Galactic Civilizations III trailer!!

mikeck · May 14, 2015, 08:13:48 PM

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/05/14/wot-i-think-galactic-civilizations-iii/

Great review over at RPS.
They like it but recommend that you play on medium maps or large (with scarce habitable planets) or it will be a chore. Seems basically an updated version of Gal Civ 2: which is good

RooksBailey · May 15, 2015, 12:34:35 AM

GalCiv 2 was always one of my favorite sci-fi games, so I WILL be getting this at some point.

Question for those of you who have it: what has changed, if anything, with the battles? In GalCiv 2, the combat was just like Endless Space where it was a hands-off movie. Do you have greater control? I am not looking for an RTS, but I am curious if you can set fleet formations or other basic orders before the battle.

EDIT: Just saw that this is missing:

Quote3. What's missing:
Planetary invasion viewer - was reworked prior to release, will be added to the game in a free patch.

My purchase will wait for that. :)

Jarhead0331 · July 05, 2015, 06:21:57 PM

I've finally started devoting some real time to this. Although there is something about it that makes me keep hitting the next turn button, like all Gal Civ games before it, there is something about the experience that strikes me as hollow and soulless and I just can't explain it or put my finger on why.

It has a great variety of planet types, each with bonuses and hazards. The space environment is full of anomalies to explore and strategic resources to exploit. It has a wide variety of technology to research. It has dozens of different ship types and hulls, and with the ship designer, vessel options are limited only by the player's imagination. Ship combat is pretty dull, though. No strategic or tactical options here. Victory or defeat is really just a matter of having more ships, more guns and more advanced military technology. This is a major draw back of the game. Even so, the total sum of all the parts should still make this a really good 4x game, but so far it only feels average.

I'm just about to start my first interstellar war, so I'll report back if that spices things up.

bbmike · July 05, 2015, 06:35:25 PM

I find it a lot more fun than I or II for some reason, but yeah, it's still kind of easy to walk away from. And I think that ship design is much more difficult in this version. I can't seem to build a ship. Probably operator error but I've never had any problems in II.

Jarhead0331 · July 05, 2015, 07:30:46 PM

Quote from: bbmike on July 05, 2015, 06:35:25 PM
I find it a lot more fun than I or II for some reason, but yeah, it's still kind of easy to walk away from. And I think that ship design is much more difficult in this version. I can't seem to build a ship. Probably operator error but I've never had any problems in II.

I'm finding that there are so many different kinds of stock vessels that there is really no need to even try to create your own.

Steelgrave · July 05, 2015, 07:40:39 PM

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on July 05, 2015, 07:30:46 PM
Quote from: bbmike on July 05, 2015, 06:35:25 PM
I find it a lot more fun than I or II for some reason, but yeah, it's still kind of easy to walk away from. And I think that ship design is much more difficult in this version. I can't seem to build a ship. Probably operator error but I've never had any problems in II.

I'm finding that there are so many different kinds of stock vessels that there is really no need to even try to create your own.

I do like to create an AWACS-type starship loaded with sensors and fast enough to keep up with my aggressors. The easiest way is to take a colony ship, strip out the colony part and fill the hold with sensor units. They are great for watching borders and identifying targets. And I often copy a vessel simply to recreate and rename it into something sensible, something more readily identifiable to me by name. Maybe I should name my Planetary Assault vessels the "Jarhead" class....yeah, has a nice ring to it. O0

Jarhead0331 · July 05, 2015, 08:33:24 PM

Great idea with the AWACS type ships. I guess I need to get practical and creative. Also a good idea renaming ship classes to something more identifiable at a glance...Battleaxe, Fury, Knight, etc. just don't cut it.

Let me know how the Jarhead Class works out for you!

Steelgrave · July 05, 2015, 08:44:29 PM

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on July 05, 2015, 08:33:24 PM
Great idea with the AWACS type ships. I guess I need to get practical and creative. Also a good idea renaming ship classes to something more identifiable at a glance...Battleaxe, Fury, Knight, etc. just don't cut it.

Let me know how the Jarhead Class works out for you!

Oh, the Dregins surrendered their entire empire the moment one crossed into their territory.

Yskonyn · July 06, 2015, 12:21:40 AM

I do find the technical gameplay bits nothing new at all. But the AI at higher settings is just great! Its Dynamic and devious. I think this is a great selling point of the GalCiv series.
As a 4x game itself I do agree that it is nothing special.