The crew here at Stardock cares a lot about our community and the games that we produce for you.
That's why we're pleased to announce that version 2.20 for Galactic Civilizations IIis available for you today!
Even when a title is "finished" and put out to market, there are always little things we find that could use a tweak or a change here and there. We also know what it's like to enjoy an old game so much that you keep going back to it, even when there are newer and "better" versions of it out there.
With help of some awesome community members, the Dev Team has taken all of the suggestions and implemented them into this update. You can find he entire change log (spoiler alert: it's long!) at the bottom of this post.
A few words from our CEO and President, Brad Wardell:
"It was awesome being able to work with the fans to integrate years of their own mods and tweaks into the base game. They also gave me a long list of areas where they thought I could improve the AI, which I used to dig into the now 10 year old AI source code base to implement."
We hope you enjoy the update. We have an awesome community here at Stardock and are so very happy that you're a part of it. Have a great holiday season!
Special Thanks
To Antonio "Mabus" Invernizzi, Gaunathor, SilasOfBorg, Kamil "OShee" Bober, DARCA1213, Sam "MarvinKosh" Edwards. Steffem "Maiden666" Jenter, MarvinKosh, Leiavoia, Frogboy and everyone else who helped out!
[ Gameplay ]
[ Graphics ]
[ AI ]
I agree. That is why the guy above, Gaunathor & me re-introduced proper farming (because previously AIs handled all farms indiscriminately...) and also undone many of the "generic" changes and basically brought the old flavour of 2.042 back.
This update has been sent to them for about a year now. You could tell them to hurry up.
1.) The problem with spies is that so many improvements have been made spy-proof. It will take serious modding to straighten this out. Were I still running an XP machine, perhaps I could just alter the Improvements file.
2.) This can only be corrected by Stardock.
3.) I really need to explain this:
The earlier versions of ToA differentiated tech development so that the different empires would progress differently at different speeds. Some empire's would have massive advantages early in the game, only to be handicapped later on. Balancing this kind of game is a delicate thing. We all know that some advances in technology come at a price, some are simply better in every way, and still other technologies retain their advantages century after century.
Had 2.20 improved on this idea, the Iconian Empire would have lost the ability to perform research along the lines of other empires. The Precursor Archive may have been improved, while the library transformed into a mundane improvement. Some other type of improvement may be added to supplement research, but they would not be able to research Academies, Invention Cities, and Discovery Spheres. Having access to the knowledge of the ancients is an early advantage, but having one's questions so easily answered comes at the cost of never learning how to answer those question on one's own.
The 2.04 Version of the game allowed for quirks in technology. We saw this in engines, where the Ion Drive was never completely outdated. The five steps in Warp Drive technology provided some interesting quirks. The differences between Disruptors and Phasers could have probably been better balanced, but giving all races the same weapon trees just makes for a dull universe.
btw, What happened to I-Mod's Tech Tree Viewer? Until I can recover my old HD, I can't look at any mod I create. At this point, all I can do is try to demand something better.
1) Many improvements, notably most Morale, should be made spy-proof. Way too easy for an invader to knock morale down so that Info War makes the planet fall over. Spies on others (notably on some GAs) cause the game to crash.
3) One thing to consider: You can make a technology untradeable to all, but you can't make it untradeable to some. Make a native tech too weak or restrictive, the AI will just go get an alternative.
Now, as for making races different, you really need to check out Maiden666's Future Worlds mod. Radical changes in the tech trees, and from my test games the AIs generally behave themselves and stick to their own trees. It's still "in beta" but I think you'd appreciate it. Try to ignore the discussion on the thread as it is tedious and a bit too revealing.
It does require 2.20, not for the mod changes, but because SD fixed some internal bugs too.
I still feel the earlier version of the game was better balanced. The Dregin Empire homeworld did not fall too easily for me, even when I brought their approval down to 1%. I still had to have plenty of soldiers. Stellar Marines make invasions too easy.
Spies crashing the game is one of those things that needed to be fixed.
It would be nice if technology could be made untradable to some, but that would take some serious alteration to the core program.
Thanks for pointing me to Maiden666's Future Worlds. I'll have to try it. It may be a better place to start my own mod. The last mod I made took weeks, just to straighten out the weapon progressions. I've made hundreds of icons for new improvements.
One of the coolest things about FW is that he's made(?) tons of new icons. There's a few places where they could be improved - I don't like the one he uses for Discovery Sphere - so maybe you could suggest one of yours.
There are some very interesting new weapons. Take some time and soak it in. I think you'll like it.
You can still place spies on any economic, research or industrial improvement. And a few others as well. The AIs generally place their spies on banks in order to drain the opposing power to nullify these attacking spies (you need money to train spies...)
It should be possible to enable planet-tradeing again by overwriting a DX-file with the original one. I'll have to look up which one if you're interested.
I agree. Ion Drive was always something special because you could have +1 speed for 20 cost, which was more cheap than Impulse Drives. So if you had some space left you could use Ions instead of Impulse and save some production costs. For perfectioneers
That would be really cool.
Now, I need to find my old HD, with the old tech trees, my personal mods, and the TechTree Viewer program.
Or try the Future Worlds mod, where planet trading is enabled - and so much more.
Indeed - but more complicated as well...
Future Worlds uses my icons for planetary improvements! It's good to see them go to good use.
When it come to mods, "fixes" are not fun. I was fairly happy with version 2.04, but thought a few improvements were in order. The fun part of modding it would be re-imagining some empires or creating entirely new empires. Getting to some kind of baseline from version 2.20 or Future Worlds Mod is going to be a tedious, thankless job.
On my account page only 1.53 is available Please help in providing 2.20
How do you update? I've been trying forever.
im so late on this lol
How do I update my game?
If your GalCiv II is registered with Stardock, just click on the Downloads button near the top of this forum thread. Then in the Stardock section, click Downloads again, and you'll see your products. I just checked, and my GalCiv II Ultimate Edition shows version 2.20.0. If you don't see that version, maybe trying sending an e-mail to Stardock support?
I didn't know there was a big update, looks like I have to start playing again. I have been busy lately renovating my toilet since I got a new Kohler Persuade Toilet which I totally love.
Went up clicked Downloads and it says http Error 404. Now what?
I guess send an e-mail to Stardock?
That's why we're pleased to announce that version 2.20 for Galactic Civilizations IIis available for you today! Even when a title is "finished" and put out to market, there are always little things we find that could use a tweak or a change here and there. We also know what it's like to enjoy an old game so much that you keep going back to it, even when there are newer and "better" versions of it out there. With help of some awesome community members, the Dev Team has taken all of the suggestions and implemented them into this update. You can find he entire change log (spoiler alert: it's long!) at the bottom of this post. A few words from our CEO and President, Brad Wardell:
Pro Trucking Company trucking company
awesome update!
A birthday present for me! Hooray!!
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