Influence showing on minimap + annoyance

from GalCiv2 Forums
Greatly enjoying GalCiv2 so far, but I'm not sure if the following is a bug or a questionable design decision: When you click the cultural borders "tab" on the minimap, it shows the cultural borders for the whole galaxy even if you haven't explored yet. So on the first turn you can find out where all of your opponents are, and make a good guess as to where their homeworlds are by looking at the center of the circles.

Shouldn't the influence areas only show in places you have explored?

Second, a pet peeve; I understand the reasoning behind taking out diagonally scrolling but it is quite annoying to have to move the mouse cursor to two different map edges constantly as I scroll around. Perhaps the "edge" of each side of the screen could diagonally scroll. So if the cursor is moved to the middle of the right side, the screen scrolls right. If it is moved to the lower right part of the right side (but not the corner), it scrolls down and right. And so on.

Not being able to scroll diagonally is really quite annoying.
5,525 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
First, I agree with your concern about Influence showing up. You really shouldn't be able to see any of a Civ's Influence until you've met that Civ, for precisely the reason you mentioned.

Second, it's also possible to "drag" yourself around the map by holding down the mouse button and moving in the desired direction (including diagonals). So that might help you there.

- Ash
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
And what is the reason of taking out the diagonal scrolling? I do not understand...
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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
The influence is an interesting one, I have questioned that before. I am told that teh backstory requires that you know where teh other races are already and that the invention of the new drive spawns a territoty rush and the meeting face to face of races that already have some 'history';

prolly worth checking out teh backstory for a better explanation than this!
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
Cultural borders should be made to show up when you have a combination of knowledge and events. If you have stellar cartography and when you meet a new race you should have the option to ask where it's empire is located, where the wilingness to answer would have to do with 'if the race trusts you; how similar the race is to yours and/or if it perceives you are to powerfull it may choose to stay hidden. This will add a new facet to the game.
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
No diagonal scrolll is a really annoying artifact for any reason. I'm not sure what Stardock's reasoning is but /thumbsdown.
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
The diagonal scrolling was evidently taken out because when you go to click on the Turn button it would always scroll somewhat to the bottom right (yup, that would be really annoying). I've found that the best way to move your view is to use your mouse wheel to scroll out a little bit then left-click-drag the map. I've found this to be much faster for moving around the map than scrolling and it also lets you get a quick look at the territory as it lets you see the icons of ships giving a nice strategic view.

Hope this helps