Second patch has been released

[Nirvana_CN]

Whoot 2 patches in 2 days...wow

Details are March 31, 2003: Tweaks, fixes, and events...
1.01A.31
New Features:
+ GalCiv AI tweaked so that it bargains more intelligently at lower levels
+ General difficulty level affects which random events will be used (i.e. no more getting clobbered by an advanced story arc when you're just learning the game)
+ New Cut scene: When a player dies, you get a cut scene of ships conquering them.
+ New random event - population boom.
+ Social programs cost slightly less to maintain
+ Details screen now displays how much maint. completed projects use "(X)" by their names.

Bug Fixes:
+ Metaverse submissions should work for all players

[vmxa1]

Thanks, I will check it out, I hope I do not need another full 85mb DL.

[PDifolco]

Moo3 released 2/26 : armada of game-breaking bugs, still no patch ...
GalCiv released 3/26 : Bonus pack available right on 26th, only minor glitches remain, 2 patches in 1 week !
Not the same league indeed .. Thx Brad !

[campfreddie]

This is fantastic. I was reading some posts yesterday about poor AI bargaining and by today it's patched. WOW!

I really want this game now! Come on Amazon UK, sort it out!

Maybe I'll have to use the german site and borrow the missus' credit card...

[Harry Seldon]

It's totally worth it. I've seen them whip out minor patches same day. They did it for Diplomacy crashes and they beta'd the metaverse fix at the main forum in preparation for this patch.

Now that's service!

[Draginol]

Thanks for the kind words.

Actually, our updating system is known as RDAD (Rapid Development & Deployment).

It's a software development philosophy that we developed during Object Desktop (www.objectdesktop.com). Object Desktop users, for the past 4 years, have seen this kind of thing where there are nearly daily updates to it. Users can pick and choose whether they want a given update or not.

It's also why Stardock Central is so important. Only it makes it possible for us to do this because it vastly reduces the effort to provide updates. I just wish SDC 1.0 was ready in time. We were using Component Manager, an older, slower, but battle tested system that SDC is replacing.

[Fried-Psitalon]

People need to take lessons from you all over the game industry. I only just got the game last night and was bloody near late for work this morning.... I'm taking the sucker route, though- gigantic galaxy right off.

At the risk of asking a stupid question that has been answered, is there any possibility of either:


A) Some form of Multiplayer, even hotseat

B) More right click "What does this do?" options?

Maybe I'm spoiled, but I"m used to blowing off the manual and right-clicking as I come to it in the game as a "hands-on" learning method.

Other than that, rock on- great game, sure to leave one big mark on "How it's done."

[Nirvana_CN]

Draginol,

Will you be updating the GalCiv forums? They are a tad cumbersome and the traffic there overwhelms me, add into that no search or editting and it gets annoying.

A bugs/sugestions forum would allieveate that surely?

[vmxa1]

Originally posted by Nirvana_CN
Draginol,

Will you be updating the GalCiv forums? They are a tad cumbersome and the traffic there overwhelms me, add into that no search or editting and it gets annoying.

A bugs/sugestions forum would allieveate that surely?

This is making it very hard to follow any useful info from the community.
You goto the forum and see a dozen or so stickies and many others and have no clue which ones where new since you last came. They are not classified either so you can not look for the strat posts easily.
BTW the SDC shows only 1.01a which I got yesterday and was a couple of days ago (I think).
Anyway it would be nice if they went to this format for the forum.
No editing, subscribing and the like.

[Malleus]

Let me echo the desire for:

1) More context-sensitive menus and right-click help.

2) A better forum. I am guessing it is some proprietary forum design you made in-house, so you have a attachment to it. May I respectfully suggest you let it go . It is very difficult to follow a discussion.


M

[Draginol]

If you create an aco****, you can see which forum posts have been updated since you were last on. There are icons by them that represent whether they are new, already read, or updated.

We will be adding more features to the forums as developer resources become available.

[wilebill]

This patch is only available through StarDock Central apparently, so tonight I will lug my Toshiba 1955-801s the 0.2 mile back to my office where dwells the broadband connection. Ah, well, I need to get StarDock Central running anyway.

Will there be patches from time to time that do not require direct connect? There are players, believe it or not, whose computers are not continuously connected to the network, in fact whose computers are very rarely connected to the network. I am one of those players.

Of course I like GalCiv so much that I will lug my laptop back up here whenever there is a new patch of any kind. Not everyone is so fortunate.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, all of you at StarDock, for being responsive to us gamers out here who perhaps say "thank you" so rarely because usually no "thank you" is deserved!

[unic]

Originally posted by Malleus
Let me echo the desire for:

1) More context-sensitive menus and right-click help.

Yeah, better in-game help is on the top of my wish list for Galactic Civilizations.

Some examples:

* In the Governor screen, when setting build queues, I want to be able to see the effects of the different social projects.

* In the research screen, when choosing what tech to research, I can see the immediate effects of it (what Social projects, Military projects, etc, becomes available) - I want to be able to get info on what those things actually do.

* When I get told that I have discovered a tech, it would be nice to be able to again see all the effects of that tech.

* When I've built a trade goods or such, where can I find out the effects of it after it is finished?

Also, in several cases, I would like more detailed information to be available.

For example, in economy, if I could click on the 'Leases' line, to see how my leases split up and when they expire... same for tributes. In general, better access to that kind of information would be nice.

I'd suggest having a look at Alpha Centauri's hyperlinked help... I mostly found that rather good to use when planning what to research, etc.

(And, unrelated, I would very much like to see the Save bug get fixed! Really annoying to save, then day after load, and find that the game situation isn't the same as when I saved!)

/unic