hmmm I wonder though -1 how much does that hamper them on maso? Usually they get range techs before me If it stalled them a few turns it wouldn't impact too badly unless my thinking is totally off at the moment.

I guess having the speed and range 0 and increasing the cost should do the trick to slow things down, might give it a try one dayIf I need a change.
~SDC~
[Message Edited]
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
-1 on maso means they are at 0, so they will stay in their home sector until they find a +range tech. You, on the other side, don't have the +1range pick, thus you will need constructors to extend your range while they don't. You may give it a try and report what you think.
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
Blade,
use the cheat keys to auto allocate all the stars at the start of the game (CTRL+A I think). There will be no expansion phase and all all empires will be equal. You can't submit your scores to the metaverse though. I agree with you on the diplomatic options. Hopefully further advances will add more relationship treaties, including mutual defense, offense, protectorate, trade monopoly, vassal. I'd also like to see planets becoming more like vassals as the government is changed towards federation. This could all add nicely to the senate structure.

Paul.

~SDC~
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
Hi all! Thanks for all the great feedback. I was away for the weekend and going nuts trying to get GalCiv out of my head. :)

I am gonna boot up a game right now... I really like the "Planet Improvement Attribute" I can see why it is worth so many allocation points.

Could anyone elaborate on the expansion? It would be interesting if domesticv politics began to have more effect... for instance if Technologiust opponents controlled the senate.. your tech budget would be locked at about 10% higher than you originally had it. :HOT:
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
The Ctrl-L doesn't really cut it for me. What I want is a slow expansion phase, neither the current rush nor an even faster Ctrl-L (Ctrl-L just boosts everyone and causes contacts with the aliens to happen much faster).
I'd like the game to give you a choice: Either expand like crazy or build up infrastructure. You could then have spread empires with poor production and military but a big potential and small empires with big production and military. The small would be militarily stronger and could try to take out the spread empires, which would try to defend their huge chunk of a galaxy. Thus spread empires would have to decide how far to go (too far = lose worlds to smaller stronger civs, not far enough = lose the advantage of having researched +speed/+range techs)
Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top
Hey Blade! IrishPony here just sayin hey and also as an EU player i find this although abstract very enjoyable and fufilling. i also dislike the intial rush if you get unlucky you could get surronded and have a very little cahce of expanision. But sometime you get get lucky (last game i had a few clusters that i discoevered late in the game untouched by others). Usally if i get a bad start i will just restart and try again.

[Message Edited]
Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top
Thanks IP, good to see you!

I still need to figure out warfighting... seems so resource intense to build up ships and transports, that I have never yet done it! :p

My newest game is going okay... which means I am really enjoying how the Computer AIs are really giving me a run for my money. :HOT:

Except... my minors are outcompeting my majors! :SURPRISED:
Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top
Don't worry about the minors outcompeting the majors. This can happen on the lower intelligence settings where the majors are not performing at their best. Minors can't expand outside their starting sector (on these levels) and can not build starbases. This means that you'll always have a distinct advantage over them and late game will be able to defeat them easily.

Paul.

~SDC~
Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top
Yeah in my game (First with Normal Ai) the nminors have alot of trade goods and what not. I too hate milatary expansion i just build social improvments and make alot of trade and do a alot of destablization.

Blade! we should start a Paradox Empire once i get my computer back online :(
Reply #15 from Stardock Forums Top
Blade! we should start a Paradox Empire once i get my computer back online
End of quote


Definately! In fact, I'll get started now... let me see...
Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top
Cool.. I even got a little PAradox avatar! :)

Here is what I think the Link to "The Paradox Collective" is: http://www.galciv.com/metaverse/empires.asp?id=617
Reply #18 from Stardock Forums Top
Whoo-hoo! The empire's population has doubled over the night! Paradox must have high planet quality! :d


Anyways... I am in the middle of slowly building up to try an invasion... but I have no idea how I will get enough population on transports to fight a 20 billion pop size planet! :SURPRISED: I have battle transports now, but it would be a serious toll on my economy to draIN 20 MILLION FIGHTERS! :notsure:
Reply #19 from Stardock Forums Top
You may not need 20bil soldiers to take a 20bil star system.

It all depends on your soldiering ability compared to that of your enemy. And of course you can use one of the invasion tactics if you have the money. I can't give you any numbers, but it's my experience that invading with a number of soldiers equal to the system's population usually gives me a HUGE advantage. However, I have been beaten on some occasions when attacking highly militarized civs.

Also remember that taking population off the planets will give you a morale boost which may allow you to raise taxes. This somewhat negates the negative effect on your economy. However, I do recommend you don't take population off your main production (high PQ) planets.

~SDC~
Reply #20 from Stardock Forums Top
All i do is build a lot of construtors and make a terror star with a very high culture value and move it near the intended star and if there a skull just wait and then voila! its your :D . Dosent work if you have lo influence though. In my current game (Normal, Gigantinc)i am getting star after star becuase i colonlized a few 14 planet inside the others zone and eventually they switch over. Only have had one war against a minor which resulted in 314million Troops lost for a planet of around ummm.... alot LOL . BUt any way its been great try to get hemegony through influence hope i can post my score by then.
Reply #22 from Stardock Forums Top
The tech is called (surprise) "terror star" and follows "artifical planets" which follows "artificial satellites" which follows, oh heck, just look at the tech tree posted at this site:

webpages.charter.net/trevorpowdrell