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Help me out, please comment (Time out:0 days after 22-03-2003, 21:13)
I loved the civ&moo series: you MUST get this one
I loved the civ&moo series: DON'T get this one
I didn't love those series: GET this one though
I didn't love those series: DON'T get this one neither
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AJ Corp. The FAIR is offline AJ Corp. The FAIR
Prince
Antwerp (the pearl of Flanders) Belgium
Jan 2002
time: 06:27
  Old Post 22-03-2003 21:09
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Loved civ2 & moo2, love civ3, MUST I buy Moo3 ?? Full PM-box? Change here!

After having read too many negative reviews on moo3, the unimaginable happened: I haven't bought it yet and at this stage I even ... don't feel willing to!

It was a game I was looking forward to ...

So I mainly direct myself to those people who also loved civ2 and moo2, and now are pretty happy with civ3 and PTW (if so, we kind of share same taste )

Shall I get disappointed with the game, or will it unfold into a new exciting absorbing gameplay adventure as games mentioned above? Shall I disappointedly put the game aside after I've tasted it, or will it - like the civ series - still fascinate and absorb me?

Is moo2 better? (mind you, I think civ3 is an improvement to civ2)

Questions, questions, questions ...
Help me out guys

Now !!!! ?

AJ

krait23 is offline krait23
Chieftain

Nov 2001
time: 06:27
  Old Post 23-03-2003 19:13
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Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

I loved Civ2. While Civ3 is not neccessarily a huge improvement over it, I do greatly enjoy Civ3 too. Its a small step away from Civ2, but to me its a sidestep.

I loved MoO2 more than almost any other game (along with Wizardry 7 which is my best game ever, Star Control 2 and Elite and Pirates back in the late 80ies, MoO2 resides among my unsorted Top5 games ever).

MoO3 is a huge leap away from MoO2. And while some people seem to be able to enjoy it, to me that leap is no sidestep but a downfall. If you read reviews you will know what the people criticize so I won't repeat it here. All I can say that after climbing the so called learning 'cliff' (which didnt seem high at all to me though) the game was simply no fun because I found my own contribution to the game somewhat missing and many features are so much worse than in MoO2 (ship design, combat, building queues) that its only one thing, frustrating.

That being said, I am a builder fellow who plays Civ as xenophobic isolationist who avoids other civilizations as long as possible and instead deeply cares for every single aspect of his own civilization. Maybe if you enjoy Diplomacy and constant combat, you might like MoO3, because those are the only fields where you actually matter as player. Even though they messed those areas up too, I think they will be fixed with a patch.

Anyway, long story short(er) advice:
By all means try the game out before buying it. If you were a huge MoO2 fan you run a high risk of being disappointed by MoO3. You might like it though, so test it if you can. If you can't, my advice is not to buy it. For a Civ and MoO2 fan, Galactic Civilizations sounds a lot more like the perfect game, combining aspects of both. Whether its good or bad I can't say because I haven't played and I will never ever again assume a game must be good only because it looks appealing or it holds a famous name.

VJ is offline VJ
Prince
Helsinki
Dec 2001
time: 07:27
  Old Post 23-03-2003 19:37
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Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

You DON'T HAVE to do anything in this life, except to die...

Proteus_MST is offline Proteus_MST
Prince

Dec 2001
time: 06:27
  Old Post 24-03-2003 00:10
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I really liked the Civ - Series (also CtP, where I modded a lot) and also Civ3 (which has its faults, but some of them could also be avoided by modding the game).
As for MOO2 I ran to my favorite Games Shop every few days til the Shop Owner had pity with me and brought me the Original Version of the game from a convention (maybe 4-6 month before the german version of the game was released in germany). And yes, I spent hours playing it.

As for MOO3:
It is absolutely different from the previous game of the MOO-Series, so I can only second kraits advice to test it before you buy it.

I like the game and I think people who in the CtP-Series liked to create their own mods will like it also.
Important values for the game are within textfiles in compressed folders and, as long as there is no good manual for the game [they´re working on it], the textfiles are a good source to understand the underlying mechanics of the game and to get important stats (for example Weapons Stats and the like).
It seems to be a game wherew the opinion is totally divided, some people like it, other hate it. But if you want to like it, prepare to first spand a lot of hours understanding its principles and the User Interface of the game.
But if you like it, you will spend hour after hour playing it (such as myself )

AJ Corp. The FAIR is offline AJ Corp. The FAIR
Prince
Antwerp (the pearl of Flanders) Belgium
Jan 2002
time: 06:27
  Old Post 24-03-2003 15:12
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Full PM-box? Change here!

Thanks for the input so far.

Proteus, is the users interface really so time absorbing/annoying as mentioned in some reviews?

Krait23, in my games I'm both a builder and a warfarer, not isolationist at all. How are the battles in this game compared to Moo2? More challenging?
Some of the games you've mentioned I too have really enjoyed a lot: Elite and Pirates. Sill waiting for a worthy follow-up for Elite (Freelancer is said to be good, but rather 'easy' according to many, and not so innovative compared to what we have seen so far). Port Royale (bought it, but haven't played yet) ought to be a worthy successor for The good,old Pirates, that i before have played on Atari. Galactic Civilizations? Checking out on that one ...

Tuomerehu, I hope I can delay the die-ing aspect for a while ...

AJ

Jamski is offline Jamski
Deity
lol ED&D is officially full PvP LOL
May 2002
time: 05:27
  Old Post 24-03-2003 15:43
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Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

Well, its worth looking at, quite good fun, pretty good at eating time up, but not perfect. Wait untill the first patch, and then buy it. It won't be perfect then, but it will still be one of the best space games about. (What is it with this genre producing turkeys?)

-Jam

Mannamagnus is offline Mannamagnus
Prince
Prime Headbonker, The Netherlands
Mar 1999
time: 06:27
  Old Post 24-03-2003 16:27
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Wait for Galactic Civilizations (it will come out on 26/3). Check their website where you can also download the manual which is great fun to read (http://www.galciv.com/).
If you look at how this game was made and will be constantly evolving this game is likely to be the best TBS game since SMAC or maybe even since Civ2.
I'm an avid fan of TBS games but I would absolutely advice against buying MoO3 before first trying it.

krait23 is offline krait23
Chieftain

Nov 2001
time: 06:27
  Old Post 24-03-2003 17:31
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Battles in MoO3... I didn't have too many because I really didn't like them much.
You control task forces instead of individual ships. Ships are tiny dots hardly recongizeable, which fire other dots at each other. It is realtime, but there is no pause option. You can't view the status of idividual ships.

While in MoO2 you actually directly commanded your ships, in MoO3 you are more of a guide who can give some orders and watch how they unfold. Not the kind of combat I like.

I played freelancer too... Has some parallels to MoO3 as in being long overdue and not nearly fullfilling the expectations. It is definitely not a successor to Elite. It is some good fun to play through the campaign though, but not really worth its money imo. I spent more time with it than with MoO3 though.

Wonder why noone runs a massively multiplayer online Elite universe... There must be a huge fanbase for that (if its based on the original Elite, not Frontier) and the Elite ships really don't require a graphical masterpiece heheh...

As for Port Royale, its too easy I think. I played it once, was some fun, but never again. Unlike pirates which is still fun even after 15+ years.

Lata
Krait

Proteus_MST is offline Proteus_MST
Prince

Dec 2001
time: 06:27
  Old Post 24-03-2003 17:53
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Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

quote:
Originally posted by AJ Corp. The FAIR
Thanks for the input so far.

Proteus, is the users interface really so time absorbing/annoying as mentioned in some reviews?

Krait23, in my games I'm both a builder and a warfarer, not isolationist at all. How are the battles in this game compared to Moo2? More challenging?
Some of the games you've mentioned I too have really enjoyed a lot: Elite and Pirates. Sill waiting for a worthy follow-up for Elite (Freelancer is said to be good, but rather 'easy' according to many, and not so innovative compared to what we have seen so far). Port Royale (bought it, but haven't played yet) ought to be a worthy successor for The good,old Pirates, that i before have played on Atari. Galactic Civilizations? Checking out on that one ...

Tuomerehu, I hope I can delay the die-ing aspect for a while ...
AJ


The User Interface is something you´ve got to get used to.
In the first few games you will really have to search for things, because they often aren´t where you expect them to be.
But as you gain in experience you will more and more know where things are.

Another thing with the UI is, that it often is really a click feast.
To change the military Building queue of a Planet for example you have to first click onto the Planet, then open the economics menu and then click at the military Building queue.
But help is underway as the coming patch will also include a somewhat more streamlined user interface.


As for Combats:
As many other apspects of the game they, too, are completely different from MOO2.
Where MOO2 was modelled around Ship to Ship Combat, MOO3 is modelled around Taskforce Battles.
You build Taskforces for certain Missions, for example Longrange Attack (the Mission Ships stay at the largest Range of their Beam Weapons and fire at the enemy), Indirect Fire (Ships which fire Missiles at the enemy and try to stay out of the Range of their Beamweapons), or Carrier (the same things the USA possess, a fleet assembled around a Carrir which launches Fighter and the like).
The Sizes of the fleets can (unmodded) range from a small Detachment (1-2 Ships) to a whole Armada (up to 18 Ships) and especially with large sizes of the fleet there have to be several requirements which have to be met, for example a minimum Number of Ships which are build for the Mission of the fleet, or a minimum number of ships within the Escort and Picket ring (The Fleet has several Rings. In the Core there are the Mission Ships, the next Ring is the Escort Ring, where you have things like Point Defense Ships, which protect the fleet from fighters and missiles and in the outer ring, the picket ring, you can find Recon Ships, which are the eyes of the fleet and help you to spot the enemy).

Although different from MOO2 I think fleet Battles are stil fun (especially against worthxy enemies ) but at the moment there is a small Bug with Point Defense Weaponry, which sometimes makes your PD-Weapons not fire at a volley of Missiles, so missiles are somoehow more powerful than they should be (there is a workaround that helps a bit, but the enemy AI doesn´t use it, so it gives you an advantage).
But as the PD-Bug hopefully will be fixed with the next patch (thqey are working on it) it will surely get better.

One other thing is, that the AI at the moment isn´t very agressive and even if at war with you, seldom starts Invasions at your Planets, but this one will also be fixed with the patch (the Agressiveness was intentionally tuned down prior to release because some Betatesters thought, the AI would be way too agressive ).

So, as War of the Art says, the Game will suely be much better with the first patch at hand. The Fixlist for the Patch looks very promising (you can find it at the Helpsection of the Infogrames MOO3- Board)

PDifolco is offline PDifolco
Chieftain

Feb 2003
time: 06:27
  Old Post 24-03-2003 19:31
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I don't have the answer but am in the same situation (only I didn't get Civ3... ) !
For my part I'll skip MOO3 until price drop seriously, but will get GalCiv ASAP on Wednesday - it looks MUCH more promising and at least we know what we would get thanks to the gazillions infos, documentation and replays Brad & al gave us Best of all it'll be downloadable so I won't even wait to get it

wilebill is offline wilebill
Chieftain
columbus, ohio
Feb 2003
time: 05:27
  Old Post 25-03-2003 21:36
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Wait for the patch would be good advice, I think. I have about 25 hours in the game, I like it but so I am waiting for the patch too. Try Galciv while waiting sounds like good advice.

MOO3 is potentially what it was initially hyped to be, the greatest space strategy game of all time.

Boris Godunov is offline Boris Godunov
King
Portland, OR
Aug 2001
time: 00:27
  Old Post 25-03-2003 22:04
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Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

GalCiv will have, unlike MOO3, a demo released in early April, so you can even check that out before deciding to buy it.

wilebill is offline wilebill
Chieftain
columbus, ohio
Feb 2003
time: 05:27
  Old Post 26-03-2003 00:12
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Five minutes after posting my message above, GalCiv arrived by FedEx, so I will soon know, day or two and time permitting, whether or how GalCiv compares. GalCiv is now shipping, preorders at least.

Boris Godunov is offline Boris Godunov
King
Portland, OR
Aug 2001
time: 00:27
  Old Post 26-03-2003 01:01
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quote:
Originally posted by wilebill
Five minutes after posting my message above, GalCiv arrived by FedEx, so I will soon know, day or two and time permitting, whether or how GalCiv compares. GalCiv is now shipping, preorders at least.


OoooOOOOOoooh look at you. We expect a comprehensive review soon.

smellymummy is offline smellymummy
King

Aug 1999
time: 21:27
  Old Post 26-03-2003 03:18
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Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

limited poll choices... but really, if you like the TBS genre, get moo3.

wilebill is offline wilebill
Chieftain
columbus, ohio
Feb 2003
time: 05:27
  Old Post 27-03-2003 19:12
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Galciv turns out not to be "everything we wished MOO3 could be and is not." It too is a new program that will continue to modify and improve over the next year, according to Stardock. Right now it has teething problems that you can read about on the galciv forums, with the usual download and installation problems attending a new program.

Documentation is too sparse and there are no help files in the program, no encyclopaedia. After three evenings with the game, going through the manual three times as well, I still can not launch a colony ship after I have built one. There are other forum complaints from newbies about this obscurity as well.

Well, it is a little embarrassing to admit, but being experienced with MOO2 and MOO3 I find that I have hit the same sort of "learning cliff" with Galciv that I at first found in MOO3, at the moment centering around the simple matter of launching a colony ship. Sure the initial ships provided are sent off to do their thing with a simple right click of the mouse on a star, but the ones I build remain hidden and refuse to appear where I can launch them.

Other stuff, graphics are excellent, sound fx are very good, music is excellent. Galaxy presentation is very inferior to MOO2 or MOO3 IMHO. I do not care for the giant grape sized stars that are your nearby targets. I do find the large and somewhat crude looking ships attractive either.

krait23 is offline krait23
Chieftain

Nov 2001
time: 06:27
  Old Post 27-03-2003 22:07
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Well GalCiv is definitely not the MoO 2,5 I and many others still want. But the starter of this thread said he likes Civ AND MoO2. So GalCiv, which combines some elements of both (albeit apparently more Civ than MoO), might be something he will really enjoy. Since I like Civ too I hope that I will enjoy it too. Still havent gotten it though, so no idea if its really as good as most reviews I have seen suggests. All seem to agree that the graphics stink, but I really could care less if the gameplay is good.

Lata
Krait

PDifolco is offline PDifolco
Chieftain

Feb 2003
time: 06:27
  Old Post 27-03-2003 22:26
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Wilebill,
Frankly I don't agree with you : GalCiv plays VERY easily ...
I've read the (old version) online doc a few days ago and was able to start instantly... Not that I pretend to play well, but I manage to do what I want !

I was confused too with the Colony and other ships'launch, but I figured it in 2 minutes : the ships are created IN the systems, so you have to open the system "window" (click on it) to see the ships in the small lower right "stacked ships" window
Then if you have a colony ship you have to adjust the number of transported colonist on a slider then click Launch button... It's not intuitive, admittedly

wilebill is offline wilebill
Chieftain
columbus, ohio
Feb 2003
time: 05:27
  Old Post 27-03-2003 23:06
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Thank you! So there is a slider and a Launch button in the process of creating a colony ship. I will try those out tonight.

Jack_www is offline Jack_www
King

Donate to the Red Cross
Southern California
Jul 2001
time: 21:27
  Old Post 27-03-2003 23:44
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Dont get MOO3, it is waste of your hard earned money. The computer controlls most of the things in the game, and if you tried to controll it all, the game would be 10 times worse. All the things you do feel as if they have no impact on the game. Wait for the Demo of GalCiv and try that out and see if you like it, and if you do get it. But stay away with any game with the Infogrames lable on it, the quality of their games goes down hill with every passing year.

Proteus_MST is offline Proteus_MST
Prince

Dec 2001
time: 06:27
  Old Post 28-03-2003 00:11
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quote:
Originally posted by Jack_www
Wait for the Demo of GalCiv and try that out and see if you like it, and if you do get it. But stay away with any game with the Infogrames lable on it, the quality of their games goes down hill with every passing year.


I thought Infogrames was involved in the Publishing of Galactic Civilizations, too

Jack_www is offline Jack_www
King

Donate to the Red Cross
Southern California
Jul 2001
time: 21:27
  Old Post 28-03-2003 00:14
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Put an end to popups!

If that is true, I dont really want to think about that right now. Well at least Galciv will have a demo, so at least you can try it out before you get it.

Jack_www is offline Jack_www
King

Donate to the Red Cross
Southern California
Jul 2001
time: 21:27
  Old Post 28-03-2003 00:20
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quote:
Originally posted by Proteus_MST


I thought Infogrames was involved in the Publishing of Galactic Civilizations, too


I just checked, Galactic Civilizations is published by STRATEGY FIRST, thankfully.

Kc7mxo is offline Kc7mxo
Prince
Kansas City, Kansas
Jan 1970
time: 21:27
  Old Post 28-03-2003 00:42
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Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

Before purchasing moo3 borrow it from someone or download it.

whether or not you liked civ1, civ2, moo1, or moo2 really doesn't matter. This is a different game, with different concepts. Some people like it, some people don't.

"no one can be told what moo3 is" seems pretty accurate to me.

The Templar is offline The Templar
Prince
People's Republic of the East Village
Oct 2001
time: 00:27
  Old Post 29-03-2003 09:23
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quote:
Originally posted by Jack_www


I just checked, Galactic Civilizations is published by STRATEGY FIRST, thankfully.


Distributed by Infogrames (looking at the manual right now).

Unlike MoO3 however, GalCiv is good. I even got attacked AND lost to an AI ground invasion! Can't beat that with a stick.

Boris Godunov is offline Boris Godunov
King
Portland, OR
Aug 2001
time: 00:27
  Old Post 29-03-2003 09:30
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Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

If the only weapons you had were sticks, no wonder you lost!

*rimshot*

Wocka wocka wocka!

XarXo is offline XarXo
Prince
of the "I agree"
Jul 2000
time: 05:27
  Old Post 29-03-2003 11:06
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#27 Report this post to a moderator
Increase Your PM Length

Use a p2p program, much cheaper

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