Please slam my game

1) Make an it optional how many crystals it will take to get an ascension victory. I have actually started playing with Ascension victory off, for fear that my game will end too soon. Allow us to choose between 1000, 2000 and 5000.

2) I happen to love events, even the mega ones, allthough some of them are quite tough. Another thing I would like to see is a setting that would allow me to increase the number of events in a game. This could be ranging from none (no events in the game at all) over default (random as now) to many (events galore).

3) Fix the MCC

4) One thing has been annoying me for a long time, and is also quite high on my list. Sometimes I accidentally press space (maybe because I get too eager) and that's it for that unit for that turn. I would like that spacebar only removed the unit from the "Next unit queue" but didn't actually set it's movement points to zero, so that I would be able to revisit that ship and give it orders. In some situations that is crucial, as that accidental spacebar press can mean that I didn't get to attack a certain transport or whatever. You get the idea

There you have it, Brad. Only 4 thing wrong with your game Not too shabby. I hope you can use them. I tried to put only stuff that (I think) can be done with minimal coding, and thus could be implemented quickly

Morten

1. The new-found aggressiveness of the AI in regards to espionage needs to be tweaked a little.

2. Please fix the dialog boxes when being asked if you would like to build a starbase over a resource, they seem to appear more than once asking you to accept or decline (if the prompt to build starbase over resource option is ticked).

3. Apparently there's a tech missing for the Korx (the first economy one) if I recall correctly from what I read on the forums.

4. Please update some of the more common graphical elements in the game (starports for one). I would also love to see the Starbases reskinned like the ships were.

5. Please PLEASE update the nebula graphic. It feels kinda low-res compared to all the updated graphics in the game. A nice new higher-resolution nebula graphic would go down well (think Sins' backgrounds! hehe)

Top 1: Good job on the AI in TA Brad. But, I still want an even better AI. I want an AI that can beat me on equal terms (Tough difficulty). A couple of things that need improvements:
- Tech trading. In my current game (on Painful) the AI players value Basic Laser/Missile/Railgun techs extremely high, I got some really nice deals (mis)using them.
- AI declares war too quickly, but while actually at war, the AI by far isn't aggressive enough. A proper war declaration starts with an invasion.
- AI needs to amass more transports and use them in groups. Don't put single transports into fleets with combat ships. Instead create two fleets: One even bigger combat fleet and one transport fleet, both moving simultaneously.
An idea how to improve this for both the AI and the human player is to have two logistic types: (unarmed!) Transports use transport logistics slots and other ships use normal logistics slots. Both can be in the same fleet.

Top 2: Make mousewheel zoom speed configurable and add an option to zoom like in Sins. I found the zooming navigation in Sins to be extremely useful

Top 3: Graphs and timeline. Make interval configurable in graph on main screen. In long games, the history of the first few years is so uninteresting. I'd like to for example only display the last few weeks/months/years. Similar to the timeline in the civ manager.
To make it extremely powerful just add a time ruler with two sliders, one for beginning, one for the end of the timeframe. Dragging in-between the sliders moves the interval.

Top 4: Ships on guard mode should stay on guard until destroyed or manually canceled.

Top 5: /scorn

Top 6: /ridicule

I just have one thing I'd like changed right away. The planetary assault screen. I might be flamed, but I think I liked the older version better than the TA one. The new one doesn't really do anything for me. I'm sorry, and don't mean to offend, but the new screen is boring. There is very little going on to see other than the colored bar graphs. I liked seeing the little soldiers and war machines duking it out. I kinda miss that.

1. Decouple the research and production sliders (or have it as an option) so that we can run labs and factories at 100% at the same time, as we logically should be able to. All-X finally becomes redundant!

That's my only *major* complaint.

The only thing I want (and am sure all other wide screen monitor users also want) is for the videos to be scaled correctly.

This includes the start-up video, the animated diplomacy picture and anything else you know you have a video for, e.g. tutorials.

Thanks for continuing the support!

The only thing I don't really like about the new screen is the pew pew sound effect that plays way too often. I probably should mod the sound to use a different one.

1. Patch all the holes in the tech trees. For example, the Yor and the Korath have no way to improve resource starbases or economic starbases. I have already mentioned this in a couple of places, but it is so annoying to play one of these races and find juicy economic and military resources nearby but have to wait until the AI researches up the xeno factory line, if they ever bother to. It makes me not want to play these races. I have heard people say the Thalan are missing an important starbase tech too. For every key element of the game, every civ should be able to utilize it to some degree without tech trading.

2. The spying overhaul would be great because it is not a fun part of the game right now. Using spies to collect information costs way too much money since most computer civs horde them defensively.

Those are really the only two things that are coming to mind now, great expansion btw!

1. Make the game less focused on adjusting sliders and more on planning strategic decisions. In it's current form, the sliders on Research, Military, and Social should just be on the main screen as I end up going into them almost every turn. And de-coupling the sliders from each other seems to make a lot of sense. I had messing around with sliders that don't adjust like I want!

2. Can we get some sort of intelligent social AI to be enabled/disabled? Maybe the same as what the AI uses? Picking individual buildings to be built and gueueing them is pretty decent, but when you're playing the game on a gigantic map, it gets really tedious really fast!

3. Simplify Constructors to function more like space miners or allow them to be stacked. Constructor upgrades are a pain now as they require too much micromanagement in their current form.

4. Improve the diplomacy screen to shade out options the AI won't even agree to (again, like Civilization). That'd save a lot of tedious clicking.

5. I was going to mention revising espionage, but it sounds like that's already scheduled to be improved. How so, by the way?

Good lists from everyone above! I really like Gal Civ and am encouraged by your continued requests for feedback.

I only have for the moment one wish. That is Printable Tech trees for each race. I play with tech trading off so that i can keep the flavor of the indivual races.I love what you have done .Thanks for another great game!

Only Five? Ok, reporting as ordered - Captain Bactarian.

1 & Foremost) Enhanced Espionage, as hinted about elsewhere.

2) Alternate 'Victory' (or scoring effects) conditions... such as;
- Economic Mogul (999,999,999,999 or less_constant_by choice BCs - Done!),
- Trade_Goods exclusivity (all of 'hem, yours and kept),
- Demographic Boom (rearch the approximate or fixed Trillions_variable pop-cap Mark, sort of),
- Eternity Limits (something like, a loop to heaven via combinations of other regular real default Victories),
- Beyond Technology (Crunching the numbers to obtain a minimal or pre-deterministic number of active & available beakers - this can also be applied to other areas, productivity, total ships HiP, etc)

3) Editors - Superlatively coded to provide MULTIPLE other editing powers. Namely, a races_customs_opponents_modded-total-conversion(s) dedicated asset.

4) An external ShipYard to create & fiddle with components and hulls as we see fit & when we just want to without consequences to current gameplay - but available later on for re-distribution of an indirect ship style.

5) Hexa_Triangular grid on planet surfaces with a supplemental three-level layer of 'buildinds' and tiles (Atmospheric, Underground, Orbital) as presented in this link;
Optimal Hexagon Tiles

--- please, just another simple one...

6) True 3D space conditions & maps.

Big wishes, i know. It may even feel beyond the scope and intentions set forward by the initial request, but i really needed to get those off my chest since the "opportunity" was here - only, i guess.

Can't think of anything else more important, right now.

1. Fix the MCC
2. Fix the MCC
3. Fix the MCC
4. Put BattleStations 1 in the Thalan tech tree
5. I've not check this myself, but if the Yor and Korath have no way to improve resource exctraction starbases, that needs to be fixed.

I have to agree on this point. The new screen reminds me of an electronic version of Stratego, and just annoys me.

1. Maintenance costs for Thalan technologies. While their tech and industrial buildings are very powerful, I don't see why the maintenance cost should be higher than the building's output. I can live with the amounts being equal, but in reality, any building that costs more to run than it produces is a failure. I haven't researched past the level I buildings, so maybe it's different at the higher levels.

2. Sometimes, when upgrading star bases with a fleet of constructors, the upgrade doesn't "take", and I have to back my fleet up and redo the upgrade. This has been an issue at least since DA, as far as I can tell.

3. For being one of the older races in the galaxy, the Arceans seem woefully underpowered. They should be called the Arcanes, as they seem to be the "old skool" race. I'd like to see them made more competitive compared to the other races.

4. AI ship designer. I actually like this feature, but I think the balance between power and defense is a little skewed. The AI seems to design for maximum power and minimum defense. A nice thought, but so far I believe my ships have been more vulnerable than necessary as a result.

5. This is a question rather than a suggestion, but why aren't Ascension starbases upgradeable, even with some kind of defenses? Or are they?

One thing only:

I wish there would be a module for ships to repair starbases!

That is the only thing I could think of right now, the others made great suggestions already Do all of it, hehe.

But, and....

1a) Optional drop of the research Robots by giving a cascading to the right side blue Icon as a warning we can or not click on.

2a) Calibration of movie screens as a non-relative to desktop size option - effectively giving me a small popup window were (example) the colonize world ship going through clouds is a true 640x384 rather than loosing blurring at my 1280x1024 giga scale intrusive the interface. Does that make sense, English wise? Sorry, i just can't do better than that.

3a) Fix the Yor_neutral.bik for its terribly annoying white frame #231.

4a) No files found matching mask - eliminated from my & yours debug.err file(s).

5a) Change Interface colors options - Priority ONE: yellowy_eggy_orangy like default text.

Done, cross my heart - if not, i'll use some other threads, maybe.

Make controlling the United Planets more advantageous.
Expand the political parts of the game.

Fix bugs.

I would vote for:

1) More small scale events instead of mega events, such as temporary moral problems within a civilization or problems with one particular planet or corruption which will cost a particular civilization xx bc per turn for xx turns.

2) The option to disrupt/break alliances between computer players via diplomacy

3) Extra names for planets and star systems

4) Option to lay mine fields with a constructor and to clean them up with another constructor, in which the latter should be a bit more expensive to do

5) Increase income from trade in order to make trade ships more interesting and important

Brad

Have a look at support ticket TMR-226132, and reflect on what effect that will have on the Metaverse if abused. It looks like its easy to fix in that it didnt happen before, something got missed out in latest update. Sorry to be circumspect, you'll understand when you see the ticket.

Regards
Zy

Silverbeacher's Personal Fix-It Wish List

1.) Fix the MCC

2.) Add option in diplomacy screen to have AI break current Alliances/Treaties/Trade (this would be a MAJOR plus, and just awesome strategy wise)

3.) Clean up work on flavor text, descriptions, and other such miscellanea.

4.) Decouple sliders OR combine military/social slider into one.

5.) Update graphics for older structures such as the Starport, which look dated when next to the new tile sets (and other such graphical considerations such as the background nebula, starbases, etc).

1. Allow Minor Races to become your vassals!

It is really hard to get some ideas together - and that absolutely speaks for you, guys

But i might have some smaller suggestions, not in order:

1. I would like to have some kind of quick feedback if the points a new planetary improvement provides actually more or less effects than the best you already own. Sometimes you trade for a tech of the opponent and you then afterwards do realize that the other ones you already owned was actually better than the new one. Just values shown in red if worse than your best available buildings and in green if better would make it.

2. Please add functionality to the new starbase info feature - i often find myself building a constructor then realizing upon arrival i do not have the tech yet to upgrade my starbase. if i could see in the quickinfo what modules exactly are available (division into groups like "military", "mining" etc would do the trick) life would be a bit easier in upgrading starbases.

3. You wrote that v2.0 will contain an improved espionage - maybe that is actually not what i inevitably want RIGHT NOW, but look here at my suggestions as well: https://forums.galciv2.com/311142

4. The new invasion screen looks good - but i miss the feeling of battle feedback somehow. The ugly toy soldiers in the previous mission did this job better (besides looking worse). Now i see a nice video (that definitely should stay) but the only direct feedback i get is the flags blinking with the sounds. I just do not like that very much. I would like to have a kind of feedback with the numbers of people - like the old screen did. If I see numbers drop i would like to see something drop as well, not just flags disappearing. The videos are not synchronized enough to give this kind of feedback-feeling. Just implement the old screen in a small version (not taking away any information on the screen) and i will be happy

5. blinking lights i want animation for lights as well. Imagine cool looking, huge starships that have blinking lights in different colors - i think that would look great and add very nicely to the new animation feature.

1- Ship Auto-designer. It's a little iffy right now. Not only does it apparently cheat (by adding more components than it should), it doesn't really do engines or anything. How about more focusing options than just offense/defense?

2- Ship Auto-designer. Again. Because currently it's the only way to get any armed ships unlocked without doing it from scratch. I presume this is because you can't have a 'default' version of the Defender (for example) because of the different techtress... but it's still annoying. At the very least, make it so the 'Do not remove components when upgrading' option works on the Templates too or something. Because I don't want the auto-designer always on, but I don't want to build every ship from the start.

3- Arnor ship style. C'mon, I was so looking forward to using those ships. Even the PIRATES got a shipstyle, and I'm pretty sure those are just ships from other styles. (And you didn't upgrade those from DA, either, they aren't animated at all, I don't think.) The ships exist, why didn't you put them together into a 'style' like the Dreadlords and Pirates?

3- Tech trees. I've been messing with the Dreadlords and MinorRace trees, and those mostly look identical to the Terran/DA ones. In fact, the Dreadlords seems to be identical (from what I've seen) to the Terran one, except without any 'race specific' tags.

4- Tech Tree editor. I was hoping for more than just a XML editor. When I add a tech, I was hoping for a dropdown list or something of available techs. Instead, I apparently have to dig through the XML files to find ID tags. I'd also like to be able to see the tree the way it looks in the game. Without, err, going into the game.

5- Sliders. Because out of my homeworld's 16 BILLION people, I can't find enough workers to run both my single factory and research lab at full strength? I don't buy it. Of course, I don't like the planet improvement screen in the first place (one city per world, and it takes up ALL of North America?), but the sliders are just WEIRD. It's one thing to focus a planet on one thing, it's another when I have to focus my entire CIV on something every turn to get anything done. Need to build a ship on one planet? Better turn Research to 0% throughout the Empire, so I can boost Military Production!

I only have one issue right now, but I consider it a significant one:

1) Per the discussion in this thread, the Thalan tech tree really needs to have Mk1 Battle Station starbase modules added to it. Mk1 Battle Stations are a prerequisite for every other starbase weapon system in the game, and without weapons, even a base upgraded with highly expensive Singularity Armor cannot survive an assault by a lone, lightly armed scout.

Mk1 Battle Stations could be unlocked with 4D Phasing or Defense Industries or Stellar Construction or even Hyperion Starbases, but without the ability to research them *somewhere* in their own tech tree, the Thalan are critically disadvantaged in No Tech Trading games.

-Autistic Angel

1: Add a ship that softens the enemy ground forces. Aka: Orbiting cannon. Each attack it does reduces the planets defenders by 3-5% or something.

2:Add more support abilities to ships. Ship battles tend to be boring later on. Having a ship module that decreases the enemies armor would be great!

3: Have ultra-expensive research. These researches cost alot and keep your research tree going late game. These give you a specialized ability (such as a super-weapon, or something similar). THe super-techs are not linked together or to anything.

4: Military starbase modules that can attack enemy ships in the radious each turn. Not much, but enough to hurt their civilian ships. Basically an aura that damages their ships.

5: Ability to loan/rent planets out to AI.

6: (Sorry!): Ability to choose how much money your economic/research treaties give out.

1. Fix the MCC. I know, you already know about it...but you asked...

2. Since I'm unaware as to the exact nature of the 'espionage overhaul', I'd like to put my 2c in for the ability to get multiple spies per week, lower spy cost in general.

3. *SPOILER ALERT* Remove the Terror Star techs from the Iconians on the final TA mission. TOO darn easy with them there.

4. Thalan Starbase attack modules please...

5. A new item on the main menu called "I'm feeling lucky" that randomly picks a race for you, randomly picks all the other sandbox settings, but has blind exploration on. TRUE randomization lol.