GalCiv IV: Supernova Dev Journal #5 - The Planets are Liars

Published on March 8, 2023 By Frogboy In GalCiv IV Dev Journals

As you know, in GalCiv IV core worlds are the backbone of your civilization. But not all planets are created equal. This is communicated in two ways:

First, by the raw planetary inputs (minerals, tech, food, wealth, culture) and

Second, by the types of tiles that the planet has on it.

Unfortunately, in GalCiv IV, the two don't reflect on each other. They're disconnected. What I mean is that you could have a planet with a high tech raw resource input and have no tiles that promote research related improvements.

Worse, you could have a planet with very little in mineral inputs that has a host of tile perks that give a percentage boost to manufacturing.

This system is frustrating and maddening.

In an upcoming update to GalCiv IV, as part of our work on "GalCiv IV: Supernova," we are revisiting the whole thing.

With our new system, the input resources are tied more closely to the types of tiles that are on a planet. This means that players will have a clearer understanding of the benefits and limitations of each planet, allowing them to make more informed decisions about how to develop them. For example, if a planet has a large number of mineral-rich tiles, then investing in mineral improvements will yield a much greater benefit than investing in research improvements. A planet filled with manufacturing bonus will always have a reasonable number of mineral inputs.

We have also put a great deal of effort into ensuring that the new system is both balanced and nuanced. While we want players to have a clearer understanding of the benefits and limitations of each planet, we also want to ensure that there is still room for creativity and experimentation. This means that while certain improvements will be more effective on certain types of tiles, there will still be opportunities for players to find unique and effective solutions.

Another key benefit of the new system is that it will help to create more distinct and varied planets. With the input resources more closely tied to the types of tiles, each planet will have its own unique strengths and weaknesses. This means that players will need to think carefully about how they develop each planet, rather than simply applying a one-size-fits-all approach.

With any luck, we'll have this change available this spring.

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[confluence title=""]https://stardock.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/SUP/pages/1471414278/GalCiv+IV+Supernova+Dev+Journal+Links[/confluence]

Comments

peterh1979

on Mar 08, 2023

This is a welcome change I always thought the planetary inputs bared little resemblance to the actual tiles.

skywalkerhogie

on Mar 08, 2023

Awesome ... I wonder if you've thought about putting a little icon on the planetary map showing which each planets strengths are? Like the food icon next to a world where food production is dominant?

This may make it easier to target different worlds for their resources, and also make it easier to remember which one is your food basket and which one has all the nerds living on it!

Of course, the AI will need to know how to use this new system too.

RammaStardock

on Mar 09, 2023

skywalkerhogie

reply 2

Awesome ... I wonder if you've thought about putting a little icon on the planetary map showing which each planets strengths are? Like the food icon next to a world where food production is dominant?

This may make it easier to target different worlds for their resources, and also make it easier to remember which one is your food basket and which one has all the nerds living on it!

Of course, the AI will need to know how to use this new system too.

Personally, I think minor U.I touches like this are great suggestions to for utility, but I wonder how it would balance from an aesthetic standpoint

Spatannn

on Mar 09, 2023

hello, I really like your games, they are interesting, I bought the 4th part of the game, but it is not in my native language, it is uncomfortable to play because I do not know English, do not tell me if you plan to add the Russian language to the game and when? thanks in advance.

mrblondini

on Mar 15, 2023

skywalkerhogie

reply 2

Wouldn't it be simpler to change the colour of the planet (opaque when looking at the Planet Management Screen, blue when zoomed out) to a certain colour? Like, Red means Manufacture, Purple means Science, Green means Food, Yellow means Money? This happens automatically once your planet has 51%+ of buildings that lean the planet towards a certain category ie 6 Food Improvements on a 10 tile planet = 60%, that pretty much says "Food Planet", so it's green. Which you might want to change later so you have 6 Research Improvements, so now it's Purple.

Okay, doing that on the Planet Management Screen would obscure the background scene of your lovely rotating Core World, but would that really bother anybody?

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