OK, I'm dumb. Somebody explain to me what the Metaverse is.

The Metaverse is a sort of public score card. If you play a metaverse game, you are playing under certain set conditions (same ruleset, i.e. no mods) so your score can be compared across with any other metaverse player. You can go in and view the playing profile essentially of any player who submits their games. Submitted games have scores associated with them, and metaverse players are ranked according to their total score.

Since there is no direct multiplayer, you can compete with other players indirectly through the metaverse. You can very quickly tell who the best players in the GalCiv world are, and also tell how you stack up.

It's really there for bragging rights

I too have a question about the metaverse, maybe someone can help me. I've played a game with the beta, and tried to submit it, but it would not work. then I saw that I can click on "metaverse" and it will give me the option to play a "metaverse game". Are these the only ones that can be submitted? Is there a difference with the games you play just by clicking in "new game"?
Thks for the info

In order to play through the metaverse, you have to start a game through the "Metaverse" button. This will use a copy of the games data that is free from mods, ect, so everyone plays on even footing.

Ok, thanks BoogieBac

Question generated by the "Planetary Defense" thread - Does the term "no mods" include no different ships than are in the basic game?  Or can you use personally (or by someone else) designed ships?

You can design ships, but you cannot add new components/hulls to the game as I did with the "Orbital Platform" mod I demonstrated.

I like using the Metaverse with GC 1 to keep track of my scores. I thought it was mentioned that GC 2 will have an internal score table with charting abilities, e.g., level of difficulty, turns for victory, etc. Is this true, or will the Metaverse still be the only way to keep track of scores?

Second, if we can modify the xml files as per CariElf's thread which includes changing the home world PQ, will the "Metaverse" button still give a true "non-modded" game? Seems the game will read the file as normal giving it is the original name in the original directory. I am curious about what are metaverse acceptable mods.

If you have the beta you'll notice a "Metaverse" directory in your GC2 installation. This directory contains a separate copy of the base game data for use with meta games. Modding it in any way *should* (I don't know exactly what method they use to detect it so I can't attest to its security) result in an 'anomolous' mark on the metaverse, meaning any games submitted with modded game data will be ignored or zeroed.

Since metaverse games use a separate data set from normal games, you can mod the normal stuff in the 'data' directory to your hearts content. Meta games will continue to use the base data, regardless of any changes to the 'open' data.

You can design ships, but you cannot add new components/hulls to the game as I did with the "Orbital Platform" mod I demonstrated

Thanks for the clarification

Metaverse is also a good way to measure how well you are progressing in learning the game.

Could somebody explain to me the criteria for the different achievements that are listed as #1-9 in the metaverse legend? And also how come I'm listed as human when I've played 11 games without using them? Thanks.

Since this is a good thread I'll add my own comments...

I uploaded a game a little while ago, but I'm still listed as unranked. When does the metaverse recalc all the rankings?

How are saved games handled when playing via the Metaverse?

Or is it just assumed that everyone will save/reload their games before things go wrong and thus we are all on an even playing field by doing that.

bump, i want to know the answer

Well you can submit losses. There is even a medal for it. Nothing is to be assumed.