CaptainBizarre

Reply to EMPIRES UPDATE: Goodbye to All That in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

If you check page 7 of the Top Empires list, you'll find that the Stardockians have their own empire. Frogboy is the only Stardock employee in Arnor as far as I know (granted he's our lone Senator and holds Grand High Poobah status). Contrary to popular opinion, we're not dead yet, we're just pining for the fjords. Why if they hadn't nailed me to this computer, I'd have bent this little game in two and VOOOOM! - high score. ;) End transmission. ~SDC~

Reply to How does one build the sun-destroying Death Star? in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Terror Stars require that you add modules (3? 4?) to an existing star base. Completing a Terror Star also requires that you pay 5000 bc. This will show up as a dialogue box question when you add the final Terror Star module, so make sure you have the money. End transmission. ~SDC~

Reply to New starbase idea in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

If Stardock could use submitted games to pinpoint when star bases start to proliferate, then cross-reference that with the most recently researched techs in those games, that would indicate the best spot to insert the "Tech_Requirement" tech for a terraformer ship. (Maybe tie it to "Atmospheric Conditioning" per Alzandrion's suggestion?) Then we could talk about late-game project churn on the social side! :D End transmission. ~SDC~

Reply to Reseting to default? in Mods Stardock Forums

Not that I'm aware of. I suggested placing a standard data file backup in the library for the same reason you're asking, but it went over like a lead balloon. I reinstalled and now I make sure to keep three directories going: official GalCiv (DataGC), for when I feel ambitious enough to contribute to the imperial warchest on the Metaverse; test (DataTest), containing all the official data files, but used for testing individual modifications before approving and removing them; and my own private

Reply to New starbase idea in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Yup, I figured it as "a new class of modules", but that's what I was thinking. Limit it to terraforming planets of PQ13 and less (max PQ14) so that you can bring planets up to viable colony status. After that, you would have to colonize the planet in order to get further terraforming benefits. It would make Artificial Planets more meaningful and give us something worthwhile to fill the empty spaces of late-game play. Just say no to constructor churn! End transmission. ~SDC~

Reply to Another Fix-It Yourself Post in Mods Stardock Forums

Hawaii Five-O, I changed the metal techs to have both, since I felt they would influence "Production" across the board, but limited Nano-Mining and Advanced Slavery to Social Production, as you did. I submitted a game with these changes. Other than the abysmal score, thanks to the new scoring system, it went was accepted without a problem. End transmission. ~SDC~

Reply to Help Please in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Hawaii Five-O's GalCiv Writer is available here: http://www.ctuit.com/bill/galciv.htm Eventually, I think this program will be able to modify just about anything in GalCiv. If you're not afraid to get your hands dirty you can modify events, techs, ships, UPIssues, improvements, trade goods, achievements, wonders, and diplomacy dialogue with a simple text editor. The usual file back up caveat applies. Note that if you're going to modify data files, you won't want to submit games to t

Reply to New starbase idea in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Cari, What if you use a colony ship instead of a constructor as the base ship-code for the PQ upgrade? Colony ships affect uncolonized planets, right? Could you modify colony ship code to create a terraformer ship? This horse isn't dead, it's pining for the fjords. End transmission. ~SDC~

Reply to Arrrghhhh...CTD on Load Save Game. in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

It's usually the result of: A) Loading a game from an older version into an updated galciv.exe (1.02 game running under 1.03A57). B) Loading a game after downloading and adding a mod, or mods. C) Something else. In the case of A, you're hooped unless you backed up your previous galciv.exe. In the case of B, you just need to remove the mod. In the case of C, you can check "debug.err" in the \galciv directory. Open it in a text editor and look for the first instan

Reply to Crashes in Win2000 in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Check "debug.err" in the \galciv directory. It's pretty good for telling you where the game crashes. It will give you a line and character number if it's crashing on a faulty data file. End transmission. ~SDC~

Reply to GalCiv Writer in Mods Stardock Forums

Dynamic tech tree generator, please! End transmission. ~SDC~

Reply to Good at 1.02, Stink at 1.03 in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

This has happened to me with every revision since, and including, beta testing. Initially it really ticked me off, but now I just remember to take a step back on the difficulty ladder whenever a new revision is released. It usually only takes me one or two games to get back to the level I was at before the change. The tougher trading hasn't bothered me since the major civs won't trade with me until I'm ahead of them in tech/overall power in 80% of the games I play, anyway. I concentrate

Reply to New starbase idea in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Sorry Cari, I lost this thread. If you're question was directed at my suggestion: This would be different than a social project in that it would help a single planet in a single system. Similar to a colonization event, but instead of colonizing a planet, the planet is terraformed up one level. From colonization to terraforming seems intuitively to be comparable code, but I'm not sure how you'd work the cost the way I suggested (PQ11=1100, PQ12=1200, etc). Maybe a static cost of 1500 to

Reply to GalCiv Writer in Mods Stardock Forums

Maybe, but you don't have to know anything about computers to appreciate My Friend, Jack. :) End transmission. ~SDC~

Reply to Trading exclusive goods in Strategies Stardock Forums

I make a point of trading Gravity Accelerators to the minor civs. Since they're usually fighting one of the major AIs that are my main competition, I like to help them out. The longer they hold out, the more heat they take for me. If possible, I try to trade for a trade good I don't have. End transmission. ~SDC~

Reply to Survey ships and trading techs... in Strategies Stardock Forums

Oh yeah, thanks Mr. Pink 7, (why do you get to be Mr. Pink 7? ;) ). Free ship anomalies are very important for boosting your military in the early game. If an anomaly gives you a decent military ship, you can send it to a planet that hasn't got a Defender or Star Fighter. Then you can change that planet's ship-building queue to spend a few free turns building freighters, constructors, transports, or survey ships, (ships that will contribute to economy, expansion, or research) knowing t

Reply to Survey ships and trading techs... in Strategies Stardock Forums

1) Yes. My survey ship does both depending on my mood, the location of Sol, the number of anomalies I encounter, etc. I usually search through the nearest sectors until my second planet has built one or two scouts. Primary targets for the survey ship are anomalies that increase weapons, defense, or hit points, and anomalies that reduce your current research (+25% to database). I will also build a second, and sometimes a third, survey ship on a secondary planet (2nd planet in a multi-planet syste

Reply to GalCiv Writer in Mods Stardock Forums

On the (possibly unfounded) assumption that most users of GalCiv Writer will fall into the 'expert' category, my vote is to allow changing IDs within the program. Could you include a default warning as part of the SBModule template? Something along the lines of: "SB Modules must be contiguous. If you leave a gap in the numbering the modules after the gap won't work." I suggest this because it's likely/possible that the average Mod downloader will have to change the ID to fi

Reply to Message Forum Feature Requests in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

1) Watch thread 2) Threaded messages End transmission. ~SDC~

Reply to New starbase idea in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

A _good_ starbase idea, not a _new_ starbase idea. ;) Cari, I wonder if the imbalance occurred because of how it was implemented? It's not too difficult to see how a terraforming resource would throw a spanner in the works. What if you created a new class of modules built specifically to terraform planets, then allowed terraforming in the following way? - Terraforming a PQ12 planet into a PQ13 planet requires the building of a module with a cost of 1200. - Terraf

Reply to Starbase Maint Idea Thread in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Just some thoughts... How much would it cost to maintain a "Starbase Support Network"? Maybe you could create a series of SB modules that would perform the same function? This would fill in, or use up, some of the time spent pumping out SB modules from the Military queue in the late stages of a game. Perhaps a series of economic improvements could be added to perform the same function in the Social queue? In my last game I must have cancelled and rebuilt the Hyperion S

Reply to My Critique of Stardock's Policy on "Modding." in Mods Stardock Forums

(Well. Apparently the "less than" sign will split your post. No you know... Here's the rest of it.) !ing AIs cheat, Cheat, CHEAT! (cough) Sorry. If, or when, Stardock appoints a head Librarian and issues Library cards, the Mods will be ready. Until then, keep the Metaverse separate from the Modaverse and keep on Modding. End transmission. ~SDC~

Reply to My Critique of Stardock's Policy on "Modding." in Mods Stardock Forums

I'll ante .02 cents into the pot. I agree with HawaiiFive-O's distinction between the Metaverse and the Library. The Metaverse I play "standard" games because I joined an empire and feel obliged "To crush others and laugh..." (Okay, it's not an obligation, it's an expression of my inner child.) As well, I like to know how hopelessly outclassed I am in fair comparisons with other players. The way I see it, modifications that aren't part of a bonus pack can't be part of a Metavers

Reply to Pol Parties Number References in Mods Stardock Forums

Fascist Liberal -> Socialist -> Communist Green/Environmentalist (Planet Quality?) Fundamentalist (_your interpretation of religious authority goes here_, Loyalty?) Mystic (Creativity and Luck?) Anarchist (Penalties instead of bonuses) Legalist/Party of the First Part (Loyalty?) Engineers (Repair?) Rhino Party (Morale? - Rhino candidates that get elected would typically be offered either the Department of Housinge or the Department of Silly Walks portfolios. *Th

Reply to Heh, here's some information for you Event writers out there in Mods Stardock Forums

Is it not possible to test Random Events by moving CoreEvents.EVENT to another directory, so that only Test.EVENT (where Test.EVENT contains the event you want to test) is in the Data directory? Particularly if there is a way to increase the probability of a Random Event occurring? End transmission. ~SDC~