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Brad's politics are hilarious and talking about taxes is the easiest way to piss him off (besides reminding him about sexually harassing his female employees). Did anyone ever finish the Gal Civ 3 Crusade campaign, the SP missions are such a chore I only got up to the part what the Thalan block you from reaching Wardells (Brad named the main character after himself lol) fleet. How does it end? Does the universe explode? The Brad posted:Imagine if in GalCIv II we let people set their taxes to 100% and there was no downside to this. Now, imagine if we put out GalCiv II v1.4 and we made it so you couldn’t change taxes. People would have been ticked off. Understandably. But I hope also that people would understand that such a system is broken. There’s no such thing a a free lunch. normal people posted:there is no "free lunch" taking place here. As posters in the forum thread quickly pointed out, running the spending wheel at 100% production means that the player isn't running it at 100% research or 100% wealth or any other combination of spending. If you put all your eggs in the manufacturing basket, you're getting nothing from the science or wealth baskets. That's a basic tradeoff - there's nothing "free" taking place here. (More technically speaking, every planet spends all of its income each turn, the player merely directing where it goes. Allocating that spending to the area with the highest bonuses isn't some form of trickery, it's basic strategy.) Thom12255 fucked around with this message at 01:18 on Sep 11, 2019 |
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Sep 11, 2019 01:15
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oscarthewilde posted:lol, Brad Wardell, founder of Stardock, creator of Gal Civ and all-around lovely human being is such a lovely libertarian he can't help but shoehorn his ideology into his games and and in so doing actively worsens the (already pretty lovely) game. And I thought only SJW's were ruining the industry by forcing their ideology into games. just lol That's also why Gal Civ explicitly had a Laffer Curve baked in.
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Sep 11, 2019 01:20
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oscarthewilde posted:
It's also pretty funny because I don't think anybody (except like some very bizarre conservatives) thinks that a government works without delegation and interpretation. The contrivance that the player just "controls" everything is a games joke, not a historical grounding.
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Sep 11, 2019 01:22
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ulmont posted:That's also why Gal Civ explicitly had a Laffer Curve baked in. Wait, seriously?  I don't know if that's funny or pathetic.
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Sep 11, 2019 01:43
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I dont know posted:Wait, seriously? It was either a Laffer Curve or explicit supply-side economics. I can't find a link now though that isn't secondhand, since it's been a minute.
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Sep 11, 2019 01:53
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Also isn't every 4x/grand strategy game ultimately about the player taking the role of a highly centralized autocratic god figure that centrally plans every aspect of their respective civilization? Trying to make a game in the genre where you don't centrally plan everything (i.e. have the player controlling everything) seems both pointless and likely to result in an extremely boring game where there isn't enough player agency to actually engage with it.
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Sep 11, 2019 02:35
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Paradox Games would like a word with you
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Sep 11, 2019 02:36
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AnEdgelord posted:Also isn't every 4x/grand strategy game ultimately about the player taking the role of a highly centralized autocratic god figure that centrally plans every aspect of their respective civilization? Trying to make a game in the genre where you don't centrally plan everything (i.e. have the player controlling everything) seems both pointless and likely to result in an extremely boring game where there isn't enough player agency to actually engage with it. The closest I can think of is Distant Worlds but that's purely because you can automate away anything you don't want to do yourself. I never play that way, but I'm sure it can result in strange decisions or behaviors if you roleplay Ship Designer Man and let the AI handle everything else.
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Sep 11, 2019 02:37
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Serephina posted:Paradox Games would like a word with you Ck2 is more of a character rpg at this point so I guess it would be the exception but EU4, Stellaris, and HoI4 all have the player centrally planning their country/space empire. I never played Vicky 2 so maybe thats different.
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Sep 11, 2019 02:40
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AnEdgelord posted:Also isn't every 4x/grand strategy game ultimately about the player taking the role of a highly centralized autocratic god figure that centrally plans every aspect of their respective civilization? Trying to make a game in the genre where you don't centrally plan everything (i.e. have the player controlling everything) seems both pointless and likely to result in an extremely boring game where there isn't enough player agency to actually engage with it. As a rule yeah, basically. The best game in terms of "creating a giant empire that has anything resembling real world governance" is probably friggin EVE.
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Sep 11, 2019 03:00
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There's something claustrophobic about the idea of establishing late 20th/early 21st century ideology as a fundamental force in a distant future where Mankind Has Conquered The Stars. Honestly I think Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom does more to address the reality of a post-scarcity economy than most sci fi ever does...Tulip posted:As a rule yeah, basically. The best game in terms of "creating a giant empire that has anything resembling real world governance" is probably friggin EVE. Or this, yes
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Sep 11, 2019 03:53
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I think there's a game in the idea of trying to find ways to operate a far-flung interstellar empire through hands-off methods and working through intermediary layers of authority, but it's definitely not a 4X game.
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Sep 11, 2019 05:41
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Endless Reigns
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Sep 11, 2019 06:02
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Serephina posted:I agree that pearls in particular are a lot of busy-work (I've not bought the more recent DLCs), but skipping them is totally fine. Or rather, just gathering the bare minimum as you walk past. There's only a few pearl buildings, they're relatively cheap for a tall-ish empire, and you won't miss them if you skip them. There are also towers and equipment you can sink pearls into. Of course those aren't must-have, but the point is if you try to optimize your play that a bunch of cheap scouts are extremely cost effective: you spend one turn in several cities to build them and each winter/twilight they bring pearls/dust, and this complements any playstyle. It would be a more valid choice if you'd have to spend research or dust or something else to unlock pearl building tears beyond the first one. Then not using them would be a valid choice, as if right now not engaging into a pearl/twilight temple busy work is almost always bad choice.
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Sep 11, 2019 06:54
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After the Empire edited to correct mistake habituallyred fucked around with this message at 10:32 on Sep 15, 2019 |
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Sep 11, 2019 10:43
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Defiance Industries posted:I think there's a game in the idea of trying to find ways to operate a far-flung interstellar empire through hands-off methods and working through intermediary layers of authority, but it's definitely not a 4X game. like a super-Majesty?
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Sep 11, 2019 13:55
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ilitarist posted:There are also towers and equipment you can sink pearls into. Of course those aren't must-have, but the point is if you try to optimize your play that a bunch of cheap scouts are extremely cost effective: you spend one turn in several cities to build them and each winter/twilight they bring pearls/dust, and this complements any playstyle. It would be a more valid choice if you'd have to spend research or dust or something else to unlock pearl building tears beyond the first one. Then not using them would be a valid choice, as if right now not engaging into a pearl/twilight temple busy work is almost always bad choice. But that's just the thing, the Temple of Auriga might have free unlocks for pearls, but all of those new toys come with a reasonable industry cost if you plan on building them. They're all good; but even given an infinite amount of pearls not every small city can afford to build the buildings, or even have eligible places for the districts. The stockpiles are only a good shortcut if you plan on getting the bigger stockpile upgrades later, the watchtowers compete directly (and are totally incompatible) with normal watchtower techs, and the pearl equipment cost so many pearls that few players can utilize it other than Shifters. Collecting the pearls every winter is busy work I agree, and the Hypothetical Optimal Man will torture himself to collect every last one, but like... a normal chill player who just grabs the easy & big pearls isn't going to be noticeably behind because he built a (eg) dust building instead of his 4th luxury enhancer. I think what the other poster said has some truth in it however: Turning on every DLC at the same time is not the way to go. Just pick & choose which ones you like. Tulip posted:like a super-Majesty?
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Sep 11, 2019 14:39
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Endless Space 2: Awakening DLC is out. Hopefully this one is better than Penumbra.
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Sep 12, 2019 18:16
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I have it, enjoy it so far. The Nakalim really change the game in an interesting way.
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Sep 12, 2019 19:16
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habituallyred posted:After the End has an interesting take on the idea of a hands off empire, but it is hard to call it a turn-based 4X. At anything above the easiest level your starting civilization choices will force you to be at war with rival groups. The economic layer has an interesting trade off between investing in small scale trade routes that you can monopolize or map spanning pilgrimage routes. Do you settle for a tiny piece of a giant pie or risk unpopular wars for a captive market. I tried to google this game but can't find anything on it.
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Sep 12, 2019 23:11
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Baronjutter posted:I tried to google this game but can't find anything on it. That's a mod for Crusader Kings II if I recall correctly
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Sep 13, 2019 00:00
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Thom12255 posted:Did anyone ever finish the Gal Civ 3 Crusade campaign, the SP missions are such a chore I only got up to the part what the Thalan block you from reaching Wardells (Brad named the main character after himself lol) fleet. How does it end? Does the universe explode? Brad has posted in their forums that he doesn't like the campaign and wants to do without it next time (and IIRC he didn't really want it in the first place). Also, lol at Sulla's take on GC3. I laugh because the gameplay style he said they were moving away from (small maps) turns out to be the way they were moving (they hosed huge map gameplay). I enjoyed GC3 at release, but it had a huge issue with the game crashing late game because of pathing and/or memory issues. NOTHING is worse in a 4x than spending 10+ hours on a map only to have it crash with no explanation and repeatedly crash whenever you load a save game and play through a 20+ minute turn only to keep crashing for reasons you can't prevent or correct or even simply understand.
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Sep 13, 2019 01:54
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Mizaq posted:Also, lol at Sulla's take on GC3. I laugh because the gameplay style he said they were moving away from (small maps) turns out to be the way they were moving (they hosed huge map gameplay). I enjoyed GC3 at release, but it had a huge issue with the game crashing late game because of pathing and/or memory issues. NOTHING is worse in a 4x than spending 10+ hours on a map only to have it crash with no explanation and repeatedly crash whenever you load a save game and play through a 20+ minute turn only to keep crashing for reasons you can't prevent or correct or even simply understand. It doesn't mean Sullla is wrong, they could move away from small maps and still screw up big maps. Brad is very proud of their x64 engine and always talks about how it allows for huge maps so it's easy to believe he likes big maps and he cannot lie. Last time I've tried GalCiv3 was last month. I was simultaneously overwhelmed and bored. The biggest difference between release and the current version I've noticed is that planet development is really unique now with a lot of non-generic tiles and planet-unique buildings. But the very essence felt flawed. On a not huge map, every decent planet is a giant asset so you might lose the game in first 30 turns if you send your ships to a wrong dead system and can't get your place under the sun in time. A lot of game mechanics were changed and tooltips do not reflect it: in an earlier version, you had to bring constructor to a space station to upgrade it. Now it's something else. I can't tell you how you upgrade the station, cause when I hover over the "Upgrade" button it's just disabled and it doesn't tell me why. The whole citizen system is also poorly explained in-game.
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Sep 13, 2019 08:33
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Anyone have any tips on Umbral Choir? I'm not sure I get how to play them.
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Sep 13, 2019 16:16
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Flipswitch posted:Anyone have any tips on Umbral Choir? I'm not sure I get how to play them. When you hack unoccupied systems, you can place a sanctuary on a planet you have the colonization tech for (if the system is colonized, you'll need to establish a couple Sleepers first). Each of these count as planets for buildings/techs that say "+X per planet on system" and apply to your home system. Once you start getting population on your sanctuaries, the output of those planets gets concentrated on your home system too. Eventually, your home will have ridiculous output. The concentrated output of the UC's home system makes building the Wonder victory obelisks pretty easy; the fact that systems with Sanctuaries count as colonized makes the Expansion victory easier (just watch your empire happiness); or you can just build a bunch of ships/behemoths & kill everyone (made easier since you can have any ships you build pop out at a designated sanctuary system when their construction is complete).
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Sep 14, 2019 04:26
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It's definitely snowballing now. Thanks! I started ages away from anyone else so it took me a while to get any Sleepers going. Now I started embedding them with my ally UE and they're getting annoyed I keep stealing their dudes.
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Sep 14, 2019 12:08
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Baronjutter posted:I tried to google this game but can't find anything on it. drat it, got the wires crossed in my head. Actually it is After the Empire. Goatee Games on steam. Read one too many after the end lps I guess.
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Sep 15, 2019 10:31
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Flipswitch posted:Anyone have any tips on Umbral Choir? I'm not sure I get how to play them. Uninstall penumbra. It's irredeemable garbage.
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Sep 16, 2019 02:12
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Generic Octopus posted:When you hack unoccupied systems, you can place a sanctuary on a planet you have the colonization tech for (if the system is colonized, you'll need to establish a couple Sleepers first). Each of these count as planets for buildings/techs that say "+X per planet on system" and apply to your home system. Once you start getting population on your sanctuaries, the output of those planets gets concentrated on your home system too. Eventually, your home will have ridiculous output. It's cool how this information doesn't appear anywhere in game, or in the manual, or on the official wiki or even the fan wiki.
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Sep 16, 2019 02:13
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Amethyst posted:Uninstall penumbra. It's irredeemable garbage. It rewards smart play with "not grinding through repeated "Conscription" defenses" which IMHO makes it the #2 best expansion after the music one.
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Sep 16, 2019 05:01
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The #1 expansion is the Vaulters one, obviously.
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Sep 16, 2019 06:14
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Amethyst posted:The #1 expansion is the Vaulters one, obviously.
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Sep 16, 2019 14:28
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I haven't played with Awakening yet so they're not here but my ranking of the DLC, best first Lost Symphony Harmonic Memories Penumbra Untold Tales Vaulters Celestial Worlds Supremacy
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Sep 16, 2019 14:49
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I got the newest expansion a couple of days ago. After the disappointment of the espionage xpac, this one was a pleasant surprise. Starting with all those extra techs gives a very different arc to the game- I started out beating up enemies and raiding their planets for fun, and then the battles got a little harder, and then I started losing fleets. (Although I'm sure a better player would have zero challenge breaking this faction.) Anyway, their music and ship design is FABULOUS. And I was wondering why my first faction hero looked kind of weird and stiff, until my next guy came along; I noticed he had a bunch of cuts all along his torso and was holding various organs in jars, and it finally sunk in that my empire didn't "emerge from hibernation"- they were, in fact, all dead and my dudes are basically Egyptian mummies.
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Oct 21, 2019 08:17
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I love the Nakalim homeworld is just loving Earth, but no one calls attention to it. They're the human progenitors.
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Oct 22, 2019 02:10
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The Unlife Aquatic posted:I love the Nakalim homeworld is just loving Earth, but no one calls attention to it. They're the human progenitors. How did I miss that!? That's messed up.
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Oct 22, 2019 02:13
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Tree Bucket posted:How did I miss that!? That's messed up. The continents have moved significantly and they're heading towards another supercontinent phase. (I'd guess something roughly like Amasia, North and South America have separated and South America is on a crash course with Africa while NA totters towards Asia) The Desert classification for the climate is still probs pretty accurate because the interior of the supercontinents is generally thought to have been arid steppe. e: It was easier to tell when the expac had just come out - the atmosphere was less brown so you could still see the shapes of Earth's old continents more clearly. The Unlife Aquatic fucked around with this message at 22:14 on Oct 22, 2019 |
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Oct 22, 2019 02:21
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The Unlife Aquatic posted:I love the Nakalim homeworld is just loving Earth, but no one calls attention to it. They're the human progenitors.
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Oct 22, 2019 13:47
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I started a game with the hacking xpac disabled, and was amazed at how much better the game became. No more random announcements about my planets being hacked! No, there's nothing you can do about it, and we won't tell you what the results of this are. I am missing the cloaked scouts and the ability to speed up sieges, though.
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Oct 30, 2019 03:20
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Not telling you the results of hacking is the kind of thing that sounds fun and thematic in concept but actually just leads to annoying busywork.
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Nov 1, 2019 02:33
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