DoctorLazarus

Reply to Excercise in frustration in War of Magic Elemental Forums

[quote]Sometimes I think Brad and Co. are better off not sounding off about this or that, the excuses that come up invariably lead to 'the game works by design' and 'there are many things that are broken, but they are by design',[/quote] I have to admit: This kind of thing makes me lose faith in Stardock even more. It's as though they're saying: "Well, we designed the game to be utterly boring and ridiculously mind-numbing--if you wanted actual strategy out of a s

Reply to Excercise in frustration in War of Magic Elemental Forums

Bugs aside, the game is just poorly designed. Even a turn-based strategy 'noob' can see that. For other people--people who have been playing turn-based strategy games for years--this game is like a big, clunky Fisher-Price toy: not really that interesting (or challenging, or strategic, etc.) once you play it for a few hours. The bugs and constant crashing is just the proverbial 'icing on the cake'. I hate to sound so harsh (I used to be a big Stardock fan), but

Reply to What is it about THIS game that's so important? in War of Magic Elemental Forums

The only thing I'm 'hanging on' at the moment is the fact that this game was developed by Stardock. I have faith that they will make a better game sometime in the future. As to the whole "MoM answer": MoM was a great game in it's day, sure, but there have been several games since then that have taken on the job of becoming its spiritual successor. The fact that Stardock has made the MoM comparison so many times almost seems to indicate that they have tried to claim M

Reply to Gamespot Review is Up in War of Magic Elemental Forums

Unfortunately, I have to agree with the Gamespot review. As much as I want to love this game, it just has far too many game-breaking problems--most of which are the result of poor, sloppy design. And with a $50.00 price tag, that's just insulting. As a long-time 'fanboy' of Stardock, and long-time fan of turned-based strategy games in general, I blindly went out and bought this game without the usual 'wait and read the review' time I normally give new games. Needles

Reply to Age of Empires III: An Evolution in RTS in Real-Time GalCiv2 Forums

i've never played any of the AoE games before. would you say that for someone like me, AoEIII is a good purchase even if it's not a major strategic improvement over previous incarnations? or would you recommend another game entirely? i'm eager for StarCraft II, but i think it'll be a long while. Sure, AoE III is a good, 'solid' game in its own right. If you're not familiar with the AoE series, it wouldn't be a 'bad thing' to start with AoE III. B

Reply to Age of Empires III: An Evolution in RTS in Real-Time GalCiv2 Forums

In my view, there is nothing new or innovative about AoE III. As an avid fan of the AoE series, I was hoping to see a so-called 'next gen' RTS with the release of AoE III. Sadly, AoE III is just "more of the same". Most reviews of AoE III that I have read have been lukewarm, at best. Sure, the gameplay can be 'fun', but--guess what?--it's more or less exactly the same game as previous installments of the AoE series. Some reviewers (like the OP here) may trump up the Home City featur

Reply to So...what TBS or RTS games are your current favourites? in Strategy GalCiv2 Forums

I keep a "revolving list" of strategy games that I play. I usually play one until the 'magic' wears off, and then move onto something else. The good games are the ones that can draw my interest again a few months later. Most games don't 'make the cut'. TBS: Civ IV, GalCiv II, and Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic. RTS: Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, Rise of Nations, Battle Realms, Age of Mythology, and Age of Kings: The Conquerers I find that most unsuccessful TBS games are mis

Reply to Ascension.. do you think it is possible? in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

Is 'ascension' possible? Theoretically, I suppose it could be. But we are dealing with very big ideas here--across multiple fields of science--as well as the notion that humans will someday understand the universe and all of its intricate inner-workings. Einstein is famous for advancing the idea that energy is neither created nor destroyed. As such, it would seem theoretically possible to transform a body into energy; but then the questions become murkier: What happens to consciousn

Reply to Space Monsters (Would you like to see them back?) in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

Space monsters are an intriguing idea. If they were non-factional and provided additional strategic depth to the game, they could definitely 'work'. For example: There could be creatures that wander around killing everything they encounter (space amoebas; swarms of interstellar insects or nano-swarms, etc.) There could be creatures that wander around and inadvertently help ships they come in contact with (strange cloudlike creatures that repair ships; energy creatures

Reply to Changes in Beta 3 that need reversing: in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

probably 5% of the market has a better comp than what im using now (pulled that number of out of thin air, but really now...), s I have a rather 'low end' machine (1.6 GHz, PIII), and I have no problems playing on gigantic maps with max number of civs. <TABLE cellpadding=8 width="95%" ali

Reply to Good Sci-Fi novels/series in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

Dan Simmons' Hyperion series is a 'must read'. I've recently finished his newest 'foray' into Science Fiction: Ilium and Olympos. These two books are incredibly ambitious, well-written (with the exception of some plot 'hiccups' at the end), and thoroughly enjoyable. Aside from these books, I, too, have recently started reading Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn series. Hamilton's writing style is different--more erratic and 'omniscient'--b

Reply to Loose Vs Lose in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

Whenever you read online forums, you have to disengage your Grammar Verification Drive if you want to keep your sanity. That said, I will admit that certain, senseless phrases, like "In regards to ...." and ... "In terms of ...." really do annoy the hell out of me at times. The first phrase annoys me because it's so "accepted" (you even see it in textbooks, documentaries, busines

GalCiv2 Review on SciFi.com in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

http://www.scifi.com/sfw/games/sfw12475.html I don't think I've seen one bad review for this game.

Reply to Should there be a penalty to war? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Interesting ideas ... although I think 'war weariness' might be better tied to a civ's governmental policy, not just its morale. Governments that are imperialist in nature should be able to force its military into service, whereas more deomocracic governments should suffer from setbacks if the war effort is going badly. One thing I would like to see is war having more of an impact on diplomatic relationships among Civs that are not involved

Upgrading Ships (1.1 Beta) in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I've been noticing what looks to be a problem with the new ship upgrade process. After selecting a ship to upgrade, I cannot re-add the weapons, defenses, support items, etc. after the ship hull has been supposedly 'cleared'. The total space may read something like 0/45, but every time I drop an item on the ship, the designer tells me that the ship doesn't have enough space to support the item. Anyone else having this problem?<br

Reply to PC Gamer gives Oblivion a 4 page, 16 screenshot review, Galciv2 gets 1 PAGE????? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Yeah, that's the problem. The dev's themselves have been surprised at sales, because noone knows who it is. If I go onto any online game like CoH or WoW and ask "who here has galciv2", I either get blank looks or (very rarely) someone excited saying "Yeah I'll have that tomorrow/few days/couple weeks!" followed by a VERY long abs

Reply to Getting my ass handed to me in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Some tips for preventing an early attack on your planets: 1 - Always build up your military early on, even if you're going for a diplomatic/influence victory. Alliances and influence techs necessary to fend off military threat don't become available or practical until later. Building up a military may eventually annoy the other civs ("We know what you're doing...") but the trade off for relative peace in the early game is worth it. <b

Reply to I Wish Borders Were More Meaningful in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I don't think borders themselves should stop anyone from entering 'your' space (and vice versa). After all, the 'border' lines are really not borders at all (as space is not a 2-dimensional plane), but really nothing but abstract representations of your influence and how far it reaches. As such, it is the responsibility of the empire's leader to enforce their 'borders', space, etc. with military patrols and starbases. (Like the Romulan Neutral Zone.) That said, one thing I would l

Reply to GalCiv II: v1.1 BETA Change Log in GalCiv Journals Stardock Forums

Wow ... I can't believe how many items are in this update. Amazing stuff, guys! You continue to thoroughly outshine your competition.

Reply to Cloak is Coming: Evidence in the files in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Great ideas, guys! Let's hope Stardock is taking notes.

Reply to Why this game bores me silly, yet I can't stop playing. in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Currently there isn't any reason to pick lasers over mass drivers of missiles since they play exactly the same way. That was a lost opportunity. So I can just choose one at random at the beginning of the game and be done with it and the only reason to pick a different one is because you've adjusted to my first one; though you'll

Reply to Keeping the People Happy in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

The problem, most likely, is that your planets are overpopulated. Each planet can accommodate a certain number of people, depending on its quality. If you construct farms to increase your population 'cap' above this sustainable number, you run the risk of driving down your population's morale; this will ruin your approval rating. Maximum populations are outlined here: https://www.galciv.wikicities.com/wiki/Population

Reply to How does the AI manage to skyrocket it's research so fast? in Research GalCiv2 Forums

But how the heck does the AI manage to get so far ahead in tech so quickly? In my last game, I encountered the first AI player when I had just finished my 2nd colony ship (3rd if you count the starting one), and I had built nothing in between. Had built a factory, 2 research labs, another factory and then two other structures on the homeworld in this time. </

Reply to What can we expect in next patch ? in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

I hope devs have given priority to tech whoring which is for me the biggest problem in this game.A patch which would include only a no tech trade option or tech trade allowed only between allies would be a lot more appreciated than AI improvements, or fixing minor bugs.Please devs find a solution to stop tech whoring! I wouldn't mind thi

Reply to Mother#*$*@(&$(($&&&(@*()* in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

One thing I did during the first few days was make sure that the game saved automatically every 3 turns or so. (There is a setting for this in the options screen.) This diminished the need to thrash my computer if the game crashed for some reason. After it stopped having problems, I set the default quick-save back to a higher turn number. Overall, I think the game is fine. The first few