Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old January 19, 2003, 18:17   #1
Asmodean
Civilization III Democracy GameThe Courts of Candle'Bre
Emperor
 
Asmodean's Avatar
 
Local Time: 16:46
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Aug 1999
Location: Aarhus, Denmark
Posts: 3,618
First impressions of Galciv
Please not that this is not a full review. I don't have the time to do one, and I'm not even sure if I'm not under some kind of implicit NDA.

Anyway...here goes:

For starters: Definately buy this game. It is Strategy with a capitol S. A sh*tload of techs, custumizable everything, and a great political/diplomatic model. I am already in love

On my machine it does play a bit slow, but my machine isn't exactly high-end, what with an AMD K2 450 CPU. Slower CPU's than this one would probably make for a very slow game, as the system requirements are likely to be somewhere around 500 MHz.

The game really feels and plays like a finished game, allthough it is still in beta. I have played release versions of game that were more unfinished than this one...not to mention that Stardock has promised that the finished game will include even more multimedia.

Asmodean
__________________
Im not sure what Baruk Khazad is , but if they speak Judeo-Dwarvish, that would be "blessed are the dwarves" - lord of the mark
Asmodean is offline   Reply With Quote
Old January 19, 2003, 19:16   #2
MarkG
Apolytoners Hall of FameApolyCon 06 Participants
Apolyton CS Co-Founder
 
MarkG's Avatar
 
Local Time: 16:46
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Aug 1998
Location: Macedonia, Greece
Posts: 24,480
Quote:
I'm not even sure if I'm not under some kind of implicit NDA.
AFAIK you're not
__________________
Co-Founder, Apolyton Civilization Site
Co-Owner/Webmaster, Top40-Charts.com | CTO, Apogee Information Systems
giannopoulos.info: my non-mobile non-photo news & articles blog
MarkG is offline   Reply With Quote
Old January 19, 2003, 19:58   #3
Edan
Warlord
 
Edan's Avatar
 
Local Time: 10:46
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 234
Re: First impressions of Galciv
Quote:
not to mention that Stardock has promised that the finished game will include even more multimedia.
Pros:
Ooh, more fun multimedia

Cons:
Downloading another 160+mb file on my dial-up modem. :sarcasm: joy... :/sarcasm: Hopoefully this can be split up into smaller files this time.
Edan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old January 20, 2003, 15:32   #4
Asmodean
Civilization III Democracy GameThe Courts of Candle'Bre
Emperor
 
Asmodean's Avatar
 
Local Time: 16:46
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Aug 1999
Location: Aarhus, Denmark
Posts: 3,618
Really: You downloaded Galciv on a dial-up modem. Hats off to you, Edan...hats off.

Asmodean
__________________
Im not sure what Baruk Khazad is , but if they speak Judeo-Dwarvish, that would be "blessed are the dwarves" - lord of the mark
Asmodean is offline   Reply With Quote
Old January 21, 2003, 23:22   #5
notyoueither
Civilization III MultiplayerCivilization III PBEMInterSite Democracy Game: Apolyton TeamC3C IDG: Apolyton TeamApolytoners Hall of FameCiv4 InterSite DG: Apolyton TeamPolyCast TeamPtWDG Gathering StormC4DG Gathering Storm
Deity
 
notyoueither's Avatar
 
Local Time: 08:46
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: of naught
Posts: 21,300
Is it going to be in stores?
__________________
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(") This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into your signature to help him gain world domination.
notyoueither is offline   Reply With Quote
Old January 21, 2003, 23:52   #6
Edan
Warlord
 
Edan's Avatar
 
Local Time: 10:46
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 234
Quote:
Originally posted by notyoueither
Is it going to be in stores?
Yes, it'll be in stores. The download was for the beta version (although I believe it will still be available to by online after it's out).
Edan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old January 21, 2003, 23:55   #7
Edan
Warlord
 
Edan's Avatar
 
Local Time: 10:46
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 234
Quote:
Originally posted by Asmodean
Really: You downloaded Galciv on a dial-up modem. Hats off to you, Edan...hats off.
Broadband? Who needs it!

Help me. I'm trapped in dialup and need broadband. AAAAAAAHHHHHH!
Edan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old January 22, 2003, 01:18   #8
notyoueither
Civilization III MultiplayerCivilization III PBEMInterSite Democracy Game: Apolyton TeamC3C IDG: Apolyton TeamApolytoners Hall of FameCiv4 InterSite DG: Apolyton TeamPolyCast TeamPtWDG Gathering StormC4DG Gathering Storm
Deity
 
notyoueither's Avatar
 
Local Time: 08:46
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: of naught
Posts: 21,300
Quote:
Originally posted by Edan


Yes, it'll be in stores. The download was for the beta version (although I believe it will still be available to by online after it's out).
I was going to join the beta, but there was only a week left, and then I would not have been given the super-beta (or whatever) versions.

I decided to wait a bit.

Good to know it will be in stores. I will have to bug some of the bigger retailers around me to get it.
__________________
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(") This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into your signature to help him gain world domination.
notyoueither is offline   Reply With Quote
Old January 22, 2003, 01:36   #9
Edan
Warlord
 
Edan's Avatar
 
Local Time: 10:46
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 234
Quote:
Originally posted by notyoueither


I was going to join the beta, but there was only a week left, and then I would not have been given the super-beta (or whatever) versions.
Hmm? AFAIK, the beta testers will be getting all the versions (including the final one).

Gamestop and EBworld already have the game listed for preorder, so they should have them in stock when in comes out.
Edan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old January 22, 2003, 02:55   #10
notyoueither
Civilization III MultiplayerCivilization III PBEMInterSite Democracy Game: Apolyton TeamC3C IDG: Apolyton TeamApolytoners Hall of FameCiv4 InterSite DG: Apolyton TeamPolyCast TeamPtWDG Gathering StormC4DG Gathering Storm
Deity
 
notyoueither's Avatar
 
Local Time: 08:46
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: of naught
Posts: 21,300
Quote:
Originally posted by Edan


Hmm? AFAIK, the beta testers will be getting all the versions (including the final one).
Wednesday, January 15, 2003 - GalCiv Beta closes this Friday

After this Friday the GalCiv beta is closing to new users. So if you want to get into the beta, now's the time to do it.

However, be aware that when the GAMMA become available, we will be closing updates to all but a handful of beta testers for security purposes. You'll be able to continue playing the beta but subsequent builds won't be available until release at which time you'll get the CD-ROM version sent to you.


It is the 'gamma' that is closed off, apparently. I figured I may as well wait for it in stores.
__________________
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(") This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into your signature to help him gain world domination.
notyoueither is offline   Reply With Quote
Old January 22, 2003, 09:23   #11
Edan
Warlord
 
Edan's Avatar
 
Local Time: 10:46
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 234
My bad.
Edan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old January 22, 2003, 18:44   #12
Asmodean
Civilization III Democracy GameThe Courts of Candle'Bre
Emperor
 
Asmodean's Avatar
 
Local Time: 16:46
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Aug 1999
Location: Aarhus, Denmark
Posts: 3,618
A new build has been put up, that slightly changes the look and feel of the game. I haven't played it long enough to notice any gameplay changes, allthough Brad says there are some.

Asmodean
__________________
Im not sure what Baruk Khazad is , but if they speak Judeo-Dwarvish, that would be "blessed are the dwarves" - lord of the mark
Asmodean is offline   Reply With Quote
Old January 26, 2003, 21:40   #13
Draginol
 
Draginol's Avatar
 
Local Time: 14:46
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 182
There will probably be another public build this next week. Lot of work put on AI and other polish things.
Draginol is offline   Reply With Quote
Old January 27, 2003, 15:14   #14
Asmodean
Civilization III Democracy GameThe Courts of Candle'Bre
Emperor
 
Asmodean's Avatar
 
Local Time: 16:46
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Aug 1999
Location: Aarhus, Denmark
Posts: 3,618
Great, Brad...thanks for the heads up.

Asmodean
__________________
Im not sure what Baruk Khazad is , but if they speak Judeo-Dwarvish, that would be "blessed are the dwarves" - lord of the mark
Asmodean is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 1, 2003, 19:14   #15
Lemmy
Alpha Centauri Democracy GameACDG The Cybernetic ConsciousnessACDG3 Spartans
King
 
Lemmy's Avatar
 
Local Time: 16:46
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Bubblewrap
Posts: 2,032
Asmo, could you tell us about the AI, i've read an example from Brad, about what the AI did, but he hada debugger, and could see what the AI was doing from the inside.
Does the AI appear to make any interesting decisions from the outside? You know, decisions that you really wouldn't expect from a computer.
__________________
<Kassiopeia> you don't keep the virgins in your lair at a sodomising distance from your beasts or male prisoners. If you devirginised them yourself, though, that's another story. If they devirginised each other, then, I hope you had that webcam running.
Play Bumps! No, wait, play Slings!
Lemmy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 2, 2003, 17:37   #16
vishniac
ACDG3 SpartansAlpha Centauri Democracy Game
Warlord
 
vishniac's Avatar
 
Local Time: 16:46
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Martigny, Switzerland
Posts: 289
AI question
Brad said the AI thinks also during your turn.
Does it mean the longer it takes for you to play, the better its strategy?
vishniac is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 2, 2003, 18:23   #17
Lemmy
Alpha Centauri Democracy GameACDG The Cybernetic ConsciousnessACDG3 Spartans
King
 
Lemmy's Avatar
 
Local Time: 16:46
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Bubblewrap
Posts: 2,032
No, as i understand it, the AI will need a certain amount of time, when it's done, it's done. Even if you're still in your turn.
If you're done before the AI, you'll probably get a "Please wait..." message or something..
__________________
<Kassiopeia> you don't keep the virgins in your lair at a sodomising distance from your beasts or male prisoners. If you devirginised them yourself, though, that's another story. If they devirginised each other, then, I hope you had that webcam running.
Play Bumps! No, wait, play Slings!
Lemmy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 3, 2003, 00:39   #18
Draginol
 
Draginol's Avatar
 
Local Time: 14:46
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 182
Precisely. What happens is that you press teh turn button and a little hour glass shows up on the turn button. You can still interact with the UI (to various degrees depending on your machine) so you're never stuck looking at a "please wait.." dialog.

There are times pretty regularly when the AI will seem to do something unexpected. It's usually when a condition is met that the human players don't normally expect an AI to be looking for.

The AI spends a lot (most) of its CPU time LOOKING at the galactic map seeing what players are doing. It doesn't make a distinction between human and other AI players (they're all from the same base class).

Here's an example of where you can be at war with someone you have decent relations with:

I'm allied with the Altarians. The Altarians are preparing to go to war with the evil Drengin who I don't like either. But the Drengin are allied with the Torians who I have a good relationship with. The Drengin project that the Altarians are about to attack because it notes the number of transports and attack level ships that are in sectors that are no where near its own planets. the Drengin send out fighters to hang out near the transports. At some point the Drengin sneak attack the Altarians to destroy those transports. This in turn causes you to be at war with the Drengin due to your treaty which activates the alliance with the Torians.

That's one of the more unexpected things players have reported. Personally, I think people just have too low expectations for computer players. Who here would allow another player to put in invasion ships righ their planets and not take preemptive action? But people are so used to computer players being stupid about letting humans just put a bunch of ships around their planets and letting them get away with it.

But I've gotten a lot of email about this over the last couple of months. there are lots of other examples lke that which are much more subtle. Unfortunately it's subtle to the point where we're going to have to put up warning dialogs to help players. A player will complain that morale is dropping and they don't know why when in fact it's because other players are quietly destabilizing them. So we have to put in something so that you get warnings even if you're not putting any espionage into those players.

I love multiplayer games. I was pretty high up in the Warcraft III ladder and was the top ranked player in total Annihliation boneyards. So i try to make sure that the computer players play with some of the kinds of skills you'd see in multiplayer.
Draginol is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 3, 2003, 05:43   #19
Lemmy
Alpha Centauri Democracy GameACDG The Cybernetic ConsciousnessACDG3 Spartans
King
 
Lemmy's Avatar
 
Local Time: 16:46
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Bubblewrap
Posts: 2,032
Quote:
The AI spends a lot (most) of its CPU time LOOKING at the galactic map seeing what players are doing. It doesn't make a distinction between human and other AI players (they're all from the same base class).
Does that mean it can see the entire galaxy, or it just looks at what it can see?

Quote:
...there are lots of other examples lke that which are much more subtle.
That's something i was sort of worried about, that there is this great AI, but that the player won't even notice much of it. But it seems it will certainly be noticed
__________________
<Kassiopeia> you don't keep the virgins in your lair at a sodomising distance from your beasts or male prisoners. If you devirginised them yourself, though, that's another story. If they devirginised each other, then, I hope you had that webcam running.
Play Bumps! No, wait, play Slings!
Lemmy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 3, 2003, 18:57   #20
Tytan
Chieftain
 
Local Time: 14:46
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 33
Part of the Story of Galactic Civilizations is that the other Empires spent ages mapping out the various parts of this area and as a result know where everything is.....

.....But there is a fog of war and I do believe it applies to them.....so I don't think they can see everything.....they have to send out scouts and what not.......or freighters......There is also espionage where they can get information about you that way too.....
Tytan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 3, 2003, 18:58   #21
Tytan
Chieftain
 
Local Time: 14:46
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 33
Boy that sure sounds confusing doesn't it? I mean they know where all of the planets are.....but not what you are CURRENTLY doing with ships and what-not...........
Tytan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 3, 2003, 23:00   #22
Draginol
 
Draginol's Avatar
 
Local Time: 14:46
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 182
Planets are somewhat larger than ships.

Realisticaly, it's not much of an advantage to an experienced player because the player knows where all the stars are and the stars are distributed in clusters, not evently spread out.
Draginol is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 4, 2003, 00:10   #23
The Rusty Gamer
Prince
 
The Rusty Gamer's Avatar
 
Local Time: 02:46
Local Date: November 2, 2010
Join Date: Apr 1999
Location: Christchurch, New Zealand
Posts: 952
Here's a question. If the AI is busy thinking and strategising while you're having your turn, does this mean that the longer you take to have a turn, the cleverer the AI will be with its turn; that is to say, the longer you take each turn, the more you could be "punished" because the AI has had more time to "think"?
__________________
Avoid COLONY RUSH on Galactic Civlizations II (both DL & DA) with my Slow Start Mod.
Finding Civ 4: Colonization too easy? Try my Ten Colonies challenge.
The Rusty Gamer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 4, 2003, 06:15   #24
Lemmy
Alpha Centauri Democracy GameACDG The Cybernetic ConsciousnessACDG3 Spartans
King
 
Lemmy's Avatar
 
Local Time: 16:46
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Bubblewrap
Posts: 2,032
Quote:
Originally posted by Lemmy
No, as i understand it, the AI will need a certain amount of time, when it's done, it's done. Even if you're still in your turn.
If you're done before the AI, you'll probably get a "Please wait..." message or something..
i feel so ignored
__________________
<Kassiopeia> you don't keep the virgins in your lair at a sodomising distance from your beasts or male prisoners. If you devirginised them yourself, though, that's another story. If they devirginised each other, then, I hope you had that webcam running.
Play Bumps! No, wait, play Slings!
Lemmy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 4, 2003, 06:46   #25
Jamski
Alpha Centauri Democracy GameAlpha Centauri PBEMACDG Planet University of TechnologyACDG The Cybernetic Consciousness
Deity
 
Jamski's Avatar
 
Local Time: 14:46
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: May 2002
Location: lol ED&D is officially full PvP LOL
Posts: 13,229
Quote:
Originally posted by Lemmy

i feel so ignored
Did someone post?

-Jam
__________________
1) The crappy metaspam is an affront to the true manner of the artform. - Dauphin
That's like trying to overninja a ninja when you aren't a mammal. CAN'T BE DONE. - Kassi on doublecrossing Ljube-ljcvetko
Check out the ALL NEW Galactic Overlord Website for v2.0 and the Napoleonic Overlord Website or even the Galactic Captians Website Thanks Geocities!
Taht 'ventisular link be woo to clyck.
Jamski is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 10:46.


Design by Vjacheslav Trushkin, color scheme by ColorizeIt!.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2010, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Apolyton Civilization Site | Copyright © The Apolyton Team