To buy or not to buy

[Col]

Having 'finally' got bored of Alpha Centauri, I am on the lookout for a new 4x game, and recently stumbled upon a review for Galactic Civilizations. It looks pretty spiffy, so I would appreciate any input from those on this forum who own it on whether it is worth a purchase, bearing in mind the following:

1) I have an old 450Mhz computer with 120 MB ram. While I don't expect to run gigantic galaxy sizes with 20 different races, is this enough to run a moderately sized game? I am a little wary after getting Civ3 and finding it ran too slugishly.

2) One of the reasons I like 4x games so much is the potential for modding. What is GalCiv like for this? Can you add new races, technologies, rules, graphic sets, etc?

3) What's replayability like? As you are limited to playing as humans, does the game become dull more quickly than something like alpha centauri where you have many factions to choose from?

4) Does it get across the 'feeling' of an epic space opera? Having recently tried out Space Empires 4 on a friends computer, I was struck by how soulless it felt, just like playing around with a big spreadsheet. Does GalCiv have atmosphere?

5) Is multiplayer hotseat supported? This is *very* important to me, as my girlfriend is also a 4x fan, and we like to play together.

Responses urgently required, as I really like the look of this game and the ethos behind it, but don't want to get stuck with a white elephant.

cheers,
Col

[LDiCesare]

1) I'll let you check the system reqs. In comparison with civ3, it's very fast on my PC.
2)You can't add races. You can mod many things however. Political parties (which change your abilities as long as you stay in power) are what comes nearest to other races... Technologies can be modded. There are many mods which add techs, buildings. Graphics can be changed too, though it's not as straightforwards as civ2. But then you only have static images and ships to change the images of.
3)You have a lot of replayability. You can play as good against 4 evil races, or evil against 4 good (good luck in that case). You can pick starting abilities of +80%diplomacy and +2 speed or +50% hit points, +30% attack, +30% defense, which will play quite differently. Don't believe that having a single race is a problem. You have 10 points to pick and a political party that change many things. That and common or rare planets and map size and good/evil and random events... And the ai behaves differently when it's good or evil, and depending on its race.
4)Can't say as I don't care about that.
5)No. There is zero multiplayer. None, zilch, nada, not even hotseat.

[Brent]

1) I think you can have plenty of fun on a tiny, quick galaxy.

4) I would say yes.

[Trifna]

I say try the demo. With games, it`s always the first thing to do when it`s available.

[1889]

I hated this game. Too bad I didn't see this sooner because I already gave it away. I can only answer #4, the game is very dull.

I got it when it was brand new and there have been some patches, but I doubt these things have been fixed:

1)Buildings improved things on a planet by percentages +10% usually, so after building a bunch of stuff you have a 14 planet instead of a 12. Moo2 gave me a much better sense of progress.

2)Most planets aren't even worth settling.

3)Often there was no building that was worth making so all that planets production was wasted.

4)There is only 20 types of ships I think. Unlike Moo2 it is finite. I don't remember if they even upgrade.

5)You can build ships and buildings at the same time, so you can have a huge fleet. Unfortunatly the interface doesn't give you a way to jump to a ship. So get ready to do some searching.

6)Trade and diplomacy were extemely nice though.

[JimiD]

Dont discount Civ 3, I have a similar spec machine to yours, and havent seen reason to complain its too slow. It aint RTS, but then thats not the nature of the game. I dont play massive maps, 'cause it prob would slow, and i would never get it finished it RL too.

This might not help your decission on GalCiv tho'

[LDiCesare]

4)There is only 20 types of ships I think. Unlike Moo2 it is finite. I don't remember if they even upgrade.

5)You can build ships and buildings at the same time, so you can have a huge fleet. Unfortunatly the interface doesn't give you a way to jump to a ship. So get ready to do some searching.

About hte ships, they do 'upgrade' but only as percentages. So when you get some techs and build/mine some starbases, you can get f.e. +66% attack, which means that your frigates can be much stronger or weaker than opponent's frigates. So the ship classes are identical, but the stats are different.
Furthermore, the ships gain experience indiviudally. In particular, survey ships, phoenixes and rangers can explore anomalies which may grant them extra attack/defense/hit points, so you may end up with a single survey ship able to take out most mid-game ships if you're lucky.
There is a ship listing and some fleet interfaces. I never had problems finding a ship.
I will agree that the +% thing isn't colourful. You have to like strategy games with a big level of abstraction to like Galciv.

[Proteus_MST]

It also seems to be more realistic doing those alterations via Prcentages.

For example Planets:
You have to work with the Planets you´ve got.
It would be possible to transform a world like Mars (maybe PQ 10 in GalCiv) into a habitable world where you can live without having to wear Environmental Suits (i.e. a Planet with PQ 15).
With a Planet like Venus however (PQ much lower than 10) where you´ve got extreme Temperatures and Acid-Rain it might be forever impossible to transform it into a habitable Planet

Although I really like MOO2,
I think GalCiv has made it more realistivc there, by not letting you terraform even barren, airless World into Terran Environments.
But you are not prevented from settling even worlds with PQ 1,
but it would be a financial burden, as it costs much more to protect your citizens from the harsh environment, than you could gain by the work they do on the Planet
(but sometimes it may be advisable to settle even those worlds, for example if settling these world allows you to reach other habitable Planets to colonize or enables your Warships to reach an enemy Civilization)

After all I think it´s a nice game.
Not comparable to MOO 1/2/3, but rather some kind of Civilization in Space.

[Gregurabi]

When you start a new game, you get to choose how common the habitable planets will be, and how closely packed together. If you don't like seeing a bunch of airless rocks, then make habitable planets Abundant instead of merely Common.

The AI never settles planets less than PQ 15 (in my experience; I'm still pretty new to it, haven't played on the hardest levels yet). This often opens up an opportunity for you to settle a PQ 14 or 13 planet in a system in the same sector. This in turn gives you a nice little foothold into their territory, which you could use as a military base or (with some starbases) a cultural conquest vanguard.

(Also note that if you settle a PQ 14 planet and rush-buy a Soil Enhancement right away, it'll become a PQ 15 planet. It'll never be a powerhouse planet, but it'll be decent.)

P.S.: I'm "greycat" on galciv.com.

[Vince278]

Try Space Empires IV Gold. It should run well on your PC and its a great game (good as or better than the MOO series). The lack of posts in this forum is reason enough for me not to buy GalCiv.

[Brent]

More discussion of GalCiv2 might be the only way to get more posts here.

[Desert Dog]

If you enjoy Empire building games like Civ3, or 4x genre like Moo series Galciv is a MUST BUY! I have to strongly disagree with any negative comments. This is one of the best 4x games there is bar none.

Space Empires is the only other game that comes close to Galciv with game play and Modding ability. There is never the same game twice and if you get bored simply increase the difficulty level and you will find a whole new game to play.

It takes a little time to learn the play mechanics of the game, it takes many months of constant playing to Master the game. Stop in at NeoTech website and ask Icho_Tolot or J.T. Qwerk their opinions on the game. One of the most entertaining aspects of the game is the Metaverse. Being part of a good Empire is one of the main reasons I still play Galciv. Star Fleet is not the best Empire but we have a lot of fun.

I am a Galciv addict myself so I am bias.

[Brent]

I had resigned myself to always playing games on the easiest level, but shockingly my last game of GalCiv was too easy and next time I plan on making it more challenging. That last game was at the maximum frequency of habitable worlds with the only rival being the Altarians at pure good fool settings. I'm not sure what settings I want to try for my new game, but I do think I want to stick with the maximum habitable worlds. I have played and won in the past with all the rivals in the game, and I think with them at their default settings. Maybe I'll put them all in at the smartest and nastiest, for a change I actually wouldn't mind losing. I am also working on a Civ game at difficulty level two because of that GalCiv experience.

One thing I like about GalCiv is that your choice of bonuses doesn't seem to make much difference in what conditions you win by. It seems to be more this way than Civ. Does anyone agree?

[Desert Dog]

I suggest moving up to at least Sub-normal the onto Normal settings. Once you go past normal settings the AI gets a huge bonus start on you. Challenging and above takes a bit of skill to win at.

The Political party and initial bonuses do make a difference in a game. Especially if you use one of the great Mods for the game. (I never play without mods installed). I recommend highly Icho_Tolot Mods as being the best most entertaining out there. Makes the entire game a new experience. You can download his work at: http://neotechgaming.com/main/module...ownload&cid=89 or at the Galciv.com Library. His forums are at: http://neotechgaming.com/main/module...viewforum&f=57 in case you wanted to ask him a question.

I use the Science Corp myself and I promise you a whole new game experience with Tolot Mods!!

[Brent]

Yeah, if I want to win, I'll come back down after trying an ultrachallenging game. I'm in a funny mood, I actually think it could be fun to lose for a change.

For me, modding will have to wait until I get around to going to a store and buying AP on a disc, but that could be soon and it will be fun. I figure I'll have fun creating political parties, prenaming stars and planets, and lots of stuff.