Idea...

[Daz]

What do you think if a classic 4x game would be "enriched" with that neat Civ3 feature: "Strategic resources". I mean, if it worked for Civ3 why not try with a 4x game like MOO?

I'd much rather have a polished version of moo2 with that feature, than Moo3.

[Jamski]

Then buy GalCiv.

-Jam

[Daz]

GalCiv has that feature? How does it work? Like in Civ3?

[Jamski]

A bit differnently. You can develop trade goods, which you then licence to the other civs, which have good effects. If you're the only one that has "ultra spices" for example, you can make a killing. You can also find resources in space that improve your civ's morale, millitary etc. You have to go and mine these and then the mines can be improved. These resources cannot be traded. Its a real scrap to control these, much more than going after someone's oil in Civ3. Give it a try, there's a demo out soon (without the animations and sound I think to save size)

-Jam

[Daz]

I might just try that.

Thank you.

[Vince278]

MOO3 kinda already has Civ3-like resources with its planetary specials. Can't trade them directly but they have benefits. It would be hard to do strategic resources in MOO now since the game doesn't go to that level. Dilithium crystals were handled similiarly in Birth of the Federation in that you needed them to build ships but you still couldn't trade them.

[krait23]

GalCiv, while being a good game imo, has nothing to do with MoO2 though (just like MoO3 lol, but at least GalCiv is good if you like Civ)

No ship design, no tactical combat, no planetary properties (there is just one rating from 1-40 or so, the higher the better. No minerals, athmosphere, size etc).

Those are the main reasons why I still like MoO2 better than GalCiv...

Lata
Krait

[The Templar]

Originally posted by krait23
GalCiv, while being a good game imo, has nothing to do with MoO2 though (just like MoO3 lol, but at least GalCiv is good if you like Civ)

No ship design, no tactical combat, no planetary properties (there is just one rating from 1-40 or so, the higher the better. No minerals, athmosphere, size etc).

I don't know that MoO2 had a better planetary ranking system. MoO2 just had three dimensions (minerals, environment, and gravity) where GC has a single dimension (Planetary Quality).

GC and MoO2 both had the same problem in that all races seem to like the same environments. In MoO2, why shouldn't a planet toxic to Humans be a paradise for, say, silicoids? GC makes this same mistake in my opinion. On the bright side, the fewer the metrics, the better the AI will likely be. But I still really like that MoO3 feature where different temperatures and atmospheres are better for different species.

I also dislike that whole anthropomorphic bent to alien species in both MoO2 and GC and to some extent MoO3. The gas giant jellyfish in MoO3 were a nice break as was the non-anthropomorphic look to the Meklar (contrast with the Yor in GC). But endless varieties of lizard people, bigheaded humans, blue people, monkey people, and bug people are just lame. Come on guys, how about some aliens that are actually alien?

[krait23]

Oh the different habitability for different races thing in MoO3 is one of its good aspects.

What I don't like about GCs single planetary rating is that any planet can be anything. In MoO2, there are those ultra rich radiated planets which cannot support much pop, make no food or research, but are great for production. Then there is that ultra-poor gaia which supports your entire empires food production, and that arid artifacts world which makes up most of youre research. I just loved that kind of variety, and I really miss that in GalCiv. Even in Civ, different cities have very different properties due to the terrain and resources. Not so in GalCiv... I understand that some of the colonization events change the properties a little, but thats does nothing to offset this weakness imo.

Lata
Krait

[salamander]

Galciv is extremely bland compared to moo3. About all it has is strategic resources, some planets and a few non-customizable ships. The ai works very well but its not a very ambitious game to start with.

[The Templar]

Originally posted by salamander
Galciv is extremely bland compared to moo3. About all it has is strategic resources, some planets and a few non-customizable ships. The ai works very well but its not a very ambitious game to start with.

'Bland' is actually not a bad choice of words - and I like GalCiv alot. I can't quite put my finger on why 'bland'. Of course I disagree that MoO3 is all that exciting in its current state, and I don't know that a patch will be sufficient to fix it.

Of course, I would like to see that damn patch someday soon anyway.