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Galactic Civilizations III is out

TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEONRegistered User regular
edited May 2015 in Games and Technology
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owdjizoiqVY

Galactic Civilizations III is the third entry in the GalCiv turn based 4X sci-fi franchise by Stardock Games. In this game, Stardock rolled a D20 to from their "list of sci-fi story cliches" and got "crusade of exiled humans returns from the edge of space to wipe clean the slate of life." That's pretty much all we know so far, but if you give Stardock money you can get into the beta and if you give them lots of money you can get into the alpha.

Apparently this game is for 64 bit systems only. This will allow the game to utilize all 64 bits.

Meanwhile, let's reminisce about GalCiv II, which was a cool video game. The AI was tremendous and in fact one of the big selling points was that the more powerful your computer was, the better the AI could get. Instead of just getting more stuff, the AI got smarter. Tricks like "build up a big army and then declare war" didn't work so well - they'd realize what you were doing and prepare for your onslaught.

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Another big draw of the franchise is that you can design all your own ships by using a LEGO-esque system where you snap together parts and stuff. That is neat.

Tom Francis, an excellent games journalist who later went on to make the excellent Gunpoint, wrote two excellent diaries of GalCiv II games he played. Check them out:

TychoCelchuuu on
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Posts

  • MegaMekMegaMek Girls like girls. Registered User regular
    FFFUUUUCK YESSS

    Is time a gift or punishment?
  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    HELLS YES!

    One of my favorite games of all time. Stardock, like Firaxis, also know how to put together an expansion pack. I sense good things ahead.

  • MazzyxMazzyx Comedy Gold Registered User regular
    Color me interested.

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  • GaryOGaryO Registered User regular
    As overused as this phrase is: SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!

  • IslandDogIslandDog Registered User regular
    Thanks for posting. :)

    It's going to be fun. Much fun.

  • LanrutconLanrutcon The LabyrinthRegistered User regular
    Sure, why not?

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    Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
  • MachismoMachismo Registered User regular
    I just want to be able to blow up some planets without going through 3 addons.

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  • The_ScarabThe_Scarab Registered User regular
    Oh Christ. I've been clean for nearly a year.

    You don't need this Scarab. You don't need this.

  • TheKoolEagleTheKoolEagle Registered User regular
    today has been a good day for game announcements. what with galciv3 and spacebase df-9

    uNMAGLm.png Mon-Fri 8:30 PM CST - 11:30 PM CST
  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    today has been a good day for game announcements. what with galciv3 and spacebase df-9
    I was reading Blue's News and saw the news, so I was like "yay! I'll go post a thread!" So I made the logo the right size and resized the screenshot and wrote up the thread and posted it and everything. Then I was like "back to reading the news!" and I go over to RPS and see Spacebase DF-9 and I was like "welp, time for another thread!" then I went and made that and now I'm afraid to leave my computer in case people announce more games and I want to make more threads.

  • RoyceSraphimRoyceSraphim Registered User regular
    Ah yes, the game where getting fucked over and struggling to survive is just as fun as dominating the galaxy.

    Is there are reason not to have random events not turned up to 11?

    Random Events to hope for
    Alien love affair with wife of civilization you are at war with
    Challenged to a rock off by minor race
    Minor Race ascends to major race due ancient dreadnaught being found on their world
    Sentient Planets
    Sentient Planets giving birth
    Death of alien pop star shuts down communication
    Savage uprising of insects on uncolonizable world launches asteroid at your homeworld and engage in a bloody war to kill their hive intelligence
    Ancient Doomsday weapon starts wandering galaxy, eating planets.
    Star Systems moved by strange machines
    Unhappy planets form rouge states rather than just defecting to nearest state
    Devolution

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  • PeccaviPeccavi Registered User regular
    Still really proud of my Suicidal Tech Victory in Gal Civ II, so I'll probably give this a shot.

  • RoyceSraphimRoyceSraphim Registered User regular
    edited October 2013
    O HAI! Its my most recent game!
    Linux allows a flexibility and dynamic energy that endears an market to people, like automobiles. But the audience needs to not be afraid of it when they jump in for the first time.

    Few more notes for Gal Civ 2 Gold
    Random Sciencetist makes spaceship range unlimited: HOORAY
    Space Time anomolies limit every ship to 5 pcs/week: BOO!
    Boiled down, I can build a fleet and send it anywhere, it just takes forever to get there.

    For further proof of how bad the situation is:
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    There were originally 9 of us, the bugs took the missing 4 and the rest of us got scraps.

    RoyceSraphim on
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  • BasilBasil Registered User regular
    edited October 2013
    Welp, I surely do hope they don't pull a SotS2 and try to reinvent the wheel with this release.

    Basil on
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  • FremFrem Registered User regular
    I wonder if they'll have multiplayer this time. Their reason for omitting it in previous releases was that "crazy randomness is fun, but hugely unfair, and people hate unfair in multiplayer."

  • DírhaelDírhael NorwayRegistered User regular
    edited October 2013
    Frem wrote: »
    I wonder if they'll have multiplayer this time. Their reason for omitting it in previous releases was that "crazy randomness is fun, but hugely unfair, and people hate unfair in multiplayer."
    Multiplayer
    For the first time, players can compete against each other in person and over the Internet in Galactic Civilizations III.

    Source: http://www.galciv3.com/game/gameplay/features

    Dírhael on
  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    Huh.

  • RoyceSraphimRoyceSraphim Registered User regular
    I'm actually considering getting into the early alpha in light of how many hours I've dropped into GALCIV2:Gold.

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  • HeirHeir Ausitn, TXRegistered User regular
    Read this last night. The promptly squealed like a little girl with glee.

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  • JusticeforPlutoJusticeforPluto Registered User regular
    So pumped. Just hope my PC can run it.

    I need to buy GalCiv2 Gold on Steam. I used to have it on the Stardock site, but they merged/got bought by Gamestop...

  • RoyceSraphimRoyceSraphim Registered User regular
    So pumped. Just hope my PC can run it.

    I need to buy GalCiv2 Gold on Steam. I used to have it on the Stardock site, but they merged/got bought by Gamestop...

    Real talk, gamestop is find as a distributor and the game codes I get from them actually register on steam (not all, just the steamworks ones) so I have to give them that.

    HOWEVER, the Gamestop app is quite buggy on my pc, pops up at the weirdest times, is often inferior in pricing to steam and are often repeats of steam sales, and has often glitched out and crashed many a time.

    But the games still work and have never failed to work.

    That's a little better than steam's track record, but not by much.

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  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    Dammit!

    I was just going to come post that, @TychoCelchuuu!

    I had, literally just moments ago, thought, "I wonder if anything new on GalCivIII has come out," went over to their website, flipped through the new screenshots / concept art, and come back here to post it.

    CURESE YOU AND YOUR NEWSIENESS!

  • Rhan9Rhan9 Registered User regular
    Looks like I'm going to need to prepare myself for the usual. The usual being the construction of The Empire of Man and subjugating all the filthy xenos.

  • VicVic Registered User regular
    I wasn't the biggest fan of galciv2, in particular I felt that the tech trees were quite bloated, but I'm definitely interested enough to keep an eye on this!

  • Ethan SmithEthan Smith Origin name: Beart4to Arlington, VARegistered User regular
    edited March 2014
    Machismo wrote: »
    I just want to be able to blow up some planets without going through 3 addons.

    Yeah my issue with the game was just how much time I'd end up spending creating units instead of actually playing

    I'd like something like a universal ship creator across all races where you already have your tech-X frigates and your all-laser dreadnaught.

    I also think that restricting ships to one kind of weapon each would be helpful

    Ethan Smith on
  • BotznoyBotznoy Registered User regular
    Everytime I see this thread pop up I need to change my pants

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    Want to play co-op games? Feel free to hit me up!
  • Bliss 101Bliss 101 Registered User regular
    This thread has inspired me to start playing GC2 again.

    I had forgotten how much fun this is. Turns out I missed the last expansion, back in the day, so now I have some new stuff to try out too.

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  • IslandDogIslandDog Registered User regular
    If you are in the Founder's Elite, the alpha has gone live today on Steam. :)

  • Dignified PauperDignified Pauper Registered User regular
    I guess it's time to download Galactic Civ Ultimate and see what these games are about?

    PSN: DignifiedPauper
    3DSFF: 5026-4429-6577
  • Rhan9Rhan9 Registered User regular
    GalCiv2 is great, except for the fucking arnorian ranger or whatever that bullshit ship is that can be gained from a random event. In a slow research game, it basically hands the player that gets it instant victory, due to everyone else's inability to mount a realistic resistance to it before they've been destroyed.

  • a5ehrena5ehren AtlantaRegistered User regular
    That thing is pretty hilarious if you get it though.

  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    IslandDog wrote: »
    If you are in the Founder's Elite, the alpha has gone live today on Steam. :)

    And, for the record, as ridiculously limited as the alpha currently is* ... I still got caught up in one-more-turnitis last night. Wanted to boot it up last night just to check out the shiny new graphics, and whoops! I've somehow got three colonies now.

    * Because, you know, alpha.

  • ApostateApostate Prince SpaceRegistered User regular
    Elvenshae wrote: »
    IslandDog wrote: »
    If you are in the Founder's Elite, the alpha has gone live today on Steam. :)

    And, for the record, as ridiculously limited as the alpha currently is* ... I still got caught up in one-more-turnitis last night. Wanted to boot it up last night just to check out the shiny new graphics, and whoops! I've somehow got three colonies now.

    * Because, you know, alpha.

    Have they streamlined the tech tree any? That was one of the reasons I could never really warm up to the game that much. There was so much bloat it often became a slog the further the game progressed.

  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    edited March 2014
    Apostate wrote: »
    Elvenshae wrote: »
    IslandDog wrote: »
    If you are in the Founder's Elite, the alpha has gone live today on Steam. :)

    And, for the record, as ridiculously limited as the alpha currently is* ... I still got caught up in one-more-turnitis last night. Wanted to boot it up last night just to check out the shiny new graphics, and whoops! I've somehow got three colonies now.

    * Because, you know, alpha.

    Have they streamlined the tech tree any? That was one of the reasons I could never really warm up to the game that much. There was so much bloat it often became a slog the further the game progressed.

    It's a little hard to tell at the moment, because the whole tech tree isn't visible yet; you can only see a research screen where you pick your next tech, and it shows several options across ... 4? ... categories (Civic, Military, etc.). I will say that I've seen a lot of interesting tweaks - one of my favorites is a "specialization" option. Like, once you research basic research facilities ("Pure Research," IIRC), you open up a tech called "Research Specialization," which has three option: Streamlined Research (-maintenance cost), Cheap Facilities (-build cost), and ... Super Effective! research (+10% RP gained). You can research it multiple times (at least twice; haven't researched it the second time to see if you can pick up a third), and each time is more expensive. There are a couple different specialization options (I can also see Drive specialization).

    I never thought that the previous version's skill trees were bloated, though, so I might be a bad test case. I actually really like the various techs that got added (especially in the Arnor expansion) that really made each civ unique.

    There's also a kind of pseudo-research / skill tree in the civilization morality scale. Various events give you points towards Good, Pragmatic, and Evil - and you can unlock civ-wide bonuses and improvements by spending those points. It's pretty slick so far (only unlocked the first Pragmatic one at the moment). It's a great improvement on the old civ alignment model in GC2.

    Elvenshae on
  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    Maybe the screenshots aren't doing the game the proper justice, but when I look at this game on Steam, it looks just like GalCivII to me, only with a little better resolution. It just doesn't really look modern. Especially after having sunk so many hours into Sins of a Solar Empire, I've come to expect a lot more graphical fidelity from my space sim games.

  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    @Lucascraft‌
    The new ship designs are, like, super hot.

  • Rhan9Rhan9 Registered User regular
    Hopefully, since I never liked the old ones.

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