Hello Stardock,
First and foremost, thank you for bringing us Galactic Civilizations 4. It is great to be given the opportunity to continue expanding the Terran Republic.
I am actually not a big fan of Early Access games, but decided to throw caution to the wind and bought Gal Civ 4 as soon as it was available on Epic Games.
I tried out Gal Civ 4 for a few days before revisiting Gal Civ 3 to see how much Gal Civ 4 has improved from Gal Civ 3. So, please allow me to pen down my thoughts on some of the areas that you might want to review as you move forward to making an epic game more epic.
1) Civilizations Spawning Area
This is something that has been commented about by other players, but I feel that it is important to bring it up again as it is proving to be a bit of a bugbear for me.
The current spawning areas of civilizations are just too close to one another. Even in a Gigantic map, I will encounter another civilization in the solar system around the corner. On the one hand, I can understand the benefit of having civilizations spawning close to each other as it helps to push the diplomacy and tactical aspects of the game. However, it makes the galaxy feel small and crowded. It also limits the exploration aspect of Gal Civ, which is one of the things that I consider to be the most important feature of Gal Civ.
I hope that you will review the way civilizations spawn in the randomly generated galaxy so that they would be more evenly spread around.
2) Colonies and Governors
I actually like the idea of appointing colonial governors. However, I find it very strange that we can only micro manage a colony after a governor has been appointed.
Realistically speaking, it should be the other way round. When a governor is appointed to a colony, it means that the colony becomes more autonomous in handling its own affairs. Thus, when a colony is first established, it would make more sense that the civilization capital will have full control of the colony. So, I would rather have a situation whereby a colony can be micro-managed before a governor is appointed than after a governor is appointed.
I know that doing this may lead to a situation whereby players who love to micro manage (like me) will not appoint governors at all. But, such a situation can easily be mitigated by limiting the number of colonies that the capital can directly control. If the player goes above the limit, an approval penalty can be imposed on the whole civilization. That will then force players to appoint colonial governors in older more developed systems before they colonize newer systems.
Each civilization can also be ascribed a different way of handling governors. For example, a very militaristic civilization like the Drengin will have a higher limit of colonies they can directly control because that is how an empire normally works. Governors in the Drengin will also have less autonomy since an empire is always ruled from the centre. On the other hand, the Terran Republic may have a lower limit since it is after all supposed to be a republic. Terran governors may then be ascribed more autonomy as a republic tends to be more decentralized.
I really hope that the concept of colonies and governors will be reviewed to make it a bit more realistic. The way it is shaped now just feels weird.
That's all for now. I will add in more of my thoughts and opinions as I get more into the game. Overall, Gal Civ 4 is a good improvement to Gal Civ 3. But, I believe it can be more epic, and I am glad that Stardock is giving us players the opportunity to help make it more epic.
I kept restarting. For some reason The Peace Keepers kept spawning in the system next to me. A very powerful fleet, basically game over before it starts. I hate Peace Keepers! I wish they would add an option to not have them.
In my current game, I just built Eyes of the Universe. Gigantic Map, 12 Empires (including mine), 3 other empires in my sector. And I'm pinned against the edge, with the others near me and in the middle. The other half of the sector is wide open. Most of the other Empires are in a sector by themselves. Very poor spawning.
Great feedback.
I think we should probably have a setting for minimum spawn distance players can play with at game setup screen.
I also think that the Peacekeepers need to be moved quite a bit further away.
Hey Frogboy have you seen this thread?
We probably need to do a better job of communicating this. But assigning a governor isn't just having a person in charge of the planet. Its dedicating resources to changing the planet from a small group of colonists scratching out a meager exitance there with whatever resources the colony ship provides, into a world with cities, factories, and amusement parks. Where entire generations live, grow, and raise their families.
The assigning governor function is just the way that decision is handled. It might make sense to do it the other way around and pay to have a world changed from a colony to a core world. And once it is a core world you have the ability to assign a governor. Or (in an earlier design) we had it so that every world was a colony for X turns, then it would eventually "level up" and you could choose to pay to turn it into a core world.
But both of those systems were not as elegant as just assigning a governor (that's where the cost is paid). But you are right, you lose a little of the epic feeling.
Well if you made it so you couldn’t immediately assign a governor then I couldn’t cheese the system by rushing a dangerous colony and immediately putting a governor on it while the precursors and space monsters kick rocks.
Alright I've played long enough to have an informed opinion. Here are some of my praises and concerns:
Core Planets and Colonies
First let me say I love the concept of Core Planets and feeder Colonies. Could we please get the ability to see the landscape of a Colony, so we can choose wisely whether it's our best option for a Core Planet? Maybe a "Survey Planet" option, with a Survey Ship.
There are way too many Class 1 and 2 planets. It costs much more in resources to support these feeder colonies, than the benefits we gain from them. These should be rare, with Classes 3, 4, and 5 being the common size.
On a side note, I made a Class 13 Colony a Core Planet, but it only had 10 tiles??? Nothing said it was -3 btw. One of those tiles was a Wasteland (right next to the Colony Capital), and there were a couple of Deserts as well. What a waste. If I had known, I would left it a feeder colony. I must remember to save. I really dislike save scumming, but in this case ...
Technology
The Tech Tree and Research History features are coming, and they are most welcome.
I like the random cards. But certain basic techs should not disappear because I research something else. I researched Universal Translator 2nd, and lost Starbases because of it, I was going to research it next. I had to reshuffle 3 times to get it back!
Empire Spawning and Peace Keepers
Ok so that's already been addressed in this thread. But I'd like to add a suggestion. Make Peace Keepers a mid-game event. That way it may cost me, but I should be able to handle them.
Ideology
Ok so it's getting a big revamp. Good because I just don't get it. I've been playing Individualist. But most of the time, that's not an option. Even when it is, I go to the screen, and it says I don't have any Culture Points. Do I need Ideology Points or Culture Points or both?
Resources
Not much to say on this, except that I believe Techapods being necessary for Economic Starbases (factories and such) is a mistake imo. They are too rare. If you get them on your Homeworld great. But if find them on another world, its take way too long to build them up, to receive a benefit. I'd like to see a more common resource used instead.
Final Thoughts ... For Now
I know this game is in Alpha, and Stardock has done an amazing job so far. It looks really good. I've been playing GalCiv since 2, so there's not much of a learning curve for me. I have high hopes that this will become my favorite TBS game. And that I will be playing it for the next decade.
I agree there are two many class 1 and two planets, but if we are not building anything in the colonies; then, there is not point in having class 3,4 and 5 other than getting one more citizen we can’t use that can consume one for food. I think is an half production point. You lose one food for half a production point. You can’t use any tiles on a colony. I suggested auto building. They said it failed; probably because, of to many micro managers like me. This is a different system. I’m sure auto building would work better than the current system. I would accept a separate build que for colonies than core planets.
I haven't seen any Colony get more citizens due to a higher size class. In my experience so far a Class 8 feeder (meaning "feeds" their resources to a Core Colony), still caps at 3 colonists (more with techs and artifacts). But as feeder Colonies they send more resources back to their Core Planet. So a Class 5 may send 3 Production, and 2 Science for example. A Class 2 with 3 colonists consumes 3 food, but only sends 2 whatever back to its core. A very poor exchange in my opinion. That's not to mention you need to station a ship there for morale purposes, wasting more resources.
A very poor exchange I agree, but a higher class planet that doesn’t build anything. A class 5 or so colony. Ok I agree colonies cap out at 3 population is dependent on class. Class one or two would have a one or two citizen you couldn’t use where a class three, four, or five or oils cap out at three citizens. I have seen a different number from f citizens on colonies. My guess some planet types limits this citizen cap at one colonists. Without a further learning, my guess population to production works as three where you get a half point of production for a citizen. Under the current system it doesn’t use any extra tiles on the colony. I suggested autobuilding the extra tiles. They said no it doesn’t work in three. I think four is a different setup. Brad has all ready pointed out this system is done to cut down on micromanagement, and we won’t be building on tiles without a governor. I can see they don’t build on tiles in the colonies.
Yes there are some planets that have a -2 Population Cap. If you hover your mouse over the planet, it tells you that. All Precursor Planets I've encountered have this.
In GalCiv3 you could have 5 planets sponsor a shipyard. Now a single Core Planet sponsors a shipyard, and Minor Colonies sponsor Core Planets. But if you want to make most of your colonies Cores, you can with Governors. So have it. I like the feeder system, it makes sense. And it helps build powerful Core Colonies to dominate with. Yes you're not improving your Minor Colonies, but that's not their function. They are support.
I definitely would like to replace Governors. I realize we won't be able to recall a Governor, because that would demote a colony from Core to Minor. Which is why I want to be able to see a Minor Colonies landscape. To determine whether it's worth investing in. Not all Class 12s (or whatever size) are equal.
Oh I agree. Industrial sectors giving +1 % is pretty lame. Same with farming sectors, just feels very underwhelming. For industry, I've been using Fusion Power Plants and Elon's Lift as hubs. But the former takes forever to build; and with the later, you only get 1 per Galaxy. There is probably more improvements we'll be able to use as hubs, but I can't tell because we don't have access to the Tech Tree yet.
player, and a galactic achievement. This is 100%every planet gets base manufacturing, 300% every player gets on one planet not just manufacturing, but growth also. Ok in three we just didn’t get raw production, but we also built up planets. In four we get from the majority of our planets is raw production. I don’t understand if all we get from the majority of our planets is raw production, why nerf our buildings, and hubs. If we can’t build most of our planets. I suggested auto building, and got shut down.
In a setup up like this our improvements Need to bu duped up to pick up the slack, not nerfed.
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