Space strategy roll-call!

[Martok]

Did the mods sort out the problem with upgrading factories? That takes forever due to how they compute production.

They're both certainly better in this regard, yes. Whether they're enough of an improvement for your personal tastes, however, I obviously couldn't say. Best to judge such things for yourself.


Balance of Power Mod

Ultimate Dominion Mod III

And will the Borg show up on turn 10 and wipe everybody out still?

The Borg's stats have been changed (in both mods) so that they're not so ridiculously overpowered. A fleet will now usually be able to take down a single cube with more reasonable losses than in the vanilla game.

They're still a problem, however, because their ability to spawn multiple cubes is apparently hard-coded and can't be changed. Thus, players on harder difficulty setting can (and do) see five or more cubes running around killing everyone. It can be an effective way to win the game if they're picking on your enemies, but it also then can end up making it way too easy -- you can just follow the Borg and colonize the empty systems they leave behind. And even with cloaked warships, you'd still need an awfully big armada to take down that many Borg vessels (even if it was in succession and not all at once).

It's for that reason that I've always played with Random Events turned off....and continue to do so. One cube I could handle, but half a dozen? Not so much. Both mods alleviate the problem somewhat, but not completely. Unless the BOTF modding community were to ever get access to the hard-coded files, the Borg will continue to be unbalanced.

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So, can a list of recommendable games be made upon a limited level of agreement? My hibernation time has arrived and I'm thirsty for good games, namely strategy and RPG.
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Is there anything you particularly like or dislike in space strategy games? Knowing that would help in making a recommendation.

Sword of the stars was panned when it first came out so I ignored it totally. Then a bit ago I saw the announcement of the expansion on the quartertothree forums. The thread filled up with people declaring their love for the fully patched game plus first expansion. Can't wait until I get chance to settle down, read the lengthy documentation, and install the thing.

I would be very interested in hearing what your take is. Despite the lack of planetary conquest, I remain rather intrigued by the game's overall premise and design, and wouldn't rule out getting it if it's otherwise good.

It's been ages since I played vanilla Galciv2, and I'm not terribly aware of what AI tweaks have been done on it since Dread Lords release, so take this view with a measure of salt. It's a good improvement. The AI is less vulnerable to typical cheese, and has fewer senile moments. New strategies have been added to its book. I think it processes its turns faster. Obviously there's a lot which has been added specifically for the new features such as the race specific tech trees.

Appreciate the feedback, Froggy.