GalCiv Gamer FAQ

[Draginol]

My development machine at home is a 600 MHZ laptop. GalCiv is fine on that.

You CAN play it on P3-400 too (I have played it on that) and it's fine. But you will find things get pokey if you try to play on the largest galaxies.

What was decided was that we're better off allowing people to play in gigantic sized galaxies and increase the requirements a tad than to have the max sized galaxy be smaller but have lower hardware requirements.

A user with a P2-333, for instance, could play the game on a medium sized galaxy fine. But things would get painful if they played on the gigantic one. But I think most people have enough common sense to figure that out on their own.

[Lemmy]

What was decided was that we're better off allowing people to play in gigantic sized galaxies and increase the requirements a tad than to have the max sized galaxy be smaller but have lower hardware requirements.

Great decision
Buuut....couldn't you go a little bit further and get rid of any galaxy size limit, and have galaxy size recommendations for some CPU speed ranges instead?

[Draginol]

Not really. Play balancing isn't magic. Things have to be designed to so that gameplay works at different galaxy sizes.

[The Rusty Gamer]

So, what you're saying Draginol, is that it is still worth me buying the game but to be content with smaller universes.

I currently have 256MB RAM. I can go up to 384 if necessary. Would that make much difference?

[Draginol]

Memory always helps. One thing to bear in mind -- small is relative. A medium galaxy in GalCiv is like the largest map in most strategy games. It would take a unit over 240 turns to cross the map on the largest map size.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Draginol
A user with a P2-333, for instance, could play the game on a medium sized galaxy fine. But things would get painful if they played on the gigantic one. But I think most people have enough common sense to figure that out on their own.

We'll hear from them that don't have the sense, trust me...

[WarpStorm]

You got that right, NYE.

[OmniDude]

Originally posted by Draginol
...One thing to bear in mind -- small is relative. A medium galaxy in GalCiv is like the largest map in most strategy games. It would take a unit over 240 turns to cross the map on the largest map size.

Ahem....that is beyond large, IMO...we're well into the domain of MINDBOGGLINGLY IMMENSELY GIGANTIC!!

Appeals to the part of my brain that would be attracted by tractor pulling and drag racing, had my mental scope been somewhat less developed.....

Not considering fuel and engine techs, that would probably mean that I could send a scout ship from my home planet in one corner on game turn 1 towards the other end of the map and actually win the game before it reaches its destination.....or invent some Star Gate-like tech at turn 200 and have a fully developed colony set up at the destination to receive them.... ...Think I'll try that when (not if) I get the game...

Just out of curiosity: How many planets would a map this size have?

[Asmodean]

Originally posted by OmniDude

Just out of curiosity: How many planets would a map this size have?

If you're talking about habitable planets: Well over three hundred. If you mean total planets: Thousands

And yeah, Omnidude, definately get this game. It's awesome

Asmodean

[mindlar]

I like to play games with a large-common map, which is roughly 1/4 the size of the largest map size iirc. There are usually about 70-80 habitable planets with those settings.

With common frequency habitable planets, about 20-25% of all planets are habitable. The most habitable frequency is everywhere (1 step above common). I haven't played with that fequency in a while, but I think it was closer to 30-40% of all planets are good at that point. Maximum size galaxy with habitable planets everywhere will probably give about 500 good colony locations.

[vee4473]

Originally posted by Draginol


Q: Can you explain the Metaverse in more detail?

A: Sure. Essentially when you play GalCiv, your game is recorded and can optionally be submitted to the metaverse when the game is done. This has two particular advantages: 1) It lets you compete indirectly with other players in the GalCiv universe. And 2) We can update the AI based on the top players. So as time goes on, when you play a computer player you’ll be really playing against the strategies employed by the top players.

Let me understand this.

Does this mean that a player can finish a game, and then upload it to the galciv webite, and then others can download it to their machines and then the AI somehow "absorbs" the strategies that the player who uploaded the game used?


When you start a game, is their an option to have the AI use the downloaded strategies, or is it that once you download a game, the AI is permanently updated with that strategy?

This sounds very interesting...

[Comrade Tribune]

Originally posted by vee4473
This sounds very interesting...

I don´t know how it´s supposed to work, but Chessmaster has a (possibly) similar feature:

Not only can you choose between many different (real and fictious) opponent 'characters', you can even customize your opponent, based on the playing style of your friends, or whoever.

I have no idea if something like this will make its way into Galciv, but it would be great!

So far, of all the games I have played, Chessmaster is best at giving the plausible impression of an actual human opponent, occasional mistakes and all.

[The Rusty Gamer]

I've just got MOO3 and inside is a promo of GC. Now it says "Take back the galaxy on March 26, available everywhere!". Do the last two words mean a word-wide release date then?

[mindlar]

It will be a world wide release from everything I've heard. For those that can't wait if there is a delay getting it to their hometown, the game can be purchased and downloaded. The GalCiv website has more details on how that works.