Way too many planets, too few stars. Anyone agree?

few tweaks for next version 1.04 i guess

from Sins Forums
Hi fellow sinners!  Wow im really having a lot of decent fun with this game.  Its easy to use, runs well on my mid way system and has much potential to be even better. 

This is where i come in. :)   Ok so three things i would like to see changed, if not, still fun game.

#1.  There are a couple things wrong with how the universe in Soase are portrayed, being that there are more than one star per galaxy, theres like 400 million there abouts, and i would hope approximately 3-5 planets or so around each one.  its just not realistic to have 50 planets around one star, that would be one HUGE star.   Ok and so the stars also zoom in like they are individual galaxies which they are not; so lets just have one galaxy and wormholes to connect to other planets within that galaxy,  i doubt we would be fighting with ppl from other galaxies, they are just too far apart for that to be plausible.  This is really the only let down for me in this game, because i enjoy reading about our universe and this just isnt doin for me.  OK next.

#2.  The zoom function could use a small tweak, like and optimal zoom level when i select a planet i want to be able to zoom to an optimal view with one keystroke and not wear down my mouse wheel like i did with GalCiv2.  A zoom level that brings it to the point just b4 the ships go 3d.  Or something like that. 

#3.  This one is purely cosmetic, and dont get me wrong im sure these guys worked hard but the interface UI for the ingame play could use some cleaning up, make it less bubbly and bulky, more streamlined so we can have more of a view of the play area at any given time, id say you could gain about 15% more viewing space by cleanin it up and also a button that removes the entire UI so we can take even better cinematic screenshots.

ok i think thats all i want to be put towards this game in future updates,  someone let me know weither i should place this post somewhere else if this isnt the right place for it to be heard.
36,514 views 40 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
number two is already built in game

when zoomed out to galaxy view double click on the planet you want to zoom in to, and press caps lock.

press caps lock again to zoom out to galaxy view
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
Yes, the game is astronomically nonsensical, which does have a way of killing the immersion. The proportion of habitable to non-habitable planets, the proportion of rocky worlds to gas giants, the sheer volume of planets around starts, the total absence of moons, it's all kind of a mess. It doesn't really matter to gameplay, of course, but it's a weird design decision that kills a lot of the immersion of playing a space game for me.

As to the interface, try LazySumo's Minimal Interface mod here:

https://www.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?skinid=9&libid=71

It gets rid of most of the extraneous crap on the screen.
Curtains - Customize Windows with additional styles
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
when zoomed out to galaxy view double click on the planet you want to zoom in to, and press caps lock.press caps lock again to zoom out to galaxy view
End of quote


or try the Z, X, and C keys. even easier. :)

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
a button that removes the entire UI so we can take even better cinematic screenshots.
End of quote


control-shift-Z

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

my dad, at home, owns ALL space empire games ever published for DOS and Windows ... and what those games call « galaxy » rarely contains more than 300 stars ... which is very far from the hundreds of millions youre talking about ...

u must be one of the very rare gamers, then, who take the word « galaxy » in a literal sense ...

... game designers use this big word (galaxy) to designate what really is a tiny sector of a galaxy ...

there u are >>> replace « galaxy » by « sector » or « region » ...

in what concerns having dozens of planets orbiting a star ... well ... thats not realistic ... so, in your game setups, create star systems, in your « sector », with only a few planets each ...

et voilà !

... having millions of stars & planets will eventually come around ... when people will have computers powerful enough to display so much info ...

« Nobody will ever need more than 640 KB of RAM » (Bill Gates, 1981)


Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
hey this is really great guys thanks! didnt know about the zoom feature thank you.
well i guess the only thing is like what Vinraith said, the immersion level is not up to par with space fanatics, including myself, and ya moons, i remember that galciv had moons, they didnt do anything but they swing aorund the planet which is cool to look at. And thanks for the link to the minimalist mod.

what else is missing in terms of realism in regards to galaxy setup?
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top
hi sorceress i dont mean that they should literally have millions of stars, im just saying the ratio of stars to planets is way off, and this game is capable of producing thousands of stars and many more planets, i tried to have 1000 stars and my game crashed. And yes i agree with you on the compression of galaxy to sector thing but even so the way you zoom in to stars is like your zooming into a completely different galaxy. In all of the space civ games there werent any other galaxies, just one, with lots of stars and a good amount of planets to compliment them. The ratio off stars to planets and a galaxy setup in galciv 2 was just great, thats closer to what i think the devs for this game should strive for.
Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top
place your thing aobut the planets and ratios in the what you want to see forum section... they do listen yto you around here so you could find it being done in rather short order
Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top
where is that section?
Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top
Regarding point #1: I don't mean to cockblock your little nerdgasm, but you're playing a game where aliens drive around shooting frickin laser beams at one another in space ships and you've somehow found the nerve to use the word "realism" as criticism?

Seriously?
Reply #11 from Sins Forums Top
Box, stop trolling. It's not much to want to have realistic sized systems in your space game. For a while now I've wanted a mod that removes the galactic swirl around stars at max zoom. And if I had that, I'd make my own realistic looking maps.

But really man, you need to lay off. Go troll somewhere else.

And P.S. I've noticed one of the most limiting factors in map size, are the galactic swirl affects around the stars. My comp could probably support 500 stars, each having around 20 planets each. If it wasn't for all that pointless visuals around the stars lol.
Reply #12 from Sins Forums Top
I believe someone did post a mod in the modding forum that removes the galactic swirl and redoes the star backdrops.
Reply #13 from Sins Forums Top
those images you are portraying as galaxies...arent galaxies.......they used that image to potray the stars because they wanted something to show up to represent the star system when zoomed out. they arent stating that its one star per galaxy because in reality that image isnt representing a galaxy in the game whereas that image would represent one in our world. so the way it is is perfectly fine as its the way the designers intended it. this was all explained back in the beta on why they looked like that. if you like though.....you can always mod it to look like something different....like a pie or cake or something...you decide.
Reply #14 from Sins Forums Top
I would also like to see more stars with less planets. It would be more realistic. Maybe I'll go in to the map editor and make myself a map like that........
Reply #15 from Sins Forums Top
Quin, you got a link to that mod. I'd rather just see the bright balls of color you see when you're zoomed out, but not so far you get the galaxy swirl. Plus it'd allow me to make vastly bigger maps :D
Reply #16 from Sins Forums Top
Well, you can always use the in game map generator to design a galaxy just the way you want it...for instance, if you want lots of stars but only a few planets, or if you only want one Terran/Desert planet per star, etc, this can all be done using the in game map designer. If you want even more control over how the maps are designed, you can use Galaxy Forge to make a map exactly how you want it.
Reply #17 from Sins Forums Top
Regarding point #1: I don't mean to cockblock your little nerdgasm, but you're playing a game where aliens drive around shooting frickin laser beams at one another in space ships and you've somehow found the nerve to use the word "realism" as criticism?Seriously?
End of quote


You know for a fact there's no aliens driving around shooting fricking laser beams at one another in space ships, do you?

This was as blatant an attempt at trolling as I've ever seen.

To the OP, I can guess why they've done it this way. In multiplayer (or singleplayer for that matter) you're thrown into combat very quickly. I think their intention is to prevent a "tank rush" and steer the game more towards early skirmishes. I don't think I'd want to see it reduced to 5 planets per system but I do think less planets and more systems would be a good idea. They just need to strike a balance so the game balance isn't skewed.

Reply #18 from Sins Forums Top
Regarding point #1: I don't mean to cockblock your little nerdgasm, but you're playing a game where aliens drive around shooting frickin laser beams at one another in space ships and you've somehow found the nerve to use the word "realism" as criticism?Seriously?You know for a fact there's no aliens driving around shooting fricking laser beams at one another in space ships, do you?This was as blatant an attempt at trolling as I've ever seen. To the OP, I can guess why they've done it this way. In multiplayer (or singleplayer for that matter) you're thrown into combat very quickly. I think their intention is to prevent a "tank rush" and steer the game more towards early skirmishes. I don't think I'd want to see it reduced to 5 planets per system but I do think less planets and more systems would be a good idea. They just need to strike a balance so the game balance isn't skewed.
End of quote


Um can anyone say Vasari?

And for those of you who think Vasari are human:
Reply #19 from Sins Forums Top
The mod that has the no galaxy swirl can be found here https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/?forumid=443&aid=300107

Had to dig up the link =p
Reply #21 from Sins Forums Top
I was playing around in the map editor.....if you make many stars with no planet types on them, you get about 6 planets per star, and if you make the map size as big as you can make it, when you zoom out you don't see the galaxy effect. I just made a ten star map with 60 planets total and it looks like it might be kind of like what many of you are looking for.
Reply #22 from Sins Forums Top
We are pretty much doing this in Dawn of Victory..maybe at max 4-5 planets per star but a lot of stars (we have a huge map). So far it's gone well, allows a little more strategy.
Reply #23 from Sins Forums Top
Yeah i made a map using map designer and notepad that has about 10 planets per star, and 21 stars. I still have to tweak the solar system placements thou.
Reply #24 from Sins Forums Top
[quote]Yes, the game is astronomically nonsensicalquote]

Mhm, and the part about building a space ship in 10 seconds? Spliting the planets up into more stars would have a way of removing some of the tactical positioning of the game and I think in a way make it longer to play. If you have say a six player game and they are all spread out in different Stars that means any 6 of them can attack you. If all planets are in one star you are restricted to the certain phase lines providing more combat. Having your own star can equal turtlers heaven, too much of that can ruin a game.
Reply #25 from Sins Forums Top
You know for a fact there's no aliens driving around shooting fricking laser beams at one another in space ships, do you?This was as blatant an attempt at trolling as I've ever seen.
End of quote


You know for a fact there should be a specific ratio of planets per star across all galaxies in reality, do you? Complaining about the lack of realism in a science fiction game is the most blatant attempt at trolling I've ever seen.