Did GalCiv need Moo3?

[GhengisFarb™]

Originally posted by yin26
GalCiv (it's very different from MOO3, after all!)

But GalCiv is very similiar to MOO1 and MOO2.

[Peter Triggs]

Think of GalCiv as your reward for suffering through CTP2

-Jam

Hmm, CTP2 is exquisitely modifiable. The money I spent on it was the best investment I ever made in a computer game: it got me interested in, and gave me the opportunity to learn a bit about, event driven programming. Still, I know this isn't everybody's cup of tea.

Anyway, nice to see a game released that the players like (for a change).

[Imran Siddiqui]

Score a huge one for the little guys who keep their sights on gameplay and value!!!

Definetly! I plan to get GalCiv soon (after finals). But I've been playing Out of the Park Baseball 5, which is a text based baseball sim made by a little guy who is always looking to the fans for new ideas!

That is where the best values come from, the little guys! .

[yin26]

Imran:

Hey, nice to see ya! You're right, of course. For those who don't need 75 FPS of visuals, these little guys really are making a difference. And with being able to download these game directly, my hope is we'll one day see the death of the evil, evil publishers!

(O.K., won't happen any time soon, but I just love thinking that it might.)

But GalCiv is very similiar to MOO1 and MOO2.

True. GalCiv made incremental but significant changes to a sound design. There are many, of course, who miss the tactical combat of the early MOOs, but what you get in AI and other things more than makes up for it, IMO.

[Romanus]

I was going to buy GalCiv either way. I saw something about it a long time ago and it actually led me to MOO3. I hadnt played a space empire builder other than IG2.

I purchased MOO3 because it appeared to be so feature rich. And it is. But its difficult to like. Im still trying. However, I will probably be picking up GalCiv today, so MOO3s days are numbered.

As for CTP2....it brought me to the turn-based genre...and modded, its a fun game. Maybe not as polished as Civ3, but well worth my money. It has multiplayer, and very cool future techs/units. I play it a couple times a month.

[Harry Seldon]

Enjoy MOO3 while it lasts. I picked up GalCiv on release. I genuinely enjoyed MOO3. Playing GalCiv made me realize just how unfun MOO3 really was. There's no urgency when you're playing MOO. Techs come and go but don't really do much. MM is cut but it leaves you detached from the game in some ways.

I'm always in a panic when I play GalCiv. I NEED that new tech to stay competitive. If I need help fighting an enemy I can ask another AI to help, and they will for the right price, but I don't know if I'm being set up or if I'm making a new friend. Your friends hold with you. The AI acts in a predictably unpredictable way just like a human (alien?). I freakin' love it even when I'm getting smashed on sub-normal level. In a few months we'll probably see a thread "Who remembers MOO3?" and we'll all get a good laugh in right before getting back to our pending cultural victory on Gigantic/Genius.

[yin26]

Nicely put. The sense of urgency in a TBS is truly a hard monster to trap, but they did it!

[mucker]

Count me in the camp of those who planned on buying both games. I still plan on buying GalCiv, but am enjoying playing MOO3. I've never played MOO1/2, so I don't know what I'm missing. And since I'm totally new to the space genre, most of my enjoyment comes from just trying to figure things out.

A lot of mods are coming out for MOO3, addressing some of the minor (and not so minor) complaints, like the lack of micromanaging. So, even though the game in itself might leave a lot to be desired, as with CTP2, the players are making it better. My only major complaint is I'm too distanced from research. I make discoveries, but since I never chose to make them, I don't know what use they are to me, and since I don't know this, I really don't care about them.

[Imran Siddiqui]

For those who don't need 75 FPS of visuals, these little guys really are making a difference.

But you have to admit those 75 FPS can look nice . Especially when the game is good .

Nice to see ya too.

--

I'm hearing a LOT about the urgency of the game. I wonder... do any of you feel it is overwhelming? I guess I can't really play it as I played Civ2 or SMAC (gentle builder type who went to war sparingly), but I want to know if it'll be too much for me .

[NeOmega]

I was going to buy MoO3 only, because I didn't feel I could trust Gal civ... never heard of it.....

But now that I DESPISE MoO3 and the $50 it stole from me without giving me a good Empire building game, and from reading alot of reviews that say about Galciv:

It's fun
It has people worried about their empires

and have yet to read a "it sucks, I wasted my money!"

I am leaning towards giving this small time company a chance with my money.

[Don K Hotay]

Re: Did GalCiv need Moo3?

Originally posted by Haon
I mean, if Moo3 had not been the fiasco it became, would anyone buy GalCiv? And if there was no Moo3 at all, woudl GalCiv even get noticed?

Quoting our Sec. of State Colin Powell from a recent press briefing at NATO headquarters in Belgium, "I don't accept your premise". MOO3 is as freaking far from fiasco as a game could get.

I bought Galciv because of the reviews I read here.

Quixote

[krait23]

Well I don't know about other european countries, but in Germany, there was absolutely no mention of GalCiv anywhere. The development of MoO3 was common knowledge. MoO3 is available through amazon.de, GalCiv is not. So if I hadn't read about GalCiv in MoO3 forums or gotten that GalCiv ad in the MoO3 box, I would not know about it...

So yes, at least in Germany GalCiv certainly benefitted largely from the MoO3 fiasco. (Of course I have no idea how many germans actualy bought GalCov so I don't know whether that is significant...)

Lata
Krait

[vishniac]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
[q]
I'm hearing a LOT about the urgency of the game. I wonder... do any of you feel it is overwhelming? I guess I can't really play it as I played Civ2 or SMAC (gentle builder type who went to war sparingly), but I want to know if it'll be too much for me .

I am the builder type and love SMAC. So, don't fear! You can choose your way to play, and customize the game at the start to match your preferences (ex: all aliens are good = less wars but influence/economic competition)

I just won a game where I played defensively most of the time. I was involved in a war with the Superpower but a 'Galactic Cease-fire' got imposed by the United Planets and I could then play my scheme in the shadows. A hell of a game!!

[Eric S]

vishniac, I'm a builder, and I was on my third game before I got into a serious war. In fact, in my last game, I had one war declared on me, but I never had the need to send any ships into combat, as shortly after the Drengin declared war on me, everyone jumped to my aid (I was trade partners with everyone so they wanted to preserve that income) and the Drengin got taken out without me having to lift a finger. GalCiv will be much more about the politics and relations than about combat unless you're a warmonger.