Have a view in the Shipyard or the Tech Tree to show required tech for future ships

Show required tech for future ships

from GalCiv2 Forums
One thing I've found in about 6 hours of play is this: Other than once or twice, I hardly ever saw a reference to what techs were required for the "core" ships. I like the idea of being able to create my own ships, and did that last night so I could have a chance against the Drengin in the campaign (second scenario).

But I would llike to see some kind of screen in either the Shipyard or the Tech Tree/Research window that would show the list of core ships and the required tech. This would let a warmonger focus on the techs required for "core" ships.

I've also not remember seeing any notifications when new core ships were available. For example, I looked at the shipyard, and found that the Battle Axe was now available.
13,361 views 19 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
100% agree - find it very anoying !
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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

LordKiRon: You were part of the beta...if you found it that annoying you should have spoken up on the issue BEFORE we went feature complete

Crashmstr: Were trying to come up with a solution to knowing what techs are needed for what ships...I guess most of the team was so busy making their own designs that the core ships were less important.   We'll keep everyone posted on what we decide on this matter

Thanks for the feedback!

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
I'll chime in on this too. It would be nice to have some way to see what techs are required to open the larger hulls so we can build more advanced ships.

This isn't a gripe as I think the game is excellent, but I played for about 5 hours last night (had the best tech) and the most advanced vessels available were Defenders (I had been researching mostly military techs). Does it take this long for any of you guys to climb the ship tech tree?
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
Cool that you guys will look into this. At the same time, consider opening up the core ships for upgrading? Make them "write protected" if you will when someone tries to save the same name, but I'd like to be able to upgrade engines etc then save them under a different name

thanks!
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
This was something that I had never noticed during the Beta (admittedly I didn't get a chance to play the Beta). Now I'm seeing Ship X (requires 3 more techs) all the time. While it's hardly a game-killer, it would be very, very nice to be able to find out what those other 3 techs are rather than having to search manually through the tech tree.

One reason I can think of that I didn't notice this during the Beta is that the skirmish games I was playing never seemed to save ship designs from one game to the next. Now, in the campaign at least, it is saving ship designs from one scenario to the next. This means I am not only seeing the core designs as potential ship upgrades, I am also seeing all my custom ships as well. Not sure if this will happen in the skirmish games as I've only played the campaign scenarios so far.
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
Agreed! This is a major need!

MAJOR!
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
Umm, if you scroll around the tech tree, you can see the other 3 techs or what ever it needs. IT does require you to actually READ what the descriptions are, but it is there. And if you want to see more of the tech tree, just click the "more" button in the bottom left corner, and it will open the whole window up to show the tree. You can scroll arround by dragging the screen or by clicking on the techs.

I was confused a bit as well at first, but after a few minutes of experimentation, I figured it out easily enough.
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Umm, if you scroll around the tech tree, you can see the other 3 techs or what ever it needs. IT does require you to actually READ what the descriptions are, but it is there. And if you want to see more of the tech tree, just click the "more" button in the bottom left corner, and it will open the whole window up to show the tree. You can scroll arround by dragging the screen or by clicking on the techs.

I was confused a bit as well at first, but after a few minutes of experimentation, I figured it out easily enough.


Borderline flame there pal. We are just asking for an easier way to see at a glance what techs are needed, to for instance, build Frigates, or perhaps Battlecruisers. Yes, you can search the tech tree to find what you are looking for, but it takes too long.
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
how about a simple "goal seeking" algorithm... something like civ3 had IIRC... encyclopedia with all things ingame... and then you can read on the things... and once you find what you need. for example the chasis that you think could lead you to victory... you can read what tech or techs are required... and maybe have an option that tells you what you need to research next to get there... not that hard to program... just the encyclopedia would require a bit of data input :o)
Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top
How about this as an idea Boogie:

Have a checkbox in the ship builder screen when looking at Core ships. This checkbox would be "show all". It would then show all core ships including those you cannot build yet. The ones you cannot build yet could be "greyed out". If you hover over the ship it will list out what technologies you need to build it with the techs you have in green, the ones you need in red.

OR, have small icons along the bottom row ala Civ 4 tech tree which shows what you can build with each tech which you can then hover over to see what it is.

And along those same lines, I'd love to see the tech tree have the ability to hover over a tech and have it give me the full details of the tech without having to click on it. Again, kinda like Civ 4.

I'm not trying to make GalCiv2 copy Civ 4 but I just think Firaxis did a nice job in this department and Frogboy said he doesn't mind "borrowing" from other games when it's a great idea.
Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top
First things first: Congratulations to Stardock for a groundbreaking new design feature.

Issues surrounding this are my only big upgrade requests with this game. In order of importance to me:

1. the thread title problem of not knowing what the other X techs are to complete a design.

2. the inability to build off the core designs.

3. the inabilty to share designs.

4. the inabilty to create ship designs offline (i.e. without playing a cheesy least difficultly game just to gain access to all the techs).

5. the inability to add 2 parts symmetrically in one step.

6. the slight, but annoying, lack of accurate symmetry.


Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top
this is my ONLY complaint about the game. Sometimes I just want to unlock and use a core ship but for the life of me I can't find on the tech tree where the last piece of research is needed. "3 other tech's required" is just not aquerate enough, perhaps it can list them?
Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top
Agreed the 3 other techs needed is pretty vague. Atleast the exact techs needed should be list them in that tech description box.
Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top
Agreed. The 3 other techs equired doesn't say much.

And for Pwarky, I do read everything (I'm a bit crazy). But since there are many many lines in the tech tree, it IS hard to know what is missing (can be defenses, can be offense, can be life support, engines, and the correct levet of all of these.

It would indeed be a nice thing to add.
Reply #17 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I did notice something that may be adding to the confusiuon. I played about 10 games since release just a 1v1 on cakewalk with a high research Custom Civ and the fastest research game settings just to get a feel for the tech tree. Some of the games, I would see the "need X more" message, and some times I would not.

I also noticed that it would bring up my custom ships on the list as well as the core ones. The custom ships don't translate very well from one build style to the next however. My Terran originals looked pretty funny when I changed my Civ's ship models over to the Torians as the hardpoints don't really match up. It makes sence, but was funny to see the first time.

So there does seem to be variation as to how much information is available and when. I will do some more testing to find out more specific details of how to get the "hint text" to show up. For now it seems that you have to be kind of close to having the ship already for it to give you the message, which is less usefull if you want to go for a specifc ship right off the bat and cannot remember what path to take.
Reply #18 from Stardock Forums Top
Where is the link to the Tech Tree Map Images I saw on GalCiv2.com yesterday? It was in the forum, but now I can't find it....
Reply #19 from Stardock Forums Top
For the record, it doesn't bother me. I'm always more concerned with "what's the best ship I can build now" and "what should I research to help me stomp on the enemy" than I am aiming for a specific target ship. Then again, since I've been in the beta test since the GC2 beta went public, I know what I want better than I know what the canned ships are (they're a relatively new addition).

I do agree that something like this would help those new to the game, even if it's just a mouseover on the "needs 4 more techs" that lists the 4 techs, though knowing what ships are coming in the future would be nice as well.