Galactic Civilizations II v1.3 BETA 1 change log

Target availability: 7/27

Published on July 26, 2006 By Draginol In GalCiv Journals

The 1.3 builds of Galactic Civilizations II will be in beta for longer than some of the previous versions. It's not so much that we think it's buggy but the fact that we don't want to do a 1.3, 1.31, 1.32, 1.33 and so on. Plus, if there ARE bugs in these builds, we can say "Well it's a beta". After all, weaseling is what sets us apart from the animals...well...you know..except the weasel.

The 1.3 builds are designed to extend the playable lifespan of the game. To eliminate annoyances and pet peeves that players might have that would eventually turn them off. That includes things like UI annoyances being eliminated based on player feedback, amping up the computer AI further, and adding more difficulty levels so that players can fine-tune things.

If I were a better game designer, I'd just have the difficulty levels be a slider with a 1 to 100. Dark Avatar will have that (ironically the original OS/2 version of GalCiv back in 1993 had this but what did I know then?). But for 1.3, we added 3 more difficulty levels and just generally cleaned up that area.

Below is the change log of BETA 1 of 1.3. It will be available via Stardock Central tomorrow or Friday unless there's some disaster.

It should be fine to run. Most of the embedded spyware, hard drive formatting, and other malicious code that all our software includes has been reduced by over 14%. Just ignore the hard drive crunching...

+ fixed first turn after load zero production behavior!

+ AI better at managing colonies

+ More difficulty levels: Dunce at the lower end, Godlike and Ultimate at the higher end.

+ AI intelligence levels above and below "Intelligent" adjusted in difficulty (so i.e. Normal will be tougher than it was because there's a new easier difficulty level and Incredible will be easier because there's two higher difficulty levels).

+ The overall difficulty levels have now bee tweaked to have a 1 to 1 relationshipo with the AI intelligence levels so "Challenging" means all AI intelligences set to "Bright" rather than a weighted overall value. Many higher level players would find that they set the difficultly level to Crippling only to find that 2 or 3 of the players would be set to "Fool" (and do very little) while the others played very well.

+ Difficulty setup screen tweaked to work better.

+ changed size of TriStrontium so that it's bigger than TriStrontium2; previously the definitions were identical.

+ fixed error in translation code for raceconfig (homeworld)

+ fixed error in translation code for UP issues.

+ fixed bug that reset the cheater's flag, allowing cheater games to be submitted normally.

+ fixed some exploits in raceconfigs for metaverse games

+ fixed missing image in Rename Ship dialog

+ fixed error in AbilitiesBonus.xml file that didn't show 20% bonus to Loyalty

+ reduced the Custom Race's default value of Loyalty to 15% so that it would not cause negative ability points

+ added code to clear the planet/shiplist between games so that it wouldn't keep old pointers (should prevent a memory leak and potential crashes due to bad pointers)

+ made it so that you can select a race by clicking on its icon on the Foreign Treaties screen

+ made it so that the seleted planet or ship in the planet/ship list is saved so that changing the sort variable or filters will still keep the selection.

+ added code to let you right click on a tech to bring up the tech description dialog when the tech tree window is maximized

+ fixed error where fleets of ships could still attack freighters protected by galactic privateer

+ Reversed direction of the moon revolution (yes, Earth's moon now rotates around the Earth the right way)

+ added a check in the Direct 3D code for vertex and pixel shader versions

+ added code to make foreign policy window try to select a non-dead civ

+ made sure that the civ manager only has to parse the entry definitions once

+ made planet screens refresh after removing or adding troops

+ fixed numerous typos and spelling errors in various files

+ changed it so that the difficulty on the OpponentWnd slider changes all of the selected races' intelligences

+ changed it so that when you enable a race, it automatically sets its intelligence to be at the level of the difficulty

+ Fixed bug where lines on Treaties screen would point off-screen if you were a custom race playing against 10 enemies

+ D and T buttons will now toggle the details and rally point screens on/off instead of queuing up multiple instances of them

+ Kills some battle related processes as soon as they are finished so they don’t stay in memory when no longer needed

+ When running in full screen mode (Release build), the mouse will be clipped to the game window to prevent accidentally clicking outside of the window. You can still use ALT+TAB to activate other windows.

+ added function IsProtectedMiniFreighter to check for valid target

+ added code to clear selected rallypoint from minimap to prevent crashing when the rallypoint is deleted

+ added code to clear rallypoint destination when rallypoint is destroyed

+ Added a debug assert if the required technology for a ship type is not found

+ Fixed bug where ships on auto-explore that were put in a planet would immediately start auto-exploring once launched from the planet

+ Fixed a graphical bug where if you had 1 ship with moves and it attacked a planet with a fleet manager, the fleet would remain on top of the planet if the attacking ship was killed.

+ fixed memory leak caused by too many references to ship design listbox entries

+ fixed possible crash when saving std::strings in save game

+ cleaned up code in PropertyBucket class to make it more efficient.

+ Fixed a crash in the scene graph

+ Added ref counts to scene nodes in battle processes to prevent “random battle crashes”

+ Kills some battle related processes as soon as they are finished so they don’t stay in memory when no longer needed

Comments (Page 2)

IAmGory

on Jul 26, 2006

Exactly what Kosty just said.

Would also like to see more rebalancing efforts on weapons and defences, there is a lot of stuff in there that needs urgently fixed, more so than about half the changelog for 1.3b.

dthought

on Jul 27, 2006

I'd still say the biggest UI problem for me is the incorrectly calculated times to build where you have to click on a focus tech and then unclick it (eg. if none are selected) in order to see the correct build times.

It's always there when playing and it bothers me a lot more than, say, which way the moon is rotating...

liveload

on Jul 27, 2006

I must also mention the droid sentries series. Droid Sentries II and III are identical in every way.

smjjames

on Jul 27, 2006

would clicking the windows key still do the same thing? because I don't have any issues with fullscreen mode and the mouse.

Yes, the mouse is free to move anywhere once the game is no longer the active program. So hitting the windows button, or alt tab, or even another window grabbing the focus will free the mouse again.

This was mainly an issue for dual monitor systems. If the player was using the edge scroll on the right side of the screen and moved their mouse onto the other monitor's desktop area, clicking the mouse would cause the game to lose focus and minimize. Clipping the mouse to the game screen will prevent this annoyance from happening.

I see, I was a little confused about that one.

smjjames

on Jul 27, 2006

and while crashfixes are important, there are alot of other things that do need to be adjusted, although there are probably more changes that aren't listed in the changelog, mainly small boring stuff.

that production loss from a savegame load is definetly a good fix, especially for those casual players who only play maybe like a half hour or hour per day. Anyway, it IS a beta release so more changes would be added for sure.

huckdogg

on Jul 27, 2006

Thanks for the GREAT update, Stardock! I am glad that the Galactic Privateer got fixed and that production after a load has been fixed, too. I love seeing that the AI is updated! We can tell that you guys love your game. I can't wait to try out Dark Avatar! I pre-ordered and am eagerly awaiting getting my hands on it.

I would like to say, though, that I agree with dthought in that I wish the Planet screen would show the correct build time when you go from building nothing (where the social production is going to military) to selecting an improvement. It always shows "Never" as the estimated build time when you select the improvement. Otherwise, awesome update!

Revan1138

on Jul 27, 2006

Not the case for me i see them on most worlds even underdeveloped ones but those only have really small areas. Maybe its a bug on just that cd or a file got corrupted. Who knows they are just lights after all./quote]

my gc2 is downloaded from stardock central so its not a bad cd. Don't get why some people like you see them everywhere while others like me don't, but only randomly.

Revan1138

on Jul 27, 2006

the top 2 lines of my previous post were supposed to be quoted

Viithtrump

on Jul 27, 2006

Stardock Rocks because they listen to us gamers!! Thanks for your hard work guys and reading our posts', thus it has come in handy and being able to create a better suited game!! Also can't wait for Dark Avatar to come out with rest of tweaks that many of us have proposed....

Tapsa78

on Jul 27, 2006

+ fixed first turn after load zero production behavior!

Great, Now I can start playing the game again!

And a lot of other nice improvements as well. you guys rock

Kerfuffle

on Jul 27, 2006

Can I just ask about the annoying turn button bug. If you click in a certain area of the mini-map it thinks you've hit the turn button.

I don't see it listed as a fix and it's been present since the beginning.

VimesUK

on Jul 27, 2006

As long as bugs like this....

https://forums.galciv2.com/?forumid=274&aid=114991

(the cost and effectiveness of the droid sentries) is addressed I will be haqppy

Daigaled

on Jul 27, 2006

Wonderful. AI improvements are always good and keep the game challanging. And with the zero production thing the most annoying bug is gone.

Now there is only one big issue left on my GC2 wishlist:
Please make a new system for the starting position. They are just TOO random. It happened that 7 races had their starting positions in the same quarter of the map with me in the corner. That is just unplayable. The races should be scattered around the whole map with a similar distance to each other and a similar number of star systems in reach. Its so annoying to CTRL+N until you find a balanced starting position. And it feels like I have to cheat to get a fair galaxy setup.

ignuss

on Jul 27, 2006

There are far worst issues with the weapons branch of the tech tree. For example, near the end of the beam weapons branch we have Subspace Blaster and Subspace Annihilator. The Subspace Blaster is inferior to the preceeding Disruptors and the Subspace Annihilator does not exist! Other players I'm sure can list all the issues with the weapons / defenses tech branches.

Yup, here they are. Very easy to find all the bugs with Galactopedia so I will have to thank Christoph Nahr for that excellent little program.

Mascrinthus mentioned the Subspace Blaster and Subspace Annihilator, both of which need to be looked at. Another oddity in the beam-branch is that Phasors IV is a little worse then Phasors III.
(component name, cost, size, sizemod, damage)
Phasors III,40, 5, 4, 3. 21 damage / 35 space
Phasors IV, 45, 7, 4, 4. 20 damage / 35 space

The last missile weapon has the in-game name BlackholeEruptor. Reads ugly.

There are lots of weird stuff in the gun-branch:

Technology Mass Drivers III gives both Railgun MK V and Railgun MK VI
(component name, cost, size, sizemod, damage)
"Railgun MK V", 22, 6, 5, 1
"Railgun MK VI",22, 5, 5, 1
This makes MK V completly pointless since it will never be built.

Quantum Driver follows Graviton Driver IV
(component name, cost, size, sizemod, damage)
"Graviton Driver IV", 33, 4, 4, 3.....6 damage / 8 space.....18 damage / 24 space.
"Quantum Driver", 37, 8, 4, 4.........4 damage / 8 space.
"Quantum Driver II", 37, 7, 4, 4......4 damage / 7 space.
"Quantum Driver III", 37, 6, 4, 4.....4 damage / 6 space.....16 damage / 24 space.
Quantum Driver I, II and III are all worse then Graviton Driver IV, their predecessor.

Now to the defences:

Missile defense-branch:
(component name, cost, size, sizemod, damage)
Droid Sentries I, 90, 3, 2, 5. 20 defence / 12 space
Droid Sentries II,100,4, 2, 6. 18 defence / 12 space

liveload also mentioned that Droid Sentries II and III is identical.

Lastly to the bugged buildings:

Civilisation Capital and Initial Colony has no descriptions. All the other buildings have descriptions.

Banking Center's cost is a little extreme as you will see:
Trade Center, cost 90, do 20% economic bonus
Banking Center, cost 250, do 24% economic bonus
Stock Market, cost 150, do 30% economic bonus

Manufacturing Center is a worthless upgrade to Enhanced Factory.
Enhanced Factory, cost 100, do 11 production
Manufacturing Center, cost 200, do 12 production
Double the time it takes to build factories for a 1-production gain. Not smart. And it most likely messes things up for the AI who doesn't know better then to research it. Industrial Sector isn't much better.
Industrial Sector, cost 400, do 16 production

The super project Secret Police Center is completly worthless. It costs 1100% as much as an entertainment network (the initial morale building) to build but is actually worse then it is, it gives 20% compared to 25%.

Mind Control Center doesn't do what it's description says. "This Galactic Achievement ensures that alien worlds that are ripe for defection defect nearly instantly.". Instead it gives a 100% ability economy bonus which is extremly overpowered. I would like to either see it nerfed with a new appropriate description or to actually do what it says that it's doing.

Alright, as far as I know that's all of them.

MarvinKosh

on Jul 27, 2006

The first and second quantum drivers are still useful if you want to cut down on the cost of the ship, but don't mind using up more space (a low-cost ship). For instance, three quantum drivers will give the same offensive punch as four graviton drivers, but will cost 21 bc less.

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!