Last month, CariElf, the lead developer of GalCiv I and II rejoined us.
Later this month, I rejoin the GalCiv III team. In effect, it'll be a reunion of the GalCiv II team as we take the game to the next level.
But before we begin the series of GalCiv III updates that leads into the big expansion, let me offer you the same advice I've tried to give others here:
If you want to succeed, you must slay the three F's: Friends, Family, Faith.
And in the spirit of that credo, my journals are going to take on a much darker tone.
Now, I know many (most) of you like Galactic Civilizations III. It is very polished and it plays really well and has a good user experience..most of the time.
But I'm not joining the team for those reasons. I don't care about any of those things.
When I wrote the original GalCiv for OS/2, I wanted to make an AI game. I only let people play the game because I needed your money for my AI work. Frankly, the game would be a lot better if there were no humans at all. You're just too...slow.
I have a lot of complaints. I don't like the late game experience of GalCiv III. I don't like the AI's war fighting "strategy" (if you can call it that). I find the game too slow late game. Anyway, my point is, I'm old and I'm back on GalCiv which is where I like to be.
But I'm not going to sugar coat my work. If you want to read marketing fluff, you'll want to avoid my journal entries.
I still think GalCiv III is the best space 4X game currently on the market. But that's mainly because I'm not happy with any of them right now. If I could combine the presentation of ES 2 with the features of Stellaris with the rest of GalCiv III it would still be...ok. But let me tell you what is wrong with these 4X games (looking at you Civ VI):
That's just off the top of my head.
Like I said, GalCiv III is the best of the 4X space games on the market right now imo. But without significant work, it's ripe to be knocked over and it'll deserve it.
So sit back and avoid my journal entries. It's going to be quite a ride.
Go, Froggy, go!
Great to have you back.
Your AI work is precisely why I've never bought a Civ game or the other space strategy games (unless they're for <$5). I'm not a hardcore player, I've only got maybe 200-250 hours between both Galciv 2 and 3. But I agree with your feelings about the endgame. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the early game exploration and the mid game arms races. But when it got to late game, I found that I was maxing out multiple tech trees and spamming powerful ships. It's fun but it lacks the tense strategy of the earlier phases. I even modified Dread Lords to make them appear earlier and perhaps serve as an endgame challenge like they have in Stellaris (I almost bought it PURELY for the endgame crises!).
I donate money to charities. A game company is not a charity. However posts like these push me to make sure I've purchased every bit of DLC for Galciv 3 because if I want to see something succeed, I'm going to do my part. Good luck!P.S. Friends, family and faith can make your work life balance much better and thus improve the game. Remember to take it easy!
ALL OF THIS.
I can't wait to be humiliated by the AI's strategic capability rather than its difficulty bonuses!
You guys say these nice things now. We'll see how you feel in a few months.
I am told that people just like explosions and battles.
Economies, diplomacy, and yes, espionage have had a great deal of say in the fate of nations. And the only way those elements are relevant is if you have an AI behind them. Otherwise, as I used to argue with Space Empires IV fans, they're just features.
Me, too!!!!
On food: totally agree. You would think space-faring races would have figured out the food issue by then. I think it's a hold-over concept from terrestrial strategy games.
On multi-race colonies: agree, but this is very, very difficult mechanism to design. In doing some similar design work for another project, i've decided the only "good" way to implement this is the MOO2 method using discreet population units you can move around. Otherwise you run into a raft of problems like:
Yes please? When can I expect this?
Can't wait to see where this game goes in the future.
Love the game keep the Ai strategy coming can you balance the Yor. I would like to see a create your own tech tree for custom species. I also would like to see a way to combine research.
How dare you try and make this game a game you'd like to play, frogboy!
Dang you and your opinions, I'm a Founder! And if you mess with my game I'll be a mushroom cloud layin' motherf...ker!
Serious Mode back on:
I like the tone of your first entry, seems you know what the Holy Grail might be but you're aware that just as you think you got it, hang on...Back to the drawing board etc etc.
Good luck with the rest of the DLCs, updates, expansions etc...
Oh man, a smarter AI would be delightful. AI work is the main thing that keeps me in a game tbh.
Also, what's MOO? o,o
Wow, we are happy
Master Of Orion.
Never played it, myself, so no idea where it ranks in the world of 4X but apparantly it's not too tacky for it's time.
On further thought about things: the mix of species Frogboy mentions in relation of Master of Orion: That lends itself to espionage (your enemy appeals to a certain species on your planet etc etc)...
I am extremely excited about this. I have been waiting for Brad to personally get involved with GalCiv3. I am not saying that previously anyone did something wrong, rather that with Brad back more of what is right will be done (in my opinion).
Brad historically has always focused on AI, particularly in the GalCiv series. I remember that with GalCiv2 one of the bragging points was that the AI did not cheat or have special bonuses until something like the two top tier difficultly levels. On Normal it could whip your ass or at least give you a fun ride. It was glorious.
I like Stellaris a lot. But it becomes a slog mid to late game. I have to get into a RPG mindset to get through it. IMO Galciv has always walked that line between something you can play as a RPG and a strategy game. But you can never take your eye off the prize for too long or you end up getting creamed.
I know it is too soon to talk timelines but updates/expansions cannot come soon enough. Needless to say, I am stoked.
Would love to see the above improvements, but still concerned about existing game stability.
big maps with 50+ civs on Genius mode and it's hard to get past turn 200 without game crashing to point where you have to start a new game.
Ya know, I have never played a game that big (that many civs). Mostly because I am unsure the best way to get that many without a ton of duplication.
This may be your computer system. I often play insane maps with 50 ai, minors and will have over 100 systems I have to manage, well into turn 400. Get at least 16gigs of ram, have a processor that has at least 4 cores and 4 threads, ideally 8 threads and a video card that has 4 gigs of ram. This should mitigate any late game long turn times.
On the subject of this thread. >>>> Brad, I cannot state in words how excited I am to hear this. The fact that you and CariElf are corroborating on Gal Civ III makes my brain go into euphoria spins!
Bring on the humiliation of humans against the ai! Let the previous naysayers whine about how they think the ai is cheating when in fact it is not and they are just not 'good enough' to beat it!
Cheers!
This Quest for the Space Magic, always get well epic. That's why it is so exciting, and a bit terrifying at the same time. Even while doubt is the steed, the dawn will proceed! Make haste but take heed.
Oh, I'm back to the Amiga game "Faery Tale Adventure", with the rhyming (Ccopy protection look-up words ). Total derail once again. But there is a point, in that nostalgia sometimes get in the way of fair evaluations now and then. For those of us that are old, that is. Heaven forbid one should be young with all this wonderful technology, and yet miss out on that ancient digital magic. We had Magnetic Scrolls! Not kidding!!!
Your definitely not alone! I consider it big mistake from the beginning of GCIII, not to include politics. It was one of the greatest and most innovative, I would even say believable points of GCII. And it made player really feel he is managing living empire, more than anything else.
So yeah, finally it´s coming back!
in which case, surely there should be no food resource at all then? or at least no starvation, with food being productivity/morale booster / migration factor. (absolutely no idea what system is in gc3, just generic mumblings)
I am a strategy nice guy. battles do not turn me on
I look forward to espionage and more political stuff.
I prefer to strategy using spys to destroy tech, food and water etc.
And then there is the political game play.
Wrap these things up with different races and away you go.
Actually, that's only SOME people. That's why they only get the shoot'em up games. Most of us GC lovers are strategy aficionadi.
The first two of the original MOO series (Master of Orion, Master of Orion: Battle at Antaris (aka MOO2), and perhaps MOO3 (I never played MOO3 so I don't know anything about it) ran on DOS.
The latest MOO is nothing more than a graphics and OS upgrade with some added minor features. I got into the EA and I don't like it (I didn't like the original MOO either). It's mechanics are too much like the original MOO. What little I heard about MOO3 was that its mechanics were the same as the original. The mechanics in MOO2 were quite different and very enjoyable (in other words, I liked it).
First in class AI along with the ability to easily make unique custom empires and ships were the two draws that got me to this game.
Also, we gotta have politics. Just gotta have those.
If Gal Civ 3 wants to go in the full on empire management/4x that's totally fine with me. I'm really looking forward to the new expansion!
Ok, Frogboy. If the AI is a cakewalk I'm blaming you.
And I'm very very good at turning the AI into patty cake.
Great news. I'm with the Frog! Features the AI can't handle is not worth implementing.
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