How long does it stay 'new' ?

from Stardock Forums
I've been greatly looking forward to this game! 1 comment made on another board (either gonegold or the moo3 boards, don't recall which), someone mentioned that GalCiv got 'old' to them (beta tester) because events started repeating, and it became predictable and boring. He was refuted by someone else who said he must have played an earlier beta.

So I am now curious.. not really worried mind you, but just wondering, how long *does* it seem new? Since they use events, etc to drive the games.. how many games will we play before we start seeing a great many reoccurences of the same events? Will it be several longer games? Or after a couple? Or will some 'rarer' events continue to surprise us months down the road?

I am really looking forward for a 4X game with 'personality'. Anyone know how long it will stay fresh?

fleabitfox
668 views 12 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
I never saw the comment you were referring to, but I've been wondering myself how long the game would stay "fresh". I know I never got bored with MOO1 even though there were only 20 or so events and at least several of them were used in each game. But after maybe 7-8 games of MOO, I don't think I ever saw anything "new".

--Soulfire
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
hi fleabit and soulfire
I've played the gamma which is the release version without the bonus pack and i've never had the game feel old. Everytime you play a game it seems to develop differnetly. One time you're in a corner, another right in the middle. And if you set the a.is' to random you never know what to expect. The dregnin was on the opposite end of the galaxy their survey ship made contact with us and a few turns after that they went to war with me. Another time they said "don't be frightened i'm really nice" IMO hoy you yourself play will determine how fresh the game feels. But id does have that wait until the next turn feel to it. I hope you like the game

rich


~SDC~
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
As for the events, there are a few common ones that I see at least once every game, but these are usually colonization events. The actual game events I havn't seen many of them. There are a lot talked about on this forum that I have never encountered and I've been playing since early beta testing...
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
I would echo what ML and Wyrenn have said.

Even without the random events, the GalCiv's style of play is much like Civilization II - I'll just play one more turn to see what happens -> repeat indefinitely. I've also seen random events referred to on the forum that I haven't seen in any of my games yet, though I haven't been playing the beta as long as Wyrenn.

End transmission.

~SDC~
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
Are there enough colonization events that they don't get too repeatitive? I'm not too worried, since I can add my own if the answer is yes. ;)
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
Do see the thread about "random event suggestions". You can add your own.

Although it would be nice to see more events in order to give the feel you want, this won't be an issue in the least with me. What I want to find out is: "Will I still enjoy getting deep into the game's strategy in years to come, or will the game have a long term enjoyment curve."

But there are a lot of other interesting features that have been suggested that IMHO will add more to the game than adding "too many" events.
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
I've been playing (testing) Galciv for over a year and I still don't ever feel a game is 'old' or repeating. It's not just the random events (which are very numerous with many very rare events which seldom turn up), it's the new ways the AI finds to attack you and the variabilies in every game. M
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
Hearing what Solitair said is exactly the kind of thing that reassures me the progress is on the right track. Thanks for the report.
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
I don't feel that "newness" is related mainly to number of random events. As others pointed out, Moo1 and Civ1-2 didn't have many of them but DID have very lasting appeal just because the game was well designed and offered plenty of options to play, with new situations created "naturally" each time you played.
To the contrary a game of say BotF was more "alike" each time and so game get old faster.
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
I was mostly just asking because I read a dev statement somewhere that said they were trying to make each game you play feel different, and one way they were doing this was relying on the random events, etc.

But you have quelled any fears I may have had, thanks!

fleabitfox
Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top
Originally posted by Solitair:
"...the new ways the AI finds to attack you and the variabilies in every game."

COOooooool !!! ;)
Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top
None of you have mentioned one other feature, the continuing development already funded to upgrade Galciv. They will be adding functions and features for a FULL YEAR. Not just ships, events, etc. but improvements to the AI based on the automated feedback via the "Metaverse", and support code for new things ships and events can do.
BTW, they did this for GC/OS2 back in 1994-1995+.

~SDC~