GalCiv availability thread - first impressions

Boris Godunov · March 24, 2003, 15:49

Okay, the release is nigh, so will start the requisite "I got GalCiv!" thread. Of course, I likely won't be getting it for a while, but I'm sure some of you folks will be rushing out to buy it. So post your first impressions here!

The Templar · March 24, 2003, 20:46

Amazon hasn't even shipped mine yet. Should have happened by now?

Harry Seldon · March 26, 2003, 11:01

I got it yesterday from EB. I fired it up last night and got murdered on Tutorial level. Finances are killing me. Also, I've noticed some small bugs but I'm thinking it has more to do with my 450MHz processor than anything else. Overall, I'm very impressed with the game and look forward to playing it again tonight.

Kinjiru · March 26, 2003, 12:11

Downloaded mine yesterday. The game download took about 25 minutes on my DSL. The multimedia download however took about 5 hours.

First impressions... very cool. I love the music, cut scenes are well done, pacing seems a bit disjointed (fast then slow then fast) - but that prolly has more to do with my lack of understanding than anything else.

Combat? Don't know, played two games and have had no wars... some of the AI civs have fought but I haven't.

The morality play... I LOVE this concept. You can really see dynamic changes in game based on what your choices. The only way I avoided war in my first game (and I had to as I only had about 3 defense ships total) was to change my initial Good stance to a very Evil one so that the Drengin would ally with me and help me avoid getting crushed by my neighbor with the big military machine.

The modable starbases is an interesting concept. I have managed to use them to effect cultural assimilation, but I can't quite figure out how to use them to boost trade.

Speaking of trade. Very interesting way of handling it. You are limited to a very small number of trade lanes (which cn be increased through research) so you have to be very strategic in deciding who your trade partners will be.

Trade impacts the metagame in a major way. You may only be able to establish 3 trade lanes, but there are other civs that could also establish them with you. So if trade is a priority, you need to figure out a way to get teh other civs to want to trade with you!

All in all, after about 6 hours of play I would give Gal Civ a solid 7 out of 10. And I should mention that I fully expect my rating to move up one or two points after I better understand some of what is going on.

Comparisons:
My initial rating of MoO3 was a 5 which moved to a high of 6 and now has settled at a 2.

My initial rating of Civ III was a 7. Pacing is the major problem there. PTW rating: 1. I would rate C3 stand-alone at a 5 now.

SMAC: inital rating (from the demo) 9, from retail 9. The faction interaction is superb in that game. The only flaw is the ugly terrain. I still play and love SMAC.

SimCity: I know I know, completly different genre. But my initial impressions of SimCity were much the same as my GalCiv impressions. There was alot I didn't quite understand the first few games, but I could see the potential for very deep gameplay. Once I really understood how things worked, I was blown away.

Well, that's it, I am really looking forward to the next few days. Gee, I kinda feel a fever coming on, and a cough, oh gee, I guess I better call in sick and get some rest...

moomin · March 26, 2003, 12:15

Thank you, Kinjiru. That calibration against other games was very useful.

Boris Godunov · March 26, 2003, 16:06

Ooooh! My first topped thread!

I will probably get GalCiv one way or another tonight...stay tuned.

Eric S · March 26, 2003, 16:27

My first game I got clobbered within 30 minutes on the level below beginner. Had a bad starting position, off away from all the decent stars, so only got two colonies. Then made the mistake of accepting the monster park. Here's a tip: if that comes up to a vote, vote for someone you hate that is far away if you're early in the tech tree. They've escaped and caused quite a ruckas every time.

Second game, on beginner, I'm off to a very sound lead, and I'd have to do something really stupid to loose, but I'm still trying to get the hang of the game mechanics, so I'm not slaughtering anyone yet.

WarpStorm · March 26, 2003, 17:38

Always send the monster park to the enemy who is farthest from you.

The Templar · March 26, 2003, 21:24

Quote:

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
I will probably get GalCiv one way or another tonight...stay tuned.

You might try EB on Broadway between 3rd and 4th - I gave up on Amazon, cancelled my order and bought it there.

Boris Godunov · March 26, 2003, 21:55

Well, didn't get it yet. Friend had catastrophic romantic break up, spent evening giving comfort...and too rainy to go out now to stores. Maybe tomorrow!

The Templar · March 27, 2003, 00:44

Quote:

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
Well, didn't get it yet. Friend had catastrophic romantic break up, spent evening giving comfort...and too rainy to go out now to stores. Maybe tomorrow!

Too rainy? For GalCiv?

Nirvana_CN · March 27, 2003, 07:11

Well i downloaded the 80Mb game, and while waiting for the 360Mb of Multimedia i have played 2 games.

My first, i chose a high tech Human, anf concentrated on colonising as much as i could, whilst researching manufacturing upgrades so i could pump out ships. Ummm mistake

after seeing my power rating beeing pitifully low, i noticed i was in trouble, after meeting the Yor and Dregnin, they instantly declared war on me, i forced purchase of about 10 defenders, and set up a few star bases, and the Yor realised i was too much effort this early one..phew..however..the damned dregnin came down with a fleet of 15 star fighters, wiped out 2 planets, invaded and colonised them, and then the Yor decided to declare war, i had about 15 planets in 20 systems, half an hour later i was left with only the Sol system and a massive combined fleet or Yor and Dregnin ships, 2 turns later, Sol fell..doh!

Second game i went for the same colony boom, but researched star fighters fast after an hour playing, i decided to attack the Yor who seemed weak..to my suprise their starbases had somekind of Defense tech installed, so i beat a hasty retreat, only to find the Yor's Human allies pissed off that i invaded :\ hmm in my haste to become a military power, i failed to notice the other Civs all out boomed me massivly, and their tech level was far far greater than mine..30 mins later the Sol system fell again :\

Wow after Moo3 im loving the challenge

Up until now i would give it an overall rating of 85%, and the fact stardock support is incredible (I had a problem downloading, i posted on their forum, 10 minutes later and Stardock had emailed me saying i could also get a CD version for the price of shipping it over!) would add 5% to that score.

Graphics i would score at 75%, good, but not groundbreaking, they do the job well though.

The AI is one of the best i ahve seen, and the fact that it will update itself from the uploaded game and scores on the Galciv site is incredibble!! If a tactic becomes common place, then the ai can learn from the 1000's of human players, and adopt its style, an unreserved 95% for this groundbreaking feature.

Sound and music, well music is so-so, Sound is average, BUT it comes with a built in MP3 player

excellent, i would rate it 85% here.

Re-playability..well this is a no brainer, 89%

The UI is ok, maneuovering around it is a piece of cake having come from M003, you can access all screens with one hotkey, or 2 mouse clicks at most. Right mouse button is also utiliised. A few flaws, but enough to earn a steady 80%.

Learning curve is a few hours Max, everything makes sense, from taxes, to the excellent reseach system, although after 10 hours of playing, i still spot new things, easier ways to do things etc. Compared to Moo3 (Which i enjoy) where after 30 hours of play i still hardly understand whats going on.

My current game is going okay, i have allied the other 2 "Good" civs, and we are fighting a War against the Dregnin and Yor, admitteldly we are loasing it right now, but im planting Star bases in my allies areas, and hastily reseaching the techs to make them defensive giants..hopefully we can take em out

Urban Ranger · March 27, 2003, 09:07

Cool!

I trust player reviews more than the ones on gaming websites. Guess I will pop over and grab a copy tomorrow.

Boris Godunov · March 27, 2003, 14:46

Just picked it up over my lunch break at the nearby EB. But have to wait until I leave work in 3 hrs to play.

Good thing I went to the gym before work...wouldn't want to have to wait any longer!

Jack_www · March 27, 2003, 14:51

well after reading reviews I think I will get GalCiv, after getting the stupid peice of trash that is called MOO3, I want to get a replacement for it. By the way were do you think I could get the most money if I decided to sell my copy of MOO3?

Cookie Monster · March 27, 2003, 17:17

This certainly is great news. Right off the bat people are excited about this game and having fun.

So many that I know including myself were utterly discouraged during those first few hours with Moo3. As time went on that discouragement turned to rage and utimately returned the game. Bravo.....I am glad GalCiv is doing well where Moo3 failed miserably. But then again everything Infogreed touches turns to junk.

Anyway I'll probably pick up GalCiv this weekend.

FrustratedPoet · March 27, 2003, 17:20

/edit: I asked a dumbass question I've just found the answer for somewhere else.

Sorry to have troubled you.

/edit2:
aaah, my edit cross-posted with RPM's reply.

Thanks bud

Spaced Cowboy · March 27, 2003, 17:24

FP,

You can pay online and get a download code. Then burn that to CD if you want.

Urban Ranger · March 28, 2003, 07:45

Ackpttffttt.

The local stores don't have it. Bozos!

Jamski · March 28, 2003, 07:57

Quote:

Originally posted by Haupt. Dietrich
Bravo.....I am glad GalCiv is doing well where Moo3 failed miserably. But then again everything Infogreed touches turns to junk.

GalCiv is also published by Infogrammes, BTW. If its going to turn to junk, I won't download it. I have plenty of junk already.

-Jam

Cookie Monster · March 28, 2003, 09:06

Quote:

Originally posted by War of Art

GalCiv is also published by Infogrammes, BTW. If its going to turn to junk, I won't download it. I have plenty of junk already.

-Jam

Jack_www · March 28, 2003, 09:48

Quote:

Originally posted by War of Art

GalCiv is also published by Infogrammes, BTW. If its going to turn to junk, I won't download it. I have plenty of junk already.

-Jam

Hate to tell you this, infocrap had nothing to do with this game, Strategy FIrst published it.

Boris Godunov · March 28, 2003, 12:07

OK, I played for about 4 hours last night. It would have been longer, but I suffered a mindnumbingly bad-timed CTD...

But aside from that, here are my first impressions:

Gameplay: 9.5/10

Wow, this is a fun game. Right away, I became immersed in the game, had plenty to do and was not bored for a second. Fun out of the box. However, I felt the exploration/colonization is a bit too rushed. One of the things I like about some 4x games is the idea that you can get to the late game and still have some systems unexplored/unsettled. I wish they had maybe put a colony limit based on technology levels.

The fog of war doesn't seem to be working all that well. I can clearly see on the map ships across the galaxy in enemy territory where I have no ships or beacons.

Nonetheless, it's fun. I've yet to have any combat, though, which is kinda interesting. Using my standard civ tactics, I'm clearly gravitating to the peaceful science/culture route.

Interface: 8.5/10

The interface is very good, but some things are not intuitive. I will cite the colony ship instance. In my first game, I had no clue how to launch a colony ship from my planet that I had just built, and it took me about 10 minutes to figure out that I had to double click on the tiny icon in the planet's orbit window, load people on it and then launch it. I think that requires a bit more explanation or should be cleaned up some. Perhaps whenever a colony ship is built, a dialogue for loading and launching it should appear automatically?

The other thing is map scrolling/ship movement. The moue buttons seem to trip me up. I will have a ship selected, and then want to check out a planet, click on the planet and oops! my ship starts going towards the planet. Minorly frustrating at times.

Documentation: 5

The manual is far to basic, and getting ingame help is not really all that possible...why can't I right-click on a button to see what it does?

Technology is the worst part here...The long descriptions are nice background, but there's no practical description of what the techs will do and how they will help me. I can build a doohickey if I research this? Well, what does that doohickey do? No way to find out prior to researching it.

The tutorial mode is terrible--I like windows popping open, giving me step-by-step instructions on how to do thing. That's what tutoring means. The obscure little window at the bottom of the screen with somewhat vague comments meant to be helpful is, frankly, not all that helpful.

This is the most disappointing aspect of the game. Still, the manual does provide enough info to jump into a game and know what to do right away.

Graphics: 7/10

The graphics aren't supposed to be astounding, and they aren't, but they do what they're supposed to do well. I think they could be improved considerably, but they aren't as awful as some reviews led me to believe. The worst, IMO, is the galactic minimap. Far too pixilated for my taste. But what's most important is that they adequately immerse me in the universe and are clean, not confusing me at all. So they are fine.

Sound/Music: 7/10.

The music is good, setting the right atmosphere without being intrusive. It doesn't wow me like Diablo did, but it does what it is supposed to do. Far superior to Civ3 music, IMO, at setting the right atmosphere without being obnoxiously repetitive.

Sound isn't much of an issue--it's there, it's not very noticeable. That's a good thing, since it doesn't get in the way.

These are just initial impressions, but so far the game is impressing me very much. The CTD is worrysome, but future patches are going to address such issues, and it was the only technical problem I encountered running the game. Right now I'd say overall is 8.5/10, which could easily change upwards with a few fixes to the interface and in-game documentation.

Now I have to wait 6 hours to play again...garrrrrr!

vmxa1 · March 28, 2003, 14:11

IG is only the distributor, not the publisher or the design house.
Stardock was working on the game before the got with Strategy First and IG.
Of course there are no guarntees, but I am not seeig a lot of irate consumers so far.

Eric S · March 28, 2003, 15:16

O.K., the one bit of music in the game that grabs me every time is the music in the Diplomacy screen when you're talking to the Drengin. Really sets the "you're dealing with pure evil" mood quite well!

MarkG · March 28, 2003, 16:27

AFAIK Stardock financed and will finance GalCiv. which means IG acts only as the distributor

MarkG · March 28, 2003, 16:50

ah yes, downloaded it yesterday, started playing today!
one word: this IS "civ in space"

Trifna · March 28, 2003, 17:27

Awesome! It's the best TBS I know to date!! It really is the game that includes best every aspect of an empire, the inner workings of a civilization. Maybe the society could be a little more detailed though (for now: only imperialism, republic, democracy and federation). Yet, I played about 20 hours.

(I already played (not all 100 hours): Civ 1-2-3, SMAC, Capitalism, Corporate Machine, Colonization, MOO3, Europa Universalis)

vee4473 · March 29, 2003, 14:13

Quote:

Originally posted by Boris Godunov

Technology is the worst part here...The long descriptions are nice background, but there's no practical description of what the techs will do and how they will help me. I can build a doohickey if I research this? Well, what does that doohickey do? No way to find out prior to researching it.

I don't think that the tech descriptions are too vague. When you click on a tech to research , it shows you all the advances you can build when the research is done.
(any new ship, weapons systems, planetary improvements.. etc..)

As for the tutorial mode, i'm still trying to figure out exactly what the difference between having it on or off is..

vee4473 · March 29, 2003, 15:31

after further consideration let me say that with regards to the tech tree, it would most definitely be a huge plus if in addition to just listing the various things you can build as a result of a tech, it actually gave a chance to click on the various things to get a description.

yes, it can be better.