I've never been very good at turn-based strategy games, nor have I ever been especially good at space-diplomacy, but I am thinking about changing all that and getting into GalCiv2. In no small part because the concept of pic related makes me rather hard.
Everyone and their mother has told me that 3 is inferior to 2 in every way, so I'm leaning towards picking it up on Steam.
Can I get some beginners advice on Galactic Civilization 2? Any essential mods or anything I need if I pick up the Ultimate Edition?
>>329653516
>pic is official
Holy fuck. Does it have joints that pivot?
>>329653516
Get ultimate edition; adds a lot including Terror Stars. I think each expansion is literally a huge upgrade, especially when they add my boys, the Korx.
>>329654081
Heh, honestly I couldn't tell you. I couldn't even tell you exactly how you could build one of these monstrosities.
That being said I know the game has a terribly expansive ship-building module, which may or may not have been enhanced in GC3.
That being said, any game that lest me strap wings on a mech and lets me send it to battle in space sounds like good times to me.
>>329654217
Ah cool, I considered getting the standalone version, but if each expansion is such a bump in content as you claim then the ultimate edition might just be worth it for the content alone.
Oh and Terror Stars sound cool. Can I finally build my own Death Star and create the alternate-universe edge-lord galactic empire I always wanted?
>>329654217
Not him but how is it compared to 3? 3 looks prettier, but graphics <<< gameplay.
>>329654351
Yeah, but the process is very long when you factor in research, construction, moving the TS, etc. But it's really nice to fuck up a solar system.
>>329654519
That's probably true. It would kinda' make sense though, right? When you're building a moving fortress the size of a small planet, you'd expect it to take some time.
Does GC2 have difficulty settings? Like, will I as a newbie to the genre get my ass torn apart in "normal" difficulty?
I'm guessing what I'm asking is; is the AI very very competent?
They should just add a full-mecha race to the game. A race who's every unit is some variant of mecha.Does it have that?
>>329654439
>>329654439
I've played 3 for apparently 70 hours, but I don't really remember it. It's definitely a step up graphically, and hexes actually add a bit more movement nuance. I don't like how they've changed the research trees since I grew up doing "everyone has the same techs except for a couple race-specific techs", but you might end up liking it. I do think there's a couple of balance issues, such as with Thalan and Yor being too good, but I haven't played in a while. On the other hand, I've played 2 for literally weeks and some of my fondest memories in 4x are with that game. I would recommend buying 2 if you're new to Gal Civ but not 4x. Then see some videos of Gal Civ 3 and decide if you like the changes. Gal Civ 3 is not a bad game by any means, but I just really love 2.
>>329653516
Don't listen to nostalgiafags, 3 is just as good as 2.
>>329654236
I've played it before but as far as I know there was only a "rotation" animation to some of the wheel like structures on a ship.
>>329654835
Well phrased opinion Anon. Thank you for your input. I think I'll pick up 3 then if only because I do like things looking nice. If I feel a great draw towards what 2 has to offer I might go ahead and pick that up too.
>>329654750
>>329654750
Yeah, but the AI will call you out on it. On easier settings, you can just set up military ships on their border and the AI leader will say something like "I know what you're doing and if you had turned my difficulty up, I would stop you."
Normal is what's on the label. It won't bludgeon you unless you have bad luck but it won't let you simply win. Difficulties around normal run in a very reasonable scale. At normal, the AI economy is at 75% and evaluates human tactics, according to devs. At Bright, it runs at 100% (parity with you) and digs deeper into the bank of tactics it knows. Same with Intelligent. You can make it super hard or super easy, but it will rarely feel like the AI will cheat and get ships out of nowhere, for instance.
>>329655090
>"I know what you're doing and if you had turned my difficulty up, I would stop you."
Chuckled heartily.
>>329655090
Thank God, I can't stand cheating AI.
Are there any factions that are blatantly easier than others? Something to get me warmed up?
>>329655546
>If you weren't such a faggot I'd tear your asshole apart.
I love it when video games do stuff like this.
It's also a subtle warning to newer players about what they can expect from the higher-difficulty AI without destroying them outright.
>>329655594
Yor gets a bonus to miniaturization that can make their ships have broken amount of guns. They also don't use food but turn production in population. Their unique ability also makes it so that enemies move slower through space they control.
Thalan are super productive with 33% to both mil and soc production, but are horrible at diplomacy and being fertile.
Torians have something like 100% bonus to population growth when happy, so your planets can get super big and withstand tons of invasions.
In reality, every race can be super broken if you play to their strengths. My favorite race, the Korx, gets huge bonuses to trade and extra routes which, along with the right political parties, can get you a ton of money all the time. If you play to a race's strength, you can usually find out at which point they become broken. Except for Altarians, who are literally ass.
>>329656085
I keep reading "Yor" as "You", but that's some really good advice. Thank you Anon!
Anyone have that long ass story of the guy who set the difficulty all the way up and was more or less played by the AI?
>>329656085
>Altarians
>ass
Of course they are. You can spell "ass" with their names. Sort of.There's a joke in here somewhere.
>>329656305
No but there's an article of a guy who got his ass beat trying to do a domination victory and at the last moment pulled a science vic and transcended into a higher plane of existence.
>>329656305
The only store I've heard of was this guy who did like an LP of his custom race:
http://web.archive.org/web/20140721041735/http://www.computerandvideogames.com/161570/blog/galciv-2-war-report-final-entry/?site=pcg
If you see that story, post it though.
>>329656538
better link:
http://www.pcgamer.com/galactic-civlizations-2-war-report-part-one/
>>329656453
Totally would though.
>>329656668
I think that's the one, actually. Shows how fucking smart the AI can be, and it's shortcomings I suppose, as he won anyway.
I have the game from a few years ago, I should really give it a bigger chance.
>>329656758
Oh God, of course, that's not a question in any sense.
>>329657459
Yeah, go and install it. Keep in mind with the AI that it's almost 10 years old at this point and designed for 32 bit. Gal Civ 3 is supposedly going to get much better as it learns from more players playing it, so that's fucking dope.
I've forgotten but does GalCiv have "gratitude" stat? Like if I was being chummy with an AI would that foster loyalty? Aside from an alliance, of course.
>>329657610
Yeah, reinstalling now. Maybe I'll bother learning.
A little off topic, but it's still Stardock. Anyone know how Ashes of the Singularity is? I'm terrible at strategy, but it looks interesting.
>>329657675
Yeah, races will acknowledge that you haven't gone to war with them in a while or that you're the same ethical alignment. It'll give a bump to diplomacy, but some races are more douches than others. Different values of envy/aggression, etc.
>>329657803
Not him, but I know someone on Steam who's in the beta and he claims it'll topple Supreme Commander, but it'll be pretty demanding if you force it to the higher visuals.
So what the fuck is the verdict? GC2 Ultimate Edition or GC3?
>>329657943
GC2 Ultimate Edition for now. GC3 when its more refined and when it gets a expansion or 2.
>>329657943
GC2 then go on to GC3. Enjoyable games both of them and I love them like my children.
>>329658228
>>329658219
Alright, GC2 it is. Thanks Anons.
>>329653516
If you want to play multiplayer, then 3 is the game for you, otherwise I'd say that 2 is an overall better experience, and pretty cheap to buy at that
>>329653516
>>329654439
>>329654925
>>329655090
>>329657459
>>329657610
This game has some of the best 4x AI you'll find nowadays. And, more importantly, Diplomacy is actually a thing. That makes playing Civ V painful for me, it's constant combat and merely a bit of diplomatic fluff.
In this game you can conquer planets by just spreading your diplomatic influence over them enough. You can talk to AI and go: "I've got this tech, you've got this tech. Let's trade notes." AND THAT ACTUALLY WORKS.
If you're colonizing a new planet, you actually have to transfer population from one of your planets to the new one. That makes sense. That makes it interesting. It isn't just building a colony ship and selecting a planet to conquer, you will have to sacrifice pops and production for a time.
Seriously, more modern games should take this one as an example in regards to depth, diplomacy, peaceful play and intricacies.
>>329658883
I've been looking for a good diplomatic simulator after the recent Civilization crushed my hopes and dreams. I'll check this out.
>>329653516
Get ultimate edition and pay the fuck attention when you're playing. There's a ton of shit to learn and I think the game has an in-game guide that's pretty good.
>>329654081
I don't think so, no. I used a lot of custom ships and I don't remember animations. What I can tell you though is that the custom ship builder gives you a lot of options to make things look mostly like what you want them to look like.
>>329654820
Custom races let you tune their technology and other things. Switch the portrait to whatever you like and make a custom ship for every unit you want.
>>329660201
GC 3 added animations, but they're fairly rudimentary. Even without animations, the design tools given to you in both games are pretty extensive.
>>329660201
>>329660768
I love this. Thanks guys!
>>329660768
>>329660201
Will the design tools let me make robots? I want to play a race of otaku who seriously thought an army of space-robots would be cool.I'm not even kidding.
>>329661224
Here's a really great tutorial series for GalCiv2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VINSC8LVvn4
>>329661356
I'll check that out! Just bought Ultimate Edition on Steam and downloading now.
>>329661356
At least you picked an LP'er with a good voice.
>>329661487
He has a slightly annoying verbal tick, 'Okay?', but apart from that, yeah. Good voice, good quality microphone, able to convey information at a decent pace.
>>329661314
I don't think so; OP's image might be the closest to mechs you could get, but the flight pattern would look pretty weird. It looks more natural to make battleships and shit.
>>329661715
Aww, oh well. Still sounds like a lot of fun! I think I might pick it up ontorrentfirst to see how it runs though.
I like GC3. It's not as good as MoO2 (nothing is), but it's 'kay.
>>329662293
2's a lot closer to MOO2, if you haven't tried it?
>>329662293
MoO2 excelled in many aspects, but holy fuck is it not fun to play. You spent like 90% of the time on this static star map, passing turns or shuffling pops up and down on a planet. That's the majority of the gameplay. Occasionally you'll get a research pop-up and select the next one, but that's basically it.
That ugly ass starmap and the turn button. It's a chore to play, really, no matter how good the depth behind it all.
>>329662474
No, but I'll look into it if it's closer to MoO2.
>>329662759
I'm not sure what to say, anon. This is pretty much how all 4X games play out until you get from the early game and have a bunch of places populated. Dunno what 4X titles you've played that are different.
>>329663420
It is, and you should.
pls don't die
![maxresdefault[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/X7KCfFJ.jpg "maxresdefault[1].jpg")
Has anyone experienced in GalCiv tried the new Master of Orion? How does it hold up in comparison?
>>329667323
To Gal Civ?
Shallower, but hopefully that'll get better with time.
But the presentation is rock solid. having Micahel Dorn do faction intros (and other stuff) is great.
