GalCiv 1.02 released

[Brad Wardell]

The stand alone update of Galactic Civilizations 1.02 is now available.

It's available at http://www.galciv.com in the Downloads area.

Here's what's new in it over version 1.01 (1.01 is the "BonusPak" version that came out on March 26th).

New in Versio 1.02 (April 15th 1.02.49).
+ AI improved in trading
+ minimap refreshes when ship moves even when zoomed now
+ AI Starbase tactics improved
+ AI battle tactics improved
+ AI at "Intelligent" level or higher harder
+ AI at "sub+normal" or lower is now easier
+ Fundamentally better AI overall (not harder, but more intelligent).
+ Trade screen will update on the fly when you're using the money slider on trade deals.
+ AI bargains more intelligently
+ AI tweaks to be less war happy in certain circumstances
+ Cannot attack allies, must break alliance first
+ Misc tweaks to gameplay
+ Auto+Launch Completed Ships button in Planet Screen
+ Minimap Toggable in Planet screen using Zoom Buttons
+ sort planet list by governor
+ AI much more intelligent in trading with one another
+ Made AI negotiation skills improved
+ Changed navigation bonus to be +moves rather than a percent
+ AI easier to trade techs back and forth with.
+ AI puts more emphasis on how far away an empire is before deciding to go to war
+ planet/ship lists refresh if open at beginning of turn
+ optimized Listbox painting a bit
+ option to disable just event music in prefs.ini
+ code to make ship leave orbit if moved from ship list
+ GalCiv AI tweaked so that it bargains more intelligently at lower levels
+ General difficulty level affects which random events will be used (i.e. no more getting clobbered by an advanced story arc when you're just learning the game)
+ New Cut scene: When a player dies, you get a cut scene of ships conquering them.
+ New random event + population boom.
+ Social programs cost slightly less to maintain
+ Details screen now displays how much maint. completed projects use "(X)" by their names.
+ Added 2 new random events
+ Anti+Cheat methods beefed up
+ Metaverse submits difficulty level
+ Metaverse displays your good/evil rating
+ Metaverse includes more game data (cheaters/trainer users beware, we used to write trainers, we'll put "Cheater" as the difficulty level if you're caught cheating).
+ Some random events come later in the game.
+ Terraformer can be built

Fixes
+ Duplicate Trade Goods / Wonders Fixed
+ autolaunch off after invasion/defect/trade star
+ fixed bug where game always opened planet data screen with sol, even if it had been invaded/traded
+ fixed slider cras on trade screen introduced in 1.02.40.
+ fixed a bug where fleets had flaky hit detection if they were moving off screen
+ ships on auto attack get dest cancelled after peace treaty now
+ sector sweep, etc, cancelled when you trade a ship
+ Fixed Welfare UP Issue (used to pick on poor humans too much <g>)
+ Fixed ship HP abilities crash
+ "Leaving UP and still affected by laws" bug fixed
+ fixed another endless dialog problem
+ fixed bug where cultural victory countdown was not saved
+ moved calc abilities for humans to make sure that ships will get bonuses calculated in
+ fleet invasion casualties bug fixed
+ fixed crash when viewing info on political parties
+ fixed star density not saving in prefs file
+ fixed bug that was overwriting DisableEventMusic
+ fixed backward tribute bug.
+ random buttons hide when race disabled
+ fixed dead ship maint bug
+ fixed trade routes not clearing when load/start new game bug
+ fixed up message coming late bug
+ Fixed tribute bug
+ Divide by Zero crash (Thanks bunboy)
+ Terror Star destroying stars could cause data corruption to starship object (Thanks bunboy)
+ Metaverse submissions should work for all players
+ Technology Trade United Planets issue nerfed
+ Crash bug in diplomacy screen hopefully fixed

Thanks guys. You guys and the feedback on Usenet and from our forums really molded what got prioritized for being enhanced in the first couple weeks.

I think the ship auto-launch and the mini-map / planet list toggle and the dynamic negotiation slider thingy on the trade screen all came from the Qt3 forum.

[Doug Jones]

Fantastic! I don't have galciv on the computer with the internet connection so I had too wait for the standalone patch. Great news especially the AI uptdates I just beat my first game on impossible and was a bit worried about the difficulty.

Well I'm off to try it out!

[electragician]

Brad, I'm enjoying the game quite a bit, which is really saying something as I've never been real big into turn based strategy.. I think it was the space theme that sucked me in :D

I do have one question though:

I rather like playing in windowed mode and having to decrease my desktop colordepth to 16bit, while not a show stopper, is a pain in the ass. Do you guys have any plans to make the windowed version compatable with 32 bit desktop color?

[XPav]

Heck, do they have plans to update the windowed version? That's how I play. Why can't they put them in the same exe with a command line switch?

[Met_K]

They're updating the windowed version, but I believe you have to use Stardock Central to get the updates, since there's not been a major patch yet.

[Peter Frazier]

I've noticed one graphics glitch in the latest update- when you choose the 'minor planets' tab, rather than the image of the race's insignia coming up the image of the last major race you had selected will appear. Caused me a little confusion but it's not a showstopper.

[XPav]

They're updating the windowed version, but I believe you have to use Stardock Central to get the updates, since there's not been a major patch yet.
When I went and looked a new version wasn't there, but now I check and it is....

Conspiracy to make me look stupid!

[Chris Nahr]

Yeah, but it's still 16 bits only. Braaaad, heeeelp! :wink:

[Brad Wardell]

Brad, I'm enjoying the game quite a bit, which is really saying something as I've never been real big into turn based strategy.. I think it was the space theme that sucked me in :D

I do have one question though:

I rather like playing in windowed mode and having to decrease my desktop colordepth to 16bit, while not a show stopper, is a pain in the ass. Do you guys have any plans to make the windowed version compatable with 32 bit desktop color?

As soon as Microsoft changes DirectX to support 16bit DX windows in 32bit desktop colors it'll work. ;)

[Brad Wardell]

Check this out:

For the upcoming expansion pack (which will be free):

http://draginol.stardock.com/temp/tech.jpg

[Derek Smart [3000AD]]

The stand alone update of Galactic Civilizations 1.02 is now available.

:shock: And I thought I had laundry lists :D

[Ergo]

A rectum navigator? Kickass!!

[Met_K]

I've noticed one graphics glitch in the latest update- when you choose the 'minor planets' tab, rather than the image of the race's insignia coming up the image of the last major race you had selected will appear. Caused me a little confusion but it's not a showstopper.

To add to this, if the last major race you had selected was being destabilized/esp.'d, the sliders are set for the minor race as well as the image. Nothing major, but confusing nonetheless.

[Met_K]

Also:

I'm sure I'm just missing something, but if you mass-select a bunch of ships, you cannot make them all auto-attack/auto-survey. It only auto's the unit you gather information on. Also, when mass-selecting a bunch of units, you cannot all make them goto one spot. It only sends the the main unit.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong, and my terminology is off, but it still doesn't seem right.

[Skinner]

I need some Wacky Fruit Cakes my damn self! :D

[Mark Bussman]

I was going to wait for the demo, since this isn't my primary gaming genre interest, but seeing it over at Best Buy was tempting, and I picked it up to look at it. I was standing next to two other guys looking at the box at the same time. They asked me if I knew anything about it. I said that I had been following the development but was trying to hold out for the demo for the above reason. The one guy was like, "Man, I don't know if I should get it or not," to which I replied, "You got burned by MOO3 didn't you?", "Oh yeah." So then I talked about the updates that have been added so far, and the 1 year development commitment and sold the guy on it. So then I said, "What the heck, I'll take the plunge with you." :lol:

So not only did I impulse buy a copy for myself, but I managed to sell another one to a total stranger. :lol:

[Brad Wardell]

Wow thanks!

Now I just need to get my mom out there. Then maybe she'll stop sending me clippings of various help wanted ads for entry level engineers and such.

"I just hate to see you waste your life on making silly programs when you have a perfectly good electrical engineering degree."

[Brandon Clements]

"I just hate to see you waste your life on making silly programs when you have a perfectly good electrical engineering degree."
You should frame that and put it over your desk :lol:

Seriously, I'm not even a fan of the genre and I want to pick up a copy of this game. Customer support like this has sold me. Keep up the good work Brad!

[Sten Friberg]

Brad,
that screenshot is really interesting. Primarily because I now, finally, can find my way around my own lower GI-tract. :D
But seriously, all but two of the sectors in the minimap are marked with that "still unexplored" haze-thingy, but you can still see the small X's, denoting strategic resources. And the color of the enemy systems.
Why is that?

[Brad Wardell]

We have a tech called "Stellar Vision" that isn't in the released game. He must have it.

[Lavoris]

So far I'm having a lot of fun with this game. I stink at it, but that's another thread. Anyway, I have a question:

A Drengin freighter shows up at one of my colonies to trade some stuff. When I get the message to this effect I can only click "Done". This takes up one of my trade routes, and I can't figure out how to get rid of it, since it doesn't show up on the list in the 'Trade' screen. (It shows up in the trade routes mini-map, however.)

How do I kill this trade route so I can establish a different one? If I blow up the freighter, they declare war. Or is it a valid tactic to start trading with a race that doesn't want your trade? Or do I stink at this even worse than I thought?

[Brad Grenz]

Brad, I don't know if you realize this, but you are seriously behind in the cold war of screenshot proliferation against the formidable forces of Derek Smart...

[Peter Frazier]

A quick question, Brad W, is there any way to put constructors on 'guard' mode? When I'm nearing the end of a game and I have several groups of them formed up ready to culture bomb a neutral sector, I'd like it if the unit cycling would ignore them. At the moment the only choices I see are to set up a starbase and to dismiss the unit. (Or, is there a a list of keyboard shortcuts that I could use to get to the next units?).

[Smaugbelly]

Hey Brad, Stardock Central seems to be broken. I can't log on to Drengin Net, and even access galciv.com gives an error of

"The page cannot be displayed
There are too many people accessing the Web site at this time. "

Too many people downloading the patch, perhaps?

[Brad Wardell]

A quick question, Brad W, is there any way to put constructors on 'guard' mode? When I'm nearing the end of a game and I have several groups of them formed up ready to culture bomb a neutral sector, I'd like it if the unit cycling would ignore them. At the moment the only choices I see are to set up a starbase and to dismiss the unit. (Or, is there a a list of keyboard shortcuts that I could use to get to the next units?).

YEs: Press G (guard).

There's also a little button on the panel that should do it too. ;)

[Brad Wardell]

So far I'm having a lot of fun with this game. I stink at it, but that's another thread. Anyway, I have a question:

A Drengin freighter shows up at one of my colonies to trade some stuff. When I get the message to this effect I can only click "Done". This takes up one of my trade routes, and I can't figure out how to get rid of it, since it doesn't show up on the list in the 'Trade' screen. (It shows up in the trade routes mini-map, however.)

How do I kill this trade route so I can establish a different one? If I blow up the freighter, they declare war. Or is it a valid tactic to start trading with a race that doesn't want your trade? Or do I stink at this even worse than I thought?

It doesn't use your trade route slot. Each race has X number of trade routes that they can use.

ONly trade routes you create will use your slots.

[Tyjenks]

So far I'm having a lot of fun with this game. I stink at it, but that's another thread. Anyway, I have a question:

A Drengin freighter shows up at one of my colonies to trade some stuff. When I get the message to this effect I can only click "Done". This takes up one of my trade routes, and I can't figure out how to get rid of it, since it doesn't show up on the list in the 'Trade' screen. (It shows up in the trade routes mini-map, however.)

How do I kill this trade route so I can establish a different one? If I blow up the freighter, they declare war. Or is it a valid tactic to start trading with a race that doesn't want your trade? Or do I stink at this even worse than I thought?

It doesn't use your trade route slot. Each race has X number of trade routes that they can use.

ONly trade routes you create will use your slots.

What Brad meant to say is that, yes, you do, in fact, stink much worse than you thought. :wink:

It does show up on the trade mini-map as a trade route, but those shown are incoming and outgoing trade. Your alloted routes are for trade which originates from one of your star systems. Those you can highlight and kill. The others are more like "free cash" from whoever decides to drop by.

[Mark Bussman]

What Brad meant to say is that, yes, you do, in fact, stink much worse than you thought. :wink:

It does show up on the trade mini-map as a trade route, but those shown are incoming and outgoing trade. Your alloted routes are for trade which originates from one of your star systems. Those you can highlight and kill. The others are more like "free cash" from whoever decides to drop by.

Yeah, but the other guy gets cash from it too. What if you want to deny him that money? Is blowing up the freighter the only way to do it? Or is there a way of saying, "No thanks, we're not interested in your Mama Drengin's Blood Worms?"

[Tyjenks]

What Brad meant to say is that, yes, you do, in fact, stink much worse than you thought. :wink:

It does show up on the trade mini-map as a trade route, but those shown are incoming and outgoing trade. Your alloted routes are for trade which originates from one of your star systems. Those you can highlight and kill. The others are more like "free cash" from whoever decides to drop by.

Yeah, but the other guy gets cash from it too. What if you want to deny him that money? Is blowing up the freighter the only way to do it? Or is there a way of saying, "No thanks, we're not interested in your Mama Drengin's Blood Worms?"

Aaaaah. Now that's a poser. I would say to decline a freight route would simply be above your station as Commander or carry dire consequences which would result in war. OTOH, maybe Brad needs to do his Stardock Central Magic (tm) and add a decline button when the notification pops up.

[Lavoris]

It doesn't use your trade route slot. Each race has X number of trade routes that they can use.

ONly trade routes you create will use your slots.

Thanks for the response...At the time this happened, I had two active trade routes. Trying to create another brought up the "we've reached the maximum number of trade routes" message.

I thought I had three available, so how do I find out how the maximum I have available at a given time? (I am pretty certain that no laws had been passed limiting my trade routes.)

*Edit: didn't ask the right question the first time. Or the second.

[Tyjenks]

I thought I had three available, so how do I find out how the maximum I have available at a given time? .

Under the trade tab, the numbers listed are the total available. The actual numbers (1., 2., 3., etc.) will be increased as more routes are available. If you do not have your full compliment, there will be a number with nothing next to it. If all numbers have routes beside them, you are full up.

[Lavoris]

OK, got it. Thanks a bunch.

[Tyjenks]

There is another big ass update. Ver. 1.03 now.

Whether you think these are refinements/balances that should have been made before release or not, Stardock's ability to release updates and the painless process on the player's part is handy.

[Met_K]

Handy? It's genius!

The only thing it needs now is a feature to auto-check for updates at some interval throughout the week (say 4am every morning) and it'd be perfecto.

[Brad Wardell]

Handy? It's genius!

The only thing it needs now is a feature to auto-check for updates at some interval throughout the week (say 4am every morning) and it'd be perfecto.

Ironically, yesterday's update was put up at 4AM! ;)

We're working on a tray program that will do something like that.