Suggestion: Game changing galactic events when winning

I have always had a problem with 4X games, where your empire gets at a point when you know that you simply cannot lose the game and start to ponder whenever it is worth it to spend dozens of hours more just to finish it.

This has happened to me in games like Master Of Magic, Master Of Orion, Rome/Medieval II: Total War and Galactic Civilization II. Somehow Civilization IV had a great balance to not become like this, probably due to limited possible expansion.

In Medieval: Total War slow expansion was achieved by the threat of rebellion within your regions if their approval rating is below certain threshold. Some rebellions could even resurrect defeated kingdoms. Sadly this technique was not repeated in previously mentioned Total War sequels.

In Galactic Civilizations II I only once ran into an event of very serious consequence while perceived to be winning the game. But it is had ridiculous backstory. Pirates A faction named Jagged Knife took over dozens of planets from all civilizations no matter how high your approval rating was with them. But they were a minor race, that was easily defeated by other races. Now we are talking about pirates, not really a splinter faction within a race. But it doesn't make sense that pirates would take over whole planets while acting as a single faction.

I don't have a lot of suggestions though:

  • Add the possibility of rebellion within either a planet, race or even between races.
  • Add resurrection possibility of defeated races from such rebellions.

These should come out of the blue, there should be some statistic pointing to the possibility of such serious events.

 
41,241 views 15 replies
Reply #1 Top

Having game-changin' events is always fun. Yet I don't want to be paranoid while playing my game. I don't want odds to be increased that some debilitating event would occur if I get too powerful. Otherwise, what would be the point of becoming powerful?

Reply #2 Top

GalCiv 2 already has such events. They are called Mega Events, and were introduced in Dark Avatar. The one you mentioned actually sounds like one. The Jagged Knife, to be exact. Pirates can't take over planets. They are only a nuisance for your ships. Especially the Mega Event version. When they appear, their ships will be more powerful than the ones of the most powerful race.

Overall, I'd say it is very likely for the Mega Events to return in GalCiv 3. Hopefully, there'll be more of them this time around, and capable of being modded.

Reply #3 Top

Mega Events would activate when things were too peaceful/relaxed in the map. Like suddenly getting hordes of spies in everybody's planets. XD Not sure if the Dread Lords appearing in an empty planet was one but those 20 defenders of it do kick ass.

They were a great optional addition and I hope to see them back in full strength in GalCiv III. }:)

Reply #4 Top



Add the possibility of rebellion within either a planet, race or even between races.
 

 

GC2 has this.  Any many more very game changing mega events.

Reply #5 Top

I think the OP wants more of such events that lay in wait until you reach a certain point.

Reply #6 Top

I'm all for more of everything that made galciv2 great.   ^_^

Reply #7 Top

Well, I suppose the OP wants some ways to spice up endgame. I always felt fighting your own designs usually is the scariest thing a player have to face. The idea of a split in your empire; the emergence of separatist, regionalist factions would be interesting, don't you think?

 

After all, the stories of the inevitable decadence of the Great Star Empire and the shattering of their central power base is a very, very common element in most sci-fi stories.

Reply #8 Top

Yes I had mistaken Jagged Knife for Pirates.

I actually quite dislike randomness in 4X games. But can fully accept them without sometimes requiring a reload if I feel to be winning. So I would be happy if such mega events occur when I feel that the AI can no longer offer a challenge. Though I have heard that in Total War: Shogun 2 more and more clans will jointly try to stop you as get more and more powerful.

I don't know if Galactic Civilizations III will have experience for ships or rather experienced commanders, but, again in Medieval 2: Total War, disloyal generals would sometimes leave your empire. Sadly all that did was make the general and his army as rebels who aren't much of a threat, rather than making a civil war with his former empire, that backstabbing bastard.

Reply #9 Top

@pendrokar1

Shogun2 had a mechanic called "Realm Divide" Which triggered when

1) You took over Tokyo or

2) You gained enough 'infamy' by conquering provinces

This triggered massive diplomatic penalties so almost everyone turned against you unless you were REALLY planning things out carefully, and even then you could only mitigate RD so much.

Functionally it was an answer to the 'steamroller' effect, especially in a 'closed' map like Shogun2 where once you reach a certain province ownership, there was no real functional way the AI could really win. There's obviously some debate as to whether this mechanic is 'cheating', lazy 'AI' (whichis nonsensical since good luck trying to defend against a shogunate that has 6 armies storming against you and 45 provinces churning out troops like the zerg), etc.

Reply #10 Top
The only mega event that should happen at such a point is a mass capitulation by the rest of the empires.
Reply #11 Top

Quoting Viperswhip, reply 10

The only mega event that should happen at such a point is a mass capitulation by the rest of the empires.

That would save a bunch o' time.

There's a huge number of games I've ended "early" simply because I wasn't in the mood to waste so much time with what is a foregone conclusion.

Reply #12 Top

Quoting chuck1es, reply 11
There's a huge number of games I've ended "early" simply because I wasn't in the mood to waste so much time with what is a foregone conclusion.

"Muahahahaha!!! I have  finally managed to create a powerful fleet to conquer everybody!"

*takes a look at the Diplomacy screen*

"Everybody feels close to me due to my complex web of lies weaved to protect me from them while I created my army?"

*checks the huge map*

"Well, there seems to be quite a few planets to conquer out there with lots of enemy tiny fleets..."

*gifts Alliance to all of them and allies with them*

More than once, true story.

Reply #13 Top

Quoting Wintersong, reply 12


Quoting chuck1es, reply 11There's a huge number of games I've ended "early" simply because I wasn't in the mood to waste so much time with what is a foregone conclusion.

"Muahahahaha!!! I have  finally managed to create a powerful fleet to conquer everybody!"

*takes a look at the Diplomacy screen*

"Everybody feels close to me due to my complex web of lies weaved to protect me from them while I created my army?"

*checks the huge map*

"Well, there seems to be quite a few planets to conquer out there with lots of enemy tiny fleets..."

*gifts Alliance to all of them and allies with them*

More than once, true story.

 

That is why I enable Alliance victory, but too often it's difficult to maintain an alliance, because properly, they start to question your morals when you are busy stomping the rest of the galaxy.

I never really thought about trying to ally all of them on the last turn though.

Reply #14 Top

That's the beauty of the post-fix Mind Control Center. In my current game, I could build that and win in 3-5 turns depending on how the planet flipping cascades. I won't, but it's good to know that I can if I need to.

Reply #15 Top

I suggest you lot go on the GC 2 forum and look up the list of Events-normal/mega and actually read them! on ToA if you dont tick the box at the setup screen you wont get mega events,yes there is a rebellion event called the I league and yes your all repeating yourselves...