Partial Gameplay Example: Arceans

Twilight of the Arnor in action

from JoeUser Forums

The Arcean Empire is an ancient civilization. A planet that united at the end of the "Great conquest" that nearly destroyed their world at a time when humans were still living in the jungle.

Arcean society and technology stagnated shortly after the uniting of the world. Change and "progress" were looked upon with suspicion and the world slowly developed space travel in the subsequent tens of thousands of years.

It was only when they encountered the humans, in the 22nd century (Earth Time) that the Arceans were awakened to the need for technological progress.  The humans, in a short amount of time, had gone from riding horses to colonizing moons and planets in the blink of an eye. The universe, as the Arceans had known it, was ended.

The Arceans realize that research, even with the newfound knowledge of its importance, doesn't come easily to them. The technology tree of the Arceas is a bit more expensive.  On the other hand, the Arceans had a lead in one particularly interesting area -- weather control.  The Arcean technology tree allows them to build weather control zenith's which can increase a given planet by up to 3 levels -- a significant advantage.  Of course, they'll need those advantages to overcome the more expensive nature of their technologies and their relatively poor diplomatic skills (making it harder for them to trade technologies).

This is the story of the Arcean Empire in a tiny quadrant known as the Crucible. In it, the Drengin, Arceans, and humans vie for supremacy.

This game play example is using beta 1b (internal) of the expansion pack Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor.

A promising beginning

The Arcean capital in this quadrant has a human colony near by. But we have control of the important influence resource.

The starting conditions of Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor are significantly different from the base game or Dark Avatar.  For one thing, Tourism is now worth 10X as much. This makes a huge difference at the start of the game where players now can expect to see 70bc in revenue.  However, the starting funds have changed to be only 3,000 instead of 5,000.  So it will be up to players to build up their economies a bit more gradually.

Each civilization gets their own tech tree. Even familiar technologies are often placed in a different order than they once were. The Arceans get Weather Control which is a pretty big deal.

On the other hand, the Arceans are terrible at propulsion. Unlike the humans and other races, there is no Impulse Drive or Warp Drive or anything like that. They have to build Navigation Centers on their planets to get a speed boost.

The thing about Navigation Centers, however is that the technology itself gives you a +1 to your ship movement. Then, with the navigation center, you get another +1. Thrown in Sub-Space Drive which is basically a computer based navigator and you get another +1.  What this means, ironically, is that in the early part of the game, the Arceans are the fastest race out there with ships that might be doing 5 moves per turn.  In the long-run, however, they're slower but it's a big deal early on.

The Build Up

By RIGHT-CLICKING on the technology on the screen, you can find out what the technology does.

The Weather Control Zenith. The pride of the Arcean Empire. Up to 3 tiles made available.

In this version of the beta, the Arceans don't get Xeno Engineering (which is being addressed). Luckily, I was able to trade for it so I could build better starbases.

Meanwhile, the Drengin are building up.

One thing of note is that the Arceans only have one Particle Beam weapon technology (most of the others get multiple). The bad news is that it is very expensive. The good news is that there's only 1 and then it's on to bigger and better weapons.

What are they doing?

So what are the other civilizations doing?

The Drengin are moving along. Their slaveling labs aren't as good as ours. But they have less maintenance. Slaves are cheap -- less effective though.

The humans are doing pretty well. Though I happen to know their AI hasn't been updated one bit. Despite that, they have automatically adjusted to the new technology tree.  Which means, of course, they'll automatically adapt to your technology tree that you create with the technology tree editor!

Fate of the Quadrant

The Terran Alliance had shrewdly managed to become the the dominant power in the quadrant.  After consultations with the home guard, we were given permission to formally ally with the rising stars of the galaxy.  That still left our old nemesis, Lord Kona and the Drengin Empire.

...To be continued...

 

50,229 views 27 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

The Arceans get Weather Control which is a pretty big deal.

Let me see. The weather control zenith raises the PQ by 3, giving 3 new tiles. But it requires one tile for building it. So you have a net effect of 2 new tiles. And you must also use one tile for the navigation center. So the Arcean technology tree, with the navigation center and the weather control zenith with end up giving you one more usable tile than others races.

So I am not sure really if this is a pretty big deal. But it is definitely a good counterpart to some of the Arcean weakness.

 

Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
You won't always want to build a navigation centre though, especially in tiny and small galaxies where speed isn't always of the essence. For an economical world for example, that doesn't produce ships (this is assuming that the +1 speed bounus is added at ship creation), you have and extra two tiles, which can mean +20% to economy, or morale, or at least 12 billion population or a mixture. In my experience that could tip the game.

And an extra tile is always welcome.
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The weather control zenith raises the PQ by 3, giving 3 new tiles. But it requires one tile for building it.

He said up to three tiles, so I'm not sure whether you really gain much on the average. (In the latest public beta you got +10% PQ ability which resulted in 0-1 new tiles for most planets.)

For one thing, Tourism is now worth 10X as much.

Sounds like a good change to me. Tourism money was barely noticeable before - unless you controlled most of the galaxy anyway.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

you have and extra two tiles, which can mean +20% to economy, or morale, or at least 12 billion population or a mixture. In my experience that could tip the game

Possible. And this is under the assumption that it gives always 3 tiles. I am wondering how it would work with those nice PQ 1 planets in DA, that end with lots of space when fully terraformed.

I see also that the weather control has a maintenance cost of 5 bc and we have no information about its building costs.

I am wondering if it can be targeted by spies

Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I am wondering if it can be targeted by spies

"Better stay inside, folks, we've got a nasty storm coming up because of a Drengin spy in our beloved weather control system. And our planet just dropped five spaces in the galaxy-wide ranking."
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
And also, Navigation Centers mean your ships don't have to use up space with engines.
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I just can't get excited about techs or planetary improvements.We could have had a improved ground combat mini game with tanks,mechs,et.We could have had a UP with actual player involvement.I will keep following it but it doesn't come close to DA features as this time.
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
just wondering what happen if you sell your weather control? what will happen to your new 3 tiles and what will happen if you already build some building on it? what will happen to them?
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Are the current beta techs the only ones that will be in the final game, or will more be added as time goes on?
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I just can't get excited about techs or planetary improvements.We could have had a improved ground combat mini game with tanks,mechs,et.We could have had a UP with actual player involvement.I will keep following it but it doesn't come close to DA features as this time.


Really? I think it adds a great deal of involvement to the game. Having played two games in the first beta now, I really AM excited about the new racial. It adds to the feel of the races and sucks me into the game much more than DA did. It opens up so much more strategy. But I guess it's all down to personal taste.
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The number of new tactics and ship building strategies has grown exponentially. Carrier type ships, stellar defense craft... tons of options sitting around for new and varied spacecraft.
Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Are the current beta techs the only ones that will be in the final game, or will more be added as time goes on?

We keep adding more as we go.

Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I think it adds a great deal of involvement to the game. Having played two games in the first beta now, I really AM excited about the new racial. It adds to the feel of the races and sucks me into the game much more than DA did. It opens up so much more strategy. But I guess it's all down to personal taste.

I agree. The new technologies allow for far more variance in strategy than was possible in Dark Avatar.

I can now put together more sophisticated fleets, I can have ships that are very expensive but have lots of hitpoints.

From a strategic point of view, it's a much deeper experience.

Reply #15 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Played a couple beta games now. What I notice is that I can trade for those unique technologies. Is that supposed to happen that way? For example, playing the humans, I traded with the Arceans the technology that allows Navigation centers. So now I can build them myself on any of my worlds. This to me kind of waters down the uniqueness of the tech trees in that I can aquire these technologies myself thru trade.
Reply #16 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The Terran Alliance had shrewdly managed to become the the dominant power in the quadrant. After consultations with the home guard, we were given permission to formally ally with the rising stars of the galaxy. That still left our old nemesis, Lord Kona and the Drengin Empire.


I don't quite get this, considering in another gameplay example, you said that sector/quadrant commanders made alliances as they chose?
One thing I enjoy doing is looking at your gameplay examples and finding hints to the backstory, like the Arcean weather-control.

Also, I thought the Arceans were a proud warrior race who engaged in star-gate-war with the Drengin?
Reply #17 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Played a couple beta games now. What I notice is that I can trade for those unique technologies. Is that supposed to happen that way? For example, playing the humans, I traded with the Arceans the technology that allows Navigation centers. So now I can build them myself on any of my worlds. This to me kind of waters down the uniqueness of the tech trees in that I can aquire these technologies myself thru trade.


I dunno. It does do that, a bit... but it doesn't come cheap, as those techs aren't dealt away lightly. It does give you unique goals and bargaining chips to strive for. I know that as the Arceans, I was very aggressive in pursuing engine techs, and other races were very reluctant to trade them.
Reply #18 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Played a couple beta games now. What I notice is that I can trade for those unique technologies. Is that supposed to happen that way? For example, playing the humans, I traded with the Arceans the technology that allows Navigation centers. So now I can build them myself on any of my worlds. This to me kind of waters down the uniqueness of the tech trees in that I can aquire these technologies myself thru trade.


I dunno. It does do that, a bit... but it doesn't come cheap, as those techs aren't dealt away lightly. It does give you unique goals and bargaining chips to strive for. I know that as the Arceans, I was very aggressive in pursuing engine techs, and other races were very reluctant to trade them.


That sounds about right. Could be hard to balance, but if this in implemented well, this should be possible. If you are in desperate need for some tech, you should have the choice to bleed for it to get it and the other race should be willing to trade that racial tech, but obviously for a high price. I'm not a big techtrader myself, so I haven't even tried it yet.

Reply #19 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hi!
The weather control zenith raises the PQ by 3, giving 3 new tiles. But it requires one tile for building it. So you have a net effect of 2 new tiles.

Up to 3 new tiles. The average nett effect seems to be one new tile. Might help on planets class 4 and 5 without upgradable tiles - it would make the planet go up 2 classes, thus allowing it to grow more pop.

just wondering what happen if you sell your weather control? what will happen to your new 3 tiles and what will happen if you already build some building on it? what will happen to them?

From the picture with it it seems it can't be decommisioned. Pitty.

Navigation Centers mean your ships don't have to use up space with engines.

I rarely build Hyperion Shipyard in my games. It looks like a waste of a tile on my main manufacturing planet, the tile that would be better used for more production. Regarding description of the various NCs it looks like there will be a lot of such a waste with Arceans. We can likely abandon the idea of having small ship-producing planets. I only hope Arceans will get some extra bonus for boosting production on those planets to alleviate the "loss" of three tiles.

BR, Iztok
Reply #20 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Well the way I see it it is a completely different style of play to yours, so I shouldn't imagine that you'd be playing as the Arceans. What it does do is it shakes things up a bit, so as Draginol said at the start you might be struggling to get those zippy Areans with the navigation tech, so what do you do?
a) Resaerch Engines
b) Make heavily defended transport fleets to conquer these ship producing worlds?
c) Accept that you are on the defensive and start researching better weapons and armour?
d) Try and buy the navigation centre tech off the Acreans?
e) Something else.

The point I'm trying to prove is that with this variation the way the races play will be radically different, and as greater depth in their backstories will be revealed I suspect many people will change their favourite race. Right now I play Terran because I like the balance and being able to sell my stuff at higher prices, but I also play as the Drath becuase I do pit other races against each other, in order to sell on my ships for profit. With TA I have no doubt that one will become infinately more preferable due to the way they play. Plus it's more of the fluff that makes me love this game.

Oh and a question, do navigation centres improve base ship speed at production, inside Arcean influence or do they have a starbase style radius around the planet in which ship speed increases? (Personally I like the latter, it would make transport chasing very interesting if there was a massive speed boost around a planet, plus it would mean that conflict within a solar system becomes more dangerous)
Reply #21 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The thing about Navigation Centers, however is that the technology itself gives you a +1 to your ship movement. Then, with the navigation center, you get another +1. Thrown in Sub-Space Drive which is basically a computer based navigator and you get another +1. What this means, ironically, is that in the early part of the game, the Arceans are the fastest race out there with ships that might be doing 5 moves per turn. In the long-run, however, they're slower but it's a big deal early on.


That is interesting, but it seems like they are probably going to be a good bit slower towards the end-game than any other race, especially if tech trading is turned off. Given how powerful speed really is in this game, I dunno how much I like them being way behind. Guess I'll wait and see.

Still, though I can't help but think that a late-game module that increases speed while the ship is in your Civ's sphere of influence wouldn't be a bad addition to the Arcean navigation tree.

Especially since all the other "while in your influence" modules are being explained as being a link to advanced intel/information networks that can only be gleaned from while in areas you control. A module like that that provides advanced navigational data seems like it would be a natural fit along side those modules, ne?
Reply #23 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The Arceans realize that research, even with the newfound knowledge of its importance, doesn't come easily to them. The technology tree of the Arceas is a bit more expensive.


Ah, so that's why I failed trying to gain tech superiority in my last game.
Reply #24 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Oh yeah, I sure missed these examples! Keep them coming
Reply #25 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Played a couple beta games now. What I notice is that I can trade for those unique technologies. Is that supposed to happen that way? For example, playing the humans, I traded with the Arceans the technology that allows Navigation centers. So now I can build them myself on any of my worlds. This to me kind of waters down the uniqueness of the tech trees in that I can aquire these technologies myself thru trade.


On the other hand, this adds a unique alien feeling to the gameplay. This way, you can still steal technology or gain it by conquering planets during late games.

about right. Could be hard to balance, but if this in implemented well, this should be possible. If you are in desperate need for some tech, you should have the choice to bleed for it to get it and the other race should be willing to trade that racial tech, but obviously for a high price. I'm not a big techtrader myself, so I haven't even tried it yet


From my observations, the AI is already jealously guarding its' unique stuff, making it way more expensive to trade for these things in the first place.

As for possible balancing ideas:

How about increasing the maintenance costs? After all, these *are* alien technologies and your scientists obviously weren't bright enough to come up with these "brilliant" slave pits 1.0 in the first place. Upkeeping what you don't understand should be more expensive.

Or how about decreasing morale (or influence) on planets with alien technology? Maybe your folks don't like having to live around those evil Drengin structures. Or maybe you have to build cultural exchange centers to off-balance the xenophopic effects of alien structures.

Last but not least, you could always water down the modifiers, which makes building alien structures less attractive.

Oh, and one feature request: How about adding another tab (just like "old") for alien technology? I believe this is a nifty feature, but it clutters sure the building list.