Near gold screenshots for GalCiv II - Page 2

Brad Wardell · 01-30-2006, 01:12 PM

There are limits to Terraforming (right now). There is no Genesis type device. You could, for instance, potentially take a class 5 planet (Mars like) and turn it into a class 9 (near Earth). But you can't, for instance, take a class 5 planet and turn it into a class 20 (some sort of Eden type planet).

Frumple · 01-30-2006, 01:48 PM

Nothing to add except the game is looking outstanding! Can't wait to pick it up!

olaf · 01-30-2006, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brad Wardell

The retail box has a printed manual. The download version is a PDF. Though we could let people get the printed manual in exchange for shipping/handling or something. Haven't really thought of it.

I will be getting the game through your download service, but I would love an option like this. Printed manual>PDF

olaf

Equisilus · 01-30-2006, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moore

Wow, I just went from zero interest to MUST BUY ON RELEASE. (I never played galciv 1)

Almost the same for me, although I went to interested enough to track the game and see if I have the time to play it when it's released (rather than must-buy). I've been looking for something a little different but still in the genres I enjoy, and this might be the game that fits that bill.

[Edit] Went on an information discovery journey and have to say I'm even more interested now than I was just that short bit ago. How does the game run on a widescreen LCD? I've a 2005FPW as my primary display, and am curious if the game supports 1680x1050.

Damien Neil · 01-30-2006, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobJustBob

Wow, I hope I never have to meet these people that you assume are the norm, not the exception. That sounds horrid. People actually do that?

Pretty much everyone I know who played WC, yes.

Oh, sure, lots tried it the other way. I did. Then you find yourself in a dead-end "hah, hah, you lose" mission sequence. What are you going to do then? Start the game over from the first mission every time that happens?

Jason Lutes · 01-30-2006, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Damien Neil

Oh, sure, lots tried it the other way. I did. Then you find yourself in a dead-end "hah, hah, you lose" mission sequence. What are you going to do then? Start the game over from the first mission every time that happens?

Huh, so do you think maybe that was a problem with the WC developers' design of the campaign, or with the very notion of a branching win/loss campaign structure? That's a rhetorical question.

Anyway, as Brad says, you can always reload from a save and replay a mission until you win it, so the complaint is pointless. Save your breath, Mr. Neil!

Kalle · 01-30-2006, 04:32 PM

Hey Brad, what do you imagine a class "a lot better than earth" type planet looks like? And why wouldn't whatever it is that makes it so good be irrevocably fucked up by us settling on it?

Lunch of Kong · 01-30-2006, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by olaf

I will be getting the game through your download service, but I would love an option like this. Printed manual>PDF

Speaking generally, and hijacking the thread about Brad's gorgeous-looking game, would you be satisfied if there was a special PDF version of a manual that you could print then fold in half to make a booklet?

Damien Neil · 01-30-2006, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason Lutes

Huh, so do you think maybe that was a problem with the WC developers' design of the campaign, or with the very notion of a branching win/loss campaign structure? That's a rhetorical question.

I think that "I kicked their butts, raarrr" is going to be inherently more satisfying than "After a long campaign in which I managed to win 2.3 battles, the enemy nuked my home planet, ate my dog, and slept with my girlfriend".

And that if the end result of losing every battle I fight is anything other than "I lose", I'm going to wonder why I bothered getting out there and risking my life in the first place.

Igor Muravyev · 01-30-2006, 09:31 PM

I'm very interested now :). What's the best way to buy this game [read: more $ for developers]?

mtkafka · 01-30-2006, 09:53 PM

WOW~! HAVE PIE! HAVE PIE!

GAL CIV II, OBLIVION and BFMEII... lots of good stuff the coming months!

etc

Igor Muravyev · 01-30-2006, 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mtkafka

WOW~! HAVE PIE! HAVE PIE!

GAL CIV II, OBLIVION and BFMEII... lots of good stuff the coming months!

etc

If BFME2 is anything like BFME1 then I'm not really sure why it deserves to be in the same line as the other 2 games?

Sparky · 01-30-2006, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpoofyChop

If it does just remember: don't jump on the couch and proclaim your undying love for Sparky.

Spoofy, Spoofy, Spoofy. YOU'RE GLIB.

mtkafka · 01-30-2006, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Igor Muravyev

If BFME2 is anything like BFME1 then I'm not really sure why it deserves to be in the same line as the other 2 games?

Im mainly interested in BFMEII because it seems to be 'borrowing' alot from Warlords Battlecry. That enough is a must buy for me. Plus if you play the beta... just whip out that Balrog (with the Gobs)... awesome indeed!

etc

Shadari · 01-30-2006, 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mtkafka

Im mainly interested in BFMEII because it seems to be 'borrowing' alot from Warlords Battlecry.

On that note, does anyone know if the heroes in BFMEII are going to be persistent and will they have a level cap?

SuperHiro · 01-30-2006, 10:27 PM

IIRC, they'll be persistent but no level cap. the only thing they'll carry from game to game are kill stats. I think of them as custom WCIII heroes that you carry from game to game.

Sean Hargraves · 01-31-2006, 07:08 AM

Just read the preview at Gamespy and now I have to say I AM excited about this game. I'll probably wait for the first impressions of the game from the other posters here, but it most likely won't be a long wait if what is promised is delivered.

Jack · 01-31-2006, 08:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kalle

Hey Brad, what do you imagine a class "a lot better than earth" type planet looks like? And why wouldn't whatever it is that makes it so good be irrevocably fucked up by us settling on it?

Of course, this is all fantasy and like arguing about why Elves have pointy ears. But just pretend that it's a planet that somehow flourishes with our presences -- perfectly suited to work in concert with whatever the fuck our race of choice does to it. If you don't like that answer, make up another one.

mystery · 01-31-2006, 08:34 AM

I still miss the artificial planets from MOO2. Filling up my systems with artificial planets really appealed to my "builder" ethic.

That being said, I had difficulty preordering today. Why doesn't your preorder system understand typed entries that have been distorted by the sheer amount of drool dumped over a keyboard? Given the product in question, I'd think there'd have to be at least a small amount of fuzzy logic. Of course, you'd also have to put in some routines to filter out all of the "123 Main Stre...OMG OMG JUST GIVE ME THE GAME".

Ever since I played my first 4x4 game back in 87 or 88 (Planets represented by ASCII characters...so only 26 possible planets), I've been dreaming about this very game. For that, I thank you, Brad. Much Brokeback Mountain love in your direction.

Brad Wardell · 01-31-2006, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by olaf

I will be getting the game through your download service, but I would love an option like this. Printed manual>PDF

olaf

I wonder if there are already services that do this. Over at deviantART, they use cafe press or something for printing out photos and such. I wonder if there are places that print PDFs and turn them into nice booklets on the fly.

Brad Wardell · 01-31-2006, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Equisilus

[Edit] Went on an information discovery journey and have to say I'm even more interested now than I was just that short bit ago. How does the game run on a widescreen LCD? I've a 2005FPW as my primary display, and am curious if the game supports 1680x1050.

I'll try to put up a screenshot of it running on one of those portrait monitors (i.e. 1200x1600). We used DesktopX to design the screens. It's designed to make resolution independent desktops. So things aren't just stretched. Different objects (list boxes or buttons or display areas) can be independently scaled and resized based on the UI designer's preference). For instance, on the tech tree screen, as the vertical resolution increases, the tech tree part of the scren expands while the rest does not since most users are likely to want to see more of that than other parts.

eliandi · 01-31-2006, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Damien Neil

I think that "I kicked their butts, raarrr" is going to be inherently more satisfying than "After a long campaign in which I managed to win 2.3 battles, the enemy nuked my home planet, ate my dog, and slept with my girlfriend".

And that if the end result of losing every battle I fight is anything other than "I lose", I'm going to wonder why I bothered getting out there and risking my life in the first place.

True enough, as far as it goes. Winning in general does feel better, but I hate being forced to reload repeatedly just to move the story.

When I played WC, or any game with branching storylines, and I lose a scenario, I would determine if I had screwed up or if I did my best but still failed. If I screwed up, I would reload. Otherwise, I'd simply move on. Giving the option of a viable "lose" storyline both adds depth and punch, especially in a war scenario. Having a viable branching storyline is also an out for those notorious single-solution scenarios many games have.

Brad Wardell · 01-31-2006, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kalle

Hey Brad, what do you imagine a class "a lot better than earth" type planet looks like? And why wouldn't whatever it is that makes it so good be irrevocably fucked up by us settling on it?

Well, in my opinion it would have more useable area (maybe somewhat less ocean, more fertile or productive areas).

As for screwing up the planet, that issue actually does come up. You land on a planet and there's already a preindustrial society inhabiting it. What do you do?

Piemax2 · 01-31-2006, 09:32 AM

I find it hard to avoid reloading after a "loss" but on my second play-through of PzG I did manage to accept minor victories instead of replaying (and replaying and replaying, in some cases like Norway) to get a major one. So I wonder how many possible outcomes a campaign scenario of GalCiv2 can have?

Brad Wardell · 01-31-2006, 10:53 AM

That's what the galaxy map looks like on one of those high resolution portrait monitors.

DeepT · 01-31-2006, 10:57 AM

Unless the rating system of plaents has changed a lot, I am dissapointed that terraforming only gives a rating of 9 on a planet. Basically 16 was a decent planent, and 18 was a real gem, espeically once you added up all the upgrades and could get a high level 20 something planet.

So in Gal civ, can you take all those incredibly low rated planets, you know the 2s, 3s, 4s, etc... and turn them into high quality worlds at some point? Or will they always remain as inferior planets nomater what you do?

DeepT · 01-31-2006, 11:02 AM

Other questions, now that I am thinking about it.

Is it still a one-size fits all planent system? IE: A class 16 planet is the same for all races? While humans might be ok with a cold world, reptiles and insects would not be.

I heard you can customize your race. Is it possible to have a race that can easily live on one kind of world that another race hates? IE: Co-exist in the same star systems that you do not compete for the same kinds of planets?

Is the whole good/evil thing still in the game?

Are there speical techs available in the game unique to a race?

Brad Wardell · 01-31-2006, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeepT

Unless the rating system of plaents has changed a lot, I am dissapointed that terraforming only gives a rating of 9 on a planet. Basically 16 was a decent planent, and 18 was a real gem, espeically once you added up all the upgrades and could get a high level 20 something planet.

So in Gal civ, can you take all those incredibly low rated planets, you know the 2s, 3s, 4s, etc... and turn them into high quality worlds at some point? Or will they always remain as inferior planets nomater what you do?

The planet rating system is very different. The ratings determine how many useable tiles so Earth went from being "class 16" in GalCiv I to class 10. It's very unusually to find a planet greater than class 10 now.

A decent planet is class 6 to 9. Each tile is very precious.

Brad Wardell · 01-31-2006, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeepT

Other questions, now that I am thinking about it.

Is it still a one-size fits all planent system? IE: A class 16 planet is the same for all races? While humans might be ok with a cold world, reptiles and insects would not be.

I heard you can customize your race. Is it possible to have a race that can easily live on one kind of world that another race hates? IE: Co-exist in the same star systems that you do not compete for the same kinds of planets?

Is the whole good/evil thing still in the game?

Are there speical techs available in the game unique to a race?

There aren't special race tiles or anything of that nature. But there are special tiles (mineral rich, artifacts, etc.).

The different races get different racial abilities (humans are better diplomats, Drengin's have tougher ships, etc.). But the planets themselves are equally good/bad for all of them.

Brad Wardell · 01-31-2006, 11:57 AM

The good evil stuff is still in there as well but now you can also eventually choose an offical ethical alignment (based on your previous actions different alignments have different associated costs). That choice opens up different techs, abilities, and features.

We also have different soundtracks for good and evil too as well as different graphics and animations. In the Gamespy article, there's a picture of a robot news person, that robot means he was playing probably as the Drengin and playing them evil.

The alignment stuff in GalCiv II is similar to the civics in Civ IV.

01-30-2006, 01:12 PM	#31
Brad Wardell Social Worker Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 2,245	There are limits to Terraforming (right now). There is no Genesis type device. You could, for instance, potentially take a class 5 planet (Mars like) and turn it into a class 9 (near Earth). But you can't, for instance, take a class 5 planet and turn it into a class 20 (some sort of Eden type planet).

01-30-2006, 01:48 PM	#32
Frumple Broad Band Join Date: May 2003 Location: Gamertag:Dethmuffin Posts: 161	Nothing to add except the game is looking outstanding! Can't wait to pick it up!

01-30-2006, 04:32 PM	#37
Kalle New Romantic Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Gamertag: Kallews Posts: 9,242	Hey Brad, what do you imagine a class "a lot better than earth" type planet looks like? And why wouldn't whatever it is that makes it so good be irrevocably fucked up by us settling on it?

01-30-2006, 09:31 PM	#40
Igor Muravyev Social Worker Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Washington Posts: 4,191	I'm very interested now :). What's the best way to buy this game [read: more $ for developers]?

01-30-2006, 09:53 PM	#41
mtkafka Social Worker Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Chicagoland, IL Posts: 2,927	WOW~! HAVE PIE! HAVE PIE! GAL CIV II, OBLIVION and BFMEII... lots of good stuff the coming months! etc

01-30-2006, 10:27 PM	#46
SuperHiro Hustle Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 348	IIRC, they'll be persistent but no level cap. the only thing they'll carry from game to game are kill stats. I think of them as custom WCIII heroes that you carry from game to game.

01-31-2006, 07:08 AM	#47
Sean Hargraves Mad Chester Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: The Desert Posts: 1,208	Just read the preview at Gamespy and now I have to say I AM excited about this game. I'll probably wait for the first impressions of the game from the other posters here, but it most likely won't be a long wait if what is promised is delivered.

01-31-2006, 08:34 AM	#49
mystery Social Worker Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 2,509	I still miss the artificial planets from MOO2. Filling up my systems with artificial planets really appealed to my "builder" ethic. That being said, I had difficulty preordering today. Why doesn't your preorder system understand typed entries that have been distorted by the sheer amount of drool dumped over a keyboard? Given the product in question, I'd think there'd have to be at least a small amount of fuzzy logic. Of course, you'd also have to put in some routines to filter out all of the "123 Main Stre...OMG OMG JUST GIVE ME THE GAME". Ever since I played my first 4x4 game back in 87 or 88 (Planets represented by ASCII characters...so only 26 possible planets), I've been dreaming about this very game. For that, I thank you, Brad. Much Brokeback Mountain love in your direction.

01-31-2006, 09:32 AM	#54
Piemax2 Hustle Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 420	I find it hard to avoid reloading after a "loss" but on my second play-through of PzG I did manage to accept minor victories instead of replaying (and replaying and replaying, in some cases like Norway) to get a major one. So I wonder how many possible outcomes a campaign scenario of GalCiv2 can have?

01-31-2006, 10:53 AM	#55
Brad Wardell Social Worker Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 2,245	That's what the galaxy map looks like on one of those high resolution portrait monitors.

01-31-2006, 10:57 AM	#56
DeepT New Romantic Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Lost Posts: 5,090	Unless the rating system of plaents has changed a lot, I am dissapointed that terraforming only gives a rating of 9 on a planet. Basically 16 was a decent planent, and 18 was a real gem, espeically once you added up all the upgrades and could get a high level 20 something planet. So in Gal civ, can you take all those incredibly low rated planets, you know the 2s, 3s, 4s, etc... and turn them into high quality worlds at some point? Or will they always remain as inferior planets nomater what you do?

01-31-2006, 11:02 AM	#57
DeepT New Romantic Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Lost Posts: 5,090	Other questions, now that I am thinking about it. Is it still a one-size fits all planent system? IE: A class 16 planet is the same for all races? While humans might be ok with a cold world, reptiles and insects would not be. I heard you can customize your race. Is it possible to have a race that can easily live on one kind of world that another race hates? IE: Co-exist in the same star systems that you do not compete for the same kinds of planets? Is the whole good/evil thing still in the game? Are there speical techs available in the game unique to a race?

01-31-2006, 11:57 AM	#60
Brad Wardell Social Worker Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 2,245	The good evil stuff is still in there as well but now you can also eventually choose an offical ethical alignment (based on your previous actions different alignments have different associated costs). That choice opens up different techs, abilities, and features. We also have different soundtracks for good and evil too as well as different graphics and animations. In the Gamespy article, there's a picture of a robot news person, that robot means he was playing probably as the Drengin and playing them evil. The alignment stuff in GalCiv II is similar to the civics in Civ IV.

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Near gold screenshots for GalCiv II