Octopus Overlords

Fitzy wrote: ↑Tue Mar 20, 2018 3:05 pm I thought sliders were gone?

Yeah, I have to say I was a bit dismayed after reading that a slider was being added after all the work to remove them.

It's not a slider. It's a horizontal axis with micro-infintesimal data points. Totally different.

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 20, 2018 2:38 pm

Daehawk wrote: ↑Tue Mar 20, 2018 2:32 pm Until I looked at the start of this thread I thought this came out last year or two years ago....but 2013?? 5 years??? Damn man. I still remember and sometimes watch that teaser videos where the Humans come through a warp and start laying wastes lol.

With the updates it's still feels current. Admittedly I haven't played it as much as I thought I would, just a few hours here and there, but I put a lot of hours into the first two iterations since I find the concept fairly appealing.

I finally got into it just a few months ago, and lately it's become my go-to game. Even though I've beaten it once as each race now, I still have some goals to reach before the expansion comes out and changes everything.

Fitzy wrote: ↑Tue Mar 20, 2018 3:05 pm I struggle with this game, I have too easy of time on one difficulty and too hard on another. I'll keep trying after patches, I really want to like it.

Bumping the difficulty up from normal to genius is one of those goals. So far I've only tried it once, and it did not go well. But I was playing a custom race (Andorans) who aren't the best, so I'll try again as the Vulcans or Romulans.

Well geez, it's no wonder I'm getting clobbered on Gifted. Look at these modifiers. Guess I need to drop back down to Normal and stay there, at least as long as I'm playing the user-created custom races. My Romulans are firmly in last place in all ratings despite having a good start location with 12 nice colonies (huge map).

Dang. I wonder if people who play at the top are really that good, or do they find exploits?

I don't know; maybe they define starting conditions that favor them. I pretty much always use the same parameters with random opponents, but if you were to play against only the weakest races....

My Romulans haven't lost yet, but I can't see myself coming from behind with those handicaps -- last in tech, last in production, diplomatically unpopular...I have a nice empire that's ripe for the picking, and the #1 ranked Klingons are on my border. The difference between Normal and Gifted looks like the difference between crushing it and getting crushed. Wish there was a level in between. Maybe I'll try setting just one or two AIs to Gifted and see if they still walk all over us dullards.

This week's dev journal is out and Brad takes us through some of what's coming in the v3.0 update!

https://www.stardock.com/games/article/487865/

Kraken wrote: ↑Wed Mar 21, 2018 6:46 pm Maybe I'll try setting just one or two AIs to Gifted and see if they still walk all over us dullards.

So, I did this.

I'm playing the Federation (custom race) and I set the Andorians (custom) to Gifted, because they are the weakest race I've played. My Federation had a pretty normal game, starting out in the middle of the pack and gradually coming to dominate my side of the galaxy. The Andorians started on the other side and I didn't encounter them until mid-game. At that time their overall rating was 3x mine. Fortunately, we had the same alignment and the Federation is strong diplomatically, so we quickly became allies. Wars broke out all over, and now there's only one other civilization left. The Andorians' score has grown to 5x mine, even though we split the spoils of war fairly evenly. I'm not sure, but I think they're going for an influence victory. The third race shows no sign of allying with either of us, and either one of us could take it out fairly easily...but driving it into the arms of the other would hand the other an alliance victory, so I dare not attack. I have all of the ascension crystals and that looks like my only path to victory, although I still need a lot of points so I'm also going down the tech path. Me and the Andorians have been trading first place in tech. So even though this game is near the end, I still don't know who's going to win, or how. Which is neat.

Anyway, setting the weakest civ to Gifted enabled it to dominate by a huge margin. It really does look like an insurmountable advantage, at least based on the two experiments I've tried. Unless the level advantages get rebalanced at some point, I think I'm going to be permanently stuck on Normal.

But I might run this experiment once more just to see if the result is the same, because I suspect that higher difficulties are key to getting higher scores.

The best games are those that come down to the wire. It's hard to keep playing knowing you'll win.

So. Did you win?

Yup, won with ascension. So it is possible to defeat a Gifted AI that outclasses you in every way, if you can persuade it not to crush you like a bug. I never did figure out what victory type it was going for. Setting one opponent to Gifted made no noticeable difference in my score, which came in at a paltry 36 points or something. Probably need to raise the level across the board to affect scores...I've never been able to find any breakdown of the scoring system, so who knows?

Well, Brad and Island Dog, presumably, but they're not saying.

You do make it sound fun, I'll have to give it another spin after the next patch. It just seems like the game should be right up my alley.

We have a couple of new Intrigue dev journals out!

The Galactic Market

So you say you want a revolution?

We have announced the Intrigue release date of April 11th!

Will there be an updated manual?

Freyland wrote: ↑Wed Apr 04, 2018 1:25 pm Will there be an updated manual?

+1

Is it a free update or will it cost munny? If the latter, is there some way the government will buy it for me? Because the spring beer tasting on April 14 is going to need all of my munny, and I don't get beer stamps.

Intrigue is a paid DLC and 3.0 is a free patch. Or so it looks.

Kraken wrote: ↑Wed Apr 04, 2018 4:38 pm Is it a free update or will it cost munny? If the latter, is there some way the government will buy it for me? Because the spring beer tasting on April 14 is going to need all of my munny, and I don't get beer stamps.

I'm gonna say no based on this part of the release notes:

If you already own the base game, Galactic Civilizations III: Intrigue will be available as an expansion pack download for $19.99.

If you’re new to Galactic Civilizations, we are introducing a new bundle that includes the base Galactic Civilizations III 3.0, the new Intrigue expansion, and also includes the best-selling Crusade expansion, Mega Events, Builder’s Kit, and Map Pack DLC, all for a special price.

Though if you collect Social Security and use that to buy it, that could maybe be interpreted as the govt buying it for you.

Six more years for me, then. Why are there no beer stamps? Damned conservatives.

Srsly, $20 isn't too steep, and lately I've been playing GalCiv3 exclusively...although I'm starting to get bored with it, so I'm probably in.

I've tried multiple times to get into this game, as it should be right in my wheelhouse. No luck though - I usually play a few games, get bored, and uninstall. Maybe I'll try it again...

DD* wrote: ↑Thu Apr 05, 2018 5:18 pm I've tried multiple times to get into this game, as it should be right in my wheelhouse. No luck though - I usually play a few games, get bored, and uninstall. Maybe I'll try it again...

This is something similar to how I feel about GalCiv3, but I have to say I enjoy the time I do play it. However, I have this happen with other games too. And what I like about GalCiv3 is that it feels polished and gives me plenty to do. Heck, the ship designer alone is almost a game unto itself.

Freyland wrote: ↑Wed Apr 04, 2018 1:25 pm Will there be an updated manual?

I believe there's a new manual being written, but there is also a walkthrough available here.

https://forums.galciv3.com/488221/galac ... n-overview

Fitzy wrote: ↑Wed Apr 04, 2018 6:03 pm Intrigue is a paid DLC and 3.0 is a free patch. Or so it looks.

That is correct.

We have Intrigue Journal #5: Tapestry of the machine out today!

https://www.stardock.com/games/article/487890/

Island Dog wrote: ↑Fri Apr 06, 2018 2:46 pm

Freyland wrote: ↑Wed Apr 04, 2018 1:25 pm Will there be an updated manual?

I believe there's a new manual being written, but there is also a walkthrough available here.

https://forums.galciv3.com/488221/galac ... n-overview

I like the Life of Brian reference when talking about Citizens.

I have to post this image, seeing how Brad has mentioned developing the first version of GalCiv for OS/2. This was the first mouse pad I ever got from work, which came along with our installation copy of OS/2. I still have it, although it's been <gasp> more than 35 years 30 years (one loses track of time).

I remember OS/2 Warp. I remembering thinking "Finally something that will compete with Windows"...ya.

Speaking of GalCiv III. Ive been wanting it for years. I own the first two games in boxed collectors editions. Last week I noticed I own it in Steam. All this time. I have no idea when I got ir or how.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Mon Apr 09, 2018 12:38 pm Speaking of GalCiv III. Ive been wanting it for years. I own the first two games in boxed collectors editions. Last week I noticed I own it in Steam. All this time. I have no idea when I got ir or how.

Since you have it for free, maybe you just want to give it a quick look and then pick up the Intrigue DLC if you like the basic gameplay. I also owned the previous versions and played them a lot. This version, GalCiv III, I'm having more trouble getting into but I think that's just age causing me to have less mental energy to stay focused on a game, unless it's just a simple shooter. However, the time I've spent playing GC3 I have enjoyed.

Im a little like you in that. 20 years ago these space 4x games were some of my favorites. Id spend all night for months playing them. But anything slower than a shooter these days and I tend to drift off from it or plain out right not like them now. Im almost afraid to install it. But I will give it a go soon. Hope it fixed some of the stuff I never liked in the old ones...the galaxy map and movement was my biggest peeve.

Tomorrow! Starting at 2pm ET we’ll have Quill18 streaming Intrigue, then 3pm ET Brad will be playing with Angry Joe.

Galactic Civilizations III: Intrigue and the v3.0 update is released! Choose your government, establish commonwealths, and lead your people through major crises.

Details here: https://forums.galciv3.com/488116/

Release trailer: https://youtu.be/2YvGrQjR0NE

Wow they really seem to be supporting this game well. Nice job Brad and team!

I see that Intrigue is $2 cheaper at the Stardock store. If I buy it there, will my Steam ownership list update as well? Cuz I'd like to save $2, but I also like to have my games in one place whenever I can.

Perhaps I'm missing something, but this seems mostly a rehash of the political systems from GalCiv II. I was disappointed that it was cut from III, but not enough to spend $20 to get it back.

If I'm wrong, someone please educamate me.

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Wed Apr 11, 2018 4:37 pm

I don't understand what you're showing me here. Does that appear in your Steam library if you buy from Stardock?

Steam keys are provided with each purchase. So you can have it there and on Steam. Thats what I gather.

Yup. Steam keys are provided.

Ah, good, thanks. I didn't want my GalCiv split between two services...but I do want to save two bucks!

I think this might be my birthday present to myself. Been waiting for either Fallout 4 or the new Civ6 expansion to go on sale. Neither has in the past few weeks.

Well crap...I took a Stardock survey to get a 20% coupon code...and it's not good on this product. Fat lot of good that did me. Oh well, bought and downloading.

(edit) Or so I thought. "An error occured when attempting to download Galactic Civilizations III: Intrigue Expansion.

Please contact support@stardock.com."

Now trying to get it through Steam instead. With some effort I figured out how to activate the product code, and it's in my games list as "Not installed." The downloads page shows it scheduled for 11:03 pm. At least I think that's what it's telling me. Wish I could force it to download now, as I was planning to play it tonight.

Aha! Just found the Download Now button. Yay.

Fallout 4 is only $14.99 right now. Pretty cheap.

https://www.gamestop.com/pc/games/fallout-4/122220