Most of our updates are essentially about adding new features. This is a bug fix update. We broke some of the selection code which affects the turn button turning green, keyboard control of ships, auto-select next ship, etc. To say I'm disappointed in us for letting such a boo-boo get in is an understatement. So how did this happen? It's convoluted but for aspiring developers worth the tale: Several users on our forum have been asking that we make it so that when you c...
Want to know how to get rich? I have the secret. It's very simple. Assuming at least average levels of ambition your income will ultimately be directly proportional to the wealth you generate in a given time period. Easy right? Too simplistic? No, I'm being serious. The problem is that most people don't understand how to generate that wealth in the first place. It's not having a good idea. It's not your ability to inspire others. It's your ability to execute on what you want to ge...
A couple years ago I looked my nose down on gated communities. Bunch of scaredy cat snobs. Think they can hide from us commoners behind their gates and fences? Like they're too good for us? My attitude has slowly been changing. I am coming to appreciate why some people choose to live in a gated community (some not most). Each year my activities on-line get more and more attention. Most of it's good. But not all of it. During the Starforce copy protection thing , I got some some scarey call...
A couple years ago I looked my nose down on gated communities. Bunch of scaredy cat snobs. Think they can hide from us commoners behind their gates and fences? Like they're too good for us? My attitude has slowly been changing. I am coming to appreciate why some people choose to live in a gated community (some not most). Each year my activities on-line get more and more attention. Most of it's good. But not all of it. During the Starforce copy protection thing , I got some some scarey call...
I've heard the term "conspicuous consumption" thrown around over the years but it's never properly defined. Because I like to label everything, just ask my critics, I'll label it: Conspicious consumption is when a person has something that is greater than 4X in size or value of what the typical American has. Let's play a game with that: The typical American car now costs around $25,000. A $100,000 car seems really over the the top to a lot of people. The typical American ...
As part of my regular polling research for The Political Machine 2008, I have come to the conclusion that the Republicans are going to lose control of the House of Representatives in November and barely hold on to the Senate. And you know what I think of that? HAH! Serves them right. The congressional Republicans don't represent the values or principles of their constituents as far as I'm concerned. Worse, they haven't even managed to accomplish anything in the past 2 years. Go ah...
I got into a debate with some friends of mine over the NSA wiretapping program. There is a great deal of question over whether the program is legal or not. They felt it was illegal, I think it may be legal but that not enough information has been presented. For example, there is apparently a lot of misconception over who is being targeted. They said that the program included targeting Americans where both parties were in the United States. However, the facts, as we know them pr...
This new version of Galactic Civilizations II is dedicated to PC gamers everywhere who have ever bought a game, really liked it but after some months of play had put together a list of things they wish were tweaked or altered but knew would never be because the developer had long since stopped making new updates. Galactic Civilizations II v1.3, like our other updates, is designed to add new features and make changes based on player feedback. While there are "bugs" fixed, many of them are ones...
Introduction For thousands of years the Drengin Empire and the Torian Confederation have battled over this corner of the galaxy. This small parsec, measuring a mere 4 by 4 sectors, has been home to the Drengin and Torians along with several other galactic players for some time now. But on the Planet Aeon, a new power was emerging. The Galactic Coalition was looking to make their own mark in the galaxy. Led by Gil Sanders, The Galactic Coalition had ambitions far beyond t...
Over the past few days we've been cleaning up things in preparation for the 1.3 release. + AI will play harder in campaign at lower levels (AI was designed to be somewhat nerfed on the early missions of the campaign to give players a gentle introduction. + Various improvements to the Terran Alliance and Arcean AIs. + Made some tweaks to show ships are designed such that even if they prefer to build ships with a particular weapon system, they will also bear in mind what types of weapons ...
For testing the release candidates of GalCiv II 1.3 I've been playing all kinds of different sizes and scenarios. In the process, I've been making tweaks and enhancements to the computer AI, uncovering mild logic bugs in my code and adding new abilities to try to keep the AI evolving as players evolve. If you play at the lower intelligence levels, you won't see much difference but at the higher levels, players will likely see a significant change in the computer players with the fina...
In today's mission, I am playing the supreme ruler of the Galactic Federation. It is trying to rule a quadrant with 16 sectors in it. My opponents include the Terran Alliance, the Drengin Empire, and the Torian Confederation. My purpose in this is to test out the many balancing changes that have been occurring in Galactic Civilizations II, new user interface enhancements, and updated computer players. How have things improved over the past few months? A brave new ...
You ask someone what their dream car is and you'll get all kinds of mega cars that cost millions of dollars. I never gave much thought about cars until relatively recently. I drove a 1984 Chevette well into my 20s. That was all I could afford. But over the years, fate and prosperity have been kind to me and getting the untouchable dream car starts to become a reality. But a lifetime of ignorance on cars means I've had to play catch-up. Having been burning the midnight oil for the pa...
We're starting to nail down designs. I'm still a little wary about the width of it. The property is very narrow -- 55 feet. The house will end up being 40 feet wide. That means only 7.5 feet of space on each side before you're on someone else's property. That seems pretty tight. I am losing 6 foot of the width because we really want to have an outdoor bathroom. The cottage is on a sandy beech at Higgins Lake so we really want kids to be able to go "potty" without...
We're starting to nail down designs. I'm still a little wary about the width of it. The property is very narrow -- 55 feet. The house will end up being 40 feet wide. That means only 7.5 feet of space on each side before you're on someone else's property. That seems pretty tight. I am losing 6 foot of the width because we really want to have an outdoor bathroom. The cottage is on a sandy beech at Higgins Lake so we really want kids to be able to go "potty" without...