- Beta Day is FINALLY Here! -
Published on September 26, 2008 By ScottTykoski In GalCiv Journals
Currently available on Impulse is Beta1 of GCII version 2.0 (we're shooting for only one major Beta, but there may be more).
 
I'll keep exposition to a minimum, so here's that list of remaining features you'll be receiving...
 
 
New Negotiation Options
Tech Brokering is a game setup option that restricts the trading of technologies to only those you've personally researched. This keeps tech-trade-spam to a minimum and gives some extra muscle to races more technologically inclined.
 
Trading of fleets has also been added, so now you can gather up all the ships you want to unload and send them off with ease.
 
 
All Campaigns Playable
It took some tweaking, but we finally got the Dreadlord and Dark Avatar campaigns working directly in Twilight of the Arnor. (I don't believe this made it in for today's build.)
 
 
Arnorian Ship Style
With the final build of 2.0 you'll have full access to the ship style of the Arnorians.
 
 
Manual
Yes, the manual has been update with all the 2.0 features.     Sorry for the wait.
 
 
Feedback
We're now at the stage where the players get to step in and beat up our creation   Take 2.0 for a couple of laps, let us know how it runs, and give us your feedback. Enjoy!
 
** Concerning the Download: If you're having issues downloading the Beta, make sure... **
1. Pre-Release versions are Selected
2. You press F5 to Check for New Updates
3. If you don't see it, restart Impulse
4. Still don't see it? Restart your computer.
5. Still not there?! Toggle 'Enable Fast-Start' and reload.
6. OMG...Still?!?! Uninstall TA (ONLY TA), reinstall it, and just chalk it up as a 'fun' part of the beta experience

Comments (Page 1)
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on Sep 26, 2008

I'm having trouble findingit,what catagory is it located under?

on Sep 26, 2008

I have started a bugs and issues thread for 1.99(rc)

 

> https://forums.galciv2.com/325735

on Sep 26, 2008

Are those only new/tweaked negotiation options? What about Influence Points? And maybe some new treaties?

on Sep 26, 2008

A couple of hours ago, the 2.0 beta appeared on Impule on my slow old laptop. But as of know, it still doesn''t appear on my gaming rig. Same Impulse settings on both machines btw, so that's not the problem.

on Sep 26, 2008

Hi BoogieBac

 

Any chance the ground combat will be looked/overhauled in v 2.0? I believe originally the intent was to have the background match the combat chosen? Curious to know what is the plan with the ground combat?

 

Looking forward to seeing v 2 in action

on Sep 26, 2008

 

A couple of hours ago, the 2.0 beta appeared on Impule on my slow old laptop. But as of know, it still doesn''t appear on my gaming rig. Same Impulse settings on both machines btw, so that's not the problem.

Try right clicking the game and select "Verify Installation". I tried that before going through the whole uninstall to reinstall phase and it said something like "The game wasn't installed correctly, please go download the latest update". The new update showed up moments later.

Anyways, I unistalled the game because updating an existing installation has caused me problems back in the SDC days. As such, I don't know if that solution will solve all your problems, but I was successful in my installation after I both verified the installation, and uninstalled and installed the new version fresh.

on Sep 27, 2008

I've played a game, and here is my feed back. I'll be assuming that no more features will be added, so I'll providing feed back only on the stuff you guys have worked on thus far and related stuff (or so I'll try):

--Ship Designer--

1. Templates: This is an issue that I haven't mentioned before. Templates were first made available back in DA. When designing a ship, you can choose to also save it as a template, but there is no option to save it *only* as a template. As such, if I want a blank hull, I first must design the ship, save it, and then delete the version that isn't the template. The last part is a repetitive experience that I don't enjoy.

Could you have this adjusted so I could just design templates?

2. Miniturization: Since we now have a ship designer that we can use out of game, it would be useful to be able to set the desired miniturization by slider, or by box where you can enter a number into. This number should range from 0% to 125% (which I think is max miniturization).

--Starbases--

3. Default settings: The new starbase feature does automatically install new starbase modules. As such, it does save time and energy searching for the modules you want. However, I haven't seen any way I could configure this feature in the options menu so all starbases start with this on, how to resort the default module order, or lock some types out completely. I kinda favour sensor modules before attack and defense modules because it allows me to see enemy ships that need to be destroyed before they can cause the starbase any harm.

4. Too many defense modules: (Ignoring all civ specific modules) Starbase attack and defense modules are nearly worthless in the long run. Play long enough, and you can build ships that can solo the most well fortified starbase. Play even longer, and you can design huge hulled ships that are every way superior (except starbase modules) to any starbase you can build.

One thing you could do is, merge the modules unlocked by the "Starbase Fortification" techs. Last I checked, there are 28 modules you could install for starbase defense. 18 of those modules are unlocked by researching the "Starbase Fortification" techs (1 to 3), with 6 unlocked every level (one for every defense and attack type). If those modules were merged together so we had 1 for attack and 1 for defense, we would 12 less modules to sort through. This would cut the number of modules needed to be installed nearly in half, reducing the number to 16.

This will not make them any stronger, but they would reduce the number of constructor needed to build up starbase defenses when they can have a significant impact to the game.

--Planet Governers--

5. Reduce mouse clicking: I tried it a couple of times. To use a planet governer, you obviously needed to make some, then after that you had select the planet. Instead of configuring this from the planet management screen, you had to select "details" button, then "governers", and then select the governer type you made. Inaddition to that, there were 2 other options just below where you set the governer, one to disable auto-upgrades, and another to auto-terraform the planet. These could be placed along with the "Ignore farm bonus tiles" check box where you design your planet governers. Inaddition, the governers settings could be placed on the planet management screen instead of the planet details screen.

6. Alternate user interface: Not sure if you have time for this, or not. The planet improvements screen doesn't provide you with much information of what planet improvements you have at a glance. To determine if you have a power plant, you would have to search for it. I've developed the habit of building my special improvements (starport, power plants, and other stuff) together so if I find one, I can expect to find the others adjacent to it (or atleast nearby). However, not every planet makes this easy. Sometimes the tiles seem to have be thrown around at random. These new planet governers, unlike me, seem to throw improvements around at random, and so the does the AI.

This creates a mess that can make it difficult to determine what the planet has built. What I'm thinking is a screen much like the summery window you can get when you click the summery button. Instead of showing each item alone, you have all 1-per-planet improvements group together, factories together, research together, galactic achievements together, etc. You could even have the number factories be listed (for instance, "12x collectives"). Like wise, empty tiles could be grouped together, tiles to be terraformed together. Bonus tiles could placed together (prefered option), with the normal tiles, or placed in the group where the bonus applies (manufacturing bonus tiles would be found in the factory slot).

Like I said, I don't know if you guys have the energy to make this.

7. Auto fill empty tiles: There isn't an option for the governers to fill all empty tiles with a given planet improvement at this time. I find that you can never have too many economic improvements (unless you have taxes and/or population too low). Depending on the stage of the planet's development, I might want to fill in all those empty tiles with stock markets.

8. Galactic wide, change of governers: I didn't see any buttons that would allow me change the governers that my planets were using by making few clicks of a mouse like you could with other governers. I might want to replace the "New Colony" governer to the "Early Planet Development" governer once the colony rush is over and I have the money and income to manage how my planets develop.

--Spies--

9. Problem with colours: After testing out the new spy system, I feel as though it is at where it should have been back when DA was released. However, there is a problem with the colours. When placing a spy to merely gather intel of a civ, you have click a grey button. At first glance, I thought that couldn't place a spy even though I had some. I decided to try to place some anyways, and found after I filled all 4 slots, the button turned a darker shade of grey.

Could we get the button for when you can place spies to be green (or red), and the have the button be greyed out when you can place no more?

________________

I'm a bit tired now, so I'll post more once I get some sleep.

on Sep 27, 2008


All Campaigns Playable
It took some tweaking, but we finally got the Dreadlord and Dark Avatar campaigns working directly in Twilight of the Arnor. (I don't believe this made it in for today's build.)

 

Yes it made it into 1.99 rc, i tried it.

 

And its great, the DL campaign is now playable with new textures and the new techs of TA. Maybe i`ll try the campaign now, i did not do it yet after getting TA because the graphics look bad compared to TA and the techs were missing. And i noticed - if you really need to play the old fashioned style without the improvements of TA and DA you still can simply switch chapters in the autolauncher and the game will be all the same as before.

 

Thanks Stardock, this is my personal favorite in v2.0; you guys are great.

 

edit:  oops, almost overseen my other favorite one:           

 

             Arnorian Ship Style

With the final build of 2.0 you'll have full access to the ship style of the Arnorians.

thats really nice...
I was almost a bit disappointed expecting more out of espionage but all that together is really great. Thank you
on Sep 27, 2008

Try right clicking the game and select "Verify Installation". I tried that before going through the whole uninstall to reinstall phase and it said something like "The game wasn't installed correctly, please go download the latest update". The new update showed up moments later.

 

Thanks to DivineWrath for this tip, it worked like a charm. Just thought I'd let others know it worked as well.

 

on Sep 27, 2008

Quick question, is this beta only for TA? I wanted to try the new espionage system on DA but I can't see the update on Impulse. The only step I didn't try is the one where I should remove TA, which is kind of difficult as I don't have it yet.

on Sep 27, 2008

A suggestion, if it hasn't already been made somewhere. Add a tab above the available improvements for the planet templates. So you'll have tabs for new, old, all, and templates or whatever appropriate name you have in mind.

on Sep 27, 2008

Garvick
Quick question, is this beta only for TA? I wanted to try the new espionage system on DA but I can't see the update on Impulse. The only step I didn't try is the one where I should remove TA, which is kind of difficult as I don't have it yet.

Yes, the beta is only for TA.

on Sep 27, 2008

Garvik: The backporting of the Espionage improvements (as well as any other easy changes to make) will be done once the beta cycle is over. This probably meens that DA 2.0 will be about a week behind TA 2.0, though we'll try our best to time a duel release.

on Sep 27, 2008

I don't know if this is new to 1.99c because I had never tried it before, but using the mouse scroll wheel on the pop-out galaxy map (the one you get pressing the button next to the zoom in/out buttons) causes a C++ Runtime Error and a crash to desktop.

on Sep 27, 2008

Edit: Ignore me please.

However, if you're ever looking to update the Impulse UI, then perhaps a way to indicate where the preferance menu is. The Stardock symbol is not the most intuitive place to look for it - I've had Impulse for a few months now, and only have some hard searching did I find it

Perhaps I am simply thick

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