PRECURSOR PLANETS~Why are they cursed?

from GalCiv4 Forums

-50 percent Growth, -2 population on just about any huge class 30 or greater Pre-cursor planet I find.   Why, I don't get it? Is it to slow the player down so you can't take immediate advantage of this fortunate find? Actually it's not all that fortunate is it? Not if you don't have a library of Colonization techs to fix the mess the planet is in when you find it.   Why would a huge planet that was once a part of some ancient giganormous formerly successful space empire not be suitable for more than 1 population point and hinder growth to the point of paralyzation?   

It makes absolutely no sense what so ever and it makes settling these planets a serious ordeal of patience because of all the time and effort it takes to overcome the penalties placed on it when you colonize one. 

Why is it that every time I play a human empire, the home planet has two continents?  Why can't it be a pangea?  Why are there sometimes precursor relics on planets in hexes that offer a different bonus than the relic offers?   That's just sloppy tile generation.  It wouldn't take but a few lines of computer code to fix it. 

galactic civilizations iv
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Reply #1 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

I've been thinking about Precursor Planets and post 1.0 I think I'll probably be ready to throw around some ideas of how to make them more interesting and better.

My complaint actually is not yours (ie you want them to be "better"), rather it's that they no longer feel as special to get - not because they aren't good, but rather with the core/colony dynamic having a planet anywhere is much more situational than it was in GC3.  But it's possible that the bonuses aren't as great as they could be either.

I'm glad I'm not the only person who feels underwhelmed by PP's, although I would like to gather some opinions of others on this because I just don't personally make many core worlds anyway (or at least have not in the games I've played thus far).

cheers,

-tid242

Reply #2 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

I am not sure about precursor planets honestly. I am not really a fan of having super high value planets available early game myself.

Planet gen options for start are something we can look at. But the default continental layout for Terrans will likely remian.

Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

Quoting SchismNavigator, reply 2

I am not sure about precursor planets honestly. I am not really a fan of having super high value planets available early game myself.

Planet gen options for start are something we can look at. But the default continental layout for Terrans will likely remian.
End of SchismNavigator's quote

Yea, the balance issue with someone finding a planet with +10 base Production on it or something early game is a really difficult issue.  On the other hand, PPs could be a lot more special than they are.  I'd imagine a happy compromise is to require them to be "explored" or "figured out" or "turned on all of the way".

There are probably some cool ideas there, but it seems like it's not urgent to come up with them all during the 1.0 scramble.

Special, but not OP, something that you're happy to find now, but grows with you.  And something that someone else will want to take away from you.  It's an interesting problem to think about.

Reply #4 from GalCiv4 Forums Top



Why is it that every time I play a human empire, the home planet has two continents?  Why can't it be a pangea?  Why are there sometimes precursor relics on planets in hexes that offer a different bonus than the relic offers?   That's just sloppy tile generation.  It wouldn't take but a few lines of computer code to fix it. 
End of quote

Earth's tile layout is static and intentionally arranged.  If they were lumped together, they would be more powerful - and thus there would need to be less of them.  Balance my friend.

The bonus distributions are random.  Makes every game unique and interesting, and keeps players on our toes!  If you want to keep restarting the galaxy to get the perfect bonus tiles on your homeworld, you are free to do so!  If they were the same, you'd do the exact same build every time, and that's no fun at all! 

Reply #5 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

You have Precursor studies as one of the technologies to study.  Why not have some more Precursor techs down the line to study that unlock bonuses to PreC planets?  That would make them better and not able to be used early in the game for balancing purposes. 

Reply #6 from GalCiv4 Forums Top
Quoting tid242, reply 4

Earth's tile layout is static and intentionally arranged. 

End of tid242's quote

This is true but Earth is uniquely horrible, even worse than the world the Navigators start on.